PARANOIA

 Listen to this as you read.


Prologue
Our minds are mysterious little fellows. Once in a while everyone feels that weird chill up your neck, or sees an unidentified shadow at the corner of your eyesight. However things like that normally doesn't trigger the human nature of curiosity  Are our minds trying to diverse us from the things? Take a careful look around you. Do you see anything out of place? Listen carefully to the ambiance  Is there anything 'different' from your daily ambiance  There might be things in this world, that maybe our minds don't want us to see or discover. Keep this is mind while you read.

Part I: The Discovery

It was a normal day. Nothing different from usual. I woke up, ate some cereal, and found myself staring at the computer screen for a couple of hours. It was a normal Sunday morning. Elementary school students were playing hopscotch on the sidewalk. My neighbor was checking the mail. The sky was cloudless, but so blue. It was a perfectly normal morning for a suburban area. The time I found it was exactly on 12:41 in the evening.

I was going downstairs to check if there were any spare plates down there in the basement. I shouoldn't have done that. My house was given to me by my father. It was pretty old, so the fragile wooden stairs creaked with every step. The lights in the basement didn't work, so I had to use a flashlight. The basement was pitch black. Everything else outside the radius of my flashlight's shine was not visible at all. I the basement, I found some interesting things, I found some books, which were written in some weird foreign language. I found more antiques like spoons and knives and jars. They all were dusty and dirty.

Later on, I discovered an old clock. It was huge and it stood there in the corner of the basement. I didn't bring my watch, so I checked the time on it. I was 12:40. I studied the clock mechanism further. I found a little drawer. Out of curiousity, I decided to open it. This was the most regretted desicion in my whole entire life. Inside the drawer was a piece of paper. I figured that it was written in some language from Europe. It said,"Je zult nooit ontsnappen aan de kwelling. Het monster schuilt in ieder van ons." At the time I didn't know what it meant.

Anyways I found some plates and I headed up stairs. Suddenly, I saw something go past me. Puzzled, I looked left and right, but then I decided to ignore it. As I washed my plates, I started to notice something. It can't be explained. I suddenly just had the shivers down my back. It was as if something or someone was watching me. Once again, I decided to ignore it. However, later on that day I got the same feeling over again. I even heard things. Like the clicks of the clock growing louder and louder. Some foreign chants were heard. However they all had the same thing. When I looked around, there was nothing that caused them.

At the end of the day, I decided to go get some sleep. I walked down my corridor to the bathroom. Strangely that day, the corridor seemed a bit longer. But I didn't really care about it and went to bed. This time, for some reason I held my sheets tighter. No it wasn't just the grip, but it was the manner that I held it. It was as if I tried to pull them up. I then proceeded to sleep.

Part II: The Fear
I think that everything was just against me that day. Even my dreams couldn't give me a break. It was as if I took LSD or something. I saw random patterns and shapes flash before my eyes. I heard chanting but I wasn't sure what it was saying. Then suddenly, I see this masked man in a trench suit just staring at me. I felt fear and tried to move away, but I couldn't. The masked man then suddenly walked towards me. The only thing that I could see beyond his mask were empty eye sockets, filled with blood and gore. He suddenly reached for his mask. It was as if he was trying to take it off. For some reason, I felt fear. Fear that cannot be shown by mere words. I cried for help, but no cry of dismay would change the man's mind. It was right before the man took off his mask off, when I woke up. It was 3:00 am dawn. It was raining outside, and thunder stroke like cannon balls.

Then I started to wonder. What has happened to me? I walked out of my bedroom and went towards the corridor. I turned the lights on and it took me quite a while to adjust to the light. I walked towards the kitchen for some coffee. When I saw my mother there, I was relieved for a minute.
"What's wrong honey?" my mother asked.
"Nothing mum" I replied.
But then it struck me.

My mother's funeral was 7 months ago.

I rubbed my eyes and looked back at the kitchen with shock. She was gone. But the onions she was cutting was still there. Chopped into Pieces. I was in utter shock. However as time went by shock turned into fear and fear turned into curiosity. I was sure something was happening with my mind. Later that day, I visited my therapist. His name was Scott. A friend who I knew ever since an English camp I had at about 2013 or so.

Scott explained to me it was probably because of the shock and stress I experienced recently. He told me to relax and rest. he was wrong. It was nothing caused by the stress. Later on that day, I came back home. I had dinner at a restaurant where Scott decided to pay for me. Even at the restaurant, it seemed as if everyone was looking at me. It seemed like when I turned to look at them, they quickly avoided their eyes. Only Scott looked natural to me.

Part III: The End
When I arrived home, the first thing I saw was the open basement door. I could have sworn that I closed it before. I decided to approach the door out of curiosity.

Click for Ending ONE.
Click for Ending TWO.
Click for Ending THREE.