A Place of Chains and Stars

I looked out across the end. So many craters, so many chains, so much smoke. I peered into the sky, streaked with black and links of metal like it was being held in place. There was desolate sadness to this place, a sense of hopelessness, but also of spite. The air was thick, coating my mouth with dust and soot- I coughed into my into my palm and the skin of my hand peeled away.

I stumbled back, icy claws gripping my stomach as my throat began to burn. Hands wrapped around me as I fell into the chain oval, the grey draining out of everything until it was all gone.

There were millions of stars in the darkness, but so far away, untouchable. I reached my hand out, grasp something of their glory, but my fingers bent away from me- twisting and collapsing helplessly in the void. They stared at me, apathetic as they drifted in their home. I tried to close my eyes, skin pulling against sockets, frozen solid.

Slowly I began to turn, tumbling away from the celestial lights and into the the empty. The vastness of the shadow washed across my sight, consumed illumination. There was no emotion there. No sadness, no joy, no hate.

No fear.

Murky thoughts churned, drifting hazily to the surface as I gazed on the beyond. It reminded me of something, recent but half remembered. A great shadow, something in darkness.

No, not in darkness, of darkness. Even now it is here, not so far away. I could feel it submerging me.

There were others too. I could sense them there, more than just the blackness.

The nothing began to corrode the fog in my thoughts, clarity flooded across me as I thought. I reached with my conscious, tried to snatch the epiphany as it rose above the disorder. My mind closed around the understanding, started to absorb.

My eyes blink and the knowledge slipped between my fingers.

The stars were gone, the void dissipated- blurred forms made mumbled sounds at me, the grey world around spun slightly as I adjusted to false reality. I blink again as the walls solidified, Rill's face loomed over me, its left side beginning to slide off. I blink once more, and the hotel room was real again, I was laying on my back, spread eagle in the oval. I remembered how to hear just soon enough to catch, "-ll be for naugh, washted time, devoureddd. Soon or naw in our livves, tshoo late. Ish he rottegh?"

Rill turned her head to Narl too quickly and the damaged half of her face slipped off and spattered on the ground next to me.

"Ji will operate, mental shock, the mind inexperience passing."

Motor functions established themselves, I rolled my head and vomited across the floor.

"See, first born? The seeker wakes, returns to realms of the flesh," Rill said, though there was no happiness in her voice, "Now we make feet motion, the return."

She turned back down to me, I could see the alien muscles beneath her face lax and contract as she smiled her fake amusement at me.

Narl spoke from somewhere to my right, his voice was oddly slurred.

"The partshing way is closh, our tshransition prime, the move ish naw distancegh. We neee only several shor tshimes to achieve."

I tried to move my legs and they submitted, I rolled myself away from the sick and stood.

As I pushed myself to my feet, something cut at the inside of my hand. I looked down; the muscles were showing, bits of bone revealed at the joints, tendons an unsettling pinkish white. I tried to ignore these, focusing instead on the object held there.

The strange prong from the oval, clenched tight in ruined fingers.

Narl must have seen me staring at my hand; from behind me he spoke again, slightly slurring his words.

"Worrugh lishtle An-dragh-gee, the shkin ish onluh of thish world, it wull be reshurned tso youh."

I looked over at him, noting the hanging jaw and shattered teeth, one of his eyes was leaking out of its socket. He gestured at me limply and lead the way out, Rill followed closely behind. I slipped the prong into my pocket as we continued into the grey.

Still a collector at heart.

~Ji

The Radio

Narl left for a bit, came back with a long chain and something that looked like a two sided prong. I stayed to the back of the room as he passed the prong-thing to Rill and set to work with the chain, wrapping it around and around in a large oval on the floor. The moment he was done, Rill stepped forward and crouched down, carefully stabbing the prong into the middle of the oval. Narl began to pace around the outside of the oval, mumbling under his breath.

"What is this," I asked Narl as he passed me, "what is this supposed to do?"

Narl snapped out of his reverie, but didn't stop pacing.

"Where is the radio of radio?"

I turned to look at the small, cheep radio in the room, "I don't understand."

Narl ground his teeth for a minute before answering, "when the radio, sound object, is on, where does the music come from?"

"A broadcast tower?"

Narl shook his head, still pacing, "Radio waves, the signal, the music unseen. We must make a radio."

"I still don't understand."

Rill stood and began to pace the oval too, on the opposite side of Narl, she spoke as she passed me.

"The radio pulls the signal from the sky, makes it ours, able to be heard."

Narl spoke, asking his question again, "so, An-drew-gi, where is the music?"

"All around us?"

They smiled simultaneously. Yellow, blood spattered teeth leering out of overlarge mouths.

"The library," Rill began again, "you were in the presence of the old one, his library. Where is the Library?"

"It was across from a city."

Narl shook his head again, "No An-drew-gi, it is here, here like radio."

"All around us," Rill completed, "intangible but surrounding. Dimensions are not separate areas, there are no walls, no borders. They are inside, all inside, one another, like radio waves."

Narl picked up again, "traveling between them is tuning in, out of one frequency and to another, radio."

"But I thought you said they were locked, that we needed a door."

"They are locked, we are stopped from changing to their channel," Rill said, still at the opposite side to Narl, "but not all, we need only a door, a door can be many things, a door can be a radio."

"This," Narl said, pointing at the chain oval and prong, "this is our door, our radio. It will change the channel, tune us to the apocalypse. All we need is the key to open our radio."

"So what's this key?"

They stopped, standing at either ends of the oval.

"First blood, an act of war," Narl finished.

Rill's jaw snapped open, stretching wider and wider. She lifted a hand and began reaching inside, down her throat, into her stomach. I could see her neck bulge, then shrink as she retracted her arm. There was a slight gurgling noise, and she pulled something out. Stepping forward, Rill speared the thing on the prong. As she stepped back I could make out a shock of red hair, still attached to a bloody chunk of scalp.

For a moment nothing happened. I turned to Rill and Narl, trying to figure out what was wrong, but they were both staring out the window. From under his breath, I heard Narl say something.

"-like the dinosaurs."

There was a whistling, high pitch and uncomfortable, just at the edge of my hearing. I looked past them, out the window, into the horizon. There was something, a tiny streak of light in the sky, moving steadily toward the ground as the whistling grew louder. It bored into my ears painfully; the object in the sky grew brighter, I could hear the buzz of planes overhead now, thousands of planes. The burning light streaked down, a bolt of slow lightning, closer and closer to the ground. I felt a pang of dread as it fell behind the horizon, some unspoken understanding.

The white exploded out, devouring the sky. I put my hands up, I could see the bones in them through my closed eyelids.







































































When I opened my eyes it was all ruined. Everything.

The side of the hostel was gone, torn away. Dust covering the ground, pervading the sky, painting everything grey. A thousand craters, smoking into the air, were spread across the ground. Out of each a chain, thick and dark, linking up into the ashen sky. From next to me, I heard Rill speak.

"Welcome Andrew. This is the grove of fetters. This is an end of the world."

~Ji

Key

Rill returned today, covered in gore. I'm not sure how she got here without being noticed and arrested. She looks like a person again. But I know better now. She started talking like no time had passed, directing her question at Narl.

"The way is long. We have not the legs to traverse the path in time. We must prepare, obtain the items to cross the boundary."

"The wilderness will not suffice," Narl responded immediately, "An-Drew-Gee would not survive. The city is locked, the other realms held shut, we have no making speed."

Rill smiled unsettlingly, her teeth stained dark red.

"The inciter is bound, the path unguarded. We may open the gate and wander through. The apocalypse. The world of world's end."

Narl furrowed his brow.

"The ritual we do not have, the gate unguarded but locked eternal. We lack the key. The path is inert without the blood to wash it clean, the hate to grant us entry."

Rill smiled wider still, her mouth stretching unnaturally.

"But we have the key, I made it," She stretched her arms wide, flakes of dried blood drifting to the ground, "The drums beat louder, they had no quarrel and now they do, the gates can be pushed open. The path clear for us."

Narl's eyes widened slightly.

"You have been in future thought. The hardest part passed. When shall we have the doors be crossed, the smoke inhaled?"

"We need still the bindings and the fork. We must make quick our voyage, we begin now.

They turned to me for the first time since Rill walked in, bloodshot eyes boring into me.

"Come An-Drew-Gee," Narl began.

"We have places to seek, and little hours to spend" Rill finished.

I doubt this is going to be pleasant.

~Ji

O'brien's

I feel sick.

The previous commenter, the Dral person. They were right.

I'll just get on with the story, then I need to rest. I really hope I don't dream about this.

We got to the place, shitty looking restaurant called "O'brien's". I couldn't read the name at first, whoever made the place had decided to slap a big X through the first letter for some reason. This place had grime creeping up the sides of the walls, windows were cracked, sometimes sloppily repaired with duct tape, the wooden door looked like someone had taken a sword to it at some point. There were all of these little, off-colored patches across the front outside of the restaurant, I didn't realize what they were until after we were opening the door.

Sealed bullet holes.

Rill and Narl walked on opposite sides of me as we entered, there were a handful of other people inside already; a bunch of guys wearing leather jackets sitting at a table, several people at the bar, one of whom had bright red hair, and the bartender who wore an odd, burlap coat.

Everyone froze the moment we stepped in, eyes locked on Rill and Narl. My bodyguards didn't even seem to notice the change as they calmly slid themselves into an open place at the bar; several of the other people at the counter scooted away. The burlap coat bartender made his way over to us, but kept to the back wall.

"Well hello you two. I must admit I'm surprised to see you here," he said, "what can I do for you and your…"

He fixed me with a quizzical look before continuing.

"Your guest."

Everyone was still staring at Rill and Narl, it seemed like the guy was the only person who had actually noticed me. My two protectors exchanged glances, then Narl spoke to the man.

"We seek the learned one. Answer speaker. The king's guard and cavern finder, we must trade words with them."

The bartender shifted uncomfortably before talking again.

"I might be able to help you, but I honestly can't understand what they hell you're asking for."

Narl clicked his teeth several times. One of the people at the bar flinched.

"The mountain, the truth castle. Atlas, who holds the world above him. There is one here who knows his location. They must tell us. We will go when they have given the thought of that place."

The man furrowed his brow for a moment, deep in thought, then seemed to realize what Narl was asking about.

"Nobody knows where the king under the mountain is. You'd be better off raiding the archive's deep vaults than asking around here," he chewed his lip for a moment before continuing, "we can't help you."

Rill turned her head mechanically towards him, and spoke.

"I am hungry."

The people at the table began to stand. The bartender went slightly pale.

"Well we do have food, what are you interested in?"

Rill smiled, and her mouth stretched across her face.

She whipped her arm forward and it twisted, bone ripping out of the side and lengthening. The man shrieked as the gory spear planted itself in his shoulder and pinned him to the far wall. I slipped off my stool, turning to see a girl at the table pull a gun and take aim, but Narl got there first. He rushed her, hands stretching into claws as he tackled the girl to the ground. She screamed and I could just barely make out Narl's jaw unhinging as he sank teeth into her face. There was a wet crunch, and the noise was silenced.

Narl turned and slashed upward, ripping out the kneecap of the nearest watcher. The man yelled, toppling to the ground and into Narl's waiting fangs.

Rill stepped over me, bone spear sliding back into her arm as fingers lengthened into knives. I could hear her whispering quietly to herself.

"Rise. Rise. Rise. Rise into the shining darkness. Rise into the miracle of flesh. Rise. Rise. Rise. Rise into the cleansing pain. Rise into the jaws of beginning."

She turned and stared at the other people at the bar, who had now backed up against the wall. They were arranged to place the red haired girl in the back, farthest from the fight. Rill looked right at her and, without stopping her soliloquy, extended a bladed hand and gestured forward. The people shuffled for a moment, but didn't move. Rill's eyes widened and there was and audible crack. Rill began to grow taller, arms and legs extending, back hunching over; her face became twisted and more bestial. Eyes sunk into their sockets as her face stretched outward, teeth lengthening into yellow fangs.

Rill loomed over them, inhuman. In the background, Narl lifted one of the leather jacket men and slamming him into the floor before tearing into the man's ribs. Rill stepped forward, still whispering to herself.

"Rise into the eternal song. Rise into the perfect agony. Rise Rise Rise."

She held up a hand again, reaching forward and gingerly grabbing the closest watcher, pulling them away. The man struggled, pushing against the vice like fingers, but couldn't tug free. Rill dragged him toward her then, staring at the red haired girl, slowly sunk her claw into the man's lung.

He shrieked, grabbing and flailing at the blade; hopelessly trying to stop it's invasion. Rill didn't even turn, her eyes still directed at the single girl, then lifted her other hand. She lined it up, placing two claws over the man's face. He struggled, twisting his head from side to side, but couldn't avoid the knives. Rill dug into his eyes, methodically stabbing, lifting and stabbing again; reducing the eyes to a bloody paste as the man writhed and screamed.

After an eternity the man stopped, twitching for a final time before being still. Rill extracted her claws, and began to reach for the next person.

"Devil's tower."

Rill paused; from across the room, Narl stopped his dissection. He stood, and made his way over, standing next to Rill.

"The place, secret home and hiding. The answer bed?"

The red haired girl nodded, and spoke again.

"The blood found out years ago, shame and truth go hand in hand. Now let us leave. You have what you want, our kind has no quarrel."

Narl, smiled. Teeth spattered with chunks of flesh.

"Come An-Drew-Gee. We must make go."

Narl gestured at me, then began to make his way to the exit, I struggled to my feet and followed, trying not to look at Rill. She didn't follow us, still gazing at the red haired girl. As we left, Narl turned and spoke to the room at large.

"Honor. No higher. To be consumed by the body of perfection. Experience the perfect kill. Rill will be our gateway of teeth."

We walked off, behind us the screaming began; tearing at me ears. I blocked it out, everything. It's not me, it's not going to happen to me. This is just the way things are. This is how it's supposed to be.

~Ji

Journey

We're almost there, my "bodyguards" called for a midday rest, apparently they want to wait for a while -I'm not sure how long- before we go to wherever this place is.

Right now I'm typing at my computer in a new hotel room, and I'm pleased to say that on the way here I picked up some more things:

• set of silver spoons and forks
• Vinyl recording of Johnny Cash's Greatest Hits
• Linoleum carving tool kit

All of which were really cheep at the garage sale that we passed by, I imagine the people who were giving them out had no idea of their value; which is all the better for me. It seems that Rill and Narl disappear the moment I approach other people, which makes me question even more how they're supposed to be protecting me. Come to think of it, I don't know how they could protect me; compared to something like that dog or the bird-helmet-machete-man, they just look like disturbed individuals. I'm not even sure what they can do in a fight.

Why were they chosen to be the ones to protect me, and for what purpose? What am I doing that is so important that it needs any sort of defense?

I suppose those are just more questions to add to the pile; but I'm getting ahead of myself; I should explain how we got here and why I haven't posted for several days. I'm going to rewind this back a bit, right after my previous post.

They met me outside, both of them hidden in the shadows. I could just barely make out their outline, the green reflections of their eyes. Narl spoke first.

"You have prepared? Taken the items for your life?"

"Uh, yeah. I packed."

"Narl will go before," Rill spoke next, "I will go after. He will take you to the goal, the next step. Prerequisite."

Narl quickly stepped to the side, still partially obscured in the darkness, and gestured to me before dashing to the next patch of shadow. I started jogging in pursuit,  I could hear Rill shuffling somewhere behind me.

It's weird, going from traveling only in the daylight to navigating a city at night; I followed Narl to the best of my ability, guided more by the sounds of his footfalls than by sight. Sometimes he would vanish entirely, and I would stop in confusion. Each time this happened, Rill would appear by my side, and point to somewhere off in the distance; directing me to the next location. Narl would already by there, gesture once more to me, and we would continue on our way. This made travel incredibly disorienting and I'm fairly certain that we backtracked multiple times. After awhile I realized we had passed into the next state, I found that we were crossing into the next state, which shouldn't have been possible.

The thing that bothers me more though is the amount of time we traveled. We left fairly early in the night, just passed nine o'cock; but about halfway through our trip the sun came up, and we still moved on for a while after. I can't speak for either of my protectors, but I'm nowhere near strong enough to jog that long in a single sitting; that's some kind of super athlete level endurance. I don't even feel winded now.

Rill and Narl paid for a hotel this the night, using spitball-tight-crumpled-nasty bills. They're curled up in the corner of the room. The two of them look like they're sleeping, but I can see them staring at me out of the corner of my eye.

Normally I'd be creeped out by them, but I'm not. I've been thinking about it, and they probably weren't any different from me at some point; who even knows what horrors they had to go through to make them like they are now. Maybe they're just people who fell on hard times, and this was how they made it through. I can't really blame them for that.

Kind of tragic, actually.

I don't know how long we're going to be staying here, but I think that our destination isn't far off now.

~Ji

Moving Again

They're definitely watching from a distance; there was a note slid under my door, and soon after I'm pretty sure I saw Narl peeking out from around the corner. I'd question how this constitutes as protecting me, but I'm not sure getting the answer would actually help me.

Then again, I also haven't been attacked recently, so maybe they have been doing something.

Anyway, the note reads (in surprisingly good handwriting):

Andrew Ji we must move. The false trap, a restaurant that is not. You will go, we will lead and follow. There is one who knows the caves there, they will tell us, speak to us. The caverns can only be found by those who know their truth. We must learn.

Be outside in several hours.

So I suppose I'll be back soon. I don't really know what's going on, but it looks like I have to talk to someone; not sure what this "trap" is, and I'm a little bit worried.

I'll be back in the near future; I have to pack now.

~Ji

Bodyguards

I don't know where they are now, but they were here just earlier.

"Rill" and "Narl".

They're... strange. I can see why Amos seemed so hesitant to call them bodyguards. Considering how they left not long after they arrived, I question how they're going to protect me. I think they must be watching from a distance, but I don't know why.

Though, I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself, I should explain how they arrived.

I was at the supermarket, trying to pick up some additional food before I go... wherever the fuck it is I'm supposed to be going. I still don't understand all of this.

Anyway, I was wandering past the meats aisle, heading towards canned goods, when I saw her. She stood out in the store: nearly bald and wearing ragged clothes. People looked at her uncomfortably, probably assuming the girl was homeless. She stood by a shelf full of preserved beefs, staring at me. The moment we made eye contact she turned and walked down a different aisle; I looked after her as I passed, but the aisle was empty.

Shaking it off, I finished picking up several packs of canned soup and ravioli, shoveling what I needed into my cart before heading to the checkouts. Turning a corner, I thought I saw someone peeking out at me from across the store, but I blinked and they was gone. I made my way over to the nearest checkout and started unloading the numerous cans for purchase. The guy behind the counter raised an eyebrow at me as he counted up the sixth and seventh cans of chicken soup, but he didn't say anything. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone approach.

They rushed up alongside me and I felt a bony hand slide into mine. Instinctively, I tried to pull away; but the fingers tightened. I felt my knuckles pop as I looked up at the person.

Two heavily bloodshot eyes peered out of a pale, angular face. She had hardly any hair, just enough to make the eyebrows noticeable and provide a tiny covering of fuzz across the top of her pallid head. Before I could do or say anything, she smiled; mouth stretching far too wide as it almost reached her ears, revealing a set of long, yellowish teeth.

There was something distinctly inhuman in the expression; like it was something much more primitive than a display of amusement. Much more like a baring teeth, like a show of power. She tightened her grip and my knuckles began to compact together painfully.

I turned back to the man behind the counter, who looked downright confounded now, and handed him my money. He handed me my bags and began to make the transaction, but the girl was already pulling me away; out the front entrance and into a side alley. I could feel the thrum of her pulse in my hand, the impossible strength in her muscles; disproportionately skeletal fingers wrapped vise-like around my hand.

"Who are you?" I asked, icy claws clutching at my stomach.

She flicked her eyes at me, and I could see them reflect bright green in the dim light, but she said nothing.

We turned a corner, then another, then another, then another; I quickly became lost in the labyrinth of of bricks and concrete slabs. I began to faintly wonder if we had doubled back on ourselves, when someone stepped out in front of us. The girl led me forward and we stopped several feet from him.

Even in the darkness I could see his eyes dart between me and the girl. She released my hand and stepped back; they began to circle, staying at opposite sides and equal distance from me, checking me over. I could feel my own heartbeat now, pounding in my ears; I stood stock still, as though to move would provoke them. In what little light there was, I could see the flash of teeth and the glow of eyes. Neither was large or heavily muscled, but there was something far more threatening in them; I could see it, even with their torn clothing. A smoothness in the way they moved, lithe bodies rippling with bare muscle.

They stopped, and stood at either side of me, the man spoke first, a growl from my right.

"Him?"

"Him," the girl replied from my right, "the dweller has spoken."

The man shifted his gaze from the girl and back to me. I could see him slightly better now that he was still. His skin was more tanned than hers, and there were a number of white scars across his face; but the eyes were the same: bloodshot and aggressive. He shifted his shoulders forward, leaning close to me.

"What were you named?"

"Andrew Ji."

He growled, and I could feel the thrum in my chest.

"Too many, then not enough. That is of decay; a name that is not yours."

"The carvings in bones tell not the flesh they wore," the girl interjected,"only the past that followed; and the hands that made the marks."

He nodded, and I had the impression that she had somehow convinced him of something.

"An-Dru-Gee," the man sounded out, "I am Narl of the second."

"I am Rill," the girl followed, "of the alabaster bed."

They moved again; shifting their positions to stand side by side in front of me.

"Hello Andrew," Rill continued, "we are your teeth."

She stopped, and Narl spoke.

"The prowler has called us, to bring you to the halls of your answer. We will drag you dead and rotting there, if we have to; but as you are to ask the question, we will aid your life."

"Bring us to your den," Rill picked up again, "you will rest, and tomorrow you will not. The bright ones will not touch you so long as we live. Now we go."

Narl strode past me, taking the lead out of the alleyway, while Rill brushed beside me, clasping onto my hand once more. She must have felt me go tense, because she turned and said:

"Don't worry Andrew, I was people too."

And then she smiled again, and it wasn't just baring teeth like before; but it wasn't comforting either. Rill smiled at me like a person who only half remembered how.

And somehow, that made it much worse.

~Ji

Memory Man

Have you ever walked into a room and forgotten why you went there? You had a purpose, a clearly defined one, but something about entering that room erased the thought of what you were trying to do. Then after you blink a few times and think longer, you give up and try to do something else.

It's going to be important that you remember that feeling, the one of immediately forgetting, because it's the closest thing I can compare to what happened.

So I found my way to the library; big, authoritarian place that seemed too menacing to be a public building. All stone, gleaming pale under the wide moon; casting amber light out from high windows. I tried to stay in the light as much as possible, sometimes jumping like a child from illuminated pool to pool, keeping myself in the glow. It made the trip up the marble stairs much harder than it would have normally been, but it wasn't like I was going to take any chances after what happened recently. After reaching the top landing, I strode to the large, oak door and pulled the ornate handle.

Locked.

The sign on the front read: The Memories of Men, a Record of Thoughts; Open from 7:30AM to 11:30PM.

I looked down at my watch, which read 10:17PM. I looked into a nearby window, I could clearly see people milling about, plaques and posters all set up.

For a solid few minutes I did nothing but flail helplessly at the steadfast entryway; periodically looking into the window at the people walking through the exhibits and chattering to each other. Eventually I started knocking on the door, and then pounding on the windows; trying desperately to get someone to notice my predicament. Nobody even paused to listen to me struggling, instead they sipped their drinks and commented on the documents laid out across the tables.

"Motherfuckers".

I hadn't checked, and now that I thought about it, it was probably a private event; maybe intended only for people who had donated or aided in the library's well being. I took a breath, reached into my pocket and pulled out a length of ridged wire. If they weren't going to notice me smashing against the windows, maybe I could sneak in unseen.

Worst that could happen is I would be yelled at and have to wait until everyone left to get in.

I placed the wire into the keyhole, careful to not budge anything on the inside. The lock was as ancient as the door that held it, probably hadn't been updated since the door was initially put in; and who knows how long ago that was. With a couple of careful nudges and twists the lock made a final clink and the door drifted open slightly.

I squeezed through the door and closed it behind me silently. No one even turned at my entrance. I tried to hide my smile as I strode to the nearest table and looked down at the old script.

Dearest Linnie,
I have prayed for you. He spoke your name.

Frowning, I turned to the next adjacent table.

I can hear Him, just outside the door. 
I can't let myself see Him again. I won't let it happen. Anything is better than having to look at Him again. Anything. 
I'm sorry.

I quickly backed up from the exhibits, bumping into the drink table and knocking it to the ground, glasses shattering noisily.

"Shit! Sorry. I'm sorry," I started apologizing profusely; crouching down to pick up the largest pieces of glass from the floor.

Nobody even looked at me. The people just continued to go about their business; like they hadn't even heard me.

"Hello?"

They continued to wander the exhibits, chatting to each other, oblivious to me.

"HEY?"

Not a flinch from anyone in the library.

The shards slipped between my fingers, clinking to the floor with the others as I stood. I walked up to the nearest person, reading one of the plaques explaining where the articles had been collected from. I waved my hand in front of his face; his eyes didn't even pause as he read. I pulled my hand back, balling it into a fist, and then slammed it into the side of his head.

Memories clouded over me, and I was standing alone in a dark, empty library; no one in sight. No drinks or mumble of voices or the smell of alcohol. There were never any people, never any lights or drinks or the chatter of conversation.

There was just me.

I turned around, searching for any sign of the previous events; there was no glass on the floor, and as I returned to the first exhibits they said different things.

I am so proud of Tim, going off to fight in the great war. He and all his best friends were called in to  serve their country and-

I turned my attention away from the table, scanning the room again. My eyes fell upon the door, the front entryway I had picked to get in. Striding over to it, I gripped the knob and twisted; it opened, swinging towards me.

The sign on the front read: The Memories of Men, a Record of Thoughts; Open 7:30AM to 8:00PM.

"Oh, fuck me."

I closed the door and walked back into the library. This was still my first lead to the "man with the memories". I started back to the exhibits, each with its own little nugget of unhelpful information.

I walked up to the closest one, hoping it might shine even the smallest bit of clarity on the situation.

This piece was found in the attic of Mr and Mrs Elliot back in 1898; right around the time the family-

Something moved.

I could hear something shifting between the shelves of books at the edge of the exhibition; scratching and rustling. The smell hit me first; festering meat and scalded flesh and moldy earth. I doubled over, holding my mouth so not to choke on the foul air. The odor climbed into the back of my throat and burned; I could almost feel it stripping away layers of tissue like acid. I tried to move towards the door, guiding myself with stinging eyes; trying hard not to make any noise. I could feel something boiling up in my stomach, muscles tensing.

Just get to the door. Just get to the door and run. Just get to the-

It stepped out in front of me. To call it "like a dog" would be wrong. It was shaped like a dog, moved almost like a dog, but it was made of people. Twisted, conjoined corpses; warped faces peeking out of thick, ebony fur. So much flesh melded together, a jigsaw of bones and meat and organs. It growled, and underneath the noise I could hear moaning; thousands of quiet voices in unimaginable agony, mouth full of jagged human teeth. It stared at me with clusters of glowing, misshapen eyes, reflecting crimson light.

I froze, eyes and throat on fire. It wasn't possible. There were too many people and the body too small; everywhere you looked there was more and moreconjoined meat, but there was only one.

It barked and I could hear them scream; I flinched and It lunged, jaws snapping in front of my face as I turned and ran. It was so fast, closing in on me without even moving. I could hear it behind me, I could smell the death and suffering, I could feel the venomous breath against the back of my head as It's jaws opened around me, beckoning me into itself; another body to the masses.

And there was a door.

Just a door on the wall, to maintenance or something; but it opened as I approached and I ran through it. The impossible jaws slid shut behind me as I fell up, looking down at the streets of a massive, endless metropolis. And then my feet hit the ground.

I was standing outside a room, panting and sweating as my eyes and throat began to hurt less. I could hear voices, people talking in the room. I caught my breath and listened in. The words sounded funny, I understood them, but it was as though I was hearing them in a dream; like they weren't really language.

The first voice sounded funny, choked somehow, but I could understand it.

"-re we supposed to do now? You remember better than any what it was like back then."

The second voice was quiet, less comprehensible.

"We will wait, and act accordingly."

"But it's already here, and you know the others will follow. And once they're all arrived, it's only a matter of time before everything falls apart."

"Perhaps."

"Perhaps nothing. You know what they do; what their purpose is. Years of work will be for nothing if we-"

The other voice spoke again, silencing the first.

"Perhaps. What will come will come, that is how it always has been. While you may not recall, there are those of us who have developed plans for just this contingency. But for now, we have kept our guest waiting for far too long; come in, Andrew Ji."

Without willing them to, my feet begin marching forward; through the doorway. The room was circular, and illuminated by pale candles lined around the bookshelf walls; looking up, I couldn't make out the ceiling, the shelves continued to rise up and up until there was only darkness. Two men sat in the room; one sat behind and ancient, oak desk, and the other in an ornate, high backed chair.

The man behind the desk looked older than anything else in the room; older than the woman from the organization. Drooping, paper thin skin drawn around a sagging, bearded face. He wore a set of reading glasses, which reflected blinding, amber light from around the room. There was something faintly grandfatherly about him, a sort of innate wisdom and respect that he seemed to command with age- he smiled faintly at me through chapped, sagging lips.

I could not determine the age of the man in the chair; there was something almost young and energetic about him, and yet something weak and feeble as well. He looked as though he should have been about my age; but his skin was pulled taught, revealing the edges of bones and lines of veins. The area around his eyes was dark and sunken, like a man crippled by disease, yet the eyes themselves were bright and youthful. He smiled at me too, but his teeth were rotted and brown, and there was something far less friendly in the smile.

The man behind the desk spoke, his quiet words drifting fluidly through the air.

"Greetings, Andrew Ji; I apologize for the trip here, I did not know that Shuck would be so interested in you; we are lucky the city was not opposed to being a conduit for our meeting. But that is in the past now, and you no doubt have questions. Tell us, what is it you want to know?"

For a moment I couldn't talk; exhaustion and shock and confusion bringing my mind to a temporary standstill. In my silence, the old man spoke again.

"Ah, but I suppose introductions are in order. I am, as the endless anthology tracker has told you, the Memory Man; though many have come to call me the Blind Man. Of course, neither are my true name, but it is hardly anyone's fault that my name cannot be properly conveyed to you. This here is Amos; he is much more like you than I am."

The man in the chair nodded to me; something still slightly hostile in the way he did it. Before I could try and speak again, the old man continued.

"Amos is here as a consultor to me, and he has proved to be very knowledgeable in aspects of your domain; it is incredible what can be learned about human nature in only several millennia of direct interaction."

Pushing aside the fact that I had no idea what was just told to me, I pulled myself together and asked the first question that came to me.

"What the hell just happened?"

For a second the old man looked confused, turning to "Amos".

"He wants to know how he got here and about Shuck."

"Oh, my apologies," he said, turning back to me, "Amos is much better at understanding humans than I am. The effect in the library was my doing; I simply modified your memory as it was occurring, painting the picture of an open gallery in your minds eye. I must admit, I was not expecting you to realize it was false so quickly. When you were being chased, I was able to arrange for the city to pull you here; Normally I would have connected this place directly to the library, but, alas, I did not have the time. As for Shuck, he is one of our number, though much less relatable to you then Amos, and even I am. Most call him the Black Dog, and his business is secrets. It is my hope that he will be less curious about you after this meeting of ours; now, what else do you wish to know?

I paused for a minute, letting this new explanation roll over me; so, the library was a hallucination at first, and the dog thing was some sort of monster that's connected to these two.

"Who are you?"

The old man furrowed his brow, and began to turn, but Amos spoke first.

"He wants to know about us, collectively," he said, scowling at me. I realized that there was the slight smell of rotting meat drifting off of Amos; not as bad as the dog, but it was there.

"Oh, of course. Well, Andrew Ji, there are many names for us, and we are many. I suppose to you, we are gods; or devils, as most of your kind would call us, and we are partial extensions of your species," he paused for a moment, watching me as the information sank in; and then continued, "For now, know that we are responsible for the structure upon which your civilization grew. You, either in your suffering or your reverence, give us strength; and in return we, in our position, keep out certain beings who we deemed too destructive to allow for a place in our collective.

"So you're a group of kind-of-gods."

He smiled at me again.

"I believe that may be one of the most accurate descriptions for what we are; and also one of the friendlier titles that one of your kind has given to us."

I moved to find a chair, and one appeared next to me instantly; I pulled it into place and reclined back. I thought for a minute about what had happened.

So there are these, kind-of-gods; and I've taken something from them without even knowing it. And now I'm involved in their stuff. So what is it I've taken?

"The old woman," I began, "the one who told me to find you; she said I took something, something of value, what is it?"

The old man and Amos exchanged looks, and I was surprised when it was Amos who spoke first.

"There are certain rules that are imposed on us, like laws in your society. We can't tell you that, as it would be detrimental to the events to come."

For a moment, there was almost something like regret on Amos's face; but then it was gone.

"What you do need to know," he began again, "is that we are not united in our views of you. Some of us think it safer to kill you and bury the damn thing. Others want to keep it, and use it to..."

He stopped for a long moment, staring up into the darkness.

"...To finish something," he ended; pausing for a second, "not that it matters much. We don't have long before you will be the least of our worries."

"So the bird guy and the shadows are a part of this?"

Amos shook his head, but it was the old man who spoke.

"We cannot hold you here much longer, Andrew Ji; soon we will have to part ways, and will not meet again until you return to this place. Just know that the dynamics of both our worlds are changing; if actions are not taken, then the system we have spent eons to uphold will come to an end. Just as you found me, you must now find another; a lesser of our group. We cannot do this for you, he will not speak to any others of us, or our followers, but to you he will talk. He is the holder of all answers, but who knows nothing. When you find him, you must ask him how to repel Them. For all my knowledge and wisdom, they come from a time before memory, and are thus hidden from me; but he will tell you, and you must return with the information."

When he stopped, Amos spoke.

"We were going to arrange a for professionals to escort you to him, but their price for a two way trip was too high. They will bring help you back, but in the meantime," Amos grimaced, but it didn't seem to be directed at me, "one of ours has provided... bodyguards for you. I imagine they will meet with you in the near future."

"Now, the time has come for us to part. Remember Andrew Ji, ask only what I have told you too; you must not ask your own questions to him. Be on your way.

I blinked, and memories of my hostel began flooding over me. When my eyes opened, I was looking out the window of my room.

I wish I knew what to think about all this; can't I just give them back whatever the hell it is I accidentally took and be done with it?

I seriously don't even know how I'm handling all this so well. I feel like I should be flipping out or denying all of it; but how can I? I saw it, I was there.

After being chased by "Shuck" I doubt I'll have any sleep tonight. At least I'm not so confused anymore.

~Ji

Picking at Thoughts

So I've been researching.

Yeah, I know; pretty lame compared to the other things that have been happening to me lately, but this deserves a post.

So I typed in Memory Man on my computer; and that didn't seem to bring up anything. Just a bunch of buyable items and some study showing that people who've lost vision have longer lasting recall.

I tried typing in several different variants of that, and it didn't dredge up what I was looking for. But, something else happened…

In my searches I found that a local library holding some sort of exhibit on recorded journals from places all over the world. And guess what the exhibit is called?

The Memories of Men, a Record of Thoughts.

I think the cryptic old woman may have been referring to this, and worded it strangely to lead me off track. For some reason…

Yeah, I still don't fully understand all this. The important news is that I'll be heading there soon, and I plan on writing about what I find once I'm back.

I'm  actually excited about this.

~Ji

Maybe

The name of the post pretty much sums up it's content.

Just about a month ago I was living the same life I had been for most all of my independent life; now I'm sitting in a shitty hostel, writing on my computer, keeping all the lights on, and checking out the windows constantly for birds.

How did I even get here?

I keep running what happened over and over in my head and none of it makes sense. Not just the guy with birds in his head, or the shadow thing; but my arms too. Bandages and some neosporin wouldn't be enough to heal me this fast, there was muscle torn out of me, and now there isn't even a sign that anything happened. It should have taken years, at least, to get that amount of healing, and I was only out for maybe a few days.

And there were so many birds, more birds than sky. I don't even think there are that many birds in this whole town, maybe not in the whole state, but there were enough to block out the whole damn sky.

Maybe it's not so crazy; I mean maybe this sort of thing just happens. Maybe.

So I find this "memory man" and he'll give me the answers, right? He'll tell me how I'm supposed to get back to normality and give back whatever it is I took from… whatever. I'm not clear on the details, so if anybody else feels confused, just know I'm in the same camp as you.

I suppose that the good news is that the items I managed to save are ok; they didn't get damaged from the fall. And the sky's clear tonight; no birds and just stars. There mustn't be as many lights around here because they're so clear.

Seeing them all reminds me of that time by the lake. Maybe none of this is so strange; how much do we really know about how everything works? Maybe we missed some bit of information about how the universe operates, and this stuff is just what happens. Maybe it's just something else that we don't know yet, like the bottom of the sea or the end of space.

God, there are so many stars.

~Ji

Back

Sorry about the long delay, I wish I could fully tell you what happened, but I honestly don't know. I'll try to make this as comprehensible as possible.

I tried to pack up my stuff as fast as possible. The lights were out and it was too dark outside to see, so I had to use my flashlight to get around.

It felt like the basement again; like the rooms were smaller and airless. Occasionally I would point my flashlight into a dark shadow and it wouldn't disappear immediately. Outside I could hear the sounds of thousands of wings and high, shrill caws.

I got into my room. propping the flashlight on my nightstand and shoved as much into my bag as possible; clothes, money, batteries, phone, tools, computer. I slipped the bag over my shoulder and ran into the living room. I started picking out pieces of my collection that were too important to leave behind. That handful of necklaces from over the years, that porcelain doll, that chunk of calcite, that antique bowl.

I had to take them with me; I couldn't afford to leave them behind.

I turned from the shelves, about to make my way to another set of storage, and he was just there.

No open door, no footsteps, nothing.

His face was obscured in the shadows under his hood; hands hanging limply at his sides. For the first several seconds he just stood there, regarding me, blocking my only exit. Then, very slowly, he reached to his side and withdrew a long, cleaver shaped machete.

He swung at me, almost carelessly, the steel slashing towards my shoulder. I jumped back, shattering the shelf, all of my prizes clattering to the floor as I fell down. He stepped forward, making the same, causal swipe with his sword. I pushed back against the ground, I could feel splinters of glass and pottery working their way into my left hand but I didn't care. He crouched and lowered the blade over my chest; I could see his grimy, pale hand grip the handle slightly tighter.

My right, undamaged hand bumped against something cold and metallic.

I snatched up and swung the crowbar- there was a loud KRACH as the bent end of the tool buried itself in the side of his head and he went limp, sprawling to the side. I struggled to my feet and removed the crowbar with a sharp tug. My hands stung and burned, and my legs felt heavy as I limped to the back door. There was a dull ringing in my head, a vagueness to the situation, the hallway seemed much longer than it should have been. All I had to do was get to the car and drive to a hospital; from there I could keep moving forward.

"Nice swing, dead man."

I turned and He was standing again; machete returned to his hand. His free hand moved to the hood, and he tugged back on it, revealing a helmet. The side was cracked badly, a jagged hole punched through.

TK-2 fighter pilot headgear, chinese in make, now they're used as motorcycle helmets.

His hand moved again, to the tinted visor, and he flipped it up. For a half second I could see only a darkened cavity, then a set of tiny, ebony eyes.

Birds streamed out from the helmet, wings and claws and beaks flailing wildly into the room. I put my hands in front of my face, but they tore into my arms; I could feel them gouging and ripping skin and muscle out of my arms. I remember hearing screaming going on and on and on in the cramped, writhing room.

And something shifted.

The birds were thrown backwards and stripped open, skulls torn out of their feathery bodies; shadowy forms wrapping themselves around the beaks and empty eye sockets. The man began slashing at them wildly, but the silhouettes warped easily around the sword. I bolted to the back door, throwing it open and racing towards my car.

I never got there.

The ground dropped away beneath me, and I fell down into the pit. The last thing I can remember is looking up into a sky filled with millions of birds.

When I woke up I was in a closed office max, my arms and hands had been bandaged roughly, and had mostly healed. Beside me was my pack, as well as a sleeping bag I've never seen before. The doors were able to be unlocked form the inside, and I was able to walk to a nearby hostel to stay the night.

I'm not sure where to go from here. I can't go back home, and I don't even know whats going on.

I suppose I have to find "the man with the memories," or something.

I'll try to post soon.

~Ji

They're Here

Sorry about the last post.

I was in a kind of fog but I just cleared up.

Literally a moment of clarity; I was going around trying to find something that I supposedly had collected, and I had a panic attack. I started flipping out and remembered how fucking stupid and crazy it is to be in this house.

Like being in an airplane and realizing that you're trapped in a metal tube three hundred thousand feet in the sky.

I'm stuck in tiny brick house that possibly has a shadow monster in the basement.

And someone's outside.

I couldn't quite see them before but I can now; they're wearing a dark grey jacket with a brown hood drawn over their head. I can just make out the little glimmer of their eyes.

And the clouds aren't clouds.

They're birds.

There must be thousands of them; blocking out the sun in a flurry of black wings and feathery bodies. Somehow I can feel all those pairs of tiny ebon eyes on me.

Why are they here? The guy sort of makes sense, but those birds?

Regardless, something is keeping him at a distance now; I don't know what but I have maybe a couple of minutes to pack before I have to bail.

I'll grab the essentials and leave out the back; make a break for it and try to get into my car.

And from there?

Well the one woman said I would have to run, and "find the man with the memories".

So I guess that's what happens next.

What the fuck happened to my life?

~Ji

Something's Wrong

I don't know what it is, but something's off.

It's like everything is a little too bright, like I don't weigh enough to be as big as I am.

Sometimes when I try to think about something it gets distorted; the proportions are all wrong.

The power keeps going out and coming back on and the sky is so dark.

I plug in headphones and it sounds like someone else it talking to me, shrieking and shrieking words in the static.

I keep looking outside and think that I see someone out there but they aren't there and they must be at the other side of the house but when I look there they aren't there either.

I feel like I'm collected.

Like so many things I've picked up.

I have to go.

I need something.

Resume Normality

I don't think those electric company workers really knew what they were doing.

There's been three power outages since my last post already, and I'm currently running on computer battery now. I must say that despite my earlier assumptions of not needing a flashlight as powerful as the one I made, it's turning out to be quite helpful.

Hopefully, these power issues aren't because I lifted that wire cutter. Though, it would seem oddly fitting if it was.

I'm going to have to pick up new batteries soon though. Normally I'd pick up some from the workbench downstairs, but there's no way I'm going back into the basement. No fucking way.

So as you can guess, that's still barricaded.

But in the brighter side of news I got some more things:

• Cloth, double ring belt (1997)
• Old, iron sewing scissors
• Tribal necklace (Very good deal from man in china town. Probably a fake or something, but still cool)
• Old cigar box (Still smells like them)  
• Antique porcelain doll

Obviously, a very good haul overall. Especially that porcelain doll, woman at the flee market practically shoved it into my arms, seemed desperate about it; of course, the Chinese guy did almost the same thing, but that's part of bartering.

Pro tip for apprentice negotiators: the best tool to get someone to lower the price while bartering is to politely use the words "I think I'll look somewhere else" and walk away. I once had a guy run half a block to me, exclaiming that he'd cut the already halved price if it would suit me. To be noted though, this was in Wuhan, where there are so many bartering markets that the idea of losing a customer to another stand is actually something people care about, so it isn't as helpful in less populous places.

Anyway, I'll get back to posting later.

It's a really cloudy day outside, I should probably get the batteries soon.

~Ji

Home Again

Hopefully the name of this post will clue into its nature.

So I'm back. Crazy cryptic ancient woman said it was ok and, against all logical judgment and reason, I'm going to believe her. I'll just keep indoors as much as possible and figure out what the hell I picked up that brought me into this mess. Toss it out and I'll be done with this.

No more scary fucking shadow monsters.

Though for the time being, I've barricaded the basement. I'm not going down there anytime soon. Or ever again.

In other news, remember that industrial light I talked about in this post? Well, I've gone and started using it for something.

At first I was thinking about incorporating it into a living room lamp, but now I've decided to build a flashlight.

I've hooked it up to a PVC pipe handle and filled the inside with these odd, 13 volt batteries, then wired the light in at the top and bottom, before capping the whole thing together. It's now the most gratuitously powerful and janky flashlight I've ever owned.

Seriously, I accidentally turned it on in my face and was blind for a minute.

In other news, a transformer outside blew today, temporarily cutting power in my house. I was scared shitless and ran outside for a bit (to be fair it sounded like a damn gunshot and the room I was in went dark like a cave). The good news is that when the electric company came by to fix it, I managed to nab one of their high end wire cutters; so that's the newest addition to my collection.

• High End Wire Cutters
• Stupid Powerful Jank-Light
• 
  

Post later.

~Ji

The Meeting

So I met the person, or organization, I suppose.

I don't know what I had in mind, but this wasn't it. I was expecting solid answers for one thing, not cryptic statements and something like a quest.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's what happened:

I was sitting at my chosen coffee shop of choice, Smoke City (it used to be a bar where people could get together and light cigarettes, not so much anymore) when someone approached me.

They slid into the booth in front of me and began talking without skipping a beat.

"Hello Andrew Ji, how are you enjoying your orange juice?"

I started and looked up at the ancient woman. For a half second I thought she might have bad sight, judging by her rather blank stare, and sat down at my table by mistake; but she had said my name, and spoken directly to me.

I looked around and found that the cafe was unusually empty, before turning my attention back to the woman.

"Do I... know you?"

An unpleasant smile crossed her face, causing layers of old skin to fold into each other.

"I have yet to meet you in a setting such as this, but I know you."

"That wasn't what I asked."

"But it is the answer you received."

I paused for a moment before talking again.

"Are you the person who commented on my blog?"

"Yes and no; I commented on your blog, but these hands did not do the action."

I took a minute to consider what this meant, "So you're some kind of group or organization?"

"That could be said, yes."

"And you're going to help me and tell me about that... whatever, right?"

"No."

"So what was the point of meeting me?"

She stopped talking for a moment, and I realized that I had not seen her blink in the entire time we had been speaking; and that other than her mouth, she hadn't moved since she sat down.

Then she began again.

"You have been a collector for many years, Andrew Ji, but it is only now that you have obtained anything of great value; and you will hate that you have gained it. I cannot give you the answers that you seek, because I do not own them. I am newer and they are older. You will have to look elsewhere Andrew Ji."

"You don't look very "new' to me, you're practically prehist-"

"You will have to find the man with the memories. He will likely know of those who pursue you."

"Okay, even if I understood what the hell that meant, why would I do that."

She smiled wider at me, stretching the leathery skin of her face.

"You have known the depth of obsession Andrew Ji, you will look eventually. Now if I may offer guidance"

"... You may..."

"It is safe to return to your home, but you will have to run soon. The others will not be so kind as I when they discover what you have taken. Pack the essentials and go, you have maybe a week before they or them come for you. We will be in touch periodically Andrew Ji."

And with that she stood up and walked away; no further explanation for the cryptic bullshit she just dropped on me.

I'm going to go back to my place, but I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be running from. I'd call the police but what could I tell them?

I guess I'll just try to wait this out, try to figure out what I've got that apparently brought me into all this.

I'll post again soon.

~Ji

Back on Track

I'm hoping to bring this blog back to some semblance of what it was supposed to be, so I'm going to post up some more things I found.

• Retro styled lamp
• Old radio
• Alice in Wonderland (from library. Don't judge me)
• Leather shoes

I'm still cooped up in the hotel room. I've still not met this mysterious commenter, but if he or she can explain this stuff to me, then hopefully soon.

I want to go back to my house.

~Ji

Worth a Thousand Words.

Sorry about the silence, the library computers have been acting up lately. I'm still in the hotel, and I don't have any intention of going back to my house for a bit; for a really long bit, actually. I also haven't collected in days, which always makes me a little skittish at first, though I'll be fine in a few days. I just really like the feeling of collecting; I even don't mind giving things up that I've previously collected if it means I can collect more.

It's how I've lived for years.

 But, in other news, I think my luck might have changed. Maybe.

Someone commented on my blog the other day.

At first I thought they were trolling or something, but then I saw the picture they had attached. I'm not the only one. It's been other places apparently.

I don't know who sent this, or where they got this, but they said they'd talk to me soon.

~Ji

Abyss

I'm sorry about the last post.

I'm better now, I'm going to write what happened.

I know what this is going to sound like but I swear, I swear on god and my mother and my life, there was something down there and it came out.

I don't even know what to think but I'm just going to say what happened.

Ok, so I was watching television, the Pawnstars show on History (firsst time watching TV in awhile), when I decided that I really needed to have something to drink. The fridge was out of anything even remotely edible, so I decided to pick up some booze from downstairs.

When I flipped on the lightswitch by the stairs I thought for a moment that something was off, but I brushed it aside as a literal trick of the light, and continued down the steps. I found what I was looking for fairly quickly; I may be a collector, but I actually don't store much down there and what I do store goes into a safe, most of my stuff is showcased on shelves in the living room or my bedroom.

Crouched over, picking up a case of Fat Tire, I felt ill at ease; like what I imagine claustrophobia to feel like. The room seemed somehow smaller and oppressive around me. I paused a moment and scanned the area from over my shoulder; expecting, what I don't know, but nothing was obviously wrong. It didn't shake the feeling of being compressed though, I couldn't wrap my head around what felt so eerie. I won't deny that I rushed a bit to get back to the living room. Once I was back on the main level, I casually flipped off the lights.

Almost immediately the was a CRACK.

It was loud, like snapping a slab of concrete loud. I set the case of beers down and turned to look into the basement.

It was pitch black down there, no windows and no light- I could hear something scraping around, what sounded like metal being dragged across the floor. For some reason a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche floated to the top of my head.

Then something drifted in from the edge of the doorway.

I froze as I watched. It was pale in the blackness of the basement, hoving into view; almost methodical in the way it moved, slowly turning to face me.

The skull of a ram, cloaked in the shadows.

It shot forward, up the stairs, and somewhere in the back of my head I felt a scream. I bolted out of the way as it twisted towards me, suspended on a tendril of writhing dark.

I raced away, out the back door and into the snow; I didn't care how cold it was or that I lacked a jacket, I just needed to get farther and farther out of the house.

I peeked over my shoulder to look and I saw it fully.

For a moment, it was just an undulating mass of black; but it began to shift. Legs stretched out from the bottom and arms from the sides, it compressed in and became something borderline recognizable.

It was just a silhouette, impossible to judge any finer features other than a basic outline, but what I could see looked like a person. Eight feet tall and cloaked, the skull held on what looked like shoulders, thin legs sprouting out from the bottom.

It stood, stock still, facing me, then it turned, like I wasn't even visible anymore, and started to move off. The thing went, striding, step after step dragging a gash through the snow as it disappeared into the trees.

I kept running, all the way to the local library where I posted the previous entry. Last night I stayed at  really cheap hotel and now I'm back at the library again.

I don't believe in ghosts or demons or things. I've always been a really down to earth person; but now?

I don't know what to think or do or say.

I kept that ram's skull in the safe with the other things, and whatever that was ripped the damn thing open to take it out.

I saw the darkness move.

~Ji

I dont I dont

There was something

I swear to god I'm not lying there was something in the basement

The fucking thing

Im not lying I saw it

I saw it

I was watching television and it came out of the basement

I I I need to calm down

It was there

Im not crazy

I saw it

Im not lying

Picking up Pieces

Ok, so I was poking around the edge of the woods today and got my strangest grab of not just this year, but ever.

Seriously I don't even know what to make of this thing, but check it out:

How creepy is that? Sent a chill down my spine when I picked it up and looked at it.

My guess is that it's some kind of homemade Halloween mask or something; but it could also have been some theater group from the summer. It looks like it's been through a lot, the paint around the eyes seems chipped and there are a couple cracks throughout; I tried to be really careful when I cleaned it up. At this point I've decided that I don't care if it's not valuable or anything; it's a weird enough find that I'm going to hold onto it regaurdless of its worth.

And it fits in my hat totem pole perfectly!

That's about it for now, see you later.

~Ji

All the Things You Own

Sorry about the last post; I'm not sure what came over me, I'm normally much more chipper/upbeat (especially right after I pick up some more items).

I guess it just unnerved me.

Oh, and speaking of items I've picked up...

Yesterday was a good day; this is probably one of my better hauls in recent times. Today I got my hands on:

• A set of antique silverware
• An old, soviet era ushanka (which are those furry hats that look like they have dog ears)
• A lava lamp from the early 1980's
• A pen from 1976
• An original printed copy of Dune
• A block of optical calcite (bigger than any I've seen before)

And finally, to top off my most recent additions, I picked up a stone Buddha! It's outside right now, but I'm thinking I might put it somewhere in my living room with the rest of the stuff.

Also, as a fun addition, I decided to make a kind of totem pole out of all the hats and headgear I've found over the years:

So that's pretty cool!

And that's also all I got for now.

~Ji

Celestial Contemplations

Ok, so the other day I was standing outside while collecting some more things, and I had this sudden thought to look up.

Not all that strange an urge, right?

Well it was a really clear night, surprisingly so considering that it's winter, and I was a good bit out of town. I had been picking up an old car tire and Coca Cola advertisement that I purchased from some old guy off in the countryside. I had parked my car next to a large pond (a rare sight out here) and was almost to it when I spied an abandoned canoe paddle resting on a wooden pier. Taking the opportunity to go home with more than planned, I wandered over to it. As I inspected the paddle, judging its quality and if it would fit in my car, I... I don't know the word for it, but I had this urge/inspiration/something to look up into the sky.

The water reflected the heavens above, and as I stood there gazing at the cosmos, I had this sensation of floating in space. Like I was drifting out in the void; alone but for the those massively tiny lights hovering around me.

It felt like they were staring at me, the stars, like I was this miniscule, insignificant thing compared to their vast and bright bodies.

Indifferent and inhuman.

And this epiphany washed over me:

We are so small.

We are so impossibly, unimaginably small compared to how big everything is out there. If you were to size up the earth to be equal to the size of the Milky Way, we wouldn't even be the particles that make up atoms.

And the Milky Way isn't even all that's out there; there's so much, so much more and it just keeps going and going and going. We won't ever, ever in our existence, be able to know its depth.

We won't even come anywhere close. Nothing we have done or ever could do will match to the size of it. And when we're dead and gone and dust, it'll still be there.



I shook myself from my thoughts and ran back to the car, ditching the paddle on the dock.

It took me almost half the drive back to realize that I wasn't shaking from the cold.

~Ji

Things and Stuff

So I got some more stuff today; not much, but if quantity mattered over quality than I'd be on that Hoarders show (at least, I think that's still a show... I should watch more TV).

I was poking around an old warehouse today and managed to grab:

• An old, industrial light
• Midsize, black painted, steel crowbar
• Construction work headlamp

Place was full of rats though; I could hear them scratching in/on the walls.

Talk later!

~Ji

Soliloquy

So this is the other purpose of this blog:

Random ass thoughts!

I won't deny to myself the moment of pensive thought, and here is where I'll post them.

Because the internet needs more strange, twisted weirdness shoved into its belly.

Ok, so have you ever thought about glass? It's around you all the time, windows and doors and things; but do you ever really consider it?

It's essentially rock that you can see through and shape however you want.

How cool is that?

And most people just go around shoving their faces against it and breaking it when they want to steal stuff.

Anyway, see you later!

~Ji

Morbid Curiosity

So last time I mentioned "things I find", and I'm going to use this post to more or less tell you what that means.

I'm a collector, I like finding things other people take for granted and holding onto them. I won't deny that it's a bit of a strange hobby, but it's one that I've become a little obsessed with over the years. Hell, I've even stolen some of the things currently in my collection; but don't worry, I don't do that often.

Besides, it's not like they actually had a use for it, they probably didn't respect it as much as I would/do.

So my most recent haul (and first of the new year) is as follows:

• Hot Wheels car from 1998
• Doorknob and locking mechanism
• Rocket shaped pepper grinder 
• Stone tea cup

But my final grab is by far the coolest!

I've never been one for the overly morbid, but I've had my interests; and today I got my hands on a ram's skull!

It's a bit creepy, and I don't want people to think bad things about me, so for the time being I'll keep it out of sight.

~Ji

Brave New Year!

Greetings vast and unknowable internet!

My names Andrew Ji, and I'm starting this little blog as a journal of sorts.

"A journal about what," you may ask?

I don't enven know/care!

For the time being it's my ringing in the new year, where I'll post random thoughts, and talk about things I find.

See you soon!

~Ji