Chapter Twelve: The Angry God

The stairs led to three different floors but only the first and second were open, the third one was locked. Well unknowing why I've been lead here my only choice is to start from the bottom up. The first floor is my destination. The hallway beyond the door was extremely dark and the only visible light was the dim glow of the exit sign just above me. Luckily I found a small black flashlight on the stairwell. It's nice and compact and fits perfectly in my breast pocket firmly.

Well, I better start by checking each of the doors. I took out the map and positioned my flashlight to shine on it. I'll make way down the left checking all the doors on the left and then double back checking all the right ones. All of them were either locked or their locks were broken and I was unable to get in. Nothing useful must be in them then I decided as I turned around and started to open the door across from me. Surprisingly the knob turned smoothly, a small click, and the door opened.

It was an average apartment except for its poor condition and the stains on the wall that oddly looked like dry blood. There's a small kitchen that branches off to the left of me and a small closet to the right. In front of me was the main room filled with your typical furnishings, couches, tables, an armchair, and a TV. Also there were doors which led to a rancid bathroom and some pretty disgusting bedrooms I presume. It's warm in the room unlike the hallway outside. The windows are boarded up fairly clumsily and parts of the carpet are missing.

On a whim and an urge to "normalize" my situation I tried the power switch on the television half hoping for it to work. Yep, and as was expected, it didn't. Makes sense after all an abandoned town wouldn't possibly have electricity, who's paying the bills.

Now, time for the scouring to find hidden items or clues. I fell like the main character in some fantasy game searching for power ups and health orbs, shit like that, ha ha.

Well the search didn't turn up a damn thing and I'm sure I looked everywhere, every little nook and cranny you could possibly think of. I left, overwhelmed by a feeling that I forgot something. Maybe I had, but who cares.

All the next doors leading back to the exit where I came in were locked to and one of the doors was completely barricaded behind boards and plastic. Maybe it was sealed up to trap a monster. Two choices now I can either turn left and head north or continue going straight and then turn north.

"Was that?" A loud cry, like a baby, erupted from somewhere just to the left of me up the dimly lit hallway. I jerked my head over suddenly and started to walk, slowly, up the hallway, using the walls as a guide. As I came towards the end of the hallway a gate was present right in the middle of the hall. Behind it just a few inches lay a golden key. A dropped to my knees in excitement and reached through the bars towards the key. Just as I was about to grab a little girl came running up and grabbed right before I could.

"Hey!" I yelled at her. She stuck her tongue out at me and went skipping away. What the hell? Was that a girl or a monster? Out of options I went through the door just to the right of me. It was exactly the same as the other one save for a few minor details. A door on the left was slightly ajar and a faint light was coming through. I walked towards it and went in. The room I was in was madness. A faint buzzing noise is coming from nowhere and is scaring the ruddy hell out of me, also there's a greenish glow about the room, kinda hard to explain. There's a large old Grandfather clock resting against the wall and opposite that, a wooden dresser. Above the dresser names were carved into the wall rather crudely. Henry, Scott, and Mildred, and next to them arrows of different sorts. Probably the hands on a clock, makes since seeing as there's one directly behind me. Calmly resting upon the dresser was a crumpled piece of paper.

"Three different sizes,

time on the run.

three young men circling,

round the sun.

Henry is short and

Very, very slow,

Scot can't stop,

he's always on the go."

Ariddlehuh? Jeez I was never any good at riddles. I read it over and over again still not making sense out of it. Hmm, I know. I reach down into my pocket and took out a small notepad and a red pen I was using to mark the map with. I rewrote the riddle onto the first page. This helps me understand it more, like when you take notes in school or something.

The names are the same as the one on the wall. So Henry is short and slow he must be the hour hand on the clock, and Scott is the second hand seeing as that's the fastest. And it has to be a clock seeing as there are three hands and the center of the clock is the sun and the hands circle that. But what I don't understand is how the hell this is significant. Or how it freakin relates to the clock behind me. I craned my neck over and looked at it.

"So, you bastard, you freakin hiding something?" I said as I walked across the room towards it.

Hmm, the needles are stopped at 3:15. What the hell? It's locked! The face plate to the clock wouldn't open nor would it break when I slammed the butt of flashlight down on it. On the floor were marks, as if something had been moved. There must be something behind the damn clock and I'm going to figure this shit out. I walked to the side of it and bent over to examine the clock.

'The scars from the past shall remove the nail that stops time.'

"What the hell does that mean?" I thought it over at least a hundred times but still came up with shit. Fuck it.

I pushed the clock but it didn't budge even a damn centimeter from the position it's in. Like a goddamn rock, I thought. I pushed even harder yet to no avail.

"Fucking shit." I screamed at the clock kicking it, nearly breaking my foot.

"Shit!" I reached down nearly grabbing my foot, must've broken it. Soon after my foot came into contact with the side of the clock, a large, clearly distinct sound resonated from somewhere in my shoe. Shit. After a few moments of rest I stood up again and assured myself I was good to go. Well staying in this room any longer is practically stupid, the faceplate of the clock looks like it needs a key and the clock won't move unless you get the fucking Hulk in here or something. I sat down in a chair in the corner of the room next to a boarded up window and took out the map and red pen, marking everything on the map, the clock, all the rooms, yeh know all that sort of shit.

Soon after all that was done I left and headed back out the front door of the apartment into the hallway. Now let's see, I've already covered the left portion of the floor and now this. I'll head back down here checking the doors and then back out into the main hallway, head left checking those doors and then another left up the last branch. Hmm, yep and that'll be it for the first floor. Then I can check the others. Weary at the thought of all this I slowly headed down the hallway, tired not by fright but boredom. Shit, I still need to find a key for the third floor, not to mention the door in the lobby and the key to that fucking clock. Uhhhh, damn this is going to take for freakin ever.

As formerly predicted, all the damn doors were locked. What a bunch of shit this is. Someone must be screwing with me.

The last hallway and branch of the hallway all leaded into open unlocked rooms but two were only of any use, well one really but I'll tell you about the second one as well.

First, Room 208. Strange looking room, mannequins all over the place and dozens of overturned furniture. There was a window in the back, just behind an overturned couch and a coffee table, that was glowing with some odd misplaced red light. In the middle of the room was a mannequin on a stand, from the waist up. It was wearing Mary's clothes, those same ones in the photograph, the one's she was wearing when we were at Rosewater Park on that sunny day years ago. Frozen with nostalgia and grief I stood there in a stupor unable to think let alone move. Now listen to this shit. Straight from under the coffee table, a mannequin slid out, squirming and writhing about. It had no head whatsoever, just a fucking pair of glossy legs, a shiny torso, and another freakin pair of glossy legs for freakin arms! At first I didn't even think about it, I just stood there speechless looking at the doll in the middle of the room, drool slowly dripping out of my open mouth down my chin and onto the floor. But the motherfucker never stopped moving, at first I automatically inferred that it had somehow been dislodged from its resting place, but no. The shit slowly wriggled towards me like a goddamn snake until it finally stood up. I turned towards it, my whole body ice numb with terror, a monster was what it was. But it was different than the others and all the more horrifying. It skin, more like plastic, was a glossy tan color. I'm serious, it looked like a fucking mannequin, no questions asked. But somehow the motherfucker was moving, towards me if you want to know specifics.

Without hesitation I swung my wooden plank at the bastard but I missed. The sudden pressure on my foot caused me to cave downwards. I fell to one knee, the wooden plank flying from my hands across the room and hitting the opposite wall with a loud crack. I was there on my knees helpless and this fucking creature straight from some department store hell was coming towards me shrieking somehow. It was slow and that might have been what saved me. It walked like a baby would its first time discovering that its feet had other uses that being sucked on.

I went dizzy due to the unbearable pain bursting through my foot. I puked, all over the monster as a matter of fact. The thing stumbled backwards with a low grunt and fell down on the coffee table, shattering it into hundreds of tiny pieces, like it was glass.

I stood up instantly but yet again buckled in to the pressure and pain in my left foot. I fell down to the floor again. This time I didn't waste anytime, I crawled my ass across the room to where the wooden plank was and grasped in my sweaty hand and turned around and rested against the wall. The thing was just emerging from the coffee table wreckage and stumbling to its other feet. I slammed the power the switch on my flashlight down into the off position and threw my hands over my mouth only letting slivers of air get in through the tiny cracks in between my fingers.

Almost at once the mannequin monster froze in mid air and sunk deep into a catatonic state, like he fell asleep right there, standing up and everything.

"shit!" I whispered softly as I let my hand drop form my mouth down to my side. I stood up and picked the wooden plank up off the ground and held it firmly in my hand. It was extremely dark in the room without the flashlight on and I would have to be careful to get the fuck out of there without stepping on any of the shards from the table, let alone running into that thing and waking it up again.

I was almost to the door when I stepped on a large chunk of wood. It was thin and shitty and made a large "CRUNCH!" noise when I stepped on it. A loud shriek of pain signaled that the thing from hell had awoken, and this time he seemed pissed to hell that I had awoken him. The clumsy movements which dictated him before no longer applied. He was quick strong and agile. It came running at me quickly. I had no time to dodge it when one of its leg on the top part of its body swung and hit me square on the left side of my head, literally sending my flying across the room and slamming into a bookcase. Upon contact all the books fell out hitting me on the head. The thing slowly turned and started walking to me at a quick pace, it's feet swing madly in the air. Droplets of blood were falling me into my eye, blinding me.

"SHIT!" I screamed trying to wipe the blood away. When it was gone, the thing was right next to me and before I could move one of its foots came crashing right into my diaphragm sending a rush of air out of my mouth complete with blood. It stood up and readied itself for another blow, but I was too quick this time. I rolled over to the left and hit the end of the couch. I saw the thing swing one of its top legs as I rolled, it went straight through the fucking wall.

I stood up and half limped, half ran to the other side of the room. The thing turned around and started walking towards me angry as shit. It's arms flying madly side to side. I clenched the wooden plank in my hand and with an odd feeling of delight I sprang towards the fucker and whacked its legs. Blood came spurting out, spraying across the walls and on my face. This horrid piece of plastic has blood in it! Without wasting time I whacked it seven more times each at different parts of the body, mutilating it and soaking the room in a dark red ooze that slid down the walls ominously. The corpse of the mannequin lay in a bloody heap right in front of the door that left the room. I walked over two in a rush of victorious pride and I kicked him, knocking one of his legs clear off, sending it flying across the room. It landed right under the hole in the wall it had made not even a minute ago. I walked over to the hole and poked my head in curiously. When the hole was made it uncovered a long pipe like hole in the wall. I couldn't see to far in even with the flashlight blaring into it. Well, I had better. I stood my hand in, every second regretting that I had, thinking that when I pulled it back out nothing would be there but some bones and slimy blood, but nothing happened. Something sharp pricked the tip of my middle finger, I grasped the object in my hand and pulled my hand out triumphantly. It was a key, an old fashioned one, with one hell of a sharp tip. Third Floor, it read. Yes!

After a quick sweep of the apartment and coming up with nothing I left and went into the next room, nothing there either. But the next room, holy shit!

The minute I opened the goddamn door I nearly pissed my pants. In the kitchen just to the left of me was another one of the mannequins. But this time it was limp with death, and standing right over it, holding on to it, strangling it, was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen.

Another monster, like no other. It was huge nearly seven feet tall. He had a brownish covered skin rotting away in places, a apron on from his waist down to his greasy black boots. It was stained with dark blood and pieces of flesh. His head vanished under a massive red pyramid shaped helmet stained with rust and blood. In his left hand, in his blood stained gloves was a fucking massive knife nearly fifteen feet long. It was stained with blood and covered in pieces of rotted flesh.

Upon seeing him, the room started to spin and I became delirious. I cranked my head side to side frantically trying to find somewhere to hide. There was a closet a few feet ahead of me to the left. Without much thought I ran to it and slid inside and slammed the damn door shut. He heard me and dropped his victim down on the floor and turned towards the closet I was in, his knife cutting straight through the fucking wall as he turned! A loud rumble signaled that the apartment room was very close to collapsing. He walked over slowly, the knife sliding across the floor, leaving a thick three feet wide incision. I backed up against the wall. This is it, this is the end, this is the end goddamn it. Mary I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I started to cry.

Next to me on a shelf was an old rusty revolver and a single silver bullet. I slammed it into the barrel and aimed the gun through one of the cracks toward the pyramid thing and fired. Nothing happened, the bullet came in contact with his helmet thing and just bounce off. I saw it enter the wall across the room with horrid frightfulness. He shifted his head slightly and then continued towards me.

Dear God, No. Please make him go away. I'm sorry, just please make him go away, please, please, please.

This is it James, I told you to leave but you didn't now you have to be punished.

Please no, I'm sorry.

Too late, you little bastard, you have to pay.

No, I'm sorry, just make it stop, make it all stop!

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

Seconds later the Pyramid Head retreated. For some reason it just left the room. Oh God, thank you.

You shouldn't be thanking God, he didn't save you!

Well then who did?

Really, James, you have to ask that, ha, ha, ha!

I opened the door and walked out into the room. What the fuck was that thing! I was still crying, still not believing that that fucking horror had gone. Shit, where the hell did he get a goddamn sword like that. I fell down to my knees and puked all over for what seems like forever. To this day, that pyramid thing is the only thing that could instill any amount of fear into me. Who is he?

Oh, James, you know, he's the one who…..