Author: Matthew Tonks

“You impress me child, how is it that you’ve made it so far, in such little time? Not many make it here, at my feet, ready to worship me, normally the world swallows them whole, what makes you worthy of my attention?” It asks, as it sits, lazily back, on the large throne, made of skulls, he looks nervously up at the beast, biting down on his bottom lip. “Don’t be frightened child, you are in the company of friends here, they follow my bidding, you should only fear them, if you come here in anger, and not, in pride.”

“M-M-My lord,” he says softly.

“Come to me child,” he says, holding out a hand, slowly, he gets to his feet and climbs the stairs, until he is in front of the throne, the beast smiles and pulls back his robe, revealing it’s throbbing erection. “Prove to me you are mine, please me, until I am done, and you will be free to leave.”

“What?”

“Hesitation?”

“N-N-No my lord, I-I-I’m no..”

“I matter not what your sexual orientation is, if that is what you are worried about, it matters little to me what you prefer to lay with. But I, I prefer the company of any and all, so, bring your little mouth here, and take me, or, would you rather…”

He pulls out a golden blade from beneath his gown and tightly grips it’s blade. “I haven’t come here to please you, I’ve came here to kill you, to make you pay for all the wrongs you have done to my people, to my family, so breast, prepare to die!”

“Finally, you’re true colors are shown,” it says, as guards charge towards him, he moves swiftly and quickly, sending all twelve of them to their death, and stands before the beast, in the ever growing green sludge that was once running though the guards veins, it sits there, slowly clapping it’s hands together in appreciation of the show. “BRAVO!” It yells, with a smile upon it’s face.

“Do not mock me beast, for now it is just you and I, and soon, it will only be I. So beast, are you ready to die now? Are you ready to pay for your sins?”

“Are you sure you do not wish to lay with me? I can, if motivated show you many things, things that will make you orgasm without a touch, just the….”

“SHUT UP BEAST!” He yells.

“So, I take that as a no, what a pity,” it says, as it stands up from the chair, as he rushes towards it.

“As my blade is washed in your blood, I’ll finally have my VENGEANCE!” He cries as he swings wildly with his sword, it outmaneuvers his attack and slashes at him with it’s razor like claws, he grits his teeth, as he feels his innards tumble forward, out of his stomach. He looks up helplessly at the beast, as it stands there, licking the blood from it’s claws, a single tear runs down his cheek, as his eyes roll up inside his head, and he tumbles backwards.

“Such a shame, you had, such, pretty lips.”

END

The original 50 Word version can be viewed HERE.

He stares at the door, sweat pouting from his brow, his bottom lip quivering nervously, he rubs his eyes with his free hand as Abby’s barking sends his ears into a spiral spin, as Gareth’s voice screams at him from the other end of the phone.

“Marty for christ sake? MARTY? You hearing me man? I need to know you’re with me?” Silence is the only answer he receive, until finally, just as he feels the presence of something behind him, does he finally receive an answer.

“I’m here,” Marty says softly, Gareth let’s out a long, exhausted breath.

“FUCK, never do that again, I thought..”

“So did I,” Marty says as he falls back into his seat, Abby turns and looks at him, holding her head to the side. “It’s okay girl, on your bed!” He says, Abby shifts her head to the other side, blinks several times, wags her tail, then slowly makes her way over to her bed, he leans over and gently pats her on the head before turning his attention back to the phone. “How long’ve we got?”

“The first story was posted fifteen minutes ago, so, we’ve got about fifty or so before it’ll make its move, how many times is this now?”

“I lost count at thirty-five, so, you think we can make it work this time?”

“He who controls the story controls the world, and he who controls the world, controls how this all ends,” Gareth says.

“Next time, I swear to god I’m rewriting that line,” he says as he turns his computer on and pulls a red flash drive from his pocket, then he sits there, staring at it. Slowly, he begins to feel the all too familiar pull, of the past.

Two Weeks Ago

“So, I know this is going to sound like a stupid question, but why do you want it?” Stuart asks, looking up from his computer.

“If I wanted you to know the reason, I would’ve already told you,” Marty smiles as he chews nervously on his finger nails.

“That’s why I said it was going to sound like a stupid question,” he says with a smile as he pulls the red flash drive from the computer and hands it to him. “For what it’s worth, I don’t really care what you want it for. But, a word of warning, make sure you’re online when you plug it in, otherwise it’ll just fry your computer and nothing else.”

“Make sure it’s online, right,”Marty looks down at the drive and grips it tightly in his hand, before looking up at Stuart. “I need to ask one last favour, on Tuesday, when the story starts, I don’t want you to read it, or share it, no matter what happens, no matter how many people tell you to, or how many of your friends share it on your wall, I want you to leave it alone.”

“Sure, but, can you at least tell me why?”

“When everything starts happening, and it will, watch this, it’ll tell you everything,” he says, handing him a green flash drive.

Six Hours Ago

“You think this time it’ll work?”

“Only one way to find out,” he says as he looks down the webcams camera and presses record.

END

“We had a deal,” it says, if words could be anything in this place, his naked, shivering form stands before it, if he could cower he would, but his body does not answer his cries, for if it did he would be running now, far from this thing, far from whatever is about to happen.

“I tried, I did, but..”

“But nothing, I gave you back life, and you betrayed me, you twisted my words, my story, you tried to escape, and your family paid the price, more will suffer unless you do as I say.”

“I can’t, what you’re asking is genocide,” his mind screams, it laughs, and it’s eyes grow wider as it grips him by the throat with one of it’s large, clawed hands.

“Genocide, one of the words created by your kind, because of the things you’ve carried out unto each other in the name of your petty beliefs. But I don’t want genocide, I want he who bore forth all of us, I want he who made these limbs, this eternal heart, and I want him to pay,” it says as it thrusts him backwards, he crashes to the ground, into the soft, watery underneath that is the place in-between all.

“I can’t, it’s too late, so why don’t you just let me die? Find someone else to carry out yo….”

“YOU ARE MY TOOL!” It screams into the darkness, as the very ground beneath him vibrates with it’s power. “You will do what we agreed upon, you will do what I ask of you, or you will relive everything, over and over again, until you obey me, until you are broken. Do you understand?”

“NO!” his mind screams, for a few moments it stands there, looking at him, hunched over, as if it is ready to attack.

“Then, I will break you,” it says, everything melts away, and he leaps from his bed to his feet as he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket, his eyes dart around the darkened room while his heart beats furiously in his chest, slowly he pulls the phone from his pocket and answers it.

“We’re fucked,” he says nervously into the phone as Abby jumps from her bed and starts barking furiously at the door.

END

I lay there for an eternity, enjoying the air as it filled my lungs, the smells of life, the feel of the dirt against my back, in my eyes, my mouth, everywhere actually. Finally, I moved, it was dark, but I knew my way out, I remembered it well, it’s funny how when your life is about to end, your mind takes everything in, like a sponge. I found my way back to the road, and then, I don’t know why, but I looked back. I guess somewhere inside I knew it’d be there, in the shadows, with it’s black eyes shimmering in the darkness. It let out a low growl, for a few more moments I stood there, staring at it, then I turned back to the road, and continued my walk, towar……

“Can I interrupt you for a moment?” he asks, sitting forward in his seat, leaning on his note pad.

His eyes open and he looks up, “You’re the one who wanted to play this game, I thought you wanted me to tell you how it all started?” He replies.

“I know, but, I have questions about this story.”

“Then, ask away, like I said, it’s your game.”

“Please, this is not a game, you agreed to these sessions t…”

“I never agreed to these sessions, it was either I play ball or you keep me locked in that little box, like a fucking guinea pig,” he says through clenched teeth, with a smile broadly on his face, but his eyes show his anger.

“The agreement is for you to cooperate in these daily sessions, help me, help you break through this wall you’ve built, this reality, and the more you’ll open up. Right now all I hear from you, is just another story, just another deviation from what you said during your trial. That’s not what I want from these sessions, I want the truth!”

“You don’t want the truth, it’s boring, why not come live with me here, inside this story! Where everything is how it should be.”

“And how should everything be?”

“Dead and black, where your sin rots inside the beast.”

“Marty, if you wont take this seriously, I’ll inform Warden McKinnon that you refused to cooperate and he’ll lock you up until the day you breathe your last, you know he will. So, for the last time, tell me, how it all began.”

He leans back, and closes his eyes again, “The truth is simple doc, you see, I wrote a story and I put my everything into it, I saw it as the one that would make me, give me a name, free me from everything I had wrong with my life, and it did nothing. So I killed my family, my friend, because I was heart broken, devastated, is that what you want to hear? Will that satisfy you?”

“I still don’t think you’re being entirely honest with me, but, it’s a start, now tell me, how did you come up with the name  Rou….”

“DON’T SAY ITS NAME!” He screams, his eyes shoot open, and he stands naked, in the darkness, except for two shimmering pools of nothingness, then, it growls.

END

I open my eyes, to find myself surrounded by nothing, well, total darkness is a better way to explain it. As far as the eye couldn’t see, it was darkness, except below me, when I look down, I could see a perfect, pale, sick looking reflection of myself in the watery, squishy ground beneath me. I swallowed, I think, it was dry, stale, not like when I was alive, wait, am I dead? I’m not sure, I look back out into the darkness that surrounds me, I don’t know why I stare, it’s not like I can see anything, even if there was something out there, watching me, I wouldn’t know until it was too late. I turn in a complete circle, I think anyway, maybe I did it twice, or three times, maybe I didn’t even do it once, but, when you have nothing to centre yourself on, it’s hard to work out exactly what you’re doing or done. I hear the rumble first, and then, a coldness, colder than it already was, did I mention that, about how cold it was? Probably not, well, it was cold, you know that walk in freezer cold. I’m sure most of you’d know what I’m talking about. Somehow I find it reminds me of my first job, working on the grill at a McDonald’s, before they stopped using the styrofoam packaging, and the coffee was shit. Anyway, I’m getting off subject, it got colder, then the rumble, like a low level growl, and slowly, it appeared, like something out of a horror movie. Picture it if you haven’t already, here I was, naked, alone, in some alien world, with this thing, looking at me, as if I was supposed to know what it wanted. It let out another low growl, if you want me to describe it, I’d say its growl was more like bubbles exploding in its belly, which then worked their way quickly up its throat and blasted out its mouth, because there was also a stench, a dead, putrid stench. I was surprised by the smell, not by how bad it was, but that I could smell it. I guess, I thought once you were dead, those things were lost to you, obviously not, but I didn’t get much time to contemplate any of those questions as it began to speak. Do you want to go back to the world of the living? It asked, I stood there, frozen. Its voice was like nails running along a blackboard interlaced with a deep low level bass vibrating through my body as each painful word left its lips. It took a step closer, until it was within touching distance, and then it spoke again. Do you want to live? it asked, I stuttered nervously, my reply was not really words, like I’d forgotten how to talk, but, somehow it understood, and it reached out to me with its boney, clawed hand, I wanted to scream, to run, hell, even move away from it, but, I couldn’t. Its touch was surprisingly gentle, then it sort of smiled, and it’s cold, dead, black, soulless eyes widened and it said, we have a deal. I fell to the slimy ground, pain ripping through my body, it was agony, I screamed, and then next thing I knew, I was pulling myself from the dirt, gasping for air, somehow, I had returned. I collapsed on the side of the shallow grave, my legs still half buried, sucking in breath after breath, maybe it was all a dream, a hallucination, but, if it wasn’t, what deal had I made, to live again?

END