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"She was playing games with him, he knew it. Rey sat in the corner of the club, hiding the gun between his knees. He had seen her in this club lots of times. He first set eyes on her from the dim fuzzy shadows of the club while stoned on Accella. It all started when he asked her out. "She told him off in front of everyone, and when he tried to grab her arm, she decked him. There was some electricity in her eyes he couldn't explain -- she was no ordinary girl. That was the night the voices began connecting to him. At first he thought it was the drug, but after a week, panic started to set in. He would wake up and not know who he was for the first half-hour every morning. Eventually he gave up sleeping. He mixed Accella with the latest amphetamines. He didn't care. It kept him on his guard in case he saw her again. "This was the Lain he heard about in the wired. He wished he never logged on or taken the drug. First he only wanted to talk to her, now he knew it was too late for that. The voice was fighting for his very soul. He couldn't run. He felt doom in the way each panicked breath squeezed the pressure around his exploding heart. He had to stop her. Rey tightened his grip on the gun and looked through the sea of faces -- where was she? "He was sweating like a maniac yet there was a cold hole in the pit of his stomach, spreading a tingling numbness through his face, down his arms and legs. His eyes blurred to the endless beat of the music. Nothing seemed real as he tried to make sense of it all - the answers all swirled together in his mind, intoxicating him with that virulent voice! ' You don't need to stay in a place like this... You don't belong here... Join me in the wired... Leave your body behind ' "There she is! Approaching him with the drink tray in her hand. He stood up, fighting the cramping in his stomach, raised his gun and blasted a three-inch hole through her left eye. The explosion from the gun shocked him. Looking down he recognized the waitress at his feet. It wasn't Lain. He looked up at the crowd staring at him in disbelief. He froze -- Lain was standing next to the bar sneering back at him. "Without hesitating, he fired two shots into her neck. Again, as her body sprawled onto the floor in front of him, somehow, it wasn't her. Panic throbbed through Rey's veins like a steam engine. He felt naked standing there in front of the wall of people. Where was she? She was all of them, and he wanted to smother each staring face with his bare hands for taking his soul. ' You don't belong here... Join me in the wired... Why wont you come? ' "He shouted back: ' I just want to be left alone! Leave me alone! ' "He was drunk on the waves of hot and cold sweat pouring over his trembling body, the heavy steel weapon soldered to his hands. Lain stood emotionless as she watched the scene play in front of her. She saw Rey's silhouette in the rotating red, yellow, and blue lights - the jittery laser beam cutting the darkness from the sight on his gun. She stared, curious - unafraid, ignoring the pleas from the other girls. She felt as if she had seen this all somewhere before, in a dream thousands of years ago. She felt the calm security surround her like a shield. "Rey felt Lain staring at him from the shadows. He leveled his gun straight at her ' don't come near me - get back! ' A pale blue spotlight illuminated her and sheer terror swallowed him whole. She was the one from his waking nightmares. The girl that materialized the truth that devoured him. "Lain looked into his soul and understood his fears and pain. She understood the voice that called him. Something inside her boiled to the surface and took over. Numbly she walked towards him. Aghast and unable to move Rey pointed the gun at her, the quivering red laser tickling her nose, forehead and eyes. "Lain uttered the words not her own, words that pierced the last hold Rey had on himself, the words that could release him from his death. She spoke the words of dread and comfort, words that completed him and took him from this world. ' No matter where you go, we are all connected ' "In an instant Rey saw his entire miserable life and the truth that cursed him. He heard the voice and recognized love for the first time. He choked and sobbed out of remorse, remorse for the life he lost long ago. Then, as if to sign the dotted line, he held the gun to the roof of his mouth and fired. "The blast startled Lain as warm droplets of blood and sweat landed on her face. She tilted her head, confused at her panicked friends, their voices slurred in a void of music and static." |
Excerpts from the novel based on "Serial Experiments: Lain" in English |
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