The story I’m about to tell will be the last one I share with anyone. Just a warning, this is not a story with a happy ending, and there are some disturbing descriptions of the experience that I had witnessed. That being said, here is my tragic experience.
***
My hands gripped tightly around the steering wheel. The sun was already starting its descent over the mountains, leaving me fading hope that there would still be enough light by the time I got to the house.
The music on the radio kept my mind at ease for the moment, but I was abruptly struck with a pain in my stomach. It was happening again.
Pulling to the side of the road, I had to wait it out as my swollen stomach was having contractions. It wasn’t time, but I knew soon enough that the baby was going to be here.
I sobbed bitterly, planting my forehead against the wheel, and never stopping. I wished I could say that this was the result of my husband leaving me or something like that. The truth of the matter is, I’m pregnant with a child that I didn’t want. But at the same time, I couldn’t bring myself to go to the nearest abortion clinic. Even if this one was conceived under the worst kind of circumstances.
This may be a little sugar-coated, but it’s the same old story. An overly drunk dad spots his 20-year-old daughter alone in the house. He’s stronger than her and one thing leads to another. And I still remember the punch that he gave me in the eye when I tried to escape.
I guess the only comfort I would be getting is knowing that he died in a drunk driving accident. Ran his car off the side of the road. Good riddance.
After what happened, I got in contact with my grandparents who suggested that if I needed some time alone, to go stay at my uncle Grey’s old house in the backwoods of Missouri. He’s been gone for quite some time, but in his will, he wanted his house to stay in the family, or burned. My grandparents opt for us to keep the house, although no one ever used it.
That is until today.
Once the contractions stopped, I was able to continue driving with the few belongings that I had on me. I had a cell phone as well as my grandparent’s emergency call button that I wore around my neck. Kind of like those Life Alerts that you would see on TV.
Another twenty minutes would pass, and I arrived at the house. And it was quite dilapidated, to say the least.
I stepped out onto the grass, a dozen or so silver birch trees that surrounded the lawn, obscuring partially the view of the Victorian-era house. Complete with three floors but lacking any fine details. The paint had partially come off, creating a faded mixture of white and brown wood, and it had a few broken shutters.
Of course, I was living in squalor. But I asked my grandparents for a lonely place and this was the best they could come up with.
The reason I wasn’t going to stay with them was that I really wanted a place where I wouldn’t have to interact with people too much. An old habit of mine was to retreat whenever I felt depressed and I would isolate myself to make sure that no one could ever hurt me. This house would be the perfect place, and I would have plenty of time to work out my thoughts.
***
Bringing my bags in, I went to the bedroom. Many of the rooms were dusty, the furniture covered in white cloth to keep them from being ruined, but I think insects and other rodents have already done the damage. Some of the lights didn’t work, and there was even an eyesore of a hole in the middle of the kitchen.
Stepping into the hallway, there were three rooms to choose from, as well as an attic to go explore next. Looking at the master bedroom, I saw it was remarkably the nicest room. But it was also without power. I’m glad I brought a lantern. Grandma warned me of something like this ahead of time.
The other room was a bathroom, and thankfully the water still was running and the power too.
The last room was quite a startling sight. There were papers all thrown about on the floor, books on a desk that had been left open, and cutouts of newspapers from various places all over the country. Even a few grainy pictures were stacked on top of each other or thrown about as if someone had just ransacked the entire room. When I looked at one of the pictures, it left me with a cold hollowness in my heart.
It was a picture of an eye, surrounded by four tentacles outstretched on a black background. It was black and white, and looked like it had been crumpled up at some point.
Not wanting to spend any more time in this room, mostly because of the eerie, lack of feeling-alone disturbance that it was giving me. I shut the door and went to mine to lay out some fresh clothes for myself, a towel, and new bed sheets.
***
I laid back in the bathtub, my arms semi-floating in the water. I took a deep breath, feeling myself relax for the first time in months. I was in my eighth month with the baby and I had it set in my heart that I was going to give him up for adoption. Yes, the ultrasound stated that I was going to have a boy. That would have been nice under different circumstances, but now I was panicking about the possibility of inbred genetic disabilities. I really was hoping that a miscarriage would come along and spare me the pain of having to make a decision. I wondered if abortion would be the better choice, but at the same time, I wasn’t sure I could stomach ending this unborn child.
Leaning back in the water, I was almost on the verge of falling asleep when I heard some clanking metal in the kitchen.
I got up, my heart rate spiking and I looked around for my towel.
Throwing it on, I quickly looked for what I could use as a weapon. My hair dryer was the only thing available.
Looking out in the hallway, I made my way toward the stairs. I was terrified. My hands were trembling and already I could feel a layer of sweat ruining my bathing. When I went for the emergency button, I realized I left it in the bedroom. But I was already halfway down the stairs and something didn’t sound right. The sounds had not left the kitchen at all and I wondered.
The creaking of the stairs was gut-wrenching each time, and when I finally reached the bottom floor, I took a deep breath. Surprisingly the intruder still hadn’t left.
I approached the doorway and took a deeper inhale before jumping out and aiming the hair dryer in the direction of where I heard the sound.
Much to my relief, it was only a raccoon. It looked just as startled to see me here as I was of it. It scurried off into a large hole that was made in the door leading out to the backyard.
I let out a sigh of relief, and said, “I may have bitten off more than I can chew when I wanted to be alone.”
I went back to my bath, cleaned off the sweat, and promptly got to bed.
***
The next morning, I made myself an easy breakfast of a bowl of cereal with no milk because there was no electricity or working stove for that matter, in the kitchen. I would have to make do with what little I had.
Still, I was already on the verge of having second thoughts and possibly going back to my grandparents. I was hoping that they would take me back in, we always did have a good relationship and I was able to rely on them often in the past. But still, my feelings to remain alone and far away from others were greater and I was more than willing to live like a Spartan for a few more days. I really only had to worry about water.
***
I went outside to take a look at the backyard, and it was a beautiful field of grass that was like a barrier to the greater woods further out down the hill.
I went out to the well which was a hand-pump type. It would be hard work, but I didn’t have much else to do around the place and maybe a little exercise would do me good.
Walking around near the edging of where the trees began, I would peer deep into the woods, hoping that I might see a deer. I looked further in and thought I saw something dark. It was too far away for me to discern, but it retreated further in to obscure itself from my field of vision. I thought that was strange, and alarms were already going off in my head. Could that have been a person?
I quickly ran back to the house, feeling another contraction on the way over and this one was a little bit more than I expected. Perhaps it was the trick of my mind, or perhaps it was merely an animal. When I reflected on what I saw, it didn’t look like anything other than a harmless creature of the woods. It’s funny how memories can become manipulated with time.
***
I did have one little issue. Even though my father’s alcoholism was the reason for my current situation, I myself fell into the nasty habit and would often drink unhealthy amounts, even though I have a baby. I wondered how dangerous this could be, but part of me really didn’t want to be sober.
“Just a little bit more,” I slurred my words, my vision was constantly spinning.
At least now I couldn’t feel the contractions so much, and that was the most relieving part.
In a strange series of decisions that I’m not too certain how I came about making, I went back to that room with all the papers, books, and photos. I guess curiosity had whittled its way back into my mind.
I looked around some more, now laughing at the absurdities of all the strange stuff. And then I found one of the books that was lying on the desk. It was a specific book that had handwriting in it— a contrast from all the other printed ones.
In my drunken state, I figured this was a book written by my uncle and I quickly went back to my room where I skimmed through some of the pages. But it was impossible to make sense of any of the words, only one word somehow managed to burn itself into my memories before I fell unconscious bed: Fāautosaido
I saw a note next to that, telling me that this was Japanese. And then after I said the word out loud, I saw a red flash glowing outside of the house, but I fell asleep right at that moment.
A few hours later, my headache was pounding. I felt sick to my stomach and needed an aspirin.
It was sunny outside and I felt like whatever it was that I saw before I lost all senses was merely my drunken state creating a hallucination. If that makes any sense.
Still, I didn’t want to think about it too much, and realizing that I had no medication whatsoever, I could only do the one thing that I did know. Drink a lot of water. That I had plenty.
After about a few hours of doing that and then frequently using the bathroom afterward, I was slowly recovering, but my headache was still around. That’s when I noticed that the book, I was reading last night was still laying on the bed. Now I would have a good chance.
I turned back to the first page. It read:
“This looks to be a good spot. I’ve heard many reports about this place being a weak spot on a cosmic scale. An area where the universe isn’t quite strong. Perhaps a wormhole has formed around here. Maybe even the Nexus Point? That discovery would only make me the most famous man alive.”
I see. So, my uncle was an investigator in something. From the looks of it, scientific exploration was his preferred method. Or he was crazy.
“I asked around in the nearby town. They say they don’t know much, but I suspect that they’re more so unwilling to reveal anything that they really know. Still, I did manage to meet an old Japanese man who lives in the area. He said that I should give up my investigation. It leads to places no human should ever see.”
I turned the page.
“August 6th, 1971. I managed to get the words out of the old man. He only wrote it down on a piece of paper. He said never to utter the words out loud until you’re ready. He also gave me instructions on what I will see before I get transported. Time will dilate and you may have a bizarre, if not disturbing experience of seeing your death. But my dream of gaining notoriety in the science community is too much to pass up on. I’m mentally prepared.”
I flipped to the next page, but it was full of scribbling that wasn’t exactly discernible. On the next page, he speaks English again.
“Dear God! No, no, why would a God make such a world as that! Why did I see myself everywhere during the transition! It was just me everywhere. They were all dead! They had a hole going through their mouth and out the other end of their heads!”
I flipped to the next page again.
“I managed to regain my composure. I stayed within the border of the house during my first trip. If you stay there long enough, you’ll go back to Earth, and everything will be fine. But I’m going to cross into the threshold of the red world next time. The Japanese man said to do this at night. The night will obscure the transition. I only hope that I don’t lose any more sanity after what I saw last night. Best not to go outside until full transition.”
I put the book down and thought about some things. “What was my uncle up to?”
I skipped over to the last page, wanting to know how this ended because I really don’t feel like going through my uncle’s mad ravings.
He was mixing his language around. I wasn’t sure what, but I’m guessing it could be Japanese. I had to use my Google Translate to understand what the last few sentences were.
“I’m not going back. Not going back. Not going back. I’m not going back! It hungers for reality. The child they told me. They said a child of madness will rise to our world. They are always watching my house now. They are always watching me. They want me to come back. I’m not going back. I know how to avoid them. I avoided the creature in the mountains, and I can avoid them too. They can’t take me if I put the shotgun in my mouth. Fāautosaido! Fāautosaido! Why did that man tell me about this place? I wish I wouldn’t have looked into this. It’s far worse than anything I could’ve imagined. Hopefully, my family doesn’t sell this house to any unfortunate souls. I don’t even think I’ll be able to find peace in death. Not after what I have seen. What those six guardians have shown me is that this child of madness will come from my bloodline. I’ll never have kids; I’ll make sure of it.”
I never realized that my uncle ended his life.
Unfortunately for me, I did not heed the warning until it was too late. I merely caught myself thinking it out loud.
“Fāautosaido?” quickly I grabbed my mouth, believing that I had done something taboo.
I looked outside and saw that it was still light out. Everything seemed fine and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Shaking my head in dismissal, I decided to go for another walk and enjoy this beautiful day, not worrying about my uncle’s fall into insanity.
I went downstairs and immediately stopped when I started hearing a creaking sound. It wasn’t like the normal creaking of the house, but the creaking of a boat floating on the sea. There were no windows in the staircase, but I noticed that it suddenly had gone dark. Really dark for a moment and I ran much faster down the stairs, worried that I was now imagining things.
When I made it to a window, there was an eerie red light that was descending from above, otherwise, I couldn’t see thirty feet in front of me because it was shrouded in a darkness unlike anything I’d ever seen.
I ran to the front door, still in denial that everything that my uncle was worried about was now happening to me, and my eyes were wide when I took a look outside in the front.
I opened the door, stepped outside, and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. No, I had to refuse what I was seeing for my own sanity’s sake.
It was me. It was me at various ages of my life, somewhere I’m actually really old, and somewhere I’m still a toddler. The only thing that made this gut-wrenchingly more unsettling was how they were all hanging from trees. Each one of their necks was broken, hanging around a noose on all the branches of the trees that were on the front lawn.
I let out a piercing scream and wanted to faint, but then there was another whirring sound, and I became enclosed in blackness. I couldn’t see anything anymore which I felt was more of a blessing.
“Where am I going?”
I would get my answer soon enough when I was briefly weightless but shortly after, started falling rapidly. I still couldn’t see anything but when I managed to get a glimpse up, I saw a night sky full of red stars. They were sprinkled about, but other things were peering through. There were eyes. Eyes with four, long tentacles. One on each side of it. They all were staring at me, and I nearly lost my breath when I felt the sudden jolt of hitting the ground, instantly knocking me out for the moment.