Being grabbed by the shadow, I was tossed out of the closet and onto the floor. Sinclair walked over, puffing on another cigar. He may have been an alcoholic but now he was a smoker. Which in my mind was worse for you. But that’s just my opinion. His shadow gurgled and pointed at me it seemed to be enjoying what it was causing to me as it made slow methodical advances on me.
“Stop playing with your food, you idiot,” Sinclair told his shadow, causing it to retract from me and over to him. Its smile dipped and it screeched at him almost like a toddler throwing a tantrum would do. Sinclair just blew smoke in its face and walked over to me on the floor. I looked over at the nurse who had been with Sinclair but she was far too preoccupied with changing the black stained sheets of the bed.
“What are you planning on doing with me?” I asked him, squinting at the well-dressed owner of Sombra as he examined me like some strange museum artifact. Finally, he flicked his cigar in the direction of the nurse, hitting her with the still smoldering end and getting a surprised yell from her.
“How did you escape your room?” Sinclair asked me, once again completely ignoring my question and asking his own. Suddenly I remembered what might happen to Riley. She was the sole reason for my escape and for the knowledge I had of Sinclair’s shadow and what he was doing to people in this ‘rehab’ center.
“Emily didn’t tie my hands tight enough,” I told him quickly. Banking on his seeming hatred of women to my advantage. He stared at me, and then over to the nurse who was patting the ash stain that he had caused to her. He nodded seeming to buy the story I had given him.
“Well, Mr. Williams. If that is the case then please, allow me to escort you back to your room.” He told me. Before I could raise any kind of objection his shadow slithered over to me and grabbed me by the shoulders, digging its claws into me and making me yelp out in pain. “I insist.” Being dragged up to my feet, the adrenaline that Riley had given me kept me from feeling the brunt of the pain that had been caused to me. But I wondered how long it would last.
“I simply must teach these nurses how to tie patients down more efficiently. Otherwise, this will keep happening.” Sinclair sighed, walking me across the hall to my old room. The shadow at my side slithered along to make sure that I wouldn’t run off anywhere. All the while eyeing me hungrily.
“Did you really fight in Afghanistan?” I asked Sinclair as he closed the door behind us. He was silent for a moment, and I thought that he would just ignore my question. His shadow looked over at him and then at me, before slithering back over to his master as if to see what was wrong with him.
“No. But I am a veteran.” He told me and left it at that. A part of me was pissed off, believing that he had lied to me. And was probably performing stolen valor. But I remembered back to the look in his eyes. He had seen combat. The question in my mind was when and where. “Now, if you would kindly lay down in your bed? I’d rather not have to hurt someone who’s seen the horrors of war.” He told me with sincerity. A look of dead seriousness on his face. His shadow looked over at him with a frown and angry hissing.
“He doesn’t seem to care about me.” I pointed at his shadow. Sinclair looked over at the creature that was attached to him and simply waved it away. It obeyed him but still angrily hissed at me as it seemed to melt back into the wall and turn back into a seemingly normal shadow.
“He’s a fickle creature. I barely seem to be able to control him sometimes. But we have an agreement. He keeps me alive. I keep him fed.” He shrugged, walking over to me and waiting for me to lay down in bed. I weighed my options of just bum-rushing him and getting the upper hand while his shadow was gone. But after seeing what that thing could do, I decided against it. Laying down I watched as Sinclair walked over to firmly tie me to the bed. This time it felt like my hands were about to be cut off by how tight it was.
“If he keeps you alive. Just how old are you?” I asked him, seeing that he was actually having a conversation with me. I might as well try and get some information from him. He looked at me and offered me another of his fake smiles.
“Still being a journalist in this situation?” He chuckled, tying my ankles possibly even tighter than my wrists had been. “I commend your dedication to your job.” Finally done tying me to the bed. Finally, he pulled up one of the chairs and sat next to me on the bed and staring at me with a smirk. “Fine. Do you want an interview? I’ll give you one.” He reached into his pocket and pulled a cigar out of his pocket.
“Might as well. If I’m going to die, might as well solve the mystery of Constantine Sinclair.” I told him, tugging on my wrists and wincing at the pain of just how tight he had tied me to this bed. “So, tell me. How old are you?” I watched him as he clipped the end of his cigar off and snapped at his shadow. It emerged from the wall and slithered over to him, striking a match and holding it up for his master.
“I was born in 1888.” He said nonchalantly as he blew out a large puff of smoke as his cigar finally came to life. “I graduated from University in 1912 and fought in The Great War in 1918.” He told me, taking in a big drag from his cigar and sighing as he let all the smoke out of his mouth.
“Y-you’re…” I was about to say, trying to work out the math in my head. My mind spun at the implausibility of it all. This man had fought in World War I and now he was in front of me as alive as the day was born.
“Old. Yes, I’m aware Mr. Williams. After returning from France and the horrors that I saw in the trenches and losing my men to a German artillery barrage, I was a shell of a creature. It was as if a corpse returned home. My poor mother couldn’t handle it and my father was far from helpful as well. I found that alcohol was the only comfort I had.” He told me, his eyes no longer trained on me but staring off into the great abyss. I had been there many times. And I knew exactly how he felt upon returning home.
“And…how’d you meet that thing.” I motioned my head over to the shadow who stared at me with its beady white eyes. Sinclair looked over at his companion and blew smoke in its face. Causing the shadow to hiss and back away from him slightly.
“That’s a trade secret, Mr. Williams. You simply wanted to know about me. I’ve told you a few things about me. That should be more than enough.” Sinclair sighed, standing up and stretching for a moment before tugging on his dress shirt to get it back into place. “I’m terribly sorry to leave you like this, but I’m afraid if I don’t feed him soon he gets very unruly.” He motioned his cigar to me and turned to leave. His shadow watched me as it followed him outside into the hall. The whole time leaving a trail of black gunk that leaked out of his mouth.
Now left completely alone, I struggled against the tight binds and very soon gave up on that endeavor. It was nearly impossible to get myself free and I just resigned myself to soon be turned into shadow food. Or for harvesting as well. I stared up at the ceiling for what felt like hours until suddenly my door flung open and quickly closed as footsteps rushed over to me.
“Jesus man. I left you alone for like three minutes!” Riley’s exasperated voice groaned as she quickly went about cutting the bindings that held me in place. God, was I thankful for her being here. She quickly cut me free with a scalpel and then gave me the item to finish cutting off the restraints.
“That shadow thing found me in the closet, alright!” I said back in my own defense. It wasn’t like I was going to be able to fight it or something. My black ass hasn’t gotten into a fight with an occult species like this thing before. I didn’t even know where to begin in trying to challenge it.
“Great, and now Sinclair is off in his office talking with one of his business associates so everyone is on high alert.” Riley groaned, taking a seat in the chair that Sinclair had been sitting on and letting out a loud pained groan. She looked close to complete physical exhaustion, her hair a complete mess and eyes sunken in from lack of sleep. But in those eyes, I could see an endless determination.
Getting the binds off my wrists and ankles I quickly thought in my head. As much as I would’ve loved to see who this business person was, I was more worried about getting out of all of this alive. So my plans now turned to escape. Looking over to Riley I walked over to her and knelt down in front of her.
“Can you get me out of here?” I asked her. She looked at me and let out an exhale through her nose. The kind you do when you laugh but there isn’t really anything funny about it.
“You ever listen to Hotel California?” She asked me. To which I nodded. It was a song I enjoyed quite a bit. “You can check out anytime you want. But you can never leave, Desmond.” He told me. Which made sense to me. Not even dead bodies could leave Sombra. Considering that it had a morgue and the shadow most likely ate everything that ended up down there.
“Still. It’s better to try, right? You said you wanted to quit. We might as well try to make a break for it.” Riley seemed to think back on what I said and she nodded. A new sense of determination on her face as she quickly sat up and reached into her pockets.
“Your adrenaline should be running out now.” She pulled out some rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab and approached my shoulders. Looking down I was surprised to see the amount of blood that had leaked out of me. Adrenaline is a hell of a thing folks. Wincing in pain as he cleaned my wounds and patched me up we next thought about ways to escape our situation.
“What about through the morgue? Put a sheet over me and just wheel me down there?” I asked her. But she shook her head just as I finished suggesting it.
“I told you. We’re on high alert. Head nurse Emily would wonder what happened to you. And we’ll be found out.” She said, pacing back and forth between my bed and the wall. She was really thinking this one through and I needed to help her out on that.
“If only we could just sneak you out through the front door. But we’ve beefed up security since that patient escaped. I don’t know the whole story but she’s the reason the place burned down.” Riley said. I made a mental note to investigate if I ever got out of Sombra alive.
“What if you get me an orderly uniform?” I asked her. She looked at me and her eyes lit up. “Just that and a face mask and I’ll look like all of those muscle-headed idiots,” I told her quickly. She nodded and looked at me.
“Right. Okay, I’ll go and find one so we can hopefully just leave out the front door.” She told me, quickly rushing to the door and looking back at me with an excited smile. It was only then that I realize how young she looked. She looked fresh out of college with that excitement. I nodded to her and walked over to my bed once she had left. Alone with my thoughts, I began to compile everything Sinclair had told me about himself.
Being well over a hundred years old and with a shadow to keep him alive there had to be those who knew about him. You don’t do business with an immortal asshole like him and not figure out you’re dealing with the same person that your granddaddy did. All of New England knew of Sinclair and yet no one ever questioned how he kept himself so young and vibrant. Others had to know. And that meant people were helping to cover up his crimes and aid in them.
As my mind considered all those possibilities the door flung open and Riley ran in with a uniform bunched up in her arms. She quickly threw the articles of clothing at me and closed the door behind her as she stayed turned around, seemingly to give me privacy to change.
“Do you know anything about his business associates?” I asked her as I quickly began to change into the bright white clothes of an orderly. I watched as Riley stayed by the door and seemed to be lost in either thought or some kind of memory.
“I think I met some of them in college. I met him there once. Before I used to look at Sombra and hope for it to be a dream place to work in. But when I met him in person he was cold, uncaring, and just an asshole.” She told me looking back at me when I was done changing and wiping a tear from her face. “One of his ‘business partners’ did horrible things to my friend Travis. And I’m still trying to find and rescue him. I thought that by working here I could get to him. But I haven’t been able to.” She sighed but clenched her fist in determination.
“If we get out of here.” I placed my hand on her shoulder and gave it a much softer squeeze than the shadow had given to me. “I’ll help you look for your friend. I promise you.” I told her, and she looked up at me with tears in her eyes and nodded. She quickly wiped her eyes and her determination came back. “Let’s head out.”
The two of us exited into the hall and started on our way out of the Rehab Center. We were on edge the whole way but we kept up the facade of being just normal workers there. We passed several nurses and other orderlies who just let us go without even a second thought. Just as we began to approach the exit into the main lobby a loud screech echoed throughout the rehab center. We both looked behind us to see that someone was running straight for us.
“Help me!” The figure screamed, running towards us at a full sprint and becoming more in focus as he got closer and closer to us. And I was in shock as I saw him. He was melting before our very eyes. It looked like a wax sculpture that was melting in the sun. His legs soon snapped at the shins and he fell to the floor. The feet he had left behind continued to melt but he was still trying to crawl forward with pained yells and screams. He clawed at the floor and I watched as he lost digits with each crawl toward us. He soon lost his left arm as it too snapped off and was left behind as he continued his increasingly impossible task.
I did my best to hold in my vomit but Riley wasn’t able to as she expelled everything that had been in her stomach down at her feet. Footsteps coming down the hall alerted us to others present as two figures walked down the hall towards us and the melting person.
“Perhaps you should consider reworking your formula.” Sinclair’s voice said as they got closer to us. He carefully stepped away from the long stain of viscera that was being left behind by the still wriggling melting person. Only when he got closer did I realize he was with someone else. Shorter than him and dressed in a hoodie and sweatpants it looked like a dad with his uninterested son.
“Gave him too large of a dose.” The other voice said, being muffled by the face mask he had on. Shaking his head and walking after the wriggling corpse. “I assure you that I give my clients much smaller doses. Barely 10 cc’s are all that’s needed. Clearly, he took the whole syringe.” The mystery man said with barely an indication that he felt bad about what he had done. Indeed he reached down and picked up the corpse by its now mushy head. As he did so a large portion of the face stayed on the floor.
“Well don’t just stand there you two. Give him a hand.” Sinclair told us, motioning with another cigar. Just how much did this man smoke? Riley quickly nodded and leaned down to help out whoever this was with Sinclair. The two of them picked up what was left of the corpse and began to carry it somewhere. I followed after her and tapped her on the shoulder. She looked back at me and I took her spot in carrying the corpse. She silently thanked me and I followed this unknown person as he carried the body to a free stretcher.
“Thanks for the help big guy.” The masked mystery person told me. I locked eyes with him and stared at him for a quick second. Something was off about those eyes. They seemed cold and lifeless. Almost like they couldn’t see anything at all. “That’ll be all. Shoo.” He waved me away and I was more than happy to leave him to do whatever he wanted with this melted remnant of a human.
Meeting up with Riley soon after, we both again went on the way to escape. We made it to the metal door that separated us from the reception area and she punched in the code to open it. Just as she put in the last digit I heard a loud crunch. Looking around to see what had caused the sound I was pulled back to Riley when she let out a loud scream. She held up her arm and I was shocked to see that her hand was gone.
“Going somewhere, Mr. Williams?” Sinclair asked as his shadow chewed on what I could only assume had been Riley’s hand. Riley fell to her knees as blood poured from her stump. Acting quickly, I tore a large piece off of my shirt and wrapped it around her. Acting on instinct from my days in the army I wrapped the tourniquet around her and tied it as tight as I possibly could.
“I was planning on checking out,” I told him, giving Riley the scalpel she’d given me. Knowing that Sinclair wouldn’t pay her any attention. She nodded in thanks as she winced and whimpered at the remnants of her hand.
“I am sorry that you didn’t enjoy your stay here. Unfortunately, I cannot let you leave.” Sinclair told me his shadow smiling in seeming joy as it approached me, black gunk leaking from the thing’s mouth. I stood my ground however and stared at Sinclair with resolve.
“You’re not going to kill a fellow veteran, would you? Just let me go.” I told him, hoping to buy Riley some time to get the scalpel ready to deal some kind of damage to Sinclair. He stared at me and looked over at his shadow.
“Even if I did let you leave and publish your little story, no one would ever believe you. Do you think that you are the first journalist to try and uncover my secrets before?” He chuckled and his shadow released a gurgle-like noise that I assumed was its way of laughing. “I keep junkies off the street and make sure no one ever has to care about their worthless existence.” He said with a smile as he kept smoking his cigar.
“Even then, people have a right to know. These are people! And they deserve a voice!” I shouted at him. Catching him somewhat off guard with that. But he simply shrugged and approached me, his shadow wrapping itself around me and excitedly drooling all over me.
“We’ve operated for over a century. And some jumped-up journalist like you isn’t going to stop me. Or my idiot business associates. I commend you for your courage, Pvt. Williams.” Sinclair said with a small sense of sadness but mostly indifference. “But he’s grown quite a liking to you. And this’ll make him shut up for a bit.” His shadow gurgled and opened its mouth, wide like a snake, and leaned in to take a bite out of me.
In the nick of time, Riley let out a scream and stabbed Sinclair in his leg. The chimney let out a grunt and his shadow quickly pulled back from me to see what had happened. Acting fast I decked Sinclair in his blond face and quickly scooped Riley up in my arms. Quickly putting in the code she gave me we both exited into the reception room as Sinclair’s shadow chased after us.
“Will sunlight kill that thing?!” I asked Riley quickly. She was pale and barely able to keep her eyes open. All she gave me was a shrug as she went unconscious. Taking the chance, I burst through the doors of Sombra and out into the sunlight. Turning back I saw as the creature was still after us, but suddenly was pulled back into Sombra by Sinclair.
“Very interesting indeed, Mr. Williams.” Sinclair gave me an honest chuckle as his shadow screeched and hissed at me. “I commend you. From one old soldier to another, I salute you.” He stood stock straight and saluted me. And that was all I needed to confirm that he was a soldier. The doors to Sombra began to close as I stared back at Sinclair’s hazel eyes. And his shadow’s enraged white eyes as it growled in defeat at me.
I managed to save Riley’s life by getting her to a hospital. Getting thanks from her and a promise that once she was better she’d come looking for me. Grace was more than pissed off at me when I finally returned home. She didn’t believe me at first but when Riley finally emailed me the video of Sinclair’s shadow eating one of the patients. And we put out or expose on Sombra. And just like the blond bastard had told us, the story was killed by every place we tried to send it to.
I had nearly given up and was more than ready to retire from journalism when Riley sent me a link to this website. And from there I learned the tragic story of her friend Travis. So I’ve decided to post my findings here. And hopefully, continue searching for Sinclair and his business associates. This King Creole who has Travis held captive. Whoever that strange man with Sinclair had been. All of them will be exposed and the truth revealed.
And hopefully one day soon, the nightmares I have will end. Because now, instead of just having memories of the war. Now I’ve been seeing that fucking shadow in them now. I’m getting a drink after all of this.