The Five Signs
"Must stay awake... so tired... must stay in the lig-." It is too late he fades of into the world of darkness where anything is possible. Paul awakes suddenly out of sleep, to find himself in a dark room. "What? How did I get here?" he says looking for signs of life. "Who turned off my lights?" he said again to an empty room. He quickly opened his nightstand drawer, trying to find a flashlight or a lighter or something. Sifting through the papers and old wallets he finds a used lighter, from when he used to smoke.
He fumbles with the lighter trying to light it. he hears a creek in the corner of his room. A subtle moan comes from the darkest corner of the room. He quickly turns his head towards the corner looking to see if he can see something. "Damn lighter, work." he yells at the lighter. "Please, their coming, work." after a few more tries with the lighter he gives up and begins to sift through the drawer again, hoping to find another lighter. A crunch, like the moving of old tired bones comes from his closet. It is cracked just the slightest bit, he doesn't know why. He gives up with the drawer and slowly pulls his bed sheets away from his lower body. He jumps from the bed and starts running toward the kitchen. He darts around the leather couch and the Lazy Boy chair. He stops suddenly and hears a sound like a closet door swinging opened and hitting a wall. Realizing he doesn't have much time, he finishes running to the kitchen. Then he remembers that before Sam disappeared he that he told him that they cant be in the light, they will disappear. The creature was right behind him, chasing after him. So he jumped for the light switch and just as he turned it on the creature jumped into the kitchen. Then the room was flooded with light and the creature was gone. He felt a flood of relief flow over him, then sat at the old wooden table in the center of the kitchen. The kitchen light began to flicker. He looked at it momentarily and then began looking through his kitchen drawers and cabinets. He found an old silver flashlight and a few batteries in one drawer. He heard the snap of something in the other room. Realizing that he would have to go in the dark to get to the front door, he looked in another drawer for something else as a source of light. He cut his finger on a knife and then sucked on the blood to stop it from bleeding. he then picked up the knife and decided to use it in his defense. The flashlight was old but it still worked. He turned it on then off again a couple of times. The light flickered again. He placed the batteries in his pocket and tightened the grip on the knife. The creeks and snaps sounded closer. The phone rang a couple of times before he knew it was ringing. He picked it up. "Hello?" he whispered.
"Hey Paul, you got a minute?" said the voice on the other line. "Help me, IT is in my house." "Who is in your house, man. Oh no, did you forget to pay off the loan shark again?" "No! IT'S here." "Who Paul? You have to tell me who. Or else I can't help you." "IT." then he dropped the phone to the ground. Then the light goes out. Paul quickly turns on the flashlight. "Come on, Paul, you can do in. They're not really their, its all in your mind, just walk over to the door, and leave." He thinks to himself. Reassured that he is alone in his apartment and there is no such thing as a shadow creature, he walks towards the door. In the middle of the living room Paul shines the flashlight all around himself, looking for signs of life. Out of all the things to go wrong, his old flashlight flickers and then goes out. He starts to hear the creeks and snaps again, and this time they seem closer. He frantically searches his pocket for the extra batteries. But instead he found the lighter he gave up on. Then he pushed down on the trigger of the lighter and it didn't work. The noises were getting closer. He tries the lighter again. Doesn't work. "Come on, please." then he tries again and it lights just in time to se the creature standing right in front of him. It didn't really have a set body form, but it had two glowing red eyes and a mouth and lots of sharp teeth. The creature lets out a screeching howl that sounded like something was dying. Then Paul took the knife and stabbed it in the mouth. The creature slowly fell to the floor. Paul ran out the door as fast as he could.
He had spent the night in a public library trying to find out what those things were. Before Steve disappeared he gave Paul his old diary and told him to read it and study it. Paul had only read a few pages of it since him and Sam had spoken. But what he had read so far was very strange. Billy had written, in his childhood, "IT came for me again tonight. This is the third time this month that the shadow creature has come." And Paul wondered if he meant the night creature that he had seen just hours ago. He also read up on the history of delusional images. He found that creature are often the common things to see when your delusional. But he knew he wasn't just seeing things. It was really there. He felt it. It couldn't have just been all in his head. When the final hours of the night faded into morning, Paul searched the town for a therapist that, at least he though, would help him. Then he remembered something about Steve saying that his friend Jill had a trusted therapist named Dr. Helk. It was interesting that he found Dr. Helk at a child center. Paul did not know that Dr. Helk was a child therapist and Jill had gone to him as a child and an adult. Dr. Helk had asked if he was Jill's boyfriend, whose name was also Paul, he responded no. Paul asked the lady at the front desk of the hospital if there was a hotel near by. He didn't feel like going back to his apartment in the next city. She had suggested two nice hotels that where only a few blocks from Dr. Booth's office. He decided to check into the closest one, which was only a few blocks to the right of the building he was in. The outside of the hotel looked very nice. It had two big doors with a big sign in the top of them. The sign said, "twins hotel" in big red letters. It wasn't in a bad part of the city either. He checked to make sure that the street was very well lit before entering the hotel. Inside was a nice little lounge with leather seats and metal tables. On each table was a little card that had "welcome" on it. In the middle of the lobby was the front desk. " May I help you with your bags, sir." said a rather tall bellboy, he was probably eighteen. " Yeah sure." Paul said handing the boy his shopping bags and a twenty- dollar bill. " Next." " Next!" " Oh, sorry I was just looking at that painting." Paul said to the lady at the front desk of the hotel. " How long will you be staying, sir?" she replied. " Umm.two weeks." He said unsure how long it would take to find out what was wrong with him. " Okay sir, that will be sixteen hundred dollars and thirty cents." " Debit okay." Paul said handing her his debit card. "Yes sir." She said taking the card and running it through the scanner on her desk. " May I see some identification please." " Oh, sure." He pulled out his Drivers license. But before he gave it to her something caught his attention. His face on the drivers license. It had been mangled and was bleeding. Then he felt something on the back of the license and turned it over. On the back there was a hole and it seemed to be bleeding, like a cut on your arm, subtle at first, then kind of a gushing effect. " Sir?" " Are you okay, sir?" " Hello." He looked at the lady, then back at the license. It wasn't mangled anymore. It seemed perfectly fine. " Your license please." " Oh, yeah, here." " Hey," he paused to look at the ladies name tag, " Marcy, do these lights stay on all the time?" " Yes sir, they do." " Thank you." She handed him his debit card and a room card. " You will be in room 203, that is on the second floor. Is that alright?" Taking the key he asked, " Is there any stairs or fire escapes in this building?" " Yes sir, the stairs are located at the end of each hallway." " Thank you."
Paul made his way to the room. " 200, 201, 202, and 203." He said as he passed the doors that were before his. He unlocked the door and opened it. The room was very dark, the shades were shut and the lights were off. He placed his hand on the wall and felt around for the light switch. " Come on where are you?" He turned on the light and scoped out the room. It had a very nice sitting room that separated the door and the bed. He turned on the two lamps beside the table in the sitting room. Then went to check out the bathroom. "Wow!" He said in awe. It was big for a bathroom. He once again felt the wall for the light switches and found them. There was a combination bath tub-shower and a double sink counter. After he turned on all the lights, he approached the closet with a slight fear. " Oh my God, you are thirty-five years old man, and you cant even look in a damn closet?" He thought to himself. He reached his hand out to the door of the closet and quickly opened it. Nothing there. He decided that a nice hot shower would help him relax. The shower was a bit bigger than his at his apartment was. And it had one of those silk-like plastic curtain things. He hated those, the water always dripped out of the shower and when you get out, you step in a flood of water. He was right it was relaxing. He thought he heard something though. He looked out of the curtain. " I could have sworn I heard something." He thought, "nah, it's probably the shower. He decided it was time to get out of the shower and go to bed. So he stepped out of the shower, grabbed the towel off the rack. And stepped in the flood of dripping water from the curtain like he expected. But wait, this didn't feel like water. It's way too thick to be water. So he looked down and says that he was standing in a pool of blood. "No, it's not really there." He thought. But it didn't go away this time. After he got dressed he checked the floor to see if the blood was still there. It was everywhere like someone had been murdered in there. There were fresh streaks of blood on the walls. Then he closed his eyes and looked again. There seemed to be something written on the wall. " Paul.Paul.Get out Paul.Go home." Was transcribed on the wall with blood. He was confused, who knew he was here? He stared to clean the blood off the wall and floor. But when he got to the mirror, he saw something that he had never seen before. There was "I'm here Paul!" cut into his arm. He started to get really scared. Then turned the sink on and made a cup with his hands. He tried to wash his face off and see if he was dreaming. When he stood up and looked in the mirror he saw that the bathtub was overflowing with blood. The curtain opened and sitting in the tub was his dead wife. She had committed suicide a year ago. " You cant run from it Paul" she said." It will follow you, everywhere." Then she started to laugh. It wasn't her laugh though; it was a laugh too evil to be hers. It almost sounded like the shadow creature from the apartment. It was the same. The creature didn't screech at him, it laughed at him.
"Sir.Sir, are you okay?" "Hello sir?" "Huh, What, who are you?" Paul said opening his eyes. "I am the cleaning lady sir." The lady said with a Spanish accent. "How did I get on the ground?" " I do not know sir." Paul sat up and looked to see if the blood was there. It was gone." Did you clean up the bathroom?" "No sir, just the sitting room." "Alright, thank you." What had happened? And how did he get on the ground? He must have blacked out he thought. Paul tried to remember what had happened. He remembered seeing the blood on the wall and the cuts on his arm. And he remembered seeing his wife and the demon laugh that came out of her. It was six o'clock already. He had to go to see Dr. Helk to tell him what he saw.
" It was real, I remember standing there and feeling the cuts on my arms." Said a crying Paul. "Are they still there?" Paul pulled up his sleeves to see if the cuts were there. He found nothing. "They're gone." Dr. Helk gave him a strange look. Half of Paul thought that the Dr. thought he was crazy and the other half of him was scared, like he'd seen this before. "You know, before Jill disappeared she left this list for me." The Dr. handed him the paper. "She said 'if anyone came in my office with the same things I went through, give them this.'" It had about eight names on it with phone numbers next to them. "What is it?" "She said it was a list of people who could help you and their phone numbers. And she said to say that Jill said to call, they'll know what to do." "Alright thanks Dr." "Call me Bill." "Alright thanks Bill." "See ya in two days or so."
Later Paul decided to call one of those people. The first name on the list was Ginger Keens. He picked up the phone and dialed the number. "Hello?" said a female voice on the other end of the phone. "Is this Ginger?" "Yes, who is this?" "Hi, I'm Paul San, Umm. Jill said to call." "Is she there?" "No, She disappeared a few weeks ago." "Nope she's dead." "Oh, She left this note saying that you are one of the people that knew what to do." "Okay, where are you?" "I'm in the twins hotel on Brook str-" He got cut off. "I know where it is. Meet me at the dinner two blocks from there in ten minutes." And she hung up.
He walks into the dinner she was talking about and looks around. It was a typical city dinner. Old booths, dirt looking floor, silver sides of the counters. "Paul?" Asked a woman sitting in a booth, four booths from his. "Ginger?" He asked. "Yeah. Get over here." "So Jill's old therapist told me that she left this list of names and said to call them." He said pulling the list out of his jacket pocket. She took it and looked over it. "Waitress? Can I have a pen?" "Sure young lady." Said the Waitress at the counter, and through her a pen. "Thank you." "Oh, you're quite welcome dearly." Ginger began to cross out names on the list saying, "Dead, Dead, Dead." Then looked at Paul. "Paul is it? "Yes." "Can I see your palms please?" He looked at her like she was weird. "Just do it." "Okay." He put his palms on her side of the table. She pilled out a small battery operated black light from her pocket. "What is that for?" "I'll show you." She took his left palm and ran the black light over it. Nothing appeared. Then she took his right palm and at the center of it was some sort of sign. "Ah, just as I thought" He looked at the sign. It was a circle with five lines pointing out of the circle. "What is that?" " It is they're mark on us. You see every time they worn you a line out of the circle gets darker. You see that you only have three. One comes as a child along with the circle. After all your lines are dark you have one more encounter; then-" she paused and looked down at the table."-You die." "Encounter with what?" "Have you not been seeing the shadow creature?" "Is that what that is." "The first encounter is as a child and you won't remember it. The next is the shadow creature itself, in pure form. After that it's a dead love one. The next will be in the form of a cut and the last will very depending on the person." "How do you know this?" She took of her gloves and showed him her palm with the black light. There was a circle with five dark lines and a hole in the middle on the circle. " You have it, the mark. But shouldn't you be dead?" "You see you don't really die, They just call it that. What happens is your mind is erased and you are forged with a mark. This mark only shows up under ultra violent rays. But it means that you are not going to heaven nor hell when your mortal body dies." "Then where will it go?" "Your soul shall be thrown into a cloak and you will be forced to live in the other world and become one of them. You will become a Shadow creature. You shall be forced to drive people insane and make them want to commit suicide, then steal their souls and make them one of you." "But how do you know this?" There was a sudden crash outside the dinner. Two cars collided and people were screaming from inside the cars. Paul looked out the window to see what was going on. When he turned back to ask the question again, Ginger was gone. She had left the paper with the numbers on it though. She also left a note on the paper. "Your fourth line will come tonight." "But haven't I already had a cut on his arm?" he thought.
Paul walked back to the hotel in which he was staying. " Welcome back Mr. San." Said the bellboy. But Paul didn't hear him. He was too busy thinking about the next sign. On the way to his room he realized that words were appearing on his arm. Like someone was talking to him in the form of a cut on his arm. It said, "Why did you come back Paul?" Then after he read it, it disappeared. "I warned you Paul." It wrote then disappeared. Paul took a razor from his spare shaving razors and wrote, "I'm not scared of you." And it disappeared. "Well you should be. I am your worst nightmare Paul." "You're not real" "I'm as real as your dead wife Paul. She's here with me now." "You mean that you made her kill herself?" "That's right Paul." "Why?" "Because you didn't deserve her Paul." "I'm not scared of you. You'll never come out of your shadow." "Don't be too sure Paul." Then the cuts began to form the shape of narrow eyes and a mouth. Then the mouth began to speak, "I am as real as death itself Paul, you know that death exists, you just don't know what it feels like. Do you want me to show you Paul, is that what you want." Then the cuts disappeared along with the face. Paul looked around like it was some kind of dream, except it was real. Then the cuts came back. "I'M HERE!" Then the lights all went out and all Paul could see were two red eyes coming from the closet. "Is this what you want Paul, you want to feel death. I can show you death" "Sure. Come on shadow. Eat me up and take my soul." "Do you still believe I'm not real?" "Yep." The eyes came closer and jumped up and landed on the top of the couch beside Paul. Standing on the top of the couch hunched over was the shadow creature. Paul could see that it had taken a semi-human form. He could also see its teeth. Then the creature jumped from the couch. Paul didn't see where it went. Then all of the sudden he felt a breathing down his neck. The hair on the back of his neck was standing on end. "How about now?" The creature said biting Paul's shoulder. "Did that feel fake to you?" Paul was in a massive amount of pain. He couldn't feel his arm and could taste the blood coming out of his mouth. "No. But what you have forgotten is that I've already sold my soul to the devil!" Paul screamed as he opened the curtains and flicked a switch on the ground. Four big lights came on; they were ultra violent lights. The shadow creatures teeth, eyes, and stomach lit up. Paul then grabbed a pre-placed kitchen knife and started to stab at the creatures lit up parts. The creature was trapped in the ultra violent rays. Paul had stabbed it to death. He had read in Steve's diary that they would turn mortal if caught in ultra violent rays. Just as Paul made his last stab, a shrieking scream came out of the creature's mouth. Then it's stomach burst into a bright light that was too bright to be artificial. And out of the light came the shrieks of its stolen souls that had now been let free.
The next mourning he found himself awaken by police putting handcuffs on him. "What did I do officers?" "You are under arrest anything you say or do will be used against you in the court of law." "But what am I charged with?" "You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney of law, if you do not have one, the United States government will provide one." Paul stopped walking along with the policeman. "What did I do?" He screamed. "Paul San, you are charged with first degree man slaughter." He responded. "Who, where?" " Right there." Yelled the cop pointing to the corpse of a man he had never seen before. Who had multiple stab wounds to the stomach.
Paul was thrown in jail for the night and was allowed one phone call to call who ever he wished. He decided to call Ginger Keens, he thought that maybe she would plead with him or something. "Hello." Said the female voice that he recognized from the last time they spoke. "Hi, Ginger, its Paul San. Umm. we met in the dinner and talked about those shadow creatures and the signs." "Yeah I remember." "Well it was in my hotel last night and I killed it." "You did what?" "Yeah, I killed it. Then I fell asleep and I woke up in handcuffs. It turned into a real person. They're charging me with first-degree manslaughter. What do I do?" "You do know that no one will believe you, right?" "Yeah, but I thought if I could prove that they did exist. Then maybe I could get the charges dropped." "No. They will not believe you. My friend did the same. His name is John Tade." "Can you please testify with me. Please Ginger. Please." "No. You have to listen to me. If you plead insane then the charges will be dropped, but you will have to go to the mental institution. That is your best chance." "But that's not what I want." "Paul that is your best chance! Just do it." Then Ginger paused. "Paul I have to act like I don't know you." "No, No. Ginger please, no!" It was too late she had already hung up the phone.
Paul was now in a small dark room that had one light in the middle of the metal table which was bolted to the cement floor. There was a long mirror in the room; it didn't look like a normal mirror, though. He was pretty sure that it was one of those double-sided mirrors they used in the movies and television shows. He was told to sit in the wooden chair on the right side of the table. Paul had also noticed that there was also a camera in the upper left corner in front of him. A lawyer entered the room escorted by the guard outside of the room. The heavy metal door slammed behind him and the guard locked it. The lawyer was not his own, he had been provided by the government. Paul had never dealt with lawyers before. This one looked like he had thought he would: Tall, Thin and in an expensive-looking suit. "Paul San?" The lawyers stretched out his hand too shake Paul's. "Yes." Paul said shaking the lawyer's hand. "Hi, I'm Mr. Duncan and I will be your provided lawyer in this case." "Okay." "You have been charged with first-degree manslaughter, Paul." "Yes I know." "Okay there will be a detective coming in momentarily. He will question you. I am just hear to tell you what questions you do and do not have to answer." "Alright." Paul said as the Mr. Duncan sat in the other metal chair next to him. The door unlocked and in walked the detective that was investigating him. Paul had never dealt with the authority either. Except one time when he reported a domestic disturbance, but that didn't really count. "Paul this is detective Miller. He will be questioning you." Mr. Duncan said as he rose to shale the detective's hand. Paul did the same, except Paul had to lift both of his hands because he was still on the handcuffs. "Could we get those handcuffs off him please?" Detective Miller took Paul's hands and unlocked the handcuffs and put them on the table. "Can we start know?" He said to Paul's lawyer. "Go ahead." "Aright. First of all, what is your name and date of birth." Paul looked at Mr. Duncan. And He nodded confirming that he may answer the question. " Paul San. February 6, 1977." "Did you or did you not commit first-degree manslaughter?" Paul once again looked at his lawyer. "Don't answer that Paul. It has not been proved yet." The detective looked behind him at the mirror then continued his questioning. "Where were you last night at around ten o'clock PM?" "I was in my hotel room." "And were you alone?" "No." "Who was there with you?" Mr. Duncan put his hand on Paul's chest. "HE doesn't have to answer that or any other questions." "Okay, than we will have a court hearing tomorrow at seven o'clock AM. See you there." Then the detective went up to the door and pushed a button on the side of it, which told the guard to let him out. "Okay Paul. Your best chance is to plead insane." "But it wasn't a man it was a shadow creature." "Paul, Please, Spare me the drama. You need to plead guilty." "No. I am not guilty or insane." "They have more evidence that you are guilty then I have you are innocent.' "What?" "They have a knife with your finger prints on it. That also has the man's blood on it. They have witnesses saying you looked very demented when you were going to your room and a lot more. Paul please, this is crazy." "I am not crazy! Guard! I am done." The guard came in and escorted Pail back to his cell.
"I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. Not crazy." Paul whispered to himself, rocking back and forth on his bed. " What really happened?" He thought to himself. He couldn't really remember what had happened. He remembered the dinner and coming home from it. He remembered the cuts speaking to him on his arm and then killing the creature. Stabbing it to death. There was a big blank spot right after that. Then waking up in handcuffs. He only had a little bit of time to rethink what could have happened. He only had two hours until his hearing. "Could there have been someone in my room and I came at them with a knife? I don't remember."
He had been in the courtroom for a least a half-hour. It was his turn to approach the stand and to be yelled questions at. The lady before him was the cleaning lady from the hotel. She said she found him on the floor past out and he asked if she saw anything on the wall. Paul went to the witness stand and sat in the wooden chair behind the small booth-looking stand. The bailiff came up to him with the bible. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God." Paul placed his hand on the bible and said, "Yes." The first to question him was the governments opposing lawyer. "Paul San." The lawyer said raising his eyebrows. "have you been staying in a hotel for the last few days?" "Yes, the Twins Hotel." "What room number?" "203." "What happened the night before you were arrested?" "Well first, I went down to the dinner a few blocks down the street to" He paused remembering what ginger said, "get a sandwich. Then I went back to my room and" once again paused, "started to see cuts appear and disappear on my arm. They were talking to me. So I took a shaving razor and started talking back to them." "Do you still have those cuts?" Paul rolled up his county jail issued jumpsuit sleeves. "No they're gone. But I swear they were there that night." "Mr. San, did you have a few drinks before returning to your hotel room." "Objection, your honor there was no signs of alcohol involved." "Denied." Yelled the judge. "Proceed." "No, I haven't had any alcohol for years." "Continue the story please."
"Then this face appeared on my arm and started t talk to me. Then it jumped out at me. Then I saw two red eyes in the corner of my hotel room. Then it attacked me. And it bit my shoulder."
"Do you still have those marks?"
"No, but they were there too."
Mr. Duncan slams his head on the desk. He had nothing at all to prove he was innocent.
"Continue."
"Okay, then I jumped for the window and pulled the shades and turned on a few black lights that caused the creature to become mortal, then I stabbed it to death. And that's all I can remember."
"Thank you, I rest your honor."
"Defense?"
"Your honor, my client is insane. I have tried to get him to say what really happened and what he just told the court is what he believes to be what happened."
"It did happen!" Yelled Paul. "It did!"
"See your honor? Defense rests." "This man is obviously insane and is here by sentenced to a mental institution. Bailiff take him away."
"Hey, how are you doing?" "I'm okay." Smiled Paul. "How's Shady Hills?" "It's not bad. Nice people here and good food. Very beautiful." "Yeah." "I really did kill it. Didn't I?" "I really don't know what you are talking about Paul?" "Did you call Ginger Keens, like I asked you to?" "Yeah and. there isn't anyone by the name of Ginger Keens in this area. The number you gave my was a number for a pizza joint right outside of town." "That cant be right." Said Paul grabbing Dr. Helk's shirt. "She's real. She's real. Please believe me." "No she's not Paul. You know at first I thought that you shouldn't be in this place. But now I think you really do. Guard, I am don here." A muscular guard with a "Shady Hills" shirt on came in and escorted Dr. Helk out of Paul's room. "No." Screamed Paul. "Don't leave me here! No!" "Come on Paul. It's time to go to sleep." Said another guard. "If you want to get up on time tomorrow for that wonderful breakfast we prepare for you, you have to go to sleep. Oh, yeah and please stop screaming that the shadow creature is here. It wakes the other patients. If you don't stop we'll have to put you in the padded room again."
"Must stay awake... so tired... must stay in the lig-." It is too late he fades of into the world of darkness where anything is possible. Paul awakes suddenly out of sleep, to find himself in a dark room. "What? How did I get here?" he says looking for signs of life. "Who turned off my lights?" he said again to an empty room. He quickly opened his nightstand drawer, trying to find a flashlight or a lighter or something. Sifting through the papers and old wallets he finds a used lighter, from when he used to smoke.
He fumbles with the lighter trying to light it. he hears a creek in the corner of his room. A subtle moan comes from the darkest corner of the room. He quickly turns his head towards the corner looking to see if he can see something. "Damn lighter, work." he yells at the lighter. "Please, their coming, work." after a few more tries with the lighter he gives up and begins to sift through the drawer again, hoping to find another lighter. A crunch, like the moving of old tired bones comes from his closet. It is cracked just the slightest bit, he doesn't know why. He gives up with the drawer and slowly pulls his bed sheets away from his lower body. He jumps from the bed and starts running toward the kitchen. He darts around the leather couch and the Lazy Boy chair. He stops suddenly and hears a sound like a closet door swinging opened and hitting a wall. Realizing he doesn't have much time, he finishes running to the kitchen. Then he remembers that before Sam disappeared he that he told him that they cant be in the light, they will disappear. The creature was right behind him, chasing after him. So he jumped for the light switch and just as he turned it on the creature jumped into the kitchen. Then the room was flooded with light and the creature was gone. He felt a flood of relief flow over him, then sat at the old wooden table in the center of the kitchen. The kitchen light began to flicker. He looked at it momentarily and then began looking through his kitchen drawers and cabinets. He found an old silver flashlight and a few batteries in one drawer. He heard the snap of something in the other room. Realizing that he would have to go in the dark to get to the front door, he looked in another drawer for something else as a source of light. He cut his finger on a knife and then sucked on the blood to stop it from bleeding. he then picked up the knife and decided to use it in his defense. The flashlight was old but it still worked. He turned it on then off again a couple of times. The light flickered again. He placed the batteries in his pocket and tightened the grip on the knife. The creeks and snaps sounded closer. The phone rang a couple of times before he knew it was ringing. He picked it up. "Hello?" he whispered.
"Hey Paul, you got a minute?" said the voice on the other line. "Help me, IT is in my house." "Who is in your house, man. Oh no, did you forget to pay off the loan shark again?" "No! IT'S here." "Who Paul? You have to tell me who. Or else I can't help you." "IT." then he dropped the phone to the ground. Then the light goes out. Paul quickly turns on the flashlight. "Come on, Paul, you can do in. They're not really their, its all in your mind, just walk over to the door, and leave." He thinks to himself. Reassured that he is alone in his apartment and there is no such thing as a shadow creature, he walks towards the door. In the middle of the living room Paul shines the flashlight all around himself, looking for signs of life. Out of all the things to go wrong, his old flashlight flickers and then goes out. He starts to hear the creeks and snaps again, and this time they seem closer. He frantically searches his pocket for the extra batteries. But instead he found the lighter he gave up on. Then he pushed down on the trigger of the lighter and it didn't work. The noises were getting closer. He tries the lighter again. Doesn't work. "Come on, please." then he tries again and it lights just in time to se the creature standing right in front of him. It didn't really have a set body form, but it had two glowing red eyes and a mouth and lots of sharp teeth. The creature lets out a screeching howl that sounded like something was dying. Then Paul took the knife and stabbed it in the mouth. The creature slowly fell to the floor. Paul ran out the door as fast as he could.
He had spent the night in a public library trying to find out what those things were. Before Steve disappeared he gave Paul his old diary and told him to read it and study it. Paul had only read a few pages of it since him and Sam had spoken. But what he had read so far was very strange. Billy had written, in his childhood, "IT came for me again tonight. This is the third time this month that the shadow creature has come." And Paul wondered if he meant the night creature that he had seen just hours ago. He also read up on the history of delusional images. He found that creature are often the common things to see when your delusional. But he knew he wasn't just seeing things. It was really there. He felt it. It couldn't have just been all in his head. When the final hours of the night faded into morning, Paul searched the town for a therapist that, at least he though, would help him. Then he remembered something about Steve saying that his friend Jill had a trusted therapist named Dr. Helk. It was interesting that he found Dr. Helk at a child center. Paul did not know that Dr. Helk was a child therapist and Jill had gone to him as a child and an adult. Dr. Helk had asked if he was Jill's boyfriend, whose name was also Paul, he responded no. Paul asked the lady at the front desk of the hospital if there was a hotel near by. He didn't feel like going back to his apartment in the next city. She had suggested two nice hotels that where only a few blocks from Dr. Booth's office. He decided to check into the closest one, which was only a few blocks to the right of the building he was in. The outside of the hotel looked very nice. It had two big doors with a big sign in the top of them. The sign said, "twins hotel" in big red letters. It wasn't in a bad part of the city either. He checked to make sure that the street was very well lit before entering the hotel. Inside was a nice little lounge with leather seats and metal tables. On each table was a little card that had "welcome" on it. In the middle of the lobby was the front desk. " May I help you with your bags, sir." said a rather tall bellboy, he was probably eighteen. " Yeah sure." Paul said handing the boy his shopping bags and a twenty- dollar bill. " Next." " Next!" " Oh, sorry I was just looking at that painting." Paul said to the lady at the front desk of the hotel. " How long will you be staying, sir?" she replied. " Umm.two weeks." He said unsure how long it would take to find out what was wrong with him. " Okay sir, that will be sixteen hundred dollars and thirty cents." " Debit okay." Paul said handing her his debit card. "Yes sir." She said taking the card and running it through the scanner on her desk. " May I see some identification please." " Oh, sure." He pulled out his Drivers license. But before he gave it to her something caught his attention. His face on the drivers license. It had been mangled and was bleeding. Then he felt something on the back of the license and turned it over. On the back there was a hole and it seemed to be bleeding, like a cut on your arm, subtle at first, then kind of a gushing effect. " Sir?" " Are you okay, sir?" " Hello." He looked at the lady, then back at the license. It wasn't mangled anymore. It seemed perfectly fine. " Your license please." " Oh, yeah, here." " Hey," he paused to look at the ladies name tag, " Marcy, do these lights stay on all the time?" " Yes sir, they do." " Thank you." She handed him his debit card and a room card. " You will be in room 203, that is on the second floor. Is that alright?" Taking the key he asked, " Is there any stairs or fire escapes in this building?" " Yes sir, the stairs are located at the end of each hallway." " Thank you."
Paul made his way to the room. " 200, 201, 202, and 203." He said as he passed the doors that were before his. He unlocked the door and opened it. The room was very dark, the shades were shut and the lights were off. He placed his hand on the wall and felt around for the light switch. " Come on where are you?" He turned on the light and scoped out the room. It had a very nice sitting room that separated the door and the bed. He turned on the two lamps beside the table in the sitting room. Then went to check out the bathroom. "Wow!" He said in awe. It was big for a bathroom. He once again felt the wall for the light switches and found them. There was a combination bath tub-shower and a double sink counter. After he turned on all the lights, he approached the closet with a slight fear. " Oh my God, you are thirty-five years old man, and you cant even look in a damn closet?" He thought to himself. He reached his hand out to the door of the closet and quickly opened it. Nothing there. He decided that a nice hot shower would help him relax. The shower was a bit bigger than his at his apartment was. And it had one of those silk-like plastic curtain things. He hated those, the water always dripped out of the shower and when you get out, you step in a flood of water. He was right it was relaxing. He thought he heard something though. He looked out of the curtain. " I could have sworn I heard something." He thought, "nah, it's probably the shower. He decided it was time to get out of the shower and go to bed. So he stepped out of the shower, grabbed the towel off the rack. And stepped in the flood of dripping water from the curtain like he expected. But wait, this didn't feel like water. It's way too thick to be water. So he looked down and says that he was standing in a pool of blood. "No, it's not really there." He thought. But it didn't go away this time. After he got dressed he checked the floor to see if the blood was still there. It was everywhere like someone had been murdered in there. There were fresh streaks of blood on the walls. Then he closed his eyes and looked again. There seemed to be something written on the wall. " Paul.Paul.Get out Paul.Go home." Was transcribed on the wall with blood. He was confused, who knew he was here? He stared to clean the blood off the wall and floor. But when he got to the mirror, he saw something that he had never seen before. There was "I'm here Paul!" cut into his arm. He started to get really scared. Then turned the sink on and made a cup with his hands. He tried to wash his face off and see if he was dreaming. When he stood up and looked in the mirror he saw that the bathtub was overflowing with blood. The curtain opened and sitting in the tub was his dead wife. She had committed suicide a year ago. " You cant run from it Paul" she said." It will follow you, everywhere." Then she started to laugh. It wasn't her laugh though; it was a laugh too evil to be hers. It almost sounded like the shadow creature from the apartment. It was the same. The creature didn't screech at him, it laughed at him.
"Sir.Sir, are you okay?" "Hello sir?" "Huh, What, who are you?" Paul said opening his eyes. "I am the cleaning lady sir." The lady said with a Spanish accent. "How did I get on the ground?" " I do not know sir." Paul sat up and looked to see if the blood was there. It was gone." Did you clean up the bathroom?" "No sir, just the sitting room." "Alright, thank you." What had happened? And how did he get on the ground? He must have blacked out he thought. Paul tried to remember what had happened. He remembered seeing the blood on the wall and the cuts on his arm. And he remembered seeing his wife and the demon laugh that came out of her. It was six o'clock already. He had to go to see Dr. Helk to tell him what he saw.
" It was real, I remember standing there and feeling the cuts on my arms." Said a crying Paul. "Are they still there?" Paul pulled up his sleeves to see if the cuts were there. He found nothing. "They're gone." Dr. Helk gave him a strange look. Half of Paul thought that the Dr. thought he was crazy and the other half of him was scared, like he'd seen this before. "You know, before Jill disappeared she left this list for me." The Dr. handed him the paper. "She said 'if anyone came in my office with the same things I went through, give them this.'" It had about eight names on it with phone numbers next to them. "What is it?" "She said it was a list of people who could help you and their phone numbers. And she said to say that Jill said to call, they'll know what to do." "Alright thanks Dr." "Call me Bill." "Alright thanks Bill." "See ya in two days or so."
Later Paul decided to call one of those people. The first name on the list was Ginger Keens. He picked up the phone and dialed the number. "Hello?" said a female voice on the other end of the phone. "Is this Ginger?" "Yes, who is this?" "Hi, I'm Paul San, Umm. Jill said to call." "Is she there?" "No, She disappeared a few weeks ago." "Nope she's dead." "Oh, She left this note saying that you are one of the people that knew what to do." "Okay, where are you?" "I'm in the twins hotel on Brook str-" He got cut off. "I know where it is. Meet me at the dinner two blocks from there in ten minutes." And she hung up.
He walks into the dinner she was talking about and looks around. It was a typical city dinner. Old booths, dirt looking floor, silver sides of the counters. "Paul?" Asked a woman sitting in a booth, four booths from his. "Ginger?" He asked. "Yeah. Get over here." "So Jill's old therapist told me that she left this list of names and said to call them." He said pulling the list out of his jacket pocket. She took it and looked over it. "Waitress? Can I have a pen?" "Sure young lady." Said the Waitress at the counter, and through her a pen. "Thank you." "Oh, you're quite welcome dearly." Ginger began to cross out names on the list saying, "Dead, Dead, Dead." Then looked at Paul. "Paul is it? "Yes." "Can I see your palms please?" He looked at her like she was weird. "Just do it." "Okay." He put his palms on her side of the table. She pilled out a small battery operated black light from her pocket. "What is that for?" "I'll show you." She took his left palm and ran the black light over it. Nothing appeared. Then she took his right palm and at the center of it was some sort of sign. "Ah, just as I thought" He looked at the sign. It was a circle with five lines pointing out of the circle. "What is that?" " It is they're mark on us. You see every time they worn you a line out of the circle gets darker. You see that you only have three. One comes as a child along with the circle. After all your lines are dark you have one more encounter; then-" she paused and looked down at the table."-You die." "Encounter with what?" "Have you not been seeing the shadow creature?" "Is that what that is." "The first encounter is as a child and you won't remember it. The next is the shadow creature itself, in pure form. After that it's a dead love one. The next will be in the form of a cut and the last will very depending on the person." "How do you know this?" She took of her gloves and showed him her palm with the black light. There was a circle with five dark lines and a hole in the middle on the circle. " You have it, the mark. But shouldn't you be dead?" "You see you don't really die, They just call it that. What happens is your mind is erased and you are forged with a mark. This mark only shows up under ultra violent rays. But it means that you are not going to heaven nor hell when your mortal body dies." "Then where will it go?" "Your soul shall be thrown into a cloak and you will be forced to live in the other world and become one of them. You will become a Shadow creature. You shall be forced to drive people insane and make them want to commit suicide, then steal their souls and make them one of you." "But how do you know this?" There was a sudden crash outside the dinner. Two cars collided and people were screaming from inside the cars. Paul looked out the window to see what was going on. When he turned back to ask the question again, Ginger was gone. She had left the paper with the numbers on it though. She also left a note on the paper. "Your fourth line will come tonight." "But haven't I already had a cut on his arm?" he thought.
Paul walked back to the hotel in which he was staying. " Welcome back Mr. San." Said the bellboy. But Paul didn't hear him. He was too busy thinking about the next sign. On the way to his room he realized that words were appearing on his arm. Like someone was talking to him in the form of a cut on his arm. It said, "Why did you come back Paul?" Then after he read it, it disappeared. "I warned you Paul." It wrote then disappeared. Paul took a razor from his spare shaving razors and wrote, "I'm not scared of you." And it disappeared. "Well you should be. I am your worst nightmare Paul." "You're not real" "I'm as real as your dead wife Paul. She's here with me now." "You mean that you made her kill herself?" "That's right Paul." "Why?" "Because you didn't deserve her Paul." "I'm not scared of you. You'll never come out of your shadow." "Don't be too sure Paul." Then the cuts began to form the shape of narrow eyes and a mouth. Then the mouth began to speak, "I am as real as death itself Paul, you know that death exists, you just don't know what it feels like. Do you want me to show you Paul, is that what you want." Then the cuts disappeared along with the face. Paul looked around like it was some kind of dream, except it was real. Then the cuts came back. "I'M HERE!" Then the lights all went out and all Paul could see were two red eyes coming from the closet. "Is this what you want Paul, you want to feel death. I can show you death" "Sure. Come on shadow. Eat me up and take my soul." "Do you still believe I'm not real?" "Yep." The eyes came closer and jumped up and landed on the top of the couch beside Paul. Standing on the top of the couch hunched over was the shadow creature. Paul could see that it had taken a semi-human form. He could also see its teeth. Then the creature jumped from the couch. Paul didn't see where it went. Then all of the sudden he felt a breathing down his neck. The hair on the back of his neck was standing on end. "How about now?" The creature said biting Paul's shoulder. "Did that feel fake to you?" Paul was in a massive amount of pain. He couldn't feel his arm and could taste the blood coming out of his mouth. "No. But what you have forgotten is that I've already sold my soul to the devil!" Paul screamed as he opened the curtains and flicked a switch on the ground. Four big lights came on; they were ultra violent lights. The shadow creatures teeth, eyes, and stomach lit up. Paul then grabbed a pre-placed kitchen knife and started to stab at the creatures lit up parts. The creature was trapped in the ultra violent rays. Paul had stabbed it to death. He had read in Steve's diary that they would turn mortal if caught in ultra violent rays. Just as Paul made his last stab, a shrieking scream came out of the creature's mouth. Then it's stomach burst into a bright light that was too bright to be artificial. And out of the light came the shrieks of its stolen souls that had now been let free.
The next mourning he found himself awaken by police putting handcuffs on him. "What did I do officers?" "You are under arrest anything you say or do will be used against you in the court of law." "But what am I charged with?" "You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney of law, if you do not have one, the United States government will provide one." Paul stopped walking along with the policeman. "What did I do?" He screamed. "Paul San, you are charged with first degree man slaughter." He responded. "Who, where?" " Right there." Yelled the cop pointing to the corpse of a man he had never seen before. Who had multiple stab wounds to the stomach.
Paul was thrown in jail for the night and was allowed one phone call to call who ever he wished. He decided to call Ginger Keens, he thought that maybe she would plead with him or something. "Hello." Said the female voice that he recognized from the last time they spoke. "Hi, Ginger, its Paul San. Umm. we met in the dinner and talked about those shadow creatures and the signs." "Yeah I remember." "Well it was in my hotel last night and I killed it." "You did what?" "Yeah, I killed it. Then I fell asleep and I woke up in handcuffs. It turned into a real person. They're charging me with first-degree manslaughter. What do I do?" "You do know that no one will believe you, right?" "Yeah, but I thought if I could prove that they did exist. Then maybe I could get the charges dropped." "No. They will not believe you. My friend did the same. His name is John Tade." "Can you please testify with me. Please Ginger. Please." "No. You have to listen to me. If you plead insane then the charges will be dropped, but you will have to go to the mental institution. That is your best chance." "But that's not what I want." "Paul that is your best chance! Just do it." Then Ginger paused. "Paul I have to act like I don't know you." "No, No. Ginger please, no!" It was too late she had already hung up the phone.
Paul was now in a small dark room that had one light in the middle of the metal table which was bolted to the cement floor. There was a long mirror in the room; it didn't look like a normal mirror, though. He was pretty sure that it was one of those double-sided mirrors they used in the movies and television shows. He was told to sit in the wooden chair on the right side of the table. Paul had also noticed that there was also a camera in the upper left corner in front of him. A lawyer entered the room escorted by the guard outside of the room. The heavy metal door slammed behind him and the guard locked it. The lawyer was not his own, he had been provided by the government. Paul had never dealt with lawyers before. This one looked like he had thought he would: Tall, Thin and in an expensive-looking suit. "Paul San?" The lawyers stretched out his hand too shake Paul's. "Yes." Paul said shaking the lawyer's hand. "Hi, I'm Mr. Duncan and I will be your provided lawyer in this case." "Okay." "You have been charged with first-degree manslaughter, Paul." "Yes I know." "Okay there will be a detective coming in momentarily. He will question you. I am just hear to tell you what questions you do and do not have to answer." "Alright." Paul said as the Mr. Duncan sat in the other metal chair next to him. The door unlocked and in walked the detective that was investigating him. Paul had never dealt with the authority either. Except one time when he reported a domestic disturbance, but that didn't really count. "Paul this is detective Miller. He will be questioning you." Mr. Duncan said as he rose to shale the detective's hand. Paul did the same, except Paul had to lift both of his hands because he was still on the handcuffs. "Could we get those handcuffs off him please?" Detective Miller took Paul's hands and unlocked the handcuffs and put them on the table. "Can we start know?" He said to Paul's lawyer. "Go ahead." "Aright. First of all, what is your name and date of birth." Paul looked at Mr. Duncan. And He nodded confirming that he may answer the question. " Paul San. February 6, 1977." "Did you or did you not commit first-degree manslaughter?" Paul once again looked at his lawyer. "Don't answer that Paul. It has not been proved yet." The detective looked behind him at the mirror then continued his questioning. "Where were you last night at around ten o'clock PM?" "I was in my hotel room." "And were you alone?" "No." "Who was there with you?" Mr. Duncan put his hand on Paul's chest. "HE doesn't have to answer that or any other questions." "Okay, than we will have a court hearing tomorrow at seven o'clock AM. See you there." Then the detective went up to the door and pushed a button on the side of it, which told the guard to let him out. "Okay Paul. Your best chance is to plead insane." "But it wasn't a man it was a shadow creature." "Paul, Please, Spare me the drama. You need to plead guilty." "No. I am not guilty or insane." "They have more evidence that you are guilty then I have you are innocent.' "What?" "They have a knife with your finger prints on it. That also has the man's blood on it. They have witnesses saying you looked very demented when you were going to your room and a lot more. Paul please, this is crazy." "I am not crazy! Guard! I am done." The guard came in and escorted Pail back to his cell.
"I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. Not crazy." Paul whispered to himself, rocking back and forth on his bed. " What really happened?" He thought to himself. He couldn't really remember what had happened. He remembered the dinner and coming home from it. He remembered the cuts speaking to him on his arm and then killing the creature. Stabbing it to death. There was a big blank spot right after that. Then waking up in handcuffs. He only had a little bit of time to rethink what could have happened. He only had two hours until his hearing. "Could there have been someone in my room and I came at them with a knife? I don't remember."
He had been in the courtroom for a least a half-hour. It was his turn to approach the stand and to be yelled questions at. The lady before him was the cleaning lady from the hotel. She said she found him on the floor past out and he asked if she saw anything on the wall. Paul went to the witness stand and sat in the wooden chair behind the small booth-looking stand. The bailiff came up to him with the bible. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God." Paul placed his hand on the bible and said, "Yes." The first to question him was the governments opposing lawyer. "Paul San." The lawyer said raising his eyebrows. "have you been staying in a hotel for the last few days?" "Yes, the Twins Hotel." "What room number?" "203." "What happened the night before you were arrested?" "Well first, I went down to the dinner a few blocks down the street to" He paused remembering what ginger said, "get a sandwich. Then I went back to my room and" once again paused, "started to see cuts appear and disappear on my arm. They were talking to me. So I took a shaving razor and started talking back to them." "Do you still have those cuts?" Paul rolled up his county jail issued jumpsuit sleeves. "No they're gone. But I swear they were there that night." "Mr. San, did you have a few drinks before returning to your hotel room." "Objection, your honor there was no signs of alcohol involved." "Denied." Yelled the judge. "Proceed." "No, I haven't had any alcohol for years." "Continue the story please."
"Then this face appeared on my arm and started t talk to me. Then it jumped out at me. Then I saw two red eyes in the corner of my hotel room. Then it attacked me. And it bit my shoulder."
"Do you still have those marks?"
"No, but they were there too."
Mr. Duncan slams his head on the desk. He had nothing at all to prove he was innocent.
"Continue."
"Okay, then I jumped for the window and pulled the shades and turned on a few black lights that caused the creature to become mortal, then I stabbed it to death. And that's all I can remember."
"Thank you, I rest your honor."
"Defense?"
"Your honor, my client is insane. I have tried to get him to say what really happened and what he just told the court is what he believes to be what happened."
"It did happen!" Yelled Paul. "It did!"
"See your honor? Defense rests." "This man is obviously insane and is here by sentenced to a mental institution. Bailiff take him away."
"Hey, how are you doing?" "I'm okay." Smiled Paul. "How's Shady Hills?" "It's not bad. Nice people here and good food. Very beautiful." "Yeah." "I really did kill it. Didn't I?" "I really don't know what you are talking about Paul?" "Did you call Ginger Keens, like I asked you to?" "Yeah and. there isn't anyone by the name of Ginger Keens in this area. The number you gave my was a number for a pizza joint right outside of town." "That cant be right." Said Paul grabbing Dr. Helk's shirt. "She's real. She's real. Please believe me." "No she's not Paul. You know at first I thought that you shouldn't be in this place. But now I think you really do. Guard, I am don here." A muscular guard with a "Shady Hills" shirt on came in and escorted Dr. Helk out of Paul's room. "No." Screamed Paul. "Don't leave me here! No!" "Come on Paul. It's time to go to sleep." Said another guard. "If you want to get up on time tomorrow for that wonderful breakfast we prepare for you, you have to go to sleep. Oh, yeah and please stop screaming that the shadow creature is here. It wakes the other patients. If you don't stop we'll have to put you in the padded room again."