Chapter 6: Master Jay

Abruptly woken by my morning alarm, I jumped out of bed to turn it off. That was a strange series of occurrences last night before I fell asleep. I'm not even sure what that was, or who that was… Frantically trying to recall the events prior to the experience, I remembered that I had an exhausting day at work and that blank faced customer gave me a slip of paper with something written on it. It was something short and vague but I guess I was so tired that I forgot what it read… Nothing to worry about, all I have to do is read it again to find out!

I know I kept it with me and put it in the zippered compartment of my bag. As I picked up my bag and placed it on my desk, opening the main compartment, I unzipped the small zippered pocket on the inside. But when I reached my hand in to grab it, my stomach churned…

It was gone.

That's just impossible, I KNOW I kept it in there!... Right?... Now that I think about it, everything about last night was quite bizarre. Was there really a note from that person or did I just imagine it? Am I just imagining all of the strange things that I've noticed these past few days?...

I sat on the edge of my bed, just staring at my bag on the table, then glancing at my laptop with my headphones beside it, then looking down to my legs and feet. It's only my tiredness making me forgetful, right? I thought to myself.

After a few minutes of confusing myself further with whatever theories I'd come up with, I decided to ignore it. That paper slip couldn't have been so important anyway, it was from someone who doesn't even know me, it can't possibly have any direct correlation to my life… I got up to open my windows and let the fresh air into the room, it was cool and crisp with a gentle sunlight illuminating the room. Birds were flying and singing their melodious songs, and the town was lively as usual. Maybe today will be a normal day after all.

My stomach growled a little, I was pretty hungry. I exited my room and went into the kitchen, my Mom and Dad were both home and they had already made breakfast. I'd hate to think they'd snoop through my bag, but I also wanted to make sure that there were no silent break-ins overnight. Because I swear it really felt like someone sat on the bed next to me and brushed their hand on my face last night...

"Good morning… Hey uhh, can I ask something about last night?" I asked my parents.

"Oh hi sweetie! Sure, what is it?" My Mom replied.

I explained how when I walked through the front door, I saw two dots of light in the darkness where the alarm clock is. And while taking a shower, it sounded like a door or window got slammed shut, asking if they thought it was a ghost, being that my room was so cold. I said nothing about the voices I heard from the hypnosis audios or the phantom touches I experienced. I mainly wanted to know if they saw anybody enter the house.

"Well the security system was on and the doors were all locked. Though I believe I have a perfectly logical explanation for this!" My Mom began to explain.

"While you were at work I was baking, I guess I forgot to close the window after letting the oven's heat out the room, my bad! That must've been why your room got so cold, and the strong winds must've slammed the window shut… And the digital clock visible from the doorway, I don't know exactly when, but it died overnight. Which reminds me we need to get a new one now! I highly doubt that anyone broke in without tripping the alarms, well if they did, they certainly didn't touch anything!" Said my Mom.

"Haha yeah, and I got home later than you, didn't see anyone or anything out of the ordinary. I think you're worrying over nothing, champ." My Dad added in.

If they both didn't see anybody, I guess it was all in my head. According to what they say it all adds up, but it doesn't explain how the paper went missing…

"Hmm, okay. I guess it was nothing to worry about, thanks for clearing that up. Maybe I'm just tired from work yesterday, that was their busiest day of the year after all…" I said.

We ate breakfast and had our usual morning conversations. Today I didn't have to go to work or class, and didn't have anything planned yet. So after breakfast I brushed my teeth, took out my water bottle from yesterday, washing it in the kitchen and drying it with a towel. Taking a peek outside the window, I saw that white cat again near the neighbor's house. That cat really likes to hang around this part of town, does someone feed him?… Hmm, now he's staring at me from a distance… He's got really blue eyes… I kept watching the cat for a short while and eventually refocused my attention.

I went back into my room and checked my bag for the slip of paper one more time, but no luck in finding it. It's only frustrating since I don't remember what was on it, maybe it said "go together" or "I'm watching", it was something vague, slightly unsettling, even familiar, I just can't put my finger on it...

Then I thought about the four people I met during the Medieval Costume Festival from a while ago. Maybe I'll ask them to hangout, they're really cool people. As I got my phone and unlocked the screen, I saw that Rex sent me a message which read "Call me as soon as you see this". I had no idea what was going on but I called Rex immediately.

"Hey Rex, what's up? Is it urgent?" I asked.

"Heyyy yeah, sort of? Can you do me a favor and come to my house ASAP? Hang up the phone so your family doesn't overhear this conversation as you walk out the door, and call me back when you're outside. If they ask where you're going, don't say it's my house." Rex said, in a frantic tone of voice…

"Uhh, okay got it, I just have to get dressed and I'll head over." I said.

"Thanks, talk to you soon." Rex hung up immediately.

Without second thought, I got ready as fast as I could and managed to head out the door without anyone noticing. If they text me and ask where I went, I'll just say I went shopping or something. Then I called Rex back.

"Okay I'm outside, I'm on my way, so what's going on? Rex are you okay?!" I asked.

"More or less, it's hard to explain. I really don't remember anything of these past days but everyone says I've been normal, just been "taking long walks in the woods occasionally". But I have no idea what they're talking about! I was surprised to learn what day today was! I feel like I had amnesia and suddenly woke up after an out of body experience, man!" Rex explained.

"Ohhh, oh wow, but how's that possible? Do you need a doctor?" I asked, while sprinting past people in town, navigating towards their house. They're not far away so I'd get there soon.

"I don't know! But according to my online activity, it says I did a few things on the dark web but that history's all deleted! I can only assume they've accessed your info as well. I'm so sorry, you may be in danger all because of my wreckless curiosity!" Said Rex.

"Don't worry about that, it's okay! I'm not mad or anything, I'm almost at your house, hang on." I was across the street from their house, waiting for the crosslight to change color, I saw Rex looking out the window. I waved my arm in the air to catch their attention.

"Alright I see ya, thanks so much for- … Wait…" Rex paused.

"Yeah? What is it?" I asked, slightly out of breath from running.

"Umm…" Said Rex.

"Huh?... What's wrong?... Rex?..." I asked, they paused for a short while.

I was watching the stoplights, it was about to signal "Walk" in a few seconds and then I could cross. They still remained silent, but I could hear their breathing getting louder on the phone…

"I-is something wrong?!" I asked again.

Now the light changed and I took a step forward, listening closely with the phone firmly pressed up against my ear.

Rex asked one question.

"Who's that man behind you?" It sent a chill down my spine, I turned around and there was indeed a man right behind me.

And I recognized him, I saw him in the fast food restaurant with the pocket watch the other day! He smiled innocently and began to cross the street as well, I turned around pretending not to notice, and I picked up the pace.

"Ohhh boy, ok I'm making a run for it, I don't know him but I've seen him before. I'm not taking any chances." I whispered into the phone.

When I got to the other side I ran between some buildings, in an attempt to lead this person away from Rex's location. Rex was still on the phone with me.

"Wait up. There's something odd about-" Rex shouted on the phone, but the connection broke up mid-sentence.

I didn't look back, I just kept running. And I noticed the deeper I went into the town, the less people there were. I eventually turned around and no longer saw that man, I took a moment to catch my breath.

"Okay I lost him, what were you saying again?" I asked, but there was no response. I checked the phone in my hand and it seems that they hung up. I called again and put the phone up to my ear, listening to the phone dial tone…

*brrrrrrrt… brrrrrrrt…*

With a quick look around, I saw a few people around me… Something was very wrong, this couldn't be right, none of them had any eyes on their faces! But the strange thing is that I could almost see them, but the image won't register in my brain. What was going on here?

*brrrrrrrt… brrrrrrrt…*

I felt adrenaline surge through my veins as I kept listening to the phone dial noises. And the longer I stared at these eyeless people, the more they seemed to stare back. I didn't know what to do.

*brrrrrrrt… brrrrrrrt…*

I ran back towards Rex's house. As I got there, there was already a small crowd of eyeless strangers blocking the doorway. I just ran away from them, it was leading me towards the woods past the edge of the town. While still waiting for Rex to pick up the phone…

I got out of the town and stood at the entrance of the woods, it was the only escape I could think of. Only then did I realize that all of the cars stopped driving and I crossed the streets without waiting for any crosswalks, in fact they weren't lit up at all. And this phone was dialing for way too long, it's supposed to stop ringing after 30 seconds but each tone was numbing my mind this whole time and I didn't pay any attention to it, I just hung up.

I turned around to see a large crowd of people without any eyes slowly marching in my direction, I faced the woods again, and I saw someone. At first I assumed it was the guy with the pocketwatch who was behind me earlier, then I realized this looked like the person I saw spying on me and Linda out in the woods!

"Hey! Who are you?!" I was confused and frustrated at this point. I ran towards him, he hid behind the tree. When I got up to that tree, no one was behind it…

I couldn't comprehend any of this! I could only hope I was just having the worst nightmare of my life and I'd wake up knowing none of it was real. Filled with dread, I turned around, the crowd of eyeless people were right there, now they were all smiling with these wide, outstretched smiles.

I backed away slowly. And then I bumped into something- no, someone…

"Hello there My Little Pet~" That familiar voice whispered into my ear. It was the voice in the hypnosis audios I've been listening to these past days…

I quickly turned around and stepped back to look at him. He was taller than me, I had to tilt my head quite a bit to see his face, I don't think I've actually seen him before. At least he had eyes, unlike the crowd now encircling the two of us...

"You seem to be lost, shifting your attention back and forth between the town and these woods to no end… Might I direct your attention towards something else~?" The man said.

"Wh-who are you?... What's going on?" I asked, then I noticed that it's getting dark, but wasn't it a bright sunny day moments ago?...

"Hehehe~ Don't you recognize me? I'm the voice of the hypnosis recordings that I know you love so much~ I am Master Jay." He said. Now it made sense, and this is the person Rex told me about from before!

"Y-you?... But why? Why are-" He cut me off mid-sentence.

"Shhhh… You don't even need to see their eyes, the only eyes you need to stare into are your Master's~ Why don't you do that now?" He slowly leaned forward with his hands behind his back.

"No!... I don't want to…" I turned away only to see both Rex and Linda among the crowd of eyeless people, he got them too, I was speechless…

"Hey now, that's not very polite... Look me in the eye while I'm speaking to you~" His hand tilted my face forward, and this time he had a different face entirely! Now he had the face of the guy with the pocketwatch and the neatly styled black hair! Were all these men actually the same person?!

I stared in disbelief as I began to hear the crowd of people starting to say "Join Us' in unison. That's what was written on the note that seemingly vanished overnight. Now it's all coming back, it makes sense, he planned this from the start and this was inevitable no matter what I could've done… Their voices became a monotone humdrum that enveloped the area. I blinked and this time he had curly brown hair and his eyes with a violet hue. His pupils even appeared to be swirling. It was becoming more and more difficult to hold my eyelids up and they were fluttering. Each flutter revealed to me the face of another man and it just cycled over and over again, and the voices of the people were just blending into an eerie ambiance. Everything was just dropping me deeper. And I also heard some meowing in the mix, that white cat was part of it too, wasn't he?...

"That's it~ You're going to join us~ I can make you feel this good all the time, and all you have to do is join us~ Wouldn't you like that? Nod your head 'Yes' *snap*" He commanded. And my head nodded on it's own.

It was nearly impossible to think, I couldn't even move from where I was standing. It just felt too good. Now I know why people are never found again after getting lost in these woods, I've finally unraveled the secret behind all those disappearances, but at what cost? Becoming one of them?... I won't accept this. At the very least, I have to try something!…

Moving my immobilized body was out of the question, but if he was using his eyes to hypnotize me, if I stop looking maybe I'll snap out of it. So I shut my eyes and braced for the worst, hoping that breaking eye contact would help. But this only gave him the upper hand...

"Aww there you go~ That's a Very Good Pet, closing your eyes and falling asleep for your Master Jay~... Come here, let me take care of you~" And he began to hug me, pulling me toward him and laying my head on his chest. I immediately went limp.

I managed to open my eyes again, but the moment he started swaying me back and forth in his arms, I lost all ability to fight it. I lost all my resistance and my mind was effortlessly melting with each gentle sway he pulled me into. It was so warm.

The people around me were still chanting "Join Us" and now that was the only thing left in my mind, no thoughts about my old life, no thoughts about the town's disappearances, no thoughts about the fact that I've finally uncovered the truth, all that matters now is that I will join them.

I want to join Master, I want to join Master, join us, join us…

Join Us… Join Us… Join Us…

The End

Author's Note: I hope you all enjoyed this fanfic! I came up with the detail of the "physical appearance changing upon blinking" at last minute. And thought it'd be interesting to say the phone dial noise could trance you a little. Thank you for reading my fanfic and I hope you had fun! I really enjoyed dimming the lights to type this while playing scary game ost's in my room at night.