Encounters

Damn you all. I've seen him.

I left my meeting with OBLIVION, the bastard; he says I let Ridley notice me listening in on them so that I could be captured and get away from Blackwelder. What even kind of sense does that make? At any rate, Blackwelder has taken more security measures against me. OBLIVION merely enjoys making me squirm, the fucker; he would still be sealed inside that coffee can if I hadn't let him out. I own the bastard and this is how he repays me!

They gave me a new meatsuit manufactured to resemble David's old form so that I'd be able to move about in public. As if I have any desire to interact with humans.

I left the meeting with OBLIVION, intending to take the quickest route back to the apartment block; this involved taking a short-cut through an alley behind the plant. That's where he was. He's taken on an old form, the one he used when the old man and Ridley first encountered him after Lucifer's return. Humanoid, but with a gold orb for a head. It was staring at me just like OBLIVION had done, not looking at the meatsuit but at me, my very non-existence, the core of my non-being.

This time I didn't break though. Fuck OBLIVION, he knows nothing. I stared back at it, into it, just the way he was staring into me. I saw him. Whatever Ridley or the old man claimed, they're wrong. That wasn't the Slender Man that was released from the Temple in Germany, it was him, it was this, the Beast. He sometimes makes himself to look like the Slender Man, but it's not him.

I stared into him and heard the hum of electricity growing louder. Some leaves blew across the pavement, though there was no wind. Black leaves. Or were they merely ashes? Then the sun went out. A faint glow from the golden orb illuminated the alley in a pale light. It continued peering into me, not reacting to the darkness or the now deafening hum. Then he appeared. Twelve feet tall at least, standing behind the fence by river, his suit of the darkest pitch, blacker than the darkness of the sunless night around him. The red of his tie and the white of his shirt bright and clear though there was no light to illumine them; and that featureless face.

Then the Beast whipped around, no longer staring at me but behind it at the Tall One. Gold orb started to back away when its orb suddenly started shrinking and deforming until it had what resembled a normal human head with a black domino mask on. It spoke, its voice rough and guttural and sloshing:

"Eighteen forty-two. The entrails of a rabbit. Three men gather around and Your gods the dresser drawer." It turned to face me, "Bartholomew will have you yet."

The Tall One had had only two limbs when he appeared, normal arms that split off into the branches of a tree; now they separated at the root, grew less distinct, stretching and slithering. One lunged out and grabbed the Beast around the waist, picked it up and slammed it through the brick back wall of the plant. I looked into the hole, saw the sun shining through a cloud in the blue sky on the other side. There was a strong wind, the black leaves and ashes whipped across the pavement at my feet and in the distance the mournful howling of a wolf.

I turned back to the figure behind the fence. No longer writhing tentacles or tangled limbs it had only two long arms with a normal human hand at end of each, stretched out, beckoning me come to him. I resisted, turned to run, fell hard against the asphalt, my feet stuck firm in the ground. I would have to abandon the body, he wasn't getting hold of me again, But the back door of the plant opened and the old man walked out, dressed in his dark blue suit, his grey hair tied in a tight ponytail behind his head. He looked down at me and leaned against the wall, reaching into his coat as he did so and removing a pack of cigarettes. He removed one, returned the pack to his coat and lit up, taking a long drag before blowing a thick cloud of smoke. He stood there in silence, the thin smoke trails from his cigarette ascending lazily, the red hot flame blinding in the dark.

Finally he turned back to me, "Lucifer has Glorianna, but it won't make a difference. There are two of them now and Ridley won't be able to enter Foxcroft."

I heard footsteps behind me.

"Would like me to show you your memories?"

The footsteps were getting closer and I tried to roll on my side to look back, only to fall off the bed, hitting hard against the plywood floor. Water-stained ceiling tiles above my head, pale sunlight streaming in through the cracked and dirtied window. I sniffed, felt the dust enter the lungs of this body. Back at the apartment block. I rose and walked to the window. Mid-morning, the sun just visible behind the thick clouds, a slight misting of rain. I checked my watch and saw that it was an hour since I'd left from watching Ridley's flunkies at the old tire shop.

There you fuckers. Hope you enjoy.