Chapter 4: Lucky Bastard.
Riding the subway without his earbuds proved to be a nightmare. Compared to the whispers he was forced to hear ever since he was ten years old, the chatter filling the crowded carriage was no less annoying.
After just a few minutes, Mark gave up and launched his usual heavy metal playlist.
With the chaotic music shielding his ears, he began to notice something strange. A lot of people were staring at him, some whispering among themselves.
He looked down at his clothes and saw nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, he was looking much better than usual, having had the peace of mind to take care of his appearance before going out.
He glanced to his left and saw Lara sitting right beside him, looking ahead with an expressionless face, and realized that the people around him must be seeing something completely different.
Mark began to worry that his mental illness was visible to everyone else beside him. It wouldn't be strange if he was imagining other things, considering he was hallucinating a fictional character of his own creation.
'I'm not naked right now, am I?'
He tried to ignore the nervousness gnawing at the back of his mind and act as normal as he could.
It was quite embarrassing when he thought about it. He never cared about how others saw him before, but for some reason he felt awfully self conscious right now. Did his lack of sleep help him ignore a lot of things before?