Journal Entry #002

Journal Entry #002

Reader, you’ve returned. I’m afraid there is no going back from this point. It has already taken control of your impulses, and It has made you come back, so It can capture all of your senses, like it has mine.

But, I’ll take myself back from Its grasp, reader. I’ll tell you everything, and you’ll help me break its power over me, over us.

Crack.

Among a plethora of other sickening noises, this was by far the worst.

Crack.

The girl collided headfirst with the wall, and I heard her skull crack open distinctly, splattering the wall and the floor with already clotting, slimy blood droplets.

I fell back, hyperventilating even more violently. Calm down. I tried to tell myself, but to no avail. I forced myself to breathe more slowly, as a much more offensive odor pervaded my surroundings; the smell of rotting eggs and meat.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Yes, I’d started to calm down, slowly. I got up and turned my back to the body once more, and walked briskly away from her. Then I noticed.

Why was everything so loud?

Everywhere, there was a loud noise. The hooting of owls outside, the ticking of my watch, my heart beating against my chest…

Why could I hear everything so distinctly? Was it the hunter-gatherer instinct within me coming out in a time of danger? Would it really amplify my senses this much?

Plick.

What was that?

Plick.

I craned my neck backwards, trying to discern the source of the sound in pitch darkness. There was nothing but the sound of my shuddering breaths and the stench of death hovering over me.

Plick.

What was it?

Plick.

It wasn’t coming from the direction of the corpse.

Plick.

What would even be dripping in a place like this, the roads were all bone dry when I’d looked.

Plick.

Plickplickplickplickplickplickplickplickplickplickplick.

Where was it? It was getting faster and faster. I knew I really shouldn’t have gone looking for the source of a strange noise where freaky, supernatural things were taking place.

But I did. And curiosity killed the cat.

I closed my eyes and walked around, stumbling and groping, towards the noise, without giving the thought I could trip over something and die a second thought. That fear seemed much too tame and absurd here.

Plick.

It sounded mushy, like the sound watery dough makes when you squeeze it. It was still almost drowned out by the sound of stray pebbles and brick fragments I stepped over, but just barely discernible.

Plick.

It was getting louder, I was headed in the right direction.

My foot hit something and I was forced to open my eyes. I was at the stairs heading upstairs a few meters away from the corpse of the girl.

Plick.

Plick.

Plick.

Suddenly a delicious smell seemed to be coming from up the stairs, an amazing mix of blueberry pie, roasted turkey and buttered mashed potatoes.

Wait a minute.

Blueberry pie, roasted turkey and mashed potatoes. Smells from the best day ever of my life; the Thanksgiving when my husband proposed.

Something was fishy.

Houses like this in the middle of nowhere didn’t smell like this. It was a trap.

This infinitely seductive smell was a lure. But I would not be persuaded, no sir.

I grinned to myself. I’d outsmarted these demon-people, but wait.

Where was the plicking noise?

I craned my neck upwards, looking up the stairs. Nothing.

The smell was growing stronger by the second, and I could smell something different with each second. Strawberries. My husband’s perfume. The smell of cleaning fluid. Chalk.

No.

I mustn’t give in. These are lies.

Fresh bread. Old books. Linen sheets.

In a place like this, you couldn’t smell all that. These were illusions. They were trying to get me now that they’d got the girl. Haha! That was it. Not so high and intelligent, were they now, those demons? I’d figured out their plans.

Only, I wasn’t so smart, was I?

The smell subsided as quickly as it had appeared, and I was left wondering what would happen next.

The cat should feel lucky that curiosity only killed it. There are things far worse than death. I know that now.