I am trapped.
Within the darkness I am lost; a fearsome trepidation has overtaken me and I am seized by the temperament of a terror known only to those who have been thrust into the horror of the unknown. I have been assaulted by that malicious force; he who has cast me into the blackness in which I now reside has done so with exorbitant glee; I can hear his laughter ring throughout the void even now.
Fumbling forward with the curious shuffle of one who been stricken very suddenly blind, I extend my hands in order to make contact with an object more tangible than the rapid pulsating of my heart; that alone serves as a reminder that I am still, in fact, alive. I can find no assurance, no solidification of my newfound reality, and can thereby only assume that I have, indeed, gone mad.
Yet still I see the body that has only until recently been occupied by my own person; though I no longer govern its movements. The demon that has overtaken me has gone forth in guise of my own personage, striking panicked awe into the hearts of those to whom he has appeared. He seems to be restless in spirit, endlessly wandering forward without aim or purpose, seeking only to cause destruction in both the physical and psychological sense. Intimidation lies at the core of this being, and I can only watch in silent agony as he goes forth and commits unspeakable evil. He is indefatigable in his thirst for corruption, in his search to explore the depths of the unspoken depravity that lies within us all.
I have, of course, remained silent in my acceptance of this unholy possession. To raise protest against one who has the capability to consume wholly and completely the entirety of one's soul is nothing short of foolhardy. It is only with fearful quietude that I have secured my safety; though, upon the occasion of one particular occurrence of a great evil, I have been forced to cry out in dismay.
That accursed villain who has come to lure my corporeal being - for certainly my soul has remained untouched by the corruption that exudes from the beast - into the pits of hell had inducted a sort of macabre, yet lyrical, dance of death with a particularly resonant member of society. It was with the inclination of one who has suffered a great injustice that the archfiend had set forth upon that darkened street; the promise of murder was harboured deep within him, and he had determined to impress upon London the capacity of the irrefutable power and cunning he solely possessed.
An elderly gentleman, who carried himself with an air of refinement and of genuine good-will, had stumbled upon the path of that bird of ill omen, and had proceeded with the obligatory succession of pleasantries with which one being shall greet another. This particular infraction, however slight, had sparked within that monster a hellish rage, and he set upon the man with a fury unmatched even by the devil himself.
Blow after blow, the creature sputtered a laughter composed only of maniacal glee; each upward arc of that cane was wrought downward with a ferocity powered by the unrestrained passion of a madman. The gentleman crumpled beneath each swing, his cries becoming weaker as the fury of my possessor grew stronger. It was only when the unfortunate soul had ceased his protests completely that the infernal being raised the shattered remains of that cane into the air, releasing a cry of wicked triumph.
It was then that I began to scream, to scream within the body that I no longer owned; I begged the devil within me to discharge from his grasp the remainder of my very essence. The blackness that surrounded me grew ever darker; the palpable despair that it carried within it cloaked me in the quiet resignation of hopelessness; I was never to return to myself. That empty expanse of space that had surrounded me was suddenly thrust into a great chaos; the ground beneath me shook and I was knocked to the floor in blinded terror. Pushing my hand backward, I came into contact with a rough, splintered object. Taking it within both hands, I set upon the task of examining it. It was with a gasp of perturbed shock that I came to the realisation that the mangled article that rested so serenely within my grip was naught but the shredded remains of a dismantled cane.
Rushing forward from the scene of his horrific crime, the barbarian sought shelter within the home that had once been mine; the hearth that had once brought me solace now struck dread into my heart. Though, he did not stop before the fire, which burned quietly in its place, oblivious to the criminal that now passed briefly through its comforting warmth; instead, he took to the lab, spilling various chemicals to the floor as he seemed to search for a certain vial, a certain remedy to the animalistic fear that gripped the entirety of his being. A rapid composing of various substances within a specific vial, which seemed to, in comparison to the items surrounding it, have been subjected to quite a bit of use, created an unseemly liquid that seemed to froth in tune with the frenetic beating of that monster's heart.
Taking it within a single hand, the creature brought the liquid to his lips, consuming it with the relief of one who has been extracted from the burden of some weighty responsibility. Suddenly, with an agonised cry, I was subjected to a pain that seemed familiar, yet completely unknown. I doubled forward, clutching the folds of my clothing as I raised to God the urgent prayer to release me from my torment.
It was soon after that I was released from the darkness; I was thrust forward into the light with such intensity that I scarcely repressed the desire to shield my eyes. I had bested the demon; or, as so the actions of my predecessor would suggest, he had relinquished his hold over me. I sunk to the floor, my chest heaving with the ragged breaths that burned in my lungs. I stretched out my arms, in order to be certain in the acquisition of ownership over myself.
It was then, as I found clutched within my hands the remains of the very cane that had appeared to me in the darkness from which I had only recently been liberated, that I regarded the peculiar sensation of blood being lost from my face; the quivering of it spurred the vitality of me in its retreat.
What had I done?