The One Named Sky

People sometimes may tell me that they fear nothing. That, as a result of horror movies, games and stories, they have become immune to such things. Back then, I believed them. I thought that fictional characters, events and creatures could numb you, till your nerves were frozen to steel, and nothing could even make you flinch. I admired people who could live without a worry in the world, and I looked up to them, as my sort of idols. I was naïve back then, before my life twisted out of my control, and any emotions I once felt became deep, bottomless pits inside me.

The only reason I’m alive to write this…is because I’m being toyed with. Played with like a little rag doll, and slowly left to descend into insanity. But before I leave completely, I want to write this, so maybe in the future I can help anyone who may have to suffer the same fate as I will. I might as well, since I’m far beyond helping myself. I lost almost every bit of sanity I had left when I received notes telling me what to do. The notes that were signed “S”.

Let’s start on Friday, when all this started. I was in my bedroom, playing a little League of Legends in my little free time. My cellphone, which was on the desk beside me, began to ring loudly. As I checked the caller ID, I found it was my best friend, Rick. I picked up the phone, pressing the “answer” button and holding it up to my ear.

“Hello?” I breathed, my eyes focused on the screen in front of me. I heard some muffled sounds on the other side of the line before Rick’s familiar voice came.

“Kevin!” he exclaimed. I shook my head, chuckling slightly. Rick was the type of person who would always love to socialize, and was never afraid of making friends. Like the opposite version of me, he never turned down a party invitation, or an outing, and he was usually cheery and optimistic.

“What’s up?” I asked casually, as my eyes roamed the blaring screen in front of me, my fingers clicking the mouse button every so often. Rick was used to it, he knew I loved online multiplayer games.

“There’s a party at Jessica’s house tonight..” Rick began. I already knew where this was going, and I beat him to it before he could finish what he was about to say.

“I’m not going to some huge party, Rick,” I explained. “All it is, is alcohol, sluts, loud music, and crowds.”

“I know you’re not a party person,” Rick sighed, “but Shaun is sick. I mean really sick, and I need someone to come with me! You’re the only one left.”

I refused again, saying if he wanted to do something he could come over, and we would find something fun to do somewhere where there weren’t so many people pushing around. Rick insisted, and I began to almost feel pity.

“Please, Kevin? Just tonight!” he pleaded. I heaved a sigh, glancing at the clock that was hanging on the cream-coloured wall opposite the back of my chair. It wasn’t late, and Rick didn’t necessarily say we had to stay for a long time.

“Fine,” I gave in, defeated. Rick cheered and told me to get ready, and that he would pass by me in a while. I finished off a little of my game, turned off my computer, and walked into the bathroom. I brushed my teeth, leaving a fresh minty taste lingering in my mouth as I simply changed into a pair of dark jeans and a light jacket, ruffling my dark, messy hair before flopping onto the couch, waiting for Rick to arrive.

After a few minutes, I heard the loud beeping of a car that couldn’t be mistaken. I grabbed my wallet and keys, along with my cellphone, and walked out the door of my apartment, locking the door behind me and headed downstairs. Rick was waiting in his dark BMW, with the windows rolled down, smiling smugly at me. I got in, looking over to the blonde, the grin still plastered across his face.

“Get a move on,” I laughed, as he pulled the car out of the parking spot, driving down the road towards the party.

When we arrived, it was exactly how I expected it to be. Loud music, under-dressed girls, drunken fools. I honestly didn’t want to be here at all, but I didn’t want Rick to be all on his own either. I knew how it felt to be invited somewhere and have to go alone. I followed Rick through the college students, some looked older, and some looked slightly younger. Rick walked over to an enormous kitchen, fishing through the fridge for a beer bottle, which he swiftly pulled out and shoved in my face.

“Want one?” he asked. I shook my head, looking at him like he was an idiot, but he only frowned and handed me the bottle. “Have one. For a change.”

I fetched a bottle opener from one of the drawers, popping the cap open and taking a large sip. It was good to have a little again, but this time I was definitely not going to have more than one.

It was getting a little late by the time I had begun to get extremely bored, and I started looking for Rick. Of course, I eventually found him stumbling around, with the top of a broken beer bottle in his hand. Disappointed, I tugged out the car keys that were hanging out of his pocket, and dragged him out of the party, towards his car, which was parked on the side of the road, beside the large garden circling the house which the party was held in.

“Come on, Rick,” I said to no one in particular I expected to be listening as I shoved Rick into the back seat of his own car. “I think I saw police lights far away..”

Must be those stupid drunk kids, I thought as I got into the driver’s seat, ignoring Rick’s questions and protests from the back as I started the engine and began to drive away.

As I drove the car, I took one last close look at the large house, which was surrounded by a large garden and thick trees. I looked towards the faint red lights I had seen from the corner of my eye earlier, which I expected to be police lights, but what I saw made me slam on the breaks and violently turn the steering wheel to avoid crashing the car. Two bright red eyes, staring at me from the darkness of the trees. My head automatically snapped in front of me when I saw I had lost control of the car, but it came to a steady halt.

I took one last look at the place the eyes were, just a few seconds ago, but they were gone.

After that, I had dismissed them as my imagination and brought Rick to my apartment, who had passed out long before we got home, anyways, so getting him to bed was easy.

Of course in the morning, I knew Rick was awake by the sudden groans of agony coming from the bed. I was in the kitchen, and immediately brought two glasses of water, one of them being for me while the other one I handed to a horribly hungover Rick. As I  was walking to my seat at the end of the bed, I tripped slightly over the carpet, sending about half the contents in my glass onto Rick, who flinched as the water hit him, and instantly complained, but relaxed moments after. Rick was afraid of the water, he always was. I apologized, and went to get him a change of clothes he could use until he went home.

That was only the beginning of it, little did I know that by merely looking into the red eyes that were staring at me, I had triggered a series of unfortunate events, which eventually led to a horrible misadventure, and led me to the state I’m in now.

The rest of that day was normal, and Rick went home in the late afternoon. I was tired, about to collapse while walking. I trudged into the bathroom, washing my face and teeth, and getting ready for bed. But when I walked back out, something didn’t feel right. It was like something in the room was missing…or something was there which wasn’t supposed to be.

I shook off the feeling and got into bed, thinking it must be from the long day of taking care of Rick. No sooner did my head hit the pillow, I fell right asleep.

I shall not explain what happened the next month in detail, since I have very little time left, and I’m risking everything I have even being here, but I shall explain briefly. I didn’t realize it back then, but now I can see everything crystal clear. I was being watched. My every move was jotted down like an experiment. Things began happening one after the other, things I couldn’t explain. My possessions were slowly disappearing, furniture and objects around the house were swapping places, and my electricity never fully worked, while my electronics became static-filled most of the time. I didn’t know what to do about it, and I was starting to get extremely anxious. I lost all need for sleep, now the most I could do was toss and turn. It was torture.

“Hello? Rick! What’s wrong?!” I asked worryingly into the phone. Rick had just phoned me up, telling me there was an emergency at his house. “I’ll be right there, calm down!”

I headed out as fast as I could. Rick was only a block or so away from me, so I ignored the car, and simply sped walked/jogged to his place. As soon as I got to the door I could tell something was wrong. The carpets on the floor down the hall outside his apartment were all soaked, and you could see the water was coming from Rick’s flat. Some people had their doors open, complaining loudly, but I simply ignored them, ringing the doorbell.

The door cracked open, sending some more water gushing at my feet. I looked up in shock and saw Rick, his face drained of colour. He looked like he was about to faint.

“What’s going on?!” I almost yelled.

“I don’t know!” he claimed. “I got to the house this morning, and it was just like this! It’s coming from everywhere…” his voice began to shake, “t-the toilet..the bathtub, the sink, the shower, every single thing that has water in it. And I can’t fix them!”

I pushed past him, into the living room, water was streaming out of the kitchen and bathroom like I’d never seen them before. Rick was huddled up on his bed, scared out of his mind.

“Stay here,” I sighed, “I’ll go see if I can fix them.” I went into the bathroom first, but the sight made me back out again. The shower, tap, toilet, and all the other pipes in the room were open, completely drowning the room. I backed out, deciding that maybe the kitchen was the best room to start with. But when I was out of the bathroom, I saw the most horrible sight possible waiting for me on Rick’s bed.

It was Rick, completely lifeless, blood pouring out of his mouth and the long, horizontal cut in his neck. His chest and stomach had been violently thrashed open, revealing organs that were no longer functioning. My eye widened, and my feet were glued to the floor. It took me a while to realize what was happening before I cringed over, vomiting out my breakfast at the sight of the horrid organs. I didn’t know what to do, and at that moment, I blacked out.

I woke up later at my house, in my bed. I wasn’t sure if what I had was real, or some sick nightmare. Looking up at the clock, I realized I should have been sleeping by now. I stood up, walking into the bathroom. I splashed my face with some cold water, returning back into my room. What I saw next scared me almost as much as Rick’s deformed corpse. On the wall, in a deep shade of red that I didn’t want to think was blood, was written:

What do you fear most?

Frantically looking around my room, I couldn’t find anyone or anything. I quickly got out a sponge and bleach, washing the writing off the wall. Then, after a lot of tossing and turning, I finally managed to fall asleep.

''I was running. I didn’t know what from, because I couldn’t see it. But I knew it was there, and it could clearly see me. It might have even been laughing at me, at that very second, as I ran. I didn’t have a destination, nor did I have anyone to go to, but all I knew was that I had to run. The only problem was, I could feel the red eyes on my trail. Right behind me, not even having to let out a breath as I struggled to keep going as fast as I could. There were no words to describe how I was feeling. Not terrified, more than that. And to top it off, I felt weak. Weak and helpless. I felt like all this time, I was just their doll. Their puppet. They say, I do. That’s the way it went.''

I sprung up into a sitting position in bed, my shirt sticking to my skin in a pool of cold sweat. I looked up at the clock; 7:03. Without a second thought, I got out of bed and rushed towards the door, stumbling around a little, trying to pull on some shoes as I grabbed my keys and left the house. I ran towards the car, getting in, but I couldn’t focus on the road. Eventually, I pulled over at Rick’s apartment building. I ran up the stairs, not even bothering to take the lift. When I got to Rick’s floor, there was yellow tape and police all around. Crime scene investigators were doing their job, while I stood, watching them.

“Sorry, but you can’t be here,” a policeman said, ushering me away from the yellow tape, which I was unknowingly drifting closer to.

“Where’s Rick?” I asked, my voice shaky. I already knew what he was going to say.

“Sorry, kid, but he was killed last night,” the policeman mumbled, placing a steady hand on my shoulder before walking away. I looked at the ground, biting my lip so hard I was almost sure it was bleeding. I ran out of the building before anyone else could come talk to me. I sat in the driver’s seat of my car, staring ahead of me, just wondering…Maybe I could have done something. I could have invited him over, then he wouldn’t have gone home, then none of that would have happened…

I slowly stepped through the front door of my house, my bottom lip quivering, and tears streaming down my face. I no longer felt safe in my own home. I didn’t feel safe anywhere. Those red eyes…I couldn’t get them out of my head. As I was just about to take a shower, I saw something that made my breath hitch in my throat. There was a letter, sitting on the corner of my bed. Hesitantly, I picked up the letter, reading the neat, cursive writing..

Hello, Kevin,

' First of all, I feel the need to apologize to you about your friend’s little…misfortune there. But I have to admit, I simply couldn’t help myself to someone as fun as he is. To be afraid of something as normal as water…I had to! Anyway, back to the point. I just wanted to tell you to watch out. Not many people are as wise as you to be afraid of something they can’t see, let alone control, so I must warn you. Most things pretend not to see you, if you pretend not to see them. But this time, it’s not like that.'

' Don’t be too happy, poor Kevin. Be disappointed! I could have made you into a beautiful piece of artwork, much like your friend. But I chose to keep you. You see…there has to be someone telling the story, right? '

                                                                                                                                                   -Sky