[CONTENT WARNING] [sb118-astraeus] Lt JG Charles Matthews and Lt. Cmdr Esa Kiax - Natasha, Part One

[Shakeel Hussein]

((Matthews Family Home, Luna / Sickbay, USS Astraeus))

 

((OOC – This sim may include content that some readers might find difficult to read. Please continue at your own discretion))

 

((OOC 1 - The views regarding the possibilities of an afterlife are purely the thoughts and views of the character. They do not necessarily correspond to my own views IRL and are not meant to diminish any views of any faith, nor anyone who believes in them either))

 

An unusual feeling washed over Charlie, perhaps one he had never even felt before or, if he had, it had not been for a very long time. He felt at peace. Almost as if all of the angst and anxiety and pain he regularly felt had been shot out of him, to be replaced with nothing except a strange sense of calm. On one hand, he didn't like it. What were you meant to feel if those emotions weren't there? They were so dominant that anything else just felt alien to him. On the other hand, the relief of them not being there was a comfort, like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. Shoulders that were well and truly creaking under the burdens he regularly placed upon them.

 

He slowly felt his eyelids flutter as they began to open, his brown eyes adjusting to the light as they eventually began to focus, and, despite finding himself staring at a ceiling, he instantly knew where he was. There was no way he couldn't. Everything was how he remembered it being; the sounds, the smells, the feeling of the thick, fluffy carpet underneath his palms. He was in his family home, back on Luna, laying on his back as he turned his head to watch the Earthrise through the window.

 

His eyebrows twitched.

 

Charles: Have I… Wasn't I just somewhere else?

 

Matthews ran his hand across his stomach; he had an inkling that something should have been there but there wasn't. It was just skin, it was just normal.

 

He closed his eyes, the calmness remaining but a sense of confusion was starting to creep its way in from out of the shadows. Charles could remember faces, a ship, but not any names. Something had been happening and, whatever it was, had not been going well. He could see panicked expressions in his mind's eye; hear blaring alarms that seemed familiar yet completely new to him, and he didn't know what to make of it. He couldn't recall what the images meant to him. What he could now remember was the pain. It stung and it felt like his insides were on fire. Opening his eyes, he looked down to his stomach, fixating on one smooth patch of skin. Still nothing. His eyes shifted down to his left thigh, there was nothing there either.

 

Charles: What's going on?

 

Sitting up abruptly, he raised his hand to his face, running it over his furrowed brow before resting the pointer finger on his lips. Charlie glanced around the living room he now found himself in. It was exactly as it used to be, purposefully old fashioned; a representation of where humanity had come from as opposed to where it had gotten to. It was rustic. Slowly, whilst still trying to make some sort of sense of what had happened, he rubbed the finger against his smooth lips until, suddenly, there was a taste. It was just as familiar as the room he now found himself in; the undisputed metallic taste of blood.

 

A feeling of dread surged within him as he lowered his hand away from his face. Shifting the direction of his brown eyes towards the hand, he gasped as he saw it completely covered in fresh blood. Directing his eyes further, they widened even more as they darted between his stomach and leg. Where there was once nothing, his thigh was now twisted shreds of mangled flesh and muscle, blood seeping out of him onto the carpeted floor. Where his stomach was once perfectly smooth and defined, it now looked as though it had been torn to pieces. Ribbons of intestine oozed out of him and he grabbed at it in panic, desperately trying to keep his innards from falling out of his body and onto his lap in a disgusting scene almost akin to slaughter day at an abattoir. The pain he could remember now came flooding back in waves, it was more intense than he could recall and it almost forced him to drop down onto his back and writhe in agony.

 

Closing his eyes tightly and grunting through gritted teeth, he was doing all he could do to stop himself yelling out in pain when, just as quickly as it had arrived, the pain suddenly stopped. Forcing his eyes open, the bloody mess he could see before had disappeared altogether. There weren't any intestines spilling out of his body and even signs of his blood loss had vanished. The carpets beneath him looked immaculate once more.

 

Letting out a shaky breath, he shifted gingerly to his right, swinging his left arm across as he did and using it to push himself up off the floor. As he came to a stop at his full height, he pulled at his shirt, straightening it out and double checking that there were no other hidden wounds that were somehow concealed, and his eyes darted around the room.

 

He still couldn't believe what he was seeing when something suddenly shocked him even more. A figure, a person, sitting perched on the edge of the sofa, seemingly oblivious to his presence and the commotion he was causing when he thought his insides were attempting to get free from the rest of the body. In the years since he'd last seen this person, he'd had vivid nightmares about her, flashbacks that took weeks to get out of his system. Now he could see her as clear as day and he didn't feel worried, or as if something terrible was happening, it just felt normal.

 

Charles opened his mouth, expecting a vast cacophony of words to come tumbling out of it, but instead what he asked came out with an unexpected assuredness to it.

 

Charles: Natasha? Is that… you?

 

Natasha turned around with a swish of her long, auburn hair, beaming with a bright grin.

 

Natasha: Who else would it be, little brother?

 

Charles: What's going on?

 

The older of the two siblings - though only older by a few minutes - frowned slightly, her smile replaced by a look of concern.

 

Natasha: I’m… not sure what you mean?

 

The concerned look was short lived, as she smirked.

 

Natasha: Sounds like someone’s been napping on the floor for too long.

 

Charles: Napping…?

 

Charlie glanced to the carpeted floor, the slight indentation from where he was had slowly started to return to normal, before returning his gaze to his sibling.

 

Charles: Is that what this is? Am I dreaming?

 

Natasha: Not exactly…

 

He stepped around the sofa, now standing in front of Natasha, allowing her to return her head to a more natural position.

 

Charles: Is this a… nightmare?

 

Natasha: Also no… it’s not something you can really rationalise like that, brother.

 

The adult Matthews twin let out a sigh.

 

Charles: Then why am I here? Why are you? Is mom here too?

 

Natasha smiled, warmly, and took Charles’ hand - guiding him to the sofa to sit next to her.

To Be Continued...

---

Lieutenant JG Charles Matthews

Acting Chief of Tactical & Security

USS Astraeus NCC-70652

A240012CM1

&

Lieutenant Commander Esa Kiax

Chief Operations Officer

USS Astraeus NCC-70652

A239511ED0