Until a few weeks ago, I was blissfully unaware of, well, almost everything. I went to work every day, loved movies, and to hang out with people, mostly my friend Greg.

He was a bit of an oddball. A nerd who was obsessed with movies and collecting rare props. Things had only gotten worse in the past weeks, after his girlfriend Maddie had broken up with him. Still, he was a decent enough guy.

It’s because of him that my life changed. A couple of weeks ago, he called me after a long day at work.

“Yo, Steve, can you come over? I gotta show you something.”

“Can’t it wait, dude? I was at the store all day. I’m exhausted.”

“No way, man, get your ass over here. Now! I even got us a couple of cold ones!”

I sighed inwardly, but eventually relented. It was Saturday evening anyway, so why not have a bit of fun?

Half an hour later, I arrived at his, and before I could ask what he wanted to show me, he dragged me into his storage room. What I saw was a large, dark hole in the ceiling.

“What the…?” I asked him.

“Haven’t gotten the slightest clue.”

I turned toward him, frowning.

“Okay, what is this? Is it another one of those weird props you-?”

“I’m not fucking with you. It was just here one day, out of nowhere.”

“Really? And who’s going to believe that?”

“Okay, hold on.”

He rushed out of the room.

“What are you doing?” I called after him, but he didn’t answer.

Moments later, I heard him on the stairs.

“You hear this?” he yelled from upstairs.

With that, he stomped on the floor above me, right above the hole.

“How in the…?”

If he was in the room above, shouldn’t I see him? How come all I saw was darkness? All the while, Greg continued stomping. I frowned. This had to be another one of his stupid tricks. Ever since Maddie left, he’d been up to a lot of weird stuff.

“How are you doing it?” I asked once he was back.

“What do you mean?”

I sighed.

“Can you at least hand me a beer, or did you just invite me over to play a shitty joke on me?”

Five minutes later, we sat on his living room couch, each holding a beer.

“So, you’re telling me it was just there one day?

He took a sip of his beer and nodded.

“And you just ignored it?”

Another sip, followed by a shrug.

I didn’t know what to say anymore. This was by far his dumbest attempt at… whatever this even was.

“Well, I checked it out. Used a lamp, but it’s plan dark. Used a stick, but it goes on forever.”

“What do you mean, it goes on forever?” I asked, laughing. “You know, there’s something called a ceiling.”

“It’s gone.”

“You’re trying to tell me there’s a hole in your ceiling that leads upstairs, but I’m not able to-“

“No, that’s not how it works. The stick’s just gone. There’s no hint of anything upstairs.”

“The hell are you trying to say?”

“Exactly what I just said. I can push the stick in however far I want, but upstairs, you won’t see a thing.”

Eventually, frustrated, I made my way up the stairs.

“Ha ha, Greg, you got me to go upstairs and check out this stupid hole, you really-“

My voice trailed off when I entered the room right above the storage room. There was no hint of a hole. For a moment, I tried the floor here and there to see if it was hidden.

“Told you there’s no trick,” Craig suddenly said from behind me.

“Jesus man! Don’t scare me like that!”

“Come on, I’ll show you something.”

With that, we went downstairs again, and he brought out a tripod-like contraption.

“What are you doing?”

Ignoring me, he got a wooden stick and raised it towards the hole in the ceiling. I watched as the stick vanished in the darkness. He pushed it in further and further before he mounted it on the contraption.

“Should be at least a meter. You saw it, right?”

I nodded and followed. Once we were upstairs again, I saw no hint of the stick.

As I stood there, I slowly realized that maybe he wasn’t trying to trick me. It was Greg, after all. He’d never be able to pull off a prank that elaborate. But then it meant this was… real?

Back downstairs, Greg showed me that the stick was still inside. He took the contraption away, lowered the stick, and handed it to me. I turned it here and there, but nothing was wrong with it; it was a completely normal, wooden stick.

Out of nowhere, an impulse overtook me, and I pushed it into the hole myself. It vanished, unobstructed by the ceiling and the hardwood floor that should be above.

For a moment, the blood in my veins turned cold. As I stared at the hole, I saw it wasn’t just dark, it was an absence of light, a void that swallowed all light. Its edges were strangely smooth, unnaturally so, as if someone or… something had carved away at reality itself. This thing here, it was something that should be, shouldn’t exist.

Goosebumps appeared all over my body, and I swallowed. As terror washed over me, I dropped the stick and rushed from the room.

Greg had been watching me and grinned.

“It’s pretty creepy, isn’t it? Reacted just like you when I first found it.”

“Creepy? No, dude, it’s surreal!”

“Sure is. Didn’t sleep for two whole days, but nothing ever happened.”

“How’d you know that? Have you been watching it all day?”

“Nah,” he said, shaking his head. “I put up cameras. Just in case it… does something.”

With that, he pointed at two small security cameras he’d installed.

“Does what?”

Greg shrugged.

“I don’t know. Move? Grow?”

“I don’t know how you can stay so calm. I’d probably burn the whole place down, no joke.”

At that, we both laughed. His was genuine, mine forced and hollow.

I was more than happy when we were back in the living room.

“So, did you call someone about it?” I asked, hesitantly.

“Who’d you want me to call? Mulder and Scully? The Ghostbusters?”

“I don’t think the Ghostbusters would-“

“Oh, or Agent Cooper?”

“Agent who?”

“Twin Peaks? Best TV show ever? Christ, Steven, you-“

“Why the hell are you talking about freaking TV shows? You’ve got a reality-defying hole in your storage room!”

“I mean, the show is really-“

“Goddammit, Greg, shut up!”

“All right, but what do you think would happen? They’d detain me and turn this place into a government facility.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, like in this movie. The one about the conspiracies and the FBI.”

“You sure you’re not talking about the X-Files again?”

“God if I know,” he cursed and took another sip of beer.

I did the same.

In the end, I stayed with Greg for a few more hours. After he continued annoying me, we eventually watched the pilot of Twin Peaks.

I tried my hardest to concentrate, but I couldn’t stay calm. Every so often, I heard faint noises, but could never make them out clearly. They were distorted, cryptic, and only half-there. It had to be part of the show, I told myself, yet I was antsy, and my eyes constantly darted toward the doorway that led to the storage room.

Any moment now, I expected some weird, twisted creature to barge out of it.

More than once, I wanted to tell Greg about the weird noises, but whenever I opened my mouth, he’d make another comment about the show. He was oblivious to… anything.

Once and left, and made my way home, I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder constantly. Every few meters, I felt as if that hole was reaching out for me, as if it was sentient.

Yet all this fear and anxiety were pushed aside by something else. I told myself it was just curiosity, fascination, but with each minute it clawed deeper into my mind: the need to understand.

Throughout the next week, I heard little from Greg. We kept in touch via WhatsApp, mostly sending each other silly jokes and memes. Anytime I asked him about the hole, he said all was the same. Nothing ever happened.

He told me he threw a few things in to see what would happen. Some returned, others didn’t.

When I read this, I was about to protest, but knowing him, he wouldn’t care. I closed the chat window and left it at that.

On Saturday afternoon, he messaged me, asking if I was interested in doing a few experiments. He wanted to figure out more about this weird hole.

The moment I read his message, I was already on my way.

I couldn’t explain why, but over the past week, my fascination and curiosity had only grown. It felt as if the hole held power over me, drowning out my voice of reason.

When I arrived at Greg’s place, he greeted me with a beer and handed me another one.

I stared at him, then at the beer, before I sighed.

“How are you still so calm?”

“Guess I got used to it.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but stopped, fighting the impulse to throw up my arms in frustration and spilling my beer.

Greg led me back to the storage room. Without a word, he threw the bottle cap into the hole. It vanished and didn’t return.

“What the hell are you doing?”

He gave me a questioning look.

“Been doing it all week. Beats the garbage can.”

Once again, I was at a loss for words, and only watched as he left the room again.

“Hold on,” he called out from somewhere.

A minute later, he returned with a camera mounted on a stick. When I saw it, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Wait, is that a freaking selfie-stick?”

“Oh, come on, it used to be Maddie’s,” he replied.

“Right. That’s your answer for all the weird shit at your house, huh?”

“Just shut up, man,” he snapped at me.

The mood shifted the moment he lifted the camera towards the hole. Jokes and silly remarks were replaced by uneasy silence, the room growing heavy with tension.

My entire body tensed up as Greg lifted the camera towards the hole. Nothing. After a few more seconds, he pushed it inside. He pushed it higher and higher, and as he did, a strange feeling of anxiety washed over me. This was just too damn surreal.

Greg held the camera there for a good minute before he lowered it. Once he held it in his hands again, I came over to have a look at it.

Everything seemed fine. The power was still on, it was still recording, and completely undamaged.

A few moments later, we watched the footage on his couch.

I was filled with burning anticipation, but also afraid of what we’d see. Both our eyes were glued to the camera screen as we watched it get closer to the hole. Finally, darkness engulfed it, and all sounds stopped.

Second after second passed in complete and utter silence.

I held my breath, my heart pounding in my chest. I prepared myself for the darkness to open up, to reveal an impossible alien landscape, twisting shapes, or a creature lunging at the camera. Even though none of that happened, I was terribly on edge until the camera finally returned to our world. I told myself I was relieved to see nothing, but it gnawed on me. There was something unnatural about the stillness, the silence. Deep down, I was disappointed. I’d wanted something to happen, anything.

“Well, that was exciting,” Greg mumbled.

After the first test, we ran a few more. We mounted a thermometer on Greg’s selfie-stick, but the hole didn’t seem to affect it. When we used a night vision camera, the only change was the slightly green hue of the recording.

Greg even tied a piece of meat to the stick and left it in the hole for five minutes. It, too, came back untouched.

In the early evening, the two of us heard a quiet meow and saw a tabby walk into the room.

“Karen even left the cat behind?”

“Really dude?” he asked with an annoyed expression on his face. “It’s Ms. Ackermann’s. Damn thing shows up every once in a while.”

Then he walked over to pick up the cat.

“Well, hello there, little guy. Wanna see something cool?”

“Dude, what are you doing?”

Instead of answering, he rushed from the room, got a step ladder and placed it beneath the hole.

“Okay, man, stop it. We’ve got no idea if it’s safe,” I said as he stepped up the ladder.

“Yeah, but I just found a way to figure it out.”

“Greg, seriously? What if it suffocates or busts into flames?”

“Look, man, I don’t care about the stupid cat. We spent all day getting nowhere!”

I closed my mouth. He had a point about figuring this out, but using a cat… that’s just wrong. Part of me wanted to walk over and yank the cat from his hands, but another part, one I hated, wanted him to go through with it. If something happened, maybe we’d finally learn something new.

“Fine. Do whatever you want, but I’ll have no part in it.”

“Whatever.”

I watched from beside the doorframe. The cat, not understanding what was happening, stayed quiet, but not for long. The closer it got to the hole, the more restless it grew. Its animal instincts were telling it something was wrong.

Finally, its fur bristled, and it began twisting in Greg’s hands. It yowled once before Greg shoved its head into the darkness above.

Only a few seconds later, he lowered the cat again. The animal was furious, and when it bit him, he finally released it.

“Always hated the damn beast,” he muttered, examining his hand.

“You can be such an asshole, you know that?”

“Yeah, fuck you, too.”

We ended up watching the cat for the next twenty minutes, but it seemed fine. For a while it eyed us skeptically, but eventually it let us pet it again.

Just like that, we were back at square one. Whatever we’d tried had done nothing. For all we knew, it was just a simple hole. A reality-defying one, sure, but that’s about it.

In the end, we just sat on the couch, quietly drinking another beer.

“Not much else we can do,” Greg mumbled to himself after a few minutes had passed.

“What are you going on about?”

“Someone’s got to give it a try.”

I almost spat out my beer.

“No way, man. I’m not going near that thing!”

“Oh, isn’t that great? You’re completely okay helping me out all day, but once it’s about showing some balls, you pussy out?”

He shook his head.

“Look, someone’s got to do something!”

“Why don’t you do it? It’s your house and your hole.”

For a moment, we just looked at each other, neither saying a word.

“Lots?” Greg finally asked.

“Fuck no!” I yelled.

A quarter of an hour later, we both stood on the step ladder. Him on one side, me on the other.

“Okay, dude, you gotta hold on to me to make sure nothing happens,” Greg said, his voice more than anxious.

“This is the dumbest thing you’ve ever done,” I replied, shaking my head.

Greg said nothing. Instead, he raised his left hand toward the hole, but stopped a few centimeters below.

“My arm, man,” he snapped when I just stood there, watching.

“What? Fine, all right.”

As I grabbed onto it, all I could think about was what would happen if some inter-dimensional horror yanked us both in.

While my mind conjured up scenarios, he suddenly put his hand under my elbow. Before I could ask what he was doing, he pushed my arm upward with all the force I could muster.

Time slowed down, and all I could do was to watch in horror as my arm shot upward. In an instant, my hand, as well as my lower arm, vanished in the darkness above. For a moment, I could only stare at what Greg had done in disbelief. Then I screamed, lost my step, and crashed to the ground.

“Are you fucking insane!?” I screamed at him. “What the fuck did you just do!?”

“How’s your hand?” Greg asked in a quiet, matter-of-factly voice.

I raised it, and saw that I’d instinctively clenched it.

“Prickles a bit, but that’s about…”

My voice trailed off when my hand started to glow slightly.

I yelled up once more, holding the hand as far away from me as possible, unclenching it. The moment I did, something landed on the ground. It was a small, dimly glowing orb.

When I looked from the orb and back at my hand, the glow had vanished. Putting two and two together, I realized it must’ve been because of the orb.

I clenched and unclenched my hand, moved my fingers, and rubbed it with the other one. Nothing seemed wrong with it.

“Did you get this from…?” Greg asked, and picked up the orb.

I stared at him as he held it in his hand, rolling it around, studying it in fascination.

“It’s kinda heavy. How did you get it to glow like that?”

When I saw his face, the nonchalant way he acted after what he’d just done, I exploded.

I walked over to him and shoved him against the wall.

“What the hell did you just do? We had no freaking idea what would happen! What if I’d lost my hand, or my entire arm? What if, I don’t know, that hole’s radioactive, and I’ll get cancer?”

“Well, but nothing-“

“No. Don’t you dare give me the ‘Nothing happened, so it’s fine!’ You fucking tricked me!”

I shoved him again, this time harder, and the orb he’d been holding slipped from his hand. It started glowing again, this time more brightly.

Instantly, Greg picked it up again, and brought it closer to his face.

“There seems to be something inside,” he said, holding it up to me.

“Gimme that!” I yelled and ripped the orb from his hand.

It felt heavier than it should, and the surface was strangely pulsating. Within, I could vaguely make out something. A twisted form, curled up, and hidden behind thick shadows. As I stared into it, it grew warm, slightly stinging my hand, and I felt some sort of presence staring back at me, preying on me.

A wave of heat washed over me, and I began sweating. In a surge of fear, I let go of the orb. Greg almost jumped forward to catch it.

“You know what, Greg?” I asked, when I saw his wide eyes, and his face still distorted by fascination. “I’m done. Fuck this.”

With that, I gathered my things, put on my shoes and left his place, but not before taking the cat with me to return it to its owner.

On the way home, I was still fuming, and couldn’t help but repeatedly rub my hand. Even now, it was still slightly stinging.

Even when I was back in my apartment, I was still mad. I thought about telling someone what he’d done, but who’d believe me? ‘Oh, hey, Greg found a freaking reality-defying hole in his place, and pushed my hand into it.’ Yeah, no one, that’s who.

As I sat in front of the computer, my thoughts drifted to the mysterious orb again. I couldn’t help but feel the same fear when I thought about that presence. Just what the hell had I pulled from that hole?

That night, I didn’t sleep well. Surreal nightmares haunted me. In some, I was dragged through endless darkness populated by lurking shadows. In others, I saw glowing, golden skies above alien landscapes. The worst one was about preying evils who freed themselves from spherical prisons.

When I woke up, I was in terrible shape, and much more exhausted than before I’d gone to bed.

While I sat up, still trembling and drenched in cold sweat, I told myself I was done. Whatever that thing was, it was in Greg’s house and there it could stay. For a moment, a strange feeling clawed at my mind, the same fascination and curiosity from before. This time, I pushed it aside. No, I’d have nothing more to do with any of this.

The next day, Greg didn’t contact me, neither the day after.

Soon a week passed, and then another. After that much time, I grew concerned. I couldn’t go a day or two without a stupid message from him.

Sure, he could be a goddamn asshole, but he was still my friend. What if something happened? What if that thing, that hole, swallowed up his house? Was he still-?

No, don’t be ridiculous. If anything had happened, I’d heard it on the local news, or hell, read about it on Social Media.

In the end, I decided to drive by his house after work, and see if he was doing all right. I told myself once more I’d have nothing to do with the hole that I wasn’t like Greg. Deep inside, however, the same feeling of curiosity began stirring.

Now that I was on my way to his house, I couldn’t help but wonder what really drove me there. Was it concern for my friend, or was it the pull of something else… something darker? I couldn’t hell, and it scared me.

When I found his house still standing, I was relieved, but soon noticed the strange atmosphere that had settled over the neighborhood.

While I parked my car and approached his house, some neighbors watched me warily.

At first I didn’t know why, but then I saw the state of Greg’s house. I’d thought he had the curtains closed, but it seemed he’d boarded up his windows. What the hell was wrong with him?

I rang the doorbell and waited, but got no reaction.

“Greg? Hello?” I called out before I rang again.

Finally, I heard something inside, and shortly after, the door was unbolted.

It opened, and through the crack, I could make out Greg’s face.

“Steve, that you?”

“Yeah, what the hell are you-?”

“Shush, get in!” he cut me off, got a hold of me, and pulled me inside.

Once I was in, he bolted the door again. For a few seconds, he listened before he hurried to one of the boarded-up windows. He watched the outside intently.

Finally, after what felt like minutes, he sighed with relief.

When he turned to me, I could see how haggard and exhausted he looked. His clothes were unkempt, his hair was wild, but his eyes were glowing with an almost feverish energy.

“Holy shit, dude, are you okay?”

Instead of answering, he grinned and led me to the living room.

My jaw dropped when I saw hundreds, if not thousands, of slightly glowing orbs. I was at a loss for words. Multiple times, I opened my mouth to say something, but just couldn’t.

“Are those all…?” I finally asked after almost a minute had passed.

“Yeah, there’s no end to them. I can just reach in and take them, one after another.”

For a moment, his eyes focused on the orbs, and a short, nervous laugh escaped his mouth.

“Wait, you did it, too? Why?”

“Curiosity. You were fine, right? And you found that glowing thing. It was… fascinating.”

“Weren’t you worried? I mean, you pushed my hand in, and-“

“Well, yeah, but like I said, I got curious. It was still there, every day, inside the storage room. I just couldn’t help it. I wanted to know what would happen. Maybe I’d find something else, or another one of those things. It was eating at me. I couldn’t sleep. And then, I did it.”

“But why gather them?”

“I… don’t even know. Because I can? I mean, look at them!”

With that, he went over to the giant stack of orbs, and began staring into them. His eyes were wide, and his mouth was distorted into a wide smile.

“You looked into it, too, right? You saw it, didn’t you? The things they show you. There’s so much, so many things… different things beyond understanding. But it got me thinking, you know?”

He turned back to me.

“What exactly are they? Where do they come from? They are all unique, each and every one of them!”

I could only stare at the madness at play in front of me.

A moment later, he was back by my side, holding something in his hand. Before he even showed it to me, I knew what it was, could almost feel it as if there was a connection.

“That’s the one you pulled out, the first one,” he said, holding it out to me.

“Dude, I don’t, really…”

My voice trailed off. I knew what I’d said, but now, with the orb right in front of my eyes, I grabbed it instinctively. It was as if my hands moved on their own accord. All the fear I’d felt dissolved into a burning desire for the small object. I wanted to hold it, to claim it as my own.

The moment my fingers closed around it, I saw the same twisted, curled up form. I felt its consciousness staring back at me, no… into me, prying open my mind. It wasn’t just watching, it was probing, reaching for something within me. Its voice echoed inside my head, a cacophony of cryptic, alien sounds.

Visions appeared in front of my eyes: a world of impossible dimensions, towering shapes barely recognizable in front of a golden sky alive with madness. I felt myself slipping into it, consumed by the golden brilliance I’d seen in my dreams.

Then, with all the willpower I could muster, I pulled back, shutting my eyes tightly. My head was pounding, and my hand strung sharply as I shoved the orb back in Greg’s hand.

“Jesus Christ,” I brought out, panting, my heart pounding in my chest.

“It’s something, isn’t it?”

“It’s freaking terrifying!”

“Terrifying?” he asked, and for a moment, I watched as he began trembling, hugging himself. “Maybe I shouldn’t have done it, maybe I shouldn’t have pulled them out and stared into them, but, but…”

Once more, a shiver went through him.

“Fuck man, this is not normal, put those things away, and-“

“I can’t! I can’t stop thinking about what’s inside of them! Fuck, I know I shouldn’t, but those things, I just want to know more about them.”

The fear and terror were gone, leaving him in a state of pure obsession, of euphoria.

“I want to see more!”

I watched as he hurried back to the orbs again, staring deeply into them, their otherworldly glow reflected in his mad, wide eyes. Some were glowing brighter than others, some were pulsating, but a select few seemed to crackle with energy, and I saw slight bounces of lightning below their foggy surfaces.

The longer I watched him, as he went from one to another, whispering to them, muttering words I couldn’t understand, words that seemed to comprise nothing but cryptic sounds, the more crept out I felt.

And then my mind snapped back, and I realized the most important thing of all, the only thing that mattered. None of this was normal. These things didn’t belong here. This was wrong, surreal, and unnatural.

“You saw it, too, right, the visions, the beauty…?”

As he said this, his face contorted into an even stranger expression. For a moment, he feverishly darted around, looking here and there. Then he picked up a few more of the orbs and hurried back to me.

“Here, have a look at those five. They are something else!”

With that, he tried to hand them to me, but I put up my arms.

“N-no, man, I’m good.”

When I said this, he stared at me as if I’d just committed a terrible affront, but then began staring into them himself. For minutes, he was quiet, staring into them, and I could see the mad visions they showed him reflected in his eyes.

“Yo, Greg, you should really-“

“Yeah, I know, I should open them. I just don’t know how. I tried… tried everything, but nothing’s working. Maybe… maybe you can help me. We could do it together, figure it out, just the two of us!”

“Wait, hold on! You want to open them? Are you serious? You saw those creatures, those visions! This isn’t a damn puzzle, Greg! This is dangerous! Get grip, man!”

“But… I, no… We… we have to. Don’t you get it? We have to. We’ll figure it out. Together. Then we’ll know!”

I could only stare at my friend as he rambled on. And yet, as my eyes focused on the thousands of orbs in his living room, I felt the same pull again. Curiosity clawed at my mind. I wanted to know, too, didn’t I? I felt my mouth contort into a smile, and almost agreed, but managed to tear eyes away.

No! I shook my head, repeating what I’d told myself before. This was not normal, this was surreal, dangerous, and I wouldn’t get involved anymore.

My eyes met Greg’s and when I saw the same insane fever, the obsession, the hold those things had over him, and I gave him my answer.

“No, not this time. I’m not getting involved again.”

He seemed baffled, and I thought he’d freak out, or jump me, but then he merely shrugged.

“Fine, suit yourself, but don’t come back if I discover something amazing.”

“No worries,” I said and turned to leave.

Before I could even make a single step forward, I felt thousands of eyes watching me. I was trembling with fear when I heard Greg’s voice again.

“Not a word, to anyone.”

It didn’t sound like him. It was contorted, cold, and entirely emotionless. No, it wasn’t his voice, it was coming from those orbs. A thought, a threat, transplanted into my mind.

I couldn’t turn around, couldn’t face him or those orbs again.

“A-all right, man, I’ll keep quiet,” I said in a broken, shaky voice.

I didn’t get to see my friend Greg again. The next time I heard about him was on the local news. At first, I didn’t know it was his house, since the news segment only showed the burnt remains of a building. Only when they mentioned the address, did I realize it had been Greg’s home.

As I listened, I learned about an explosion in the middle of the night. It was of such magnitude, even some of the surrounding buildings were damaged. Everything around the epicenter was gone. No hint of Greg, or what he’d found remained.

What actually happened is still unknown. It might have been a gas leak, but some neighbors believe Greg was up to something as bizarre as his recent behavior. In an interview, one of them claimed having seen strange golden lights accompanied by cryptic sounds and shadows just before the house erupted into flames.

As she rambled on, it was clear what had happened. Greg must’ve succeeded in opening one of those orbs, and the pent up energy inside must’ve caused the explosion.

Ever since then, I’ve been wondering if the explosion destroyed what was inside of those orbs as well.

Now, sitting here, rubbing my faintly stinging hand, I know it didn’t. The sounds are back, those cryptic, unnatural whispers, distorted voices, digging into my mind endlessly. Those creatures… they are still out there.

At night, I’m plagued by more of the surreal nightmares, but each night they become clearer, and more horrific. No longer are they about alien landscapes and golden skies, but a burning world, our world, a testament to what’s coming.

I still don’t know what those things are, but us finding them was a never a coincidence.

No, they wanted to be found, were searching for a way into our world, and when Greg and I reached into that hole, we paved the way for them to be unleashed.

Rats. I’ve always hated rats. They are disgusting.

Imagine how I reacted when I found one of them in my kitchen.

At first, I was shocked, then disgusted and finally angry. A couple of minutes later I threw the dead rat in a trash bag and got rid of it.

After that, I spent almost another hour in the kitchen to find out where the damned thing had come from. There was nothing, no holes or entrances. I hadn’t the slightest idea.

Now I know, rats aren’t too uncommon, but I live in one of the nicest areas of town. There shouldn’t be any vermin here at all.

I felt a bit awkward when I stood in front of my neighbor’s apartment the next day. I explained to him what had happened, but he reassured me that he’d never had any rat problems. In a condescending tone he told me that it might be a good idea to call the housing company.

Back in my apartment I sighed. I was about to dial the number, but then I put the phone back down. I wasn’t in the mood for all that trouble. Then, I convinced myself that it must have been a onetime thing and that the rat most likely snuck in via a window.

Two days later I woke up in the middle of the night by a noise. It sounded like a low rumbling. Was it coming from the pipes?

Soon enough though I saw something move.

In my shock I slapped the switch of the night lamp. Something big and hairy scuttled away and vanish under my bed.

I cursed, knowing that it must be another rat.

I proved to be only half right, this time it turned out to be two of them. Again, I had no idea where they’d come from. After I’d caught them I made my way to the kitchen to get another trash bag. The moment I hit the light switch, I saw more of them rush away. I screamed up as they vanished behind the kitchen cupboards and rushed out past me into the hallway. There must be at least a dozen of them.

I dialed the number of the housing company, but an automated message informed me that I could only reach them during business hours. Freaking hell, I cursed, it was barely three. I’d have to wait forever before anyone would answer.

For an hour I tried to hunt down the rats, but it was futile. They were way too fast for me to catch them. Exhausted and angry I retreated to the living room. For whatever reason none of them were there.

I tried to fall asleep on the couch, but hearing the rats scurry around outside made it impossible. I feared that they’d find some secret way inside and so I ended up laying there half-awake for hours.

In the morning I informed work that I’d be in late today due to some issues at my apartment. After that, I called the housing company. I’d to wait in line for almost twenty minutes until I was greeted by a friendly female voice.

I explained my problem and could hear an audible sigh before she asked for my address. After holding the line for another minute or two, she informed me that someone would be at my place within the hour.

I was surprised when the doorbell rang only minutes later. I left the safety of the living room behind and almost ran to the front door. Things were so much worse than I’d thought. The rats were everywhere.

A tired looking man from the housing company and two exterminators greeted me. Well, at least they are taking things serious, I thought.

The man from the housing company lost no time. He asked me when I’d first noticed the rats and how many I thought there were. While I told him, the two exterminators made their way inside.

I found out that I wasn’t the only one with a rat problem. That’s why they’d been here so quickly. They’d been in an apartment below me. Altogether four people from this building had called about rats and there’d been more complaints all over the city. The whole thing had been going on for days.

When I asked him if he knew where all those rats came from, he told me he’d no clue. He thought they might have come in via the ventilation system or the pipes, but his guess was as good as mine.

He told me that getting rid of the rats and finding out where they’d come from might take the whole day or even longer. It might be best to let them do their job and check back on things later. They’d inform me via email as soon as things were done.

I nodded. Sure, I was quite annoyed, but I couldn’t blame the guy. He was just doing his job and I could tell he was sick of it already.

I went back inside, put on some decent clothes and made my way to work.

When work ended, I still hadn’t gotten an email.

The moment the tram arrived at my station I knew that something was wrong. Even from where I was I heard the noise. Police cars lined the streets and I could see an ambulance as well.

What the hell was going on, I wondered as I hastened to the building.

Once I was close enough, I saw that the whole building was blocked off by the police. Countless people were gathered outside.

I went straight for one of the police officers and asked him what was going on. He told me that the building had to be evacuated due to suspicion of a rat epidemic. When I asked about the ambulance, he said he couldn’t give me any information.

No one else could give me a definite answer either. That was until I noticed a commotion near an older lady. People gathered around her and asked her what she’d seen.

She said she lived on the ground floor and was one of the first to be informed about the evacuation. When she was led outside, she saw that the paramedics made their way into one of the apartments nearby. When she stopped the police pushed her on, but she was able to peek inside for a moment.

“There was blood everywhere, it looked like one of those horrible crime scenes. I am sure it must have been those damned rats!”

I shuddered and walked back to the police to ask how long the building would remain blocked off like this. The officer told me it was an indefinite period of time and it’d be best to find another place to stay.

I ended up staying at a friend’s for the next couple of nights.

There wasn’t much on the internet about the whole incident. What I discovered was that five apartment buildings had been evacuated altogether.

All that because of rats? Where the hell were they even coming from? Had they really attacked people?

It was a week before I got a notice that us residents were allowed back into our buildings. The email explained in detail what had happened.

The rats had been breeding unnoticed in the old sewer tunnels. These tunnels were located not only below mine but many other buildings in town.

For reasons yet unknown, the rats had started to dig their way up from below. That way they’d created countless tunnels that led not only to the surface but all the way up through the walls of the buildings.

As I kept reading, I found out that there were dozens of tunnels that wound through the outer walls of the building. That’s how the rats must have made their way up into my apartment. There must’ve been holes somewhere behind the cupboards or the cabinets. I’d never checked there.

For now, the email said the tunnels had been closed off and we were allowed back into our buildings. It was only a temporary solution though and the building would need to be renovated in due time.

I somehow couldn’t feel at home at my place. I knew they’d said the tunnels were sealed off, but I thought I could still heard things in the walls. It must be my imagination, I told myself.

While going through the local news sites, I found an article that talked about ‘The Victims of the Rat Epidemic’. As I read on, I found out that at least three people had been found dead in their apartments and many others were still missing. People had died?

For a moment the image of waking up in the middle of the night and being swarmed by dozens of rats came to my mind. I imagined them scurrying all over my body and tearing at my flesh with their tiny mouths. I quickly pushed it out of my mind.

That night, as I lay in bed the thought of the rats in the walls, didn’t leave me alone. Each time I closed my eyes I feared they’d be pouring from holes in the walls to devour me. In my mind I saw them scurrying over my body and tearing at my flesh with their tiny mouths. It took me more than an hour before I drifted off into a light sleep.

It was not even two in the morning when I woke up. I heard the same low rumbling I remembered from before. From the night all those rats had appeared in my apartment.

I jumped off the bed and put my ear against the wall. There was nothing, thank God. Then the rumbling started again. It was over in a few seconds, but I could tell that it was definitely not the pipes.

I didn’t get to think about what it was as a skittering erupted in the wall next to me. Weren’t the tunnels closed off?

It got louder and louder until it seemed the wall was reverberating from inside. I fled from the bedroom to the safety of the living room. There had been no rats in here so I hoped I’d be safe.

There was suddenly a loud noise and then one of the cupboards started to shake before it fell forward.

I cringed back in shock, afraid to see hundreds of rats rushing towards me.

As if to answer this fear a rat sprang from the wall and ran in my direction. It didn’t get to reach me. Only moments after it had escaped the walls, something caught it and dragged it backward.

The rat squeaked and tried to get away desperately only to vanished inside of the wall again. What the hell was going on?

The moment I hit the light switch I saw what had caught the rat, but I couldn’t understand what I was seeing. It was a formless, slithering mass of flesh that pushed itself through the tunnel in the wall. I saw dozens of openings all over it, some filled with misshapen teeth others were nothing but gaping maws.

As I stood there. I saw how lumps of disgusting flesh pushed outward and formed into eyes that focused on me.

An indescribable sound escaped the monstrosity in front of me before it burst, no surged from the wall. Bits and piece of plaster vanished, as the liquid mass of flesh pushed itself into my direction.

Here and there it tore apart momentarily only to fuse back together. At one point I saw a screaming, half-digested rat burst from the slithering mass of tissue just to vanish again.

It was the sight of this rat that brought me back to reality and made me run from the apartment. Behind me I heard the roaring of whatever this thing was as it crashed forward.

I was out in the hallway, then on the stairs and then made my way outside. I heard the ground rumble once more. Screams and noises erupted from the building in front of me. More and more people streamed from the building. Everyone was in a state of utter panic.

People screamed and cried about monsters in the walls, as the ground below rumbled once more.

At that moment it hit me. I’d heard this rumbling first when the rats appeared.

Had it really been the rats who dug those tunnels? Or had the rats just used them to flee from those things? Was that why there had been none in my living room? Because that’s where the tunnel had ended? Had they just tried to get away from whatever was down below our town as fast as possible?

My thoughts returned to the bloodied apartment, to the killed and missing people. Could it really have been the rats?

No, I thought, those people must have fallen prey to these otherworldly masses of flesh.

And now, as it rumbled yet again, I knew that these things kept digging their way up into my town.

It was Saturday morning. I was in the middle of the forest, and my best friend Derek had just brought me into freaking bizarro world.

Not even an hour ago, I was still in bed, sleeping peacefully.

I was awoken by a loud, shrill noise that I identified as my phone’s ring tone.

It was Derek, calling me at seven in the morning. On a Saturday.

I declined the call instantly. Let me sleep, asshole!

On his third try, I picked up.

“The hell do you want, man?”

“Martin! Listen, can you-?”

“No, you listen,” I cut him off. “Do you have any idea what time it is!?”

“Oh yeah, sorry about that. I need to show you something, all right? It’s important! I’m going to be at your place in twenty, kay?”

“What the hell’s even going on? I just want to sleep…”

“Trust me, you don’t want to miss this. You can sleep later!”

With that, he hung up. I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Knowing that idiot, he’d really be here in twenty minutes, and he’d definitely not let me go back to sleep.

Cursing, I got up, put on some clothes, and made myself a cup of coffee to wake up.

I hadn’t even finished it when the doorbell rang.

I was more than annoyed, but let him in. He was beaming at me, full of energy, and stormed right past me into the apartment.

“What’s so freaking important? What do you want to show me?”

“It’s out in the forest. I found it a couple of days ago, but last night, I finally realized-“

He broke off, looking at me while I stared back at him, a half-full cup of coffee in hand.

“What are you waiting for? Come on, put some shoes on!”

“Jesus Christ, Derek, calm down for a moment. What the hell’s the matter with you this morning?”

Instead of answering me, he only motioned for me to hurry, already waiting for me at the door. As I followed him down the stairs, he continued going on about something he’d found, but I had no clue what it was. He constantly stumbled over his words, making his explanation nothing but gibberish.

Derek’s car was parked right outside the apartment building. Our friend Mike was already in the car. He looked even less happy than I was.

“He made you come along as well?”

Mike grumbled something to himself before he nodded.

Once I’d entered the car as well, I turned to Mike.

“Do you have any clue what this is all about?”

Before Mike could answer, Derek jumped in the front seat and started the car.

“You guys will be so glad you came along!”

“Not like we had much of a choice,” Mike mumbled.

With that, we sped off. Once more, I wondered what the hell was wrong with Derek. As I watched his face in the rearview mirror, I saw he was grinning like an idiot.

Not even ten minutes later, we’d arrived in the forest. Derek was the first to be out of the car.

“Come on, you guys!” he yelled at Mike and me.

Then, without so much as waiting for us, he turned around and followed a small trail into the forest.

Mike and I both sighed before we set out to follow him. Every once in a while Derek would stop, turn around any yell at us to get a move on.

I couldn’t believe this shit. Why’d he drag us out here? I’d been up all night and now I was following this idiot because of god knows what.

“This better be worth it,” Mike cursed behind me. “If this is his idea of a joke, I swear…”

At first, we followed the trail, but after a while, Derek led us straight into the forest. We made our way past trees and through the underbrush before we arrived at a small stream.

“Almost there, guys, almost,” Derek called out, barely able to catch his breath. His voice was high-pitched and almost euphoric.

In a swift motion, he jumped over the stream and vanished behind a group of boulders.

When we followed him, we found him on the ground, sitting in front of something strange.

At first glance, I thought it was a weird plant or flower, something reminiscent of a tulips blossom. Then, I saw it was much, much bigger, the size of a small animal.

When I got closer, though, I saw it wasn’t a flower. It was made of… flesh? All around it, the forest floor was covered in roots, or better tentacles sprouting from the thing. They, too, seemed to be made purely of flesh.

Had Derek brought us out here to show us some sort of disgusting animal carcass? Right at that moment, though, the tentacles started moving and slithering over the ground.

I cringed back.

“What the fuck? That thing’s alive?”

Derek didn’t answer. Instead, he sat there, smiling down at the disgusting thing in a state of bliss.

“Isn’t it beautiful, guys?” he finally asked, turning towards Mike and me.

“Beautiful? What are you talking about?”

I was so utterly confused. Was this some sort of joke?

“Just look at it,” he continued in a soft, almost solemn voice.

Then he moved forward to touch the thing, to caress it. That wasn’t all he did, though. With his other hand, he reached out for one of the many tentacles and began stroking it. And then, only moments later, he leaned forward and kissed the thing. It was surreal.

As he retracted his face, I could see the thing’s disgusting slime covering his lips.

“What the fuck are you doing, man!?” Mike screamed.

His face was nothing but an expression of purest disgust.

“I found it a few days ago,” Derek answered. “It took me a while to realize how truly beautiful it is, but, I mean, just look at it, guys!”

With that, he leaned forward to kiss the thing once again. As he did, he began gently pressing down on the tentacle he was still caressing. At that moment, the thing began twitching and squeaking before it seemed to stretch itself.

“See, it likes it!” he said, giggling.

As I watched the spectacle in front of me, I felt sick to my stomach.

“Fuck this! I don’t want to have anything to do with, with… whatever this shit is!”

With that, Mike turned around and stormed off into the forest.

“Mike, hey, why are you leaving?”

For a moment, Derek seemed confused, before his eyes focused on me.

“Martin, you’re staying, right? Just come here, you can touch it, too. It’s so soft. Just do it once. I’m sure you’ll like it.”

As he looked over at me, I saw how wide his eyes were and how full of euphoria his face was. I cringed back once more, when I saw the greasy slime now covering not only his lips but his entire face.

“Dude, just… no. Do you even know what that thing is?”

“It’s beautiful, perfect and-“

“It’s disgusting, that’s what it is!” I exploded at him. “I don’t know what the fuck you found here, but this is not normal. Come on, man, just leave it alone.”

While I was yelling at him, Derek had already turned back to the slithering mess of flesh and tentacles. He was whispering to it and every once in a while, I noticed him glaring at me.

“You know what? Fuck this.”

I had enough. As I made my way back over the stream and through the forest, I couldn’t help but shiver. What the hell was that thing, and why was Derek acting like this? It gave me the creeps!

Before long, I reached the trail and a few minutes later, I was out of the forest. I stopped at Derek’s car, not sure if I should wait for him. Mike was already gone and had probably left for good.

For a while I waited for Derek, but as I did, the images of him caressing and kissing the thing came back to my mind. I gagged when I remembered the slime on his lips and face. Fuck this, I told myself again, and did what Mike had done.

I was halfway home when a car approached me from behind. It was Derek. He drove towards me, slowed down, and lowered the window.

“Hey, what’s the matter Martin? Hop in, I take you home.”

“Nah man, I’m good, I’ll walk.”

After saying that, I stepped off the road to let him drive past me. Derek, however, stopped the car.

“Just get in.”

After a few more seconds of awkward silence, I sighed and got in the car. As I did, however, I stayed as far away from him as possible.

“I know how weird it is,” he started in a quiet voice. “I freaked out, too, when I first found it. Really, can’t blame you guys.”

I said nothing.

“I was curious about it, so I went back, and then again. It took me a while, but last night I realized why. This thing, it’s different. It’s something magnificent!”

“Do you even hear yourself? How can you even touch that thing? Fuck, man, it’s disgusting. We should just burn it!”

Right after I’d said this, he hit the brakes. I could barely raise my hands to keep my head from slamming into the dashboard.

“The fuck are you doing?” I screamed at him.

When I turned over to him, however, his face was red with anger.

“You wouldn’t do that, would you?” he pressed out between his lips.

I couldn’t tell if it was a question or a threat. The way he looked at me, the desperation I saw in his wide eyes scared me. For a moment, I wondered if this was really my best friend. Was this the same goofy idiot I’d known for almost a decade?

“All right, all right. It’s none of my business. All I’m saying is that it’s creeping me out. It might even be dangerous.”

I heard a sigh of relief and the anger left his face.

“Don’t worry, it’s going to be fine. It’s not dangerous at all. I mean, I’ve been there so many times already and nothing happened. It’s just so…”

He broke off, shaking his head, but was now smiling again.

Once Derek dropped me off, it was still only half-past eight. Back at home, I didn’t know what had just happened. Once more, I couldn’t help but wonder what that thing was.

At first I put on some music and contemplated going back to bed to catch some sleep. But then, driven by some odd sense of curiosity, I began searching the net for information. I ended up finding jack shit.

I reasoned it had to be a plant after all, maybe a flesh-eating one, but all the pictures I found looked entirely different. What if it really was made of flesh?

I asked for information in a few places online, but got no useful answers. Most people thought I was playing a joke and in the end, I gave up. Whatever it was, it had nothing to do with me.

Soon enough, I had all but forgotten about the weird incident.

—

Our small town’s surrounded by forests and meadows. In the warmer month I often go on nice, long runs in the evening.

I was out running on a Thursday when I recognized someone on the road ahead of me. At first, I ignored the person, but then I recognized him.

“Derek, is that you?”

He didn’t react to my question and at first I thought I was mistaken. Then, slowly, he turned around to greet me.

When I saw him, I noticed how tired he looked. He had bags under his eyes, and he looked restless and exhausted.

“Shit dude, you all right?”

“Oh, hey Martin. Yeah, I’m fine, just tired, that’s all. Haven’t gotten a lot of sleep these past days. You know, work and all that.”

“I know what you mean,” I said, laughing. “Why are you out here? Shouldn’t you be home catching some sleep?”

I meant it as a joke, but then I realized why he’d to be out here.

“Don’t tell me you went to that thing again?”

A shrug.

“Only for a moment, just to make sure it’s doing all right.”

“Are you sure you’re just tired? You don’t look so good, maybe that thing’s-“

“Come on, Martin, not again. It’s just work, all right?”

He was right. Who was I to babysit him? He was an adult, after all.

For a moment, though, I saw a serious look on his face, and it seemed he wanted to say something. Then he shook his head and smiled again.

“Well, got to go. As you said, I should get some rest.”

“See you, Derek.”

With that, I continued on my run. Yet something hadn’t been right with him. I wondered if I should’ve confronted him after all. I considered turning around and run back to him. Then another thought crawled into my mind. Instead of running back to him, I could also make my way into the forest. I could check out this weird thing to see if it really was dangerous.

I’d already taken the first few steps in the forest’s direction when I stopped. What the hell was I doing? Where’d that weird impulse come from? There was no way I’d go back out there.

—

I didn’t get to see much of Derek from then on. The only times I saw him was when I ran into him by accident.

Each time, he looked worse, though. At first, he only looked restless and exhausted, but then other things about him changed. He looked thinner, haggard even, forcing his clothes to dangle from his body as if they were a size or two too big for him. His posture, too, was slumped over.

After another week, his face, too, had changed. His cheeks had fallen in, his lips had lost most of their color, and his eyes were bloodshot.

He looked sick, almost powerless, as he dragged himself on. Each time, I tried to find out what was wrong with him, but it was always the same story: It’s all because of work.

After three weeks, I had enough.

The tipping point was a talk I had with Mike. He told me he was worried about Derek as well. No way this was all just because of work. He was withering away right in front of us. Mike even told me that Melanie, Derek’s girlfriend, had talked to him. She hadn’t heard from Derek all week and had come to Mike to find out if he knew what was up with him.

As the two of us sat together, we knew what was going on. We had seen the euphoria on his face when he’d taken us to the woods. It had to do with that strange thing out there.

There was no way we could let him go on like this. We needed to talk to him.

I tried to call Derek to tell him we’d come over to his place, but as much as I tried, my call went straight to voicemail. Similarly, all messages I sent to him remained unread. It seemed he didn’t check his phone at all these days.

At nine on Saturday evening, Mike, Melanie, and I met up in front of Derek’s place.

I tried to call him once more, but as expected, got no answer. All the windows were dark, and when I rang the doorbell, no one answered. It seemed like he wasn’t home.

We considered searching for him, but then we decided to wait for him. He had to come home eventually, right?

Well, we were right. After almost an hour, we noticed him walking in our direction.

His posture was slumped, his feet shuffled over the floor, and we heard his wheezing long before we saw his face.

When he got closer, though, I saw he looked even worse. At first, he didn’t even realize we were there. Only once he’d taken out his keys to unlock his door did he notice us.

“What are you guys doing here?” he asked, confused.

His bloodshot eyes came to rest on us.

“Derek? Is that really you?” Melanie called out in a voice full of worry. “Oh my god, what happened to you?”

“It’s nothing, I’m all right.”

“Don’t give us that shit again,” I yelled at him.

Derek stared at me in surprise.

“Martin, what’s going on?”

“Listen, man, you look terrible. Something’s going on and it’s not nothing!”

“It’s that damn thing in the woods, isn’t it, Derek?” Mike started. “That disgusting-“

Mike didn’t get to finish his sentence.

“Don’t you dare talk about her like this! She’s got nothing to do with any of it! You don’t know what you’re talking about! How dare you-!”

He broke off, panting and coughing.

“What the hell are you guys even talking about?” Melanie asked, turning first to me, then Mike, and then back to Derek.

“Who is she, Derek? Is she the reason you’ve been avoiding me?”

Derek didn’t even look at her.

“That’s not it. I just… I can’t help it. She’s just so damn perfect.”

As he looked up, his haggard face was twisted into a ghastly smile and his eyes were wide open.

“She’s out of this world. There’s no way you, or anyone, could compare.”

Melanie took a step back, then another, and I saw the tears streaming from her eyes.

“You asshole!” she screamed at Derek. “Who is she? At least give me a freaking name!”

When Derek didn’t say a thing, Mike and I told her what we’d seen that morning. Melanie’s eyes grew wide, but then she started laughing.

“You guys can’t be for real. Who the hell would believe something as stupid as that? At least tell me the freaking truth!”

Once more, she stared each of us down. All the while, Derek was still mumbling to himself.

“Oh, she’s grown so much,” I heard him say.

“You guys are insane, each and every one of you!”

With that, Melanie walked away, shaking her head, still laughing.

“Would be best if we burned the damned thing, wouldn’t it?” Mike blurted out.

In an instant, Derek’s face changed to a mask of pure and utter rage.

“Don’t you dare joke about something like this, Mike!” Derek screamed at him.

“You think I’m joking?”

I stepped forward.

“Guys, calm down, we should all just-“

Before I could finish the sentence, Derek charged Mike.

Mike stayed where he was, not at all concerned. He was a tall, buff guy, easily double Derek’s weight. The moment Derek got closer, though, I saw something flash in his hand.

“Jesus Christ!” I called out.

Mike cursed and took a step back, and I saw him holding his right arm. Then I saw the pocket knife in Derek’s shaking hands.

Before I could do anything, Mike retaliated. He hit Derek straight in the face, sending him tumbling backward. When he hit the ground, the small pocket knife he’d been holding clattered away.

For a few seconds, Derek just lay there, but then he tried to push himself back up. I heard a nasty sound, and a moment later, Derek screamed in pain.

“Fucking serves you right!” Mike yelled at him before he walked away.

From where I was, I could see Derek sitting on the ground, looking at his right hand with wide eyes. The unnatural position made it clear that he’d broken his wrist.

By now, the lights in various other apartments had turned on, and not a few people had noticed the commotion below. The police arrived soon after, asking what had happened.

I made up a story about someone pushing Derek to the ground and him breaking his wrist. In the end, the police took our statements, and let me take him to the hospital.

On the way, Derek’s eyes were glued to his broken wrist.

“How in the hell,” he mumbled to himself. “I only tried to get up.”

For the first time, I heard honest concern in his voice. I knew what he was thinking. There was no way you’d break your wrist by getting up. Unless something’s seriously wrong with you.

At the hospital, a doctor confirmed that Derek’s wrist was indeed broken. The man’s primary concern, however, wasn’t Derek’s wrist, but his state.

All it took was one look at Derek to see that something was wrong with him. They urged him to stay for a few blood tests and a general examination, and once I joined in, Derek finally agreed.

I stayed with him for a bit, but around midnight, I told Derek I had to leave. I promised him, however, I’d be back the next day.

At first, I thought about telling the doctors about the weird organism Derek had found in the forest. Would they believe me, though? Then a second thought came to my mind. Should I even reveal the things existence?

I shook my head. I was way too exhausted. This whole evening had turned from a simple talk between friends to a hospitalization. I needed some sleep.

When I visited Derek the next day, he seemed to do much better. Sure, he looked as weak as before, but he appeared less exhausted and in a way better state of mind.

He told me the doctors had shared nothing yet, or they had no clue what was wrong with him. In the end, all they said was that Derek needed rest while they’d continue to run tests.

I didn’t say or ask anything about the weird thing in the forest, though. It was Derek himself who brought it up again.

“You guys were right. That thing is strange. I don’t know how, but it has this power over you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, but I just had to go back, you know? Even now, even knowing it’s bad, I want to go back and look and touch it again. That damned thing did something to me, Martin!”

I saw tears coming to his eyes.

“Shit, man, what if it’s cancer? What if I’m going to die because of it? I’m scared. I’m so goddamn scared. But then why do I still want to go back?”

“You’re going to be fine, don’t worry. It’s going to be all right.”

He nodded, but I could tell he didn’t believe it. He just sat there, in his bed, crying and shaking.

A nurse saw what was going on and told me it was better for me to leave. The most important thing for Derek right now was to rest.

—

When I returned to the hospital two days later, a nurse informed me that Derek was gone. They didn’t know what had happened and presumed he snuck out during the night.

I was speechless. How the hell could they let this happen? I cursed and was about to explode at the nurse, but then I thought about Derek. What the hell was he up to? Don’t tell me he’d gone out there again.

I instantly called Mike. It took a while before he answered the phone. I told him what was going on right away, and when he spoke, I heard the worry in his voice.

“He talked about nothing but that damned thing yesterday. I came to the hospital to see how he was doing and, well, to apologize for what happened. All he talked about was her, though. I thought he meant Melanie, but no. I told him to give it a rest and to forget about it. Didn’t think he’d go for real.”

“You think he went out there?”

“No doubt about it.”

“Shit, you think he’s all right? Can you-“

“Yeah, let’s find Derek and get rid of that thing once and for all!”

We arranged to meet in the forest an hour later.

As I drove from the hospital, I remembered something Derek had said.

“Oh, she’s grown so much.”

Only god knew what he meant by that, but if that thing really had grown bigger, I’d be damned to go there empty handed. I made a quick stop at home. I didn’t own any weapons, though. After a quick look around, I opted for a hammer and an axe, which I put in my backpack. I also grabbed a canister of gasoline. If nothing else worked, we could still burn it.

After this brief stop, I drove straight to the forest. Mike’s car was already there, but he was nowhere to be seen. I called him again, but god no answer. Shit, don’t tell me he went here without me!

“Freaking hell,” I cursed. “Why didn’t he wait for me?”

With fast steps, I stormed into the forest. Following the trail was easy enough, but after that, I had no clue where to go. I kept my eyes open for Mike, called out for him, but I got no answer. After almost half an hour, I finally found the small stream again.

I followed it for a while before I could see the group of boulders behind which the thing was hidden. I didn’t know what I’d find, or how big the thing was by now. After a few seconds of deliberation, I pulled the axe from my backpack.

From afar, I could already see dozens of the thing’s fleshy tentacles. They slithered over the forest floor and through the nearby underbrush. A shiver went down my spine when I saw how many there were by now.

Step by step, trying to be as quiet as I could, I went forward. I held my breath and watched out not to get anywhere near the tentacles. Finally, I stepped past the boulders. What I saw wasn’t just the fleshy thing. A person was here and the body type told me it wasn’t Derek.

No, it was Mike.

He was half-naked, his pants were around his ankles, and he stood there, hunched over the thing. Some of its tentacles weren’t just slithering over the ground. No, they were entangling his arms and legs. Something that looked like a strange, underdeveloped hand on the end of one tentacle held onto his arm. And Mike, he wasn’t just standing there. He was moving. It was rhythmically: back and forth, back and forth.

The tentacles entwined his half-naked body everywhere, almost as if caressing him. They began holding on to him with a firmer and firmer grip the longer the spectacle in front of me lasted.

By now, I could see how big the thing had become. It was almost bigger than Mike by now.

With each of Mike’s thrusts, it pulsated. For a moment, it seemed to convulse, and a disgusting, wet squeak emanated from it.

After my initial shock was gone, I finally realized what he was doing.

“Mike, what the hell are you-?” I started.

Then my disgust made me vomit all over the forest floor.

“Jesus Christ man, you-“

I couldn’t finish as another gush of vomit came up. Mike didn’t react at all. Instead, he kept at it, kept thrusting into the thing while I stood there, axe in hand, vomiting.

Finally, the tentacles pulled Mike in closer. They pressed hard against his body before they grew limp and fell to the ground. Mike, too, was panting, but then he pulled his pants back up and turned towards me.

“Didn’t think you’d be that early, Martin.”

“What? I’m early? What the hell are you talking about? Why are you…? I mean, with this thing?”

“Derek didn’t deserve her.”

When I looked at him, I saw his face had changed to the same euphoric visage I’d seen on Derek’s.

“What are you even talking about?”

“Does it matter?”

Then he pointed at the axe I was holding and the canister of gasoline.

“What are you planning to do with those?”

“I’m going to take care of this thing.”

I watched as some tentacles slithered toward me and I carefully retreated to get out of their reach.

“You think I’ll just let you do it?”

“What are you…? Why are you helping it?”

I couldn’t think straight. Nothing made sense anymore.

“You don’t see it, do you? She’s perfect. Absolute beauty that’s out of this world.”

It was exactly what Derek had said. Why the hell was Mike acting like this now, too?

My thoughts were cut off when he stepped aside. Now I could see the fleshy abomination in all its glory. I saw the lower tulip-like part. The flower petals were so much bigger now. Then I saw something else, something new on top. Half-hidden between the petals was a face. No, a head. The fleshy head of a woman that was growing from it.

For a moment, the thought that this skinless face with its fleshy hair was the most beautiful thing in the entire world came over me. A feeling of euphoria washed over me, my blood seemed to boil as attraction flooded through me. I wanted her to be mine, mine alone. Then I pushed the thought aside and snapped back to reality.

I couldn’t fathom what I’d just been thinking. All I saw in front of me now was a disgusting, otherworldly heap of grown together flesh and tentacles.

“Mike, you saw Derek at the hospital, right? You saw what that thing did to him! You want to end up like that, too?”

Slowly ever so slowly, Mike’s face changed to a ghastly smile before he pointed at something I hadn’t seen yet.

Discarded between the boulders was a withered, bluish, grey husk. It might have once been a human being, but now it was nothing but translucent skin stretched over bone. My eyes grew wide when I saw it.

“Oh god, no, don’t tell me…”

Mike began laughing.

“You want to know why he came here? I made him go. He didn’t want to, but it was so easy to convince him. I only had to tell him how beautiful she’d become and that she was waiting for him. I knew he couldn’t fight the urge and would go back, eventually.”

“Why the hell did you do that?!”

“She needs nutrients to grow. It’s so she can become her true self. Derek was perfect, and so was Melanie.“

“Melanie, don’t tell me…”

I couldn’t believe it, but Mike merely shrugged.

“After our little fight on Saturday, I went to talk to her. I told her what we’d said was the truth and I could show her the thing. Oh, and I did.”

“You… you lured her out here as well? You brought her to this, this thing over there? Didn’t you say yourself that it was-?”

“Don’t say it! That was before I saw her for what she really is! After Derek brought us here, I just had to come back. I almost made the greatest mistake of my life, but then, then I saw. This endless beauty. I knew right away Derek didn’t deserve her. She’d be mine, and I’d make sure she’d become even more beautiful!”

“You know you’re going to be next, right? Wake the fuck up, Mike! That thing’s going to suck you dry just like it did Derek!”

“Oh, but someone else’s already here.”

For a second, I looked around. Then I realized what he meant. That’s why the bastard had told me we should come here.

Before I could say anything, he rushed me. He was fast, way too fast. I could do nothing. In an instant, he was in front of me and rammed his knee into my stomach. I crashed to the ground gagging.

“You should see it as an honor,” he started, grinning down at me. “You’re going to become part of a perfect organism.”

I was on the ground, trying desperately to breathe.

“You’re insane!” I finally spat at him.

At that, Mike only laughed.

“Maybe, but does it matter?”

I fought myself up to my feet, only to be hit again. Then he pushed me forward, straight towards the fleshy abomination.

Instantly, its many tentacles slithered over the ground towards me. I felt something on my right leg, and when I stared down, I saw a three-fingered, half-developed hand cling to it. I tried to shake it off, tried to get away, but it held me in place with an iron-hard grip. Then another tentacle entangled my other leg. The slimy thing slithered higher and higher before it closed around my thigh.

More and more of the disgusting tentacles got a hold of me. I struggled, I fought, but the more I did, the harder their hold got. I screamed, when I could feel them twist my limbs, could feel them dig into my flesh.

There was nothing I could do, nothing. Then, I remembered the axe. Where was it, where the hell was it? I’d dropped it when Mike rushed me. My eyes darted around, here and there in a panic. Finally I saw it.

I threw myself on the ground, dug my fingers into the earth and finally reached it. By now, the pain was almost unbearable. Then, I brought the axe down on the strange hand holding onto my leg. Over and over I hit it.

The blade of the axe went through the flesh as if it was nothing. A mixture of zap and blood gushed from the tentacle it had been connected to.

In a frenzy, I hacked at the other tentacles holding onto me. Some I cut apart, others retreated from me.

Mike, who turned away, who’d gone over to caress and kiss the thing, spun back to me in sheer rage.

“The hell you think you’re doing? Why are you hurting her?!”

In a fit of rage, he threw himself at me again. I lifted the axe, tried to hit him, but he pushed my arm to the ground with ease. Then he was on top of me, pinning me to the ground. While he held the axe in place, his other hand closed around my throat. I hit him with my free left hand, hit him in the face again and again, but in his rage, he didn’t even seem to feel it.

Dots appeared in front of my eyes and my vision became blurry. Right at that moment, I remembered the hammer in my backpack. With a last surge of energy, I twisted my body and pulled the hammer from the backpack.

This time, it was Mike who didn’t have time to react. I flung the hammer from behind my back and right against the side of his head.

He screamed up in pain and blood gushed from his temple. He was staggering and in an instant I hit him again.

Then, he pushed my left hand to the ground as well. It was with such force, the hammer clattered away. He was way too strong. Even now, even with a bloody wound on his head, he still hadn’t passed out. He wasn’t even staggering anymore.

No, he pinned my arms to the ground with his knees and then closed both of his hands around my throat.

I couldn’t breathe. The last thing I saw before the world grew dark, was Mike’s bloody, rage-filled face.

Then Mike screamed in surprise. As light came back to my world, I saw that the thing’s many tentacles had come back, but this time for Mike.

“No, what are you doing? It’s me! It’s me!”

He was out of it. He screamed up again and again, struggling against the tentacles who held onto his body. Yet he had no chance and a moment later the thing dragged him backward.

For a moment, the thing’s face just stared at him. Then, the full, fleshy lips parted to reveal a tongue covered in an innumerable amount of feelers. A moment later, the tongue found the bloody wound on his head.

I watched in disgust and wonder, as the feelers turned from a fleshy, almost translucent pink to the dark red of blood.

Mike screamed, started shaking and finally convulsing as the blood was sucked from his body. Within seconds, his strong, muscular body turned into a withered husk. Eventually, the thing’s tongue retreated, and it threw aside what remained of him.

I crawled away and picked up the axe once more. I was afraid that any moment now, the tentacles would come for me, pull me in just as they’d done with Mike. Instead, they all pulled back, retreated to the thing’s body.

The fleshy mess in front of me started pulsating and growing as it morphed into a new iteration of itself. I saw how the fleshy petals changed form and how the face pushed itself out further. I could now see the first signs of a body. There was a neck, then shoulders. It was nothing but a fleshy mess, as if someone had put random pieces of meat together to resemble a human body. And yet, it was such a disgustingly beautiful mess.

I picked up the can of gasoline again. I had to destroy that thing, I had to.

As I stood there, however, I couldn’t deny how beautiful she was. She was perfection. Now that I finally looked at her, I saw what Derek and Mike had seen.

I felt myself being drawn forward. It was as if I was in a trance and not in control of my body anymore. Step by step I went closer towards it. I saw the fleshy face smile at me. The air was heavy with the smell of rose petals, the smell of summer. It was almost a promise, a promise that this otherworldly beauty would be mine.

As I took yet another step, I suddenly bumped into something. I looked down, only to see Mike’s empty shriveled up face. It stared at me, a visage frozen in pain and terror. This would be me, I realized. If I stayed here, this was what waited for me.

I had to get away. I forced myself to shut my eyes, turned around and ran, to get away from this abominations influence.

As my legs drove me on, I rushed past trees and bushes. Even though, my body still wasn’t entirely my own. With each steps, my muscles, my entire body was protesting, trying to pull me back, to turn around.

Yet I knew if I were to lay eyes on it again, I could not escape. No, I’d be lost to this things will completely.

I was home half an hour later. I remember little about the way back.

Now, that I’m home, I don’t know what to do. I’ve been trying to distract myself, but it’s not working.

With each minute, with each passing second, my mind is being filled with more images of her beauty. My chest is heavy with an endless longing.

I don’t know how long I can resist that abomination’s call. No, her call. I’m restless, shaking, but also smiling. I’m almost in the same state of euphoria Derek and Mike were.

All I can think about is her.

I called an acquaintance of mine. I said I had to show him something in the forest.

After all, she does need nutrients to grow.

A Constant: Something that is invariable or unchanging, such as a fixed number or a logical term.

It had been one of those days when everything went wrong. After getting up, I bumped my head, causing a giant bruise and an ongoing headache. Then I missed my train, couldn’t find a taxi, and arrived half an hour late for work.

It wouldn’t have been a big deal if it hadn’t been the exact day of a meeting with a valuable customer. He ended up leaving as I arrived. My manager informed me that this would have serious consequences. I could forget about that promotion I’d been working on.

When I finally arrived at home, after hours of overtime, I had a quick meal. It was the precooked microwave type.

I went on Netflix and clicked through the list of series and movies for a bit before I closed my browser again. For a while, I sat in my chair, contemplating going to bed.

Instead, I decided to go for a walk. After a day like that, I needed to unwind. My phone showed me it was a gentle and mild night, and so I went on my way.

As I locked the front door behind me, the idea of walking out and never coming back crossed my mind. It didn’t sound bad.

By now night had fallen, and I walked along the almost empty roads of the city.

At first, I had only wanted to take a short walk, a couple of minutes to unclog my mind. Now, though, I found myself walking on. I saw a few people here and there, but apart from them, my only companions were street lights, lighted storefronts, and neon signs.

I didn’t know how long I’d been walking when I reached the big river dividing the city. For a while, I looked at the dark, cold waters rushing past me. Then I continued alongside the riverbank.

As I checked my phone, I saw that it was almost midnight. I should be at home in my bed, sleeping, but somehow I didn’t care about that right now.

I had followed the path for a quarter of an hour when I noticed a hill ahead of me. It seemed as if it had appeared out of nowhere. How had I not seen it until now? Was there even a hill like that in the middle of the city? I shrugged it off. I must have walked further than I thought and reached the outskirts already.

Once I was closer, I noticed a small path that led up the hill. Two wooden pillars marked its beginning. They formed a sort of gate. For a moment I searched for a sign, but then I decided to follow the path.

On one side was the steep, dark hill, on the other I could look over the city. I continued onward and noticed that the path ahead of me was illuminated. It was a paper lantern mounted on a small stone pillar, the first of many. Their dim light was barely enough to illuminate the ascent. Instead, it filled the area around them with shadows and figures that weren’t there.

The walk seemed to go on forever. As I got further, I started to hear noises. At first, it was only faint, but soon I could make out voices. It must come from the top of the hill and looking up, I could see lights.

With each step, more voices reached my ears. The light too grew brighter.

When I finally reached the top, it surprised me how many people there were. In the dim light, I could make out dozens, or even hundreds of forms. Some were sitting in front of smaller fires, others were dancing.

There was low music playing. It was a cacophony of sounds and humming that came together in a ghastly, almost hypnotic melody. It was strangely enticing, calling me forward to join the dancers.

What sort of festivity was this? Wasn’t it the middle of the week?

As I watched them, some of these dancers were shifting and moving their bodies in strange ways. They were entangling each other like snakes, only to separate again moments later. I wasn’t sure what I saw in what little light there was.

Standing there, I felt misplaced. What strange gathering had I stumbled upon here? It was probably for the best if I left.

When I turned around, I froze.

For a second I saw the familiar outlines of my city, the buildings, the streets, the lights, and the parks. Then a sprawling, greenish-black metropolis replaced it. It was an unplanned, grown-together mess, more organic than architectural. It reminded me of a giant colony of mushrooms and not a city. A bluish light illuminated the many different levels and areas of this abominable city.

While I still tried to grasp what was going on, things in front of me shifted once more. The mushroom city was gone, and now I saw an almost empty plain. Here and there I could make out groups of tents and hairy beings that shuffled around them.

Moments later, an alien landscape replaced the plain. It was a dark, gray floor, from which strange whitish things extended into the sky. At first, I thought they were constructions, but soon I saw what they really were. It was gigantic living organisms. Those giants stood unmoving, their many arms wrapped around their bodies. They were towering over the hill in sheer endless rows. I shuddered when I saw their faces. They were all looking skyward in a haunting, almost pleading expression.

Then I saw my city again.

What was that just now? What had I… seen? Am I hallucinating?

I looked around and smelled the air, but there was nothing. Everything was normal. No one else was alarmed. Was I the only one that had noticed it? Before I could follow that train of thought, my city vanished once more.

This time it changed to an endless blue ocean, under which I saw a shadow of colossal proportions. As I watched on, it moved closer to the surface. The waves exploded into foam, but I didn’t see what revealed itself.

Right at that time I felt a hand on my shoulder and jerked around. Behind me stood a figure in dark clothes. An equally dark mask was hiding its face.

“First time here, struggler?” the figure asked me. Its voice was calm, almost reassuring.

After my initial shock was gone, I nodded.

“You are lucky to have ended up here and not in one of the other places.”

“Wait, what is this place? What sort of gathering is this?”

And then I pointed at what had been a giant ocean moments before.

“And what the hell is this!?” I asked.

By now reality had changed into a scorched plain, covered in fire and volcanic ashes. In the back, I saw a massive, flaming mountain. An endless army of dark creatures flooded from a crack in its middle.

“Just one of the many manifestations of reality.”

I turned towards my interlocutor with an empty face. What the hell was he going on about?

“Are you trying to tell me that those are different dimensions or something?”

I must be dreaming. I had most likely fallen asleep in front of my computer. None of this could be real.

“That would be much too easy an explanation. The form a reality takes always depends on those who are looking at it.”

“Then why are they all so horrific?” I asked as the sight in front of me shifted once again.

“What makes you think they are horrific?”

I looked at him and then at the muddy plain beyond. Disgusting, hairy insectoids populated it.

“But this is just…” I blurted out.

“It might be for you, struggler, but what would they think about your reality?”

I couldn’t answer. How could I say anything to something like this? This whole thing was absurd, yet I understood the implication he was making.

I couldn’t see my new friend’s face behind the mask, but somehow I knew he was smiling.

“So, what is this place up here?” I asked once more, this time in a more demanding tone.

For a moment he was quiet and seemed to watch yet another manifestation of reality with interest.

This one was normal enough. It was a land covered in lush, green vegetation. Scores of white creatures moved around atop the trees. They were too far away to recognize their features, but they were scarcely human. After a while, my interlocutor spoke again.

“We are at a constant.”

When he saw the look on my face, he started to explain.

“A constant is a place in the net of the different manifestations of reality that is always the same.”

“How did I get here?”

“There are many ways one can stumble upon such a place. Many do, but only a few ever realize it. Others search them out, like them.”

With that, he pointed at some of the dancers behind us that were moving around their small fires.

“But how did I get here? I was taking a walk, and this hill appeared out of nowhere.”

My interlocutor giggled.

“So that’s how it was.”

I waited for him to say more, but he kept quiet. For a while I stood there, next to him, looking down as one horrific reality followed another. At times, I thought I saw my city again, but I couldn’t be sure.

“How do I get back? Do I wake up?”

“Wake up from what?”

“I am asleep, aren’t I? This is all a dream, right?”

I got no answer.

“Oh, come on,” I cursed to myself, “stupid brain. Okay, did I pass out? Am I at the hospital? Did I die? What is it?”

With that, he started to laugh.

“None of those. You are wide awake. You are here. At this very moment, this is your reality.”

After a brief pause he continued, but this time he was musing on, more to himself, than to me.

“Your kind is strange, struggler. I have watched countless manifestations in the net of realities. There are so many different ones, but yours is one of those that still puzzles me. It is so closely influenced, yet so reluctant to see. Everything, all hints, all touches, you call them illusions, hallucinations, or dreams.”

A shiver went down my back as I listened to these words. I wondered what he was talking about. Why are his words so cryptic? Was he talking about religion? About God? About miracles? Or something completely different? I was about to ask again, as the low music around us stopped.

The twisting, dancing bodies all came to a rest. Finally, a new fire was lit in the middle of the procession. At first, it was nothing but a small flame. Within seconds it grew into a large purple fire before it became a column that extended into the sky. Further and further it reached, and for the first time, I looked at what was above us.

Instead of the night sky, there was an immeasurable amount of stars. It was as if space itself was alit. I could see strange, glowing, translucent beings that moved between them. They reminded me of spiders, because of their many limbs.

“What are…?”

“They are the menders of reality. Gods that are endlessly creating, fixing, and changing all these different realities. They dangle from the net of reality itself, tending to it and ever-extending it.”

For a long while, I watched the glimmering beings. I watched as they crawled on the thin, almost invisible net that was spanning between the stars.

I noticed, too, certain darker parts, which were devoid of stars and light. I turned back to ask my interlocutor about those.

By now, though, I could make out many of the other dancers. I cringed back a few steps in sheer fear and disgust. I had to cover my mouth not to scream out loud. What I had thought were unnaturally twisted dances, was their true nature.

“What the hell are they!?” I asked in shock.

“The same as you. Strugglers that came here as you did, some by accident, others by their own volition.”

I scanned the group of monstrous strugglers around the pillar of purple fire. Some were humanoid. Others looked like wild beasts. I saw a twisted abomination of grown together flesh that almost made me gag. Another one was nothing but a shifting mass of light and particles.

It took me quite a while before I could avert my eyes from the spectacle.

“So you are a struggler, too?” I asked him.

“No. I am a guide. I am here for strugglers like you who recognize that they are at a different place. I help to bring context, to explain things, and to keep order where order is needed.”

“Keep order, where order is needed…?”

He chuckled for a bit before answering my question.

“To make sure you find your way back.”

“Are you a human like me, then?”

“I take the form that is easiest to comprehend and speak the language you speak. My appearance differs, depending on who it is that comes here.”

For a while I eyed the guide, thinking about what his true form must be.

Then I turned towards the pillar again.

“What’s up with the fire?”

“It’s a ritual. They are calling on beings from outside to visit this constant. On rare occasions, it is the menders you saw before. Those you see here, they hope to learn, to be enlightened by a share of their knowledge. They want to know the secrets of reality itself. Only a select few were ever deemed worthy. But it can and did happen before.”

“To learn the secrets of reality?”

A strange desire was kindled inside of me. Understanding all this? Getting knowledge that no one else had? It was strangely alluring.

“Be warned, though. The menders are much too busy. Most of the time it is other beings that visit. It is the dark influences from outside who prey on those who want to learn. They will try to taint their minds.”

For a moment I shuddered as I thought back to those dark areas in the sky. Not even the menders seemed to visit them. What horrors were lurking there?

The strugglers near the pillar stepped closer, turning their faces upwards. A strange curiosity overcame me. I almost rushed forward to push myself between them.

Suddenly the guide next to me cringed back. Fear washed over me as I noticed the defensive posture he had taken.

I had no time to react. In an instant, the stars above us were blotted out as the sky turned into thick, heavy darkness. Then, for a short, terrible moment, I saw something different that almost broke my mind. I can’t hope to describe what it was.

Once it was over, I found myself on the ground. I was breathing heavily, covered in sweat, and my heart was beating against my chest.

For a moment the sky stayed dark. Then it turned back into the ocean of stars it was before. The flame pillar was gone.

Many other strugglers were on the ground like me, and I knew it had not been a benevolent visitor. I wondered if the few still standing had been waiting for this other type.

Still scared, I looked at the guide once more.

“Are we in danger?”

He laughed again.

“There is no danger at a constant. These are the rules. You can teach, and you can haunt. You can invite or reject. Yet, you can’t do anything without the will of the one you want to influence. That’s how it has been established.”

I didn’t try to understand what he was saying.

By now many of the other strugglers got up. They soon moved away from the remains of the pillar and walked towards the path ahead.

“Is it over?”

The guide nodded.

“So I have to leave as well?”

“No. There are no rules like that. Stay or leave. Relight the pillar or leave it as it is. It is all up to you.”

What a strange dream this is. For a moment I considered relighting the pillar to chance another visit. Then I changed my mind.

“How do I find my way back?”

“You follow the same path you used to get here. That’s all there is to it.”

For a moment I didn’t know what to do, then I gave the guide an awkward nod and went on my way. I wondered if there’d be any other strugglers on their way with me, but the path was empty. Was this path only for me?

As I descended the hill, I looked towards where my city should be and saw yet another terrifying world. I saw thousands of metallic monoliths that housed disgusting, slimy organisms. I felt sick as I looked at them, and instead I focused on the path ahead of me.

For a moment I wondered why the path looked the way it did. Then I remembered the words of the guide. If he took on the form easiest to comprehend for me, then did the constant itself too? Did it look different for all the other strugglers?

At the end of the path, I mustered up my courage to look away from it once more. This time it was unmistakably my city. As I got closer to the end, I wondered what would happen if I ignored the gate and crossed over from where I was.

The thought of ending up in one of the nightmarish visions I had seen made me discard the idea in an instant.

When I reached the end of the path, I hesitated for a moment. Once I was sure it was my city, I stepped through the gate.

I was back on the path along the riverside.

Next to me was the familiar dark river, and on the other side was the glowing city. I turned around to look at the hill one last time, but it had vanished.

Checking my phone revealed that it was still only around midnight. It felt as if I’d spent hours on the hill, at this constant. In reality, though, no time had passed at all.

Even now, weeks later, I am not sure what happened that night. The next day, life went on as it did before.

It felt like a dream. Had my mind drifted off while I walked or stood near the riverbank?

Somehow though, I can’t seem to shake off what the guide said about our reality:

“It is so closely influenced, yet so reluctant to see. Everything, all hints, all touches, you call them illusions, hallucinations, or dreams.”

The more I think about it, the more I am inclined to search for these influences, these signs. If only to prove that what happened that night was real.

Did you ever wish to not feel a thing, to just be numb? I did.

My name’s Katie, I’m in my late twenties and that’s all you need to know about the miserable existence you’d call my life.

Until a few months ago, I was happy. Now, I don’t even know what that feeling is anymore.

First, an unexpected illness struck my father, the only family I’d left. He withered away and died within a month. Soon after, my boyfriend of many years broke up with me.

I think those two events broke something inside of me.

From then on my life comprised nothing more than getting up, eating, going to work, and then back to sleep. It had become nothing but an endless, empty cycle that plunged me into depression.

It wasn’t long before I stopped going to work. I loathed myself to waste it like that, but I knew dad’s life insurance would last for a while.

I spent most of my days at home, alone, and only left the apartment to get food, food that didn’t taste like anything.

Life wasn’t life anymore. It had become nothing but depression, thoughts of suicide, and the medication I took to keep me from going through with it. At least for the time being.

That’s all there was for me. Well, almost all. There was another detail, an insignificant one, I thought at the time.

It was a certain reoccurring dream.

I’d had it every night, ever since I’d fallen into this state of depression. It wasn’t a nightmare. No, it was a strange dream, or better, a dream sequence.

At times I dreamt about my father, at others about my boyfriend. Yet, whatever I dreamt about, each dream ended in the same way.

I’d be standing in front of a figure shrouded in darkness. The only thing I could make out of it was a ghastly white arm and hand. It would hold out an object and always ask the same question:

“What am I holding?”

Not once had I been able to answer. I’d shake my head and say I didn’t know. The figure would say one more thing. It too was always the same:

“It’s a cube, my dear.”

After that, I’d wake up. This dream puzzled me. What was even stranger, I could never picture the object as anything but a large wooden cube. Yet, in the dream itself, I never knew what it was. It was the strangest thing, this dream.

I’d asked myself countless times where the dream came from and what it could mean, but I never found an answer.

About a week ago, as I was sitting at my desk, my thoughts went back to the dream once again.

Soon I’d opened countless websites about reoccurring dreams on the internet. There seemed to be an endless number of them. For hours I read about dreams of being followed, teeth falling out and other, weirder things.

Some people mentioned dreams centered on certain objects, but it was something of importance or meaning to the person. Their first little bike, a favorite toy, or an old photograph for example.

The dream I was having, though, seemed to be different. I owned no wooden cubes or boxes resembling one. Even after looking through old photo albums and the few belongings I’d left of my parents, there was nothing like it.

So, I sat there for long hours, wondering how this dream and the cube in it were connected to me. I cursed. This was driving me mad!

“Just let it go, Katie. Ignore it. It’s probably another side-effect of the damned medication,” I told myself, rubbing my temples.

Even though what was I to do? Wake up every single morning, telling myself not to think about this strange, reoccurring dream? No, by now it had already become a lasting misery that seemed to crawl back into my memory repeatedly.

For a few more minutes I sat there, pondering about it before I got an idea. It was ridiculous, and I laughed to myself, but maybe it would do… something. At least, I thought, it was a way of spending the time.

I took out a sheet of paper and a pencil and went from my desk to the kitchen table. For a few minutes, I just stared at the empty sheet in front of me.

Then I started.

The beginning was a square. Next, I added depth. With this, the rough outlines of the cube were done. After that, I added all the symbols carved into its surfaces. As I drew them they reminded me of ancient nations and long lost civilizations.

It was all so easy, so clear. It was as if a door in my mind had been yanked open and like a blazing light, memories of the dream flooded my mind.

There was no spot, no detail on the cube I didn’t know. My hands were flying over the paper, adding more and more intricate details to it.

Strange symbols that reminded me of ancient hieroglyphs covered one side entirely. Crawling, twisting snakes covered another one.

I don’t know where all those memories came from. I just kept drawing.

Once I was done, the table in front of me was covered in sheets. They showed the various sides of the cube or close-ups of specific details.

Looking at all those drawings, I couldn’t help but shiver. Where had all this come from? How had I remembered all this?

As I sat there, I realized that the sun had long since set. I must’ve been drawing for hours, almost as if I’d been in a trance.

Only then did I realize how exhausted I was, and not even half an hour later I’d dozed off in bed.

My dreams that night were nothing but a foggy mess. Except for the end, of course. Once more I stood in front of the same figure and like so many times it held out the object to me.

This time, though, the answer to its question was clear to me.

“It’s a cube,” I answered.

“Indeed it is, my dear. And now that you’ve realized it, it is yours.”

The fingers of the hand motioned for me to come closer.

“What’s it for,” I asked as I took the first step.

The figure giggled before giving me an answer.

“You will find out when the time comes.”

The hand holding the cube had been right in front of me, only an arm’s length away, yet it didn’t matter how many steps I took, I couldn’t seem to reach it.

“When’s the time?”

The voice of the figure became stern and foreboding as if revealing an old secret or some hidden knowledge.

“When you find it in the real world,” it answered, “at a place that knows neither day nor night.”

And finally, at this moment, my hands reached the cube. Yet, the moment my fingers brushed against its wooden surface, I awoke.

When I got out of bed, I felt dizzy and for a moment the world was spinning around me. It lasted only for a moment though, then euphoria washed over me. The dream, it had changed!

Then I remembered the words of the figure.

‘Find it in the real world.’

What the hell was up with that?

“All right, Katie, calm down, it’s nothing but a stupid dream. A silly thing conjured up by your subconscious.”

As I made myself some coffee though, the words of the figure came back to me again and again.

“Was there… more to this?”

I laughed and shook my head.

“Don’t be stupid, it’s a dream, nothing more.”

‘A place that knows neither day nor night.’

What was that even supposed to be? Stupid brain, giving me riddles like that.

I tried to go on with my day, but it was futile. The figure’s words seemed to reverberate inside my head and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

‘Find it in the real world, at a place that knows neither day nor night.’

What sort of place was that even supposed to be?

Eventually, I decided it might be a good idea to leave my cramped little apartment for a while to get some fresh air. Who knows, maybe being stuck inside all day was the reason for coming up with stupid things like that.

As I stepped outside, I was surprised by how cold it had gotten.

“Guess I missed summer,” I thought to myself before I hurried back inside and put on some warmer clothes.

As I started down the street near my apartment building I saw how the colored leaves on the trees were shaken by a gentle autumn breeze. When I stared at them, I couldn’t help but compare myself to them. Small and shriveled up, soon to be abandoned.

I forced myself to look away and fought back the tears that welled up. I felt anger rising, self-loathing anger.

“Stop being so damn weak,” I cursed at myself and stepped on.

I’d only wanted to take a brief walk, but I somehow walked on without so much as glancing at my surroundings. Minutes became hours and soon I found myself in the western outskirts of the city.

It had once been a flourishing part of town, but in the past decades, it had gone downhill.

I wondered how I’d ended up so far out. It was almost as if my subconscious had led me here.

Then that the memory of the dream pushed back into my mind. It was like when I’d drawn the cube. Maybe going on a walk had once again opened up a door inside my mind?

Old and abandoned buildings lined the street, only a few of which seemed in use still. As my steps led me on, the sun set and darkness descended upon the city. It gave this whole, empty area an eerie atmosphere.

By now I felt almost like a spectator, watching my body move on its own.

Eventually, I stopped in front of a small alleyway and without knowing why, I took the first step inside.

The alley was a place of shades. Night hadn’t reached it yet and never would because of the dim glow of an old street light. The daylight wouldn’t either. The two buildings to either side towered above me. They were leaning so close to one another, they made it impossible for sunlight to reach the bottom of the alley. It had to be a place that was constantly in a state of gloomy twilight.

Daylight never touched it, I thought, yet the darkness of the night never engulfed it. I smiled a bit. It fit the description to the point.

As I continued, I felt the hairs on my body stand up. It felt as if I’d entered a forbidden place.

For a moment I stopped, thought about going back before curiosity drove me on. I’d been told to come to this place, I thought as the gloomy twilight surrounded me.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, I noticed a dim light to my right and when I turned I stood in front of a small store. I stared at it in confusion, wondering where it had come from. Had it been there the entire time?

I couldn’t help but shiver. This was all so weird.

“What kind of place did you end up at, Katie?” I asked myself.

A strange feeling washed over me and for a moment I felt the sensation of being watched. Yet, when I turned around, I saw nothing but the same gloomy twilight. It was almost as if the world I’d come from had been swallowed up it and nothing remained. Nothing but myself and the small store I stood in front of.

I was torn from my thoughts when I heard a sound. A scream escaped my mouth when the door to the small store was pushed open.

I took a step back and waited for someone to leave or to see who’d opened it, but there was no one else around.

For long seconds I stood there, staring at the cracked door ahead of me. Finally, apprehension was overtaken by curiosity and I approached the door. The room I entered was old and musty, filled with nothing but broken furniture. A single candle holder illuminated the room and in its light, I could make out one more thing. It was another door at the opposite end of the store.

The moment I saw it, I recognized the symbol carved into it. It was the very same cube I’d seen in my dreams. There was no mistaking it. This was the place I was sent to find.

But what exactly was this place? Was it some sort of dreamscape? But I was awake, wasn’t I? So how could something like this exist?

The sheer abnormality of the situation became clear to me and with it came confusion, even fear. How had I even found my way to a place like this? I thought back to the strange feeling I’d had during my walk. Had I come here on my own volition, or had I been… lured here?

Quick steps led me back to the entrance door. None of this here made any sense. None of this should even be real.

“Go home Katie, get out of here and go home,” I told myself.

As I reached the door, I heard a voice from behind me.

“Didn’t you come here to get it?”

I froze when I heard the voice and stood there, shivering at the sheer absurdity of it all. It was a voice I knew so well because I’d heard it in every single one of my dreams in the past months.

This was insane. None of this could be real. I must’ve snapped, gone insane because the alternative…

“If you want it, then followed me. There’s no need to be afraid, my dear.”

The tone of the voice was reassuring, friendly even. Finally, I took a deep breath and turned around, afraid of who or what I’d see.

There was nothing though, the figure was nowhere to be seen, and the room was as empty as before. The door with the cube on it, however, stood wide open.

I gasped, but there was only darkness behind it. It was a darkness so thick, it seemed to stream from the room and to swallow up the candle holder’s dim light.

“Run,” every part of my body screamed at me.

“This is wrong! This place is completely and absolutely wrong,” a voice reverberated inside my head as the first step lead me closer to the door.

Closer and closer I inched forward and with each additional step, my insides screamed at me to go back and leave. Yet, I shut them all off, pushed them away as I continued.

A heavy smell wafted through the air. It was like nothing I’d smelled before. It wasn’t repulsive, neither sweet nor sour, it was different. The smell gave you a feeling of another realm or place.

After a short while of staring into the darkness, my eyes had adjusted and I could make out a figure sitting in the center of the room.

The only thing I could see clearly was a ghastly white arm, a hand, and the cube resting on it.

A strange feeling took a hold of me, drew me forward to grab it. My hands were sweaty, my heart rate went up, all in anticipation as I stared at the object.

“How is any of this even possible?” I forced myself to ask.

The figure giggled. “It is possible because of you.”

My mouth opened again. I wanted to ask more questions, but my eyes wandered to the cube.

“What is that cube?”

“It is your cube, my dear.”

Once more I was pulled forward by this strange desire. I wanted to own the cube. It was mine and being so close to it I could barely fight the urge to jump forward and to rip it from the hand it rested on.

“All right, calm down, Katie,” I told myself and took a deep breath.

Then I walked over and reached out for it. My fingers brushed over the edges, testing and probing it, to make sure it was real. Then, in one swift motion, I swept it from the hand it rested on.

My hands closed around it and I clung to it like to a long lost treasure.

“What’s it for?” I asked as I studied the many carvings on it, the euphoria in my voice surprising even me.

Again the figure giggled and for the blink of an eye, I saw something else in the darkness, something strange and twisted.

It was gone in an instant and I didn’t know if it had been a mere trick played on me by my imagination.

“You will find out when the time comes.”

I wanted to know more, wanted to learn about the origins of the cube, but somehow I knew it was wrong to ask any more questions. This place was only to deliver the cube to my hands. What had to be done, was done.

As I turned and began walking towards the door, the figure behind me giggled again. It grew into laughter and out of curiosity, I glanced back.

I wish I hadn’t.

What I’d seen before in the blink of an eye was now fully visible. The real nature of the figure was now visible to me in all its horrendous, abominable glory.

It was a thing that defied reality itself, formless and twisted, an amalgamation of white, pudgy flesh so bloated it seemed ready to burst open. I saw tentacles and claws, eyes on places where they didn’t belong.

The laughter grew louder and louder and seemed to originate from dozens of throats at the same time.

Primal fear washed over me and in sheer and utter terror I rushed from the room and out of the shop.

I don’t know for how long or how far I ran. When I could finally think again, I was a shaking, panting mess. My lung was stinging, my body was sweaty and powerless, and for a moment I almost crashed to the ground.

Once I could move again, I noticed that it had to be late at night already.

For a second the image of the creature crawled back into my mind and my eyes darted here and there, expecting to find it lurking nearby. But now, there was nothing but an empty street.

“Had it all been a dream?” I wondered.

At that moment I noticed that I was holding something. It was the cube. In shock, I almost dropped the precious object before I pressed it against my chest, cradling it like a baby.

“Finally you’re mine,” I said out loud, wondering only for a second where all this happiness was coming from.

The one thing I didn’t know, though, was what it was for.

‘You find out when the time comes.’

The memory of the terrible abomination drove yet another surge of primal fear through my body. I stumbled, froze up, and had to lean against a building when my body started shaking.

A woman passed by and turned around, a worried look on her face.

Only when the shaking had stopped did I realize how weak I was. This entire thing had been too much for me.

I found the nearest bus station and took the bus home. People were staring at me as I clung to the precious cube, but I didn’t mind. No, I didn’t care.

When I arrived in my apartment, I carefully placed the cube on my desk before I slumped down on my bed.

The next day started like every other day. I woke up in bed and for a while, I contemplated to just lay there and never move again.

Then I realized something was different. For the first time in months, I couldn’t recall my dreams. There was no memory of any strange figures and neither of the cube.

At that moment I remembered what had happened. I jumped out of bed and rushed to my desk.

My precious cube was still there. It was astonishing, beautiful, a genuine work of art and for a while, I couldn’t do anything but stare at it. Then I reached out for it. At first, I only touched it delicately, moving my fingers around the edges before I picked it up.

There were so many carvings and symbols on it. It was mesmerizing. I sat there, turning it around and around while I studied each of its sides. When I could finally rip my attention from it, almost an hour had passed.

I went to the kitchen and made myself some coffee. As I waited for it, I noticed all the drawings on the kitchen table. When I compared them to the real cube, I realized they were identical. It was crazy, but what I’d drawn back then was the exact image of the real one resting on my desk.

I told myself again that something was wrong about this. Not only wrong, but somehow dangerous. I knew I should throw the damned thing away.

Yet, whenever I stared at it, I could not do so. I felt drawn to it, treasured it, and all thoughts of letting it go evaporated.

Whenever I touched it though, every fiber in my body seemed to tremble, seemed to cringe back, but I had to. I had to feel the wood, the carvings, the secrets hidden inside of it. Oh, I knew there was so much more to this cube. There was a connection.

‘When the time comes, you will know.’

I kept hearing the word again and again whenever I stared at the cube. My mind was a mess. All my thoughts revolved around this mysterious object and what it was for.

I wasn’t able to do anything that day. Hour after hour passed, studying the cube and searching for any hint of its purpose.

When I put it down again, I realized it was already early evening. As I turned my eyes from the cube for the first time in what must’ve been hours, I realized how drained I felt. I looked at it one last time, fought the urge to pick it up again, and went to bed.

My dreams that night were more vivid than ever before. They were a mess. An oh-so terrible mess of all the sad things that had ever happened to me.

From the death of my first pet when I was no older than six to mom’s accident and dad’s illness up to the break-up with my boyfriend. It was all there in each painful little detail.

I woke up devastated and curled up into a ball. When I stared at my phone, I realized that barely three hours had passed. It wasn’t even midnight yet.

Where had all this come from? Why now? The tears streamed from my eyes and didn’t stop. I could do nothing but lay in bed and cry and cry and cry.

Suddenly I felt something. It was an indescribable feeling. The crying stopped and after a while, I got up and left the bed behind. My steps led me through the room and I knew right away where I was going.

To the cube.

With this strange feeling came knowledge, a revelation. It seemed the right time had come because I knew exactly what I had to do.

With quick steps, I hurried to the kitchen, got all the tools I needed, and put them on the desk right next to the cube.

The procedure wouldn’t be easy, but with the cube, I knew I’d be able to do it.

There was no going back now.

With that, I picked up the first of the many tools and cut deep into my chest.

It was almost morning when I was finished. I picked up the now pulsating cube and carefully put it on a pillow in a drawer. It was a place where it would be safe, at least for the time being. Then I went to clean up all the tools, put them away, and took a shower.

When I was done, I sat down on the couch to take a rest.

I wasn’t sad anymore. All the sadness and helplessness I’d felt for so long were gone. Not only they were gone, but all my feelings were too.

There was nothing anymore. I was empty and devoid of all emotions. An emotionless expression appeared on my face, something that might once have been a smile.

While I was sitting there, the sun was rising. I watched as night changed today and darkness was pushed back by light. The scenery outside was supposed to be beautiful, at least that’s what my memories told me.

Yet, I didn’t feel a thing.

I watched as the golden light of sunrise engulfed the world outside. There was nothing about it. I saw it, but I didn’t feel. Even as tears ran down my cheeks, I didn’t feel a thing.

It was as if my body was reacting to something it remembered, but that wasn’t there anymore. Something that was a part of every human being.

The ability to feel.

I realized what I’d done. What I’d lost. And as the tears kept flowing, I knew I’d lost it forever.