Mr. Blank (Part 8) [FINALE]

  

Before I divulge what I saw in that theater, let’s do a quick mental exercise.

Hell.

What does that word mean to you? More specifically, what do you visualize when you hear it? Put yourself in that environment right now.

Are you walking through scorching flames while demons scream at you? A dark forest with thousands of beady eyes following your every move? Trapped underneath ice with something gnawing at your feet?

Each one of us has an idea of what our own personal hell would look like.

I found out what mine looked like in that theater.

The film opened on a shot of a plain, abandoned city washed in dark blue. It was hard to tell what time of day it was. But the whole place just looked… depressing. After a few seconds, a figure came stumbling into the frame. A man wearing plain clothes with distorted facial features. His movements were desperate, stumbling through the empty streets in an ostensible attempt to evade something. I found out what he was running from only a few seconds later. It was another man, naked this time, with black, oozing sores covering his entire body. There was also a bloody, dirty bag tied around his head.

His limbs twitched and contorted as he ran after the faceless man, letting out an unearthly, croaking scream as he moved.

The faceless man was screaming as well, although his voice sounded all too human. He sounded terrified.

I’m not quite sure how long this sequence lasted. Not sure how long I was watching for. But it felt like hours. At a point, I even gave up on the objective at hand. I wanted to turn away from the screen so badly. However… I couldn’t. My eyes stayed glued on the horrific scene in front of me. I couldn’t move.

I started wondering how Sven was holding up, watching something like this. It was only until later I realized that we weren’t even watching the same thing at all. Personal hells. Everybody’s different.

At a point, I started feeling strange. As if I couldn’t distinguish real life from what was happening on the screen. My attention was fixated on the faceless man. Almost like… I was seeing things through his perspective.

Shit, I thought, before my mind drifted too far off the deep end.

I realized something extremely important at the very last moment.

It’s just a movie. A really disturbing fucking movie.

The revelation came at the optimal time. I was already being sucked into Mr. Blank’s realm. I could feel it. My physical self dissolving into an obscure void. Yet… I was cognizant of this fact. And while I was certainly scared, I was also determined.

My vision went black for an unknown duration. When I opened them back up, my world was washed in a dark blue. I could feel goosebumps popping up on my skin. I was freezing, despite wearing a hoodie and jeans.

There was also something behind me.

I turned around, seeing the man with the bag over his head staggering towards me.

It didn’t take a genius to discern what had happened.

I was now in the movie. Not knowing exactly what to do and fueled by sheer impulse, I began running through the empty streets.

After the initial shock, I tried remembering what Collin had told me. I had to remember that none of this was real, despite how real it felt. But at the same time…

How the hell was this not real?

The cold wind bit at my face. My joints ached against the concrete below. I was even beginning to run out of breath. It felt real as hell. My mind started becoming frenetic. How the hell was this possible? Where the hell was I?

We never feel physical sensations in our dreams. So what was this? I turned around again, noticing that the bag-headed man was getting closer, his inhuman shrieks sending shivers down my spine.

I was starting to lose it. Starting to lose my own sense of reality. The streets ahead of me were endless and unchanging. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide.

I could hear myself beginning to whimper. Utter terror overwhelmed my senses, forcing me to abandon any of my previous thoughts. Any connections that I had to the world I belonged in.

Was this the world I belonged in? How long had I been here? Maybe this was all I knew.

It was a unnerving realization, and one that caused my eyes to begin watering. I was in hell. This was my existence. Cold tears began streaming down my face I as continued to run from the monstrosity behind me. I was beginning to forget where I’d even come from. And I was getting tired. I closed my eyes, preparing to give up entirely. Doing so hurt, as my tears began freezing up.

But wait.

That didn’t make any sense.

I remember reading about this once. About how tears would only freeze at below 40. And it sure as hell that cold.

It was an utterly random fact, and one that I had no reason to keep stored in my brain.

But… remembering it in that moment helped me more than I could ever know.

If that part didn’t make any sense, then what else was off about this situation? What was I doing here?

I opened my eyes again and stared up at the sky. It was empty. No sun. No stars. No moon. No clouds. That wasn’t right either. The buildings that surrounded me… I’d never seen a place like this before.

I didn’t belong here.

This wasn’t my world.

This was Mr. Blank’s world.

And why had I come here?

To save Lacey.

None of this was real.

I stopped in my tracks, catching my breath. I turned around, watching as the man behind me got slower and slower, before stopping only a few feet away from me.

He looked… confused. As if he couldn’t understand why I wasn’t running. Why had I stopped?

Because none of this was real. Why would I fear something that wasn’t real?

“Hey fuckface,” I spoke up. “Where the hell is Lacey?”

The man took a step back.

“Don’t you fucking run,” I said. “Where the fuck is she?”

He started backing up faster. My grin grew wider.

“I’m gonna tear you apart with my bare fucking hands if you don’t tell me.”

Suddenly, I wasn’t so cold anymore. I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins

”WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE?”

My own voice was growing primal, my impulses fueled by a culmination of all the fear and frustration I’d been feeling up until that point.

I caught up to the bagged man relatively quickly, tackling and then wrestling him down to the ground. I could feel his sores oozing all over me, which was quite the disgusting sensation, but forced myself to ignore it.

“WHERE IS SHE?” I screamed, as I began strangling him.

However… instead of gasping for air, the man simply began laughing. Of course he would. This was all a farce.

“What the hell?” I screamed. I grabbed the bag and ripped it of his face. What I found was… a blank face staring back at me.

“YOU THINK I’M SCARED OF YOU?”

A booming voice resonated throughout the space, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. Suddenly, the man began dissolving.

Well… dissolving wasn’t exactly the right word. He was morphing into thousands and thousands of insects. Horrified, I jumped back.

I watched as the insects began crawling on top of each other, forming what appeared to be a humanoid torso on top of spider-like legs. And of course… there was a giant, blank face at the very top of the abomination.

“RUN BOY.” The voice boomed again.

Apparently, things weren’t going to be so easy. How the hell was I supposed to win? I could feel the fear rushing back into my system. Mr. Blank had just been fucking with me the entire time. With no other options in sight, I did what he said and began running from the insect monstrosity. I looked over my shoulder every now and then, watching as the grotesque entity crawled towards me, knocking down buildings as it did so.

Surely this thing was faster than me. I thought.

Wait.

Of course it was. He never wanted to catch me. He just wanted me to keep running. Every trick he threw at me was an attempt to push me into a corner of fear I wouldn’t be able to get out from.

Fuck that. I was gonna hit back. As scared as I might have been, I was gonna have to force myself not to be.

I skidded to a stop. I spotted a piece of wood off the street and picked it up, before turning around and chucking it at the creature.

I missed, the but the message was sent. The insect creature, AKA Mr. Blank himself, stopped in its tracks as well, seemingly confused as to what to do next.

I wasn’t scared, and Mr. Blank couldn’t understand why.

What is fear, anyways? There’s a dictionary definition, of course. But what evokes fear in one person won’t necessarily evoke it out of the next.

At this point, Mr. Blank was trying too hard. He transformed again, into an even bigger monster resembling an amalgamation of black sludge, rotting corpses and writhing tendrils.

Was it scary? Maybe to a fourteen year old. After everything that I’d seen, this only made me laugh.

Laughing. Joy. Mockery. Every emotion that contrasted fear and despair. That was the ultimate weapon against him. Suddenly, I remembered the plan.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone, getting the camera ready. Unfortunately, Mr. Blank disappeared before I could start recording.

Nevertheless, the tables had turned. Who was scared now?

I wasn’t exactly sure where to go, so I just picked a random direction and began running. But… something unexpected happened. The environment around me began to change. No more buildings. No longer washed in dark blue. I suddenly found myself standing in an endless field of yellow flowers, with a cloudless sky above.

For a moment, I was absolutely jarred.

What the hell had happened? I thought. Where had I ended up now?

That answer soon became apparent when I looked down at the “flowers.”

They weren’t… right, to say the least. They were blinking back at me. Some had mouths lined with razor-like teeth, vigorously chomping away at the air. Some had their petals replaced with writhing fingers ending in claws.

This was somebody else’s hell. A rather interesting one at that.

Guess I better start running again, I thought. Trying to be as careful as I could, I began stepping over the ghastly flowers. After a few minutes, the environment changed again. This time, it was night, and I was standing in front of a precarious-looking rope bridge hanging over a deep crater.

I was beginning to understand what was going on. I suppose that I’d broken the system, in a sense. My own hell was no longer scary to me, so I was free to roam through everybody else’s.

Everybody who’d been trapped by Mr. Blank.

Light bulbs began going off in my head. I remembered a conversation I once had with Lacey, right after we’d gone through a haunted house one Halloween. It was a conversation about fear. What we were most afraid of.

”What am I most afraid of?” I remember her telling me. “This is a weird one, but… mazes. Yeah. Imagine randomly being trapped in a maze and never being able to find your way out.”

Mazes. I knew what I had to look for now.

I couldn’t tell you how many different hells I ended up traversing. Probably upwards of thirty. Maybe close to forty. They were all unique. All utterly horrifying in their own sense.

But what was even more interesting were the people I met along the way. Out all of the hells I found myself in, I came across fourteen people who were trapped in them. Nine were already catatonic. Two were hysterical and impossible to reason with. As for the other three… well, I don’t want to give myself too much credit here, but I think I saved them. Not that it was easy.

They weren’t so willing to let things go. They truly thought that they were in hell, destined to live that way forever. They’d long forgotten about their past lives. Who they were before. The time that they’d spent in the theater before being transported into Mr. Blank’s world. Trying to convince them otherwise was nothing short of a task, especially given the environment around us.

But… I wasn’t scared. I had to prove it to them. Nothing was going to kill us. Nothing was going to hurt us, if we didn’t let it.

By the time I’d finally found Lacey’s hell, I had a grateful group of 3 by my side. Dash – a 21 year old college kid, Nicole – 25 year old computer programmer and Roman – a 27 year old soldier. We sure as hell had been through a lot together at that point. It started feeling like days had passed since I was in the theater. But my resolve never slipped. I was finding her no matter what.

I nearly dropped to my knees in relief when I found myself standing inside the labyrinth. It had hall paid off in the end. The walls were about 15 feet high, covered in cracks and coated in moss. The ground was also comprised of cracked stone. There were torches set up every few feet or so, illuminating the place, but just barely.

“So I guess splitting up’s probably not the greatest idea.” Dash said.

“I wouldn’t be scared if we do, though,” Roman said, grinning at me. “I’m not scared of a fake place like this.”

I smiled back. When I met him, he’d been petrified. As if he’d given up on any kind of hope. But here he was now, ready to help me take down Mr. Blank. And find Lacey.

“You’re right,” I responded. “Nothing scary about this place. But Dash is also right. Better we stick together.”

Everybody nodded and we began searching. About every ten turns, we’d come across some kind of creature wandering through. They ranged from eyeless little girls to ghoul-looking things. But that wasn’t a problem. We’d seen more frightening things than that. Once it was obvious that we weren’t taking the fear bait, the creatures pretty much ignored us.

I can’t keep track of how many turns we took. Over a hundred at least. It was pretty obvious why Lacey wasn’t exactly a fan of these.

But eventually… we came across something different. A set of stairs, leading down into darkness. Unlike the creatures, this posed a more uncertain threat. It evoked a fear of the unknown, making it exponentially more frightening than any of the corny monsters we’d encountered before.

I could see hesitation rising amongst our group.

But that was to be expected. That’s exactly what Mr. Blank wanted. For that reason, I didn’t even think about it before descending the stairs, using my phone’s flashlight to guide me along. It didn’t matter if nobody followed. All that mattered was that I didn’t let the fear stop me.

To my surprise, I heard 3 sets of footsteps following behind me. I smiled to myself. This was it. The final stretch of all the madness I’d experienced so far. I’m not sure how far we walked. Not that it mattered. I’m sure everything in this world was nothing more than an illusion, even time.

I had to tell myself that, in order to deal with what we came across next. The stairs ended, leading to what appeared to be a bottomless void. Sounds emanated from below. They were obscure ones. Things that I’d never heard before, leading to chills involuntarily crawling down my spine.

Mr. Blank had certainly stepped his game up. No cheap scares here. What was presented in front of me petrified me to the bone. Once again, I could see hesitation amongst our group.

“What do you think’s down there?” Nicole asked.

I paused for a moment, considering the question.

“Nothing. Nothing at all.”

I didn’t let another thought cross my mind before jumping down.

For the longest time, it felt like I was floating. If you asked me how long exactly, there’s no way I could’ve told you. There was nothing around me. No sensation at all. I was in the void. Soon enough, I felt solid ground beneath my feet. I picked the direction I was already facing and began walking.

Again, I had no sense of time. My mind began drifting with every step I took. But I never let it get away from me completely. An indiscernible amount of time later, I found myself standing in front of a stone clearing, with everybody else behind me.

We were at the edge of the maze, and I’d found what I was looking for.

I let out a deep exhale. Probably the deepest one of my life.

“Lacey…”

She was right in front of me, curled into a ball with her back against the stone wall. She was wearing what she typically did. Blue jeans and green flannel.

Upon hearing my voice, she looked up at me, her eyes long-red from what had to be a constant stream of tears. She didn’t look happy to see me, but I didn’t expect her to be. She’d probably been given too much false hope in a place like this.

“You’re… not real…” she whimpered, before beginning to cry once again. “Leave me… alone.”

I approached her slowly.

“Lace…”

She looked back up. I was one of the few people who called her that.

“I’m one of the only real things in this entire place.” I said.

I grabbed her hand. She pulled back a bit at first, but I didn’t let her go. I didn’t force it either.

“We shouldn’t be here,” I told her. “Let’s get back to where we belong .”

Her skin was warm. So was mine. I saw a spark of understanding in her eyes. But before I could smile, a familiar presence made an appearance. A large shadow cast itself in the light of the torches. I looked up, seeing a tall, skeletal figure with a blank face leering down at us. Lacey flinched, but I just gripped her hand tighter.

I looked up at Mr. Blank and shot him a self-satisfied grin.

“There’s nothing left for you to do here.”

A moment of silence followed as he continued leering.

“Do you consider this a victory?” He asked.

“No,” I began to respond. “Not really. But you didn’t win either.”

The whole time, my hand had been slowly reaching into my pocket for my phone. I grabbed it and opened the video camera, but it was too late. He disappeared in the blink of an eye.

I grinned to myself.

He was scared. I’d frightened the boogeyman.

I looked back down at Lacey, who looked equally confused and terrified. But… a sense of reality had returned to her expression. Before, it seemed as if she were in a trance. In the process of forgetting where she’d come from.

“S… Seth? Wait,” She shook her head. “How are you…?”

“Looks like she’s back,” Nicole said from behind me. “You’re pretty good at this, aren’t you?”

I suppose I was.

“Who are…” Lacey began, before trailing off.

“There’s a lot I have to explain. But not here.”

“Right,” Roman said. “So how are we getting back?”

I’m not sure how the answer to that question came to me. It was kind of just something I figured out along the way.

“What do you mean?” I responded. “We’ve been back the whole time. We never went anywhere. Don’t you remember?”

It took a second, but Roman began smiling.

“We never left the theater, did we?”

I nodded.

The other two soon followed suit.

“This is some Dorothy type shit, isn’t it?” Dash said, grinning as well. “No fucking place like home.”

I looked back at Lacey. “We were never here. Don’t you remember?”

It took a moment, but she nodded.

“Yeah,” She said, her lips curling into a slight grin. “I think I’m starting to.”

Pretty soon after, I remember my vision going black. Well, I’d be lying if I said that I remember what happened at all. I just remember waking up back in the theater, with the time I spent in Mr. Blank’s world still fresh in my mind.

It didn’t feel like a dream. And it wasn’t one.

I sat up rapidly, feeling a hand on my shoulder as I did so. I turned around, seeing Sven smiling at me.

“You’re finally back. Took you a while.” He said.

“Sven. Did you…”

“I found her,” He said, nodding. “She’s back.”

I looked around the room, but the only other people there were Collin, Jimmy, and a few bewildered-looking police officers.

“Then where is she?” I looked around some more. “Wait. Where’s Lacey?” My heart dropped for a moment.

“Uh… if you will,” one of the cops spoke up. “We might be able to shed some light on that.”

Apparently, the police had found the people who had gone missing in the theater in an abandoned warehouse 3 towns over. When they were first discovered, they were still unconscious, albeit alive.

However… while they were being transported to the nearest hospital, two of them woke up.

Two university students – a male and a female, whose names hadn’t been released. Apparently, a dazed woman had also been found wandering through the woods in a different state as well.

I had a good feeling who they all might be. So did Sven.

And I was right. I hauled ass to the hospital immediately. The cops tried to stop me, but Sven flashed his badge again and got them off my case. He really was a good asset to have around. I looked through the window of the room the recovered students were staying in.

I don’t think my smile’s ever been wider than when I saw Lacey sitting up in her bed, alive and playing with her hands, as she usually did. She looked a bit frail, but there was no doubt about it. She was smiling. She remembered everything.

I left without saying anything to her. All that I needed to know was that she was safe. Our reunion would come later. For now, she needed to rest. On the way back, I’d learn how she ended up in a warehouse so far away to begin with.

Apparently, Mr. Blank’s influence was severe and far-reaching. He had a whole legion of fear-induced slaves doing his bidding in our world. Since he needed his victims to remain alive and undisturbed, he’d order people who he’d petrified into obeying him in the past (like Collin) to storm the theaters, quickly drag the bodies out, and then drive them off to a far, remote location. Once there, they’d keep the physical bodies alive while their frightened minds remained trapped in Mr. Blank’s world. This time, they even took it up a notch. They replaced the video surveillance with looped footage taken when the theater as empty, in order to confuse investigators even more. It sure as hell worked.

A foolproof system, right? Not really. Seven arrests were made that day. It’ll be an interesting trial for sure. Nevertheless, I can’t say that I hate those people. I can’t hate Collin either. There’s only one “person” I can direct my anger towards.

He’s still alive out there, and I feel a lingering responsibility to rectify that.

We’ll see where this goes.

UPDATE:

I got a call from Jimmy a few hours ago. I’d told him about what I saw I in the “other” dimension. About how I wanted to get rid of Mr. Blank once and for all.

“Got something you might be interested in,” he told me. “You see, this varmint’s apparently got a bounty on his head out there in the cosmos. We could make a real killing if we reel him in. I got another buddy who’s interested as well. Name’s Dex. Oh, but he’s a got a weird arm, so don’t freak out when you meet him. A freaky weird arm. Alright, talk to you about the details later. Bye for now.”

Looks like the hunt might be back on. 

---

Credits

 

Mr. Blank (Part 7)

  

My hands shook as I held the film reel in my hands.

This is the source of it all, I thought. The reason Lacey went missing. The reason any of this shit had happened at all.

As determined as I was to see this operation through, a lingering feeling of fear and hesitance never left my side.

“What’s the film like, exactly?” I asked, my voice shaking just a tad.

Collin shook his head. “I dunno. Not like I ever watched it. Can’t really prepare you for much there, sorry.”

That was more or less the response I was expecting. Collin sighed, starting to look anxious.

“We don’t have time, though. He could come back at any moment,” he looked at Jimmy. “You still got ammo?”

Jimmy tapped his belt proudly. “Silly question. No monster’s getting the jump on me.”

The haphazard plan that we’d formulated went as follows:

We’d rush over to the theater where everything had started, since that was the only place where we’d actually be able to play the film. Since it was still likely being monitored by the police, we’d have to rely on Sven’s FBI badge to dissolve that suspicion. According to Collin, if Mr. Blank’s projection hadn’t come back to attack us before we managed to enter the theater, it sure as hell was going to be there once we did. And of course… it was going to be aggressive. That’s where Jimmy comes in. He was going to keep it distracted while Collin set up the film. Once he did, Sven and I would be the ones to watch it. He wanted to save his wife. I wanted to save Lacey. Neither of us were backing down.

Collin also gave us some very-much needed details regarding the film itself, even though a lot of it was just speculation on his part.

Supposedly, the film does something strange to the viewer’s state of mind. The film exists in one plane of existence – Mr. Blank’s. We exist in our own. So how does somebody traverse this gap and move from one to the other? Well, we could really only theorize there. Collin claimed it was about emotions. The range of human emotions are a spectrum, obviously. But not a two-dimensional one, with happiness and sadness, distress and calm, pain and pleasure at their respective extremes. Nearly every feeling spurred on by activities in our daily lives are different. Some are more similar to each other than others, but no two distinct feelings are truly identical. Even the same emotion that you perceive experiencing thousands of times over the course of your life is actually an entirely new experience each and every time.

I’m getting off track here. Look, emotions are complicated. And according to Collin’s theory, they also acted as a catalyst that could move conscious thoughts between different realities. If some kind of impulse evoked a strong and specific enough emotion, that could act as said catalyst.

But if it were only their thoughts that had been moved, then what the hell had happened to their bodies? That mystery remained. However, Collin was quite certain that the people who’d been transported were all still alive. Can’t feed off a dead person’s emotions, after all.

“There’s something else that you’d probably like to know,” Collin said. “Something really interesting.”

My ears perked up.

“I did know a few people that crossed over into Mr. Blank’s realm that managed to make it back out. They all told me that they felt themselves crossing over a certain threshold of “fear” before they left our own world. However… they were still somewhat cognizant of what had happened. They knew that they were still in the theater. That this wasn’t the world that they belonged to. They weren’t petrified to the point where they lost all sense of their past reality. Because of this, they always kept themselves grounded, convincing themselves that none of it was real, despite what Mr. Blank threw at them. Eventually, they got back using the sheer will of their mind alone.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. At the moment, there was nothing that I needed to hear more.

“But, you should also know that they all committed suicide within the next 3 months.”

“You could’ve just left that part out.” I said.

“This is not going to be easy, but now that you know this going in, you’ll have an advantage. Try and be ready for anything, cause nothing’s off the table here.”

With our asses on the clock, we began making our way to the theater.

When we arrived, there was a single, bored-looking cop sitting in his vehicle near the entrance. He didn’t ask any questions when Sven flashed his badge. In fact, he looked pretty eager to leave.

We didn’t waste any time once we got in. Collin began setting up the film while we waited anxiously in the theater. We offered to help with the process, but he told us that we’d just slow him down. I wasn’t gonna argue with him there.

I sat down in one of the seats, burying my hands into my face. I was nervous, there was no second-guessing that fact.

Can I even do this? I thought to myself. Fuck. I have to do this.

I felt somebody put a hand on my lap. At first, I thought it was Sven trying to comfort me. But then I realized… that didn’t seem like something he’d really do.

“Well, I’ll be,” Jimmy spoke up. “The varmint’s back.”

Against my better judgement, I snapped my head to the side, staring at what appeared to be a mask composed of a variety of segmented human faces.

“Don’t move kid!” Jimmy’s voice boomed from across the theater. Before I knew it, the ghoulish face was blown to the side, blood exploding from the other side of its temple. My ears were ringing from the shot as I looked towards Jimmy, who was holding some kind of oversized pistol.

“You’re welcome.” He smiled at me.

“Jeez…” I muttered, still trying to regain my bearings.

A few seconds later, I heard Sven curse. I looked over, watching as a feral-beast looking creature grabbed him by the neck. Once again, Jimmy blasted it away. My brain rang some more.

It looked like Mr. Blank had regained his stamina, and I sure as hell wasn’t excited about it.

“GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKER!”

This time, Jimmy was the one cursing. Mr. Blank, now in the form of an oversized zombie wearing brass knuckles, had gotten the jump on him, forcing him to resort to a fistfight.

But… he was holding up surprisingly well, dodging, parrying and countering each of the zombie’s strikes. Jimmy ended up pummeling it within a minute.

“How the hell…? Where did you…” I began asking, dumbfounded at his apparently vast array of combat skills.

“I fought in the evisceration matches on a planet you wouldn’t dare step foot on, partner. I know my shit.” He said, grinning, as if I were supposed to understand remotely what the hell he was talking about.

I didn’t have time to ask, though. I could hear something breathing down my neck once again.

C’mon Collin, I thought to myself. Hurry the fuck up.

And then it happened. The projector suddenly flicked on, and the breathing stopped. I scanned the theater, but Mr. Blank was nowhere to be seen. I locked eyes with Sven for a moment. This was it. This was the culmination of everything we’d been through.

“Well…” Jimmy spoke up. “Looks like this it. I bid good luck to you both.”

The lights began to dim. I laughed to myself. Was this really necessary?

The reaction was more of a coping mechanism than anything else. I was utterly frozen in terror.

Sven and I were silent as we took our seats. For the first few seconds, I closed my eyes, afraid to open them even little bit. But I knew that eventually, I had to.

So I did.

And I cannot begin to describe what I saw in front of me. 

---

Credits

 

Mr. Blank (Part 6)

 

“It’s happened before.”

“What has?”

I was having a hard time keeping up with Collin as he ran. For a guy that looked like the product of an apocalypse, he sure as hell was fast on his feet. Sven and Jimmy followed behind, shouting after him.

“Him disappearing. The southerner is right. When he bleeds over into our world, he tires himself out, especially if he keeps taking on different forms.”

“What? How the hell do you know all this?”

He suddenly stopped running, causing me to nearly crash into his back.

“I…” he began, before taking a deep breath. “It’s a long story. I’ll have to explain quickly.”

And as much as it scares for me to admit… his story sounded eerily similar to mine.

It all started with the incident years prior. The last time Mr. Blank had made an appearance. When Sven’s fiancée had disappeared, Collin’s brother had disappeared along with her. He was living halfway across the country when it’d happened, though. When he’d heard about his missing sibling and the obscure details that went along with it, he booked the first flight over and attempted to figure things out for himself.

It went as you’d expect. Devoid of any trustworthy leads. Lack of any real direction. It took him an entire week of relentless (and dangerous) searching to learn the name “Mr. Blank.” And that’s where it all started going downhill for him. But even then… he didn’t stop.

Collin started getting “visits” from him, the same way that I had. Just like he’d done with me, Mr. Blank’s psychological torments started off fairly surface-level. 80’s horror movie villains, ghosts in the closet, creatures standing outside his window, etc.

While they certainly took a toll on him at first, he endured, continuing his search in spite of it all. He even tried attacking Mr. Blank directly, just as I had. Wouldn’t work out so well, as he went on to learn.

Maybe he was just lying about it all, I don’t know. But I could feel my anger towards him gradually fading as he relayed his story to me. He hadn’t really done anything different than I had. Well… I guess he had. He did everything completely alone. I had Mike and Rose with me.

After Collin had trudged through Mr. Blank’s initial onslaught, the latter started pushing harder, trying to break him completely. This is where Collin’s story truly began diverging from my own.

Mr. Blank began using more “abstract” scare tactics.

For example, Collin came home once to find his father standing in the corner of his bedroom. His father had died some years prior. He didn’t do anything, though. He just stood there with a blank expression like a mannequin, day and night, for nearly two weeks.

On top of that… he’d get more and more frail by the hour, as if he were rapidly losing weight. By the end, he was essentially a skeleton. That resulted in the first bonafide mental breakdown of Collin’s life.

And of course, it wasn’t even close to ending there. The psychological stress and torment he experienced sounded like enough to make anybody lose it completely. He’d see faces of pure malice and hatred staring at him in the mirror. He’d see a bottomless pit in the middle of his living room, while hellish screams constantly emanated from within it. Every time he’d open up a toilet, the face of his sister (drowned to death) would be staring up at him, gasping for air. He couldn’t bring himself to describe the worst of it, though. Just that his deepest, most visceral fears were manifesting in front of his very eyes. And it was breaking him minute by minute.

It did reach a point where he attempted suicide. He walked onto his balcony in the middle of the night and looked over the railings from the 14th floor. He stared down at the ground with his mind running a mile a minute. But before he closed his eyes and took the plunge, he saw a figure with a blank face staring at him from below.

He said that he froze in that moment. While they stared at each other, he said that he was coming an understanding. An implied agreement.

Do what I want, and I’ll end this hell for you.

He felt a transitory comfort, combined with a sensation of overwhelming coercion. In other words, he didn’t have a choice in the matter.

“It’s not like I can explain it,” he said. “He was fucking with my head. It felt like… I’d face something worse than death if I didn’t play by his rules. If I didn’t do what he said. Go ahead and think what you want about me. But… you weren’t there. You couldn’t have understood.”

“Right,” I said, trying to digest what I’d just been told.

“Do you still hate me?”

I sighed to myself. I don’t know, did I?

“Depends,” I finally said. “You said that we had a chance. What did you mean by that?”

He nodded. “Yeah. We do. I can help you get her back. Everything just has to go right.”

My ears perked up. “Alright. Go on then.”

“We can defeat him. Kill him. All we have to do is… capture him on tape.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That’s it? Are you kidding me?”

“No, it’s not what you think. What’s been chasing you up until this point hasn’t been Mr. Blank. Not his real form, anyway. That’s what we need to capture. Don’t ask me how it works, but… he can’t exist in two mediums, or digital spaces at once. His one real weakness. The film that was shown when everybody went missing, that’s the first one. Get him on tape with your own camera, and that’ll be the second one.”

“Well, how the hell are we supposed to see his true form?”

“That’s… the hard part. He only sends out puppets when he crosses over into our world. In order to see him as he truly is, we have to enter his.”

“Is that where…” I began asking.

He nodded. “Yes. That’s where your girlfriend is.”

“How do we get there?”

Collin reached into his backpack and pulled out a film reel.

"Watching the film almost acts like a passageway between his world and ours."

A more involved explanation really wasn’t necessary. In fact, the whole situation began making a lot more sense. I used to ask myself why Mr. Blank chose our town. Why the hell he just had to come here.

Well, the theater that it happened at was an older one. A “classic” place, so to speak. It was one of the few places that still used projectors.

“What’s… it like in there?”

Collin shook his head. “I couldn’t tell you. But from what I’ve learned… the people trapped in his ‘world’ are essentially being used as fuel. Mr. Blank feeds on inherent negative human emotions. Anguish, uncertainty, despair… fear. He doesn’t kill them. Just keeps them there for himself. Keeps them in a constant state of terror. Most go catatonic after a few years in real-time, but it hardly feels like a week for them while in there. That’s why he keeps coming back here for more. He’ll never stop. Even if every theater stops using film, I’m sure that he'll find a way."

He sighed. "I'm not proud of what I've done. But if I'm going to do anything good with my life... it's stopping this fucker forever."

If that was true, then Lacey was essentially in hell. She’d been in hell for weeks. But I suppose it only felt like a few hours to her.

“How long do we have until he comes back and tries to kill us again?”

“I can’t give you an exact amount of time,” I said. “But I doubt that we have more than a few hours.”

I took a deep breath as we reached the edge of the forest. Sven and Jimmy were close behind, catching up to us soon after.

“What in the hell were you two yammering on about?” Jimmy asked.

I turned and looked at him.

“Jimmy, we might need your help for a bit.”

Then I turned to Sven and grinned.

“Let’s bury this bastard.” 

---

Credits

 

Mr. Blank (Part 5)

  

“GODDAMN! This freak sure is something!”

The man with the shotgun seemed to be having a little too much fun. He’d “killed” Mr. Blank 3 more times. However… it was becoming more of a close call with every encounter.

“Who is this guy?” I called out to Sven.

“Uh… Jimmy. An old friend.”

“I hunt weird shit for sport!” Jimmy said, in the midst of reloading his shotgun, a ferocious gaze on his face. “But don’t boil me down to just that! I like a lot of stuff!”

What kind of stuff? I thought to myself. Well, I guess it didn’t really matter. I came to a realization. Mr. Blank had his hands full with Jimmy, which meant I had a chance. I bolted up and began running.

Call it a selfish move. I hardly cared at that point.

Shotgun blasts rocked the space around me as I ran, following the obscure tree carvings towards an unknown destination. I couldn’t tell you what I was expecting to find. I didn’t even know if there was going to be anything waiting for me at all.

Nevertheless, I ran. And I never considered stopping.

The whole journey took me a lot longer than I thought. I’d gotten deep into the forest before the carvings had disappeared altogether.

This is it, I thought, feverishly looking around for something. But what the hell was I looking for? After a while of searching, I finally spotted a clue.

Another carving. Not on a tree this time. It was on a large rock, right beside what appeared to be a small opening leading to a cave within. Not ominous in the slightest.

Jeez, am I really gonna in there? I thought to myself. By all accounts, nothing would lead a rational person to enter such a space.

Nevertheless, I was far from rational at that point. I’d also stopped hearing the shotgun blasts a while ago. That could only mean that Mr. Blank was about to be on my ass once again.

I took a deep breath and stepped forward, into whatever the hell was awaiting me in the darkness. The “cave” itself (If you want to call it that. It was more comparable to a large hole in a rock), was larger on the inside than it looked on the outside. But not drastically. It was still relatively tight as I traversed into it. For the first few seconds, I could make out nothing but darkness. But it didn’t take too long to find what I’d unknowingly been searching for this whole time.

There was a light ahead. Like one derived from a small flame. And… it was moving. Somebody (or something?) was holding it up. Making out any details from the angle and distance I was standing at wasn’t quite possible, so I was forced to move forward if I wanted any answers.

“So you’ve come for me, huh?”

It wasn’t the kind of voice that I’d expected. Not low, guttural, or menacing in the slightest. Whoever was speaking sounded meek. Terrified. On the verge of tears.

But first impressions can deceive. I stayed on my toes, preparing myself for anything. From everything I’d experienced so far… anything was certainly possible.

“What do you mean?” I asked in a low voice, as to not trigger any sudden aggression.

“How did you find me?” the man asked. “Oh,” he paused. “The carvings. Led you right to me, I suppose.”

The man turned, his face partially illuminated by a large candle he was holding dangerously close to his skin. I could hardly make out any distinguishable features. His hair was long and scraggly. Facial hair appeared to be untrimmed. Tired eyes. Things that aren’t terribly rare these days.

But what I did find interesting… was his shirt. Black and maroon. A white nametag. Read “Collin”. It was all familiar. He had to be an employee for somewhere I’d been before. But where?

“I guess that’s what I wanted, though,” he said, his voice getting shaky. “To finally pay for what I’ve done.”

“What are you talking about? What have you-“ I stopped my question partway through, due to a sudden, jarring. realization.

So that’s where I recognized the uniform from.

The theater. The one where this shitshow had all started. I recalled the details that of the investigation.

A new employee… joined not too long ago… now missing…

It was him, wasn’t it?

“You fucking bastard.”

I could hardly control the words as they came out of my mouth. By all accounts, this guy was the reason Lacey went missing. It took everything out of me to not strangle him right then and there.

Those urges were pushed even further when he chuckled.

“I see,” he said. “You’re not the police. Just someone looking for vengeance. That’s not so good for me. But I suppose it’s what I deserve.”

He sighed, putting the candle down at his feet, illuminating a pile of empty soda cans and cellophane wrappers behind him.

“Go ahead," he said. I won’t fight back.”

I took about half a minute to calm myself down. It didn’t quite work. I was still seething, my fists shaking like hell. If I were Mike, this guy’s face would’ve been reduced to mush already.

Luckily for him, I wasn’t Mike. I suppose it was lucky for me as well. Beyond anything, I needed answers. I took a deep breath, unclenching my fists and forcing my emotions to the curb. At least, I tried.

“You… you’re responsible for this, aren’t you? You screened that goddamn film.”

I could see the man’s silhouette nod. I gulped down my anger.

“What the hell are you doing out here?”

The man drooped his head. “I can’t go back into town. I’m not a strong enough man to face what I’ve done.”

A moment of silence followed. I could see him shaking ever so slightly. His breathing gradually became rapid and uneven, like he was forcing down tears.

“A man?” I said. “Is that what you are? After doing what you did, I’m not so sure.”

“That’s the part you don’t understand,” he finally said. “He’ll force you to do things you never could’ve fathomed doing before. All without laying a single finger on you.”

I scoffed. “What? You scared of monsters under the bed? Yeah, he did that shit to me as well. But I didn’t crack from it. Didn’t have to take 12 people down with me, either.”

“Monsters…” the man muttered. “Yeah, turning into monsters is one of his tricks. But nowhere near the worst one.”

I could feel the anger coming back. “Look, if you couldn’t handle it, maybe you should’ve just-“

I stopped myself from finishing the sentence. It was something I really didn’t want to say, even given the circumstances.

“Just taken my own life, right?” he responded. “Yeah. I guess I’d agree. I suppose it all started with me.”

“I wasn’t-“ I began, now at a sudden loss for words. I tried recomposing myself. Freaking out wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

“What did you mean when you said that turning into monsters wasn’t his worst trick?” I asked.

“I meant what I said. He goes by trial and error. Turns into the things he thinks will evoke the most fear out of us. Horror movie villains, monsters from folklore, those are good options. The simplest ones as well. But that won’t work on everybody. It didn’t work on me.”

I raised an eyebrow in the darkness. “What?”

“When he can’t scare you by using such direct tactics… he tries harder. Digs deeper into the recesses of your mind. What would petrify you the most. Things that would drive you to the darkest corner of your own soul. You’ll start to feel mad, just short of being catatonic. Cognizant enough to carry out his orders, but too constrained by visceral fear to do anything else. You’ll feel nothing but emptiness. A cold void where your heart once was. Hopes, desires, any kind of positive emotion, completely gone. You’ll feel… blank.”

He paused again.

“I may not be the strongest but… I don’t think even the strongest could cope with that.”

It took me a minute to think about what he’d just said. If he was right then… well that was bad news.”

My anger suddenly took a backseat to apprehension.

“He’s chasing you right now, isn’t he?” Collin asked. “Mr. Blank will probably kill me once he catches up. He has no use for me anymore, after all.”

He paused again, lighting a cigarette this time. It was frightening how devoid of emotion his tone was.

“But… I can’t say that I would mind that,” he took a long drag. “I’m truly sorry for any grief I may have caused you. But there’s nothing I can do anymore. Nothing we can do.”

I didn’t want to accept it.

“Nothing, like… we can’t find a way to beat him somehow? Can’t find a way to get those missing people back?!”

He took another drag. “Unfortunately-“

“What in the hell are you doing hiding in a cave?”

He was cut off by a familiar Southern accent. I turned around, seeing Jimmy and Sven standing at the mouth of the cave.

“Sven told me to follow these witch drawings and they led me to a yellow-bellied coward. The hell you running away from the fight for?” Jimmy said, clearly upset that I’d gone ahead without him. I also noticed that his shotgun was over his shoulder, and not in his hands.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I asked. “He’s gonna-“

“That weird son of a bitch ain’t gonna do shit,” Jimmy responded. “He disappeared some time ago. Lost count of how many times I killed him. How many of my precious bullets I wasted on him. Goddamn it.”

“Disappeared?” I asked, perplexed.

“Yeah,” Sven spoke up. “It’s been about 8 minutes. Unless it’s planning a surprise attack… looks like it’s gone for now. Who the hell is that behind you?”

I turned around, seeing Collin now standing up, which startled me a bit.

“What do you mean it’s gone?” He said, sounding shocked at the prospect.

“The hell do you think we mean? It up and disappeared. Vamoosed. Maybe it got tired from being slaughtered, who on God’s green Earth knows?”

Collin stepped forward, moving more into the daylight. As expected… he looked like hell. Smelled like it too. I could see Jimmy and Sven physically react to his appearance.

However… his eyes were different than I would’ve imagined. Not so hopeless, like his words. In fact… they were brimming with determination.

He grinned at me, if only slightly.

“We have a chance here. But we have to move quick.” 

---

Credits

 

Mr. Blank (Part 4)

  

I was frozen. Absolutely, unequivocally frozen. I could only describe the fear that gripped me as visceral. Like I was drowning in a freezing lake of incomprehensible dread, unprepared to face what was ahead of me in the slightest.

I looked at Sven, the most capable one out of us. But even he looked petrified, face drained of any color. I looked back at the trees, watching as the pale, gargantuan creature wrapped its disturbing hand entirely around the tree. The high-pitched radio-frequency laugh continued around us, seemingly growing louder and louder by the second.

And then, out of nowhere… it stopped.

”WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?”

A deep, slimy, penetrating voice assaulted my ears. It nearly sounded like it was coming from my own head. I flinched, taking my eyes off the entity behind the tree for just a moment. It was gone when I looked back up.

“S…seth….” I heard Rose call my name out.

I whipped my head around, nearly passing out in fear upon seeing what was behind me.

It was him.

Blank face. Skeletal torso. Giant, bony hands. Leering down right at me, only a few inches away. Without even thinking, I began running. I turned back after a few seconds, watching as the creature’s body twisted and contorted, turning into a massive spider-human hybrid with tens of pale, veiny limbs crawling towards me.

I nearly threw up right there. Sven drew his pistol and began shooting. Due to how erratically it was moving, he missed every shot except for one, which drilled straight through the creature’s head, causing a wave of thick, black blood to burst out from the other side of its temple. It went limp immediately, with its limbs crumpling and falling to the ground.

For a moment, I suppose I was relieved. But then… I realized what kind of monster we were really dealing with.

The laughing had come back, louder than ever now.

”THAT HURT.”

I blinked once and the “corpse” had disappeared. And then I noticed a hulking shadow looming somewhere next to me. I looked over, watching as the creature – now back in its humanoid skeleton form, wrapped one of its hands around Sven’s neck. With the other one, it grabbed one of his wrists, instantaneously crushing it into a bloody pulp.

As Sven grunted in agony, the creature turned to look directly at me. The bottom half of its face began distorting. Soon enough, a human mouth emerged from underneath its skin. If I was close to puking before, I couldn’t help myself now.

I retched, before looking back up to see it smiling at me. Not only that, the smile was familiar. Soft, pink lips. Glowing white teeth that were just slightly crooked at bottom.

It was… Lacey’s smile.

“What are you doing, Seth? Come find me.”

It was her voice. Unmistakably identical. I heard myself whimper.

I blinked one more time and it disappeared again. Sven dropped to the ground, still grimacing at his gruesome injury. Mike and Rose were in abject shock. I could feel tears begin swelling up in my eyes.

”START RUNNING.”

Again, the voice came from everywhere and nowhere at once. I began hearing what sounded like heavy, animalistic movements approaching fast. I turned around, seeing something barreling towards us. It looked comparable in appearance to a gorilla with dark fur, but with about three times as many limbs, running at us like an oversized centipede.

And of course… a familiar blank face at the front. He wasn’t even giving me time to grieve.

Safe to say, we took the advice and bolted like hell the other way. Every time I looked back to see if it had finally caught up, the creature always looked like it was moving at an unfathomable pace. Yet… it always remained the same distance behind us. After a while of this, it really felt like I was losing my own grip on reality.

As we began reaching the edge of the forest, I remember my vision beginning to blur. I passed out, likely due to a combination of exhaustion, fear and agony upon hearing Lacey’s voice and seeing her lips on that fucking monster.

I woke up back in Mike’s apartment, clothes dirty, cold sweat running down my forehead and my joints aching like hell. It had become dark outside. I suppose I’d been out for a while.

Mike and Rose were sitting on the other couch, neither saying a word or even looking up. Can’t really blame them, I suppose. Not after an experience like that.

“Where’s Sven?” I finally asked.

“He… left. Drove off. Said he had ‘do something urgent’.” Rose answered, after a few moments. “Never even went to the hospital before leaving town. I don’t think he’s coming back.”

Guess we aren’t getting any more help from him, I thought to myself.

I decided to stay at my parents place for a bit. They were happy to see me but… I wasn’t really there emotionally. I hated to admit it but… the whole encounter had taken a lot out of me. As much I still wanted to somehow save Lacey, I… I couldn’t stand the idea of facing that thing again. I needed time to overcome my fears. Time to recover, before looking for any more answers.

But… Mr. Blank wouldn’t even let me do that.

For the first few nights, everything was normal. I used some of my vacations days to get off work and spent my time watching TV, playing games… trying to motivate myself to stop being so scared and go looking for her again. Wasn’t working so well. I was still petrified at the very thought of it.

But after a few nights… the tapping started. Sounded like a bony finger rapping on my window during the dead of night. I never bothered looking, of course. When I didn’t react to that, Mr. Blank began fucking with me in more severe ways. I’d see a hulking shadow behind my shower curtains seconds after I’d stepped in. A pair of legs sticking out from underneath my bed as I was getting ready to sleep. An unwanted passenger in the back seat of my vehicle at night. Employees following me around grocery stores and staring at me in restaurants. I never could make out any of their facial features. It was all starting to take a heavy toll on my mind. I could feel my sanity slipping away by the hour.

I called Mike and Rose. Same story. Rose’s voice was monotonous, devoid of any kind of emotion. Mike sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

But what made everything infinitely worse was the knowledge that at any point, he or… it could kill me in a split second. So that begged the question… why didn’t it? What was the point of fucking with me like this?

It all came to a boiling point while I was grabbing my mail. As I was getting ready to reach in, a bloody hand poked out of my mailbox and handed my envelopes to me. How generous.

It was all starting to become rather bothersome. I freaked out right then and there.

“Fuck you!” I screamed. “What the fuck do you want from me?”

I grabbed the door of the mailbox and slammed it into the hand until I heard bones begin to break. For the first time in a while, fear wasn’t my dominant emotion. It was anger. After enduring the punishment, the hand eventually retreated. I bent down, staring directly into the now-empty slot.

“WHERE THE FUCK IS LACEY, ASSHOLE?”

My screams were beginning to attract the attention of my neighbors. Not that I cared. I could hardly keep my frustrations in at that point. I had to let it out.

“WHY DON’T YOU JUST KILL ME, YOU PUSSY! GUESS I’LL FUCKING FIND AND KILL YOU FIRST!”

I hardly believed in what I was saying. The words were simply pouring out of my mouth.

I slammed the door shut and stormed back into my house. I took some time for self-reflection. The cops had told me to let it go from the start. Hell, even my own parents were telling me that. So why hadn’t I? Why couldn’t I just let it go?

Maybe it’s because… I hadn’t lost hoped. For one reason or another, I still believed I could get Lacey back. That I could somehow overcome this horrific, seemingly impossible enemy and come out victorious in the end.

After all, if Mr. Blank could imitate Lacey’s voice… then it meant she was still alive, right?

Perhaps that was a stretch. But I didn’t allow myself to believe that. It’d be comparable to admitting defeat right then and there.

There was also another thing driving me forward. If I didn’t face it head on, this thing was never going to leave me alone.

I remembered what I’d told myself from the beginning. That I wasn’t going to let it end like this.

Whenever I'd backed down from a conflict before, my father had always told me to grow a pair of balls and man up. It made me kinda hate him at times. But suddenly... that seemed like rather sound advice.

I spent the next few days getting off my ass and preparing to head back into the forest. I was going to keep following the tree carvings. Our only real lead, wherever that may lead me. It was pretty obvious that physical attacks weren’t bringing this thing down. Hell, I wasn’t even trying to kill it. I needed information first. Like where the hell it was keeping Lacey.

However, physical wounds did seem to bother it, in some marginal capacity at the very least. While I was brainstorming, I noticed something else as well. Ever since the mailbox incident, the bastard had left me alone. My first act of defiance against it. There had to be a correlation there. I decided to call Mike and Rose again. They still sounded frightened. Defeated. Mr. Blank was still going after them. What did this mean?

I only had my theories, of course. Nevertheless, they were theories worth testing. I began putting together my own mini-arsenal. My dad’s pistol, one of Mike’s shotguns that I’d borrowed a few weeks back, a hunting knife, and a baseball bat for good measure. Was I trained in armed or unarmed combat? Fuck no. Still had a puncher’s chance, though.

I decided to head back into the forest exactly one week after I’d first gone in. I'd made my preparations, of course. Wrote a letter for my parents. (In case I didn't come back). A letter for Mike. One for Rose. (Didn't even bother asking them to come. They sounded like they weren't even ready to leave their rooms when I talked to them last). I wasn't quite sure what to put in the letters. I just felt obligated to write them. An explanation, I suppose.

Before heading out of my house, I slugged back one swig of whiskey. Two cups of coffee. I tried my calm my nerves. Didn’t really work. Didn’t matter. Before I knew it, I was standing back at the edge of the tree-line, alone.

I took a step. Deep breath. Another step. Oh shit. The nerves had come back. One more step. My legs began shaking. It’s as if the fear I’d been suppressing began rushing back to me all at once. I looked up and something caught my eye. A large figure obscured by the woods, creeping along my line of vision. A familiar hand wrapped around one of the trees, dangling a severed hand by the pinky. Sven’s hand, most likely. It was taunting me.

Every fiber of my being was telling me to turn back and the run the fuck away. And I nearly did just that. I was petrified. But that didn’t mean I could stop.

This thing wasn’t going to stop following me at the forest. It knew where I lived. Knew how to push my buttons. How to get under my skin. It knew nearly everything about me. I was too deep into this mess already. Face my fears and deal with it myself, or end up like Jay and leave Lacey trapped in whatever hell she was currently in.

With that in mind, I took another deep breath and began walking, right towards it. As I’d suspected… it disappeared shortly after. Like I’d somehow scared it off. Even though that probably wasn’t the case, I smiled to myself, reveling at the idea. From there, I began following the carvings, retracing our steps from a week prior. But I was planning on getting farther this time.

As expected, Mr. Blank didn’t leave me alone after I’d entered. In fact, I was pretty much on my toes the entire time. About five minutes in, I heard something breathing down the back of my neck. I remembered what had happened to Sven and immediately pivoted sideways. At that point, it was the closest I’d ever gotten to it. This time, it’d taken a gargoyle-esque form, wings and all. I pulled out my pistol and fired about four shots at it. I never had great aim, so only 1 bullet even grazed it, but I think my message was sent, because it disappeared with a blink, immediately after.

It hurled its share of auditory torments towards me as well. Screaming horrible things at me in a generic demonic voice. The only time these really affected me was when it was imitating Lacey. God, this fucker was really pissing me off.

It appeared two more times before it finally managed to hurt me. However… the attacks were awkward. It obviously could have killed me at any point. Yet, it seemed bent on trying to give me only non-lethal injuries. Nevertheless, it succeeded.

Have you ever seen fanart of the Rake? A classic creepypasta. Well that’s what it turned into, only with no face. It managed to slash my thigh. Not a deep cut, but it still hurt like hell. I responded by breaking my bat over its head. Even though doing so caused it to disappear, it was a move I regretted instantly. I lost my one of my close-quarters weapons. I used to play baseball, but I’d never used a knife for anything beyond chopping onions.

I calmed down by telling myself that at the very least, it wasn’t going to kill me.

Boy, was I wrong there.

After about only a minute, it crawled out of the dirt in the form of a familiar, machete-wielding zombie wearing a hockey mask and nearly took my head off. I managed to dodge the swing by a hair, and the tree beside me was sliced clean in half.

I guess Mr. Blank was something of a cinephile. I suppose that made sense.

That didn’t look non-lethal to me, I thought to myself. I scrambled to pull out my shotgun and blew off the wannabe Jason’s head. However, it took me both shots to do so, and I wasn’t very fast at reloading. Mr. Blank suddenly appeared behind me, now as a hulking, faceless clown carrying what looked like a lead bowling pin.

At that moment, I was defenseless. It swung the pin, breaking the shotgun in half as I attempted to defend myself with it. After that, I started running.

What the fuck was I thinking? This asshole could basically teleport.

It suddenly stepped out from a tree in front of me. This time, it had turned into one of the nurses from Silent Hill, bolting at me with a rusty knife.

“Fuck!” I shouted. It looked like Mr. Blank wasn’t pulling any more punches.

It caused me to experience a new kind of fear. Not dread, or some vague fear of the unknown. It was fear of immediate and certain death. But at the same time, I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I tried convincing myself that I was ready.

Knowing that I couldn’t run, I pulled out my own knife and tried bracing myself.

This is gonna fucking hurt, I thought to myself.

As it got within a few feet of me, the crack of a heavy shotgun caused me to flinch. The nurse was subsequently sawed in half at the torso, with stray fragments of buckshot littering the trees beside me.

“JESUS, WHAT THE FUCK!” I shouted, panting like hell at the same time.

“Hey boy! You best not be taking the Lord’s name in vain there.”

An unfamiliar voice. Heavy southern twang. We weren’t anywhere near the south.

I looked over, seeing two wholly unexpected figures.

One was Sven, with heavy bandages wrapped around his wrist. He wasn’t the one that’d fired the shot, though. Standing next to him was a tall, bulky man with messy blonde hair, wearing what looked like a heavy tactical jacket and camo hunting pants. He was carrying a massive, industrial-looking shotgun. Certainly not anything police-grade. Hell, it didn’t even look like something the military would use.

“Anyways, it’s your lucky day,” the man said, slinging the weapon over his shoulder.

Sven looked at me and smiled.

“I told your friend I was coming back,” he said. “I don’t think she believed me, though.”

He looked at his shotgun-wielding friend. “So? What’d you think? Told you I had something big.”

The man chuckled, watching as the nurse corpse disappeared into thin air, just as every one of Mr. Blanks “forms” tended to do.

“Well, I’ll be,” he said, smiling to himself. “It’s a strange one for sure. No matter. I’m itching for a good old-fashioned battle.”

“What th… the …hell?”

It was the only thing I could muster out, given how truly bizarre the circumstances had become.

“Hush up there,” The man said, aiming his shotgun at something behind me. “Looks like it’s itching for the same battle.”

I turned around, watching as Michael Myers dropped down from a tree. Only, he wasn’t carrying a kitchen knife. He had a damn chainsaw. Looked like Mr. Blank was getting his films mixed up.

Asking any more questions seemed like a lost cause. In any case, I needed to focus on the task at hand: staying alive while searching for Lacey.

But it looks like I have so much-needed help now. Can’t complain about that. 

---

Credits

 

Mr. Blank (Part 3)

  

“Is this asshole really following us?”

Unfortunately, they noticed.

“Shit.” I muttered. This wasn’t good. Nevertheless, both Mike and Rose were being rational about it. Although they were both visibly worried, they seemed to understand that freaking out wasn’t going to help.

“Ignore them,” I said. “If they keep following us once we get into town, then I’ll call the cops.”

“Hang on…” Rose began. “You don’t think they saw us leaving the apartment, do you?”

“They probably did. Why?”

Stupid question on my part. We totally left a dead guy in there.

“Shit!” Mike shouted, upon realizing it. “Maybe it’s the cops themselves tailing us.”

“That’s so dumb for so many reasons,” Rose responded. “Why would cops be following us to begin with?”

“Who the hell knows what cops are thinking?”

“They can’t pin it on us, right? We didn’t do anything.”

“They don’t know that. They could argue that we forcibly shoved the pills down his throat and left.”

“Why would we do that?”

“I don’t know Rose, why the hell does anybody do anything?”

“Alright, fucking relax,” I raised my voice just a bit. “They aren’t cops, Mike. That’s ridiculous.”

“Ok, cop expert. Then who is it?” Mike responded.

I didn’t have an answer there. But I knew one thing was probably for sure. Whoever was following us was probably worse news than the police.

“Try and shake em off.” Mike told me.

“Yeah, no way in hell. I’m not a fucking stunt driver.”

As I had hoped, the vehicle trailed off once we got into town. As much as I appreciated the initial relief, this just meant we had another thing to worry about. Another lingering issue. I thought back to the unfamiliar cars with tinted windows that had been parked around town. I didn’t think about it too much in the moment, but the vehicle that’d been tailing us had also been tinted.

Shit, I thought. This whole situation was getting a bit too complicated for my liking. Not that this was an enjoyable experience to begin with.

We parked at a nearby gas station, not wanting to reveal where any of us lived just yet. I still couldn’t quite shake the feeling that we were being followed, after all.

Of course, Mike was against this.

“These motherfuckers probably know where we live already,” he said. “I say let ‘em come. My shotguns need some dusting off.”

“Ok, calm down there Rambo,” Rose replied. “Before you get yourself killed, let’s come up with a plan. An actual plan.”

We ended up driving over to Mike’s apartment after a few uneventful hours. But before we could come up with anything at all, Mike and Rose ended up passing out. I had no idea how they found it in themselves to sleep. After everything that had happened, I simply couldn’t. Paranoia was also starting to creep up on me, causing me to constantly check the street to see if anybody was out there waiting for us.

But as the night went on, nobody showed up. Either that, or they were doing a hell of a good job at being discrete. But eventually, I succumbed to fatigue myself. I woke up next to the windows, the sun stinging my eyes. Mike was cooking up breakfast sausages and pop tarts in the kitchen. Breakfast of champions, I suppose.

“Ok…” Mike said, through a mouthful of pork. “Last night was bunk. What now?”

I suppose it was time for a shot in the dark. The forest.

Mike and Rose weren’t too enthused at the idea. Could hardly blame them. However, our options were running relatively slim. No other avenues to really investigate.

“Graffiti in the forest… We’re getting desperate, huh?“ Mike sighed, putting his head down. But he got up after only a few moments, grabbing for his jacket.

“Desperate it is.”

I never really liked the forest. The place always spooked me as a kid. Can’t say I’m too fond of it as an adult, either. It just feels so… claustrophobic, you know? Surrounded by dead trees, but exposed at every conceivable angle. Maybe I’m just weird.

I tried to suppress those thoughts when we walked in.

“Where’d your brother say he found it?” Rose asked.

“Near the creek.”

“Very specific,” Mike said. “And what the hell are we supposed once we find it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we’ll find a clue somewhere.”

The words came out of my mouth with zero confidence, and it was obvious. What the hell kind of clue were we supposed to be looking for?

As we continued walking, we passed the time by contemplating what Mr. Blank might be. A serial killer? Perhaps we needed to look at it from a supernatural angle. Some kind of monster… or demon maybe? But what was its connection to the theater? The whole situation was maddening to think about. Nothing made any sense.

After about 20 minutes of inspecting each and every tree near the creek, we finally found it. The carvings that my brother was talking about.

“Huh,” Mike commented upon seeing it. “Pretty spooky.”

I couldn’t disagree. It was more or less the way that my brother had described it. Very “strange” indeed. It was difficult to make out any real features of the man depicted in the carving. Well, I guess it was a man. Humanoid, at the very least. It appeared to be tall, wearing some kind of long, sweeping coat. There was a strange pattern covering the torso. Almost looked like… bones? Hard to tell, given the nature of what we were looking at. And then there was the head. No facial features. Blank, if you will. And of course, it was accompanied by the word “STOP” scribbled all over. I could only describe the nature of the writing as “distressed.”

Was it just a coincidence? I doubted that.

“What the hell are we getting into here?” I heard Mike mutter under his breath.

I looked over at Rose, trying to gauge her reaction as well. She certainly looked frightened, as expected. But… not in the same way that Mike was. The fear on her face appeared to stem from a more urgent matter.

“Do you guys…” she began asking. “Don’t panic, but I’m pretty sure somebody’s following us.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I realized something. We’d been careless. Even though we were being tailed last night, we didn’t bother carrying that caution over to the morning. Hell, I didn’t even look over my shoulder when I’d first walked into the forest.

Mike clicked his tongue loudly, looking agitated.

“Okay asshole, come out!” He shouted.

“Jesus Mike!” Rose and I said in unison.

“I don’t wanna draw this out,” he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a pistol. “Gotta come prepared. Learned that yesterday didn’t we?”

The next few moments comprised of a tense silence. Well, maybe not. I’m pretty sure everybody could hear my heart beating out of my chest.

“Alright.”

I flinched as a deeper voice called out from an indistinguishable location.

“Suppose there’s no point in keeping this up. I see you have a gun, kid. I’m coming out, so don’t shoot.”

I could see movement within the maze of trees. Mike clicked the safety off and aimed the weapon right toward the general area it was coming from.

“Are you stupid?” he said. “Also, I’m 24. Don’t fucking call me a kid.”

Whoever had been following us didn’t hesitate, continuing towards us.

“It’s not like your age makes you less of a kid. I’ve known 13 year-olds that I would already consider men, given what they’ve been through.”

The voice eventually revealed himself. He looked to be in his early 30s, dressed in a windbreaker and well-tailored dress pants. He was about a head shorter than Mike, with wavy hair, a clean-shaven face and a world-weary look in his eyes. There was a also substantial scar running down his left cheek. But beyond that… he was probably one of the best-looking guys I’ve seen in my life. Not an important detail but… whatever.

“You’re not gonna shoot me kid. So why don’t you stop pretending like you’re even considering it?” He said, in just about the most confidence tone I’d ever heard in my life.

Mike gripped the pistol, the veins bulging in his hand. “Don’t push your luck.”

“I’ll introduce myself,” he said, ignoring the threat. He reached into his coat pocket (which made Mike flinch), and pulled out a pretty official-looking FBI badge and identification card.

His first name was Sven. His thumb was covering up his last. Maybe it was a conscious decision.

“I’m not really concerned with whether or not you believe my credentials. But I’m curious. What are you kids doing out here?”

“Why the hell should we tell you?” Mike asked, still trying to sound assertive.

Sven sighed, before looking at Rose. “Darling, could you please ask your friend to put the gun down? He’s gonna get himself hurt,” he looked back at Mike. “Keep it in your hand if it makes you feel safer, though.”

Rose obliged, nudging Mike.

“C’mon,” she whispered. “That’s not gonna end well.”

Mike mumbled something angrily before obliging himself.

Sven nodded and smirked.

“Now. Regarding my question. What’s the deal here?”

He was certainly pretending like he didn’t already know.

“The missing people,” I said. “I’m sure you’re familiar with the rest of the details. Probably more so than we are.”

He nodded, before looking down. “Yeah… it’s a strange case.”

Mike scoffed. “Strange? My sister’s missing. If you know what the fuck’s going on, then tell us.”

He looked back up at us, an inquisitive expression on his face.

“Maybe that’s something I’m trying to figure out myself.”

And that’s when he dropped the bombshell on us. He wasn’t actually here on official business. He was essentially after the same thing that we were. This wasn’t the first instance of “Mr. Blank” causing somebody to disappear. His fiancée, Sarah, had gone missing a few years prior. Hauntingly similar circumstances. He tried looking into it, but his higher-ups told him to stay away, and wouldn’t give him any information or leads.

“Mr. Blank” was an utterly classified topic.

Ever since then, he’d been chasing after answers. Trying to unravel this obscure mystery. But not with much luck. However… there was an opportunity here. This was the first time that Mr. Blank had made an “appearance” since his fiancée went missing. Without telling any of his fellow agents, and without the discretion of the higher-ups, he’d come here to conduct his own investigations, all while attempting to stay hidden from the agents already posted here.

“The tinted vehicles,” I muttered. “That’s why they’re here?”

“Yup,” he said. “The don’t want anybody prying. Probably for the best. But for obvious reasons… I can’t stay away.”

“Yeah. Likewise,” I said. “So it was you following us last night?”

He raised an eyebrow before shaking his head. “Sounds like you’ve caught their attention.”

Shit.

“Then why are you following us now?” Rose asked.

He looked at Mike. “You’re Mike Caron, right?”

Mike gave him a slight nod.

“Lacey Caron was one of the people that went missing. I was aware of the whole thing. I took a shot, assumed you would try doing something about it. When I saw you guys leave town yesterday, I got even more curious. I couldn’t have followed without giving myself away, though. So I kept an eye on your apartment. And then you walked into the forest first thing in the morning. Interesting behavior for sure. So, prove my intuition right. What do you know? Cause I’d love to know as well.”

His tone had taken an intense turn. It was pretty obvious that he was driven by passion, which I could understand, even if mine was to far lesser degree than his.

“Truth be told, we really don’t have much,” I told him. I felt embarrassed even considering showing him the tree carving as some kind of evidence. Perhaps my passion really was clouding my judgement. Maybe we really were just grasping at fucking straws here.

But then Sven took a look at it himself. I expected him to scoff, possibly make some sarcastic comment to the effect of “good job guys, you really cracked the case here.”

But instead of doing that… he began studying the carving rather intently. After a few minutes, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

“Look familiar?” He said, showing it to us.

After nearly gagging at the initial sight, I had to admit that it was. A tall humanoid. Sweeping coat. Skeleton-torso. Blank face. This time, it was drawn in blood on a dirty basement wall. There was also a man with his entrails leaking out kneeling down towards it.

“Fuck,” I muttered, trying to hide how much I was shivering. “You sure you’re supposed to be showing us this?”

“I’m not supposed to be doing a lot of stuff right now,” Sven replied. “But here we are.”

“What the hell is it? A crime scene?”

Sven nodded. “Two and a half years ago. About the same time Sarah went missing. Don’t know the details, cause I wasn’t there. Risked everything to get my hands on this.”

Despite how gruesome it was, the crime scene pretty much confirmed that there was some kind of connection here. But the question remained… what now? Where do we go from here?

“Guys,” Rose spoke up. “Check it out.”

She pointed to another tree up ahead, maybe about twenty feet away. Could it be? I thought, approaching it.

It was. A similar carving had been scribbled into it. The same figure. The same word. I began scanning the area once again. There was another tree, a bit away farther this time. And then another one. And another. The four of us began following the carvings like a trail of bread crumbs, right towards what had to be the culprit behind him. We didn’t even hesitate. Didn’t stop to ask questions. We were driven by sheer impulse at the revelation.

But clearly... Sven was paying more attention than us. After a few minutes, I felt him put a hand on my shoulder.

“Wait.” He said.

“What? Why? You have a gun, don’t you? So does Mike. We’ll be fine-“

“Not that,” he said. “Look forwards, but stay calm.”

And then I saw it. There was… something up ahead. A large figure doing a poor job of hiding behind a thin tree. I could see a large, pale, bony hand twitching erratically as it drooped near the ground.

A quiet, but shrill noise suddenly began filling the air around us. Like a combination of a high—pitched radio frequency and some kind of deranged laugh.

I suddenly remembered what Jay had told us before he died.

He’s already on his way.

---

Credits

 

Mr. Blank (Part 2)

  

And we’re off.

The person who’d messaged me (online name: scr33ngrabber22, told me to call him “Jay”.) has agreed to meet up at a diner in a town about one hour away from us and two away from him. He seemed genuine enough while I was talking to him online, but intentions can be hard to ascertain over text. Still worth a shot, I guess. I’ll do anything to figure this out.

Mike was all-in from the get-go. I suppose I felt safer with him around, given the fact that he stood at 6’2, 200+ lbs, boasting a 650 lbs deadlift and a borderline obsession with both French kickboxing and long-range shooting.

Obviously, he didn’t like the idea that something might be happening to his sister. Hell, I had to stay on my toes just to stop him from knocking me out when he found out Lacey and I were first dating. He was also pissed as hell at both his parents for being so complacent about the situation and the cops for not yielding any results.

On the other hand, Rose was a wary about the situation at first. Couldn’t blame her really. This shit was weird. But at the end of the day… we all really wanted to find Lacey. Enough so to venture off into what was ostensibly a dangerous unknown.

The drive over was uneventful, which I suppose was a good thing. I had a feeling that the humdrum nature of our little trip wasn’t going to last, though.

“What a seedy-ass place.” Mike stated as he stepped out of the vehicle.

I couldn’t disagree. Flickering fluorescent lights, peeling paint and a nearly empty parking lot. A place that truly hadn’t caught up with the times.

“Guy was probably bullshitting about knowing anything,” Mike continued. “If he got us out here to try something, guess I’ll blow off some steam by stomping his shit in.”

I expected nothing less from him.

“Anything to find Lacey. But don’t do anything stupid. I know you’re gonna.” Rose said, before taking the lead and heading towards the entrance.

“Hey, wait up!” Mike called out, running after her.

I took a deep breathe before following suit. This was happening. We were taking matters into our own hands.

The place was sparsely populated inside. About six other people in total.

“Green hoodie, black hat…” I muttered to myself. Jay’s outfit of choice, apparently. It didn’t take long to spot him. I was relatively relieved upon realizing that he was on the younger side. He looked just slightly older than us – probably early twenties/late teens. Nothing terribly noteworthy about his appearance. A skinny guy with medium-length dirty-blonde hair.

“Jay?” I asked, approaching his table.

When he looked up, I realized that were was something off about him. His eyes. They looked a little… unhinged? Low-key though. That’s a strong way of describing it, I guess. But there’s a reason why that was the first word that popped into my head when my pupils met his.

He gave me a slight smile, before awkwardly gesturing for us to sit.

“So…” he said, taking a sip of his coffee. His movements were also rather jittery. “You wanna know… about… the movie.”

We all nodded at once.

He let out a weird noise. Like something halfway between a sneer and a cough.

“But why? How do you even know about it to begin with?”

“Does it matter why?” Mike spoke up. “We just want to know. Don’t tell me you’re about to waste our time.”

He tended to get quite dramatic sometimes.

“I’ll tell you what you need to know.” Jay said, after a few moments of silence.

“Alright. Get on with it.”

“You guys… need to drop it. Stop thinking about it.”

“Christ,” Mike said. “What the hell did I just say?”

“I’m not wasting your time,” Jay responded. “I’m saving your lives.”

Just as Mike seemed to be reaching his wits end (which wasn’t hard to get to, mind you), Rose chimed in.

“What do you mean?” She said. “Look, our friend went missing. We’re not leaving without something. Please.”

Her tone was a lot softer, which seemed to Calm Jay down.

“I’m sorry that happened,” he said. “But… I don’t think you’re going to find her.”

“Son of a bitch!” Mike said, slamming the table.

Jay flinched at the action.

“Look, I’ve given you best advice that I can. Just leave it alone.”

“If that was the case, you wouldn’t have agreed to meet up. There’s clearly something that you feel we should know.” I said.

“No,” Jay shook his head. “If I left it like that, you would’ve kept digging deeper. I called you here to convince you to let it go.

“Not gonna happen,” Mike said. “So either you tell us something, or you say goodbye to your teeth.”

“Ignore him,” I chimed in. “But you gotta tell us something. Like what the hell Mr. Blank is supposed to be.”

I was getting desperate. My hopes had been spiked - perhaps to an unreasonably high degree, but I still wasn’t prepared to just leave it at that. I needed something.

I could see Jay’s bottom lip quiver just slightly upon hearing the question.

“He’s…” he muttered. It looked as if he could hardly muster up an answer. He looked terrified, which in turn terrified me. At one point, it seemed as if he were about to cry. But he took a deep breath, seemingly calming himself down.

“So you guys aren’t gonna let this go?”

I shook my head. “How are we supposed to?”

He clicked his tongue in a frustrated tone. His previous face of distress had morphed into something more comparable to anger. As if this whole situation was beginning to bother him something great.

“Okay, I guess you’ve forced my hand.”

He whispered something under his breath. Sounded relatively aggressive. Truth be told, Jay’s reservation towards the situation was only spiking my interest even more. What was he so afraid of?

He gestured towards the exit.

“Follow me then. I’ll show you something.”

It was nearly a mutter.

Follow you, I thought. Alright then.

I’m not a total idiot. The red flags were sticking out like sore thumbs. But at the end of the day… I suppose this is exactly what we were asking for. In my pocket, I gripped the stiletto knife from Italy that Lacey had gotten me a few months back. Just in case, you know?

With all of us on high alert, we walked out of the diner and began following Jay’s beat-up jeep. The subsequent drive wasn’t long, probably only around 3-4 minutes. An inherent symptom of small towns, I guess.

He led us to a small motel. Looked kinda dingy, but not terribly so. Nevertheless, it was another cause for concern. He only lived 2 hours away. Why stay the night?

He sighed as he exited his vehicle, gesturing us up the stairs. We ascended three floors and walked past a few doors before arriving at his room. Mike and Rose walked in first. And then I followed. Big mistake.

“So… what did you want to-“

Before I could even finish my sentence, my vision went black. I’m not sure how long I was knocked out for, but when I came to, I was lying on the couch, nursing a splitting headache.

“Yo, he’s awake!”

Mike’s booming voice felt like a hammer to my brain. I looked up and saw him holding Jay in a headlock. There was a baseball bat lying a few feet away from them. Rose was standing at the foot of the couch, looking relieved that I wasn’t dead.

“Oh, thank God.” She said.

“You… won’t be… thanking anybody once he shows up! I’m… trying to SAVE you fucking idiots!” Jay rasped out, struggling for air.

What happened wasn’t exactly a mystery. Jay had tried taking my head off with the damn bat. With my brain still reeling, I pulled myself off the couch and approached him, all while he struggled against Mike’s python-like arms.

“So…” I said, still wincing. “What the fuck was that?”

Jay’s face was starting to go beet-red, so I gestured for Mike to loosen his grip.

He began panting like hell upon being released.

“Who the hell is Mr. Blank?” I asked. “I’ll ask you one more time. Or do you wanna explain to the cops why the hell you just fucking assaulted me?”

His expression had changed drastically. Not so angry anymore. He looked more… defeated.

“I tried.” He said in a hoarse voice.

“Tried to do what?”

“To save you people. To save myself.”

"So what the hell was your plan? Knock us out and then what?"

"I don't know..." he said, nearly in hysterics. "I panicked. Didn't know what to do. But I had to get you guys to stop somehow! YOU FORCED ME TO!!"

“I get it now,” Mike said. “You’re a crazy guy. We’ve been talking to a psycho. Good job guys.”

Was that it? I thought to myself. Were we just wasting our time talking to a guy who’d clearly gone off the deep end?

I wasn’t so sure. I’d had encounters with the criminally insane before. My father had worked security at a psychiatric ward, and I’d visited him there a few times there before. This guy… he just didn’t fit the bill. I suppose his words sounded genuine. Of course, I couldn't know for sure, so I remained cautious.

Jay slumped against a wall, tilting his head back against it.

“I never could escape him,” he said. "I don’t think anybody ever does.”

"Who?" I asked, already the expecting the answer I was about to receive.

He looked over at me directly.

“Mr... Blank…" His voice quivered. It seemed as if merely saying the name caused him a great deal of discomfort. "I don’t know where he came from. What he even is.

We kept quiet as he talked. We were finally getting what we came here for.

“He’s incomprehensible. Imagine the worst, most visceral nightmare you’ve ever had. That’s nothing compared to an encounter with him. You can’t outrun him. Can’t outrun him. Can’t kill him. Can’t deal with him in any way. And once he's after you... he won't stop. You just have to pray that you never meet him.”

A look of absolute grief suddenly washed over his face.

“But.... it's too late now. You’ve pried too hard. He’s already on his way.”

“You wanna elaborate on that?” I asked.

He smirked at the question. It was one that unsettled me to my core. The smile wasn't one of joy or relief. Not even close. It was more comparable to a smile that somebody in great pain would make upon learning that their misery would soon be coming to an end.

“I shouldn’t have spoken his name again. But I guess it doesn’t matter. This is the end of the line for me.”

Suddenly - as if he were a man possessed, he drilled his elbow into Mike’s ribs and began scrambling away from him. He barreled past me and into the washroom. Before I could try and stop him myself, he’d locked himself in there.

“Shit!” I muttered. I began banging on the bathroom door. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I tried talking some sense into you. This is my punishment for failing.”

“What are you talking about man! C’mon, we’ll figure it out!”

“I can’t deal with what happens next,” he said through the wood. “My nightmare ends here. I’ll pray that your suffering ends up being less than mine.”

A short silence followed.

“I’ll pray for your friend as well. I suggest you do the same.”

“C’mon, don’t do anything stupid!”

Too late. I heard his body slump to the ground moments later. When we finally got the door open, Jay was lying limp on the floor, with an empty, unlabeled pill bottle beside him.

“Fucking hell…” Mike said, sounding frustrated.

“Jeez,” Rose added, looking understandably horrified. “What the hell do we do now? Do we call the cops or something?”

“Fuck no,” Mike replied. “I’m not dealing with that. Let them find the guy themselves. He overdosed. Simple as that.”

He turned to me. “You’re not bleeding are you?”

I touched the back of my head. Dry. I shook my head.

“Good. No blood, no suspicion.” Mike said. “Let’s get the hell out of here then.”

“That’s not how it works. We also busted the bathroom door down, remember?” I said.

He seemed to think about for a moment, before coming to his final, profound conclusion:

“Eh. Fuck it.”

I had my own reservations about leaving the situation the way it was, but Mike was already out the door before I could say anything else. In the moment, there was nothing I could do but follow him. Call it selfish, but the situation was beyond helping at that point.

But if you asked me if I felt somewhat responsible for Jay’s death, then I’d have to answer in the affirmative. The feeling in my stomach as we walked to the car was not a good one.

The drive back was relatively silent. We’d gotten next to no answers, had a hell of a lot more questions and had just witnessed a fucking suicide.

On top of that… there was somebody following us. I don’t either Mike or Rose had noticed it. The driver was doing a good job of being discrete, after all. Suddenly, I remember the sketchy vehicles that had been parked around town. I looked back at the vehicle. Yup. Tinted windshield.

I don’t think I’m going to tell them. Nerves are already high, and abrupt panic probably isn’t going to help us here.

One thing’s for sure though:

The situation has gotten a lot more complicated. 

---

Credits