I moved to Dubai a few years ago, and rented an apartment on the 42nd floor of a building located in the middle of the city. I’m not acrophobic and didn’t mind the inconvenience, so I had no reason to live on a lower floor.
The restaurant I used to work for is severely understaffed, forcing me to cover multiple shifts, work late etc. The place opens unusually late, so I usually have a few hours after I wake up to compose myself, however my insomnia has started to get to me. I haven’t been able to get more than five hours of sleep for weeks. Movies have
become one of my only outlets for stress, and a way to get to sleep. The screen has a way of forcing me into sleep. It burns my eyes and slowly coaxes me into unconsciousness. It’s never a deep sleep, but it’s better than nothing. I stared at the screen as my eyes began to burn. I fell asleep on the couch for the first time in months.
I woke up to the sound of crackling. I slowly sat up and peered at the screen. The sound was clearly emitting from it, but nothing seemed wrong with the images themselves. Something that resembled Friends to my sleep deprived mind was playing on the screen as a crackling noise played in the background. A raspy voice erupted from the screen.
„THE PURE SHALL SEE SUCH BEUTIFUL THINGS UPON THE NIGHT OF SALT AND BRONZE.”
The screen suddenly froze, and the resolution of the video began to decline rapidly. I stood up and walked closer t the screen, which was now frozen, showing the pixelated face of a character with his mouth open. Part of his head was still moving, but the rest was frozen in place, creating a disturbing scene. The crackling became louder as noises welled up from the distance. A mixture of honking, yelling and other noises emanated from the traffic below, forming a loud yet strangely harmonious sound.
I picked up the remote from the table and tried to turn the screen off. Nothing. The video remained, decreasing in quality as the crackling grew louder. I pressed it again. Still nothing. And again. I began to bash my fingers against the remote, but nothing happened. I stared at the screen as it began to grow darker. For a second I thought it was turning off, until I realized the screen was now showing a hallway.
The crackling faded as static began to engulf the screen, which now showed what looked like a strangely jagged mountain. It took me a few seconds to notice the man within the video. He was standing on the mountain, his long visibly thin hair blowing in the wind, and contorting. I began to feel nauseous as I noticed his movements. His arms moved in unnatural angles as he twisted his neck to degrees that his spine shouldn’t be able to handle.
The screen froze.
Silence. Pure and utter silence took over the screen, before a slow, monotone voice spoke from it.
„LET THE DEMON OF BRONZE AND IRON BRING THE SILENCE ONTO US. LET THE FIRST ONE UPON THE SHATTERED MOUNTAIN BRING FORTH THE UNSPEAKABLE MONSTERS THE SINNERS HAVE MADE WITHIN THEIR DECAYING MINDS.”
The screen froze, occasionally twitched with its resolution alternating rapidly.
The crackling, alongside the sound of cars below me resumed. I backed away from the screen and looked out of my window to notice a sea of cars and people running between them below my apartment. This level of traffic, alongside the people who seemed to have left their cars horrified me. What could have happened down there in such a short amount of time to prompt such a reaction from so many people.
The crackling ceased once again, drawing my attention back to the screen, which still showed the same video. I walked up to it, stared at the man and tried to make out his features. None of them were visible. I walked over to the remote and tried to pause the video this time.
The screen immediately changed to show a deformed face, twitching and screaming before being engulfed by static once again. I began to feel nauseous as I backed away. The face, now perfectly visible began to emerge from the static. It was pale, deformed with long thin hair covering the half of it hat was still obscured by static. Its eyes were small, almost purely black, set deep within its skull. The visible side of its lipless jaw was lined with perfectly straight, black marks that stopped before it’s gums. The face was accompanied by text, temporarily emerging from the static.
„DON’T PAUSE”
I decided to call the police. If this was a broadcast interruption, they had to be aware of it.
Lights began to flicker on in other buildings as I ran into the kitchen to get my phone. I picked it up stared at the lights as they lit up on ever screen, I could see from this distance. They were all the same as mine. The face was present in all of them, twitching as the sound of thousands running below us drowned out the static.
Someone called me before I got the chance. The caller hadn’t been saved in my phone, but the the number looked familiar enough. Either way, I was so desperate to talk to someone I would have spoken to a stalker if I had to.
The caller turned out to be on of my coworkers.
„Bill… Did you see the broadcast interruption?”
„Oh, for fucks sake, of course I did! It’s still on.”
„Damn… I feel sorry for you. I know you have insomnia so I figured you’d be awake for this.”
„If only I wasn’t”
„Yeah Yeah…. That’s not what I wanted to ask you about… I…”
His voice trailed off.
„What is it?”
„I woke up a few minutes ago and I was going to go for a drive… But I can hear screaming. There are cras everywhere. Do you know what happened?”
„I have no clue, but no matter what you do, don’t go below the 3rd floor of your house. There’s clearly something dangerous going on outside.”
„Of course not. I won’t leave either. As long as the TVs off, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Turn it off? He was able to turn his TV off? I looked out the window. The lights were off. My screen was the only one that remained on.
„You were able to turn your TV off? How? I’ve been trying to do so, but it won’t stop.”
„The fuck? How is that possible?”
„How do you expect me to kno-„
Static, and what sounded like incoherent speech interrupted my words. They were coming from the living room. The interruption was still going.
Raspy, barely understandable speech erupted from the screen as I ran over to the kitchen door to lock it.
„MAY THE ONES OF SALT AND BRONZE
PRAISE THE SILENCE!”
I once again picked up my phone.
„BILL!!! What the fuck was that?”
„It came from my TV. It hasn’t made a noise since the interruption started.”
It took him a few seconds to react, during which I heard him approach something.
„AND LET THE BROADCATST END.”
„Oh fuck… Oh fuck. No, no, no… Please no.”
„What is it?”
„Bill… They’re… clapping.”
„MAY THE MAN UPON THE BROKEN MOUNTAIN SCREAM THE BRONZE AND SEA. MAY THE INPURE BEINGS REGRET THEIR SINS AND THE DEMONS SEE.”
The voice rang out once again
„LET THE BLOOD OF THE SINNERS SPILL.”
„Who are?”
„The people outside… In perfect fucking unison…”
The sound of thick, distorted yet rhythmic clapping arose from beneath me.
„Why? What the hell is going o-„
„THEY’RE DEAD!! SO MANY ARE DEAD! NO, NO ,NO NO!! PLEASE! NO!”
„LET BEHEMOTH APPLAUD THE PURE SILENCE. LET THE MONSTERS FROM WITHIN THEIR BROKEN MINDS FINALLY DIGEST THE DEMONS.”
I hung up. This was too much. You’d think my first instinct would have been to run to the window and see what the hell was going on, but no. The nausea was too much. I was still exhausted. The fucking static emanating from the screen was just too much for my mind in that moment. I managed t drag myself to the window, but the moment I saw what spread out below me, I just wanted to die. To forget everything that had happened and recede into nothingness, away from whatever unholy shit was happening to the world
Many were, indeed dead. hundreds of corpses lay between the army of cars that had been down there since the interruption started. Some people were still moving. People in dark blue clothing, the police, perhaps were running throughout the scene.
I watched a child stare at me through the window of another building. I could see he was crying. Tears streamed down his face as he stared at the corpses below. We stared at each other for a few seconds.