Prologue - Heartbeat

The most significant dates that mark a person's life are the date of their birth and the date of their death. Then perhaps followed by something smaller: A wedding for some, a graduation for others, or something else.

For 30% of the world, however… That's a different story. Four years ago, on August 22nd, 2019. A day that nobody will forget.

My name is Jason Samry. To my people, simply just Jazz. I've lived in Melbourne, Australia my whole life, and what a life it's been. This is my story.

12:34 am, August 22nd, 2019

I sank into my bed tired, but sleep simply wouldn't come. I saw nothing in the darkness, leaving me alone with my thoughts. This insomnia only happens when I feel ill or am left thinking for too long, but in this case I felt perfectly fine. 'Maybe I am sick and something will happen. Or maybe I should just clear my head. Either way, I'll find out tomorrow.' I thought to myself as I raised my wrist slowly, as to not wake myself further, and pressed the light button on my wristwatch. Orange light blinded me even through my squints, but it allowed me to read the face of it. "A little bit past 12:30." I groaned as I lowered my arm to my side again. I'm not known to have a good sleep schedule, but I'd prefer to get some sleep before the next day.

Thump.

The sound of what seemed like a ball dropping jolted me alert with a start.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Realising it was my heartbeat, I slowly moved my hand to my chest to feel it. I don't know why, but it's just a thing I do. I felt as it slowly accelerated, and the beating became more powerful.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Something was wrong. Dizziness had begun to set in. I closed my eyes and fell back to the old strategy of breathe in, breathe out. Well, at least it works. Sometimes.

Thump. Thump. Breathe in. Breathe out. Thump. Thump.

This cycle persisted for maybe 30 seconds, when suddenly:

Pain.

Like the irritation of a tight shirt, it started in my chest and felt like my heart was tightening. My eyes shot open, even though I knew I wouldn't see anything in the darkness. Except they didn't. Or at least, they barely moved. I'd simultaneously tried to clench and tense up my body as a response, but it still felt loose and relaxed. My body was absolutely refusing to listen to my commands, as odd screaming-like sounds assaulted my ears and hallucinations of dim flashes of light appeared in my vision. Stimuli akin to sleep paralysis- from what I hear, a horrible experience I would never want to live through- except this was all real. Though manageable at first, discomfort slowly turned into agony. I was left helpless as the pain began to flood my body from countless spots and only spread further.

I tried focusing on a particular hotspot on my chest, in a bid to quell the pain- a strategy I'd picked up from who knows where. It felt like a burning ache that only intensified as the seconds passed.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

My heart was beating faster and harder than I'd ever felt before, and it seemed like it was pumping liquid fire. I felt the aches slowly turning into something like pins and needles, but taken to the extreme. I tried to clench my body, but again, nothing happened. 'Am I going to die? Is this what it feels like to have a heart attack?'

My hands and feet were beginning to spike in pain as well. It seemed like they were being submerged and pulled from freezing water, as if they were slowly becoming frostbitten. It sure as hell felt like it, with relentless tingles, slowly freezing together, gradually losing dexterity and finally becoming numb and rigid blocks of ice.

Seconds began to feel like minutes. I tried to grit my teeth, which of course did nothing to stop me from feeling like my jaw was being shattered. 'W-WHAT IS HAPPENING!?' I screamed to no one in particular, but my voice only echoed in my head. Finally realising that I was trapped in paralysis, probably dying right then and there, I promptly gave up trying to do anything and accepted my fate, intending to try and at least endure it until the very end. 'This is really it, I suppose…'

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Surprisingly, the pain faded away and I regained control over my body after what seemed like an eternity. Gasping for breath, I shot up. With that undeniably distressing experience front and centre in my head, I let out a shrill cry that lasted until I was out of air. Now hyperventilating and having lost my train of thought, I yelled aloud "The HELL just happened?!" The direct pain of whatever I had just experienced had mostly subsided, but it left me with numbing aches all over my body. A lot of adrenaline had clearly built up over time: My heartbeat was an easy tell. I could feel it on my own.

It was absolutely racing.

On nothing but a pure adrenaline rush, I practically threw the blanket off me and scrambled to the foot of my bed to climb down. My room is quite weird, so it's best I describe it. Besides the huge floor-to-ceiling mirrors on one side that make my closet's sliding doors, the other side resembles a bunk bed, except the lower bunk is replaced with a desk. Because of this, I slept on the upper bunk and climbed up and down from a ladder at the foot of it.

As I placed my feet at the top of the ladder, I heard the scratching of hard material on wood, similar to how a dog runs along a floor. I'd unexpectedly lost my footing and slid off the ladder, falling a metre and a half to the floor. I landed hard but felt no pain- thanks to the adrenaline, I'd thought at the time- but fell backwards into my window blinds, the impact making a distinct clatter of metal against metal. "Ow, what the?" I cringed at the intensity of the noise: It wasn't normal, but it felt amplified. "Jason? What's going on?" Someone was calling my name, so I guess I'd got the attention of someone in the house with the noise I made. Someone switched the hallway light on, as a little bit of light now crept through from under my door, finally freeing me from the endless darkness.

With my sense of sight regained, albeit barely, I looked around my room. Everything was warping in unsettling ways. The walls were moving in and out, the room shrinking and growing with every breath. Turning to my right toward the mirror, I caught a glimpse of it. A hunched, shadowy figure in the reflection that I could only describe as a 'being of the night.' It had a long, slender body, with animal-like legs- I think the word is digitigrade- and hands and feet that ended in sets of long, sharp claws. There was a large tuft of some sort near its neck, but the most noticeable feature by far was the huge, bushy ponytail that extended from the top of its head, down its back and only stopped just above the ground.

'Okay, w-what is actually going on.' I had hit my breaking point. I tried to make a run for the door, but barely made a few paces. My legs felt… Oddly disproportionate to my body. Paired with the residual pain, they quickly gave out and I collapsed a metre from the door. My arms reacted before I did, saving myself from striking the floor too hard, and I rolled onto my back. I allowed myself to lay sprawled on the floor; It was the only solid thing in my quickly destabilising world.

The footsteps outside my room became one of danger instead of aid, the rhythmic tapping being warped into irregular stomps, constantly changing in volume and number like the impending approach of a stampede. The light from under the door, previously a lifeline from the darkness, now served as a warning for me. It morphed and flickered like fire, signalling that I was too close to something that wanted to kill me. As I slowly tried to shuffle away from the door, at once the footsteps abruptly came to a stop; the fire became frozen in time. A mechanical screech of unwilling springs and hinges pierced my head as a creature broke in and swung the door open. I saw the shadow of a multi-limbed figure that hung upside down from the ceiling projected against the wall, watching as it stepped into the void with me. Despite its grotesque form, it spoke clearly as it uttered one word.

"Jason?"

With that, I passed out.

Author's Notes:

You know how when you're trying to sleep, and then one of your muscles just randomly decides to painfully cramp up for a few seconds? Then you lose all of your progress and it's really annoying. Well, you'd certainly hate to be Jason right now.

That's the prologue done. Not too much to it. As the description of this says, this story is based in the PercentVerse by Jackboy0815, which started in 2019. Yeah, I'm pretty very very late to the party. BUT, I do have a plan for this, don't worry.

Regarding any date/time errors that may show up: I'm Australian, I'll tell you that much. All of the times of events (should) line up, but the dates will probably appear forward for most of you because timezones.

Anyways, peace out!

Actual word count: 1493
Published October 1st 2023

Index:
'Thoughts/Telepathy'
"Speech"
'Typed/written text'