//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: The Voices of Nobody // by BowtiesandFedoras //------------------------------// I felt myself fall off of the table, and I saw Twilight get forced back by something. She stumbled, but regained her balance. "What in the world was that?!" she exclaimed. "I (pant) don't know..." I was terrified. My heart was racing, and somehow, all the running I did in my mind wore me out physically. "Nobody, are you alright?" Applejack sounded genuinely worried and frantic. "I'm-I'm fine (cough), don't worry," I reassured her. I held my hand up to her to enforce that statement, but when I did, I saw that the backs of my hands were covered in blood. That was impossible... That only happened in my mind, there was no way the injury could have existed on my physical body. I then looked at Applejack and Twilight as if they had some insight on my situation. But something was off... They weren't looking at me; they were looking at the table I just fell off of. I turned around to see what had captivated them, and I saw me. My seemingly lifeless body was just sitting on the table, head hung low and arms hanging limply. I cupped my hand to my mouth to keep from screaming and scrambled backwards. I then got up and slowly reached out to touch this mystery on its shoulder, and as my red, wet finger was a mere inch from its shoulder, the whole body sprung off of the table and stood swaying on the floor. The motion was so sudden it caused a gasp to escape from all three of us. It stood there for a few seconds swaying side-to-side before standing erect, and placed one hand on its hip and one running through its black hair. It opened its eyes and inhaled deeply through its nose. Its eyes were a little wide, and the pupils were half their normal size, and had a trace of red in them. "N-Nobody? Are you... okay?" Twilight was aware that something was wrong. "No! Twilight, I'm over here! That's not me!" I tried to get her attention, but it was clear that they couldn't see me. The thing manipulating my body looked at me, directly at me, and chuckled tauntingly. "Actually, Twilight," The thing licked its lips and hugged itself strangely, "I feel delightful... I'm so glad your spell worked the way I wanted it to..." A little bit of relief showed on Twilight's and Applejack's faces, "Oh, so you remember your name? What is it, if you don't mind my asking?" She sounded less tense now. "My name..." the thing's face instantly switched from a wicked smile to a look of seriousness. It forced a weird spash of syllables out of its mouth, "Hmm?" It did it again. "Hmm... It seems human vocal cords cannot pronounce my name... Ah!" It then lumbered over to one of Twilight's bookcases, "Someone gave me a Latin name once... Oh, what was it?" Twilight and Applejack both looked at each other confusedly. It yanked one book off of a shelf and began just flipping through the pages, not even bothering to actually read them. It closed that book and threw it behind itself, much to Twilight's dismay. It grabbed another book and did the same thing. And another. And another. It grabbed one more book and stopped on one specific page. "Ah... Vesania. Latin for madness. Mmmm... how fitting." It discarded the book just as he did the others, and made a grand gesture with its hands, "I am Vesania! Consumer of human souls!" It then began tittering madly as it stroked its face and torso. Twilight approached it cautiously, "Nobod- er- Vesania... Are you alright?" It grabbed her shoulders and began examining her face with its beady eyes. It stuck a pinky into her mouth, pulled it back out, and then licked it, as if taste-testing some liquid, "Mmmmm... you taste... exceptional... Hmm-hmm, aha-ha-ha..." She pulled away from it in fear and disgust. "Nobody, stop this crazy talk! You're scarin' Twilight!" Applejack demanded. "Is that so, Applejack?" The thing began to get closer to her, pressing her against the wall, "You're shaking, Applejack. I can see you trembling..." it whispered in her ear. It swiped a finger across her forehead, apparently collecting her light sweat, and then tasted it like it did Twilight's saliva, "Mmm... tastes like fear... wonderful..." "Stop it!" Twilight yelled, "What's gotten into you?" "Okay, let me break it down for you," it said, leaving Applejack alone, "Nobody isn't home right now. It's only me, Vesania. If you'd like to know, Nobody's standing by that table there," it then waved at me and smiled, mocking me. It then began to get a nosebleed. It reached up to touch it with his finger and looked at it, his smile never fading, "Oh, it seems this body is too weak to support me like this." Its eyes started to well up with blackness, and dark smoke started leaking out of its nose and mouth. "You see, due to... technical difficulties, I'm going to cut this little talk short. But don't worry, we'll surely see each other again... Surely..." The smoke flooded out of its mouth and covered the entire ceiling of the room, and a red-orange face appeared in the center, and in a flash, the smoke escaped through an open window, leaving a mad laughter echoing in the room. And with nothing occupying my body anymore, I found myself being pulled back into it. The sudden rush of feelings was unbearable, and I found myself vomiting on Twilight's floor. I couldn't handle what had just happened, and I passed out next to my puddle of blood and vomit. Author commentary: Yep. You guessed it. This is where it starts to get good. What is this, now? 5? 5 chapters posted in one day?