The Shadows Rising

This is a non-spinoff version of a previous contribution called 'The Summoning' that was deleted.

I don't have much time, even as I type this I feel my grip on sanity weakening, my hands are shaky, my mind unstable, and my vision is blurry. I've been awake for 3 days, ever since I did what they told me to. They are the shadows, they come when summoned. I beg you not to summon them. Someone wants you too, never do it... never open the story... It's evil. I can't explain it all, I don't even fully understand it, all I know is that they hear me, they know where I am, and they're inside the house. I hear them downstairs. They killed Sheila, they killed her, they killed everyone. They made me do it.

A month ago, me and Sheila, my girlfriend, were bored out of our minds, as it was a cold and rainy day and we had nothing to do. We were both big buffs on paranormal memes, so we just started leafing through random ones. We found one that caught our eye, it was just a paragraph, telling how to summon the Shadows. Sheila thought it would be fun. So, she did as it instructed, even translated it into the right language. In hindsight, it's unsurprising that it was deleted almost right after we read it. It all makes sense. They needed us to see it. They need someone to call them. Otherwise, they're just... Nightmares. Emotions. They need an outlet.

Nothing happened when we first did the incantation, just another paranormal story on the internet. We looked for it to show a friend (He was a video game designer, we always enjoyed helping him find ideas) but it was gone. That's when I felt something was terribly wrong. We shouldn't have done it... shouldn't have... now they're here, they won't LEAVE... Please, God forgive us.

Then, the shit really hit the fan. In a single week the government was downed, the riots started, and half the population was gone, just like that. Fires were all over the city, the police station was destroyed... Worst among the travesties of that first week was the burning of the hospital. After all, what good are the sick, right? They didn't even save the kids... Only a few people made it out, and most of those died without the life support of all the machines anyways. This all seems so long ago, we didn't know it was our fault, back then we were so naïve... We actually thought 9/11 was repeating itself. Can you believe that? Seems like a fucking delusion now. About a week ago today, the riots stopped. No more looters, no more anyone. The streets were dead quiet. And then they came. Everyone saw them, but no one wanted to mention them, we all thought we were going insane... The shadows. They followed you. Everyone saw them, no one did anything. A few of us went to our old zombie apocalypse bunker in the basement, but a lot of fucking good that did, let me tell you. I'm in here now, typing, waiting to die... I know this all seems gruesome, but this is the shadow's world. Just never even attempt to find the story. Never read the incantation.

Then, they did something that really broke the camel's back. They took my greatest treasure. They took my Sheila... They took her, and they said they'd give her back if I did something for them, if only I knew... They didn't leave me a note, they didn't say anything. I just woke up and knew she was gone, and I knew what they wanted. They wanted me to kill everyone. There were about ten of us down in the bunker (It was exceedingly large, it took up most of the basement and then went down another story). We had guns, food, water, even a private bathroom. I tried to resist the urges to kill them, I tried to ignore the thought in my head, but that only worked for a few days. I kept thinking of images popping into my head that I wished, oh yes I wished a lot then, I wished weren't true, but in my heart of hearts I knew were a reality. Sheila was mangled, barely alive, just murmuring over and over the same thing. "Help me, Help me..."

So, that night, after they made me see that, I opted to do their bidding. I got a knife in the night, and went around and killed everyone, quietly and as painlessly as possible. A kid that was with us woke up, I'll never forget the look in his eyes. They might have been a reflection of mine, at the time. Pure terror. I can't blink without seeing him. He bolted and went outside. The shadows got him, but luckily an automatic lock shut the door. In a dream I thought of an image of Sheila outside, chained to the old oak, entrails out and face mangled. The bastards killed her. They LIED to me. So now I'm hidden away, they're creeping up on me when I close my eyes. I can't keep this up. Everyone is dead because of us. But they won't get me. I'm locked in with a laptop, a gun, and what remains of the food. I'm going to end it after this is posted. Please, never read the incantation.

I'll see you soon, Sheila. I'm so sorry. God forgive me.

Don't read the incantation.