His veins felt cold, his face went numb, the rest of his body just slumped over in the most relaxed way, but he was so aware. Everything felt good when he had his only friend. He looked at the empty syringe in his hand. Was he still holding it? Jason knew this only helped physically in his own, justifiable way, but definitely not mentally. In the room, he was alone again, just himself and his friend, now an empty casing.
Where did he go? Jason thought to himself in regards to the man who brought his friend to him. Maybe he wasn't as aware as he thought. He could sleep here for a few hours. It was still only 0920, he had four hours before he had to meet for work. Jason lay over the top of the sleeping bag without getting inside. He closed his eyes almost involuntarily and succumbed to sleep again.
Expecting to see a forest when he woke up, Jason was a mix of both excited to see it, but disappointed that his high was gone. He opened his eyes to find not a forest, but instead something familiar, something he definitely didn't want to see. He saw the same freezing cold terrain he saw almost a decade ago for the first time, two years ago for the last time. Armored American military vehicles formed a line heading toward a moderate sized village. Jason couldn't help but feel his chest tighten, he felt it. All too familiar a feeling. A heavy, OCP (Operational Camouflaged Pattern) vest weighed down on him. Two fully loaded M4A1 magazines sat in pouches on his left side, and three more on his right side. In his right hand, resting on his left knee, an M4A1 Carbine was at the ready. He was back at war again, and he knew exactly what this was. He was dreaming again, but this felt as real as the forest.
"Incoming!" Yelled a battle-buddy from another armored vehicle immediately to Jason's left.
The whistle of a mortar round was audible, and the explosion surrounding it was even more audible. The mortar round hit just ahead of the armored vehicles. Jason's position behind the line in the back of a humvee without a cover kept him decently safe from most of the larger debris, but he was showered with smaller pieces. The first strike was followed up by three more. All with the same affect.
Jason readied himself physically as well as mentally as the line reached a halt just mere meters from the village. The men around Jason, friendly troops, all began piling out of the humvee, maintaining their cover as they pressed forward, carbines ready to fire. Jason followed close behind.
A fight between a uniformed enemy and ourselves hadn't happened since The Korean War, and troops always had to be mindful of whether they were shooting at the threat, or the citizens. So, naturally, the rule was to only fire at what was firing at you.
Jason opened fire on three men crouched behind sandbag barriers as they mounted their RPK's.
A long, bloody battle raged on for what felt like hours. Down to his last magazine, Jason carefully made his way behind cover, stepping over the bodies of his comrades and making his way toward the mortars nest. What he saw up ahead was a mix of confusing and distressing. Daphis was here, what the hell was she doing here? The sight of her distracted him so much, he took a 7.62mm round right to the neck, blood spurting out of the wound as he choked on his blood and slowly fell to the ground. Even considering his own injury, fatal as it was, he kept watching Daphis as she half danced, half ran away from the enemy forces. Jason choked, spitting out a mouthful of blood as he pressed a gloved hand to the wound. This did little to stop the bleeding and he was slowly fading out of conscienceness. He watched helplessly as Daphis was shot to pieces by enemy MG's. She let out a scream that sounded more like stressed birds, dead leaves, and breaking branches. It was not the beautiful sound he'd originally heard from her. He helplessly watched as she fell to the ground, and then everything faded into darkness.
Jason woke up again, even more confused and stressed. He didn't feel good like he did when he first lay down, but instead he felt weak, beaten up. The syringe was full again, had he just dreamed of taking it? Jason looked at it, but something told him not to touch it. He leaned forward, ignoring that instinct, and immediately felt the pain again. It was still there. Jason groaned, leaning forward despite his pain and grabbing the syringe. He didn't understand what was going on, he felt like he was going crazy.
Maybe the man in the robe will have a few answers as to what is happening to me, Jason thought.
Listen to yourself, he thought with a scoff, you're talking about a dream here.
Even still, Jason couldn't shake the thought of the forest. He wanted to go back even though he knew it was crazy. Was he insane, or was this really happening. Jason looked at the syringe in his hand, setting it down next to the bag as he lay down. He closed his eyes, and prepared to wake up somewhere else.
He felt the same, no change in the air, the smell, or the temperature. He opened his eyes and found the cottage again. Jason closed his eyes again, waiting for no less than an hour before opening his eyes again to find the cottage, yet again. Giving up, Jason sat up, bad in a fit of rage, hurled the syringe at the wall, breaking it. The book was on the floor by the nightstand. He reached for it, ignoring the pain and flipping it open. Every page was empty again. He grabbed his pen and scribbled down a message.
"What is happening to me?" Jason wrote.
Even if there was no reply, his doctor told him journaling was effective. The words vanished, not slowly, but quickly this time.
"Drugs are bad." Came the reply.
Upon reading the words, Jason felt a burning sensation in his arm. He winced, then looked down at the several raised marks on his arm. When did those get there, he wondered. They were growing even more inflamed by the second, and the pain became unbearable. Seconds later, it stopped, and his arm looked normal again. Jason looked at the book, confused. He almost began writing again, but didn't know what to say. Words began appearing again, slowly this time.
"Go back to sleep." It read.
Jason's willingness to listen to this book and accept all these strange happenings had him almost convinced he may have gone insane. Regardless, he lay down again and closed his eyes, waiting for what would happen next. Time passed, he waited patiently for the change in sensation, and when he finally felt it, he almost let out a year of joy at the incredible feeling of invincibility he felt again.