A Two Sided Coin

Carson was surrounded by darkness. The impenetrable black was so total he wouldn't be able to see anything, even if it was right in front of his face. He was scared of the darkness; it felt like it was alive, and trying to consume him.

He closed his eyes and focused. When he found the courage he opened his eyes, and was shocked, he could see all around him. He looked around and a circle seemed to have been carved out of the darkness. He could see up to five feet away in any direction, in his small sanctuary.

Then a wind seemed to pick up, and then it started to howl. Carson could feel Kern's presence in the gale. It was whispering to him, secrets, terrible secrets. Horror upon horror it whispered to Carson, it tickled him, caressing his body, temptation. He began to shake, and then the wind stopped.

Right in front of Carson, almost as if gouged out of the darkness itself, was Kern. Kern smirked at Carson and he felt his one patch of clarity and light tighten, like something was closing in on it. He glared at Kern and focused with all of his might.

Kern rolled his eyes at his attempts and said, "We both know you enjoy what I do, however much you deny it. You may be able to hide it from the others, but don't lie to yourself. All the things I’ve done, the innocents I’ve killed, it was fun, and you enjoyed it as much as I did." Kern leered at him and continued, "Just give me control and you will be blameless. I'll even carve out a sliver of your mind to keep you in so you can enjoy the show. We can destroy this world together, or I can do it alone. I'm apart of you as you are apart of me, let's do this, together." When Kern finished he held out his hand, an open invitation.

Carson paused, confused, then shook his head to clear his head. When he looked back at Kern, his face was set in determination.

"You’re wrong. This is my mind, my body, my soul. Get out. Not just from me but from this planet, die like you should have so long ago. You aren't wanted here, by anyone, not even me. You might be apart of me and I hate that, but I am more than just you, I would never limit myself like that. I'm kicking you out of my mind and closing the door. Never come back," To almost punctuate Carson's last sentence a concussion shot from him.

Everywhere the concussion touched, the darkness cleared. It continued and all of the darkness vanished beneath its touch until Carson was standing in the white walls of his own mind. He walked over to the pathetic sliver of darkness left and squished it beneath his heel.

With that Carson awoke.