Bloodied//Hands

I slammed myself into the main doors. They were pull doors, but that didn’t matter to me. I threw myself against them in desperation, over and over again. I wasn’t trying to escape the library; I was trying to escape everything. “Help me! Somebody help me!” I cried.

Suddenly, I felt a pressure from the other side of the door. I jumped backward as I saw Brooklyn push the door open from the outside.

“What’s going on? Is everything okay?” She asked.

“We’re leaving, now.”

“Why would we-“

“Because I said so.”

There was a silent pause. Was she going to listen? I didn’t want to describe what I saw in there, I just wanted to run.

“Okay,” she replied. “I’ll trust you.”

Thank goodness.

[ cut ]

I ran for about an hour until I got to my house. Brooklyn was following close behind me the entire time. I was worried that she might go back to the library after I was gone, but there was no helping it.

“Ash, can you give me back my camera?” She asked as I stepped up to the doorstep of my family’s suburban home.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” I reached with one hand to remove the camera from my neck and held the main unit with the other. It was then that I caught a glimpse of crimson red blood splattered on the camera. My heart raced. When did that happen? I took my other hand and placed it onto the camera to investigate further. I held the hand that initially held the device up, it was covered in blood. Was there blood all over the book? Why didn’t I notice that?

“Ash, there’s something wrong, isn’t there?”

“How long has there been blood on my hands?”

“Since you left the library.”

“Is that why you-“

“What did you do in there, Ash?”

“I… I saw a body,” I explained while glancing down at the ground. “Someone committed suicide.”

“Did you touch it?”

“Yeah,” I lied. “I wanted to figure out who it was.”

“Who was it?”

“It was… It was the student that went missing,” I lied again. I had no idea who it was. There was a good chance I was right, however. What I did see matched that idiot perfectly.

“If you hadn’t touched the body, you could have called the cops.”

I considered breaking the ruse. “I guess you’re right. Sorry.”

Brooklyn sat down on the steps. “It’s fine, I guess. I didn’t know him.”

“Do you want me to clean this off?” I held up Brooklyn’s camera. “I have the supplies for it here I think.”

“If you can, that’d be great,” Brooklyn replied. “Don’t work yourself too hard though, the ghosts might come for you too.”

Brooklyn’s words sent a chill down my spine for some reason. Were the ghosts she was talking about real? Was that what happened to all of those people? There were at least twenty books left in that library, was each one of them the remains of someone claimed by some supernatural threat?

“Yeah,” I replied. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”

[ cut ]

After cleaning Brooklyn’s camera, she walked back home. There was a part of me that wanted to make sure she made it there safely, but I had the feeling she was suspicious of me. Did she think I killed someone? Did I kill someone? No, that’s impossible. I saw everything with my own two eyes. The dead body in the library was hanging from the ceiling, he hung himself. The blood and the books were fake, they had to be. Come to think of it, I only saw one of the books, the others might have been completely normal. There was nothing to worry about, right? It’s all just a weird suicide and I’m completely safe.

I decided it would be a good idea to sit down and write about what happened, just in case there was something going on. I pulled an empty notebook out from my drawer and etched in my account of the events that transpired within the library. Maybe I should go back there? It wouldn’t hurt to find out more, right?

No, that’s wrong. What if the ghosts are real? What if I’m already doomed to die in the same way as that body, as that book? I can’t go back there, never again.

Once I was done writing, it was already almost 10 o’clock I normally stayed up pretty late playing videogames, but today I was exhausted. Nonetheless, I decided to indulge the primal urge to game, and I booted up a horror game I was in the middle of playing this morning. It was a horrible idea, really. Why did I decide to play a horror game the night after I saw a dead body? It wasn’t long before I regretted the decision.

Most games, at least these days, are made with immersion in mind. I had saved up a lot of my allowance to afford a decent VR headset that I rarely end up using, but this game was an exception. Headphones, VR, rumble on the controllers, everything about this game was designed to immerse and unsettle me.

“Can you see me…?”

A voice called out to me. I turned around and checked the room that surrounded me. There was nothing there. This was just designed to scare me, right? This is a videogame. I’m fine. All I need to do is breathe.

Footsteps echoed from behind. Someone was behind me? I heard a door open; the sound was very familiar. It sounded like… my door. It wasn’t my door. It was just the game. My heart began to race. The footsteps were right behind me. I saw a flash of something metal enter my vision. Scissors? That was stupid. Why would someone try to hurt me with scissors?

The scissors then shot towards my face as I felt a stabbing pain. My vision flashed red as the pain continued to grow greater and greater. My eye was being gouged out by a pair of scissors. I screamed and threw off my headset and curled into a ball on the floor. My headphones fell off with it, and I dropped my controllers. My face was shoved into my arms as I continued to scream, the only thing I could hear was the sound of the controllers vibrating against the wooden floor until the door swung open, for real this time.

“What the hell is going on in here?! It’s 1 am!” My older sister stood in the doorframe looking down at me. She walked over and kicked me in the side, causing me to roll over. “Get some sleep and don’t wake me up again!” She turned around and slammed the door behind her.

Was everything okay? That was all just part of the game? What about the pain, was that just my imagination? I had heard about phantom touch and things like that, but they had never happened to me before. I started to catch my breath as I sat up on the floor and looked over to my headset and controllers. The controllers were fine, but the headset landed on the strap buckle. There was no way I could wear it without getting it repaired. Maybe my sister could drive me to the mall to find a place willing to fix it?

Speaking of my sister, Claire, she still lived with me at home despite being 25, eight years older than me. She managed to get a job with a tech company right out of college, so she’s able to keep paying for the house. Our parents died in an accident two years ago, around the same time as the pentagram killings. I don’t think it was related to that though, since it was a car crash. My sister has taken care of me ever since, and I’m very grateful that she does. I’m unemployed, so I’d have to get a job if she decided to leave and get a job elsewhere. The only thing I had to put up with was her fury, but even that was tolerable. I don’t know how mom and dad’s death affected her, but she mostly kept that grief to herself.

Sometimes I miss my parents, even though they could be a bit overbearing. My dad worked at the company my sister works for now, which I think is part of the reason she got a job there. My mom didn’t work, and she stayed home to take care of me when I was little. I wish I told them that I loved them more, but I was so stupid back then. I skipped school for two weeks after they died, mostly just crying in my room. The only photograph of them I have is on the mantle in the living room, but it’s really blurry and the angle isn’t quite right. Someday, if heaven really exists, I want to go there and take another picture of them.

I picked myself off the floor and crawled into bed. It was late and I needed to get some kind of sleep or else I was going to be miserable tomorrow. As I was pulling up the sheets, my face felt wet. I put my arm up to it to dry my tears, but it didn’t seem to help. Maybe it’s not a bad thing that I’m crying, I guess it shows that I really do miss my family, the part of it that’s gone anyway. I stared up at the ceiling until I drifted to sleep, hoping that all of my anxiety would wash away.

[ cut ]

In the morning, I woke up feeling just as tired as I went to bed. There’s something about emotional fatigue that even sleep can’t quite get rid of. Anyhow, now I get to have the pleasure of telling my sister that I need to get the VR headset repaired.

[ cut ]

“You did what?! “

“I sort of… threw it at the floor.”

“No shit,” Claire replied. “You were screaming like a little girl when I ran in there. I’m surprised the buckle is the only thing you broke.”

“I guess.”

“You should be glad that those things are made to last.”

“I guess.”

“You’re waiting for me to hit you, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I have to get to a meeting at eight and I can’t cancel it to help you get your broken headset fixed. I suggest you walk over sometime today, since the store might be closed over the weekend,” Claire suggested. “Don’t do it too late or you might get mugged.”

“Don’t worry, I’m going to leave right now.”

“Good, I’ll see you when I get home.”

Claire picked up her purse and left through the front door. She never spends that much time at home anymore, probably because she works herself to death. I have to walk to the store and buy groceries every week since she simply doesn’t have time.

After staring at the door in contemplation for a few seconds, I ran up the stairs and stuffed the broken headset into my bag. It wasn’t very heavy, and hopefully, it won’t get damaged any more while I carry it over. I then ran back downstairs and headed out the door, leaving my camera behind at home.

[ cut ]

It was a long walk over to the mall, about 30 minutes. It wasn’t until near the end that something peculiar happened, something that would change my life forever.

I passed by an alleyway; it was wide enough to fit about three people. Normally, I wouldn’t pay attention to something like this, but for some reason, I felt-

“Help me!”

I heard a girl’s scream.

“I’m being attacked, please help me!”

I looked into the alleyway, but I saw nothing.

“You there, please, don’t leave me behind!”

There’s nothing there. I look around me, only to see nobody else around. I take a stop towards the alley.

“I can offer you a pact, my power in exchange for your help right now.” The voice said. “There are no strings attached, you have nothing to lose. Just please, help me.” She sounded desperate. What was I supposed to say? What power could she offer me? Does she mean money? Political power? What was I walking into? Who was talking to me?

“All I need is for you to say yes.”

“Who are you?!” I shouted back. “Where are you?!”

“Can you see me?”

I shuddered. Those words sounded familiar. Was everything that happened last night really just part of the game? Was I hallucinating now? Why am I now suddenly getting paranoid like this?

“No,” I said. “I- I can’t see you.”

“All you need to do is agree to my pact.”

“What kind of power can you give me?”

There was no response. I waited for a moment. What if this was a trick, a trap so to say? From what I’ve seen, ghosts and witches might very well be real. If that’s the case, what power does a pact hold? What value does my word mean in the hands of a creature who bids for it?

“How do I know you aren’t tricking me?” I asked.

“Because when a demon offers a pact, they cannot lie.”

A demon? What the hell? That’s it, I have to get out of here. Whether all of this magic bullshit is real or not doesn’t matter, whoever I’m talking to is nuts. I turned around to exit the alleyway, only to find the same alleyway behind me. I kept trying to find my bearing, but it seemed like it was impossible to turn around.

“What did you do to me?” I said. “Is this one of your tricks?”

“That isn’t me. They’ve found you.”

“Who?!”

“The other ones.”

I heard footsteps from ahead of me. Two large men walked out from the shadows. There was a strange fire flickering within their unfocused eyes, they didn’t look right in the head. What did “other ones” mean? Were these two actually demons?

The taller of the two men was holding a still-dripping, bloody knife in his left hand as he approached me. I could feel murderous intent emanating from him. Was I going to die here? Not even at the hands of a cursed book, at the hands of a common criminal?

“Please…” The weak-sounding girl’s voice pleaded. “I can save us both. I’ll die if you leave me here.”

“Why would I trust you?”

“You don’t have to,” she said. “Just agree to my pact and we both walk out of here alive.”

“Fine!” I snapped. “I’ll agree to your stupid contract. Just get me out of here!”

The brutish men in front of me both looked behind them. I heard a rustling sound, accompanied by the chorus of flowing blood. Those sounds disgusted me. There was another sound, though. Almost like the sighs of tearing fabric, but in reverse. Such a sound was so foreign to me, was it coming from some kind of speaker? Was I still in the game from earlier, but I didn’t even know it? No, that would be stupid.

I stopped pondering the sounds and looked up at the two men who were previously approaching me. A white flash traced itself across the shorter man’s forehead as it sliced clean open, pouring blood and brains onto the floor as his carcass fell. Behind him stood a girl bearing a brilliant white blade extending itself from a pair of scissors.

“Don’t think about running, you won’t make it.” The girl said. It was the same voice from before. She was the one who cut that guy’s head open. What had I done?

A look of terror spread across the remaining thug’s face. “You can’t do that” he turned to me, “why would you just give her your soul?”

What?

“He didn’t give me his soul,” the girl said in reply. “I don’t need it.” With the precision of a butcher, she carved the tall man in half. His guts were left strewn across alley streets as the girl then turned her gaze to me, the blade in her hand still gleaming like the sun.

“What are you doing?!” I screamed. “Stay away from me!” I fell backward and put my hands in front of my face.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you.” The girl said. I didn’t sense deception in her voice. Was she telling the truth? I let my hands down to see her standing above me.

“You… you won’t?”

“Not your body, at least.” The girl then held her blade up to the sky before aiming it down toward me. “See, I’ve never done this before. If anything, I’m the one who’s going to be hurt here.”

“Huh?”

She then drove the blade directly into my right eyeball.

[ cut ]