Thursday 3:13AM
I am sitting in front of my computer and I hear scratching inside the walls.
This isn’t the first time.
It sounds like someone is dragging their nails along the floorboards.
[[//Am I hallucinating?//->footsteps thursday 4:26am]]Thursday 4:26AM
It was never easy for me to just fall asleep. I keep myself up for no reason.
The scratching has gone away now.
But now it sounds like there are footsteps.
I have began to recognize the two footstep patterns that I hear.
Whoever is up there is pacing.
I don’t understand why I would hear these footsteps.
I live in a house that doesn’t share walls and doesn’t have an upstairs neighbor.
//Maybe it’s a rat. //
The insomnia makes me doubt my own sense perception.
[[//Am I hallucinating?//->sun thursday 5:56am]]Thursday 5:56AM
At least the sun is coming up now. Warm light begins to fill my room.
I put my computer away and walk towards the window.
The noises from inside the walls have disappeared.
I only hear them at night.
[[Maybe they are just hallucinations.->someone standing there Friday 2:29am]]Friday 2:29AM
Something is standing in the corner of my room.
(live: 1s)[(stop:)I am lying in bed, in hopes that my brain will shut down and allow me to sleep.
But I can’t.
That is when this thing appeared.
It is just staring at me, engulfed in the shadows of my room.
When I first saw it I was terrified.
But I think I am hallucinating again.
//How can there be anyone in my room? //
The doors are locked and I live alone.
(link: "I squeeze my eyes closed in hopes that the shadow will disappear.")[I squeeze my eyes closed in hopes that the shadow will disappear.
//This isn’t working. I open my eyes.// [[The shadow is gone.->closet or fireplace friday 3:15am]]]]
Friday 3:15AM
Lying in bed never works.
I only end up over analyzing everything that happened in my life.
The scratching is back.
//I can’t take it anymore. //
I get up off my bed.
[[I'm going to do something about this.->going to break walls]]
I stagger back towards my bedroom, clutching the axe with both my hands.
I still hear the noises.
I know there is something there.
I don't think I'm hallucinating.
[[Break down the wall.->break wall]]
[[There is nothing there. Put the axe down and go to sleep.->don't break wall]]{
(set: $holeCounter to 0)
(set: $plants to false)
(set: $haveKey to false)
(set: $police to false)
}I made a hole in the wall.
The darkness makes the gap look like I am staring into an abyss.
//Maybe I should have turned on the light. //
Wood chips and wallpaper are scattered across the floor.
[[Reach into the hole that you made.->leave the light off]]
[[Grab the flashlight.->flashlight]]
//Why do I still hear footsteps?//
I just proved to myself that there is nothing in the walls.
My eyes follow the sound.
//I can’t take it anymore. //
I grab the axe that I left haphazardly on the floor.
I never cleaned up the mess I made.
I hear the scratching again.
On the opposite side of the room.
[[I rush over there and drive my axe through the wall. ->noises stop]]
//I shouldn't have done this.//
[[What is happening to me?->sleep]]All of this will go away is I can just bring myself to sleep.
I drop the axe on the ground again, indifferent to the mess I made.
[[I walk towards the bathroom.->look at air vent]]I walk towards the bathroom and splash water on my face.
//Maybe taking a bath will tire me out. //
The lights in the bathroom flicker periodically.
I glance up towards the noises coming from the air vent in the bathroom.
//I am hallucinating. //
//There is nothing there. //
I begin to unbutton the dress shirt that I was wearing.
I see something move in the corner of my eye.
(live: 2s)[(stop:)[[I glance back up at the air vent.->airVentMan]]]//Something is looking down at me. //
(live: 2s)[(stop:)Something is staring back at me.]
(live: 4s)[(stop:)Someone was living in the walls. ]
(live: 6s) [(stop:)The man’s skin has a scale-like texture to it.
He seems to be covered in black and green mold, sporadically clinging to his skin.
The skin along his cheekbones and forehead is sagging.
His body is covered in chemical burns.
He is baring his teeth.
His teeth look premature, yet black and shriveled up.
He is holding the air vent covering in his spindly fingers. ]
(live: 8s) [(stop:)[[I pass out.->wake up after fainting]]]
I walk towards the storage closet.
(if: $haveKey is false)[I grasp the copper door handle only to realize it's locked.
I stop for a minute.
I usually leave the ring of keys on the mantle above the fireplace.
[[Walk towards the fireplace.->fireplace]]]
(if: $haveKey is true)[With the storage room key in hand I unlock the door.
It hinges open and I find myself staring at the myriad of cardboard boxes haphazardly stacked together.
//What am I looking for?//
I notice a red axe slumped against the wall.
I grab the handle.
[[This ought to work.->break wall or not friday 3:17am]]]
I walk towards the fireplace.
There is nothing on the mantel.
//What am I doing?//
I look down to find a ring of keys sprawled out on the ground.
//What is it doing on the ground? //
(link-goto: "Go towards the storage closet.", "storage closet")[(set:$haveKey to true)]I feel myself regaining conciousness.
I become aware of a cold hard surface pressing against my side.
//Where am I?//
I blink my eyes open and find myself on the tiled bathroom floor.
The lights are still on.
I sit up and look around.
(if: $plants is true)[I notice a potted plant next to me.
I never had a plant in the bathroom.
Its leaves are covered in a black mold.]
I recognize the air vent covering has fallen on the ground next to me.
//Oh. I remember.//
Hesitantly, I shift my eyes up towards the vent.
[[//He's gone.// ->investigate]]Shakily, I get up off the ground and dust myself off.
I'm not sure how to process this.
(if: $plants is true)[I look towards the plant again and pick it up.
The mottled leaves have a similar texture to the man's skin.
//What is happening?//]
The air reeks of mold and rotting wood.
I need to consider my options.
[[Why would someone want to hurt me?->recall any memories]]
[[Call the police. ->call police]]
[[Investigate the house for clues. ->directly to living room]]
[[Climb into the air vent.->climb into the air vent]]Why would I know anything about this?
//I'm not hiding anything.//
I wouldn't do something like this to myself.
[[I don't remember anything.->investigate]]My eyes are drawn to the open air vent again.
The inside of the air vent looks like a void.
//What if I climbed in there?//
//What would I find?//
I get up onto the tank attached to the toilet.
It wobbles under my feet.
The air vent is right above my head.
I jump up and grapple at the edges of the open air vent.
[[I pull myself up and into the darkness.->air vent description]]
I break open the flimsy vent covering and I hear it crash to the ground.
On an impulse, I jump down onto the floor, and drop inelegantly onto the vent that fell right before.
I feel a sharp pain shoot through the arches of my bare feet.
//Why did I do that?//
I get up and start to look around my living room for anything that indicates that I wasn't the only person living here.
I rarely use my living room.
I walk around, noticing the flaking wallpaper and the granulates of food and dust that I never swept of off the floor.
Nothing seems out of place.
That is when I notice the coffee table. And the open book resting face down.
[[Pick up the book.->book]]Why are all the cabinets open in the kitchen?
(if: $police is true)[The two officers are still in my living room.
Talking about something.
They keep glancing at me.
I don't even care anymore.
//I shouldn't have called them here. I don't need a second opinion.//
I look back towards the kitchen.]
I don't even need to take one step to recognize the clutter of packaged food and utensils.
I step towards the dirty sink.
Despite the mess, I notice items missing from their usual place.
Bleach, Hydrochloric acid, Dish Detergent...where did it go?
I crouch down to see the shelf right under the sink is completely empty aside from the greasy PVC pipes.
(link: "I stand there for a minute, taking it all in.")[I stand there for a minute, taking it all in.
[[The only place I haven't explored is my basement.->basement]]]
I drag my hands along the walls as I make my way down the stairs towards the basement.
My heart is racing.
I find myself standing in front of the basement.
I try to turn the door handle, but I find that I can't open it.
There isn't a lock on the door.
//Why won't it open?//
[[I didn't lock it.->what is in the basement]]I begin to rattle the door handle and slam my fists against the door, in an attempt to open it.
//Why is the door locked?//
//What's in the basement?//
[[//I dont know.//->you are the culprit]]I step over the air vent that leads to the living room, and I keep moving through the metal orifices.
I notice that there is a turn coming up.
[[Go back to the living room air vent.->air vent description]]
(link: "Turn.")[I move myself along with the turn in the air vents.
I find the last air vent covering.
This one leads to the basement.
I break open the flimsy vent covering and I hear it crash to the ground.
On an impulse, I jump down onto the floor, and drop inelegantly onto the vent that fell right before.
I feel a sharp pain shoot through the arches of my bare feet.
//Why did I do that?//
I am engulfed in darkness.
I stick my hands out to find the light switch on the walls.
My fingers scrape against the plastic ridge and the metal bolts of the switch.
[[Turn on the lights.->you are the victim]]]Two pairs of eyes stare back at me.
(live: 1s)[The dimly lit lamp that hangs from the ceiling illuminates enough to make me recognize the situation I find myself in.
I recognize the man from the air vents.
I can't recognize the other one.
My eyes flutter wide in panic.
[[//He has a knife.//->victim end]]]In a final attempt, I shift until my back hits the wall opposite to the threshold of the locked basement.
I take a running stride and shove myself shoulder first into the door.
Yet the room remains sealed shut.
I try again.
I take a running stride and kick the door down.
It swings open.
[[//Oh.//->remember]]I rush out of the bathroom, grabbing a coat and my phone from my desk.
My fingers fumble uselessly at my phone as I dial 911.
I hold the phone up to my ear as swing open the front door and rush out of the house.
//This can't be real.//
The ringing stops abruptly and is replaced with a woman's voice.
(link-goto: "\"911, what's your emergency?\"", "police arrive")[(set:$police to true)]I sit on the front steps with my knees pulled up to my chest and my head in my hands.
I hear the sirens from the police cars approach my house.
I look up at the two police officers getting out of their car.
//I told them there was an intruder in the house.//
//But what if I was wrong?//
They talk to me.
I tell them that I want them to investigate the house.
[[They agree.->police inspection]](if: $holeCounter > 0)[The police investigate the bedroom first, where I had began to hear the noises.
They immediately notice the two holes in the walls.
I never cleaned up the wood splinters and bits of wallpapers.
The police ask me about it.]
(if: $plants is true)[I show them about the plant that I found after seeing the man.
They look up into the air vent in the bathroom, and then down at the covering that lay below.]
They search through every room in my house.
We go to the living room.
I rarely use my living room.
We walk around, noticing the flaking wallpaper and the granulates of food and dust that I never swept of off the floor.
Nothing seems out of place.
That is when they notice the coffee table. And the open book resting face down.
[[They pick the book up, flip through the pages and then hand it to me.->book]]I grab the axe and swing it towards the wall.
Nothing.
I need to hit harder.
My movements become frantic as I begin trying to [[lacerate the wall->hole made friday 3:25am]] any which way I can. All of this will go away is I can just bring myself to sleep.
(link-goto: "I walk towards the bathroom.", "look at air vent")[(set:$plants to true)]I turn the flashlight on.
With any remaining resilience, I poke my head through the hole I just made, shining the light inside.
Spider webs covered in dust line the inside walls.
//There couldn’t have been anything living here. //
If there was, there would be clear tracks through the dust, right?
(live: 2s)[(stop:)[[//Was I hallucinating?//->still hear footsteps 3:45am]]]
I cautiously move my hand towards the hole.
//What am I doing?
//
I submerge my hand into the shadows.
The air in the walls is much cooler than I expected.
I feel wispy spider webs and dust skitter across the surface of my skin.
(link:"''And then something grabs my hand.''")
[''And then something grabs my hand.''
I recoil my hand in horror and stumble backwards.
//There is something in there.//
Whispers of the damp, leathery hand that grasped my own remain.
//I should get the fuck out of here.//
But I won't.
[[Grab the flashlight.->flashlight]]]The noises stop.
Two minutes later I have created another gash in the wall.
I poke my head through to see the spider webs and dust again.
(link-goto: "//Was I hallucinating?//", "question")[(set: $holeCounter to 2)]//I am going to break the walls down. //
I know there is something there.
I look towards the sound.
I don't have any tools to break through the wall.
I'm going to go find something.
(link-goto: "Get a tool from the storage closet.", "storage closet")[(set:$haveKey to false)]
(link-goto: "Go to the fireplace.", "fireplace")[(set:$haveKey to false)]The air is much cooler in here.
A musty odor weighs heavy in the air.
It wells up in my lungs as I let out a shaky cough.
I shuffle around on my hands and legs and I begin moving through the vents.
(live: 1s)[(stop:) I begin to notice a vent covering infront of me.
I crawl up to it. I look through the panels and see the top view of my living room.
[[Keep moving.->inside basement]]
[[Open the vent and climb down into the living room.->living room air vent]]]"Mycotoxins: A Beginners Guide to Lethal Molds"
(live: 1s)[(stop:) //What is this doing here?//
//Who was reading this?//
I find the bookmark that my mother gave me nestled between the paperback.
I whirl through the pages, catching glimpses of words.
"Penicillium, Cladosporium, Ulocladium, Alternaria..."
I recall the unforgiving nature of moldy skin leeching to the man in the vent.
//Who was reading this?//
I place the book back down on the table.
(if: $police is true)[I had told them about the mold covering the man's skin.
//I think they are skeptical of me.//]
[[My apprehensive eyes drift towards the kitchen.->kitchen]]]
The dissociative memories begin to flood back in.
The dimly lit lamp that hangs from the ceiling illuminates enough to make me recognize my own creation.
I find the kitchen items sprawled out on the basement floor. The bleach and the hydrochloric bottles are empty.
The room reeks of mold and rotting wood.
(link: "In the shadows I see the man from before crouching in the corner.")[In the shadows I see the man from before crouching in the corner.
//He is holding a knife.//
He begins to move at a sliggish pace towards me, dragging his feet.
Chemical burns from the bleach wrinkle his skin.
//I wonder if he was trying to dissipate the the mold by drenching himself in bleach. But that technique doesn't work on flesh.//
My mind could try to erase the experiments I conducted on him, but my actions were bound to [[haunt me->end]] sooner or later.]I should have known better.
(live: 1s)[(stop:) //The memories flood back in.//
I should have known better than to test samples on a man and then stuff him in the vents when the experiment was deemed defective.
//Why did my mind dissociate from this?//
His souless body towers before me.
//His eyes are kind.//
I don't move.
He raises the knife above his head.
In a blur of seconds I find myself with the blade impaled in my chest.
I crumple to the ground.
.FIN.]
Every sound I make as I walk towards the living room reenforces a feeling of panic that weighs heavy in my stomach.
I start to look around my living room for anything that indicates that I wasn't the only person living here.
I rarely use my living room.
I walk around, noticing the flaking wallpaper and the granulates of food and dust that I never swept of off the floor.
Nothing seems out of place.
That is when I notice the coffee table. And the open book resting face down.
[[Pick up the book.->book]]I stumble backwards and I try to climb back the way that I came.
I'm not tall enough.
(link: "A million questions flood my mind.") [How long were they living here?
How long have they been watching me alone?
What are they doing here?
//What the fuck?//
I stop trying to scramble up the wall. My effort is futile.
I turn back around.
He raises the knife above his head, ready to strike.
My fight-or-flight response kicks in.
The adrenaline surges in me.
I grab his willowy arm, and wrestle the knife out of his grasp.
In a blur of seconds I impale the blade in his chest.
[[I stumble backwards and he crumples to the ground.->kill]]]
The lifeless body of the man twitches.
The woman stares at me.
//She has the same skin texture as the man.//
I stare right back, pointing the knife out at an arms length as a silent warning.
(link: "She bolts towards me.")[//Oh. She's moving towards the air vent.//
I watch incredulously as she climbs the wall towards the vent in three steps, and disappears into the orifice.
I rush out of the basement.
I rush out of the house.
.FIN.]