I don’t know why I’m still writing. It’s nice to know others are listening I guess, and it’s also nice to get some suggestions, but I don’t know anymore. Each day feels a little more distant. It’s a feeling like I’m getting further away from something that’s important. It might be the pain of dying every night, or perhaps people just weren’t meant to have multiple bodies. It’s probably a mix of everything that’s going on. I guess all that doesn’t matter. I just need to get out of whatever this is. I don’t know what will happen when or if I do, but it can’t be any worse than this. I think I could have gotten out of it if I was just a bit smarter, took more advice, tried harder. Anyway, let’s just get this over with.
Right, so I stopped the update last time when I was an old lady, watching a video of my old body being murdered. I remember the anger of staring at the masked asshole who had just taunted me after choking me to death. Really, he wanted to “find out” “next time”? I’ve been desperately trying to figure this all out and now his curiosity is piqued? That pissed me off so much that it made my old lady heart race until it hurt. I attempted to calm down and re-winded the video, looking for any clue to tell me who he was. He was obviously a guy; the voice was really deep. That being said, it was definitely a voice he was putting on. No one goes through life sounding like that while ordering food or sitting down at Thanksgiving dinner. I tried to extrapolate his height compared to me/Madison. Madison was about 5’5”, and he was clearly taller than her, but didn’t dwarf her. I decided on about 6’0”. I stopped for a second. Madison, now this old lady. Real big guy, huh, killing people weaker than him. Sure, I was still scared of possibly having to die again at this point, but I kept getting angrier. All that rage at the universe, my situation, and it seemed that I had this guy to thank. I wondered if he had killed me every single time. Forty something people. I had accepted that these people had all very likely died, but all killed by one person? That definitely gave me more motivation to stop him.
Remembering I was an old lady, fear took back over. I shouted for help to see if anyone else was home. Great, no one. I looked around the computer then up and down the walls. Finally, I found what I was looking for. Like most elderly people, there was a list of phone numbers, with her family and caretakers. I wondered which number could come faster, while picking up the phone (one of those wireless ones but still a landline, of course). While thinking hard about it, I finally realized that I wasn’t the smartest person. With that figured out, I dialed 9-1-1.
“Wichita 911. What’s the location of your emergency?”
I remembered that I didn’t know who I was yet and started looking around the room for a purse or anything to identify myself. “Uh, sorry, I don’t know where I am.”
“That’s okay ma’am, what is your name?”
I started to panic. “I… I don’t know that either”
“Okay… is there a problem?”
Okay, that I did know. “Yes! There is a problem and I need help! I- uh I fell! Please send help!” I moaned to sell it.
“Alright, we are determining your location from your num-” the phone fell silent.
“Hello?” I asked. I didn’t hear a tone or anything to tell me that they hung up. “Hey, are you there?” No answer. I looked at the phone to see a blank screen. Throwing the phone down, I looked at the time on the computer in a panic to see it was still 8 a.m. “No, it’s still too early, why?” I thought as I heard a thump on the other side of the house.
Slow footsteps grew louder and louder as I sat at the computer frozen. I snapped out of it and quickly yanked the cord of the computer out from the wall. I rummaged throw the old lady’s drawers until I found a pair of scissors. I had grasped them in my hands when the footsteps stopped. I turned towards the door and saw the man in the same mask and outfit that he wore in the video. His raised his hand and gave a small wave. I threw the scissors, which in turn pathetically bounced off of his chest. I span around and tried to run, feeling my legs strain and buckle below me. I got two steps out before I fell to the ground. Pain shot up from my legs and hips, and I let out a probably more convincing moan than I had faked on the phone. I heard a couple more footsteps coming towards me. “Just do it… you big cowardly piece…” I managed to force out as I felt a sharp prick on my neck and the world around me went blurry.
I spent the next couple of hours in a daze. I could tell that he bound my hands and feet before I ended up in what appeared to be the trunk of a car. Each bump sent shivers through my body. The pain was dulled but I could tell that my hip and legs were either broken or at least sprained. I tried to sleep but that turned out to be easier said than done. I don’t recommend trying to take a nap in the back of a moving car, especially during a bumpy ride. Finally, the shaking stopped, and I saw a bright light. I was led through what appeared to be a forest, into an empty room with a chair and concrete walls. I stayed there, tied to a chair, getting water splashed on my face every time that I tried to nod off. Finally, I came to my senses.
The man in the mask was pacing in front of me when my vision cleared up and my head stopped fuzzing up so much. He stopped and turned to me, looking into my eyes. I did my best to glare back at him. He sat down on the floor across from me.
“Finally! That was quite a while. How are you feeling?” His slow deep voice was replaced by a casual tone with a more regular cadence and pitch. My expression likely turned to confusion as he continued, “Oh, the voice. Sorry, I was nervous, and I just panicked. Anyway, you didn’t answer me. Are you okay?” I struggled to collect saliva in my mouth in order to spit on him. He must have noticed, since he took a rag, pried my lips apart, and stuck it in. He stopped after I gagged and then duct taped over the rag. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he smiled. “Here’s the thing. I’ve figured out a bit of what is going on. I think you know a bit more. I’m going to ask questions now and you’re going to answer. Right?” I tried to move my arms and legs, which reminded me that I had fallen earlier. “Hey, whoa, don’t struggle, you’ve got a broken hip. Just blink once for yes and twice for no.” I continued to try to get my arms free. I stopped when he reached towards me.
He clasped his hand around my hip and gave a small squeeze. A searing pain rang up my body as I tried to scream. “See? Broken,” he repeated, “Once for yes, twice for no.” I nodded and he let go. “So, first thing is first. Are you okay? Fully conscious now?”
One blink.
“Nice. So… you knew I was coming? Today and last time?”
I tried to look confused. He reached for my hip again and I gave him another blink.
“How many times have I- you know,” he made a choking motion with his hands. “Oh right, yes or no. So, I’m correct in assuming you’ve been coming back for a while now?”
One blink.
He gave a small chuckle. “Oh my God. I’ve never seen nothing like this. I mean, it was hard to believe at first. Wait, wait. Okay, so Pabsts?” He smiled.
My face dropped but I blinked before he rose his hand again.
“It was weird. Following people for a couple of days and then all of a sudden, bam, a different personality. Even active people who I haven’t seen drink once go get a case of beers and stay inside all day. You’re quite the aspirational person, aren’t you?” I glared back at him again. His hand shot up and he squeezed my hip again. A worse pain than before spread throughout my bones. I tried to curse through my gag but couldn’t. “Just kidding, that was rhetorical,” he laughed.
“Mfffmmmk mmoo,” I managed to whine through the duct tape.
“So, boy or girl? Girl?”
I breathed heavily through my nose and blinked twice.
“Aw man, well that’s a little disappointing. I like girls better you know,” he winked at me. “Still, we have something special going on here, you know?”
I blinked twice and he snorted.
“Sorry, I feel like I just unwrapped the new hot toy of Christmas or something like that. Really though,” his smile left his face. “We get to know each other. It’s nice to be known.” I looked back at him, worried that a glare would result in more pain. “That’s the sad part of my hobby. I can’t share it with anyone, or I won’t be able to do it anymore. Well, now, I don’t have to worry about that.” He sighed. “I mean, I never really wanted that. That’s why I always did it when they were asleep. Or when you were asleep, huh?” I could see his brow furrow under his mask. “Wait, I do have it right? How many have you been? More than 20?”
I blinked once.
“Wow, this is great. And do you think it will stop any time soon?”
I blinked twice.
He got up. “Okay, so we don’t have to rush this!” He walked outside the door. I tried to get loose, ignoring the pain in my legs. He came back in with a claw hammer. “So, like today, when you called for help? Don’t do that again,” he winked again at me. “Heads?” he pointed the blunt side towards me, “Or tails?” He flipped it around.
I woke up grabbing at my forehead, with my ears still ringing from the previous body. I was slightly relieved to not feel any pain in my legs and be relatively young again. The feeling I got was that I was an around 30-year-old male. I’ve decided to stop looking at the names on the IDs for now; it’s easier that way. Anyway, I was definitely more paranoid than ever at this point. This asshole could come at any time, and now he was interested in “knowing me”. I searched my new home for signs of a family. It seemed to be a bachelor pad, an apartment on the fourth floor with minimal decoration or furnishing. That seemed fortunate, I knew it was empty pretty quickly and guessed that there was only one way he could come in. I still kept my eye on the balcony though, half expecting him to climb up or drop down onto it. I pushed a shelf in front of the front door. Then another bigger shelf, and then a table. Satisfied, I faced the couch towards the balcony and waited. My plan was that as soon as I saw him, I was going to tackle him, taking him with me to the parking lot below.
I sat there for a while. Images of him laughing and teasing me filled my head. I was angry once again, but then I remembered all the pain. I tried to think back to when I felt an emotion other than fear, anger, or just simply the wait in between them. I’ve felt hope, whenever I’ve found something that might help me but that was even worse than fear or anger. At least the fear and anger were real, genuine; the hope turned out to all be false. I didn’t let myself feel hope at my plan of taking him off the building with me. It was like trying to dodge a bullet aimed right at you. Yeah, you’ll try but do you expect to succeed?
That’s when I smelled the smoke. I looked over to the door to see smoke rolling under it before it caught on fire, with the shelves and table bursting into flame shortly after. I scanned the walls for a fire extinguisher, remembering seeing one in the closet. I grabbed it, read the instructions in a panic, then attempted to put the fire out. The white stuff came out for about a second before it sputtered. It was empty. I looked around trying to find something that could carry enough water to splash on the fire. The room got hotter and hotter. I went outside to the balcony and leaned over the railing, climbing over it. I slowly lowered myself down, trying to reach the apartment below me. I made it past the railing and held onto the concrete floor. I looked down and attempted to swing my legs so that when I dropped, I would fall onto the balcony. I swung and let go. My back hit the rail as I rolled onto the floor. I laid there wheezing for a few seconds. The sliding glass door opened. “Sorry I-” I started to apologize to the guy’s downstairs neighbors. The body of a woman was thrown on top of me. I lifted her head to see the wound on her throat and her glazed over eyes. I yelled and tried to push her off me but froze when I saw a man standing in the doorway, wearing an N95 mask and a hoodie. I only noticed the axe when he raised it up and it came down towards me.
So, this is where I am at now. 4 bodies later: Housewife- throat slit. College student- tied up and drowned. Family man- caught in a bear trap and shot. Teenage girl- bludgeoned. I’m stuck being murdered by the same bastard every single day. He hasn’t talked to me again, just this annoying game of “wake up, get killed”. It seems like he’s at least letting me write this today at least. All I know is that as soon as I try to kill him or escape, I’m going to be murdered again.