Disclaimer: I don’t own Linkin Park… don’t sue!

A/N: Yeah, I’m back with another standalone. This can really go any way but I don’t know, let’s just see what happens (btw, the dualities in the italics are Mike’s observations/thoughts). Enjoy!

“Opposites”

“Polar”

Mike heard the loud alarm clock ring, which allowed for him to beat the defenseless thing senseless until it finally shut up. He groaned and rubbed his head as he got out of bed. Last night had not been a good night because a party he went to had a lot of differences, especially in the people that went. Happiness and Depression.

Some people were happy and bouncing off the walls and some people were drowning out their deep sorrows with large amounts of alcohol. The differences with all these people made his OCD go haywire and it made his head hurt and his demeanor surly. He on the other hand decided to remain sober because his head would have hurt more if he drank alcohol. Sober and Drunk.

Mike slowly walked over to his shower and after contemplating the differences with wet and dry he got ready for practice with his new band. Mike loved his band with all of his seemingly insane heart. The guys were something to live for, something good. When he arrived some smiling faces and some frowning faces due to sheer concentration greeted him. Smiles and Frowns.

“Hey Mike,” his oldest friend Brad greeted him. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, you know, ready to practice,” Mike replied cheerfully.

“Awesome!” Chester, the lead singer, yelled. “Let’s do this!”

“Hold on you guys,” Rob interjected. “Let Phoenix, Joe, and I work on this loop and then we’ll practice okay?”

“Okay…” Chester mumbled.

Due to the fact that this bad just started, Rob, Joe, and Phoenix were a little embarrassed to play because they felt like they needed to be perfect but they didn’t need to be perfect at all, mistakes were always accepted. Willingness and Hesitation.

A little after they played a set the band decided to relax for a little, talking in order to pass the time.

“You guys want to come inside my house?” Chester asked. “I swear to God, it’s a lot better than this garage.”

Sharing a good laugh they walked inside the house and to Mike’s absolute shock, Chester had a polar theme going on.

Everything was different, the colors of opposite walls were different, and the shapes and colors of his furniture were all different as well. Some were a little different and some were drastically different. Mike couldn’t help but get another massive headache and it made him lose a lot of his self-control.

“Oh w-wow Ch-Chaz, you h-have a nice th-theme g-g-going on here,” Mike stuttered.

Turning around sharply when he heard the stuttering voice, he was met with a very pale and frightened looking Mike who looked nothing like the man who had entered his garage earlier that morning.

“Oh my God Mike are you okay?” he asked frantically while the other looked just as shocked.

“Y-yeah, w-why would I n-not be al-alright?” Mike asked honestly.

“You’re stuttering a lot,” Brad said.

“N-no I’m n-not,” Mike replied.

“Yes you are,” Rob said worriedly. He was afraid Mike didn’t even know what he was doing.

“N-no I’m n-not” Mike wailed.

“Do you even notice your stuttering heavily?” Rob asked.

“I-I’m t-talking f-fine,” Mike said attempting to sound firm. Rob was right.

“Mike try to calm down,” Joe pleaded. “Take a deep breath.”

“It’s o-okay Joe, I j-just w-want to t-take in this h-house.”

“What do you mean?” Phoenix asked. Mike suddenly gained more confidence but his self-control was still awry.

“I mean everything. You know, the elaborate theme such as the way the walls on the left are painted black and the ones on the right are painted white, some pieces of furniture are round and some are square. The way all the depressing paintings are on white wall and all the happy ones are on the black one. That a double whammy right there! Differences, differences, what a genius theme Chaz!”

By this time Mike was shouting and the others were staring in alarm and shock. Mike breathed heavily as he regretted his actions. He had never expected himself to lose control like that and for what? Something his friends did not understand nor would ever get a confession from him regarding the sickness. Acceptance and Denial.

“I got to go,” he said hurriedly and ran out the room. No one had the heart to stop him… yet.

When Mike got home, he rummaged through his cabinets to find what he had promised to never look at again for so long but he always kept, just for good measure. After some work he finally pulled out a bottle of medicine his doctor had given him for his various mental illnesses (OCD was just the most noticeable). The bottle had said “take one every 4 hours” but as he thought about the band, the illness, the stress and the fact that there was now a visible crack in his outer “wall”, he put three pills in his mouth and swallowed. Sick and Well.

For the next few minutes, Mike started to feel effects that he had missed for a long time. Suddenly, the floor beneath him seemed very far away as he had the illusion, no, the real event of floating within and outside of him. When he looked down, he saw a cold world that he once belonged to but when he looked up, he didn’t see his ceiling, he saw heaven, with a beautiful blue sky that had the exact same fluffy clouds in opposing directions so everything was even. Everything was finally the same and he was rising to meet a happier fate. When he finally reached the sky, he laughed and smiled at the sight before him. He did not know how long he was there. A few minutes, days, hours, eons? All he knew was that when he heard a familiar voice looking up at him and shouting his name, he came crashing back to earth. High and Low.

Once again, the sun shined through the blinds of his window but his alarm clock didn’t go off. Perhaps he had forgotten to set it? That was a crazy dream, he thought to himself as he rubbed his head because he had yet another headache. He thought he could hear the sizzling of something cooking but he wasn’t sure if he was just imagining it. Was his dream actually real? Had he really gotten high the day before? No, it couldn’t be, he had promised himself never to OD again once he had gotten clean after two months for taking tons of pills. Had he relapsed? He thought he now heard the sound of humming so he decided to see if his dream was reality or vice versa. Dreams and Reality.

To his utter horror he saw Chester making some sausages and eggs in his kitchen. His dream really had occurred and it was hard to take in. Chester apparently was the one who had gotten Mike out of his high before he passed out. Chester was the one who had to see him like this. He didn’t know whether to stay in bed or not but it was too late Chester had already turned around.

“Morning Mike,” he said cheerfully. “Want sausages or eggs? Or both?”

“Uhhh…” Mike muttered. “I’m actually not that hungry.”

“Well at least drink some water then.”

“Okay…”

After eating for a few minutes while he drank water he knew Chester was on the brink of blurting out what he had seen yesterday.

“So Mike…” he started. “Do you even know what happened yesterday?”

“When yesterday?”

“When I found you here. What exactly happened?”

“In what state did you find me?”

“What?” Chester asked incredulously. “You mean you didn’t notice?”

“No.”

“You were leaning on your counter and saying ‘look, everything’s the same, the clouds, the stars, heaven’.”

“Really?”

“Yes, now what happened?”

“I-I… I took strong pills okay, they sometimes make me go loopy.” Mike knew it was a partial lie but he could never tell Chaz the truth.

“Pills for what?”

“Just painkillers, I had a massive headache that day”

“Is that why you were stuttering at my place?”

“I never did that.”

“Yes you did, even if you didn’t notice it.”

Mike started at Chaz in puzzlement, he honestly could not remember doing anything like that.

“You were angry too, you kept shouting about the fact that I had a lot of differences in my house. Do you not like it when things are different?”

Mike sighed, “It’s always been a massive pet peeve of mine from the start I guess. I’ve always seemed to notice and observe differences until they drive me crazy.”

“Sounds like OCD to me,” Chaz joked.

“Yeah…” Mike muttered. Suddenly it dawned on Chaz.

“It is OCD huh? That would explain the need for everything to be the same. Oh Mike, why didn’t you tell us?” Chaz seemed to be very confident with the fast answer he reached but he was only greeted by silence.

“That’s okay Mike, if you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to,” Chaz said only to be greeted with a sigh as Mike walked to his living room, sat on his couch, and began to cry. Chaz automatically rushed to his aid.

“Oh Mike don’t cry, please don’t cry,” he said soothingly but Mike was not pleased.

“I’m all alone…” Mike wailed.

“No, your not,” Chaz chided. “You will always have us.”

“Thank you and Chaz?”

“Yes?”

“Stay with me?”

“Of course.” Chester hugged Mike tight and rocked him until he fell asleep from exhaustion but before Mike fell asleep he saw the difference between Chester’s pale skin and his own dark skin. Dark and Light.

Mike woke up at about 8 o’clock at night only to be greeted once again by Chaz. Chaz was his normal, happy self and Mike was actually starting to perk up just because of Chester’s good attitude.

“Hey your house is by the beach, do you want to go for a swim?” Chester asked.

“What?” Mike replied. “That water’s cold!”

“Yeah but it’s a warm night, please Mike?”

“Okay, okay”

Soon enough the boys had their trunks on and they were headed off to the beach on a very warm night. Mike thought that the sight around him was beautiful, the full moon, the black lifeless ocean in front of him and all the time in the world. Chester and Mike decided to get in the water and Mike saw the beautiful reflection of the moon on the water and wondered why there were not tides. Perhaps the jetties were particularly deep or long but it didn’t matter, this was perfect. Moon and Ocean.

Chester went deep into the water and Mike went a little shallower as they adjusted to the water and started to swim around. Mike started to think about how the world may be different but if you make the connections with the different things, they make sense and then you can know the secret to how the world works. Maybe he can do that from now on. Realization and Ignorance.

As he was thinking, a large and fast ship went by about a mile away from them causing big waves to approach the shore. Mike though he felt some waves but he thought that was the tides caused by two opposites mind you, and that they would be big but suddenly they turned into bigger waves and Mike couldn’t help but smile. The ocean was finally acting like itself again. What he didn’t know however, was the fact a large rip current was coming and it stronger in deeper water.

“Told you this would be fun Mike!” Chester yelled, the pull was 200 ft away.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah I know,” Mike replied, the pull was now 100 ft away.

Mike started to walk to shallower shores because he didn’t like how the waves were acting now but Chester, being a good swimmer, stayed in deep water; the pull was now 50 ft away. Mike laughed a little as Chester splashed some water at him and sighed contently; 10 ft.

“You know Chester I-…” but when he turned around to face Chester, he was gone.

The ocean had swallowed Chester before Mike could finish his sentence.

Life and Death

FIN

A/N: So yeah what did you think? Good? Bad? Reviews are always adored!