Part Two: A World Of Madness
Chapter Eight: Whispers From The Last Victim In The Mistic Air
The ordinary peaceful world changed. Changed forever. I slipped across the line unknowingly and fell into the darkness and madness of the other world. The world of madness. The last thing I remember was seeing her body dismembered and spread out across the blood soaked room. But the room is empty now, there is no one here but me, and there is no evidence to show that anyone has ever been here but me. Another hallucination? Yes it has to be. I mean, there is no other possible explanation for this. But what about this now, is this another hallucination?
Yes, it has to be. Look at the room, it normally isn't like this. That's right. Her room isn't normal, my God it's gross and disgusting. The walls weren't clean and lemony anymore, they're moldy and gray, and covered in holes and cracks, not to mention a tremendous amounts of stains. The mold was descending down from the ceilings in triangular patterns. The wallpaper was torn and faded and scraps of lay pathetically on the floor. The furniture in the room is old and broken, the bed I'm on is weak and near breaking. I rocked up and down and it the springs inside it screeched painfully. The blankets and pillows covered in the dust as was the carpet, about two inches thick. The room gave off the odor of a dank and dreary cellar. It looks as if it this room hasn't been occupied for nearly fifty years. Odd, since I was just in here yesterday. All of Kara's brilliance was lost and given away to dark despair. I got up and walked to the window on the other side of the room, the dust on the carpet so thick and abundant that I actually slipped a few times. What the hell? What the hell is this?
The window was boarded up. It wasn't too clean a job though, the boards were all fastened into the wrong places, whoever did this must've been in a hurry. A hurry, but why? Ahh, who the hell knows and who really cares, not me. One board was loose and I pulled it out of place and it crumbled up in my hands. Outside it was a dream world, the entire street was enmeshed in a thick, slowly revolving fog. And I mean thick, I couldn't even see the lampposts or the parking meters. It was all blocked out by the fog. Damn, this is getting strange. What the hell is going on? No sign of life seemed to be about on the street. Like the fog brought with it a sense of fright causing everybody to hide themselves in their houses, boarding them up and withering away inside.
I left the room and the apartment, which was in the exact same condition, every room. The stairwell leading down to the main lobby was broken and rusted extremely badly. I had to jump down nearly twenty stairs just to get to the bottom. My knee gave in as I hit the hard padded floor. The lobby was worse than the rooms. Everything in here was covered by an orangish almost red material. The front entrance was completely missing, or more accurately, par of the door lay swinging on the hinges while the other half lay scattered across the front lawn. The fog was coming in the apartment and with it came a deep cold feeling. The coldness gave me an eerie sense of foreboding. I stood there on the threshold not knowing if I should continue outside.
Of course you can. Why not, why shouldn't you go out? It's just a little fog, coming off the lake probably. My mind is right, it's foolish to sit here scared of going outside What danger could there possibly be? I stepped out onto the grass, a rush of cold air pelting me in the face.
Once outside I realized that the fog wasn't as thick as it appeared out of the apartment window. It's kind of mild actually, pretty light. It moved around slowly, revolving around, twisting around objects, bouncing off the ground and buildings. This fog, though, is unlike any I've seen before. It has a deep silver chrome color to it blended in with shades of gray. Almost supernatural.
Oh come on now Darren. You know you're doing this to yourself. Yes, I am. Maybe purposely but I don't know. But who cares, this can't be real. Can it though? Definitely not!
I made my way up to the exit gate. As I walked deeper into the fog I became very lightheaded. This fog is crazy. I stumbled as my vision temporarily faded away, I caught the gate with my hand right before hitting the ground, lacing my fingers around the cold rusted metal. What the hell is going on. My head throbbed with an odd sensation, not quite painful but definitely nowhere near feeling well. It felt like my head was turned into a gigantic heart. Each throb left me choking on the damp, moist air, sucking in the coldness which numbed my lungs. My God, what the hell. Oh, please, make it stop. The throbbing intensified and a torrent of sweat covered my skin. My head spun around uncontrollably and my eyes began to move from side to side. My vision became blurred and all I could see was the twisting metal of the gate as it took the most gruesome shapes. A tight feeling in my stomach began and soon after it erupted and everything inside came out of my mouth. What….the….hell….is…this..? My thoughts were becoming distorted and I found it hard to focus on anything. It felt as if hands were reaching down at me and pulling me in every direction, I felt like I was in a Janis Joplin poster. Everything went black and white as more hot liquid poured out of my mouth. A hot feeling emerged in my hand, the one clutching the gate, it felt as if it was on fire. Ahh! What the hell! What the hell is going on? No, make it stop goddamn it. This is crazy, it's all crazy. I heard myself moaning and sobbing but I couldn't fell myself making the noises. Who is this strange creature, I asked myself as I looked down upon my body. Disgusting, puking all over the place, squirming about like a nutter, and yelling like a crazy man. His cries echoed in the silent streets.
A dark figure was slowly staggering down the street just outside of the apartment building gate. Walking very slowly and cautiously. As its legs carried it forward, its body heaved up and down. It came closer and slowed down. I strained my eyes to keep them still and face forward, drool was spilling out of my open mouth. My eyes stood still and I saw the figure. Although it is nothing more than a silhouette in the fog, I could see the grayish and black outline of its body and its smeared interior. It was hunched over, its massive arms dangling on its side. They were too long and touched the ground, dragging some distance behind it. Its feet were horrifically bent outwards, like the hind legs on a massive dog. It's head though was lost in the fog.
It was too much. The pain and numbness in my body, not to mention the horrific pain in my stomach outweighed his presence though. I could care less. I can't move. I opened my mouth and, with great effort, tried to force out a sound but nothing came but cold air. The insane looking figure came closer and that's what I realized what it was. I've seen this thing before. Shit! Digger the Dog.
I desperately tried to move but my legs utterly refused to. Come on you bastards! Move! It was no use though, I only moved my foot about an inch when the gate went flying across the yard and hit the apartment building, breaking right through the brick and wood. Oh no, this is it. He's got me finally. I sat there in anticipation for His attack. Waiting for him to shred me into pieces with his sword like claws. Well, I guess this is the way it's got to be. No hope. I guess this is the end, He's finally got me cornered. I closed my eyes and waited for him to approach and kill me. My body grew numb with anticipation and the sick feelings left, returning me back to normal. Minutes passed as I sit there with my eyes closed and my body shaking violently. Nothing ever came. I opened my eyes expecting to see Him standing before me, ready to strike, but that wasn't the case. Not at all. Actually it was the exact opposite. Everything was back to normal, the slowly moving fog, the gate was back, and my body felt fine. What the hell was that? This is so screwed up, what is going on? Was that even real? I didn't feel discussing the matter with myself.
I stood up feeling wonderfully fine and rubbed the dirt off of my clothes. Well, what do I do now. Something in my head told me that the whole town would be abandoned as the apartment was but I ignored it. It was a truth I really didn't feel like confronting at the present moment. I decided that I would go to the lake, for some reason, that's where I really want to be right now. I can't explain it, just a strong sense of unknown nostalgia.
The entrance gate screeched as I opened it. It was the only sound in the town except for my slow breathing and the occasional small, very small, gust of wind. I stepped out onto the hard concrete of the street. As was expected, the road seemed to be suffering from extreme neglect as well. Huge holes lay littered across the street, with no sign of the concrete that must of come out of them. There were, however, small chunks asphalt lying here and there but not enough to be the scraps from the holes. The biggest one lay to right, just down the street. It wasn't just in the street, it stretched out onto the sides leveling the buildings. I walked up to it and peered down. It was way to deep to see the bottom but there were faint shadows of what I assume to be cars. Dear God, someone must have drove down there. I rock underneath my foot gave away and I nearly stumbled down into the hole. My feet were halfway over the hole, I waved my arms in the air madly trying to get my balance but it didn't work. I fell over towards the deep pit. My feet almost left the ground entirely when I felt two large hands clasp me under my arms and pull me back up onto the road. Thank God. Jeez that was scary as hell.
"I thought I told you to watch yourself." A fairly familiar and scruffy voice said right into my ear as he let go of me. The ground felt unfamiliar as my feet touched it and I struggled to maintain balance. I looked up at the person talking to me. It was the man from that room in my dream. The one next to the place with those hanging bodies. He was dressed exactly the same, completely in black. His facial features were a little more visible because of the light. His face is extremely worn out, lots of stress I presume. I couldn't see his eyes of his nose, but is mouth I could. It's extremely thin and chapped. His face looks pretty disgusting if you know what I mean. I didn't feel like answering him, I just store into his unseen eyes.
"All right then. Be careful." He said as he turned around and started to walk away. He was halfway gone in the fog when I yelled after him. He seemed to be expecting this and walked back towards me as I said it.
"Just what exactly the hell is going on." I said. His thin, frail lips twisted upwards, a smile? It looked pretty grotesque.
"Ahh, well finally." he said. "I can't tell you much because I don't know all too well myself. Well now let's see. First of all I've been here about three months. Back then I owned this little butcher shop. It did quite well actually. It was family owned you see, so I didn't have to worry about stranger and some young punks who were up to no good. I had my three sons working for me. The last night I remember wasn't a very good day for business. Not a lot of customer, you see. I was out back in the storage freezer putting getting meat ready for the next day. It was horrible place that storage freezer was. And trust me, you wouldn't like it too much either with all the bodies and stuff. It gets on your nerves after a while. Well, anyways I always hated going back there alone. Usually I brought one of my boys with me but they had left already. So I had to do it alone. I wasn't even back there for nearly ten minutes when I started to sweat and get scared. A terrifying place it was, that storage freezer. I always figured if I was going to be killed it would be in that place because that was where I was least paying attention to anything around me. And trust me I'm a pretty cautious and careful man, examining everything around me, looking for something out of the norm, hell, how do you think I survived so long out here? Now I didn't pay much attention while in back there because I was too busy slicing away. The next thing I know there's this loud buzzing noise, a flash of bright light, and then darkness. And that's when I awoke in that room, yes, the same one where you first met me. And that's when I learned the truth." After saying that he took a cigar out of his pocket and a lighter. He lit it and began smoking, the smoke blending in perfectly with the fog.
"Truth?" The words slipped out of my mouth. That isn't even what I intended to say. He looked at me intently and smiled again.
"Well, I really should be leaving now. Got lots of business that needs my attending. But before our little chat comes to an end, there's something I want to tell you. Avoid making any loud noises and if possible stay in the shadows. You don't know how much that will help you." He spit on the ground and turned away, but he didn't get more than about four steps when he turned around urgently and walked back towards me. He came right up to me and put is malformed crusty hand on my shoulder and store directly into my eyes.
"I almost forgot young man. I have a little something to help you with your journey." He said as he reached inside his jacket. He fumbled around for a few seconds and then finally he found what he was looking for.
"Here you go. I'll see be seeing you soon son." he said as he placed the objects in my hand and walked away. I stood there staring out after him until he vanished in the fog and the street once again emerged into completely silence. I looked down at my hands, what I saw there only confused me. A folded up piece of paper and a CD player. The CD player was empty. What the hell is this for? It has a large pair of headphones with it. I unfolded the paper and read it.
"The Darkness lay hidden in the basement of your mind,
It feeds off of your feelings of hate and anger,
Destruction and chaos lay abundant in your ignorance,
As the other world lay right at your feet,
Traversing in the other world brings nothing but despair,
Poor souls whose beings lay trapped there,
Take heed to its great power and its control over their minds,
For those who wander blindly and incautiously,
Will be consumed by their sins."
On the back of the paper there was more.
"Seven Angels lay bloody in the battlefield,
The darkness at their feet.
A wanderer lay depressed in the town,
The isolation at his heels.
My father stands firm in his position,
Speaking the truth of God.
The children play joyfully in the forest,
The beast watching in the darkness.
The loner dazing at the sky for the stars,
Unaware of the bloody truth.
The building in the City of God,
Stands above all else,
As it casts its light through the fog."
What! The only word that escaped my lips as I read the two. What possible significance can these have on me. Significance? First let me ask, what the hell do they mean? I reread them over and over again straining my mind in attempted comprehension. The first one I could understand. I have a feeling it has something to do with what the man said to me, about the noise and shadows. Also when I talked to him in that room, when I yelled those things began to move about and claw at the door. But they stopped when he turned the light off. Does that mean that there are more of them? Around here above all else. The second one I was at a loss to understand. And I almost forgot, the CD player. I turned it over in my hands examining it. Yep, it's your average CD player, nothing special. I put the headphones on, just to see. It was on for some reason. There wasn't any sound though. Wait a minute there is. What is this? It's a faint whirring noise, sort of like the static in the man's room, no its exactly the same. The noise started to twist and get louder.
"What the hell is this?" I said as I tapped my fingers on it rather hardly. I opened it up, nothing was inside it, and it still continued to make the noise. As I stood there listening to it, a shadow in the fog was getting closer. As it stumbled towards me I expected to see the man again. But it wasn't it. It became clearly visible to me. It wasn't a person. As it got closer the static intensified and blared like a baby crying. I saw it clearly now. I gasped in completely horror and surprise.
It's a monster! It was void of all flesh and its bones and muscles were a blackish color as was the thick liquid pouring out of it in places. It walked with its arms, which has some flesh on it, a tannish rotting color. It's face, bound up in a massive amount of barb wire. Damn! The thing was more funny looking than scary. I nearly laughed, but that was before it emitted a loud screeching noise. It was intolerable. I had to slam my hands against my ears to not lose my hearing. What the hell is going on? What the hell is this creature? It can't possibly be real, no it can't.
It seemed to take notice of me standing there and walked, or more accurately crawled towards me. The thing wasn't very funny anymore. A sick feeling emerged in my stomach as it approached. I have to get away from it. I remembered what the man said, 'stay in the shadows'. Yea good idea now. I looked around but couldn't find any. There were no shadow or dark places in the vicinity. There was, however, a tree just down the street. Aww, damn it! I took off running right past the monster. It seemed to see, or hear me would be the right term, and took off after me extremely quickly. I ran, struggling with the fear. My feet seemed to get heavier though as I ran down the street, the noise still blaring in my ears. It was almost at me heel now but I was only inches away from the tree. When I reached it I threw myself around it in the shadow and yanked the headphones off of my ears. Noise! I thought. I threw my hand over my mouth only allowing little slithers of air to come and go. My heart was heavy and felt as if was going to explode. Damn! A few seconds later I carefully peered around the trunk of the tree, expecting to see it there and it rip my head off or something. I was wrong, or partly wrong. It was there, in the middle of the street standing stilly as if it were asleep. I took my place back at the other side of the tree and sighed deeply and silently.