It was late one night. Got a call from a friend to meet him at a bar down on 4th. Usually I wouldn't even entertain the thought of going out when I had work the next day but James was beyond himself with fear. He had experienced something and he needed someone to talk to. He was a friend so I decided to hear him out. Perhaps I should have just gave into my laziness. Maybe I should have said no but I didn't and now my fear is slowly eating away my reality. I'm not even sure if any of it is real but whatever was eating James with fear I think maybe is slowly doing the same to me.
I was at the bar already when James walked in.
“I’m sorry I’m late Greg had to um, take a longer way than usual. I‘m barely holding it together right now.”
“Why whats up? Whats wrong?” I asked noticing the warm sweat beading from his brow. He ordered a double shot of whisky before he began his tale. He looked absolutely horrible. James was a built guy. Muscular and tall. But that night he looked frail, thin and boney. His eyes were sunken and bloodshot with huge dark rings around them.
“I dunno man, I’m really freaking out,” he said wiping the sweat away.
“Well tell me about it, you got me out here. How about you start and I‘ll order a drink,” I said as I waved over the bartender.
“I probably shouldn't be even telling anyone," he said looking back over his shoulder to the door. "But I don't know what to do anymore."
“I dunno man, I’m really freaking out,” he said wiping the sweat away.
“Well tell me about it, you got me out here. How about you start and I‘ll order a drink,” I said as I waved over the bartender.
“I probably shouldn't be even telling anyone," he said looking back over his shoulder to the door. "But I don't know what to do anymore."
"Oh come on," I said.
"Okay okay," he replied as he wiped his face. "So I was browsing Youtube about a few weeks ago right, just searching for random ass videos like I usually do. Then I got in the mood to look up some spooky vids because you know me I love all that paranormal shit. That was a bad idea Greg.”
“Yeah?” I replied grabbing some peanuts and tossing a few in my mouth.
“Well, one link led to another and I found my way to what felt like the abandon parts of the internet you know. Places that felt like no one ever goes anymore or ever did. It was weird man. Its like in a city ya know. You got the ghettoes and then you got the abandon parts of the city. Well, I was definitely in the abandoned part of the ghetto. Real low-res websites, no comments, no pics, nothing, just text upon text against ugly backgrounds of repeated patterns. I mean, these sites felt old. Anyway, most of them didn’t hold anything too interesting but I continued to click on links and most only had one link somewhere on their page. Each led to another dumpy website then I start noticing a connection between them right.”
“Here’s your shot of whisky,” the bartender said.
“Thank you,” I replied. “Oh, and open tab. Thanks.” I slammed back the whisky in one gulp and let the burn rise up through my throat. I liked the burn. It woke me up. Reminded me to watch my drinking. “So the websites had some connection…” I said tossing another peanut into my mouth.
“Oh yeah. Well, like I said they were just text. Oh and bartender, can I get another shot of whisky also,” he said pulling out cash with his left hand. “Thanks. So the sites, yeah, umm, you could just scroll and boring text all the way down and they’re written like journal entries; like a blog. It was just nonsense most of it but something about it was spooky and you know me, I liked that feeling of being creeped out so I continued. But I start noticing a date keep reappearing, June 6th. All those sites had it somewhere on them, every single one of them. Then finally, after about an hour of clicking through links I find a video embedded on a site. Just a video, nothing else. The background was some sort of dark wood finishing with a weird repeated animal shape and a star. The weird part was the video was titled June 6th. I was starting to get that creepy excitement you get when you feel like you’re on to something. Well, I was Greg, just didn’t realize I was going to shit bricks afterwards.”
“Its really got you spooked huh?” I said.
“More than spooked Greg, I don’t feel comfortable in my own skin. I feel like…” he stopped for a moment looking over the bar making sure no one was listening before he continued in a whisper. “I damned my soul.”
“Get the fuck outta here,” I said letting out a small chuckle.
“I’m serious Greg," he said looking over to the front window as if checking if someone was there.
“Yeah, you’re just trying to make your story more dramatic or trying to get me to fall for it. How about you let me see the video?”
“That’s the thing Greg,” he replied turning his head back around and grabbing his newly placed whisky shot, “I can’t find the video anymore,” he said as he threw the shot down his throat. “…or the websites.”
“You can’t find them?”
“No and I’ve looked. Believe me, I looked.”
“Sounds a little convenient. How did you find them in the first place?”
“I told you, browsing Youtube and watching creepy videos and I started clicking links in the comment sections and eventually it led me there. But that‘s not the point.”
“So what did the video show?” I asked with a skeptical eye.
“At first it was just someone walking through empty apartments. I thought maybe it was a video of someone shopping around for apartments, you know, just documenting potential places. It would seem to be uninteresting right but something about it seemed very creepy and unsettling so I kept watching. As they were moving through rooms it always felt like something was going to be behind one of those empty corridors but it was mostly nothing until the end. This is where it got weird. Whoever was recording entered MY apartment. It was empty but I could still recognize my apartment because they went into the bedroom first and the view out the window was the same one I have. Then they go into the empty living room and in the middle laid a big black garbage bag filled with something," he said looking over at the window again. He looked really tired and paranoid. "So," he continued, "the bag just laid there for a few moments and then it began to move. Writhing around on the ground like a slug or something. Not thrashing, just moving. It didn’t appear to be a person in it because there was no hands or feet pushing out on the plastic. Just some kind of mass of flesh writhing and gyrating around underneath.”
“That is pretty creepy man,” I said taking a sip of my new drink.
“Yeah and it gets worse. Then the video goes black right and I just stare at a black screen for a few seconds and then it comes back on but this time it isn’t of some black bag moving around and slithering on the ground. No, its of me looking at me like through a webcam or something. And it seemed to be in real time. But the freakiest thing, the part that started all this bullshit and unsettled fear in me was that there was someone standing behind me. I couldn’t recognize him but he was standing there smiling with sharp white teeth and huge bulging eyes and black pupils towering at probably seven feet tall looking down at me. I immediately freak and turn around and of course no one is there. I turn back around and he's still there standing behind me. Then my computer shuts itself off. I left for my bedroom but I couldn't get to sleep that night. I tried laying down because I didn't even want to touch my computer again or even look at it. But as I laid there the feeling that someone was watching me was stronger than ever. It literally felt like that man with the huge eyes and sharp white teeth was standing at the edge of my bed but I couldn't see him,” he said as he looked over shoulder again.
“Damn man, that is some creepy shit. But its not true, right?”
“Its true man, I’m telling you.”
“So did you ever see that weird guy again?”
“I did," he said as he fixed the sleeves to his coat. "I saw him the next night standing out on my balcony. I had the blinds opened and in the space in between I could see his teeth and huge bulging eyes staring at me and it sure as shit wasn’t my mind playing tricks. If you saw what I saw, you would know it wasn’t my mind. Anyone would know. There was someone there. It was real. I got up and grabbed something to whack the shit out of it with but it disappeared.”
“Damn dude. I think you’re haunted. Maybe I should stay away from you. Maybe its contagious,” I said trying to joke. I gulped the last sip of my drink.
“Yeah?” I replied grabbing some peanuts and tossing a few in my mouth.
“Well, one link led to another and I found my way to what felt like the abandon parts of the internet you know. Places that felt like no one ever goes anymore or ever did. It was weird man. Its like in a city ya know. You got the ghettoes and then you got the abandon parts of the city. Well, I was definitely in the abandoned part of the ghetto. Real low-res websites, no comments, no pics, nothing, just text upon text against ugly backgrounds of repeated patterns. I mean, these sites felt old. Anyway, most of them didn’t hold anything too interesting but I continued to click on links and most only had one link somewhere on their page. Each led to another dumpy website then I start noticing a connection between them right.”
“Here’s your shot of whisky,” the bartender said.
“Thank you,” I replied. “Oh, and open tab. Thanks.” I slammed back the whisky in one gulp and let the burn rise up through my throat. I liked the burn. It woke me up. Reminded me to watch my drinking. “So the websites had some connection…” I said tossing another peanut into my mouth.
“Oh yeah. Well, like I said they were just text. Oh and bartender, can I get another shot of whisky also,” he said pulling out cash with his left hand. “Thanks. So the sites, yeah, umm, you could just scroll and boring text all the way down and they’re written like journal entries; like a blog. It was just nonsense most of it but something about it was spooky and you know me, I liked that feeling of being creeped out so I continued. But I start noticing a date keep reappearing, June 6th. All those sites had it somewhere on them, every single one of them. Then finally, after about an hour of clicking through links I find a video embedded on a site. Just a video, nothing else. The background was some sort of dark wood finishing with a weird repeated animal shape and a star. The weird part was the video was titled June 6th. I was starting to get that creepy excitement you get when you feel like you’re on to something. Well, I was Greg, just didn’t realize I was going to shit bricks afterwards.”
“Its really got you spooked huh?” I said.
“More than spooked Greg, I don’t feel comfortable in my own skin. I feel like…” he stopped for a moment looking over the bar making sure no one was listening before he continued in a whisper. “I damned my soul.”
“Get the fuck outta here,” I said letting out a small chuckle.
“I’m serious Greg," he said looking over to the front window as if checking if someone was there.
“Yeah, you’re just trying to make your story more dramatic or trying to get me to fall for it. How about you let me see the video?”
“That’s the thing Greg,” he replied turning his head back around and grabbing his newly placed whisky shot, “I can’t find the video anymore,” he said as he threw the shot down his throat. “…or the websites.”
“You can’t find them?”
“No and I’ve looked. Believe me, I looked.”
“Sounds a little convenient. How did you find them in the first place?”
“I told you, browsing Youtube and watching creepy videos and I started clicking links in the comment sections and eventually it led me there. But that‘s not the point.”
“So what did the video show?” I asked with a skeptical eye.
“At first it was just someone walking through empty apartments. I thought maybe it was a video of someone shopping around for apartments, you know, just documenting potential places. It would seem to be uninteresting right but something about it seemed very creepy and unsettling so I kept watching. As they were moving through rooms it always felt like something was going to be behind one of those empty corridors but it was mostly nothing until the end. This is where it got weird. Whoever was recording entered MY apartment. It was empty but I could still recognize my apartment because they went into the bedroom first and the view out the window was the same one I have. Then they go into the empty living room and in the middle laid a big black garbage bag filled with something," he said looking over at the window again. He looked really tired and paranoid. "So," he continued, "the bag just laid there for a few moments and then it began to move. Writhing around on the ground like a slug or something. Not thrashing, just moving. It didn’t appear to be a person in it because there was no hands or feet pushing out on the plastic. Just some kind of mass of flesh writhing and gyrating around underneath.”
“That is pretty creepy man,” I said taking a sip of my new drink.
“Yeah and it gets worse. Then the video goes black right and I just stare at a black screen for a few seconds and then it comes back on but this time it isn’t of some black bag moving around and slithering on the ground. No, its of me looking at me like through a webcam or something. And it seemed to be in real time. But the freakiest thing, the part that started all this bullshit and unsettled fear in me was that there was someone standing behind me. I couldn’t recognize him but he was standing there smiling with sharp white teeth and huge bulging eyes and black pupils towering at probably seven feet tall looking down at me. I immediately freak and turn around and of course no one is there. I turn back around and he's still there standing behind me. Then my computer shuts itself off. I left for my bedroom but I couldn't get to sleep that night. I tried laying down because I didn't even want to touch my computer again or even look at it. But as I laid there the feeling that someone was watching me was stronger than ever. It literally felt like that man with the huge eyes and sharp white teeth was standing at the edge of my bed but I couldn't see him,” he said as he looked over shoulder again.
“Damn man, that is some creepy shit. But its not true, right?”
“Its true man, I’m telling you.”
“So did you ever see that weird guy again?”
“I did," he said as he fixed the sleeves to his coat. "I saw him the next night standing out on my balcony. I had the blinds opened and in the space in between I could see his teeth and huge bulging eyes staring at me and it sure as shit wasn’t my mind playing tricks. If you saw what I saw, you would know it wasn’t my mind. Anyone would know. There was someone there. It was real. I got up and grabbed something to whack the shit out of it with but it disappeared.”
“Damn dude. I think you’re haunted. Maybe I should stay away from you. Maybe its contagious,” I said trying to joke. I gulped the last sip of my drink.
“Its not funny man. After that I started having overwhelming feelings of fear and dread. Like something bad was going to happen. I couldn’t shake that feeling of those eyes watching me either. I knew they were real, deep down I knew I wasn’t crazy that I saw what I saw. I began seeing other things too Greg. Shadow things everywhere I went and at night I could see faces in the walls and windows. Faces of agony. Like they're howling out in pain. My grip on reality, my sanity, everything is beginning to be tested Greg and I don’t even know if right now I have a grip. All I know is that its real but I don't want it to be.”
He stopped for a moment staring at the bar counter with glazed over eyes, lost in thought. I placed my hand on his shoulder and asked if he was alright. He jerked his head toward me with wide eyes and said yes.
“I’m sorry Greg, its really taking a toll on me,” he continued sinking his face in his left hand.
“Its alright James. Its gonna be alright.”
“You know, I spoke with it. Whatever He is.”
“What?” I said with a confused look.
“It came to me again one night. I was laying in bed lost in thought unable to sleep like most every night and I began hearing voices in my head. It wasn’t in English at first so I thought it was just my head. But then it said my name.”
“Now you’re creepy me out man, are you serious?”
“It said James. I know your fears. I know your sins. Your mind is accepting the horrors we want you to see. The horrors you know are real. You are becoming our vessel. One of many. Your world is but one layer. We have only just begun to harvest you. Then I asked it if it was a demon and it told me Demon is such a simple name. We are more than that. Our web that has covered your world is only the beginning. A hive mind we intend to harvest. So easily to hand over your soul. Why are you talking to me? I asked it and it said, because James. You are near your damnation. My soul, my will, everything is in complete disarray. I can’t find myself anymore. Am I crazy?”
“I don’t think you’re crazy. But I think your mind is in state of illness. Something is happening up there. It’s a disorder or you’re just way too tired. I think you’re in a lucid dream state or something.”
“I’m not though,” he said in a defeated tone. “He told me he liked to eat the flesh of the living and that I was next for him to feast on,” he sunk his head down low letting out tears. Soft whimpers escaped his mouth as he tried to grab his drink. “I’m damned Greg. Damned.”
“No you’re not. You’re fine. You’re here right now.”
He looked over to the window and a look of dread washed over his face, “I gotta go Greg. Im sorry. Thanks for listening but it is real and I'm not fine,” he said standing up. I’m sure he didn’t mean to reveal it to me or maybe he did. Maybe he wanted to show me his reality, to believe him. Why would he keep it in his pocket the whole time then? He wanted to show me. Perhaps just so I could understand his pain without having me to invest more. However, I too have slowly become overwhelmed with that feeling of dread. That horrible feeling that something is watching.
He stopped for a moment staring at the bar counter with glazed over eyes, lost in thought. I placed my hand on his shoulder and asked if he was alright. He jerked his head toward me with wide eyes and said yes.
“I’m sorry Greg, its really taking a toll on me,” he continued sinking his face in his left hand.
“Its alright James. Its gonna be alright.”
“You know, I spoke with it. Whatever He is.”
“What?” I said with a confused look.
“It came to me again one night. I was laying in bed lost in thought unable to sleep like most every night and I began hearing voices in my head. It wasn’t in English at first so I thought it was just my head. But then it said my name.”
“Now you’re creepy me out man, are you serious?”
“It said James. I know your fears. I know your sins. Your mind is accepting the horrors we want you to see. The horrors you know are real. You are becoming our vessel. One of many. Your world is but one layer. We have only just begun to harvest you. Then I asked it if it was a demon and it told me Demon is such a simple name. We are more than that. Our web that has covered your world is only the beginning. A hive mind we intend to harvest. So easily to hand over your soul. Why are you talking to me? I asked it and it said, because James. You are near your damnation. My soul, my will, everything is in complete disarray. I can’t find myself anymore. Am I crazy?”
“I don’t think you’re crazy. But I think your mind is in state of illness. Something is happening up there. It’s a disorder or you’re just way too tired. I think you’re in a lucid dream state or something.”
“I’m not though,” he said in a defeated tone. “He told me he liked to eat the flesh of the living and that I was next for him to feast on,” he sunk his head down low letting out tears. Soft whimpers escaped his mouth as he tried to grab his drink. “I’m damned Greg. Damned.”
“No you’re not. You’re fine. You’re here right now.”
He looked over to the window and a look of dread washed over his face, “I gotta go Greg. Im sorry. Thanks for listening but it is real and I'm not fine,” he said standing up. I’m sure he didn’t mean to reveal it to me or maybe he did. Maybe he wanted to show me his reality, to believe him. Why would he keep it in his pocket the whole time then? He wanted to show me. Perhaps just so I could understand his pain without having me to invest more. However, I too have slowly become overwhelmed with that feeling of dread. That horrible feeling that something is watching.
James stood up and his hand fully escaped his pocket for a brief moment and I could see his wrist and arm. The wrist was purple with bruises and what I saw below on his forearm sent shivers of fear through me. Flesh had been eaten away. Pierced holes in bite mark like shapes riddled his arm. It looked like chewed meat shaded in deep bruises and bite marks. Dried scabs and open flesh laid over his arm. Only three fingers remained on his hand. No bones from his fingers were present just dried bloody nubs, perhaps just fallen off with no flesh or tendon to hold them on. He placed his hand securely back into his pocket and turned to face the door. With his left hand he grabbed my shoulder and said, “thanks. But I think we’re all damned.” I never saw James again. He disappeared.
It feels like something is watching now; it always feels like something is watching. Lonely ambient thought can be a person’s greatest enemy at times, especially in those moments of subtle fear that covers every inch of your skin letting you dwell and feel those piercing bodiless eyes that watch from every dark corner you can’t see. They exist. They do whether you admit it or not because that feeling at the edge of your skin, the tingling of fear in your bones and through your spine, are those eyes. He’s been where you are and has seen you. He’s always watching and James had seen him before me. Now I can’t but help see those faces of agony in the walls that he saw and notice James' face among them.
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