The day had been an exhausting one so far - He had started his run at 4:00 AM, and proceeded to run for the next 4 hours without pause. He only stopped for a green light, as he knew his mother hated when he simply ran across the street when it was the crack of dawn and cars could hit him. He tried to resume his run when the light turned red, but upon lifting his legs, he immediately fell to the ground. Swearing, Luke realized he had stopped running while waiting for the light - his legs were incredibly tired after the run, and he had lost track of time and been running for longer than he planned. Sighing, he rose to his shaky feet and, after a great deal of difficulty, he made his way to the gym he worked part-time at.
He barely had time to shower and change for his shift at 9:30 AM, but luckily, he only had to scan people's memberships cards today. Thankfully, the manager had taken mercy on him and had made his schedule a lot less intensive - school was just around the corner, after all. Luke continued to work, pausing only occasionally when no one was coming in so he could massage his ankles. He had planned to do some dead lifts later today, but he knew that his mother would yell at him if he did in his current condition. After an 8 hour shift, Luke clocked out, and made his way home.
By 6:00 PM, he had arrived to his large home. He had never brought any friends over, having felt that they would be too intimidated by his wealth. Hell, the friends he does have don't know anything about his family - they most likely assumed that he was a poorer kid, considering how he usually dressed. Entering his home, he was greeted by the maids, who proceeded to cook dinner. Mother, as it seemed, was at a board meeting, and wouldn't be home for a few days. Sitting down to another, lonely meal, Luke finally made his way to his room at 7:00.
There was little to do - He practiced the breathing exercises that Dr. Matthews had instructed him to use when he started feeling poorly. Opening his eyes, he realized that it didn't help much.
Luke looked into the full scale mirror in his room, the one that his mother installed when she made a futile attempt to give him a more fashionable wardrobe. He appeared normal - at least, his upper body did. At the bottom of his torso, his legs devolved - mere vestigial strings, shaking delicately underneath the large girth and mass of his body. Sweat dripped down Luke's face as the small, noodle-like extremities began to grow thinner and thinner, growing exponentially smaller and smaller, until he could hardly see the flesh - even the bones began to compact, shrinking smaller than a thread-
Luke was on the ground. A foul stench hit his nose as he realized he wasn't just on the ground - he was lying in a pool of vomit. Rising slowly, almost uncertainly, he called for one of the maids, slowly making his way to the bathroom. When she made it the his room, she called out.
"You know I'll have to contact your mother about this, right, Mr. LaMotta? She told us to call her when this happens to you."
"I know... Let her know that I'm alright. I hate when ma has to worry."
Gripping his hand into a tight fist, Luke began to clean himself up. He hated feeling so weak, having vomited on the ground over stupid tricks his mind was playing. It was childlike, and it sohuldn't have any effect on him in the slightest. He ate a significantly smaller meal, chicken and oats. It was stupid to be so scared of something that was just his mind playing games with him... Jst him being weak...
Even while he thought this, he was extra careful to avoid eye contact with the mirror as he slipped into bed.
He didn't expect what awaited him when he awoke.
He had felt a small pulling sensation. He saw, in front of him another him - another Luke. He was in a void, and he sighed slightly. Not this nightmare again...
Unlike other times, however, this Luke was static. After what felt like hours, but was only a few seconds, the figure faded - In it's place, there was a rectangular reflection. The other Luke had simply been his own reflection. Nearly a solid minute passed, before a scene played out on the mirror's surface.
Green meadows, very fluffy clouds, and an expanse of warmth that felt almost unnerving. Closing his eyes, hoping for the dream to end soon, he felt himself launch into the mirror - he didn't even have time to open his eyes and see what catapulted his frame into the object. Whatever it was it had to be pretty strong, to launch someone of his size and strength so easily. Next thing he knew, Luke had landed inside of the strange world.
There seemed to be a small group of people, with Luke near the the right side of the group. Without warning, a small creature walked up to them - a rabbit. Or at least, a creature that looked like a rabbit. He was the first to open his mouth - or, at the very least, whoever was using the puppet had decided to talk first.
"Hmm...Well, this is... disappointing to say the least. Why, they look no different from any other human."
Quickly, a response followed from a girl nearby, wearing a sundress.
The creature, apparently using the alias "White Rabbit", introduced them to the "Wonderland." Luke silently reminded himself to not order chicken form the supermarket he usually went to - this was obviously a fever dream caused by food poisoning. And the day before he started his Senior year... Hopefully this wouldn't last long.
The others in the group began to converse ,going on about things like "Psychics" and "P3 Syndrome." Luke chuckled to himself - he heard about that terrible phenomena a few weeks ago on the news, and a man came into the gym today saying that his son had fallen into a coma 4 days ago. Luke's brain must have been trying to really scare him, or this was on hell of a dream.
Finally, the rabbit began to speak again.
"...Whatever information I can provide, I'll be happy to. But for now, there's no time to explain. For the sake of information, you're in the Butter Daisy Forest...or at least just outside of it anyways, and we're not out of the woods yet. Reasons for trust aside, something terrible is coming this way as we speak, and we need to get to safety now before it arrives."
There was a bit more talking, but Luke couldn't hear it - he had already begun to snicker, and by the time they said "monster" later in the conversation, it had erupted into full-blown laughter. It was barely between hard inhales that Luke was able to speak.
"This is- This is the funniest goddamn fever dream I've ever had!"
Rising to his feet, he continued.
"'Butter Daisy Forest?' 'Something Coming?' If this wasn't some dream I was having, I'd give this a 10/10, cause only something this ridiculous would happen in a children's show."
Luke continued to speak, speaking over a Taller, blond man as he did so.
"For god's sake, if this 'Monster' comes to a place like 'Butter Daisy Forest,' how bad could it possibly b-"
Luke was cut off upon seeing the mountain of a man - Luke's head only came to his chest, and he was about at muscular as Luke - No, he looked even more muscular. While this alone was intimidating, Luke knew more than anybody else - The taller you are, the more muscle you need to pack on in order to look intimidating. For someone of this size, he was clearly a man of strength and power...
God, Luke felt stupid. Why was he scared - this was a dream. A very, very realistic one, but still a dream. A smaller blond kid began to encourage everyone to start running, and while Luke would normally love to, there was a slight problem.
Luke's legs ached horribly, and if he started to run for his life without stretching first, he might pull a muscle... maybe worse. If that happened, and his mom came home early, she'd take him to the hospital... it was just what she did whenever he was hurt...
Luke wasn't going to the hospital. If he needed to run, he'd jog... yeah, it'd hurt a lot, but this guy was clearly heavy. The while his legs seemed extremely muscular, they'd have to carry his massive weight no matter what. Luke could outrun him, even if it hurt a little...
Reaching for his leg, he began to breath in through his nose, hold for 10 seconds, and breathed out through his mouth. Just like Dr. Matthews taught him... His legs felt fine right now. He couldn't have one of his episodes now.
Not on the off chance, the incredibly minuscule possibility that this wasn't a dream.