Chapter Twenty-Two - Jason Havelock
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Jason Havelock
CARRYING THE TRASH bag outside and down the metal steps, Jason regretted not wearing more layers. He was dressed in a long-sleeved T-shirt with SSU Lions emblazoned on the back, a pair of black mesh soccer shorts, and his house shoes. He approached the apartment complex dumpster spritely. His breath was visible.
“It’s cold,” he shivered. Opening the dumpster’s lid he tossed the bag into the can. His thoughts flickered to Ethan asleep in their bedroom. After returning from the MRI scan, they had a quick dinner and Ethan did his best to tell Jason of his fears. There was still more to the story, Jason could feel it. Something seemed to trouble him and it troubled Jason too. What if the headache was indicative of something serious? Ethan had mentioned the first doctor joked about a tumor or cancer.
Jason flipped the lid of the dumpster closed, he grunted as his muscles tensed. He turned his back towards the apartment but stopped dead in his tracks.
A low, guttural sound sliced through the frigid night air. Jason stood still, frozen, and not just from the cold. His breath hitched, and the air around him seemed to grow heavy, as a shot of adrenaline shot through his extremities. The icy air seemed at arm's length now. A long shadow stretched across the pavement. Emerging from the darkness was a creature unlike anything Jason had ever seen. It had scaly, reptilian skin as its body shimmered in the dim street light, a grotesque mix of sinewy muscle and jagged spines along its back. The monster growled deeply, as it blinked its golden-yellow eyes. It stared at Jason as if recognizing him, baring razor-sharp teeth.
Jason’s heart pounded, adrenaline now surging through his veins. “What the hell —?”
Immediately, the creature lunged.
Jason dove to the side, his house shoes slipping on the icy pavement, narrowly avoiding its snapping jaw. Large jagged teeth were visible as it lunged once more, Jason stumbled back, hitting the ground hard. The monster whirled around to face him. Without thinking, Jason turned towards heading toward a large cinderblock positioned beneath the dumpster which ordinarily kept it from rolling away.
The creature roared and swiped at him with a clawed hand. Jason deflected the blow and stumbled towards the cinderblock. Panic swirled in his chest, but immediately something deeper— primal, protective — rose within him.
Ethan.
The creature roared, its jaw snapping dangerously. With all of his strength, Jason grabbed the cinderblock and swung, just as the creature lunged toward him. Jason felt a heavy thump, as he struck its head. The reptile screeched in pain, stumbling back. Seizing the opportunity, Jason swung again with desperate precision, landing a solid hit on the creature's head again.
The monster let out a final piercing screech before its form dissolved. Jason watched in disbelief as the best disintegrated into an iridescent, golden-yellow mist. The particles briefly swirled before completely vanishing.
He breathed heavily, standing motionless as the chill of the night air returned to him. Dropping the cinderblock, his mind raced.
What the fuck was that?
Jason felt the cold air snap at him, as the adrenaline drained from his extremities.
Later, Jason sat on the couch, lit by the flickering glow of the television playing at a low volume. A forgotten half-empty mug of tea sat cooling on the coffee table. He leaned back, rubbing his temples, but the knot of tension in his chest refused to let. Every time he closed his eyes, those glowing gold-yellow irises and jagged teeth flashed across his mind.
He had taken a long hot scalding shower, scrubbing his skin until it tingled. Tried meditating, even lighting one of Ethan’s lavender candles, but nothing seemed to work. His muscles still felt tight, and his heart thudded faintly as if were still running from the creature.
Resigned that he wasn’t going to sleep, he let Ethan doze in the next room and settled in the living room. He put his favorite buddy comedy on the TV and distracted himself by endlessly scrolling Reddit’s memes and conspiracy threads, but nothing would bring him sleep.
He scrolled aimlessly, he clicked until a headline caught his eyes:
Doctor won’t help. My son’s headaches are out of control.
Jason clicked the post, his pulse quickened as he read.
U/worriedmom95 | Posted 18 months ago | r/MedicalMysteries
Hi all,
I’m a mom of a 19-year-old son, and I’m out of ideas. I’m not sure where to start, but I’m desperate.
A few months ago, my son started complaining of severe migraines. We thought it was stress, he was in college, pulling all-nighters, partying with his friends — normal college kid stuff — when he started to call me about migraines. He said it felt like his brain was being stabbed or squeezed. His vision blurred and he complained of dizziness. Then, eventually, he started hearing voices. They were whispers at first, he said they were indistinct. He couldn’t make out what the whispers were saying. The voices were of people that I nor his dad could see. He became really withdrawn and scared. He doesn’t want to talk to anyone, even me.
He is home now from college, and I’ve taken him to see several doctors. They just gave him painkillers, ran some basic tests, and said it was stress. One doctor even suggested schizophrenia, I guess he’s in the age range for the first psychotic episode.
But I know my son. He’s not making this up and we don’t have a history of that mental illness in our family. He doesn’t use drugs and I’m not convinced he’s schizophrenic. Neither was the psychiatrist we eventually took him to see. The psychiatrist said that it likely isn’t schizophrenia because my son knows that the voices aren’t there. Like he’s not hallucinating.
Okay, now, here’s the part that really scares me: Weird things have been happening around him. He says he can read my thoughts, we’ve tested it out so many times. And he can! He can read his dad’s mind and even his little sister's. One night while we were all asleep, his sister started screaming. She claimed there was a giant spider hanging over her bed. She’s terrified of spiders, it’s like her worst nightmare come true!
Sadly, he’s taken to staying up in his room. He will come down occasionally and have dinner with us, but he has to wear headphones with white noise. He said it's the only thing that blocks out the thoughts.
He’s terrified and honestly, so am I. He says he can hear the neighbor's awful thoughts about us and that something big is building up, but he doesn’t know what.
We’re scheduled for an MRI next week, but I’m worried it won’t help. That we will be dismissed by the doctors again. I’ve been searching all over the web for anything like this — an explanation for the symptoms — anything. Please, if anyone has experienced something like this or knows what this could be, I’m begging for advice. I just want my son to be okay.
Thank you in advance for any help.
Edit 1: Just to clarify, we’ve ruled out epilepsy and other seizure disorders. The voices aren’t auditory hallucinations — he describes them more as thoughts that don’t belong to him. Sometimes their words, sometimes their images, even sometimes they’re noises.
Edit 2: Thank you for all of the responses, I’m trying to reply to as many as I can. A few of you asked if he’s been exposed to any chemicals or toxins — nothing he or I can think of. His environment hasn’t changed, and he doesn’t take drugs. I’ll look into the resources you’ve all shared.
Edit 3: For those asking about MRI results, we’re still waiting. I’ll update you as soon as we know something.
Jason’s stomach dropped. The symptoms mirrored Ethan’s. The similarities were too glaring to ignore. Does he hear voices too?
Could he hear Jason’s? Does he know about the text messages? Well, of course, he knows about the text messages that’s what their fight was about, but does he know who they’re to?
He reread a single line, his eyes narrowed,
“He said it felt like his brain was being stabbed or squeezed. His vision blurred and he complained of dizziness. Then, eventually, he started hearing voices. They were whispers at first, he said they were indistinct.”
Jason closed his laptop and sat back, he needed to make sense of all of this. Could this be connected to the thing he saw outside? The mother in the post said her daughter was confronted by her worst fear. His hand trembled as he rubbed his eyes, exhaustion was nearing.
His gaze drifted to the closed bedroom door. Ethan was asleep inside. Jason thought of the iridescent mist left as the monster seemingly evaporated. The flash of the glowing light erupted in his mind.
“No way,” Jason whispered to himself, shaking his head. Yet the question remained, it gnawed at him. He grabbed his phone from the coffee table punched out a quick message and then laid back on the sofa his mind adrift.