Unto the Shadows

Sender: Dave Hawke

Receiver: Daniel Phillips

Daniel, hi, I haven’t talked with you in a while.

It’s been… what, 4 years? Time sure flies, doesn’t it?

Anyways… This is a bit hard to write. I’m not sure how to explain it…

Remember how we always talked about creepy stories and such? About the ancient legends and spirits… Heh, its funny just thinking about it.

So, me and Oktay. You remember Oktay, the Turkish dude? Yeah, so Oktay and I work together… well, worked, but it’ll come later in the story. We worked together in the ExcessTech Laboratories, yeah, I know, big computer company. So, we worked there, had a nice, steady pay and friendly co-workers, till it eventually hit us. The company was founded by some person who never even went to college, and he made a big computed company because he got these sick ideas. And you know what? I got those ideas too. You know that I’m pretty damn creative, remember art class? Yeah, I know I had a B in art, but I was still creative. Well, we left the company and followed these ideas. It wasn’t that great of an idea. We never thought of the funding and the actual idea itself. So, as the idiot I am, instead of asking to get the job back, I went home, to Ireland. I wanted to visit you, but you moved, so… Anyways, I went back to my old house, it was still in pretty good shape. The noise coming from the streets, though… Annoying. The house had no sound isolation, none whatsoever. I was happy when I came back, all my old friends were still there, except you, of course.

Well, here comes the harder to write part. The strange things that started happening when I arrived. Everyone was acting… different. A lot different. And then a week later, Eric died. You probably remember Eric; he turned into a bit of an asshole after 8th grade, didn’t he? Well, he got… killed. No evidence was found, he just got stabbed with something. Police never found the murder weapon… I coped with it. I didn’t miss him much. But he wasn’t the only one who died. Another week passed, Dylan died. Then another, Kyle. A month passed, Ivanna died. Then another week, Andreas died. Then the murders just stopped… But I found the house utterly demolished one day. And every day it was worse. Then one day I found dead animals in my house. And then an arm. A God damn arm, Daniel. I’m… I guess what I’m trying to say is that I need to go away. Somewhere safe. I heard you went to Sweden, could I come over to your place? Just for a while, till things settle…

Sender: Daniel Phillips

Receiver: Dave Hawke

Woah, I didn’t know it was that horrible. Yeah, you can come over, I’m in Stockholm. I still have the same phone number; feel free to call me as soon as you get there.



I eventually went to Stockholm, to Daniel’s place. I felt safe there, it was just like old times,  I often went to Daniels place, we played video games and hanged out… I feel like time is shifting backwards, as if it’s changing to what it once was…

When I reached Stockholm, I called Daniel. He told me the directions and I came to his place. I stayed there for 9 months, or so… Then I started having strange dreams. I saw a black room, with a candle in the middle. I entered the room and inspected the candle, it melted in my hands and the whole room was lit by flashing lights. The lights blinded me, and I fell. As I stood up, I saw a shadow of a man in the corner. I felt something pulling me towards the shadow and I then the shadows stood up. It looked at me with its faceless head, the dark, cold hands grabbed my shoulders. The shadows then lunged into me, and it disappeared. I heard a whisper, I didn’t understand what it said… But it was a whisper, which chilled my spine… I woke up, I was hot like hell itself and my heart was beating like rapid drums… I went to the bathroom to wash my face, I was expecting for some shit to happen, but it didn’t… Weeks passed, every night I had the same dream, but the whisper was louder every time. I talked with Daniel about this, he told me its normal to have nightmares after a lot of trauma. A week passed again, and someone was murdered. A shopkeeper that I knew, often went to buy bread. I didn’t know why everyone I knew was getting killed, I hoped things would change here in Sweden, but they didn’t. I didn’t know what do to anymore… I was becoming more paranoid every single day. And I just… I just cracked. I went back to Ireland, to the old house. It was cleaned, there were no dead animal bodies, not blood… it was pristine. I went to the study, most of the bodies were there. I looked at the wall and noticed a dent. I hit it. The part of the wall just collapsed in front of me, then I just… fell. I had the dream again, but I understood the whisper this time. “You worry about the wrong things. You worry that all close to you will die and you’ll be alone… You are ruining it. Your pathetic sadness is ruining the life of those you know. You are a murderous bastard, that’s what you are. You ripped our hearts out and gave them to the dogs. You desecrated your family home, ended those you held dear and fed on them. You feed on our souls, the souls of the murdered…”. I woke up. I knew what was happening, but I couldn’t stop it… I went to Sweden, to Daniels place. I walked up to him, and grabbed him on his shoulders… I hit his chest with my fist, rupturing it. I pulled out his heart and saw his corpse bleed on the floor. I was happy, so happy that I laughed out loud, that the whole street heard me! I tore those that I knew apart, and drank their blood like the most expensive wine. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed my life. I was finally happy, once more…

I heard clapping in the background. I turned around, saw a man in a black leather jacket, laughing, clapping and walking towards me. “It’s nice to see someone do my work instead of me” he said, as he was walking closer, “you never did kill anyone. Well, till the point you killed your best friend and all your neighbors. You are mad, Dave. You know nothing of what is even happening, do you? It’s all part of a larger plan, the plan of our Master. He is coming, and you will come here with him”. He walked up to me, I felt a pain in the stomach, I screamed. “Shhh. This is your destiny. Go to sleep, once more. You’ll see your friends and then you will come back, with the Master. Good night, Dave.” The pain stopped, I saw the shadows enveloping me. The sweet shadows. Faceless, cold… shadows….

