Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-26705150-20160127065734

It all started with those masked men popping all over the world. Nobody knew who they were or what they wanted but they had become a notorious sensation all over the web. A variety of pictures and videos of strange men wearing gas masks and winter wear began circulating all over the media. In these reoccurring images the masked men were usually standing in close proximity of small gatherings, individuals, or just off by themselves in the distance. Supposedly they never said anything to anybody and they never identified themselves. They were only noticeable because there were several complaints about them mysteriously watching folk and so many had been seen in different areas.

Weeks later, in these same areas where the masked men were spotted, entire towns were getting covered in deep fog. The reports claimed that people from inside the towns were frantically making contact with the outside. Every one of these people claimed that they were trapped inside different buildings and interior areas. They were stuck inside because anybody who stepped into the fog either went missing or lost their minds. The latter of them were only known about because they could only stay in the fog for a few minutes before having to return to interior structures. These people were never the same after that. They were known to scream frantically, claim they could see or hear things that nobody else could, and sometimes they believed they were being followed.

The fog continued to appear in more cities across the world but nothing could be done about it. It was true what they said about people disappearing in the fog. Even the military and police tried to take action by moving into these fog covered areas but they never returned. No radio contact was ever made with them or anyone else who entered the fog for a long period of time. Only those who stayed inside could ever be contacted.

Eventually the sightings of those same masked figures were reported here, in my hometown. Then the fog came and completely covered the whole place. I got stuck in a pharmacy after that but I couldn’t remember how I or anyone else got there.

I was stuck inside with my wife, my daughter, and one of our neighbors, Jack. I was sitting down in front of the glass windows and door, keeping watch. I couldn’t see anything past a few feet ahead but I needed to make sure there weren’t any more survivors. Plus I feared that those masked men would come looking for us.

Jack was lying down by some medicine shelves across from me, busy reading some old magazines and medical notes. I could hear my daughter snoring as she lied across from him and my wife had been coughing ever since we got there. She had a high fever, complained of nausea, and was sweating profusely.

I had to keep giving her medicine to calm her down and I was concerned about her condition. I knew whatever medication I gave her would only last for a little while and that we’d run out of supplies one way or another. There was no denying that the longer we stayed there, the higher chance of that happening or worse yet, one of us could get sick or get found by those figures in the fog.



I tried to keep my focus on watching the front and checking in on my wife every once a while. I did my best to ignore The TV that was playing on the wall, just within my peripheral vision. Not because there was anything entertaining or informative but because there was something wrong with what it was playing on the TV. I tried changing the channel but it was always the same thing on every one. I tried to turn it off and when that failed, I broke the thing on purpose. Yet I could still see those damn broadcasts after that.

The broadcasts revealed an endless list of people and their darkest moments in life. Every scene showed somebody dealing with a strong, emotionally charged, and often tragic event in their lives. Often times, they’d show multiple scenes, featuring the same people but in different situations. The order they were put in and how much detail was given in each scene varied from time to time. Some of the people I even recognized but there were many others I didn’t and there was no sound playing either.

Not much had been said in the past few hours and I was in an almost trance-like state. Jack jolted me out of it when I heard him say something.

“Hey man you want to know something?”

He had a little magazine in his lap but he was looking into space.

“Yeah, what?” I responded.

There was a moment’s hesitation and a sigh of breath before he continued.

“I was out in the fog for a short time, just before we got to the pharmacy. I felt strange out there, like I was about to lose it.”

<p class="MsoNormal">This was the first time he had told me this since we got there. I had thought we were all inside when it happened but it became clear that wasn’t the case. I urged him on, both out of curiosity and a desire to know what he experienced in the fog. This was the first time I had heard someone’s account of it in person and not just on over the internet or on TV.

<p class="MsoNormal">“What do you mean by that?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“I swear I could see those masked men all lurking about, far away in the fog. I mean I couldn’t actually see them but it was as if I knew they were already there. I could just sense their presence. It felt like they were causing me to think about things I didn’t want to think about.”

<p class="MsoNormal">The way he was talking about being in the fog sounded somewhere between madness and mind control. What was one or the other, I couldn’t say for certain but it caused me concern. It was a reminder that trying to escape would prove too futile. It meant that the fog would most likely shake us before we could ever get very far and that we could even be found easily by those masked men out there.

<p class="MsoNormal">“What things?” I asked.

<p class="MsoNormal">   “There was something buried in my mind coming to the surface and I didn’t like what it was. There was something horribly dark about it but I couldn’t be sure how.”

<p class="MsoNormal">I didn’t know what to say to him after that. To be honest, I don’t think there was much to say regardless. It was an eerie account of course and I had a hard time understanding how Jack made it out of there. Most people who came out of the fog didn’t come back sane and yet, here he was.

<p class="MsoNormal">I turned back to the glass and kept on watching up front after that. A few hours must have passed since then and I was getting pretty tired. It was getting pretty close to the time where I would switch watch with Jack. So I figured I’d get up in a few minutes and wake the man up before getting some sleep myself.

<p class="MsoNormal">Yet, in that moment, I felt oddly compelled to look at the TV again. I normally wouldn’t care about what I’d see on there but this was different. When I saw what I did, my eyes went wide and I began to shake as my stomach churned at the sight. I couldn’t understand it.

<p class="MsoNormal">My wife and I were on the TV this time. She was lying down on a hospital bed and I was leaning close to her on a chair. My hands were wrapped around hers and it looked like we were talking. She was hooked up to some life support machine beside her bed and I could see the screen on it.

<p class="MsoNormal">At first the lines on the screen were fine and green but they began to fade after a few minutes. It was getting worse and it was happening at a faster rate. Finally the screen went dead completely and the line on there was completely flat. My wife stopped moving and I placed my head on her stomach. I felt a tinge of deja vu when I saw that but I didn’t know why.

<p class="MsoNormal">The scene ended there and I immediately got out of my chair. I felt a tinge of de ja vu when I saw that but I didn’t know why. I ran over to where my wife was lying down, behind the front counter, and I leaned over it to see if she was okay. She was snoring so I knew nothing was wrong. So I ran towards Jack and frantically shook him awake.

<p class="MsoNormal">“My wife and I were on the TV this time. You should have seen it. She died on a hospital bed in front of me.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“What?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“My wife died on one of the broadcasts and I witnessed it on the screen. I don’t know how that could be, as we’re both still here. Jack, something is very wrong with those broadcasts.”

<p class="MsoNormal">He didn’t seem as surprised as I was and the only response he could give me for a moment was:

<p class="MsoNormal">   “I know. Everything has gone wrong here.”

<p class="MsoNormal">There were another few moments of silence and watching the fog. There wasn’t much else I could say to help the matters nor could I even comprehend as to how they made that broadcast. I could only figure they were trying to scare us and break us. That was what I wanted to avoid completely.

<p class="MsoNormal">“How do you think they’re pulling this off?” he broke the silence.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t know. I think those masked men are doing it though. They don’t even seem human.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t believe they are,” he said.

<p class="MsoNormal">I calmed down a little bit during the conversation and I reminded him that it was his turn to watch the front. I drifted off into sleep in the corner and was awoken again with a jolt. Jack was shaking me as frantically as I had earlier that night and he was screaming for me to look at the TV again. I didn’t want to watch the damn thing but I knew it was serious. I took him up on his demand and I saw what was on the current broadcast. It was him this time and he was lying on the ground, unmoving and his eyes closed. A red pool was spreading out from underneath his back.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m dead. I’m fucking dead. Do you see that?” he yelled.

<p class="MsoNormal">I tried to respond with a reassuring nod and look. I was shaking like crazy but I tried to not move too much. I wanted sanity for all of us and I didn’t want too much fear to jeopardize that. Yet I wondered if it hadn’t already.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah I see it.”

<p class="MsoNormal">He shook his head.

<p class="MsoNormal">“No I don’t think you do. Do you see it?”

<p class="MsoNormal">Then I saw myself walk into the view. I was standing over Jack’s body and I could just barely see myself holding something in my hand. I wasn’t moving. I was just standing there, staring at Jack’s unconscious body. The similar feeling of deja vu coursed through me again.

<p class="MsoNormal">“You see it now, don’t you?”

<p class="MsoNormal">The scene ended and another one took its place. I would have almost looked away too, until I saw my daughter on there. She was standing in the middle of a familiar suburban street and a car was rapidly approaching her. She didn’t have time to react nor did she move at all. The car struck her and her body flailed into the air.

<p class="MsoNormal">The driver halted to an abrupt stop and got out. My eyes went wide and my stomach burned with all of the shock, fury, and sickness like that of a night in hell. The driver was Jack. I could feel something resurfacing in my memory and I whirled my head around as I frantically scanned the room. Nobody was there anymore. Jack, my daughter, and my wife were all gone.

<p class="MsoNormal">Then it all hit me like a thousand bricks. I realized that I had been walking around in the fog the whole time. My wife had died of pneumonia just days before my daughter had been struck by a car. My darkest memories, once suppressed and forgotten, had now resurfaced in the fog.

<p class="MsoNormal">I could sense the lurking masked figures, in the background, coming closer and closer. They were surrounding me from all sides and I could see their masks in my mind.

<p class="MsoNormal">They weren’t right in front of my eyes but I knew they were there. It was only a matter of time before they got to me. This was it; this was the end for me. <ac_metadata title="The Fog of the Mind (Unreviewed)"> </ac_metadata>