He leans back in his seat as he reads over the stories last paragraph, and lets out a satisfied release of air as he presses down on the enter button, scheduling the final post for his Halloween masterpiece. From the corner of his eye, he sees a notification pop up in the top portion of the screen, telling him that the first chapter had been posted and he smiles as he switches off the monitor.

“Think you know how it ends, wait and see, you piece of shit,” he mumbles to himself as he gets up from his seat and stumbles over to his bed, where he collapses, almost instantly, into a deep, dark, fevered sleep, his body drained and in need of a recharge.

It’s little more than an hour later when he’s woken by his phone violently vibrating in his pocket, he fumbles his way in and pulls it out.

“Gareth, it’s late,” he mumbles into the phone, not even looking at the caller ID tag.

“Dude I tried not to, but I fucking couldn’t help myself, are you fucking watching?” Gareth screams down the other end of the phone.

“Watching what?”

“Don’t give me that shit Marty, we both know what I’m fucking talking about, the blog man, the fucking blog! It’s gone crazy, just like you fucking wrote it would!”

“What?” Marty says as he slowly sits up on the side of the bed, rubbing his eyes.

“It’s gone motherfucking viral, world FUCKING wide, just like it’s supposed to, you’ve gotta see it Marty, people are sharing it thousands at a time! I can’t believe it, I can’t, but it’s happening, it’s really fucking happening!”

“Calm down man, I can hardly understand you, give me a moment,” He says, stumbling towards his desk and switching the monitor back on, somehow dropping the phone in the process. His jaw drops open, his eyes widen as he stares at the screen, watching the notifications flash up, then seconds later, replaced by another. For a moment, he feels his heart beat begin to pick up pace, and his eyes dance, as the screen strobes violently, like a light show at an all-night rave. He shakes his head, jerking back into reality, and peers into the nothingness of the floor below, searching for his phone. His eyes take several moments to adjust to the darkness, but once they have it only takes seconds to find it, as he can still clearly hear Gareth talking, who, is mid-sentence when he finally puts the phone back to his ear.

“…. you hear me Marty or is this the part where you dropped the phone? Or does me saying that mean you’ve just picked it up? I really should’ve reread the first chapter before I called. Anyway, six million new likes in the last thirty minutes man, holy fucking shit, that’s like, unheard of!” Gareth yells.

“I know,” Marty says softly, as a smile grows on his face, he can feel the blood rushing to his cheeks, and he begins nervously tapping his foot on the ground. “I fucking knew it, I fucking knew it was going to be awesome. But how the fucking hell did it travel so fast? It only posted like an hour ago, that’s just insane, none of the preludes even got close to that, nowhere near it.”

“It’s because you didn’t make a big deal about them in the story, so they were never a big deal in reality maybe? Anyway, it’s been shared over every social media platform you can think of, by just about everyone, who’s anyone, and more who are no ones. You did it man, we fucking cracked the big time! I mean, I had my doubts, I thought maybe, maybe we’d get some traffic, you know like the preludes, but it’s gone insane, like, out of this world insane! And my sites exploded as well, like off its guts exploded. The traffics moving through and not just to like my stuff, but they’re buying too, they’re fucking buying anything connected to the story, all my original prints, it’s like they can’t resist!” he says with excitement.

Marty laughs, “They can’t, like you said it’s in the story. But, remember, you know what’s going to happen ne…..” He stops mid-sentence, as something crashes to the floor beyond the bedroom, his dog Abby lets out a low growl from her bed, and as Marty slowly turns his chair towards the doorway, droplets of sweat run down his forehead.

“You better not be thinking about going out that doorway?”

“Why? Because of what happens next?” Mary says as he gets up from the seat, nervously biting into his bottom lip.

“Stop it.”

“Stop what?”

“What you’re doing right now, this, acting out the story, turning the joke into something fucking creepy. It was funny when you first started trying to scare me with your creepy arse phone calls and then this whole Clare going up the coast shit, but now you’re taking it too far!”

“What phone calls?” Marty says as he places a hand on the door handle.

“DON’T! I fucking swear to god, I’ll hang up!”

“You do what you have to do, but I’ve gotta go through the door,” Marty says as he pulls the door open quickly, and Abby rushes out, into the hallway.

“Seriously Marty, this isn’t your story, just lock the door and call the cops, PLEASE?”

“If it’s not my story, then I’ve got nothing to worry about, do I?”

“Oh god, it’s been happening the whole time hasn’t it?”

“You already said it, but I guess, you didn’t really want to admit it, word for word,” he says as he takes a deep breath and waits, Abby barks furiously out in the hallway, then lets out a yelp, followed by silence.

“Marty, dude, I-I-I…”

“I know man, don’t stress, like you said, it’s only a story,” Marty says as he takes a deep breath and walks out into the hallway, the lights flicker violently, exploding seconds later in a shower of glass and flames, he can make out Abby’s still form a few feet away, and standing over her, as he knew it would be, is a massive, hulking shape, looking towards him, with deep, black, pools for eyes.

“Oh fuck Gareth, it looks just like your drawings, only…” He stops midway through his sentence, as it suddenly moves forward, appearing and disappearing, like a poorly animated cartoon, until it’s standing just a few centimetres from him. He feels the urine run down his leg, it’s warmth spreads quickly across his groin, followed by a coldness, that threatens to freeze him in place, he lets go of the phone, and it crashes to the ground.

The large figure leans forward, its hot, putrid breath wafts into his face, causing his eyes to sting and water, then it speaks, “I’m the whispers in your ear, the words that only you hear, but now, as the seal between our worlds break, to let me in, to do my worst, to take your sin, I……”

“YOU CAN’T BE REAL, IT’S ONLY A STORY!” Marty yells, it grabs him by the face and lifts him high into the air, letting out a low, gravelly growl, before it continues.

“… I’m given shape, I’m given form, I take my name, you chose it well, so let it be your final word, so say it, say it, say it with me, say The Roundhead, and, I’ll set you free!” It says through razor sharp teeth as its grip tightens, pulling him close. The next few moments they stare silently at each other, until Marty, through clenched, bloody teeth, sucks in one final, desperate breath, as his face twists with anger.

“FUCK YOU!” he yells, then the beast drives its hand through his chest, ripping into him with its razor sharp claws, and, as Marty’s life drains from him, the beast stares in his eyes, watching, savouring, devouring, all that Marty once was. Then, releases its grip, letting his lifeless body crash to the floor, and Marty’s dead eyes stare towards the phone, lying a few feet away.

“Marty! This can’t be fucking real!” Gareth yells into the phone, but his cries are only greeted by silence from the other end. His heart races a million miles an hour, in desperation he hangs up the phone and quickly dials triple zero, seconds pass before it’s answered.

“Police, fire and rescue or ambulance?” The woman asks on the other end of the line.

“I was talking to my friend on the phone and something happened, I’m not sure, but he said he thought someone was in the house with him, and then, and then he went to take a look, it sounded like, fuck, it sounded like something happened! You need to send someone over there straight away!” He quickly yells down the line.

“I’ll put you through to police emergency, please stay on the line sir,” she says as the line disconnects.

“FUCK!” He yells as it takes another few moments before the phone is answered again.

“This is Police Emergency, you’re talking with Mike, what is the state of your emergency?”

“I was on the phone to my friend Marty, Marty Towns, and h-he, he thought he heard a sound in his apartment, and h-he, FUCK! He went to check it out and then there was some banging and shit, he dropped the phone and then nothing! I think something’s happened to him!” He says quickly, in one breath.

“Okay sir, can you tell me your friends address? And, have you tried calling him back?”

“No, I called you straight away, FUCK! He could be hurt or worse, it’s just like his story, it’s all coming true! You’ve gotta get someone over there!”

“Please sir, calm down, we’re here to help, now, what’s the address of your friend?”

“Seventeen Palm Drive.”

“Okay, I’ll send someone out as soon as possible, now, can I get your name a…” before Mike can continue his questions the line goes dead.

“Hello?” He yells into the phone. “HELLO? FOR FUCK SAKE IS ANYONE THERE?” He yells shaking the phone vigorously in front of his face. “FUCK!”

A cold shiver runs down his spine as the air feels suddenly electrified, his computer lets out a spark, followed seconds later by a groaning noise, and then, explodes, sending Gareth crashing to the ground.

“WHAT THE FUCK’S GOING ON?” he screams, frantically looking around the room, and then, that’s when he sees it. Standing a few feet away from where he lies, is a pale, lifeless figure. Slowly Gareth’s eyes work their way up towards the figures head, he fights the urge to look, but he feels helpless in his actions, and his heart jumps a beat when he stares into the figures, dead, soulless eyes. “M-M-Marty?”

Marty shows no reaction to Gareth’s words, he just stares off into nothingness, and then as if someone had pressed play on a remote control, he begins to speak, “Its words need not be read, for it only needs to be shared to spread, from the depths it comes to feed, first on those who gave it life and then on those who passed on its seed.”

“This is not fucking happening, it can’t be, it’s just like you w….” His words fall short as a huge, behemoth of a figure rises up behind Marty’s pale form as it flickers away, and then the beast moves forward, as if life blinks with each movement of its jerky, awkward steps, until, it is standing before him, looking viciously down at Gareth. It’s cold, lifeless, black eyes stare at him, its decaying, putrid stench wafts into his face, he holds back the desire to throw up, not through desire, but because he is frozen in fear. Then, it brings its huge foot down on to his head, slowly putting pressure on it as it speaks.

“You played your part, you gave me your heart, you created my visage, you captured the dark, and now as I break through, my journey complete, your duties are over, you’re obsolete,” it says driving it’s massive foot to the floor, crushing Gareth’s skull, and then, flickers away into the darkness of the night.

All artwork by Yazgar, check his stuff out when you can!

Part 2 can be found HERE.