*TRIGGER WARNING: Self harm*
(6. Oct 31st. Late Friday Night Early Saturday Morning 3:00)
I awoke, crumpled on my doorstep. The veil of sleep lifting off my eyes, as I pieced together where I was. The book, laid precariously on my lap. I coughed, spitting blood onto the floor of the complex hall. My body aching and bruised where I had been bound. "What... Happened?"
The words were forced. I had lost a lot of energy, and I felt like a sack of potatoes. Willing my hand, I was able to open the door. My propped frame, sliding into the living area of my apartment.
I didn't know if I wanted Serina to be home. To help me sure, I just went through a lot, but how would I explain? The last thing I wanted to do was to worry her, and answer all her questions. The same one's I kept asking myself as I shifted onto the couch.
'How did I get home?'
'How did I escape that creature?'
I had so many unanswered thoughts, staring blankly at the book, I tried to remember. The only thing I can think of was that horrid screech, right before I woke up... or blacked out. I brought my hand to my head, I couldn't think. I couldn't concentrate, I felt like I was freaking out. Beginning to panic, my breathing got heavy, I was getting anxious. The Book slammed open on the coffee table. Words scrawled onto a page as if an invisible hand was writing. 'It's Time.' I crashed onto the floor, smacking my head against the wooden table.
My body wouldn't move, this was it. The last of my will left me as my head collided with the wood. I laid in front of the couch, breaths heaving out of my lungs. I wanted to just close my eyes and sleep off the pain. I couldn't, I felt strange. Anything I wanted to do, I wasn't able to.
My hand, my own hand worked its way onto the table. With it I pulled myself up into sitting position. 'What!' I wanted to scream. I was moving on my own, without my thought of action. I couldn't even feel myself doing it, just sitting here and watching as my body worked itself. Staring down at the book, I clearly see the writing now. The two ominous words that seemed to leap onto the page.
'It's Time.'
'What does it mean? Time for what?'
I placed my left arm onto the open book, creasing the pages down. My right hand leaned me over, to grab something close by. Wrapping my fingers around the cold metal of a candle holder, I brought it closer. No longer needing to lean, I smashed the candle part against the table. Wax bounded off in different directions, revealing the sharp probe that kept the candle in place. My face smiled at the point, and directed it towards my rested arm.
'No! No, no, no. What the fuck!' I kept trying to fight it, every bit it got closer. Even when it prodded through my bare skin, I couldn't scream. The burning pain as something foreign dug its way deep into my wrist.
Deep red liquid spilled onto the page. Filling into the binding of the book, drenching the pages. My hand moved its way down my arm, opening the artery further. Blood streamed out, forming a solid puddle over the book on the table. Droplets dripping off the wooden sides. I was weak, weaker than when I got home. I feel the blood pouring out of me, my essence draining onto the book. My right hand pressed onto my open arm, forcing more liquid out of the wound.
Tears slid down my face, finally showing a bit of what I feel. Slowly I was becoming reconnected with my body, and I could now feel every bit of it. The pain crept up my arm and shot all throughout me. My head weighed itself down onto the table, resting in the puddle. One eye submerged in red, the other stared at the emerging pages. Blood began to... disappear? The book was absorbing every drop I had spilled. Droplets fell up in reverse onto the table, filling into the parchment.
My vision cleared as the rest of the puddle vacuumed into the book. Forming ancient words and glyphs with the same liquid I call blood. The book filled itself, each blank page now completely full with text. With my arm no longer impeding the pages, the book slammed shut.
I looked up and gasped, able to breathe. Able to react to the sight. Those eyes, the same ones I had dreamt about the night prior. The hollow stare boring into my mind. The white pale skin that stretched taut around the creature's body.
The sight of the thing had me dry heaving, choking the sheer horror of its image. Bone mangled and broken to provide it with its distraught form. The completely naked humanoid creature cocked its head. A small slit it had for a mouth began to tear apart. Skin hanging together as it's cheeks ripped from its jaw, revealing its literal ear to ear grin. Sharp jagged teeth lined the rotting gum of its mouth. The stench of its breathe hit me, causing my eyes to water. It wreaked of dead flesh and mold.
A grey slimy tongue probed from within its mouth, extending its length to my face. Across the table the thing didn't even need to move to lick me. I pushed myself up against the couch, trying to get away from the muscle. I yelped as the slime slid up my face, wiping the blood off that stained my cheek. It rolled back into the creature's mouth, not before it licked its mangled lips. It savored the rustic taste of my blood.
Bringing a mangle broken hand to its mouth, licking off more blood from its bent talon fingers. I sat in horror, 'Now what? Is this what it meant by, it's time? Time for this thing to feast on me?'
The creature jerked its head towards me, as if it could tell what I was thinking. Tiny holes in its face, I assumed were nose holes, flared. Almost as if the being was smelling the very fear I was excreting. Lunging at me, it thrust its claws towards me, ready to rip me apart. With a kick, the table flipped, impeding its attack. I crawled away from my spot, making my way towards the book that was tossed off.
I grabbed the book, yet to my avail, I was cornered. The creature blocked my path, I had nowhere to go.
'Protect me...'
The thought etched itself into my mind, like a pen to paper.
'...and I'll protect you.'
The Book began to heat up and shake in my hands, like an animal trying to force itself away, I dropped it. Landing onto the floor with a thud, and a bright flash that reflected off the pages. With a hiss the creature jumped onto the wall, scurrying about like it was in pain. Smashing its head into the ceiling a few times before it made it just right into the crack. Sliding its body into the line where ceiling and wall met, flattening out and collapsing itself even further. The creature squeezed its way, cracking of bones sounded as the rest of its body passed through.
I fell to my knees in front of the book. The room a mess, the table and it's contents strewed about. I looked down in disbelief, watching the book shut one more time and a small padlock materialized, locking the book closed.