I have to admit... it was your mention of hallucination that drew me here to read this story, as I love that kind of trippy, trippy thing. And you've certainly delivered well beyond expectations. Very nice use of symbolism and a very nice interpretation of IV's persona. The hallucination is amazing, with vivid imagery. Very nicely crafted.

There are a few occasions of abrupt tense shifts, though - though not strictly a tense shift, just word choice that felt as if you'd started writing in present tense halfway through. I'm not sure if this was intentional. If it was, it might have been better to have it later in the story around the conclusion.

Thank you for sharing!

This is such lovely writing! I admire how faithful you were to the theme of red, and the easy flow that went between one variation to another (like from redeye to stains to smothers to burns and so on), and, of course, IV's going towards the deep end told through the theme and imagery. And you got his character down- how he copes through the mask, how he becomes unrepentant, his crumbling relationship with his family.. It was short, but well-told and even kind of poetic. Thanks for sharing!