Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-25900635-20141221231439

(Posted another thread with the same title, although the format and style were severely messed up for some reason, and I'm working on getting that deleted)

How I got here, I’ll never know. Just this morning, I bid my wife goodbye and left for the city; we weren’t quite rich enough to live within its walls, but managed to sustain ourselves in a little house not far from the gates. With a widespread disease going around, we all had to take extra measures to avoid contracting it. I figured that maybe if I could acquire some extra supplies that day, I wouldn’t have to make the trip the next morning. The archbishop said that the more I sin, the more likely I’ll get it, and being exposed to sinners will undoubtedly influence me; I must remain untainted. The thought of my family suffering from it still makes me shudder, and that always convinces me to remain eternally incorruptible.

On the way, I stopped to examine a strange rift on the side of the road. It was not there the previous day, nor the day before, and, upon peering in, I noticed a strange landscape with with outlandish architecture. A strange purple aura surrounded the hole, and the blurry projection of the other side made it seem as if it were a gateway to another dimension.

Unfortunately, I lost my footing and fell into the crevice. Believing my life to be at an end, I had closed my eyes tightly and recited a quiet prayer in hopes that the Lord would spare me some of his infinite mercy. A small screeching noise in the distance reached my ears, and it gradually became louder, until the point that my ears started to hurt, but even then, the persistent noise droned on. Not only was it intolerable in its behavior, but it came in multiple screeching volleys; each one very closely following the previous, and ruthlessly battering my poor ears that screamed for mercy. The feeling started to fade from my body, and my mind felt as if it were going to explode, and I thought I had reached the almighty, divine kingdom. But apparently, I didn’t, because the sound abruptly ceased, taking with it the numbness in my limbs and the cataclysmic feeling in my head.

As my hearing returned, I could make out hundreds of strange noises surrounding me. It was dark, and I could only make out the silhouettes of dark structures around me. I was trapped between massive brick walls on either side, while a dim light radiated from the end of the alley. This was definitely some sort of illusion of the Devil, and I wanted no part of it.

Unfortunately, as I turned around, the strange rift was gone, replaced only by a large pile of metallic objects. My knees felt weak, and I wanted to curl up in despair, but I knew that I couldn’t afford to do that; there has to be some way to get back to my world. Reluctantly, I proceeded to the end of the alley and found myself in a very strange environment, similar to what I had seen through the portal earlier that day. In this alien place, I needed to find another human being. I looked to either side, and only saw what appeared to be large display cases.

I peered into the nearest one and, to my luck, found a person within. From what I saw, there were several racks holding various objects, and a group of humans were mingling within. I cringed, feeling empathy for the poor souls being trapped in the glass prisons. I looked for a way to open the prison, and found it in the form of a door right on the right surface. Surprisingly, it only took a strong push to open it.

They looked at me with faces of confusion and bewilderment when I encouraged them to escape the prison. I sincerely hoped that they hadn’t lost the will to live, resigning themselves to this glass cubicle, when the door to it opened with only moderate effort. One man, who stood behind a counter, beckoned for me to come over. I recall him asking me if I was feeling alright. I identified myself, and told explained to him what I understood of the situation.

“Sir, this isn’t a prison in any way; you aren’t on any substances, are you?” he inquired innocently.

Inside, I felt even more panicked; whatever beings were oppressing these people were teaching them to believe themselves to be free. Who could live in this small confinement? I turned around to look at the area, and noticed there were many rows of racks, all with various trinkets and other strange items resting on them. A women off to the left seizes one of these objects and drops it into a basket she carried. She turned to me and spoke some unknown language. This has got to be some sick experiment conducted on humans, I thought at the time. I wanted no part of it, and I will not be tainted by these indoctrinated individuals. I thought of my family, unaware of my current circumstances until I fail to return home that evening, and their worried faces. I am incorruptible.

Deciding that I’d fare much better on my own, I grabbed a container I had noticed earlier. It contained water inside, and I knew that would allow me to sustain my energy for a little longer. There were other foreign articles of what seemed to be food in a bin adjacent to the pile of containers of water, but I didn’t dare touch any of them; it could be poison for all I knew.

I remember the man behind the counter angrily calling to me as I started to leave. He was ranting about failing to pay, or something of the sort. I ignored his angry remarks, and compensated him with the little money I had. Even after I handed him the currency, he continued to rant, now changing his topic to the authenticity of my money.

Slightly irritated, I placed the container of water into my pouch and ran out of the prison. He screamed after me, but I didn’t stop. When I turned around to look at him was when it hit me.

A massive, hulking behemoth with two glowing eyes closed in on me. My ears rang as the demon moved closer and closer, roaring with at every second. Never before had I experienced such pure terror. Submitting to my primal instincts, I just let out a weak whimper and submitted to my fate as the demon tackled me head on. It felt as if every single bone in my body had shattered as I flew through the air and landed hard on the ground. The archbishop’s words about the disease echoed through my ears. I’d rather have been a diseased sinner than have to suffer a horrible fate like this. I weakly scoff at myself for having spent my whole life living in fear of the church, when these humans in another dimension live oppressed by these terrible creatures. As my vision blurred, my last thoughts were of my family.

Autopsy Report - May 20th, 2014

Coroner: Dr Rene Chambers

Subject name: Unidentified “John Doe”

Time of death: 8:49 PM, EST, 05/20/2014

Cause of death: Vehicular impact

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Gross Lesions:

Cerebral hemorrhage and fractured collarbone main cause of death.

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Gastrointestinal System:

The esophagus and stomach are normal in appearance without evidence of ulcers or varices. The stomach contains approximately 800 ml, without evidence of any pills or other non food stuff material. The pancreas shows a normal lobular cut surface with evidence of autolysis. The duodenum, ileum, jejunum and colon are all grossly normal without evidence of abnormal vasculature or diverticula. An appendix is present and is unremarkable. The liver weighs 2850 grams and the cut surface reveals a normal liver with no fibrosis present grossly. The gallbladder is in place with a probe patent bile duct through to the ampulla of Vater.

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Clinicopathologic Correlation:

The subject, who had no medical history nor identifiable fingerprints, died from a cerebral hemorrhage after an impact with a vehicle sent him flying through the air. Other significant injuries include a fractured collarbone, lacerated left forearm and dislocated left leg. No sign of alcoholic consumption.

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Notes:

The police report states that a disoriented man dressed in ragged clothing stormed into a local grocery store and insisted on “liberating” the people inside the store. When asked to pay for a 16 oz bottle of water (evidence #03), the suspect provided them with silver anglo-saxon era pounds. Upon the clerk's refusal to accept the currency (testimony attached to back), the man ran out of the store, only to be hit and killed by a passing car. The man has no form of identification, and his fingerprints are not on the database. Interestingly, the testimony of the clerk claimed that the man identified himself as John Fuller of Canterbury, but there is no evidence to support this, nor have any relatives stepped up.

Afterthought:

Time Warps are unnerving experiences; they have been thought to be extraterrestrial encounters, dimensional shifts or even brain strokes. The most unsettling reports are those correlated by more than one person experiencing the same impossible time warp. Characteristically, time warps occur when someone sets out on a journey, long or short, along a familiar path which is clearly defined and should take a specific time to complete. The journey appears normal, except at the end the person realises they have covered a number of miles in an impossibly short space of time. They are unsettled to find themselves at their destination sometimes hours earlier than possible. There have even been cases of “time loss”, where a person set out on a journey, travelled normally, yet arrived at their destination hours, years, or even decades later than explainable.

Where did the missing time go? Usually it is only upon arrival that the discrepancy in time is noticed. Are there dimensional “warps” we sometimes inadvertently pass through? Even more puzzling are supposed time portals that allow us to leap various lengths of time into either the future or the past. Could physics someday confirm and explain the existence of these time slips? Enough people continue to have these experiences to justify scientific investigation into this phenomenon. 