A call came in that there was another disappearance on Lockhill Road. My whole town was buzzing about a person named Josephine, an old lady that had the tendency to be a little bit of a pain in the butt for cashiers, but otherwise a quiet one in town.
Apparently, the patrol that frequents near that road found her car in a ditch and saw no traces of her anywhere. The police went to check her house and saw that she wasn’t there either. There was only one conclusion we all had to come to. The road has claimed another victim.
As for my name, I’m only going to tell you that it’s Adam, and I’m here to explain to you that there’s something absurdly bizarre about the road.
Lockhill Rd. is one of the oldest roads in Illinois. There isn’t anything significantly special about it. On the surface, it’s covered in large cracks, grass overtaking the edges, and it’s surrounded by an unusually swamp-like environment, something a little bizarre given how up North I am.
But it’s also got a rap sheet that would make Ted Bundy jealous.
From what I’ve learned in my twenty-eight years of living in this town, over the last two hundred years or so, around three hundred people have mysteriously disappeared. That’s a significantly high number and you’re probably wondering why people would want to drive on it?
Here’s the thing, nobody typically uses that road. They just find themselves on it.
It’s really weird but you can find yourself suddenly on that road without warning. One moment you’ll be on the highway that’s near my town, and right as you get off, you’ll find yourself driving on that road. But this only happens at night. As a rule, driving at night is strongly prohibited. The only issue is that cops are less inclined to go about driving themselves. And this happens at completely random moments as well.
The next question I know you all are asking is “why would any of us want to live here then?”
Well, the thing is there’s a mine nearby. It’s a salt mine and a lot of money is gained from it. You have to weigh in the risk and reward factors here. There are people here who— despite the danger— are making bank. I don’t know how much a typical salt mine will pay, but I think the extra danger of the road is the reason why the income for locals is so much better here. So, for the most part we prefer not to talk about it.
Now you’re probably wondering why am I here? I clearly don’t work at the mine, but instead, I am a neighborhood watch patrolman.
Since disappearances can happen if people are caught driving, I— as well as others— found ourselves working alongside the local police to keep people off of the roads for their own safety. It seems that whatever effect the road can create, it doesn’t work if you’re walking on two feet.
So my job is relatively safe. Sure, I don’t get any weapons training other than a baton and mace, which is why I prefer to regularly work out and make sure that criminals, usually rowdy teenagers, don’t have a good advantage over me or any of my partners.
But I’m here to tell you about how I got sloppy and nearly paid the price with my life…
***
It was your typical Wednesday, and I was with my friends at the police station, getting ready to sign in to let the department know that we were going to be working today.
That’s when officer Smith (not his real name by the way) approached me and said in her smooth, southern voice, “Now you boys try to have a good night. We’ve been getting some reports that there’s been a gang of kids that keep breaking house windows. So far they haven’t entered any, but I think they’re just trying to create an atmosphere of tension.”
I stood there silently, always having difficulty talking to her. She was serious about her job and wasn’t too kind to anyone who was caught slacking. But she cared to a great degree.
I mustered up the courage to say, “Will do. We got our mace and batons ready.”
“Good, but still, if they turn out to be more hostile than usual, I need you fellas to call us ASAP.”
It wasn’t lost on me that even if we did call up for the actual police officers, it would still take a good while for them to arrive, giving any of these troublemakers a chance to escape from us. No cars at night, remember.
One of my partners, Derek, replied with his usual enthusiasm, “Don’t sell us too short ma’am, Adam and I have been doing this for two years now. We’re basically experts at this point.”
She noticed his smug expression and quickly shot it down.
“I’ve been a cop for seven years. In that time I believe thirteen people have gone missing. And many of you neighborhood watch patrolmen have been hurt, sometimes severely, by these thugs. Call us.” she ended it with a stern warning.
Derek always had this issue with over-confidence and I often think that’s why he was never able to get a girlfriend. I think he’s just overdoing it half the time, thinking that it impresses people.
Still, this is the first time I’ve actually known this much about officer Smith. Seven years is a long time, and for that many people to have gone missing, I can tell that’s got to weigh heavily on her mind.
But our patrol went on as usual. We did our regular routine for the first few hours with nothing more than warning people that they can’t get in their cars because, in about an hour, the sun would’ve completely set by then.
Sure that’s an entire hour, but why take the chance?
But around the time when the sun had already descended, I got a call on my radio by a woman that said:
“Neighborhood Patrol Unit #9, do you read me?”
“Neighborhood Patrol Unit #9, we hear you loud and clear.”
“Number Nine we’ve been getting some odd reports of a car that is driving around. It was reported by a civilian caller, but all police officers who responded to the area haven’t been able to track their location. We need you to stay alert, the last coordinates of their whereabouts were in your general location so keep your eyes peeled.”
“Dispatch, we’ll keep our eyes on the lookout for the driver. We’ll have to flag them down and hope that they stop.”
“Copy, good hunting.”
It was always anxiety-inducing to hear that someone was driving around. They had to be someone who had come off the highway.
“Well, looks like we got to chase someone down on foot today.” Derek happily said.
“Come on man, I don’t even want to think about going after someone in a car.”
“Yeah, but at least it’s something to do.” he chuckled.
I wasn’t amused. Frankly speaking, this was only a job for me. Sure I don’t get paid as much as a cop, but it’s less dangerous. Now that I’m being tasked with stopping a vehicle, this is going to prove way above my pay grade. I almost can’t remember the last time I had to deal with a driver.
But the night dragged on as usual and still no sign of the vehicle. I was pretty much convinced that they must have gone off on some other section of the town, but Derek was remaining vigilant. He took this job way too seriously. Or perhaps he wasn’t taking it seriously enough?
“You hear that?” he abruptly said.
We both quieted down and tried to listen carefully.
There was nothing for a brief few seconds, other than the sound of crickets in the distance and an owl hooting.
But then there was a sudden screeching of tires nearby. We had our driver and quickly started running towards whatever direction it was that we heard it from.
Despite having flashlights and reflectors on, I somehow found myself alone. I shouted out for Derek at the top of my lungs.
I heard his distant reply, “Adam! Adam, where’d you go?”
I followed his voice and saw that he had gone down the next street over.
“Derek, what are you doing over there? You were supposed to stay with me the whole time?” I shouted.
I was trying my best to hide my anger from him. He shouldn’t have broken off just to chase down a car.
“What do you mean? You broke off from me?” he shouted back.
“You were supposed to go with me down Amberg Street!”
He was about to respond, but the screeching of those tires could be heard coming down my road.
I looked to my left and saw a large Chevrolet speeding toward me. I jumped out of the way just in time before they hit me. They knocked over some trash cans and a mailbox and appeared to be driving with delirium. Now I was having suspicions about this person.
“Derek, I saw the driver. I think they’re drunk and they’re taking their car out for a joyride since no one else is around.”
He sounded confused, “Eh, what’s the protocol for this again?”
I ignored his forgetfulness and pulled out my radio to call dispatch again.
“Neighborhood Patrol Unit #9 to Dispatch, we have a red Chevrolet driving erratically on Amberg Street and the local area, over.”
“Dispatch to Unit #9, where are they heading, over?”
I took a look at my compass that I always keep with me, and replied, “Dispatch they’re heading towards the North and don’t appear to be stopping anytime soon, over.”
“Dispatch to Unit #9, do not engage with the driver. We’re sending over a bicycle unit to try and slow them down the best we can. We can’t take risks with a vehicle, over.”
“Okay, we will not engage any further but will keep you updated, over and out.”
Derek soon approached behind me and said, “I get so tired of always having to use those police codewords.”
“It’s so that there’s no confusion. You do realize there are police officers on this channel too, right?”
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t lose your hair over it. I was just complaining a little.”
I gave him a smirk and the two of us continued on our way. Since we didn’t have the responsibility of chasing after the driver, we went about our usual patrol but with a little more alertness in mind.
But we made a bad decision to be passing by that dreaded road. It was part of our routine, and usually passing by never caused any problems. Remember, you have to be driving a car to find yourself trapped on the road.
The only problem is that as we were going by, we saw the truck. It ran off the road and crashed into a tree.
From what I could see, the silhouette of the guy was inside.
I gave Derek my radio and told him to call and tell them that we had found the driver and that they appeared to have been trying to go down Lockhill Road.
I ran over to the left side of the road where the car laid wedged up against the side of the tree. The driver’s door was smashed in and I would have to climb in from the passenger side to try and save them from burning to death.
When I went for the door, I briefly hesitated. The idea of getting in a car at night and being directly on Lockhill left me with this gut feeling that kept telling me that I should just turn back and wait for First Responders to arrive.
But given that they were going to be arriving not by ambulance, but by bicycle, and with the car slowly starting to burn, I took a deep breath and opened the door, climbing inside and reaching for the man as quickly as I could.
He was knocked out cold and I grabbed hold of his arm and shook him as much as I could to wake him up.
The fire was growing and I unbuckled his seat belt, wrapped my arms around him, and used my legs to forcibly pull him out of the vehicle. This man was fat and a pain to try and pull out.
At last, I felt the weight release and both of us fell onto the grass below. I breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that I was able to save him just in time.
I got myself back to my feet and looked over to the exit of the road.
I must have fallen into a state of disbelief because I saw that there was nothing but a long stretch of road surrounded by marshland under a red moonlight.
I turned over to the other side, a soon to be fleeting hope already starting to take hold of me, and saw that it was the same in the other direction.
“No, no, no!” I shouted. “I wasn’t even driving the car! The car wasn’t moving!”
How could this have happened to me? This wasn’t supposed to happen. As far as we all knew, if you’re driving, you become snatched up by the road. At least, that’s what I think the town’s consensus was. Maybe everyone just assumes that that is the likely scenario. It’s not like anyone’s ever returned to tell us that simply being inside your car is enough to warrant whatever unusual forces are at work here.
I kept pacing myself, running from one end to the other, hoping that maybe I just misjudged the distance and I can easily still walk out and find Derek.
But besides the eerie red light coming from above, all I saw was darkness.
The drunken man groaned. This quickly caught my attention and I ran back over to him.
He was still alive but not fully awake yet.
Then I remembered my radio and reached for it. I felt nothing in my pocket and instantly remembered that I handed my radio off to Derek.
Seeing that that wasn’t going to work, I went for my phone next. But there was no signal. I was completely stranded.
In a fit of rage, I started swearing up and down out of the frustration of being caught in this. I guess it’s true what they say, no good deed goes unpunished. I should have listened to my instincts and told myself not to intervene. I should have left this guy and waited for backup like they always tell us. And now I’m trapped on this road with a drunkard, who I was now more than happy to abandon.
He started moving around and his eyes opened. He was awake and clearly saw the burning wreckage that was his truck.
His voice was rough, having a noticeable smoker’s voice. “Hey, what happened to my piece of junk?”
“You crashed into a tree, you idiot,” I alerted him to my presence.
He turned around and became instantly belligerent with me.
Holding up both of his fists at me, he fiercely said, “Who are you calling an idiot?”
I wasn’t intimidated. The fact of the matter is that I work out regularly and when I was five, my parents thought it would be a good idea for me to take self-defense classes. Thank you, Mom and Pop.
He threw one of his fists my way and I was able to dodge it, backing up and having my own fists ready. When he saw that he missed, he threw his other one, only for me to grab it and easily pull them inwards with my back turned and flipped him over me, letting him hit the ground hard.
Even though he was drunk and probably didn’t feel the pain all that much, his body was too heavy for him to have any decent motor function and I believe he passed out again.
Seeing that he wasn’t going to be a problem anymore, I walked around— staying relatively close to the man— trying to see if I could get a signal by changing location.
This went on for about twenty minutes or so, and despite my best efforts, I was left with nothing. The unusual silence was broken by a few sharp coughs. I guess he was due to wake up again.
I stood over him, expecting him to go into another rant about what I had said earlier, but he seemed to have had a mental reset.
“Eh, who are you?”
“My name is Adam. I’m part of the Neighborhood Patrol. You had a car wreck because you were drunk, am I correct?” I said in my best stoic voice.
He got back to his feet quickly and smelled horrible. I only just now noticed because I was distracted by my situation. The sting of his alcoholic breath was much too strong for me, forcing me to take a few steps back.
“I only had a few drinks,” he slurred.
“Only? How much is only?” I let my anger slip out.
“Five… seven maybe?”
“Of what?” I ordered.
“Hennessey,”
This guy was a moron. Now I was trapped on this god-forsaken road with a man who had only half a brain functioning.
I walked to one side of the road and had to take a wild guess as to which way would be best. I wasn’t about to sit out here in the dark with this guy. I could only rely on the illumination of the red moonlight. I wanted to save the battery on my flashlight, so I thought it best not to use it at this moment.
“Look,” I said. “We need to start walking in a direction to get out of here. Maybe there is a way to escape, but we have to come to a decision on which way.”
I guess he remembered my remark from earlier after all because he said, “I ain’t going anywhere with you kid. You call me a moron.”
I rolled my eyes. This guy was as petty as a child. And yet calls me a kid.
“Listen closely. You’re on that road we’re not supposed to be on. You got me roped into this, and I’m going to make a decision. Either come with me or stay here and wait for rescue. Not that they will be coming.”
He turned around and went back to the car. At first, I was confused as to what he was up to, but I almost had a quick heart attack when I briefly thought that he was going to pull a gun out on me. I was already preparing myself to start running when he turned around and had a beer bottle in his hand.
“I ain’t going with you anywhere,”
He threw the bottle at me, narrowly hitting me in the head. It shattered on the other side of the road and for a brief moment, I thought I heard something skitter away. Since I’ve been here, I haven’t heard a single animal so the idea that something was back there silently observing us made my skin crawl.
“Fine!” I spoke. “Stay here. I can’t make you come with me. Let’s hope that we can find you by tomorrow when the sun comes up.”
The heavy man flipped me off, signaling my cue to leave. I was quick to put as much distance between us as I went to the right end of the road and started my journey with only a flashlight in hand.
For the most part, nothing had happened in the last five minutes and I was content with the silence that surrounded me. Better to hear nothing than to hear something. But I would rather hear my radio crackling to life at this moment.
Going a little further on, the silence was broken again. But this time, instead of the groaning coming from that guy, I heard a blood-filled screaming coming from way back. That man had stayed behind and now he was being attacked by something. It was so guttural and wrapped up in agony that already the hairs on my body were standing up.
A part of me was screaming that I needed to go back and check on him. But whatever it was, it likely had already done the deed. Plus, if I go back, who’s to say I won’t become the next victim. There’s always been something odd about this road and I have to approach it with the highest end of paranoia.
My only other option was to keep pressing forward and hope that salvation is at the end. Running was starting to feel like a better option, but I refrained from it. I could easily tire myself out and I didn’t want to be stationary. It clearly didn’t provide any safety for that drunkard. I just had to keep pressing forward at a modest pace.
***
Something has changed. It’s been about three hours now and the moon hasn’t moved. And that blood-red color is hurting my eyes. I don’t like to keep my eyes shut, for fear that something might come out from nowhere and attack me, but the soreness is starting to get to me.
What’s worse is that I can hear footsteps behind me. They’re light on their feet, but each step is almost echoing my pace. I sped up just a little to test out my theory and whatever it was, it simultaneously matched me. I heard it lingering always behind me. My paranoia is starting to overtake any rational thinking that I have. But then again, nothing about this road is rational.
The steps seemed to be speeding up even though I had been going at the same pace for the last ten minutes. My breathing was starting to betray me, growing louder and hoarser with each intake of the unseasonably cold air. And then there was a steadily growing whispering that was surrounding me.
Finally, having had enough of the pursuit, I turned around, pointing the flashlight at as many parts of the road as I could to get a glimpse of who was following me. But it was empty.
“No, no, I heard something… someone…” I whispered to myself.
Turning back in my original direction, the steps began again. And the whispering was only growing louder.
Without a second thought, I started charging forward, done with whatever it was that was messing with me. I wanted to get away from them, but I could faintly hear their footsteps behind me. It was growing closer even though I was now running at full speed.
In my mind, I thought maybe I could fight it. Perhaps the drunkard was caught off-guard and that’s how it got him. But my legs kept moving forward, a sense of dread was keeping me in flight mode, preventing me from wanting to switch to fight mode.
No matter what, one thing was for certain. I wasn’t alone on this lonely road. That’s perhaps one of the worst feelings.
Up ahead, I saw a distant flashing. They were police flashes. As I drew closer, my pursuer’s footsteps quieted down and the whispering ceased.
Standing in front of me was a police officer and his vehicle behind him.
“Oh thank you, I’ve been trapped on this road for hours.” I called out to him.
His voice was low and had an echo to it which was an immediate put-off. “It’s okay son. We got reports of a disappearance happening here earlier today. They sent me to try and get you.”
I replied, down on my knees due to exhaustion. “Who? Dispatch?”
“Yes,”
Upon further inspection, I started noticing some irregularities. His voice and the way he spoke sounded cold and indifferent. I would think a police officer would be happy to have found someone who was lost on this road for the first time.
Another thing that was making me nervous was how unprofessional he was behaving. His answers were vague, and his appearance looked worn-out. His uniform was tattered and his hair messy. And despite there being light from the moon, the police cars headlights, and my flashlight, his face was shrouded in a dark shadow that purposely was making sure that he was obscure for me to identify any details.
I got back onto my feet and quickly looked down near his waist. I didn’t see a holster.
“Where’s your gun?”
“Not important.” he replied harshly.
I leered at him, my body instantly going into high alert mode again. “It’s very important.”
“Come with me. I’ll give you a drive back home.”
I did another quick analysis of his appearance and saw that there was no radio, no gun, and no badge. That would mean this was no cop.
“How about we see your face first,” I flashed my light up to his face, something I had been avoiding because that would be rude. And this was an instant regret.
His eyes were glazed over with a red glow coming from them. The mouth was full of razor-sharp teeth, and the skin appeared to be leathery and pale.
He echoed, “Lunchtime.”
He jumped me, throwing me back to the ground, and kept trying to bite me. It took all my strength just to keep him from getting close to my face. I kept hearing the snapping of his teeth right into my ear, and a desperate struggle ensued.
I had no weapon on me, only basic self-defense skills, and this guy had some inhuman strength. Despite his body looking frail and emaciated, his strength was more than on par with mine.
“I need food,” he— it growled.
I gritted my teeth, getting ready to take a huge risk. Removing one of my arms just for a split second, I punched him as hard as I could in his head.
Despite the bizarreness of this man, pain was still something that he experienced. His grip released and he held on to his face.
I got back up to my feet and grabbed my flashlight to keep my eyes on him. Now I could see what it was that I did. The entire right side had been caved in.
“My God, what are you?”
Despite the impact to the side of his head, he smiled through bloody teeth and said, “Merely a puppet.”
At that, his body started to disintegrate into a pile of dust, and red light streaks shot up into the air and dispersed back into the surrounding forest.
I looked around, convinced that what I had experienced was my mind psychologically breaking at this point. When I turned back towards the police car, I thought maybe I could start driving it back. Only to be met with a long-abandoned Lincoln car.
“Looks like I’m still stuck on the road.” I sighed.
***
Exhaustion, thirst, and hunger were starting to take their toll on me. I was desperate for something and now I’m regretting my decision not to have protein bars on me at all times.
Every passing minute was a grim reminder that my time was running out. The human body can only survive for three to four days without any water and from what I could tell, I’m well past the first day. And I’m certain that constantly moving is only lessening those precious days that I have left.
I could hear them whispering behind me again. The footsteps had grown numerous; like there was a crowd behind me. I was so tired. I needed a moment to rest but I was too afraid that that would be the last thing I would do.
Out of sheer frustration with my followers, I turned around, half expecting that there would be nothing again.
What a regretful decision that turned out to be.
This time I could see who it was. It was a crowd of people. All of their eyes were glowing red, and their bodies looked like they had shriveled up, walking limply at me. In the crowd, I saw a familiar face. The drunk driver from earlier was among them. His eyes are glowing red and his body already looked like it had been drained of all fluids, same as the rest.
I turned back and started running as fast as I could. The sweat that grew on me only managed to slow me down as it sapped away more water from my body.
I thought for sure that this was a sign that I was going to end up becoming one of them. Becoming some sort of shriveled puppet for whatever it is that has a hold on this road.
They were still chasing after me, running as well, and not too much longer, I ended up losing steam and collapsing on the side of the road. I was out of breath, drenched in sweat, and my legs were numb.
If they reached me again, there’s no way I could escape.
I heard the sound of a gate grinding shut. Then it opened again. Then closed again.
Looking up, I saw an old, run-down Victorian Manor. There was an eerie red glow coming from inside, but what wasn’t having a red glow today.
Feeling a sudden surge of adrenaline kicking back in, I found the strength to climb up the small hill to reach the front door of this suspiciously abandoned home.
Before I receive any judgment, anyone who was desperate for shelter would have done the same thing regardless of the obvious red flags, pun not intended.
Kicking the door in, I wasted no time entering and checking behind me to make sure that my fan club wasn’t following in. To my surprise, they were back on the road but stood there watching me as I entered.
I honestly couldn’t tell if that was a good sign or a bad one.
Closing the door behind me, I was greeted with chilly, dusty air that kept forcing me to cough.
I pulled my shirt over my face and moved inside, wondering where that red light was coming from. Inside was a variety of dull, neutral colors of furniture and walls. What was more jarring was the number of taxidermied animals that were littered everywhere. From the walls, to lampstands, to bear rugs, everything about this house was dead, gloomly, and sinister.
I went into the kitchen and sure enough, nothing could be found in terms of food. But I did find water. There was a dirty puddle of it in the sink, and out of desperation, I started drinking it, regardless of the health risks. And it was as bitter and rusty tasting as I should’ve expected. I could only hope that it doesn’t come back to kill me.
Wiping my face with a raggedy towel nearby, I briefly heard something rustling underneath the floorboards. That was enough to tell me that I wasn’t alone in the house. But now I was trapped. My only other choice was to take my chances with the outside where that menacing crowd was waiting for me, or use whatever strength I had left on whatever was hiding in here.
I inspected each of the other rooms on the first floor, not even bothering to check the second one. So far nothing seemed terribly alarming, but I could still hear the sound of footsteps beneath me. They were loud, walking on gravel. I had this sinking feeling that they wanted me to know that they were here.
Seeing that I had no other choice, I found one last unopened door. I took a deep breath, and it slowly creaked open leading to a flight of stairs that descended into a reddish glow that was surrounded by an overwhelmingly sinister blackness that threatened to envelop me should I be brave enough to proceed forward.
With a single gulp, I took my first step down and felt the first few droplets of cold sweat. I also felt a nauseating pain in my stomach, but that could be from the water.
I took each step cautiously, believing that any moment now the door upstairs would suddenly close like a cliche horror movie.
When my foot finally hit the floor, I was surprised that the door remained open. But I was met with a hallway. A long, red wallpapered, red carpeted hallway. At this point, I’m starting to become sick of the color red. At least the colors here were a dull shade.
Pulling out my flashlight again, the flickering that I was receiving from it was alarming and I had half a mind to run back up. But I had to know if I was going to be able to live in this house for some time. And the idea of someone else being in it wasn’t comforting.
I held my flashlight up like a weapon, preparing to hit whatever decided to jump out at any corner that I approached.
But no matter how many corners I reached, I was met with another long hallway that stretched roughly 20 ft.
My breathing was becoming heavier and the air was getting warmer. The hallways were growing more vibrant with each turn, and they seemed to change from right to left a lot.
At the end of each turn though, I started to notice something move just out of sight at the next turn. At first, it was tiny, like the back end of a mouse. But each time I reached the next turn, it was getting taller and I was starting to see more of what it was.
Seeing that it was trying to avoid me, I gave chase and prepared myself to start my assault on whatever it was. Out of desperation, all I could think of was to fight everything. My every thought was aggression and survival.
And yet it managed to stay ahead of me at all times as if it was teasing me. And then it finally dawned on me that I had run quite some distance.
Turning back, I realized that I had made a foolish decision. Everything was getting cleaner and more vibrant still. I had gotten myself trapped. Now I was stuck in this maze with something always ahead of me, managing to move out of sight before I could get a good look at it.
Frustration, starvation, and an overwhelming sense of dread made me want to do anything to get out of this maze and not see what was at the end of it.
I looked at the wall and used the butt end of the flashlight to start digging a hole through it. I didn’t care anymore, I wanted out.
I kept chipping away with frantic speed, struggling to tear apart the solid wooden wall until it finally collapsed outwards and revealed a monstrous void on the other side. I poked my head out and saw that there was nothing out there. A cold, unfathomably deep void that was a grim choice that if I was ever going to get out of here, my only other choice was to keep pushing forward through the maze, or I could take my chances of falling into oblivion.
Seeing what my choices were, I took a few steps back, slumped against the other side, and started to cry. I never normally did something like that but the stress, the feeling of entrapment, and this whole situation that stemmed from an act of kindness has led me to an increasing sense of hopelessness that seized every one of my thoughts.
I must’ve kept crying for who-knows-how-long anymore. It no longer matters. No matter what happens today, I’m going to die. I just want to lie here and finally get some sleep. It wasn’t the most comfortable bed, but I needed this.
***
I was alerted by the sound of footsteps approaching. My eyes darted open and I saw that the crowd of red-eyed people were following in after me. They were already at the other end of the hallway, staring me down.
Natural instincts kicked in and I got back on my feet and started running as fast as I could to whatever it was that they were cornering me in. If there is a chance of getting out, I have to take this.
I ran and ran, never once taking a moment to catch my breath. I still wanted to sleep, but survival was pushing me forward.
It took me a few minutes to realize that something odd was going on in the hallway itself. It was starting to become warped, blindingly bright in its red colors, and inducing petrifying fear into my heart.
But then the red wallpaper was peeling off, the wooden walls breaking up into shards, and the red lamps that hung on the sides were falling apart. It was slowly getting darker and darker. I turned on my flashlight just to make sure that I didn’t run into a wall, but it flickered erratically, making the way ahead obscure and unpredictable.
It didn’t matter for too long because I made it to the end.
At the far end of the last hallway was a swirling vortex of black mist, an eerie white glow around the edge, and red eyes. Of course…
They stared at me as if they were awaiting my arrival. On the ceiling was a black slime that was morphing together and splitting apart, dripping down to the floor. From the vortex of eyes and mist, five long pincers were stretched out, reminding me of praying mantis’ pincers.
When I moved in closer by a few steps, I was compelled to stare into a cosmic maelstrom of impossible depths, and through the swarming array of red lightning at the other end of this unfathomable creature, a pulsing organ, shaped like a heart but covered in wiggling strands of hair and misshapen eyes. The pupils were like that of a goat, and— you guessed it— red.
I was disturbed by the crowd of red-eyed people behind me. They stopped their advance as I was making my approach to the anomaly.
“You have made it,” it whispered with a slow and calculated voice.
“I have,” I said, unsure about what to do next.
“You ran from my grasp outside, entered my home, and your perseverance has brought you this far so that you may see my true form.”
I took a few more steps forward, peering at the entity with a sudden rush of curiosity. Upon my even closer observation, from behind the deathly heart, I swear I could see three figures shrouded in a veil of shadows behind it.
But instead of asking any questions, I begged, “Let me out!”
“Why should I? I have no reason to spare you. As you can see behind you, I feed on the minds of those who enter my domain.”
Once again, my fight or flight instincts were kicking in and I was ready to do what I must. But it would be crazy to attack something as abstract and out of this world as this creature was. And then I thought for a moment. Could a deal be reached?
“Perhaps—” I swallowed. “Perhaps we can come to an agreement.”
A jarring long pause followed before it said, “How so?”
“I’ll uh…” I tried to think about what I was going to do. If it’s anything that I’ve learned from movies and TV shows where these types of deals happened, this thing will want me to bring more people and encourage them to drive so that it can snatch them up onto the road. But I wasn’t about to sell out my own race. I rationed with myself that I could do something else. Perhaps I should ask it what it wants.
“Is there anything that you want? Something that doesn’t involve me selling out people to you?”
“If I say no, are you still willing to offer me people to feed on?”
I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. If this was going to be where I would die, I was going to go out with a shred of dignity intact. Even if that meant having to give up my own life to save others. I don’t think I could live with myself by tricking people.
“No. I care about other people’s lives more than my own. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself or look my mother in the eyes if she ever found out.”
I stood there defiantly, but inside I was shaking and having a horrible case of butterflies in my stomach.
“How noble,” it said softly. “All right then, I will make another deal for you. I can see that you will be most valuable in the future. I’ll let you go on the condition that you bring me more creatures like me.”
“What, disturbing?” I thought.
But what I said was, “Another like you?”
“I am a being known as a Primordial. There are many like me on this planet and I wish to devour them.”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“I’ll give you a helping hand. Plus, there’s a war between them and I’d rather not have my territory and peace disturbed or my human snacks wiped out over their infighting.”
“That’s more doable I guess.” I said, believing it much less morally wrong to sell out another one of these “Primordials” and sacrifice them to this monstrosity.
“And to make sure that you don’t go back on your word—”
Before I had time to react, one of its pincers extended out too quickly for me to dodge in time, drilling itself into my shoulder and leaving a nasty blackened puncture wound.
“Now you’ll be forced to bring me my prize. Don’t go running away. I have planted myself inside your body and could easily bring you back here should you betray me.”
I should have guessed there was going to be some insurance for this creature. I was trapped and had to go through with this deal. Now the next means of action was to find another creature like this.
The creature’s pincers all extended outwards, and a loud flashbang hit me before I could look away. My mind left spinning, and in utter confusion. And then I heard my name being repeatedly screamed out to me.
“ADAM! ADAM! ADAM!”
I awoke, shocked to see that Derek was pulling me out of a car. He dropped me onto the ground and we both were breathing heavily.
“Man, you sure are a heavy guy,” he remarked.
I was quick to realize where I was and quickly got back to my feet to look for the drunk driver. He wasn’t in the driver’s seat.
“Where did the driver go?” I asked.
Derek slowly got back on his feet and said, “You’re welcome, and I don’t know. He must have run off by the time you got over there.”
I was smart enough to know that that wasn’t the truth. I had to play the part that I was not aware of what truly happened to him.
***
I had to fill out a report to the police department and tell them everything that I knew. Well, a manufactured story that would coincide with Derek’s side of the story. I took it upon myself to have the next week off, desperately trying to drown out my frequent nightmares of whatever it was that I saw with bottle after bottle of vodka and whiskey.
But one night, after a rough night of trying to get some sleep, I was disturbed by the sound of an owl. I don’t know why this particular owl was able to get me out of bed, but when I went to the window to see how such a creature could be so loud, I was given a grim reminder.
That bird had that particular pair of velvet-colored eyes that I had grown to disdain. And it was a warning to me to get to work.
A sudden rush of piercing pain struck me in my shoulder. When I pulled my shirt down to check it, I could see the black, veiny markings exactly where the puncture wound happened. Weird, this wound disappeared when I got back to town. But that was a warning shot to get to work on finding more of those foul, lowlife primordial things that this… thing wants.
And right before I closed the blinds, I heard it whisper to me once more with a mocking tone. “I’m waiting. Get moving now. Or perhaps you’d like to get your mom in a car next?”
It seems that there would be no rest for the weary today. I have to get ready now, I have to find something out there. Until I’m able to update, take care and for the love of God, don’t drive at night in a town with a street called “Lockhill Road.”