Breaking the 4th

“Who are you talking to?”

Shatter froze, her lips pressing together in confusion. She dared not speak, unsure if she had spoken or if her mind was finally filling the silence with imaginary dialogue. Because that possibility was completely feasible; the one thing she knew for certain was that she should not underestimate her crazy.

But she didn’t expect her imagination to be this creative when the voice spoke again.

“Uhh…excuse me, you, right there…”

It was a male voice, the tone very smooth and calm. Arrogant for sure, and that made Shatter scowl in distaste. And demanding. Of course her luck would have it that her subconscious sounds like a self-absorbed arrogant ass. As if he knew he sounded like he sounds pretty.
Shatter had all intentions of practicing her selective hearing and to not acknowledge the signs of her insanity when she felt something poke at her shoulder. A strange non-human noise escaped her and she jolted several feet in the air. Never had she moved so fast and in such a way she did so it was only natural that she didn’t have a landing plan. Momentum of her spastic move sent her slipping on the moss, down the riverbank and land in the stream with a hefty splash.
Shatter gasped as the shallow icy water soaked through her pants and the jagged rocks of the streambed scratched harshly into her lower back.

“Oww! Ugh!” she half-shrieked. She turned her accusing death-glare up the small dirt slope and to her surprise, she made eye contact with a tall, lean man.He looked as if he was shocked, his forearm crossed in front of his face and his posture pulled back defensively. He didn’t speak a word as he stared down at the drenched girl.
Several moments passed with neither one speaking, or dropping the staring contest. But ultimately, it was Shatter who broke first.
“What?! What is it?” she finally demanded, becoming short. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

The guy finally dropped his defensive stance and gave her an incredulous look.
“Busy? With what, huh?” he demanded back.

Shatter was about to promptly return that it was none of his beeswax, when she realized there was something wrong with this conversation. Her smart retort died in her throat and she squinted narrowly at the man that mysteriously showed up in front of her. Or behind her, rather… but that was just a matter of semantics.

Apparently this stranger was not a fan of being scrutinized by Shatter, as his defensiveness came back.
“What? Why do you stare like that?” he said, taking a step back.

There it was again. He spoke, she comprehended what he said, but something wasn’t adding up.
It took her another moment to get over her annoyance and realize, the guy wasn’t speaking English, or any language she understood. But she recognized the phonetics of the Korean language, a language she had never mastered. Then it dawned on her.

“Oh what the hell,” Shatter grouched.

“What?” mystery man demanded.

Now she definitely knew she had gone mad. This man was a creation of her crazy.
“I knew it. I lost it.” Shatter whined. “I lost my marbles. The fucking marbles I didn’t know I had to lose.”

“…Marbles.” she heard the man echo in confusion.

Shatter buried her face in her hands, mixed feelings tumbling inside her chest. Anxiety, fatigue, and confusion churned inside of her making it hard for her to think straight. Maybe this was just a dream, and all she needed to do was wake up. Or maybe she was dead, and if that were the case she had no idea what she needed to do. She’s never died before so this would be new.

“Uh…so…”

Shatter turned and looked away, anywhere but up the slope.
“Shhhhh.” she shushed.

A slight paused followed.
“…But you---”
“Shhh.”
“Hey will you just---”
“Shh!” Shatter hissed, getting short. “Imaginary Conscience-people don’t speak!”

The man started to voice out his protests at her attitude but Shatter plugged her ears with her fingers and shut her eyes tight.
“Yah! I know you can hear me!”

Determined to quiet the nonsense out, she started humming the first song that came to mind, which ironically happened to be the chorus of AC/DC’s Highway to Hell.
She was halfway through the chorus when she felt something splash against her legs. Reactively, she opened her eyes to find the guy had come down the slope to her level and tossing rocks lightly into the water in front of her. When he waved at her for her attention she yelped.

“Oh my god, you can’t do this to me, you can’t be real.” she yapped at him, clapping her palms over her eyes.
“And why the hell not?” the guy asked, sounding offended
“Cuz it doesn’t make sense. You don’t make sense.”
“Excuse me?”he demanded. “I am real as you are. You’re the one that’s talking crazy.”
“HA!” Shatter chortled. She splashed at him in irritation, to which he flinched.
“Yah! What the hell?!” he snapped, jumping back to a stand. “What was that for?”
“We’re in a church, I’m soaking in a stream in said church.” Shatter shot back. “Do the math; I’m dousing you with holy water, you demon.”
She continued to splash at him, trying to land a good handful of water on him. Which he was annoyingly good at avoiding.
“A demon? What---wait, stop for a minute! Let me talk to you.” he said, expertly twisting away from another splash. “I’m not a demon.”
But Shatter didn’t stop her water assault and continued to splash at him. The man dodged two more splashes before coming to a dead halt.
“Ah! Enough!” he grouched, glaring at the girl in the stream. He pointed at her with a look of warning. “Get out of the water.”
“No!” Shatter snapped.

But before she could send another watery attack his way, he rolled up his sleeve and dropped to a kneel on the rocky bank. Shatter gawked at him as he stuck both hands into the icy water without flinching.
“See? This water doesn’t hurt me.” he said, sounding exasperated. “Now will you get out?”
The girl looked him up and down, still dubious.
“…no?” she said, sounding unsure.
“So what, are you just going to stay in the water?” The Korean asked.
“Maybe,” she muttered stubbornly, crossing her arms. “Just because you can touch water, doesn’t mean you have proven your…uh, realness.”

He frowned, his brow furrowing. He was clearly perplexed.
“And why not?” he demand, wiping his hands on his jeans.
“I’m 72% sure I’m crazy and you’re a figment of my cracked mind.” she replied honestly. “You wouldn’t believe what my mind cooked up for me this time around.”

The Korean man raised an eyebrow and straightened back to a stand, crossing his arms.
“Try me.” he said. “I think you could at least explain.”

Shatter sighed, shaking her head. She couldn’t believe what she was about to say out loud.
“Because…” she started. She hesitated before continuing. “Well... where I come from, real people don’t talk with subtitles.”