Crimson Vision

Chapter 2: My Home and Its Mystery
Its darkness; its emptiness; its mystery.

I stand alone in darkness.

Slowly deteriorating, its past forgotten leaving only fragments behind.

I am alone in darkness.

Day in and day out thoughts provoke me of its mystery. Taunting me, pulling at my conscious. Forcing me to search for answers.

I live alone in darkness.

I know no one yet everyone knows me.

Again I stand alone in the darkness of my home during the daylight hours. Dust slowly rising from the floor and furniture. Windows boarded up to keep the light out. The wooden floor creaking here and there. And me…standing dead along with my home, but never deteriorating. I've explored the house every now and then. Little by little finding out secrets that have been long forgotten. Secrets that mean nothing to me. Down in the cellar I feel content but the higher I ascend I into the house…the more fearful I grow. The mysterious room that stands alone at the peak of the house, the room I awake in after a forgetful night. It drives me away when I try to go near it. A certain guilt fills me up and I flee back down the steps. Why do I continue to try and get into the room? It calls out for me, that's why.

How many years I've spent in this house, I do not know. I woke up one day and since then lived my life in darkness. Now I sit around and wait. Wait for the daylight hours to leave so I may go where I am 'most needed'. I often wonder about the old antique furniture of the house. Where it came from, who belonged to. During my outings at night if I'm lucky I may get a chance to read an account of the house and its past residents. All the stories are different, but they all end the same way:

"A scream was heard that traveled for miles and when police forces arrive a corpse of a far beyond dead person is found in the upper room of the house. Blood covered the wooden floor and the person's body was so mutilated that they were unrecognizable. For months no one came to identify the person and so the body was buried in the town cemetery. Knowledge of this person residing the old house was not known until their death. Now the house and the surrounding grounds are kept as a reservation in remembrance of a lost soul."

After reading this story over and over again, I now feel that there is a reason that the room calls me. But I fear the room for it taunts me as well. Blaming me for something so horrid that I don't even know what it is. Even after I wake up in the mysterious room with no memory, it begins to shout and scream at me. Blaming me, accusing me, forcing me out…and I wake up down in the cellar where I feel content. But instead of having no memory I remember every painful second of it.

Sometimes when I walk through the house, my home, thoughts fill my head. Strange thoughts of laughter and happiness that only baffle me. When there are children wandering around my home during the daylight their voices trigger more strange thoughts that leave me wondering what is calling out to me. I quickly try to forget them and continue on with my dead life.

The daylight hours are beginning to fade away. I sit in the dining area and wait for the late hours to arrive. Then I leave, new trench coat and shades on. The same surroundings as any other night. Empty streets with laughter coming out of the bars. 'Impure' beings wandering the street drunken and full of rage. And me…walking the streets, stalking in the shadows and finding my victims. But tonight I see something new to this small town. Three new beings I have never seen before out at these late hours. All of them just like me. An orange fox, a pink hegdehog, and a blue hedgehog that looked like my opposite. They were on the other side of the street casually walking and conversing. As we pass, the hedgehog catches me and our eyes meet. Time slows down as we stare at each other. Then I turn into a dark alley and disappear.

From my hiding place in the alley I watch the three walk out of sight.

"Where did they come from?" I asked.

Promptly forgetting the strangers, that sensation overcomes me and I disappear into the night. After leaving the home of another victim I take to the streets again. I do not see the strangers again for the rest of the night and head back home satisfied with this evening's feeding. Back inside my home, I lay on the couch in the main room staring up at the ceiling. I wonder where the strangers could've come from and why were they here. They didn't seem like the type that would be wandering the streets during the late hours. Maybe it was just a coincidence…or maybe the mysterious room had called them here. Whatever the reason was I didn't care. I had my share of blood for the night anyway.

I began to feel weary. My eyes grow heavy. Soon I nod off to sleep on the couch, peacefully and still. Suddenly someone calls out my name.

"Shadow." the voice whispers.

It was the mysterious room once again calling me. It always calls me when I try to rest. Rarely do I ever get any rest because of the room.

"Shadow." the voice calls again.

"I'm here." I answer in return getting up.

"Shadow…come closer."

Tediously I walk towards the steps; the voice whispering as I go. It tells me to come closer and that it needs me. As I make my trip up the stairs, the steps creak. The voice whispers to me getting louder and louder as I head to the top. When I reach the top the voice calls out to me again.

"Shadow…come closer…I need you."

At the top of the stairs it splits into three paths: One on my left, one on my right and a stairwell straight ahead. I look ahead at the stairwell that leads to the door of the mysterious room. Pacing myself, I begin taking baby steps towards the stairway. The voice continues to call for me and I answer it back. Finally I reach the stairs leading up to the mysterious room. Afraid of the voices shouting at me again, I stand frozen at the foot of the stairs. The voice calls out to me again.

"Shadow please come closer…I need you."

"I'm coming." I answer back.

I take one step…nothing happens. I take another step…nothing happens. Then I trudge up the stairs. Getting closer and closer to the door. Suddenly it begins.

"Shadow!! How could you!?" a voice yells at me.

"You murderous monster!! Go away and never return!!!" another shouts at me.

The angry voices slowly fill my head. The pain begins to grow making it worse. I become feeble as the voices continue to shout at me getting louder and louder.

"No!!" I scream. "Go away leave me be!!"

My plea falls on deaf ears. They continue with their accusations and insults. The pain intensifies as I fall to me knees on the stairs.

"Please stop! I did nothing to deserve this! Stop!!"

Then when I can't take the pain anymore it happens. The ear piercing scream fills my head making me limp. I fall back down the stairs screaming along with it. And then…darkness.

I wake up on the cold floor of the cellar. I feel content, rested, the voices out of my head. The pain is gone and I am guiltless. Slowly I get up and look around in the dark cellar. I approach a desk in the room and open up its drawer. A cigarette pack and a lighter are inside. Taking out one cigarette and the lighter, I light the drug and take a puff of it. Blowing out some smoke I feel more relaxed and lean against the wall.

"Mysterious room I fear you." I say out loud. "Yet why do you keep calling me?"