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GANAMA

Written By Leveles

Cover By Zachary Dunn
Prologue.

I have just gotten a phone call from the guy I sold my truck to. He told me I had left a notebook under the passenger seat in my car, and later dropped it off at my house. While I have had blackout drunk nights, the notebook remains a mystery as to how it got there, or who wrote it.

It's poorly written on blank pieces of paper that are held together by two clips. Some of the pages have grease stains on them, and others are bent, but it is none the less a treasure. In it's worn pages are the pure unaltered thoughts of a tormented stranger, hunting something supernatural he called Ganama.

I don't know where this man is, how he's doing, or even his name to be honest. What I do know is this man lived a life of adventure, hardship, ultimatums, and terror. I share his story with you not so you can find him if he's alive, but so you can learn about who he is, and maybe even feel like you and him could have been friends.
Day 0.

People that live in a city will tell you all about how convenient everything is, from the stores that are walking distance to the abundance of services ready and waiting. What cities lack though is a feeling of acceptance and tranquility that small rural towns provide. Small towns give the sense of lasting peace, and the idea that you can be contempt with whatever life you have. My town is two hours from the next town, and three from any city, surrounded by a tall pine forest in a valley. Although my town is far from any shore, it has the soft damp air of a coastal location. All the shops on the busy roads have been passed down through lineage giving them a personal look, the houses are small and tacky with old faded paint and lawn ornaments, and our few roads are decorated and cherished. Unlike other small towns though, our town has been plagued with constant unwelcomed activity that began to happen shortly after a mass murder six years ago. Since then the town has began to shrink in size, though those of us stubborn enough to stay are truly some of the best people there are.

About six years ago people started going missing in the woods a few minutes from the town. Eventually they would usually be found mutilated, with large portions of their bodies missing and deep clean cuts in them. Being a slightly larger, but still small town at the time the police went to investigate immediately. They found a distillery around the same area and the inspection turned into a firefight that ended up killing the only suspect. When people continued to go missing in the area, the whole forest got marked as unsafe due to "wildlife". About a week later some high school students went there for the thrill, and expectedly went missing. Police went back to look for them and even they went missing.

Our budget didn't include equipping our officers with anything besides a flashlight and a baton with the occasional firearm that was shared amongst officers. This problem of people though ending up dead raised our funding from almost nothing, to getting enough for a brand new building and a helicopter. A few officers flew over the area in search for the kids. Aerial footage showed naked pale bodies in trees and severed body parts and organs arranged into shapes on the ground.

That was enough for our local police, and before we knew it a higher up agency got involved and they all went missing. The forest was on every news station, and every TV globally. People started to move out, and police moved in. As a spectator it looked like a war against trees. Eventually after countless more deaths a decision to burn the whole place down was made.

In order to keep the fire controlled, large cement walls were built around the entire area. After a few weeks of day and day the forest had been completely incinerated. Later investigation found a large cave system emerging from a hidden grove. This repeated the same problem of officers going missing until the cave system was also destroyed.

While people didn't go missing any more, the opposite began to happen. The missing people were being spotted everywhere, with mutilated bodies, and being propped like dolls. Police got involved, and searched for about a year until dropping the case due to the fact the bodies were never there when the police showed up. There was a rhythm that developed of people finding the bodies, running away in fear, calling the police, and then the body would be gone when the police had arrived. About the same time the police dropped the case, new reports of large holes being found near the town started to appear. This time there was evidence the police could work with, and a new case opened. While they are still searching for the exact cause of these holes, they deemed the cause to be wildlife until proven otherwise. Three years after the forest burnt down, the town had come to accept the strange occurrences and had moved on.

\----------

I was finishing a hike about an hour from the town, making my way back to my truck when I had my first encounter. The path I took back was an unkempt trail. Along the path there was a small clearing just to the side. The plants had been flattened like there was a large rock that was recently moved, and in the center was a large hole. I had come across one of the holes I've heard so much about. I was lucky to spot it from a distance and felt the excitement of the unknown, I had to see it up close.

There were marks in the ground leading to it and others leaving on the other side. It was one long line in the dirt that went directly over the the center of the hole and continued unwavered. I didn't know what came first, the line or the hole. The inside walls of the hole were smooth and perfectly circular, and on top of that there was no fresh dirt around the hole. Moving closer the smooth clean walls continued to keep their detail, or lack of it. Standing at the edge I leaned over to startlingly lock eyes with my first encounter.

There was naked young teenage girl in the hole. Her skin was unnaturally white, besides crimson blood that stuck to her. She sat with her back against the side of the wall and with her legs sticking outward, slightly bent at the knees. Her arms hung down until her wrists that stuck outwards with the palms on the ground. The girl's head was resting on her shoulder, and her mouth hung open as she looked forwards. She had perfectly white teeth with a small narrow chin, and white hair that was just long enough to partly cover one of her blue eyes. Sitting in the dip made by her lifted knees and her stomach was a bright colourful display of organs that had been ripped out of her chest. I could make out her heart, with other organs in a knotted net made by her intestine. The wound moved up her chest with cleanly cut edges. Her ribs stuck out like teeth on a sideways mouth, and a few had been broken off. The once organ filled cavity was empty showing her spine running up the red wall of her back. Her esophagus and trachea looked torn in half as they sloppily hung in the open space inside her neck, moving upward until the wound stopped halfway up her throat. What scared me most though was that she was still bleeding. She laid there still, staring at me, lifeless; and I ran.

For the next few days I had hid in my house, unable to shake the image of the young girl. I saw on the news two days later that the hole was found, but no one ever mentioned the girl. Without any proof I knew I wouldn't be taken seriously, the police already had me marked as questionable from other incidences.

Over the past years I proudly overcame the event, and felt completely recovered. Well I did, until something new happened. Walking again, last night, I heard the sound of a dog whimpering from a children's playground I was passing. Feeling curious I strolled in towards the dog, only to see a naked pale man tearing up a dog like a pinata. Even in the dark night it was clear the man's skin was an unhealthy white. He sat on one knee, with the other leg just behind him completely detached. A trail of blood and torn ribbon-like skin led from the leg to the shredded stub of the man's right leg. He was leaning over, grabbing at the small dying terrier's body. Switching between hands to support himself, and tearing with the other. His arms looked black with blood, but his face was perfectly untouched. He smiled without lips on a muscular face with short black hair. It continued until the dog was nothing but a few piles of pulp, and then turned its head towards me. It stared at me, face manic. As scared as I was, I couldn't bring myself to run this time.

I stood there staring at the being, slowly reaching for the phone in my pocket to get the photo. I watched it down like a wild wolf making sure it wouldn't attack, or so I was ready if it did. Pulling my phone out I faced it towards the man preparing to take the photo. He sat there motionless and silent as I woke the phone. The screen light briefly blinded me and I instinctively turned the screen back off, and as I turned the screen off the white person was gone. It disappeared in under a second in a large empty park without making a sound or a trace. The pile of dog was also gone, even all the blood.

Although other people have seen these things, nothing has ever been reported that remotely resembles what I saw last night. No one will believe me, sighting these things has become as obscure as a yeti. The only way is if I get proof. That leads to now/today. I am going to find out what is going on.
Day 1.

The day everything started had already happened, but I decided this to be day 1. Like most things, once you get going everything begins to move in motion, and you get the feeling that you are unstoppable. Also like most things though, if you are not fully invested, you will inevitably burn out, so I chose to dedicate my life to this. Whatever this is.

Bad sleep was something I assumed I would have to get used to. The night consisted of me jumping out of my bed and fumbling around trying to get the light on every time I heard a noise. After choosing not to go for a morning walk out of fear, I could see myself becoming a shut in rather quickly. So I came up with a plan on how I could leave my house and feel safe.

I stood in my living room looking out my window as I waited for someone to walk by. Every so often I also had to glance behind me just to make sure I was alone. Once someone came into view I left the house and started to walk a few paces behind them. For a few minutes the tall man in his running outfit walked in front of me before starting to jog again. Matching his pace and following him seemed borderline stalkerish, so the distance between us grew until I was alone again.

Closer to the library than my house meant the plan was already successful, but the rest of the walk was anything but pleasant. At the library I walked in through the glass doors, and past the front desk. I'm not really someone that goes to the library very often, but I still didn't expect the place to be so busy. Don't get me wrong, I came so I could be surrounded by people, but I also came to go on the computers, something that looked like I would have to wait in line to do.

By the time my turn came I sat down at an old deep and dusty computer that was turning from white to yellow, and the keyboard was something you weren't supposed to closely inspect. Sitting for exactly half an hour searching online with no success the computer logged me off. Besides pissing me off, I continued to sneakingly log back in, and unless someone would decide to speak up, I would keep sitting. This went on for hours until I got a reply to a thread I made from someone named BARD1212.

___________________________________________________________________________

BARD1212 -

You serious about what you're saying? Are in Caimer?

ThrawayACC -

No, I don't live in a private city. A small place in the country you wouldn't know.

BARD1212 -

Theres the same problem here too. Are they always disfigured, like to a state no one could survive?

There was* . It doesn't happen any more.

ThrawayACC -

Yah, they're like that. How did it stop?

BARD1212 -

They just disappeared one day. It was blown off as a mass hallucination from a magnetic anomaly.

ThrawayACC -

Do you believe that

?*

Hello??

BARD1212 -

no

___________________________________________________________________________

The person then stopped talking to me, and a while later I was signed out. My time had run out again, but I left. Bard had given me a lead, my first, and it was honestly exciting. This was starting to become more fun than work.

I walked down the steps from the library to the road, and strolled to my car. The parking lot was nearly empty, and more people were leaving the large green building to head home. I didn't notice how much time had passed until I checked and saw it was 5:00 PM.

Back at home, my roommate was sitting in the couch watching the TV. I could see him from the front window as I got out of my truck and walked inside. He's middle aged man a few years older than me that enjoyed being alone and quiet. In other words he was the perfect roommate for someone like me.

When I first moved into the house the owner had told me that I was renting the house to myself and I was excited with the Idea of taking care of a whole place on my own. I soon realized how tedious simple tasks around the house could become, so I put up an ad to give someone free rent and utilities, but in return they would take care of the house. Being in a small town I didn't get that many replies, actually only one. After a brief welcoming he decided to stay, and has been with me for a few years. He lives at the opposite side of the house from me, in my old room. I rarely saw him, and when I did there was nothing more than a silent head nod.
Day 2.

The night before was strange. I sleep like any other regular person, and the same goes for my dreams, but that night I dreamed of a world so vivid I woke up in the panic of being back home. I don't even remember what the dream was, but it still sticks in my mind. I feel like anything could be related to this, so I need to start recording these if they persist.

That morning I went out to look for pretty much anything I could find, although more holes were my main target. I sat back down at the library lab, and continued to look for clues before I would eventually have to go searching the forests. The thought of looking in the forests was something I knew I had to do, but it scared me; it's already a creepy place without the threat of whatever those things are. I found myself unable to think of anything else as I tried to focus on the computer. There was no point being there if I couldn't focus, so I got up from my desk.

The hardware store was a place that I could get something that gave me a sense of security without raising any suspicion. It was also the only place with blunt objects that I could afford. I pulled in at about noon and the place was almost empty. The long green trimming looked dull under the intensity of the sun, and the large blue letters gave off a faint glow.

The automatic doors breezed open as I walked in, and felt the cool air of the store. I wandered up and down the aisles looking for something that I could easily use to defend myself, and after some wandering I found a metal pipe. It was perfect, something I could carry anywhere and quickly deploy from my side.

There were some other small tools and items that I decided to buy along with a few pipes. The woman at the front seemed happy to have a customer which I found odd, but appreciated the smile. I had luckily received my Aunts check in the mail recently so I could buy it all. I knew that I was going to have to be frugal for the rest of the month but that was ok.

I dreamed again that night, of a red desert as far as the eye could see. I wasn't there as a person, but as a spectator, detached from a body. The wind soon started to pick up, and millions of live shrimp rolled down the dunes like water. Then birds started to appear in the sky, swooping down to eat the shrimp. The sky quickly became black with birds as they swarmed together like bugs. As the birds flew down to feed, more birds took their place in the sky. Soon there was nothing but birds and shrimp all around.

This continued until everything started to suffocate. Feathers flew as birds fell from the sky, and falling into the sea of dead shrimp. Eventually the entire world was covered in a thick layer of literal death. The wind then stopped, and nothing moved.
Day 3.

A new hole had been discovered near some stream only about half an hour away. The news anchor claimed it was a den of some animal that collapsed but it was a lead for me. I grabbed my keys and pipe, and drove off.

I stopped by some diner on the way for some breakfast I badly needed. As I sat there I watched the TV closely. The hole was about 5 feet deep and 3 feet across. Some guy beside me at the bar in a dirty red shirt mumbled to himself "no fuck'n gopher digs a hole that big" like the news anchor would hear him and apologize for the mistake.

Driving there I passed a bridge and continued on for a few minutes on a small dirt road. A few people passing by had gotten out of their cars to look at the hole that they would have to drive around, but it definitely wasn't the anything spectacular. I looked for any tracks leading to it but not even a line like before, I was a bit relieved though.

It didn't take long for everyone to go on their way, leaving me the whole scene to myself. I walked around for a bit, checking to see if anything out of place present, but I saw nothing. I even walked down the path but there wasn't a thing. This made three days of searching and still nothing to show for it. I got my equipment (still just a pipe) and headed back to my truck.

Walking back I noticed there was another person around the hole, but unlike the others he was taking notes. As I walked by him I casually glanced at the note pad and read in big bold letters at the top GANAMA. GANAMA surprised me a bit, so I asked "What's Ganama" as I slowly strolled by.

"I don't know"

"You don't know?"

"Not until I find it". I stopped and turned towards the stranger.

"find what?". My mind started to race, could I have found someone else looking for the same thing?

"The thing that killed all those cops a few years back."

I quickly introduced myself and to which he told me his name was Andon. He had short hair that made him look like a soldier, and his body fit that idea. He was barely taller than me and from head to toe wore a jean jacket, with jeans, and brown boots. There was also a small scar on his forehead that looked like it was from years ago.

As we chatted we shared our thoughts, and eventually decided to head back into town to discuss more. On the car ride to the diner for the second time that day I was building up an idea of who he was in my head. I had come to the conclusion that he was a military vet that retired to live in the country, and maybe actually knew what he was doing. I had no idea though.

Andon had gotten to the diner before me, and we sat together at a booth in the corner.

"You're looking for it too?" He asked me.

"Yah."

Our talk started fairly poorly, but he pushed to keep it up.

"So why are you looking for it?"

"Alright, a few days a go... Well, I was out by a park a few days ago and heard a noise, some weird whining coming from inside. I went in and saw this thing." I was struggling to find the words to talk about my experience, but from his face, I could tell I was clearly getting through to him.

"So I walk in, and there's this person, some pale thing just ripping up a dog. It had wounds that would kill any human, but this thing had the energy of a lion hunting some animal."

"And it was really pale too." I added.

"You fucking serious?!" He hit the table with both his hands in excitement. "So like a zombie?!"

"I-I don't think so. Not after a dog right? Maybe something like a ghost that possessed something?" I asked unsurely.

"Ghosts are made up, this is something new."

"Not new, it's happened before." I waited for him to ask what I was talking about, but I only got a grunt.

"Some guy online knew what I was talking about. He described something like what I saw, but I haven't heard from him."

"Still not a ghost." He rebuttled "Ghosts don't dig holes. By the way, how did you connect that with the hole?"

"A while ago I found a hole in the forest. There was another pale, injured body inside, but that one didn't move."

"Fuck man, you have a lot more than I do.".

We chatted for the rest of the day. Andon seemed to be a good guy and as the diner was closing we exchanged contact info and drove off to our homes.

When I slept, I became another person. I lived in a very small town on a large island. The buildings looked like they were built during the 60's, but everything was in perfect condition. In fact, the whole island felt in the 60's, but I knew the rest of the world was in the present. The town looked down on rocky cliffs at the bottom of the hill. At the top of the hill was a massive hotel that towered over the island. Behind the hotel was the forest that covered the rest of the island.

I was on a train with a friend on our way to the airport. All of a sudden the TV's on the train showed a public message, and alarms sounded in the distance. There had been a massive disease that killed the rest of the world. We were told the island was the only known place to survive, and leaving would bring risk to everyone. Everyone was told to move into the hotel, and never go near the shore. There was even a giant battleship that circled the island.

Every day people went out to do simple jobs to keep the community going. The entire time soldiers watched us from the hotel, armed and ready. My job was to farm at carrots in a backyard were a family used to live. I had help from another guy my age, but we never talked to each other.

At the end of the day I would go back to my room near the top floor. There were days when I would go out onto the green copper balcony and play on my phone. We were allowed to have phones, and even internet, but everything was monitored closely. Any attempt at communicating with the outside world was a class A crime. The only other class A crime was trying to escape, and both were punishable by death. The man that I worked with tried escaping one day, but ended up shot instead.

One day while in the woods a plane flew over me, and shattered my belief. This led to me confronting the woman that ran the hotel. This became a large part of the dream, but all of that has been forgotten. It ended up with me getting Tor on my computer.

With Tor nobody could see what I was doing, and I quickly discovered that rest of the world was fine. We were all being kept on the island as a secret experiment by the government, and no one knew. I felt overwhelmed by this, and knew I had to escape, I had to tell the world what was going on. I had the idea to contact a news reporter and swear to exclusively talk through them, as long they could get me off the island. They had the plan to use a small boat to get me one night.
Day 4.

The next day I decided to further explore the idea Andon had suggested about Ganama being something completely new. I made a list of the things I knew it could do, and the evidence was there to prove Ganama could be something else, but there was still enough to keep me on the Idea that it was just a ghost.

I started making a mind map on my wall like a detective trying to root the evidence back to some crime boss. I already had a cork board on my wall, so I decided to go all out with pins, yarn, and hand written notes of what I knew. It didn't mean much, but it felt like real progress.

A little while after noon, Andon contacted me and said we should meet up to talk some more. Last night I had missed the chance to talk about him and who he was, so I decided this would be a good chance to get to know him better. Plus I really wanted him to work with me. He brought a clean professional attitude to the table that I felt like would be a real benefit.

Meeting at the diner again made me wish I gave the waiter a tip last night, as there was no way she didn't recognize me. When I got there he was sitting in the same seat looking at a menu. As I walked in, the diner's only waiter gave me a glare before going to get me some coffee I was afraid to drink. Even though she was an old lady that had worked there for years, she didn't seem like she wasn't above polluting a customer's food.

"We can't keep coming here, that waiter is giving me a bad feeling"

"My sis? She's always like that, at least during her work. She takes this job way too seriously, she won't even talk to me here".

It was surprising to find that the woman with such an aged look was the sister of the neat youthful looking man in front of me.

"But don't worry, we won't be meeting here next time"

"No? You have a lead?"

"Oh yah. I have had one for a while, but I needed to know I can trust you. I found a cave system just an hour from here up the hill. Best part is the place is surrounded by holes".

"Fuck me" I thought, but this was good lead. I was actually shocked to hear that he had such a profound find

"So why don't you go?"

"I'm certain this place is the real deal, I'd rather not go alone".

He wanted to go there with me tomorrow to scout it out, and see what we could find on the surface before going in. I was in, so we set up a time to meet. Before long it felt like everything serious was talked about and an awkward silence set in. Then he jumped up

"Hey, I have to go to the bowling alley today to practice a bit. My team has a game next week. Do you wanna come and have a few games?"

We picked up our stuff as the waiter walked up, her tag read Linda though her face was years since matching that friendly name.

"Aren't you going to order anything?" She didn't even look at Andon "what a bitch" I thought to myself.

"We're just leaving, but thanks".

I drove to the Bowling alley with Andon behind me, and actually beat that insane driver there. We played a few games and after went to a pub. After a few drinks I had felt like I knew Andon my whole life, and a after a few more I offered to stay at my place since the alcohol was clearing getting to him more than me. He came over and slept on my couch. My roommate walked by him a few times with a look of disappointment but nothing serious. I went to bed shortly after.

While sleeping I dreamed of being on a small tropical island. The island was only large enough to have a single tree in the middle, although it was only just the dead stump of a tree. On one side of the table sized island was a large gorilla that stood there motionless. I stood on the other side of the island and faced the gorilla, with the stump in between us. I watched as its hair quickly slid off its skin like water. Eventually all the black hair had fallen off, and a person sat there, naked and pale.
Day 5.

The next day I got up feeling a mixed feeling of excitement and nervousness for the expedition ahead of me. We had slept in but that didn't bother me much. I woke up Andon as he was in a position on the couch that made me feel uncomfortable just to look at. I half expected him to jolt up but he more of slowly shifted to a sitting position. His imprint stuck in the couch where his upper body was.

He slowly turned to look at me.

"let's get some food at the diner"

"fuck you" I replied and handed him some eggs I had made before he got up. He quickly ate them and stood up to get himself some more food. Halfway to the kitchen Andon stopped and turned around to look at me. He smiled as he pulled out a protein bar out of his pocket like he had just found a large sum of money.

"You ready to go?". I knew almost nothing about this guy but I felt so close to him.

As I walked out and locked the door he looked at me disappointed.

"you brought the pipe..." he loudly mumbled so I could hear.

"I have more if you want one"

He shut up, and got in the car once I unlocked his door. He sat in the truck and asked me if it was a car or a truck.

"Best of both?" I said.

"But ugly as shit" he smartly replied.

I drove him to his truck, still in the parking lot of the bowling alley. He offered to drive me the rest of the way in his truck, as my "mutant" wouldn't be able to drive on the roads to the location. I got out of my car and stepped up the high climb into his large hick truck.

Andon's truck was a large piece of metal and bright red paint. It was immaculate on the inside and seemed fresh from the dealership except the "DDDEATH" sticker on dashboard. He didn't seem like the person that was into that kind of music, but I was so I brought it up, happy that we had another thing in common.

"You like DDDEATH?"

"What?"

"The sticker, it's from the band"

"Oh that thing? I have no idea what it is, my sister put it there"

I never took his sister for someone that would be into that music, with her it seemed more likely she just liked the bright blue colour.

After a good hour of driving we finally arrived the base of a large stone wall.

"The road ends here, we'll have to get out"

I took the deep step out of the truck and continued along the shrinking path with Andon. After a minutes we went off the path and eventually found ourselves in a large clearing filled with holes, the grip on my pipe tightened.

We walked through the clearing to the other side of the stone wall, and right there was a small hole.

"How did you find this?"

"I hunt"

It was hard not to feel bad for the poor animal Andon was hunting as I pictured the image of him chasing a poor deer through the forest.

"So have you been inside?"

"Only while hunting" I felt worse for the animal.

We slowly stepped inside to reveal a huge cavern with many tunnels that connected to it, and went down into the abyss. I think we realized at the same time that we were severely unprepared for spelunking. We decided we would check around the area outside the cave and come back with equipment at a later date.

As we walked back we made room for light to move in, and I got a real look of the cave. The ceiling was very low and only proceeded to lower the further it went, though the floor also dipped parallel with the stone ceiling. Rock formations covered the top and water lightly trickled down into the dark. The cave was actually really beautiful, but none the less haunting.

Before we knew it the sun was going down, and neither of us wanted to be near the area after dusk, or driving in the empty woods. I stared at his sister's sticker on the way back still in disbelief that she knew what it symbolized. He dropped me off by my car and told me get some equipment and drove off.

When I went to sleep, I awoke in a large empty warehouse. The floor was made of polished marble tiles, and the walls and ceiling were made of industrial metal. There was a single light that hung from the ceiling that warmly glowed. In the middle of the room was a wooden rocking chair, but I sat beside it on the ground.

Outside alarms rang, and yelling could be heard. Some people even threw themselves on the outside of the walls, yelling for me to let them in.

"PLEASE! IT'S GONNA BE HERE! OPEN THE FUCKING PLACE!" A man cried to me.

I looked frantically around the room, but there was no entrance. The walls were completely sealed, with no way to enter or exit. I just sat there, afraid to answer. People started to scream more and more, until a large explosion became silence. When I got up, the chair was gone.
Day 6.

One of the other things I had purchased at the hardware store was a lot of salt. I had even gone to the lengths of placing a line of salt across all possible entrances to my house. I started off the day cleaning up all the salt that had found its way into everything. Luckily I still had a few unopened bags of it and the receipt. I also collected up all my iron pipes (except one), and placed them in my car. Hopefully my roommate would probably be happy about me getting rid of the salt.

I drove to the department store listening to the pipes rattle in the back of my car. As I got the pipes out I noticed a crack in my windshield, damn pipes. I pushed the shopping cart into the store looking for a place to return them. An employee quickly saw my lost look and came over to help. She told me where customer service was and as I walked away I checked her nametag for a more personal thank you, it read Linda. I said "thanks". Luckily the world isn't only Lindas, as Beth helped me return my items. She noticed a pipe was missing and I explained I knew.

After I went back into the store to buy the new gear I would hopefully use this time. I picked up a lot of rope, two hard hats, and flashlights. I went to the checkout with a feeling I never really got any money back by returning the items, as I was about to spend it again in the same store.

I never heard from Andon all day, and after talking so much in a short period of time, I was a bit disappointed. I hoped to get a message from him saying he wanted to hang at least, but I got nothing. I started to get the creeping feeling there was a reason.

That night I dreamt I was being chased through a large garden by a wolf. I sprinted down the rows of flowers and fountains as the wolf tried to bite at my feet, and even scratching the back of my legs a few times. There was a large hedge maze down my path that I ran into to loose the beast. Running inside I never looked back, but somehow I knew that the wolf stopped at the entrance.

Deeper into the maze, the grounds began to become increasingly well kept. There were no loose leaves, all of the grass was the perfect height, and even the clouds in the sky disappeared. Eventually I had to stop to inspect what was happening around me. Reaching out to touch the hedge, it was cold and solid, it was plastic. Everything was plastic, and after leaving the maze, I saw everything had become plastic in my absence.The once vicious wolf was now laying on its side like a life size plastic toy.

All of the plants had become shiny and solid. Their colour had even changed to a more simple palette that looked painted. A large flock of birds in the distance fell from the sky and hit the ground in a barrage of tapping sounds as they bounced around.
Day 7.

I awoke to see I had a message from Andon waiting for me, and I was relieved. It read "you ready for tomorrow?", I must've been asleep when he sent it which was after midnight. I replied jokingly with "no, but I am for today". He came over and looked at the items I purchased like a quality control inspector, and he approved.

We drove the same way again to the cave, though this time I was definitely more scared than before. I knew I was going into the cave, and even had the building feeling of wanting to turn back. If Andon felt the same he hid it well, so did I.

We stepped around the symmetrical holes as we made our way to the caves entrance. I was reminded of the animal that Andon chased into the cave.

"Did you get the animal that ran in?"

I was relieved to hear him say he didn't, though shaken a bit to hear it was because he didn't feel it was safe. He had become someone I began to think of as unshakable, but him feeling in danger only made me feel worse.

We crouched down and wobbled through the narrow opening to the large cavern. We walked down a few pathways which all ended up to be dead ends, and we're left with the main tunnel that we were unknowingly avoiding, but we went on.

After a little bit of walking we started to get bored and began chatting about ourselves. I had forgotten how little I knew about Andon when he started talking about himself. I thought to myself the key to getting to know Andon was not getting him shitfaced, but walking in a creepy ass cave.

He explained that his family had left him a large sum of money before moving to another country, and he had been living off of it since. His sister got her own too, but she prefered to keep working. He lived with his wife in a large home out in the forest, and got most of their food from the land. It made sense that he would have enough time to go spelunking in the afternoon on a work day if he had no job. I returned with how my Aunt gives me monthly checks after my family refused to keep giving me money. And because of that I didn't have a need for a job, so I had the time to live my life my way. It was funny to think that I had met the perfect guy to hang out with.

After a little further of a walking I checked the time and noticed we had been in this cave all day and still it continued on with no end in sight. We had to turn around because it would already be dark when we got out and no plans of spending the night inside. On the way back he cave was noticeably darker, but still showed no signs of anyone or anything else. We chatted a bit and came the conclusion to advertise for help to look through the cave.

When we got out it was dark, and surprisingly cold. There was a thin veil of fog blanketing the ground but we could still see the holes in the ground as we avoided them, and moved towards the truck. Andon noticed there was heavy frost on the windshield and had to scrape it off before leaving. As we drove into town the temperature began to considerably warm up.

At my house my roommate was already asleep and out of sight. I quietly sat at my sofa making up some ads seeking help from people to explore the newly discovered cave in the woods. I felt like I should put in the fact that the place was surrounded by these holes just in case something happens. The ad read in large red letters at the top "LOCAL CAVE EXPLORATION", and underneath "spots available" in smaller black letters, with contact info and a meetup location underneath that. In the middle of the ad was a generic photo of the cave I had found, with a small warning underneath saying "could be related to the Kane Hill incident". At the bottom I explained the journey would take place in ten days and gave a meetup time in three.

In my dream I was surrounded by nothing. I felt no sensation, and wasn't even sure if there was a ground. The entire time I tried to reach outwards, attempting to feel something else, but there was nothing else. There was no sense of fear in my dream, just lack of something. That feeling you get when you are sure you forgot to do something.
Day 8.

By the time I had finished working on my ads, It was already a little past noon. I drove around placing them on any pole I could find, and still had a large sum left over after my two hour stop and go drive around town. I doubted I could return used paper, so I decided to keep them in case they were taken down for any reason.

Driving home I decided to stop somewhere and get some food. There was no way I was going back to the diner, so I stopped by a grocery store to buy some "hot'n'ready" food. Once I had the food I would feel obliged to leave the place, so I took it upon myself to walk through the aisles first.

I held a basket as I walked up and down each aisle. I walked up aisle 4 and placed some spaghetti in the basket, and down aisle 5 and took some brown sugar. I picked a great day to go shopping as there was almost no one but me and the employes in the store. I turned the corner to aisle 6 and found someone standing in the middle of the aisle looking at the food like the price would lower if they waited. She was an old short lady that wore a large white snow coat giving her the shape of a snowy pine tree. I thought to myself "dumb bitch" as I shuffled by the dumb bitch. Although beside her was a sale on canned soup so I took a can and felt my basket gain weight.

I was switching my basket from my tired right hand to my left hand as I walked into aisle seven. The plain white tiling on the floor made the odd dark red puddle halfway down the aisle stand out. I kept walking forward, changing balance from my right leg to my left to accompany the basket as I noticed the white figure standing in the middle of the puddle, blending into the floor behind it. It stood motionless in a slowly growing puddle of pure red blood, coming from a large cut that went from its left cheek and up its right cheek. Because of this cut, its lower jaw hung much further down than it should, with its chin almost touching their chest. Besides it's snake like mouth, it was perfectly in tact and as pale as chalk, besides the bright red stripe leading from its hanging jaw to the darker red puddle on the floor. It's eyes fixed on me as I stared back, unable to move or make a sound of any kind. My chest felt like it had been turned to stone and was imploding, as I recognized the face on it. He was the policeman that was on the news years back. He talked about how he was going to find the people that went missing in the forest.

As the cold feeling of impending death slowly moved towards my hands froze with open palms, and the basket fell out of my hand. The loud clack of the basket hitting the floor jolted me back into the moment, and I deeply inhaled after holding my breath for at least ten seconds. Then it was gone.

I ran just like I had after my first encounter, passing through the doors, sprinting with tears running down my face to my car at the parking lot. I kneeled over and started to hurl. I felt the pain of my dry throat rubbing against itself and the sting of my stomach contracting. After I had stopped, I sat in my car until the tears went away and I could see again. I passed a police car and an ambulance making their way to the store as I left.

That night I laid on my couch with the TV and radio on. I laid there for hours, in fear and terror. I finally passed out after hours of waiting. 
Day 9 - 10.

I woke up at in the middle of the night the next day, although I felt like I had just fallen asleep seconds ago. I had slept for almost twenty hours, and was once again shrouded by the dark. After a few minutes of coming to, I quickly grabbed my phone and turned on the torch.

The room was the same as when I fell asleep a day before, except my roommate must have turned the lights back off. I walked around in full panic as I rushed toward the closest light switch. I flipped it up but nothing happened, so I ran to the next and the same thing happened. It took a while for me to realize the whole town had no power. During the day I would have been alright, knowing that being in a small town sometimes means this happens. But I was losing it. I slowly walked around my house like a person making their way through a field of mines looking for candles to light. I had about 4 candles lit before I could calm down a bit. I spread the candles across the house making the house evenly dark, and sat in a corner at the back of the house, facing the window in the living room. I was scared as shit that night, though nothing at all happened.

By the time it was light outside I had been sitting in the corner playing a game on my phone for hours. The phone buzzed to remind me the battery was closer to running out, and again I ignored the notification. The charger was in my car, and I refused to leave the house, let alone my corner. As the the windows began to let in more light my head reacted with pain. I slowly got up, and grabbed a pill from my cupboard with some a water bottle that was sitting on the counter and slumped back down.

In my sleep I was a child again. I wandered the halls of my old home, and played with my servants. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I was supposed to be doing the exercises Izaac had instructed, but I couldn't remember who Izaac was, or the actual exercises, so I ignored the thought. I wandered into the great hall, and stared into the watching eyes of the family paintings.

I skipped away and headed towards the yard. I was about to open the door when I saw the stranger. They stood there in the middle of the yard, and stared at me. I stared back, but couldn't make out who they were. Then they began to fall apart, like a melting snowman. The feeling of fear began to creep on me as I continued to watch, until I started to cry. I stood there crying as I watched them.
Day 11.

I woke up in the morning and felt significantly better than the day before. The meetup was in a few hours, although I was suspicious if anyone would come since no one had tried to contact me about it. Andon had messaged me though saying he was moving the cave date sooner to only two days away.

I managed to waste my morning watching shows and and playing games. I was even getting over seeing the police officer in the grocery store. I had a positive outlook on the day as I started getting my stuff together just before I left. I made myself look as nice as I could for the meeting, and even wore a completely new outfit.

Driving to the meetup spot I got some takeout breakfast at some fast food place. I drove the rest of the way eating a shitty breakfast sandwich.The spot was a sandwich shop, and I drove by to see if anyone was inside. The place was empty, although I was early so I didn't lose hope.

I sat in the shop at a small round table in the shop, anxious for the the official time to come. On the table was a small sign I made to let people know I was the person to meet, and beside that was a sandwich I was pressured into buying. As time passed I grew more and more eager, until disappointment began to sink in.

Halfway through my sandwich a girl with black neat long hair walked in and up to the counter. She wore tall woolly boots that wrapped around her jeans that left nothing to the imagination. There was a small gap inbetween of where her pants ended, and her black tight tank top started that showed off her stomach. Both her hands had black bracelets tightly around them, and a thin choker around her neck. I assumed she wasn't wearing makeup as she didn't have any lipstick on, although she did have a nice face. She looked like the kind of person that would break your car's window if you didn't have a cigarette when she asked for one, she looked like a serious bitch.

She bought herself a bag of plain chips, looked at me, back at the sign, walked over, and sat down in front of me. She spoke with a voice infinitely softer and kinder than her appearance.

"Are we the only ones?"

"Well there is supposed to be someone else."

I was surprised Andon hadn't showed up, I was afraid he was going to tell me she was also his sister.

"It doesn't look like they're coming. Maybe the date changed." she said with optimism

"No... I set the date after all."

"Oh! I didn't know you were the one in charge, my name's Meg!" She lifted her hand to shake mine.

"Good to meet you, although I should tell you the expedition has been moved to two days from now, are you still in?" she nodded and we chatted for enough time for her to get a sandwich, and for me to get another.

At the end I couldn't tell if she was serious about hunting Ganama, or thought it was a freak show and was into that. Either way she was hot as fuck, so I asked her if she wanted to get together again that night to go over more details. There was no way my invitation went over her head, because she agreed and took out her phone to exchange numbers. We chatted about some more about trivial things, and then she spoke in a tone that made me question her seriousness to the hunt more, but got me excited about meeting her that night "Let's meet up at 8" and the got up and walked away. As she walked towards the door I watched her ass move back and forth until my phone buzzed. It read "Meg" across the top and her address below. I replied with a simple "See you at 8", and left shortly after.

During the time until 8:00 PM, I couldn't think about much of anything. About two hours before meeting Meg that night, Andon called me to apologize for not being there. The truth was I was happy that he wasn't, but I still pretended to be pissed off, seeing how far my luck could take me. As it turned out he didn't care enough to do anything for me, but not like I really cared. He explained the power was still out at his house leaving his car stuck in the garage. It made sense, so I pretended to care enough to let it slide.

That night, I drove to the address she sent me and messaged her I was there. I was expecting her to invite me in, but she replied with "I'll be right out". I was rushing to think of an excuse to bring her to my house, as she was walking towards my car. She wasn't in anything fancy enough to give the impression that we had the same idea about tonight, which only made me only more nervous.

"So, where are we going?" she said softly in a way that concerned me more. I had no idea, I was panicking for an answer to come and I started speaking.

"My place is where the stuff is?" I was sweating by how stupid I sounded until I heard her say "alright" in a way completely different than before, a seductive way. I squirmed a bit with excitement and drove both of us towards my house.

I was a bit worried though that my roommate would be bothered with me bringing someone else over, but he had no problem with Andon, I reassured myself. As we pulled in the driveway, she leaned over and started to passionately kiss me. We continued to kiss for a few minutes until I was able to get my seatbelt off and move towards the house, pulling her behind me as she tightly held my hand.

I could hear my TV on through the door, and for a brief moment I didn't want to bother my roommate who I assumed was watching the television in the living room, but I quickly stopped caring as Meg leaned up to kiss me again as her grip tightened. I quickly fumbled through my keys and threw the door open. I stumbled in backwards with Meg kissing me and turned around to notice no one else in the room. My roommate had left the TV on, which did happen accidentally from time to time. When we got inside, my house did something magical fairy magical; as it changed from a nice and clean house to the dirtiest dungeon I had ever seen. I hoped that she didn't notice as she pulled me in again, a feeling that I could get used to. Either she didn't notice, or didn't say anything as she laid on the couch and pulled me on top of her.

She wiggled her arms up as I took her shirt off and then she took off mine. We grinded for a few minutes until she saw my bed through an open door, grabbed my hand and pulled me to my room. She proceeded to take her pants off, making a gentle hip motion to get the strap over her rear. She then fell backwards onto my bed, as I then pulled her pants off of her as she lifted her legs. I took of my pants as she took her underwear off, and and she slid under the blankets, revealing a bare part on the bed part clearly meant for me. Under the blankets she jumped on my waist as I felt the smooth skin of her hips gliding on mine. We screwed that night, and then screwed again, and again. Each time longer and harder until I can't remember what happened. I dreamed that night, but I have no memory of it.
Day 12.

I woke up cold and naked in the middle of the day. Meg hung half on half off the mattress, with her legs partly spread giving me a pleasant view. I noticed her tan line, and a small birth mark below her left butt cheek. I got up feeling congested with ringing in my ears.

After eating an orange, Meg walked out my room in her bra and underwear as I turned the TV on. Her hair was messy, but she had a cute look to her. She asked me where my shower was with a voice that could tell anyone she just woke up, and walked to my bathroom.

A little while later I was lying on one side of the couch with Meg's back against my stomach, and my arms around her watching the television. I heard a car pull into my driveway and my roommate walked through the door.

"Jack!?" Meg almost jumped.

"You know him?" I asked meg.

"We used to work together" jack mumbled as he walked by, completely unchanged as normally.

Meg explained he was the manager at a furniture store she used to work at, though she said he was a good boss. I found it hard to believe that my roommate could be a manager, or even apply for an interview. He seemed more like the guy that would work in a warehouse with a repetitive task that he continue to perform all day.

"Hey, I need to head out" Meg insisted after checking her phone.

"Alright, I'll see you later, bye".

"Bye" she said to me as she closed the door gently behind her. A car was already at the front of my house waiting for her. Another girl with black hair sat in the driver's seat, and waved at her as Meg walked out. I got up and threw blankets around in my room trying to find my phone, until I found it in the pocket of the pants I had worn yesterday.

I had a missed call from Andon telling me his electricity came back, and asking if I wanted to hang out with him that day... yesterday. I replied that I was available now, and that I had an awesome story to tell him. He took about fifteen minutes too reply with "I'm here" as he walked through the door.

He took one look at me, and opened the blinds, burning my eyes.

"Don't you look horrible" he said as he sat down on the other end of the sofa "You gonna fix yourself up before we go out?" he asked.

"Whats wrong with me?"

"Your hair's a mess to start"

"I'll put a hat on" I barked back as I stood up and put on my jacket, then an old grey beanie. He handed me a protein bar as we made our way to his truck, which I definitely needed. I stepped up into my seat and felt the sun like a vampire.

As I sat in my seat while he drove us to the mall, staring at the sticky residue where Linda's sticker used to be.

"What happened to the sticker?"

"The corner started coming off, so I took the whole thing down."

"I didn't take you for a neat freak" to which he replied "have you seen my car" as he waved his arm around as if showing off an item in a gameshow. He was right though, I often wished my car looked like his.

"Not to mention, my hou-" he was cut off as a car honked at him for missing a stop sign, and I began to laugh.

We arrived at the mall, parking at the end of the tiny cramped parking lot. As we walked towards the long one story concrete building, I could smell the pine trees from the forest surrounding us on all sides. While we walked towards the building I remember I wanted to crow to Andon about the last night, and started to tell him this amazing tale of me and Meg.

"No fucking way. The meeting I miss is the the one a smoking girl went to, and she also happened to bang you? Not fair."

"Aren't you married?"

"Yah, but I still have feelings". We laughed together like good friends as we walked towards the doors. Andon pressed the wheelchair button, and we walked by the invisible doorman. After a little while of browsing through stores and huts, I got a message from Meg "I'm at your place. Hurry". I didn't know what to expect from the message, but I showed it to Andon and he decided we should head over. We left the mall and drove to my house.

Driving towards the house I could see another vehicle parked in front. It was a large truck similar to Andon's but dark black, and was covered in redneck stickers on the back "Girls'N'Guns" read one sticker, and another one was just a picture of a pair of breasts. As we got closer I could see a large man banging on my door, yelling.

"YOU BITCH! GET THE FUCK OUT HERE" he screamed at my door.

The man stood significantly taller than me, and was wearing loose bright blue jeans, and a jean jacket. His hair was brown, dirty, and long like his beard, and there was blood on his bottom lip. He looked like he was going to take my door down until I jumped out of the car and started yelling at him myself.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! GET OFF MY PROPERTY BEFORE I CALL THE POLICE" I yelled at the large man.

He didn't like me threatening with the police, as he immediately shut up and started walking toward me. My heart started to pound as the large possibly inbred man made his way toward me. I started thinking how I was going to survive this, and again I wished I had my pipe. He walked up to me and right by me.

"Fucking faggot ass bitch." I could hear him say as he walked by.

Once I watched him drive off, I ran to my house and quickly unlocked the door. I could hear sobbing from inside. I quickly looked around for Meg who was crying on my couch. There was a large red spot on the right side of her face that was clearly from being slapped, and her clothes were twisted and torn. I ran up to her and wrapped my arms around her until she could talk through her tears. "c-c-can I h-have som-me w-" was the first thing she said, as Andon cut her off handing her the glass he had already poured for her. She held the water with her hands shaking, and tears running down her red face.

A few minutes later she started talking again. I was beside her trying to comfort her as Andon catered for her. Andon seemed like he had done this before, or lived a second life as butler, as he he gently nodded every time she asked for a glass of water or a pillow, got up, fetched it and handed it to her in a way that gave off a real I've done this before vibe.

"I guess I should explain what's going on." Meg quietly said in with a thin fake laugh, trying to hide her tears. Andon knew she probably didn't want him there so he got up and left. As he walked out the front door he looked at me with a stern look, and closed the door.

"That's my ex" she said in the same way as before, but with more sincerity. The tears were going away, and I stayed quiet listening to her.

"He came over to my house this morning and started trying to make up with me. I knew it was a bad Idea to tell him I was seeing someone else but I was just so happy about it." she spoke as she looked at me directly giving me the feeling to pull her to me closer.

"I told him I already moved on, and then my door started to open. I didn't even know he had a key, but he came right in and ran towards me. He started saying things like "I'll make you remember how good it felt" as he started trying to tear my clothes off. As he started taking off his belt I saw a chance and I tried running. He grabbed my shirt and I fell face first. I could still see the open door as jumped on top of me, and started trying to kiss me. I bit his lip and he kneed me in the stomach and slapped me, but I managed to get away to your house." she was already crying again.

After the crying stopped again we sat there in silence for a long time, until I started talking about tomorrow, trying to distract her. It turned out she was actually serious about the hunt. Her father was one of the police that died at Kane Hill.

"Was he the one on the news?" I quickly asked.

"No, he wasn't even supposed to be there. He was filling in for another officer that got sick a few days before".

I had never felt so bad to feel relieved from hearing such a tragic story, but I was still just as much. She wanted to find out what happened to her father, which made sense to me. We slept together on the couch that night in the dark living room, but that night I wasn't scared.

I opened my eyes to find myself in the same spot I had fallen asleep, but I knew I was sleeping. I looked around the room and nothing was different, the time was even portrayed accurately. I then woke up in the same position, and went back to sleep.
Day 13.

By the time Meg had woken up, I had already gone at and gotten both of us some food. She happily took her egg sandwich and I had my morning burrito. We got ready, grabbed our gear and sent a message to Andon "We're ready".

He was already up and ready at the diner waiting for us. We drove and met him, and started moving the gear from my truck to his. I could feel Linda glaring at me as I moved the rope and tools to Andon's truck. We were ready for the day, and I believed this could end it all. I had found the perfect people, we had prepared, and we had a mission. As Andon started his truck I sat in between Meg and him since there was no backseat, and as we pulled out of the parking lot my eyes met Linda's as I saw the look of confusion on her face.

Eventually we got to where we would have to walk and Andon turned off the car. We started retrieving our tools from the bed. I reached for my pipe but before I could grasp it, Andon handed me a hunting rifle instead.

"We are going to need real weapons to fight real monsters" he spoke in a heroic way. I felt anxiety creeping on me the whole drive and by now it was all I could feel, but on the outside I was calm and ready. I didn't know if Andon felt scared at all, but he had the persona of a leader, which was something we all needed. When we left the car he handed Meg a hand gun and both of us some spare ammo. Andon had a small sawed off shotgun with him, I had a long single shot rifle, and Meg had a black small handgun. It would have made more sense for us to have guns that used the same ammunition, but It was still a nice upgrade from a pipe. We walked through the leaves and bushes and past the stone wall to the other side. Standing a small clearing in the dense forest, facing the small opening of the cave, surrounded by perfectly symmetrical holes, and we continued on.

As we walked by the holes toward the cave's entrance, I felt the cold feeling I felt at the supermarket begin to grow on my skin as I saw strips where the grass was missing. They went through holes and appeared on the other side, like the first hole I had encountered. The area had changed since the last time me and Andon were there, but even though I knew we should check them, I stayed silent and afraid. We kneeled over as we were greeted once again by the vast expanse of the cave, and the dark.

I handed out the flashlights that I had been holding in my backpack, to Andon and to Meg. Andon managed to drop his on the cold damp floor as I was handing to him. As it rolled down the main tunnel its light shone on the caves wall. We watched in disbelief as large engravings were illuminated by the light and and went dark again as the torch rolled by. The flashlight continued to roll down the dip in the floor until all we could see was a gentle glow ahead.

Intricate carvings coated the walls making elaborate patterns and shapes. The walls looked like a kaleidoscope with no real images or writing on them. We stood inside the cave, tracing our fingers against the designs until we heard a familiar yell from outside.

"GET THE FUCK OUT HERE YOU CUNTS"

The redneck asshole had followed us there.

"No fucking way." Andon whispered to us as he peeped outside to get a look at him.

"He has a gun..." he whispered again.

"He has a -" he was cut off from the loud crack of a gunshot, and Andon ducked away from the entrance.

"THAT WAS JUST A WARNING SHOT! BUT DON'T THINK I NEVER KILLED ANYBODY" he yelled.

We stood just out the view of the cave entrance still and silent. Our guns pointed at the opening, ready to stop the redneck.

"IF YOU DON'T COME OUT, I'LL GET YOU MYSELF AND KILL-"

"And kill?" Andon whispered to us again.

We stood there for a minutes before we started to wonder why the hick wasn't saying anything. Andon leaned out the hole again, as me and Meg stood still against the wall on the other side. Andon then slowly pulled his head in, a face of complete terror had appeared on his usually calm face.

"Th-there here" he managed to whimper out before sliding down to sit, back pressed to the wall.I quickly moved my head in front of the entrance to see it for myself, and felt my mouth began to water as I grew more and more sick.

The redneck stood about 12 holes away. He was on his knees with his hands behind his head like he was being arrested. Tears ran down his face, and into his beard as he looked up at the cloudy sky. Four pale naked figures were standing around him looking down on him motionless.

The one behind him was a middle aged woman with slivers of skin hanging from all over her body. She looked like someone had taken a large cheese grater to her, but didn't cut off the tips so the slivers hung like leaves on a fern. She had a sliver that went down her left shoulder hung just beside her left breast. Another sliver down her right arm, and multiple slivers down her obese stomach and legs. The person next to the hick's left was young girl that looked no older than fourteen. She was slim and had bright red hair that matched a large deep red cut that went down their entire torso. Her stomach was bloated with multiple intestines that hung out but still managing to remain in the stomach, clogging the wound. In front of the man and just to the right was a short body of what I assume was a little boy, although he seemed undamaged from the back. To the crying man's right was a crooked woman. Her skin was pure white and covered in red veins. Her stomach hung out and was twisted like a wrung towel. The spiral pattern spread to her entire body causing her right leg to be significantly higher than her left, and her right arm to be at the top of her body, with her crooked head below it to the right. Around them I could see hands slowly reaching for the rims of the holes with lines across them. The hole closest to us had a bone with flesh further down the arm reaching for the edge. A red blood stain covered most of the arm that was visible.

I watched unable to move as the four figures slowly closed in on the sobbing hick man. As they moved closer he looked down and back up, and his eyes met mine. For a moment I felt the feeling of impending death that he felt. He took one deep breath as he kept our eye contact and gave off a surprisingly genuine smile, while tears ran down his face. His arms quickly moved from his head towards the ground, as this happened the 4 four figures lunged at him. He hastily picked his revolver off the ground and place the barrel in his mouth, all while continuing to stare into my eyes. And as he pulled the trigger I watched a man go from mortal terror to acceptance, and then take back control. I could hear nothing as he fell, only my eyes worked, then my stomach as I started puking up one of Andon's bars.

The sound of gunfire kicked Andon out of the shock, and he quickly tugged on me and Meg. We slowly creeped away into the new found safety of the cave, and away from the figures. As we got far enough from the entrance to pick back up the flashlight, we could hear a deep unity of wailing coming from behind us, and we started to pick up pace. Knowing better than to move from the main tunnel, the path was straight and long.

After lightly jogging for what felt like hours, the passage finally began to level out, and the sound of the figures had became inaudible long ago.

"I need to take a break" I said in between my wheezing, and in instant silent agreement we all collapsed breathing heavily, and weak. We sat at the bottom of the massive underground hill for a few minutes.

"Hasn't it been getting brighter in here?" Meg was the first notice.

It had been for a while, to the point the flashlights were barely needed.

"There's a light coming from deeper down the cave." she continued with after breathing a bit.

"Yah..." Andon replied to her between his breathing "That's nice".

With no other way to go, slowly picking ourselves up we moved forward. Silently for about an hour until we didn't need our flashlights anymore and put them away. A while later Meg broke the silence,

"What happened back there? What was that noise?"

"You haven't fucking told her?" Andon almost yelled at me.

"Told me what?" Meg concerningly asked as she turned to me.

"The bodies of the people that went into Kane Hill are still walking" I hastily replied before quickly remembering of her father and cursed myself. Meg didn't ask for more of an explanation, and continued quietly.

After that Meg picked up her pace and started gaining distance on me and Andon. A little while later she stopped to wait for us and turned around to watch us close the gap. I watched her arm rise up to point at us, and then she continued to perform a kneeling motion that spun back around and started to sprint away from me and Andon. We quickly looked around to see the once black and intricately designed cave walls was now white, covered in writhing hands, grabbing into the air in a spastic manner. Me and Andon started running sprinting. We had all found new strength as we felt the fight or flight instinct kick in and push us away from the wave of hands that followed us. Quickly catching up with Meg's more conservative pace Andon passed by and kept on running, leaving us behind.

The cave got brighter as me and Meg moved forward, but there was no sight of Andon ahead. I took a few glances back while running to confirm that the hands continued to follow. Some of the hands had soft stumps where fingers were, and others had ones that looked like the fingers had been ripped off. As I looked further back I could see the hands continue to reach out to become arms, sporadically moving and smacking into each other with force, and their hands still trying to grab at something. Some of the arms had grabbed each other and they ripped off the flesh, throwing blood and white skin around. Directly behind us I could see fingertips coming through the rock, slowly growing as we got further.

I was running as fast as I could, but my mind cleared when in my peripheral I watched Meg collapse. She fell face first into the ground and fell unconscious before harshly sliding a bit further. It took me about 10 seconds before I even realized what had happened and stopped running. I turned around to see pale hands slowly moving towards Meg, and eventually reach her unconscious body.

They began to tear her flesh, like peeling the skin off a cooked chicken. She awoke screaming from the pain covered in her own blood, just in time to watch the tendons in her left arm snap and pulled away. I watched as the arms held her above them, digging into her back as others grabbed at her throat forcing their fingers under her skin. Blood started bubbling from her mouth as I could hear the slapping of the arms against each other, the sound of meat being violently torn, and soft gurgling from Meg. Unable to break away from the horrifying sight, I watch the arms pull at her neck until she was decapitated, and even as they tore off the rest of her limbs, pulling them apart into smaller pieces. After minutes of pure horror, I noticed the white sea in front of me ended where Meg was, and it even started moving away. I got up as quick as I could and started to run away, blind with tears. I then tripped, and everything went dark.
Day ???.

I woke with my with my face on the ground in serious pain. I felt the resistance of thick sticky blood pulling me in as I pulled my head away. I slowly sat up, fighting the urge to lie back down and sleep, while looking around seeing the world around me as a blurry mess. With the feeling of my head ringing again, and the rest of my body cold, consciousness was slowly restored as my vision started to clear.

I stared forward into a large tunnel, and turned my head to a wall behind me with a small hole in the bottom that lead somewhere dark. It looked like I was back at the cave entrance, although the lack of small tunnels branching from the path in front convinced me otherwise. As my mind settled I could tell this was an entirely different place than before. The walls and floor were completely flat smooth black stone, and they met on rounded edges making the tunnel a shape of a long rounded rectangle. The whole area was filled with red light but there was no light source, nor were there any shadows.

"You're finally awake..." a weak voice beside me spoke.

I turned to my side to see Andon. His legs were spread out and his upper body curved upwards with the floor meeting the walls.

"Where's Meg..?" he asked.

I slid myself to the adjacent wall and sat down to see him. He was holding a hand over his chest, ineffectively trying to stop the flow of blood which ran down the bevelled edge he was sitting against and pooled onto the floor. I had never seen so much blood before in my life.

"She's dead" I replied, feeling my chest start to convulse with sadness.

"I'm sorry. I screwed up, I should have stayed with you"

"It's alright" I gasped for air as I started to sob. "Nothing could have been done".

I looked at Andon, wiping away my tears,

"What happened?"

"Not much further ahead of you guys... of you... I found the end of the cave" he spoke in a quiet raspy way like he had lost his voice. "When I reached the end, there was a small hole that led on to another room. I couldn't hear the sound of running anymore and I panicked, and the guilt of leaving you set in. I turned back to see you face down on the ground, and Meg nowhere to be seen. I picked you up and took you to the hole. I thought it would be best to put a wall in between us and whatever that was."

"What's with the blood?" I hesitantly asked. I knew I didn't wanna know the answer. I wasn't sure if it was all his, but even though I felt like all the blood should have been mine, I had the feeling it wasn't.

"After I got you in here, I slipped on the smooth floor. My gun was in my pocket and it misfired from hitting the ground and... yah..."

He sat there for a few moments in disappointment as he replayed the events that would be responsible for his death.

"But I'll be okay, don't worry about me." We both knew he was going to die, it was no secret, but neither of us wanted to admit it. Losing the two people in my life that mattered most to me was something I never wanted to experience, but here I was.

"What's up ahead?" I asked Andon with false optimism as I watched him bleeding in front of me.

"I don't know. This was as far as I made it.".

We sat silently in each other's company for a long time.

"Go on ahead." he spoke as he coughed up blood, "I'll catch up".

He looked up and smiled at me, "Don't worry, I promise".

I could see blood was also running down from his nose and mouth now in a constant thin stream.

"Alright, just make sure to catch up sooner than later." I said as I held in my tears.

I stood up avoiding the blood on the floor, that was now clearly from my friend. He smiled at me.

"Good luck." he said between heavy difficult breaths.

"Thanks...".

I turned from Andon walked further down the hall. While walking I could hear his heavy breathing fade to silence about a minute later. I couldn't hold back my tears, but I moved forward.

Slowly walking for about half an hour, the hallway narrowed down into a small opening to another hallway. This happened multiple times until I came to an opening with dark blue neon light coming from inside. The light cast from the opening came with the comfort of casting shadows, and even seemed to flicker like some bizarre candle. I crawled through to meet an empty dark blue room the size of a baseball field, with no ceiling. I would have thought I was outside if there weren't the large smooth black stone walls that expanded infinitely upward. The ground was covered in freshly trimmed grass, and in the middle of the room was a ring of pine trees taller than buildings. I walked towards the ring of trees enough to tell there wasn't another opening on the other side, and laid down. Half-way inbetween the entrance and the trees, feeling the soft grass on my skin, I slipped away.
Ɖ͢ⱥɏ̵ ̢͜͝?̢Ɂ̢͞ɂ͘

I quickly woke up to a growing wet feeling. A strange liquid as clear as water and thin as fog, began to slowly rise, flooding the room. With the liquid continuing to rise, I quickly ran for the trees in the center of the room. The bottom of the pine trees were exposed, and looking up showed the needles were only on the outside, making the tree somewhat like a teepee. While struggling to climb the tree, a soft deep hum grew louder as the liquid rose.

The rising level seemed to be connected to the hum, and even the light as it grew more intense as well. I was desperately trying to escape the rising liquid, but kept sliding down the trunk of the tree. As the liquid rose to exceed my own height, I latched onto the tree as tight as I could trying to prevent myself from falling in. Slowly making my way further up the trunk failed, as I slid down into the thin liquid that consumed me.

Under the thin veil the entire atmosphere was had changed. Breathing was miraculously possible, but looking up at the rising surface made it clear I was submerged. The deep humming had cleared into a just as deep voice that quickly spoke words I had never heard, sounding remotely similar to throat singing. The neon blue colour of the room had disappeared into a colourless light that illuminated everything submerged, and in the middle of the trees was something new. It was a being with the sight of something so innocently wicked, I felt a mixture of fear and purpose, as I found myself speak its name, Ganama.

It stood in the centre of the trees, nevertheless it had the look that it was floating. It stood far taller than any human, while maintaining the thickness of one. It had arms that were long and narrow, and in a natural position they would have easily hung down its proportional legs, to dangle just above its knees. The thin skin on its face showed the lack of eyes and a nose. It had an upper jaw with regular teeth, but a streak of fresh bloody raw skin where its lower jaw would have been. The flat head expanded outwards from its thin cylindrical neck into the shape of a frill, ending so thin that the bone underneath the skin was visible. It's body was covered in large red stripes that slightly resembled the markings on the cave's walls, but broke off into smaller vein like lines.

Ganama's left arm rested to it's side, though its right hand held a crooked splinter-filled wooden staff that challenged the spectacular height of the being, with an impossible, ever changing shape fixed a small part above the tip. The shape looked to be a cube that spun one way inside another cube of the same size that spun the other way. As the shape moved in uninterpretable ways, lights flickered off of it in all directions, lights of whole new colours I had never seen, and spectrums never imagined.

Even at a fair distance, I could see more detail on the being than anything up close. The small imperfections on its skin were strikingly visible, and looking closer I could see detail only a microscope should have been capable of. The flooding amount of detail my eyes were able to draw in from the being, was so much everything else was comparable to a poorly drawn cartoon. The fact that the sight was so peaceful is the most terrifying thing I can think of. I could do nothing but fall powerless to my knees, with the understanding I was in the presence of a god. Like looking at the sun, I had to look away, down at me knees as impossible colours flashed across them. Again I felt my consciousness slip away into the familiar black. 
Day 18.

There was the chopping sound of a helicopter overhead as I woke up, lying in the middle of a field in the forest. The sun had just started to rise, and I layed on the ground in the fetal position on my left elbow, feeling cold and hungry. The taste of grass filled my mouth, and my clothing was covered in grass marks. My car was just at the edge of the clearing, instead where I left it at the diner. A few feet infront of me the wooden rifle Andon had given me. I walked by it as I stumbled toward my car in a daze of bewilderment.

Out of the field and back into the cover of the trees, I made my way towards my truck as the black helicopter started to land in the field behind me, and soon a group of armed men quickly exited and started to make their way towards me, yelling at me and waving. I was half awake, and after seeing a god, I was might as well have been having an out of body experience. I grabbed my keys from the glove box, and made my way down the path towards town. At some point the helicopter lifted back to the air, and continued to follow me with the spotlight fixed on my car. A few minutes later down the path, at least twenty other armed men had set up a block at the edge of town. They stood with their guns pointed at me, ready to shoot.

Slowly stepping out of the car I felt the bright spotlight illuminate me. There was now 3 helicopters flying around me, and about twenty police, ready to kill me if I would even just flinch. A man in a black coat pushed his way through the armed men, and towards me. He wore a badge around his neck that hung on top of his ruffled white collared shirt. Besides being bald he looked fairly young, and had stubble that suggested he could grow a full beard.

"DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE?" he yelled at me barely audible through the noise and wind from the choppers.

He made his way closer to me, almost directly in front of me,

"DO YOU KNOW WHO ARE?" he asked again.

"..yah...YEAH!?"

He grabbed me by my shoulder and pulled me into the crowed of police, as they started to search and handcuff me. A van sat behind the blockade that we moved me to. Two of the helicopters kept their lights on me, and the three men who were now moving me into the van. The other helicopter stayed, shining down at my idle truck as the other men started to search it.

We sat there silent in the back of the van until they unloaded me, and guided me into my town's police fortress. They moved me to a small concrete room that had one long table inside with two chairs that sat across from each other, and a camera in the back left corner. Two of the men watched ready as the other took off my handcuffs and placed me in the seat facing the door. I sat there for a long time making patterns and shapes out of the holes in the concrete, until an orange haired man in a white vest walked in with a folder, and sat across from me. He pulled out a small silver pocket recorder, placed it in the center of the steel table, and turned it on.

"Do you know who you are?"

"Why do people keep asking me that? I know who I am. Who are you?"

"My name is officer Patrick, do you know where you live?"

I explained to him where I lived using my best effort with hand gestures and landmarks.

"Do you know where you are now?"

"I'm at the police station."

"Do you know why you're here?"

"I would assume it's because you found me in a forest.". The man's expression kept it's serious tone.

"How did you get that gun?"

"My friend... He gave it to me".

After some chatting he went out to get me papers so I could write him a written account. This was my chance to tell the police about the holes, the cave, and the people who died there. I wrote warnings about the numerous figures that we had seen there, I explained to them where Andon's body was, and I wrote down my experience with Ganama the best I could. Eventually I finished writing as Patrick took the papers from my hands and read them over. I could see his eyes moving back and forth as he read it, he thanked me and left with my report.

Some time the door opened again. I could see my parents and aunt peeking in as it opened. My mother stood in front, my father with his arms around her as she cried, and my aunt had her hand on my father's shoulder as she looked at me with pity. The bald man walked in the door and glanced back at them as he noticed I saw them.

"They were worried about you." he spoke with a smile.

"How long have I been missing for?"

"About 5 days.", he said, still smiling.

We chatted about my report for hours. He nodded politely as I talked, and made simple inquiries about the details I had written down. It felt like I was child talking about a makeshift story I had made up, and he was the adult politely listening. As I talked on, his face became more and more serious. Eventually the conversation ended and he stood up to leave. As he opened the door I could see my family had left. He turned to look at me just before walking out the door.

"I am so sorry of what you have been through." he spoke to me in a way that made me feel bad for him.

As he closed the door I heard the mechanical sound of the camera moving to get me in better view. I turned to my right to see it, but instead met eyes with those of a black haired pale naked woman. She stood just beside and a little behind me in the corner of the room, underneath the camera. Her body was littered with scars that dripped blood like loosely sewn stitches. There was a large one around her neck with the most blood seeping from it. It was Meg, but not... not anymore... A few small pieces of flesh that had been torn off were missing, and her once pretty petite face now now hung on her head loosely, covered in scars. For a few moments we stared at each other, each of us with equally blank expressions.

"HELP! HELP! HELP!" I panicked.

The man quickly opened the door seeing me shaking, already out of my chair and against the right wall facing the back left corner.

"What is it?!", he seemed almost annoyed that he had to come back.

"It-was-one-of-those-white-people..." I quickly stuttered, following with "IT WAS MEG".

He put back on his familiar comforting smile so quickly it seemed nothing more than a role, though a good role, it was still comforting. He sat down and talked me into sitting down, and I explained to him what I saw. He volunteered to spend the rest of the time in the room with me, watching my back, and I could watch his. Though he spoke to me like a child again.

"What time is it?"I asked after hours of sitting with my face down.

"I don't know. But good question."

He had continued to face behind me the whole time, looking exceptionally bored. A few minutes later someone came in with a small LED alarm clock, and he waved at the camera. It was almost midnight. Knowing the time made me even more tired. I slumped back down, and used my arms as a pillow.
Day 19.

The room was dark and silent. The soft blue light of the clock blended with the light from the EXIT sign, and lit up the wall and brushed metal door. It was about 3:18 in the morning and the man in front of me had fallen asleep. Somehow with my tired mind, I had idea that this was the perfect time to take a walk and stretch my legs. The single metal door was unlocked and effortlessly moved open. The door closed just as silently, and I could already feel the relief of being out of the room, even if I just wanted to be out for a little while.

There was no one else in the station besides a security guard. The glare of his flashlight was visible several rooms away in a closed office. He had his torch on and facing forward so no one could see him in the dark background, though after a few seconds of focusing I could make the spectacle. With one hand, he was closely watching his phone, and in return the screen dimly lit his face. His hair was short and black, and his face gave the look that he was fit, healthy, and sweaty. He had earbuds in and was breathing out his mouth heavily, while also shaking profusely.

I made my way down the hall towards the front door, hoping to get a breath of fresh air before returning back to the concrete room. I got to the door and slowly opened it, making as little noise as possible. The inside of the building was far darker than outside, and light rushed in.

"Is someone there?..." I heard a voice call from inside as I continued to slide out

"...HEY WHO'S THERE?!"

I was almost out of the stale police station, and into the breezy fresh nightly air when a hand grabbed the back of my shirt and held me in my place.

He slowly pushed me further out the door to get a better look at me, while still keeping a firm grasp on my shirt. He looked almost identical to the man sleeping in the concrete room, except he had long dark hair that went down to his shoulders. I watched him reach out his other arm to get a better hold of me. Then slowly moving into the light from behind the man, I watched Andon's face gradually appear. In the silence of the soft breeze in the warm night, the man's chest began to quickly turn red. He looked down with terror at his bloody shredded stomach, and fell to the ground with a loud thud accompanied by the sound of his head cracking against the cement steps.

Andon stood in front of me in the doorway. Like Meg, his body had characteristics that portrayed his cause of death, and his skin had become sickeningly white. He held the gun that killed him in his right hand, and kept it completely still the entire time, adjacent to where the man's chest had been blitzed. There was a large fresh would in his stomach, with blood flowing out and onto the dead man like a weak tap. His face had blood running from his nose and mouth, and he kept the same smile he had on his face when I left him.

He then reached out past me, towards the door, and slowly closed it, all while maintaining eye contact with his lifeless grin. I knew I could never go back, no one was ready to believe that a dead man killed an officer. I almost tripped as I started to run away from the station, feeling my hand meet the ground as my feet moved underneath me to keep me going.

I already knew I didn't really have anywhere I could stay. My house was the only place I could go, but I couldn't stay there long and risk being found. I moved by moon struck shadows along my path, worrying of what, or who could be behind me. At one point I hoped Andon could buy me time, and at another I cursed myself for thinking such thing. Making my way back to my house, I could see all the blood on my clothes as I walked under the streetlights, and hear the slosh of my wet shoes.

I got to my house still long before sunrise. My keys were gone, but I wouldn't care if I had to break a window, which I did. A rock from my lawn served its purpose well as I threw it through the window from a safe distance. With another rock I pushed the glass away from the bottom, so I could prevent myself from being cut while entering. Inside the house I quickly started striping off my clothes while making my way to my room. I arrived at my room feeling my way around completely nude, finding the light switch to deeply exhale in the calming yellow glow of the bulb. In the corner of my room I foraged a black long-sleeve shirt, and some jeans after that. Then some brown boots and a dark green heavy jacket. Quickly searching around I found an old grey and brown backpack and started stuffing in food and tools that I could use long term.

Almost ready to leave I remembered the cash I had stored in a shoebox under my bed. Going back into my room I leaned down on the side of my bed and reached until my hand met a cardboard box.

"...fuck..." I whispered alone as he box was empty.

I got off my knees and left my room ready to leave the house. Walking into my living room I turned towards the door, facing the clearly visible outline of a deformed body outside my window. The moon casted a dim shadow of a twisted spiral form across my floor. It stood there motionless looking at me with a face hidden in the black of its silhouette.

Slowly making my way back to my kitchen, I kept my eyes strongly locked on the figure, making sure it kept its position. Keeping my head above the counter I awkwardly reached down for the generator's fuel, and started to undo the cap. The gasoline fell onto the floor as I made my way towards the wooden paneled walls. Holding the plastic container so the fuel would run down the walls I walked around my living room slowly, maintain my posture to not lose sight of the thing. The container emptied as it doused my couch in the cold fuel.

Slowly reaching for the bag on my shoulder while facing the window, I fumbled my hand through the contents, searching for the metallic feel of one of the lighters. The small blue flame was as blinding as the sun, and I quickly panicked as I came to the realization the being was gone. Throwing the flame at my couch I nervously walked backwards, towards the back door in my kitchen.

As the flames grew so did the shadows of the pale skinned people that slowly moved out from the corners. Close to me was a man shorter than myself. His scalp hung off the front of his head and was wrapped around his face like a mask, showing only the deep red underside of his scalp that seemed black. Long grey hair visibly hung out of the small area between his scalp and his face. His arms were twisted back so his elbows faced forwards and his knees faced completely inwards, meeting each other every time he took a step.

Grabbing for the door handle, pressing my back against the wall, I quickly slid into the crack I opened and ran into my backyard. As I pushed through the gate in the backyard and moved onto the street, I could hear the wailing of the figures in my house. Quickly leaving the scene, houses near mine started to wake up. People looked out their windows, others turned the lights on, some walked outside to watch and listen. While making my way to the trees, fire trucks started their engines, rushing to my house to prevent the inferno from spreading.

By the time I was at the edge of the forest, my house was the only visible thing in town. It shone with the sun as it came up. Stumbling through the branches and weeds, making my way past the recommended trails, I found myself at a small cove in the side of a hill. The place was littered with trash and had a burnt out fire pit in the center. I sat down to take a break on an old log sitting behind the fire pit.

The feeling of homesickness grow on me as I sat in someone elses den.

"Shit.. OH FUCK... "

My hands started to tremble as I came to the realization my roommate was still in the house. Freaking out, I curled up into a ball, panicking.

"... I killed him, I killed him..."

How could I have forgot about him?! I should have been in that fire. Thoughts clouded my mind, and I found myself unable to move. An hour later the choppy sound a helicopter disrupted the silent forest, waking me up from the stressed state. They were obviously searching for me, and I was trapped. Time would have to pass before I could keep on running.

I sat for hours, waiting for the helicopter to pass. Slowly creeping out from my hiding spot, I made my way back up to the top of the hill.

*bzzleep* a walkie talkie sounded.

"No sign of tango at Alpha 14." spoke a noisy voice over the air.

I quickly fell onto my back halfway up the hill and did my best to flatten myself out.

*BZZLEEP*

"Alpha 15 also clear." said another voice.

The person with the walkie talkie was audibly moving closer.

*!BZZLEEP!*

"Body found at his house, looks like a suicide.".

The man's steps became quieter and quieter. I had become a killer, my roommate was dead.

After the man walked off I continued to run, away from the hill, and my life. As night started to fall, the searching beam from a helicopter was visible far behind me. They must have realized I was still alive, and now they had another reason to kill me, I was dangerous.

The sun was almost completely gone by now, and I had gotten a flashlight from my bag to compensate. The shaky beam was the only thing I could see, but I had been hearing footsteps behind me for a while. Every once in awhile I would spin around to low yellow eyes backing out of the light. I knew it was a wolf, so I had been constantly taking breaks to drop food from my bag, hoping it would take the food and leave. Instead it continued to follow me. Besides the terror, it was still some company to watch around. Then as we walked in a line I heard a loud YELP, and the wolf was gone.

There was a large tree further on with a fair sized opening I could fit into, and sit myself down inside with my legs stretching out. I missed the wolf, and felt really unsettled about how it left. I fell asleep trying to come up with non horrific ways of why it would yelp before disappearing.

That night I dreamt of Andon and Meg coming for me in the forest. I had "woken" up to see Andon smiling in front of me. Beside him was meg, facing the other way, screaming horrifying shrills of anguish. Her back was hunched over, knees bent, and arms draped down. A thin flat stream of blood ran from her neck down her entire body like a red poncho, though the blood moved around her textured scars. Chunks of hair and scalp became noticeably missing as she turned towards me. The sound of her screaming slowly shifted from her direction to emanating from the entire forest, as her face turned, revealing her lack of a mouth. Andon remained static, besides the blood heavily flowing from his torn torso.

There was a noticeable distance between them that began to close as they slowly hobbled towards me. It would be my only chance to get away from them. I pushed myself forward, and in return chalky arms stretched out of the tree, pinning me back down. Hands came out of the ground and sunk their fingers into my legs to hold them still. The warm feeling of blood heated my legs as the hands pushed through the muscle to take hold on my bone. As Andon and Meg slowly moved closer, they each gently picked up one of my hands and started to pull on them, and I watched as my arms effortlessly tear away from my shoulders. They walked off into the orange autumn forest, dragging my arms behind them, leaving me screaming in a screaming forest. I sat as I watched my body die and begin to decompose.

Hours turned into days, and days became months as I watched the sun rise and fall, seasons come and pass, insects laying their offspring in my flesh only to hatch and repeat the process, and small animals eat away at my smaller body parts like toes and fingers. At one point I had tried to just close my eyes, only to discover my eyelids were missing. After an eternity, the sight and smell of my dead body became so mundane to me, I had come to see it as something comforting and familiar. As time passed events began to blur, until I finally woke up in the middle of the day.
Day 20.

That morning I returned to a life I had forgotten months ago, last night. In a passing of only a few hours I had changed from wanting to run away, to wanting to run back. The forest had lost the promise of freedom and hope, and now presented itself a place of death and evil. Picking up my bag, I started making my way back to the police station. I knew it would be stupid to go anywhere else, I would end up there either way.

As I kept on walking back to town, the true twisted nature of my dream became more and more apparent. Then, as the ringing sound of waking up began to wash away, another, more familiar sound moved in. From all around me, I could hear Meg's constant screaming, it filled the forest as a recognizable tune, like the music you never notice in a store until you listen for it. It gave the uneasy balance of foreshadowing and dependability that kept my heart at the edge of terror.

At the same time I noticed that there was another helicopter in the sky looking for me. I joked at the idea that I had my own personal helicopter waiting to take me away.

"At least my taxes are going towards something useful."

I remembered I had a small mirror in my backpack, and put that with the knowledge that you can signal search parties by flashing something reflective at them. I tried this for a while as I kept walking forwards with no success.

The path I took back must have been the wrong one, as I found it very different. The further I went, the trees looked more and more perfect, almost synthetic. They were all lined in rows, had the same height, the same shape, and I swear they looked like they even had the same number of leaves. Then the grass became more and more perfect, also to the point of looking fake, like stadium turf.

Further ahead, there looked to be a large tube on the ground. It was a bundle of wires as thick as my leg. It laid perpendicular to me, and went on for as far as I could see. It had a yellow arrow pattern that pointed to my left. I followed the wires for hours until I found myself at a large cement wall. The wires went into a perfectly sized hole in the side, and out of sight. The perimeter of the wall was rather large, and the wall went up to oddly reach the exact height of all the "trees".

There were doors every so often that led inside, but every single one was locked. Each door read "SILICIUM" on the front, and below it was the corresponding door number. I realized there were twelve in total as I passed by door ten, then door eleven, and then to door zero. Door zero was different though, it wasn't really a door, but more of a barred window.

Inside the walls there was a concrete bowl the size of a large pond, filling the entire area. It resembled the shape of an upside down cone, and was completely filled with clear water. A small walking path went around the walls, and at every door there was an industrial ladder that led down into the bottom of the deep pool. The cables also led down into the water, and into the dark depths. I continued on, and eventually the forest began gain back it's natural look.

Some time later, the sun gave off an orange glow as it drifted past the horizon; grabbing for the mirror again I tried to signal the helicopter for a second time. This time the helicopter started rushing towards my area. Ropes repelled down, and three armed men slid down the ropes. One man shone his flashlight in my eyes to stun me as the two other men searched me down.

*BZZLEEP*

"Tango recovered."

*BZZLEEP*

"Gotcha Alpha 11."

The man turned his flashlight away from me and pointed it at the ground, a small distance away from us. The helicopter circled the spot before eventually landing there.

The two men grabbed me by the arms and took me to the chopper, almost lifting me off the ground. The bald man from the police station was inside. He was wearing a bulletproof vest over a white longsleeve shirt; his vest read "Tactrin". He eagerly leaned over as I sat down, and stretched out his hand to shake mine.

"WELCOME BACK!" he yelled, trying to get his voice heard over the blades.

As the three other men climbed in, he moved back into his seat and took out a clip board. We sat there mute as Tactrin wrote notes while the helicopter took off. One of the armed men handed me a pair of bulky dark green headphones, and then proceeded to take his helmet off and put his pair on, then flip down the mic on the side. As we left the forest I could hear the screaming move from around me to behind me. Even with the muffled roar of the helicopter, the forest could easily be heard.

I could see my town underneath us as we flew over it, past it.

"WHERE ARE WE GOING?" I yelled, trying to get myself heard over the radio.

"Fuck..." said one of the men as everyone grabbed at their ears.

"You don't need to yell" Tactrin spoke as the only person unaffected. "We're heading to Lindsing."

"Why there?"

"It's just protocol, dont worry".

After about an hour of flying, the city of Lindsing glowed in the distance. As we flew over the large city, the small outline of people and cars below us littered the trenches between the buildings. We landed on the top of a large black tower with at least forty floors. I was escorted out of the chopper by two of the men. Tanctrin and the other officer exited after, ducking under the spinning blades. In the night, I could see the flashing lights of antennas on the towers around us. A building far taller than the one I was on read "ALDUIT", in basic large blue outlined letters at the top.

I was led down a metal staircase into the building, and to an elevator. The overwhelming government budget for this place was apparent as I passed through oiled wooden doorways, and across freshly polished marble tiles. I was eventually led to a room that looked exactly like the room back in town, even the camera was in the same location. They sat me down facing the door. Tactrin got some more papers before sitting in front of me again.

"Let's hope you don't wander out of here" he joked.

I remained silent.

"I think we need to talk about what's going-"

"I didn't know he was in the house!" I spit out, cutting him off.

"Who was in the house..?" Tactrin quickly responded with a much more serious tone.

"Jack, how can you not fucking know?"

"Who is Jack", he spoke every word clearly and separate.

"My roommate Jack. I heard over the radio, you found his body."

His face looked immediately relieved.

"DON'T FUCK WITH ME!" I added, my character cracking. Tactrins slowly leaned in,

"Listen, this is going to be difficult to believe, but... you lived alone."

"No I didn't!-No I don't! How can you not know this?! It's something so fucking simple to know! What the fuck is wrong with you!? I even filled out the fucking census saying I didn't!"

"That's the thing... I know, we know, but you lived alone. Just listen to me, ok?"

I agreed with silence, sitting deeper in my chair to further myself from him.

"You happened to slip through the cracks-your file I mean. As I said, this is going to be difficult to believe, but a lot of the people you know aren't... well, real. We read your report... and both of those people, Meg and Andon don't exist." He took a long pause "Now I know you might have ha-"

" YOU'RE FUCKING FULL OF SHIT! THAT CAN'T BE TRUE!"

"I know this can be difficult fo-"

"GET THE FUCK OUT!! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!"

Tactrins looked disappointed as he slowly got up and walked out, letting me cool down. I was breathing heavily with tears on my face, in anger and denial. On his way out Tactrin turned to me

"Hey... Those files are from the other times... Feel free to look over them while I get us a drink." and he left.

The most recent file was the one I had written the other day. The next file was about six years before. They described someone six years younger than me that was suffering from an extreme form of schizophrenia. "Sees pale white figures with injured bodies in concerning detail", "Unable to differentiate hallucinations from reality", "Sees unexplainable phenomenon", the next file was one year before that, described the same thing. The time inbetween the files seemed to shrink as I went back until it was supposedly a daily occurrence.

When Tactrin came back, I was moving through the daily reports of a broken child that had my name. He came in with two white mugs of coffee, and placed one in front of me before sitting down relaxedly.

"You had been fine for so long we hoped it had finally stopped."

There was a long break as he gave me some time to recompose myself.

"How did it begin?" I timidly asked.

"When you were a kid, you had severe anxiety. Not wanting to use drugs, your family took you to a therapist, Dr. Izaac Throme. He suggested you try to create a Sprul-Pa to help you cope with it."

"What's that?"

"A Sprul-Pa" Andon pronounced it slowly, trying to sound it out, reading from the reports. "is an old buddhist technique to work with the inside of your mind."

I better positioned myself, getting ready to listen for a while.

"The idea, is that if you dedicate yourself long enough to creating a person inside your mind, you can conjure another consciousness that can freely access deep memories and your subconscious. It then relays them back to you as another person."

He took a sip from his drink.

"It's similar to creating a memory palace, but really takes it to the next level. After a long time of practice, people can have conversations with another person in their own head. Your therapist wanted you to have someone that could calm you down at any time. You then started visiting him daily, even doing special exercises at home, meditating on the idea of creating an imaginary friend, a Sprul-Pa."

"And that's why... this?" I gestured to the files.

"Well... not usually. You were a very, very special case. You actually always were schizophrenic, but no one just picked up on it. And once you had successfully created a Sprul-Pa, you even completely overcame over your anxiety. But the mixture of a Sprul-Pa and schizophrenia is a bad drink. You quickly lost control and eventually began to become a hostage to your imagination. This continued on for months, going from doctor to doctor, until your parents finally cracked, and one prescribed you Tomotesean."

He could see that he was losing me. "Tomotesean is a weird drug that causes severe memory loss. It's mainly used for PTSD, since it suppresses traumatic memories, but in special cases like yours it is something that can save someone's life."

He took another sip from his mug, and so did I.

"Now I want to make it clear that every time you have taken the drug, it has always been your own free choice."

"ok.."

"The first time you took the drug you seemed to be perfectly fine. You went back to your life and could function in society again. About a week later you had another break down and the cycle repeated. Every time you took the drug you forgot more, but the time between your episodes greatly extended. Until recently... We had assumed you had been cured, though we still kept a close watch on you."

He sat there for a while, letting it all sink in. Then he reached down into his bag and pulled out a bottle of pills.

"Those are..-"

"Yah, they're them... Look, you are marked as a level 4 patient, but I don't really think you're dangerous. You have had weapons that you should have never been able to get your hands on, but you never made any hostile actions besides the house. So, we're just gonna keep you here for the night. Alright?"

"ok..."

"In the morning I'll give you these."

I followed him out of the room, and to the side of the building. Even though it was clearly late at night, some people stayed there working. I could hear a keyboard clicking from down the halls as we stood and waited for the elevator. At the third floor he walked me around a corner to a barred cell with a bed and a toilet.

"It's not the most fancy place, but it's just for the night." he joked,

"..yah..."

"There's a guard just around the corner if you need anything."

Tactrin then went back to elevator, and I assume left the building for the night.

I was lying on the side of the cot, and staring at the hardwood floor when I heard a thud. The sound of something hard, lined with something soft, hitting the floor. Though, arguably more frightening was the grunt that came just before.

"HEY, WHAT WAS THAT?"

No reply.

"HEY, GUARD?"

Still no reply was heard, but the sight of an expanding puddle of blood, making its way around the corner got the message across.

"Heeeeyyyyyyyyyy" a soft voice called from inside my head with lunacy.

"Annnnnny body there??" it was Meg's voice. "Helllllooooooooo???"

A bloody hand gripped the edge of the corner and pulled forward. Meg walked around the corner, blood paved the path behind her. She slowly sat down just passed the bars, and laid on her back in front of me, and then gave me a wink. She put the weight of her upper body onto the top of her head as she snapped it back like a kickstand. There was a subtle incline in her back that moved upwards from her pelvis, to make a sharp curve at her neck that lifted her torso. She stared at me upside down, smiling with a devilish grin.

"I heard you got some news." Her voice spoke in my head, while she, nor her mouth moved.

"Heyyyy, don't feel bad. They were lying anyway."

She reached her arms towards me and grabbed the metal bars, pulling herself forward until there was a loud clang as her head slammed into the metal. Her face was pushed through the opening between two bars, as she continued to pull herself forward, crumpling her back.

"YOU KILLED ME!" Meg spat blood from her mouth as she yelled at me in a deep voice.

"YOU FUCKED ME!". She continued to yell, pulling herself further into the bars, disfiguring her body more.

Pulling harder and harder until her body flung over her head and hit the bars above, sprawling her naked body out, upside down against the cage.

"YOU KILLED ME, YOU FUCKED ME, YOU KILLED ME, YOU FUCKED ME!" Each time the words were yelled louder and louder. The cell's bars started to ring, and the bed shook.

Then as her voice leveled off, I watched in dread as her body fell apart into chunks and slices. Her head stayed in between the bars, either because of the pressure that the two bars exerted on it, or the pile of meat behind, holding it in place. For the entire time, I had my back against the furthest wall, sitting on my bed. I couldn't look away as her eyes stayed fixed on me, they followed me around the cell, staring me down. I ended up throwing my blanket over her head to hide the awful sight. The blanket then raised, and lowered as her head continued to breath. I cried on the bed that night, until I looked up some time later and she was gone.
Day 21.

That morning, I woke up surprised in myself for being able to fall asleep. Tactrin tapped his badge against the bars like the bell at a front desk.

"All rested up? Ready to go home?"

The officer was wearing the usual attire I had always seen him in.

".sure..."

I felt defeated, telling him anything would do nothing. He unlocked the cell, and swung it open for me.

"You wouldn't believe the beating I got when you just walked out."

We walked to front doors of the building, him matching my slower pace.

"So just don't burn anything, ok?"

"Yah..."

"So when... or if you decide, you take these once a day. I know it sounds scary, but once you forget to take them, you don't need to."

He handed me the rattling cylindrical container.

"Oh, and if you decide not to, just let us know. It's not like anything will happen, we would just rather know, it's for your safet-"

"I get it..."

There were about ten steps that led up the the front entrance. At the bottom was a dark car, parked on the road outside the building. It seemed dark blue in the twilight, the headlights giving off a yellow glow.

"He'll take you to a hotel until we find another place for you to live. And don't worry, I know the city bothers you, so it's back in your town."

I walked by him and to the car.

"Don't worry about giving the guy a tip!"

Tactrin yelled to me from the door as I walked down the steps to the car. It was apparent he was trying to cheer me up a bit, but I really didn't feel that well.

There was a man wearing a black suit in the drivers seat. He never made any noise, he just drove once I got in.

As Lindsing moved into the distance, the sun moved to accommodate the lack of city light. I sat looking down at my lap in silence, half awake half asleep. Sometime on, I could hear the forest, the painful screaming that grew louder as we drove closer. How I could know that I was close to the forest? I had been looking down entire time. Epiphanic clarity made way to confusion and doubt. If everything was just in my mind, I shouldn't be able to hear the forest without knowing I was near it, right? The car soon stopped at a small recognizable hotel, I was definitely in my town. When I heard the noise in the car, was that real? I don't know.

I doubted myself, then doubted my doubt, I needed the truth. I walked passed the hotel, to town. The world around me seemed to drift away, just looking forward began to take extreme focus. My house was still burnt down, no surprise. The fire had been out for a while, and all that remained visible was the roof that had fallen in. I felt terrible guilt for Jack, and struggled to tackle the idea he never existed. Even though I thought I killed him, I would rather it stay that way. My truck was still in the driveway, keys still in the glove box. Staying near my house was difficult, seeing the damage I had done.

Meg's house looked the exact same, but through a window I could see a family at their dining table. They had bright yellow walls with a floral design, and chatted as they ate a roast. I nervously moved closer in hope of finding something that could prove her existence. I stood outside the window looking in, searching around the room for evidence. There was an older woman that sat at the end of the table, behind her was a wall of family photos. Just to the side, was a small photo of Meg and the girl at the side of the table. There she was, smiling, happy, alive, but further than ever before. I thought I would be happy to something to prove that she was real, but it only distanced me from resolve. The woman at the end of the table had short curly hair, and neat eyebrows that moved low as she showed a face of disgust, as her eyes met mine. I quickly walked back to my car and drove away. The man at the other end of the table ran onto his lawn, yelling at my truck. "YOU STAY THE FUCK AWAY!". Maybe that was real, maybe that was Meg's family. There was a spot at the table for someone else... was there? I don't know.

I got to the diner just as it was opening. I became anxious as I saw the old woman sitting on a bar stool, sipping at some coffee, waiting for someone to come in. She sat there with a pink skirted apron on, and a hairnet covering her thinning brown hair. I could see Linda, right in front of me, but I didn't know if she even existed. I just stood at the entrance.

She stopped looking down at her newspaper and looked up, checking for customers again. Her lack of enthusiasm showed as recognized me.

"Just seat yourself anywhere." She called over, going back to her article.

I nebulously sat down at a bar stool right beside her, staring at her.

"Do you know what you want?" she spoke like a bitch.

"Hey... do you have a brother? Right? You do right?"

"What?? Sir, I'm asking you what you want to order."

"Oh yah, sorry... I'll... um.... Have just an egg."

"Just one egg?" she acted disgusted.

"Yah"

"Okay..."

Linda walked over to the coffee pot, pulled out a mug, and poured me some coffee. She walked behind the bar to put it down in front of me, and gave the order to the kitchen.

"Umm... do you have a brother? Andon right?"

"Listen, I like to keep personal things personal."

"It's just one question, that's all."

"I would appreciate it if you stopped asking." She started to talk to me like a child.

The plate with an egg on it came out from the kitchen.

"Are you sure you don't want anything else?"

"I don't give a fuck about that. I want to know, if you have a brother." this was not my day to listen to her shit.

"Excuse me??"

I stood up to get my point across

"Damn SHIT, I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!"

The bitch stood noticeably shorter than me, but had some kind of self righteous attitude that she stood her ground with.

"You need to leave sir!" her hand gestured toward the door.

"MOTHER FUCKER, ANSWER THE QUESTION."

She started to look very afraid.

"Please don't hurt me! No, no I don't!"

My hands were grabbing her shirt, holding her in place. I let go of her and ran to my car. Fuck, why couldn't she just say yes. Why the fuck did I act out like that?! Are they real? Were they? I don't know.

I drove off to the forest to get some peace. There was a small gun I had always had under the passenger seat, and now I felt a new low. I had always thought of myself as too sane to commit suicide, but my thoughts of myself seem to be changing. With no real destination, the thought of ultimate peace is something that's becoming more and more attractive. What kind of life is this? What is the difference between this and forgetting everything? At least this way I'm in control.

\----------

I don't think I have actually caught up to the present time yet. So whats going on? Well, I'm deep in the forest, and it's about 11PM, 11PM and bright as day, but there are still starts in the sky. After some time, I ended up on some dirt road. Behind me the path is non-existent, no matter how much I drive forward along the path in front of me. Light moves between the trees' leaves like there's a huge fire ahead, but no matter how far I go, I can't get there. The fact that I could be somewhere different, not aware, it scares me like nothing else.

So... Some time has passed. I had to start moving again when the pale beings started walking out of the trees, coming after me. That time though I made progress, I found the end of the road. It's a literal dead end; a fucking cliff, how about that. There's more though, there still coming, for me. I can see them in the mirror, sprinting after me.

I'm just stuck here on a cliff. This place is like a crater, it's a sharp drop into a black circular lake. The forest is now filled with those trees from the cave, and of course it's here too, Ganama. It's standing on the water in the middle of the lake, the same position as before. It's hard to not be overwhelmed by all this and just sit back and let it all happen.

It's actually fucking talking to me. I have never felt terror like this before. It told me to go to it. I don't know how I would, but it's either that, or the people get me... or the gun. I can't take those pills, they would kill me just as much as the gun would, but the gun lets me die as myself.

One of the things just grabbed the truck, and another. They're all grabbing it, pulling me back into the forest. I already have the gun in my hand, it has me too. But those fucking pills! I can't shake the fear of literal death. There isn't a difference if I think about it, but I'm still afraid. Maybe it wants me to walk off the cliff. What if I do nothing?
Credits:

Author:

Leveles

http://ganamabook.blogspot.ca (Here is a blogged process of writing the book. The blog contains a plethora of behind the scenes content)

Cover:

Zachary Dunn

https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/ZackDunnArt
  1. Prologue. 
  2. Day 0. 
  3. Day 1. 
  4. Day 2.
  5. Day 3.
  6. Day 4.
  7. Day 5.
  8. Day 6.
  9. Day 7.
  10. Day 8. 
  11. Day 9 - 10.
  12. Day 11.
  13. Day 12.
  14. Day 13.
  15. Day ???.
  16. Ɖ͢ⱥɏ̵ ̢͜͝?̢Ɂ̢͞ɂ͘
  17. Day 18. 
  18. Day 19.
  19. Day 20.
  20. Day 21.
  21. Credits:

