imaginary field

40

Evan likes to play in his own memory corridor. He can't remember when that thing appeared. When he realized, this corridor already existed at that time.

It will appear anywhere, originally just a corridor, and then more and more, bigger and bigger, he can meet all the things he has seen here, whether it is a photo he has seen or seen in a movie Fragments of his past, or stories he had heard, he was never alone, nor did he feel that he was different from others until he later saw the outside world.

One thing Evan never hides is that Carlton is a liar, don't believe anything he says.He looked at Chris who was curled up on the sofa. There were some small wounds on the other person's face, which should have been caused before entering that space. The large sports coat was wrapped around him, making him look a little out of age childish.

Even in Evan's countless exaggerated fantasies, such a scene has never appeared.

"This is a maze." Evan said to Chris.

"You will also see Carlton's memory?" Chris asked leaning on the sofa, he looked a little curious, "Will he still appear?"

Evan looked down at Chris, "Maybe." Evan squatted down and pressed the other's shoulder, "I don't know when he will appear, you know, he is out of control."

His fingers lightly touched Chris' cheek, "His appearance is always without warning, but most of the time, he is asleep."

Chris was quickly soothed by the words, barely aware of Evan's overly affectionate gesture - it was completely different from him in the past - he sat where he was, watched the show on TV, and called Little yawn.

"Are you sleepy?" Evan asked.

"Maybe." Chris said, tilting his head, leaning on the soft sofa of Evan's house, "I should go back, Evan..." But before he finished speaking, he was already lying on Evan's bed on the sofa at home.

"Chris..." Evan called his name softly. Of course, he knew that the other party couldn't hear him, so he took off his coat and covered him with it. Then, in the TV cabinet, he found a Stack video tapes.

Those videotapes looked old, like the ones they had seen in the memory corridor, in that motel. Evan searched through the videotapes for a while, and finally found the one he was looking for.

He squatted down, put the videotape into the machine, and then he sat on the carpet and watched it slowly.

Beside him is Chris who is already asleep, and in front of him is the old TV screen.

This is an old movie many years ago. The first picture that appeared on the screen was in an old traditional southern restaurant. Most of the time, the camera lens of the movie was shaking meaninglessly among the electric fans on the roof and the crowd in the distance.

It wasn't until a few seconds later that a man appeared, a man with black hair and light brown eyes.

If it weren't for the motel at the time, there was only this movie to choose from. Evan didn't think he would watch this movie. It was a very old gangster movie. Evan couldn't remember the content. Say some meaningless lines, the camera shakes like a pornographic film.

But until the end, the only nudity scenes in the movie are those who died in the struggle.

It was a beautiful island, and many people died there, including the man who appeared in the beginning of the film—Carlton Bryan—if Chris hadn’t fallen asleep right now, he might have jumped up in surprise, Because it was almost the same as the Carlton he had seen before.

But he's asleep, Evan thought, looking at Chris sleeping soundly on the couch, turning his head to look at the retro TV screen in the living room, just like he said, Carlton is a born liar, the one in the movie The same is true of Carlton, who walks among those upper class people, looking confident-Evan doesn't know who this actor is, maybe he is dead, maybe he is old, but these have nothing to do with him. irrelevant.

He just made up an identity.

This is the most common amusement item for him lying in the confinement bed. He likes to make up some stories and then play in the corridor of memory.

In the end, he watched the world grow bigger and bigger. Slowly, when he was thinking about something, something would appear in that world.

But until his last death, no second person was allowed to enter that world. It was his imaginary space, everything he imagined.

"Chris..." Evan called out the name softly, he stroked Chris' cheek, the soft, defenseless Chris, which made many previous images appear in his head.

That was a long time ago—or in the future.

He kidnaps Chris, and it's in the house across from Johansen.

His finger slipped over the beer can Chris just drank, the finger was cut by the sharp spout, blood gushed out instantly, Evan looked at his injured finger, and slowly smeared the blood on Chris's face On the lips—like he used to do.

That was the closest thing to Chris in his memory.

Evan never thought he was a lucky person. He was born in a crazy family. His father met that crazy woman, and after she died, he transformed himself into her.

Until now, Evan can also remember how his father—or mother, imitated everything about the dead woman, arranged the house in the style she liked, imitated her way of dressing and speaking, even The makeup on her face was also imitated exactly, as if as long as it was like this, then she was still alive.

"Evan..." The voice of that person calling her name kept appearing in Evan's head. She looked a little thin, and she held a plush toy in her hand, and then locked him in the confinement bed, "It's too dangerous outside Now, you little lunatic." She always said this affectionately.

There are two people in his head, one moment is himself, the other moment is the woman he imagined, and he quickly drives himself crazy. He always feels that those stuffed toys have taken the life of the woman he loves most.

So he became a killer who specialized in hunting plush toys.

Evan didn't know how many people lived in her head. Occasionally, she was the father, sometimes, she was the unmarried mother, and most of the time, she was a lunatic.

So she locked Evan in the little confinement bed until she died, and Evan was forgotten in that closet—yes, there was no such thing as poor Carlton.

Evan thought, only Evan.

There are only his memories in that corridor, and he has placed his countless memories in different rooms, waiting for Chris to open them.

He wants Chris to know everything about him, his past, even those poor memories that can only be borne by Carlton, a fictional person-because he is worried that he will scare Chris-these memories are always A carrier is needed to bear it.

"Chris..." He gently stroked Chris's blond hair with his fingers. This was the most obedient time in his memory, and he would always remember the scene when he first met Chris.

It was a music festival, he was wearing a suit, and he was out of place with the surroundings. Chris seemed to have noticed him who was crowded in the front, squatted down, and put the hat on his head on his head.

——That was the first time he really saw Chris, and also the first time he met Chris.

Until then, he just lay in his confinement bed, listening to singing from next door, and playing an album he bought in his car before dying a second time.

In fact, Evan doesn't really remember his second death. He seemed to be killed by someone, and it seemed like an accident. When he woke up again, he found himself back to the time when he was 26 years old.

Then there's the third death, where he sees the murder in the motel, finds out from the internet that Chris is going to a local music festival, and then he meets Chris for the first time.

Then there was the fourth death, and he went back to the age of 23, and it was at this time that Evan discovered his crazy idea.

Soon comes the fifth death, who kills Johansen, kidnaps Chris, and commits suicide in front of him - Evan never denies that he is a madman.

He figured it was heredity, and they were all utter lunatics.

When he opened his eyes again, Evan found himself back to the time when he was 7 years old. At that time, Chris was not yet famous, and he was just an ordinary young man who was troubled by life.

When Evan was 17, he went to see Chris, who worked in the store, wearing a silly orange overalls and a hat with his blond hair tucked in a mess.

— the same as the old photo of Chris he had seen on the website.

That was Chris' past.

He wanted to go over and say hello, but he was afraid of scaring him, so he just bought something at a nearby stall and stood in the corner watching him.

He wants to see Chris, see more of him, he wants to be alone in his world... So he pulls Chris into the space he imagined, this is his paradise, he can control everything, Evan believes in the drawbridge effect. He feels that under certain extreme circumstances, it is easy for Chris to have a little trust in a friendly companion—yes, he only needs this little trust.

In order for Chris to have some fun with the game, Evan even thoughtfully gave some hints at the beginning.

Of course, in order to curb his crazy behavior, before entering the space, he arranged another identity for himself-Carlton-a villain who did everything before he committed suicide.

After all, when he saw Chris, he couldn't stop himself from wanting to touch and own him, he wanted to touch him, touch him, but he didn't dare to scare him, so there was nothing better than a sojourner better excuse for an evil spirit in a body

"Are you afraid of Carlton?" Evan gently stroked Chris' cheek, "Don't worry, honey, he will be good, as long as you stay here, he won't show up."

Evan is sitting on the carpet, which is actually a very simple matter. According to the hint he gave himself at the beginning, he is Evan who is alive for the first time, so he will not know Chris. After entering that space, he I did forget some things, feared with Evan, and really believed in the existence of Carlton, and even had some conversations with this so-called soul, until he came to the room where he had kidnapped Chris.

Only then did he discover that there was no Carlton, he was in this room, kidnapped Chris, then committed suicide in front of him, and planned all this.

"Look, this is the best time." Evan kissed Chris' cheek from the air, and there was a scream in his head, which was the scream of the woman—or man, before he died.

There's also Chris' angry yell and Johansen's horrified stare.

——He must hide all these memories in his corridor room, otherwise he will be driven crazy by these emotions and memories.

"No one else, Chris."

Whether it's the back of the black coat that killed Johansen, or the weird Carlton in the corridor, they are all images he fabricated.

Only Evan.

This is Evan's memory, Evan's world.

"We will meet again, no matter how many times, we will meet." Evan lowered his head and licked the blood on Chris's lips, "Honey, I know you need Rick, he is your important partner, But maybe you wouldn't mind having one more friend, one more close and trustworthy friend than Rick."

end

When Chris woke up, he found himself lying on the sofa at Evan's house. His sports jacket had become crumpled and Evan's coat was still on him. "I fell asleep?"

"Maybe you're just too tired," Evan said, holding a glass of milk and handing it to Chris.

Chris looked at Evan with a strange expression.

"?"

"No..." Chris looked at Evan's puzzled expression and explained, "I'm just not used to it." He hadn't met someone who would bring him a glass of milk after he woke up for many years. What I remember more is the empty beer cans that were thrown.

He accepted Evan's kindness, and after taking a sip, he found that Evan had turned on the computer and started working.

"I should go." Chris looked at the time on the phone screen and found the message from Rick.

"Wait." Evan said suddenly.

Chris turned around in surprise.

Evan came over, brushed Chris's messy blonde hair, and said to him, "Maybe this is the day the saga started."

Chris didn't understand what Evan was talking about at all, he just thought Evan was weird, at this moment, his cell phone rang, and Rick's voice came from inside——

"Someone is looking for you, a manager, he listened to your record, the one we recorded ourselves."

While picking up the phone, Chris said to Rick on the other end of the phone, "Another liar?"

"Do not……!"

When Chris finally came to where Rick said, he saw a man with light blond hair.

It was the man he had seen in the dream in the memory corridor.

Seeing Chris, the man came over and introduced himself——

"...Alvin?" Chris repeated the man's name.

Alvin held out his hand, "Need I introduce myself again?"

Evan turned on his computer and was working, of course he remembered what day it was

It's the day Chris meets his manager, Alvin.

A few months later, Chris successfully signed the contract.

From then on, the legend began.

END

The author has something to say: It's over, and the next part is the extra episode, explaining what Evan or "Carlton" has done.

☆, extra

The first time Evan died was on Thursday—of course, time meant nothing to him, he knew that the person was dead, and he was completely forgotten in this corner.

He could hear the neighbor's kid singing—not Chris's.

He may have been forgotten too, Evan thought wildly, his consciousness was soon immersed in his own memory corridor, here are the people he met when he was young, the girl he once loved, and the girl he once had. friend.

He still remembers the scene of their first date. Evan walked slowly in the memory corridor. He could feel the smell of his body's decay, which came from the inside of his body, and his thinking became Even more immersed in the vortex of memory, he was able to chat with the girl he had dated with.

And then he watched this girl talk all the way through the movie theater they had their first date—the only time they'd ever dated, and it was all the scenes Evan could think of.

He walked through the corridors, opened a door, and saw himself sitting in the living room at home. He seemed to be singing, and Evan and another self were sitting face to face in that room.

"Do you want to see him?" Another self was adjusting the film machine at home, remembering that Chris's first album was later released on vinyl.

“Yeah,” Evan said quietly, wearing a blazer and sitting in this cramped space—it was a trailer, something Chris’s songs often refer to.

He's never been to the trailer community, just heard snippets of his past in some of Chris's songs.

So the trailer community that appeared in this memory corridor, there is only a lonely car, with nothing around, and he and himself are sitting on the sofa bed in this trailer.

——In the eyes of Evan later, this fantasy is obviously unrealistic. After all, the interior of a trailer is not as big as a luxury yacht, and it cannot accommodate such a luxurious thing as a record player.

And he later saw the interior of the trailer where Chris had lived for a long time—it was messy, full of everything, the aqua blue coat he always wore was often thrown on the floor, and there were bits and pieces on the bed.

Rick pops in here occasionally, chatting with Chris.

But Evan didn't know it at this time, he was just talking to himself, and he could find that his body was getting weaker and weaker, and he was about to die.

He watched as Evan, who was sitting across from him, began to play the record - the content was intermittent, because he hadn't really heard it, and he couldn't even describe Chris's face.

Because he has not been locked in this confinement bed.

It's hard for Evan to explain coming back from the dead, but he can describe to you clearly how he died in that closed bed, and he even remembers the feeling of his body decomposing-yes, he Still "alive" at that time, he was like a soul trapped in a rotting body, and could only watch his body decay slowly.

His consciousness slowly returned to his own memory corridor, and when he woke up again, he found himself back in the body-that was when he was still young.

It was a long escape. The first thing he did was to strangle the person by the neck and stuff her into the confinement bed in the secret room. It was a small space, narrow, dark, damp, and smelling There was a lingering fishy smell, which was the trace left after excretion - Evan had to say that he still didn't dare to tell Chris such an ugly side.

So everything Chris saw in the corridor was beautified.

The real reality is far worse than what he has seen. It may be difficult for you to imagine such a scene. A person is locked in a coffin-like confinement bed. He can breathe, but he cannot speak or turn over. He wants to be free He couldn't even defecate, those dirty traces got him all over... In the end, he could only meet the nasty ridicule of that lunatic.

In fact, Evan couldn't remember exactly what he did at that time. He might have strangled that person's neck, or he might have smashed her head, anyway, he stuffed her into the confinement bed.

Of course, he didn't forget to put a photo of his own mother, so that "she" and her favorite woman will decay together.

It was an escape. Evan packed his luggage, drove the car, and left the house forever. If he could, he even wanted to burn the house down.

He did lie to Chris, he didn't go back to when he was young, he was a young man, he could easily resist that madman, sometimes Evan didn't know which part of the memory was real, different In different branches of time, his real mother had existed, like the woman in the videotape.

But most of the time, she was the transgender monster—he had no intention of offending transgender people, but that person was indeed a disgusting lunatic and monster.

Like his poor aunt had said, they were nuts.

While fleeing, Evan passed by a record store, which was a very old record store. He went in and found what he wanted in the most conspicuous place.

Instead of a photo of Chris on the album cover, it's a giant mask.

After Evan paid the money, he watched the TV in the corner for a while. He didn't know where it was, and walked out of the record store. No one found that there was a murderer here.

Evan was thinking, that person might be dead, or he might have been discovered.

He got in the car, put the CD in the player, opened the lyric book that came with the album, and there were some pictures of Chris, some of him in front of the trailer, sitting on the steps, Looking at the camera, he is wearing a large sports coat and a peaked cap on his head, covering half of his face.

Evan never thought that Chris would look like this, he imagined that Chris should be stronger, he looked at the face of Chris in the lyrics book for a while, then put the paper aside, he drove The car, accompanied by Chris' voice, drove forward aimlessly.

He doesn't care about where he will go, his world seems to have only endless monotonous scenery, and Chris's voice, this is a song he has listened to countless times-but he doesn't know the name of the song ——Until I just saw the lyrics book.

The memory corridor appeared in his head again, but this time, Evan who appeared in the memory corridor held a brand new album in his hand.

He hasn't included Chris yet because he feels he knows too little about Chris.

On the way, Evan passed by a motel. In that hotel, there was a murder case. On the second day he stayed in this motel, someone found the body.

Evan knew that someone would come to investigate the murder, so he had to leave—even if he didn't know if his "mother" had been found.

And when he was leaving the motel, he saw a message that Chris would be performing at a music festival, which was very close.

So he temporarily prepared to go to the music festival-this was something he had never thought about, after all, in Evan's originally planned life, there might only be musicals.

He's not used to carnival crowds, he squeezed in among young people with drinks and drinks, a group of people squeezed each other, yelling "We're here to see Chris" and squeezed through the others, and Evan followed behind a group of young people.

That was the first time he saw Chris on the stage. He remembered that he was squeezed to the front, and the people behind could almost crush him. His body and surroundings were other people's sweat and spilled beer drinks. There were yells and screams in his ears, and when he looked up, he saw Chris looking down.

The blue eyes seemed to see the embarrassed Evan, and then quickly averted his gaze.

"Chris..." Evan followed the person shouting next to him, and slowly called the name of the person on the stage.

Chris didn't look back, he quickly ran to another direction, and at this time, Evan felt as if he heard something...

It was an endless escape. Evan calmly looked at the crowd who came to arrest him. He didn't expect that the disappearance of that person would be discovered so quickly.

She may be dead, or she may not be.

Evan didn't care, it just occurred to him that the album in his car seemed to be in the car seat.

He took out a knife from his pocket, and among the panicked crowd, stabbed himself in the chest——

That was Evan's second death.

The author has something to say: There should be two extra episodes later, one is from Evan's perspective before the last death, including kidnapping, and the other is from Chris' perspective, with some other content.