The Secret History, Interdimensional travel, drugs
When Richard barged into Bunny’s room, it was already long past midnight.
Bunny was in his pyjamas, an old T-shirt with a faded logo of a band he hadn’t listened to in years and a pair of checkered, red pants, and he held one of the books they were to write an assignment on for the next week’s class. The dimly lit room felt quiet and comfortable, though also distant and secluded; the atmosphere almost otherworldly contrasted with the far-away sounds of the grand party penetrating through the thick walls of the building.
From the moment he laid his eyes on Richard, Bunny could say with the utmost certainty that his friend was completely, utterly, unequivocally out of it.
“Hello.” Though cordial, Bunny remained wary. “Everything alright, mate?”
“Yes.” Richard laughed. “And no.” He made a few steps towards the bed and sunk onto it right next to Bunny, slightly grazing his leg hidden under the duvet. Bunny wrinkled his nose at the smell of alcohol and sweat. Richard was most definitely drunk and high, but, most likely, it was not the only shit he currently had in his bloodstream.
“What’s wrong?”
For a moment, Richard stared at a singular point on the opposite wall, without a blink or a twitch of a muscle. Then, as if awoken from a dream, he jumped and looked back at Bunny. His eyes wide, nostrils flared, lips formed into something like a smirk but a bit too unhinged to be friendly. The discomfort grew inside of Bunny, but he remained seated in the exact same position as he had been before without averting his gaze.
“It could have been you.” Richard’s voice was almost a whisper.
“What?” Bunny shook his head, unnerved.
Richard leaned in closer until their foreheads were almost touching. “Before I came here, I had a vision of what it would be like if it was you, not me. A real vision. And I tell you, Bunny, my man, I’d much prefer that version of the story.”
Listing all possible drugs he could remember that caused hallucinations, Bunny asked, “What vision? What was it about?”
A frown fell onto Richard’s face and enveloped it like a mask. “I can’t tell you that.”
“Why not?”
“Th- They’d be angry with me. It’s a secret. No one can know what we’ve done.” The last sentence, he hummed. Then, a bit louder, he repeated, sounding the poor melody even more. “No one can know what we’ve done.”
A moment of silence fell during which Bunny was left unsure of what he should say.
“But in that vision, that... alternative world...” Richard picked back up his thought with a dreamy smile dancing on his lips. He looked straight into Bunny’s eyes, piercing through to his soul. “In that world, it was your secret.” Then, he closed his eyes and fell onto his back alongside Bunny as if to fall asleep. “I’d give everything for it to be your secret.”