Song: Broken Pieces (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdd_s8D6x58)
Lyric: It’s too late now to stop the process. It was your choice, you let it in.
Let Me Out
By Void Munashii (Heard it in a Song)
It was only a week ago when it happened. Jason, you, and I had set up the ritual in Jason's house, just like it said to on the internet. Jason was happy to let you do it there since that converted warehouse of his has more space that he was ever going to need.
We picked Jason's guest bedroom for the ritual since it was built away from the outer walls, and has no windows. The instructions said that the ritual must be performed in a room with no external light. You told me that it has an aversion to sunlight.
“Are you sure this is a good idea, Drake?” I asked you are you went around the room lighting all of the candles nestled safely in their glass holders. Their flickering light danced off the mirrors on the walls, shining back at us.
“Yeah, it'll be fun; like Bloody Mary,” you answered. The candlelight made your smile look grotesque.
“It's not like anything's gonna happen, Lizzy,” Jason said, flipping through the instructions on his tablet, “It's just a laugh.”
Jason put down the tablet and started adjusting a camera he’d mounted on the dresser. You finished lighting the candles, and then came over to where I was standing by the door.
I guess you could see the concern on my face, “Come on, hon, it’s just one of those silly internet things, like Slenderman. It’ll be fun to write about it online”
“’Kay, Drake, I got the camera going,” Jason said, holding the tablet out to you.
“Awesome, let’s do this!”
I didn't want to do it, but you two seemed really into it, so I went along with it.
We closed ourselves in the room, and you began reading that gibberish, or at least it sounded like gibberish to me. You and Jason both had these big grins on your faces, but I felt tense and cold.
At first I thought it was just me, but then the candles started to flicker. There was a breeze blowing in the room. I looked up, and could see the ceiling fan starting to turn as the wind blew on it.
Your smile vanished, but Jason kept grinning. I noticed that the room around you seemed to be getting darker; like a cloud was forming around you. You dropped Jason's tablet.
“Dude, that's expensive,” shouted at you.
You stiffened, straightening to your full height, and then some. Your toes dangled just above the floor.
“Help,” you gasped.
“Stop it!” I yelled, feeling my insides turn to ice.
“Drake, that’s not funny. You're taking this too far,” Jason said.
“Help me,” you croaked, and the wind grew stronger; the air around you darkened more.
A new voice sounded, something dark and old, “It's too late to stop now. You chose this. You let me in.”
“Dude, you’re scaring Lizzy,” Jason said, and stepped towards you. When he reached the darkness, he was thrown backwards onto the floor, “What the fuck?” he said, not making any efforts to stand up.
“Drake!” I screamed at you as you threw your head back, and opened your mouth like you were roaring. Instead of noise coming out, the darkness seemed to be flowing in; it was like watching you exhale smoke in reverse.
You dropped back to your feet, and looked at me. Your eyes changed; it was like watching the light inside you go out. It was like it ate you up from within. Then you darkened, became insubstantial, like a shadow. I reached for the light switch next to the door, and flipped it on. Then the world exploded.
Well, not the world, but everything in the room made of glass did. The candleholders, the mirrors, the ceiling light all shattered, filling the air with glass. Tiny shards of glass shrapnel tore through my clothes and flesh. Luckily for me I got my hands up in front of my face to protect my eyes.
Or maybe not so lucky, because when I lowered my bleeding hands, what I saw was you... what you had become holding Jason in the air by means of black, hazy tentacles extending from your fingers. It looked like you were feeding on him or something.
I ran, ignoring the pain of a thousand pieces of glass stuck in my flesh. I left the bedroom, and slammed the door shut behind me. I pushed Jason's couch against the door, leaving bloody hand prints on the white fabric. I didn't need to bother though, because you can't open the door.
I was going to get help, but who would I have called? The Ghostbusters? An exorcist? The cops? I'm sure whoever I called, you'd have just fed on them too. Instead I stayed put; pulled the broken pieces of glass out of my flesh. They were all small, and none went too deep, but there were so many that they’re sure to leave scars.
Between the blood and the holes in them, my clothes were destroyed, and Jason’s stuff was way too large for me. I found some of his ex-girlfriend’s clothes in the back of his closet though. They’re still a little too big, but they’ll work until this is over.
You were quiet on that first day. I don’t know what you were doing in there; maybe waiting for my curiosity to get the best of me. Maybe you were just resting up while the thing inhabiting got used to its new home.
On the second day you called out to me though, “Elizabeth, I'm hurt, I need your help.”
Yeah, I fell for that. I don’t know what I was thinking. Maybe I believed that whatever is inside you had left, or maybe that you had somehow taken control back from it. I was stupid.
I barely had time to pull the door shut before your smoke…. tentacle… things reached me. I ran, made it as far as the front door before I realized you weren't following me. I went back inside to find the bedroom door still closed.
“Elizabeth? Are you out there?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“I'm sorry about that. Something happened when I saw you; I... I just wanted to grab you, but, but I've got it under control now. Come on, let me out.”
I kept well away from the door, “Let yourself out.”
“It's locked.”
“It locks from the inside, come out if you want.”
There was silence for a while, but then you started begging me to let you out again. I don't understand why, but you're trapped in there. Maybe that's why you let me get out in the first place, so I could let you out? What would have happened if the glass had cut an artery and I bled out? How long can you last without food? Will your body starve, or will the thing that you've become sustain you?
You've told me you broke your leg. You've begged me to let you use the bathroom. You've begged for food and water. You've even told me you love me. If only you knew how close you get to winning I'm sure you'd put on the pressure even more.
I want to let you out, but I know now that you're not you anymore. I can’t leave you like that though. I’m going to do something about it.
I've spent the last week looking up your stupid ritual. It says right on the site that it's supposed to be an invitation to let a demon into your body! How could you be so fucking stupid? Even if you thought it was all just crap, what made you think it was a good idea?
Why did I let you do it?
According to the site, there's no way to get it out; no way to salvage any part of the you that I once knew. The only choice is to kill the host: you. I don't know if I can do that.
I've sat on Jason's balcony for a couple of hours, staring down over the railing at the churning water below. It was better than pretending to watch TV, and the sound of the water is almost as relaxing as the
cold air is invigorating. It clears my head. It lets me think.
I can't leave you here, someone will eventually let you out, and I can't have that on my conscience. I need to do something though, because there's no food left in the kitchen. You may not need to eat in there, but I do if I intend to go on living.
I decide what to do as I watch the first signs of daylight break the sky. I cover all the windows, pulling the curtains, and taping them down to the wall. Some of the curtains are too thin, light gets through, so I
nail towels and blankets over them. The only light in here now is from the TV, and some lamps.
“Elizabeth,” you call to me again, “What are you doing, honey?”
“I'm building flat-pack furniture,” I answer, rubbing my hands over the red wounds covering my arms. I can taste the bitterness in my voice, but I doubt you recognize it anymore.
“Please let me out. I'm starving; It's been days since I've eaten.”
I look around Jason's house; the normally bright, open space feels cavernous with the sunlight blocked out of it. I start to feel claustrophobic.
“Okay Drake, hold on just a couple more minutes, baby.”
I make you, it, wait. I could turn and run, try to save the broken pieces of me, but I won't.
I move up to the door as quietly as possible, and turn the handle. The flies inwards as if the inside of the room was a vacuum, but I don't stay put to see inside. What's there to see? Broken glass? Dried blood? Jason's corpse? I know I’ll see you soon enough.
I hear you crash to the floor, and am glad that the extension cord I strung across the bottom of the doorway worked on you. I was worried that you would jump it, or maybe even pass through it. It buys me a couple of seconds to prepare, which is good, because I can’t move too fast right now.
I get in place, and wait for you. It's only moments before you appear; glaring at me with those blazing dark eyes. You come at me, no tentacles, no cloud, just your body being driven by the evil inside. I open my arms to you.
You hit me like a linebacker, driving me back into the cheap black blanket that I nailed up to cover the door to the balcony. Glass shatters, cloth rips, and sunlight is on us. You shriek in a voice that isn't yours. I wrap my arms around you; embrace you as your momentum carries us out into the daylight.
The balcony railing is gone; I removed it. You drive us off the balcony and into the air. We fall; the cold salt air burns the wounds on my arms as it whips across us.
The water is cold when we hit it, and you struggle to get away as we sink, but I hold you tight. The wrist and ankle weights Jason keeps for working out with his Kinect pulling us to the bottom of the bay. It's shallow enough that I can still see the sunlight still blazing down on us as the world fades, and I exhale my last breath clinging to whatever part of you still remains.