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| I'm sorry I'm not finishing the other story, but I AM writing again. It's a rough draft, but anyway here it goes:
I handed the man my money for item, it was like my personal key to another universe. Smoke steamed through his gruff lips as he exhaled. He also used them to hold his cigar in his mouth, but not very well. It would wander as he talked and he'd have to bring his hand up to make it more secure. It didn't seem to help for very long, but he insisted on holding it in his mouth. The smoke rose, catching on the brim of his brown baseball cap. His face looked like sandpaper, his skin was tan and the stubble dominated his face.
Inches behind the rust like gray of his hair lied an assortment of odd pipes. They went from fairly large to fairly small, but all very efficiently packed into the shelves. From there extended two more shelves each flanking me very closely, filled with collectors items I didn't even understand. He was sitting on a cushion cross legged, with a short table in extremely fine condition laying directly in front of him. Even though I could feel the breeze from the street upon my back, I still felt very claustrophobic. Even the light shining brown from his lamp was closing me in, but I still felt pretty excited.
I backed out of the place into the bluish dark street and began to run. People were scattered around the side of the street, the neighborhood was fairly low income. Still the streets were very quiet. The idea of that, where I had just been, and the darkness just encouraged me to run faster. The post rain streets were moist with every step, instead of hearing my feet clop, each step sounded more like a splat. I could feel the moisture sinking into my sneakers.
After about a mile of running I reached my apartment. Tired and still feeling the effects of excitement I fumbled with my keys to try and get in. It took me a while to get used to calling this home. From the outside the building looks abandoned. A few years ago this building probably would have been demolished. The hallways look more like a self storage facility than an apartment building.
The apartment itself has just enough room for me to live in it. My books narrow the snakelike entrance way so that the sides almost touch my shoulders when I walk through. It extends directly to the left after entering my door. After a few feet there is an opening to the right exposing my kitchen and bed. Just past them, my desk sits in front of a large portrait window. Papers and files that had overflowed were stacked on each side of my desk.
I skipped my normal entrance routine. I did not hang my coat up on the rack at the end of the entrance hallway and I did not even open the door to the bathroom greeting me on my left as I entered the room. Instead I headed straight to my desk and pulled it out of my pocket. The book was so slender and austere. The only design on it was some straight lines, and different colors, but only a couple. It felt comfortable in my hands too, the cover material was not something I was used to. I opened the drawer I had been saving for this occasion, tossed the book in and closed it. The compression and decompression of my chest in relief felt pretty good. As always the process of anticipation for something like this is always much more exciting than actually achieving the goal. I was happy though, I had been waiting for this moment for several months. The real question though was, what am I going to do with it?
Well, now that I had it and looked at it, it was time for dinner. I hung up my coat and relieved my bladder first though. I washed my hands even though I feel like touching those faucet handles really negates any washing I've already done. It still makes my hands feel cleaner. It seems like just about everything metal in this house is corroded in rust. Much of the paint is chipping to, especially at the corners. It doesn't bother me all that much though. I don't spend that much time at home, at least not awake anyway.
Though the range looked like shit it worked great. Somehow a pile of small bugs had gotten caught inside the timer of the stove and just died. I actually hate shit like that, but so much that I don't even want to go in and have to touch the carcasses to get them out. Also there were all sorts of dents all over the machine, left over from the guy I bought it from. He was a fairly seedy fellow, but when I think about it, it seems like most people are like that these days. Most importantly the stove works great and it was cheap, so I really didn't give a shit what it looks like or who I bought it from.
My fridge would probably be pretty decent too if the electricity here wasn't so unreliable. Sometimes it will go off for several days at a time, so if I get something refrigerated, it's with the intention of eating or using it very soon. I guess it's not like I need something around that always needs refrigeration though, so it's not a huge deal. As one could imagine, the power outage is annoying on a much larger scale than just the refrigerator. I carry a flashlight around with me whenever I go out, in case I have to navigate my way through a blacked out building to my room.
I cooked myself a stir fry with some chicken I had bought a day earlier. I always loved that feeling after I had a nice filling meal. Those were the last words in my brain before my thoughts started melting into sleep.
I didn't feel extremely comfortable where I was, but I was fine there. People were talking around me but it didn't phase me I just stood there. Naked? That made me a little more uncomfortable but I made do and looked for some underwear I could put on. Must focus on finding underwear.
I walked into the room slowly, they were an amalgamation sitting on the couch. The room was homely and reminded me of a suburban basement for a kid. Toys were on shelves. The amalgamation just seemed as much as a part of the scenery as the rest of the objects hanging around. Though everything else was possibly a little more out of focus than I would have liked it. I was standing on the stairs, I tried to look away, but then it said something. Jesus Christ how horrifying, how wrong. I slipped out of my half awareness in supreme terror.
Cries spewed from my mouth so messily as I woke up. I had to make sure I was awake before I could stop reacting in horror. How long had I been making noise? I took several deep breaths before getting a grip on myself. I stared at the clock until I focused. It was an hour before I had to get up for work. Light escaped from the sides of my curtain and into the room. I had to pee. | | |
| - natasha Alright, same disclaimer as before, DON"T READ this unless you've read the others!!!!!!!!! first. Alright here we go, I feel prolific, enjoy^_^
Installment 8:
I remember regaining a little consciousness in the bathroom. The shivers overtook me as my temperature was rising to normal in those hot, yet comfortable waters. I remember the sequential creaking in my subconscious. When my eyes opened I saw the spinning fan. It took me a while to put it together, my brain was quite woozy I'm not even sure where I was, or what woke me really or, for the matter, when I had fallen asleep. Nothing was quite familiar, but my mind wasn't working well enough to put together anything that was particularly unfamiliar. I didn't hold that consciousness for long at all. I hardly saw around the room, dimly lit. At my feet was the faucet and handles, one marked “C,” one marked “H”. I didn't even care if that meant anything. The 2 walls I could see were tiled to the ceiling, a light reddish color. There was a woman watching over me, she looked so familiar, those black teeth...
That cabin in the woods. What horror lies behind its walls? So familiar where is it from? The wooden sides, the warped windows, the warped roof. The wood had a dark moist look upon it. I am surrounded by darkness and trees, how did I get here? Am I lost in the woods? How the hell can I get back, where am I? Jesus Christ I need to run from this house, from those hollow sockets, down this stone path. Why can't I run fast enough, it is chasing me, I need to run as fast as I can, my legs feel waited and stiff. I need to move faster it is catching up, that horrible feeling in my chest. I know I can run faster than this, why aren't my legs moving? I have good balance why can't I stand? I need to run, I can't fall like this. I push myself up but my legs will not find balance. I need to stand goddammit. Where am I, where was I, where am I going? I am bending over this new artifact I have found, what is it? A skeleton, a human skeleton, but it's not completely decomposed. Touching its face it feels muscular, it's moving Jesus Christ my heart is pounding.
I woke up trying to scream, all I could produce was a frightened moan. I hadn't had dreams like that since I was in college. My friends had made fun of me for it. I would wake up with my brain on some sort of neural roller coaster. In many ways it was like a rush. I hadn't felt a rush like that in years. My dreams were like that too, not always in that order, but often that subject matter. Why would I have dreams like that now, I thought? I immediately proceeded with the thought where am I now?
I was in bed. It was centered against the wall facing a wall with a door to my right and left. I had never been in this room before. The walls were painted yellow. On one side of the bed, to my left, was a night table and a lamp. The shade over the lamp had some oriental design on it, the lamp itself was off. On the other side of the bed there was a dresser. On each side of the room, the ceiling came down to the floor. The whole room was almost uncomfortably symmetrical. The two doors were placed very similarly on the wall. The only thing really seeming to break it was the dresser as compared to the night table. It even seemed as though light were shining through two windows on the wall the bed is leaning against.
Light! I lifted the covers off of me to get out of bed. I was wearing some nice shoes, slacks and a white button up shirt. What had I been wearing before? I got up and looked out the window. The ceiling was lower than I thought, I had to hold my head bent over not to hit my head on it. It was foggy outside, must be morning. Then I saw it again, and the terror returned. I remembered everything. It wasn't a dream. I could see it out my window in broad day light, arm protruding from its back.
I had to get out of here, I started breathing hard, the short ceiling seemed much more oppressive. When I walked over to the doors I realized how short they were. Even though I was bending over, they were shorter than me. To get through them I would certainly have to get on my hands and knees and crawl. I tried the one on the right first, it was locked. So I tried the one on the right.
It opened into what seemed to be an empty closet, there was a bar there and even some hangers. I can't be stuck in this fucking room, I thought. I stared at the closet for a while thinking. I couldn't jump from the window, it was very likely I might break something and I knew that thing was out there, hell there are all sorts of things that could've been out there. If I broke something, there would be no way for me to get away. There was no way I could stay in this room either, even though it seemed like someone is trying to help me, I needed to get out of there. Then I saw it, a little piece of yarn dangling from out of the cracks of the back of the closet. I clumsily tried to grab it and finally got a hold and pulled. The whole back panel came right out of the wall, revealing a small passageway. I would have to crawl on my belly through it and I didn't know where it went. The thought hit me that maybe I could stay in this room. What was the worst that could happen? Someone was obviously trying to help me get better, maybe they are another actual person and want help getting out of here but what if they aren't? There is no reason for me to trust anything in this town. Not only did I feel I needed to take this chance while I could, I felt like finding the hole really made me feel clever. And I wanted to use it. I heard steps in the hall way, this was my time to choose. Passageway it is.
Copyright December 6, 2004 Charlie Chapple | | |
| - After a long, long wait, here comes installment 7 :). Don't read it until you've read all the other installments.
Installment 7
I could hardly remember running through the kitchen door as a stumbled out the side door. I had wanted to turn around and close it but I had come out at the top of a hill. My clothes might have been dirty and torn before, but that was nothing compared to the mud my shirt collected as I slid down from the house. At the bottom was a rusty metal fence that apparently wasn't too sturdy. I ended up knocking out the entire section where I fell into it. The thing made quite the racket too. No time to worry about it, I got up and dashed out towards the street.
There were no streetlights though. I could hardly see a thing, but I felt myself eventually running on asphalt. Where the hell was I? From the road I could see through the window the light that came from the static inside the house I had been in. I could see where I was, but I still wasn't sure what was around me. I stopped to catch my breath.
My heart was beating so hard in my chest, but I also fully realized how uncomfortable my clothes felt. There was a slight breeze sending gruesome chills up my spine. I felt like I may have also cut my hand on the fence or something, it stung. My shirt clung to my back in the back, while opening the breeze free to the skin on my chest. When I stood up from bending over the cold shirt coming to my skin made me cringe. Neither my pants nor my shirt were particularly soaked, just damp enough to make me extremely uncomfortable. All of my extremities were cold: fingers, toes, nose and ears. I tried to warm myself but it wasn't working.
Then I heard something. It sounded like a combination between footsteps and clicking. I looked around, my eyes had adjusted as best they could. Even with the moon seemingly fully obscured and the only real light in the area coming from the TV inside that house, it was enough to see that I needed to run opposite of the direction I was looking. It was standing about thirty feet from me I couldn't really make it out, but there was nothing earthly about it.
My legs felt quite heavy as I ran, slowing me down. Just the thought of slowing down frightened me. I followed the street, making some turns here and there. I'm not sure where I was going, in fact I was getting myself completely lost, but I had to get away from that thing. I couldn't tell if it was following me either. All I had was this vicious sense of paranoia pushing me forward. I don't know how long I ran, but I did eventually reach some streetlights that worked. At this point I decided to quickly look behind me to see if it was still following me, though I really did not want to know what it was. I didn't see it, which was quite the relief to me.
There really didn't seem like there was a place where it could hide either. It seemed like I was in the commercial district. There were metal grates in front of most of the buildings. Also there were signs that had names like “Ali's Bistro” and “Mountain Shop.” What was also promising is there seemed to be streetlights all along this road. I could even find a street name and find out where I am in the town. Do I have my map or is it in the car? I checked my pants pockets, my fingers were clumsy, moist and numb. Shit, I couldn't find it. However I did still have my wallet and a couple of quarters.
That's what I should do, I thought. I looked for the nearest pay phone on this street. I must have looked like quite the wreck. I was shivering so much I could hardly walk. A distorted look was pasted onto my face unconsciously because of how cold I was. Still I found a phone booth at the corner of a street. I can kill two birds with one stone, the name of the street was right above the phone booth on a street sign.
I stepped inside the phone booth and closed the door. I was still cold, but at least there was no breeze in here. I dialed 911 into the phone my spirits very much lightened. Not for long though. I think I went into shock, I dropped the phone. It knocked against the glass before just dangling there, swinging back and forth. I could see all of it.
The head was human shaped, however it did not seem to have a mouth. The jaw line seemed to move, as though there was one, but skin covered the entire area. The thing's eyes just seemed to float in their sockets. It's front arms looked human until the elbows, where giant talons protruded like huge fangs. Their legs seemed to be quite short and stocky. The feet however were humongous. An arm also protruded from its back. It was facing me.
I tried to panic my way out of the phone booth. I succeeded only in making noise. I didn't even want to look at it to see if it was coming closer to me. I leaned back against the phone to try and catch my breath. I heard its talons tapping on the glass, I don't know what for. It was one of the most eerie sounds I had ever heard. I thought about what I had to do before I did it, even though, that tapping made it so hard. I shoved the door aside and jumped out of the booth as fast as I could, which seemed to be just fast enough. The beast had smashed one of its talons through the glass, right where my chest had been.
I took advantage of its miss and ran. I ran until I found a shadowy ally way. I walked down it, my shivering was getting worse and worse. At the end, there was some nice grass and a view of the lake. It was quite beautiful and serene even though mist and darkness covered it so much I couldn't see the other side. I never knew I would appreciate such a sight so much. Especially with all this cold and pain to distract me. I realized I was very tired, I decided to lay in the grass and look upon the lake. I was shivering so much before I fell asleep.
Copyright December 1, 2004 Charlie Chapple | | |
| Haha aren't I prolific. Like I've said before, don't read until you've read all the others!
Installment 6
I got out of the corner after a little bit of thinking. Where do I even start in the house? There didn't seem to be anything in the garage. I believe it was the kitchen I came through to get to this one. But what would be in the kitchen? Well I guess I could look for more rooms. Interestingly enough there was a door behind me in that living room. It was the only other opening in this room aside from the windows and the kitchen. Behind the door was what seemed to be a closet. There were two coats in it. Behind them the shadows made it impossible for me to see the back of the closet. Well maybe to calm my nerves I could prove to myself this was a normal closet and touch the back. I reached my hand in, the back was much farther back than I thought it would be. I reached my whole hand in and still couldn't feel it. A drop of something wet landed on my hand and I jumped and slammed the door closed. I tried to wipe my hand off, but there didn't seem to be anything on it.
So I walked into the kitchen and saw a note there. Had Jean left it for me? I went up to read it. It was very messily written, like the letters were splattered upon the paper. It was crumpled, like it had been in a pocket for a while. The black letters read “check the basement.” Was it from Jean? Was it for me? Well why not, it's a place to start. A coffee maker caught my eye, I definitely wanted some coffee. I looked through the cupboards and actually found some. The water even worked and so did the coffee maker. So I started some coffee. My plan was to check the basement for a while and then come up to see how my coffee was doing. I just felt a little more relieved now that I had something to do, a plan.
The stairs for the basement were right next to the kitchen and an opening to another room was right past them. I went right for the basement and looked for a light. I didn't find quite what I was looking for, but there was a fueled lamp. My dad had once shown me how to use these things. It took a little time to remember, but I eventually figured it out. Lucky for me the matches were right next to where the lamp was hung up.
So it was finally time to investigate this basement. I left the door to the stairs open just to make things easier. The stairs creaked a little bit as I slowly walked down them. It sounded really irritating with everything else being so silent aside from the incredibly soft hum of the gas in the lamp.
What I found in the basement was a study. Whoever owned this house had worked down here on something. Papers and writings were everywhere. I looked at some of the book titles scattered down here. Some were religious titles while others were written in Latin or even Greek I think. I can't read either of those languages though. I was too anxious to sit and read through books though. So I looked at some of his notepads and papers. I found some very interesting things while skimming it over.
Apparently there was a small group of people in the town who had uncovered this object that was impossible to explain. It couldn't be described the notes said. There seemed to be some groups in the town that thought it was something religious, and others who were just researching it. Then one of the high school students in the town had stolen it from the people assigned to look after it. They found the object again, but the kid went missing, his name was Alfred Mellock. The notes talked of it as this happening a couple days ago, but they were dated 5 years ago.
There was also an interesting record on the history of this town on a desk. Apparently the object had been found over a hundred years ago in a child's bedroom originally. The town thought it was witchcraft but couldn't destroy the item. So they buried it. The child had...
I heard the door open upstairs. Next thing I heard was pouring, like someone was pouring my coffee out, but the sound was of spattering. It was not being poured into a coffee cup. This irritated me. But I hardly had time to be disappointed about my coffee, someone was coming. I decided to hide, I ran leaving my lamp on one side of the basement and running to the other and hiding under a desk. The lighting was poor, so if whoever it was came downstairs, I probably wouldn't be seen. I waited and tried to keep my breathing from making noise.
When it came down I held my breath. I also almost jumped and bumped my head on the desk, thank god I didn't. It floated down the stairs like it was on a conveyor belt, hardly moving. I could see the enlarged round bones where past those empty eye sockets lay. Something about the way its head turned towards the lamp made me so much more frightened. Like it's skin stretched upon the neck unnaturally. It's shoulders and feet followed its head slowly but it started moving toward the lamp before it made the complete turn. Those extended eye sockets bothered even looking at them from behind, they reminded me of its retched face.
I saw it began to turn away from the lamp, that's when I made my run for it. Lucky for me it only could move so fast, much slower than I. Sprinting up the stairs seemed to take a long time even though it wasn't at all. At the top of the stairs I grabbed the door and slammed it shut. I got one quick glimpse of that horrid thing right before the door was in front of it. Another reminder of that twisted face. I hadn't realized I forgot to hold the door shut, but apparently he couldn't get through. I saw the door handle move a little but the door did not budge. How the hell did he find me, I thought. Looking into the kitchen I saw the bastard had poured my coffee all over the floor.
Well, I thought, maybe I should check some of the other rooms in this house. Stepping out into the room next to the staircase I decided not to. Within that room, which seemed to lie between me and the rest of the house, I saw something of absolute horror. Trying to run out through the kitchen, I ended up slipping on the coffee, but still I got to the garage door, and out I was as soon as possible.
All I can say is, it was eating something and it had an arm coming out of its back. It looked big too. I took some really deep breaths in the garage before going back outside, my elbow hurt too, I had landed on it. None of this horror was sinking in. At this point I was acting on nothing more than fear and survival. I needed to get out of this place.
Copyright November 16 2004 Charlie Chapple | | |
| - Natasha - The long awaited installment 5 :). DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU HAVE READ THE OTHER 4 (in succession of course).
Installment 5:
It seemed as though the chair fell out from under me, I was so startled by that hand. My back landed against the coffee table and I knocked it over. I tried crawling backwards but only managed stumble. The coffee table was still in my way, I thought I was tangled in it, but eventually I was able to crawl back to the wall where I got my first good glimpse of her.
The static lit blue upon one side of her, the other was dark in shadow. I could hardly make out what she was wearing, but it looked old and dusty. The ends of her sleeves seemed to be slightly ripped, as was the end of her skirt covering her knees. I think she was smiling but it was hard to tell, it looked really strange in the light. Each eye was shadow. Her hair dangled above her shoulders, very straight as though it were doll hair. Bangs curled over her forehead.
“Hi Peter,” she addressed me. I had never seen her in my life before. Her tone implied nothing other than that she had been waiting for me. I did not speak, I tried to catch my breath or at least my mind. Her mouth closed to a smirk. She did not say anything more, she didn't even move. There was something strange about it. She didn't move in the slightest, not even shifting weight, not an inch of swaying. Had I imagined her talking and her smile? I noticed I was moving quite a lot in contrast. I just came to terms with how hard I was breathing, and my hands were shaking I didn't know what to do. I didn't have any questions for her, but shouldn't I have so many questions? The basic ones wouldn't even enter into my head. By the time I came up with any questions it seemed superfluous to ask them. Why would I ask an inanimate object?
I began to stand up. As I stood my trembling became much more apparent. My view shifted from thing to thing in the room, taking in all that was in it, which was not much. Other than the knocked over chair, the knocked over coffee table, the other coffee table and the TV, there was just a book case. The TV was so damn loud, it was really obnoxious. However the static was the only light I'd seen so far except for the garage. I decided to walk up to the TV, kneel down and turn it down manually. Slowly the volume reduced gradually as I continually pressed what seemed to be a fairly loose volume button. It worked though. I watched the green volume meter on the screen reduce until it produced no more sound.
I stood back up thinking about what I should do at this point, look through the house maybe? I certainly wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. I turned around and there she was again right in front of me. A big smile, every tooth black. Her eyes wide open with intent. I stepped backwards and stumbled over the TV which actually stayed in place. I backed into the corner. Her Asian face and hair style were much more apparent in the light of the static.
I stumbled out my questions, “who are you, where am I?” They came out so poorly and felt so forced. The words only had one driving force behind them, terror. I have only had dreams where I've felt this sort of terror and I would always wake up, with a strange sort of scream. That's how my questions came out. Mumbled and yet with volume at the same time, saturated in fear.
“What?” she said. A confused look came over her face.
I took a couple deep breaths, tried to compose myself. I attempted several times to speak and failed. The confused look stuck to her face, as though it had been formed that way. Maybe if I simplified it to just one question.
“Who are you?” I tried to articulate.
“I am Jean, Peter.” She said it very straight. It bothered me. The contrast between our composures was extremely eerie.
“Where am I?” I was a little more composed.
“Peter, you know where you are.” she said, again plainly. Her expression was now an eerie face of indifference. It frightened me almost unconsciously.
I needed new questions. If not for anything, at least to change that expression.
“Are you going to kill me?” that was awful. Where was that going to get me?
She laughed, those pitch black teeth visible again. She walked out of the room and into the kitchen. I stayed in my corner, I heard the garage door close. I'm not sure if I preferred having her here or being alone. She was certainly terrifying, but could she have helped me? I have no idea what is going on. That's the fucking question. What the hell is going on? That's not as important as getting out of here though, but how the hell am I going to get out of here? My car is out of gas, I don't know where I can find any gas stations. I'm fucking stuck. Maybe if I can find a phone I could call for help. Maybe if I figure out what the hell is going on I'll be able to figure a way out.
Where do I start? I'm so goddamn alone and confused. I don't feel safe anywhere, however, this house is probably the best place to start. It looks a lot more normal than the last one.
(Copyright November 14, 2004 Charlie Chapple) | | |
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