The Evil Inside Us | Mandela Catalouge x Reader

Chapter 3 | Do You Understand?

A TV was sitting smack in the middle of the closet. I thought these were banned ages ago.. I guess some people just couldn't go without it. I thought about what that lady at the front desk had said before.. keep whatever you find, eh? Maybe I could sell this hunk of junk for a couple of bucks. Obviously, I wasn't going to keep it. Even if I had my doubts about the whole alternate stuff, keeping a TV in the place just felt like I was asking for bad luck. And that's the last thing I could use right now. Surely someone else would have more use for it than I. I bent down to pick up the TV, obviously completely forgetting about the other mess I had made in the kitchen. Just as I was about to pick it up, the television screen lit up. Weird, I thought to myself, I must've forgotten to unplug it. I went to the back of the TV, tugging on the main black power cord. To my horror, it was already unplugged.

"What the hell..?"

I whispered, walking backwards from the TV. I reached for the doorknob of the closet, getting ready to bolt the hell out of there. But.. something captivated me about the TV. Any normal person would be terrified, leave the room, something rational.. but not this. I felt like I couldn't move. Did I even want to move? Suddenly, a figure appeared on the screen. It was the face of what looked like a middle-aged man with dark shadows on his face. His eerie smile pierced my soul, sending shivers down my spine.

"W-who are you?"

It's mouth didn't move, and very inhuman voice emitted from the TV, resonating all around me.

"You don't remember?"

I gulped, stepping closer to the TV. I don't even know why I stepped closer. I was just so.. curious. It felt as if my brain and my body were separate, my body not listening to what it was told. I shook my head, not knowing if it could see me or not.

"I'll help you."

Nobody in the world could be prepared for what would happen next. All my sense were bombarded, images flashed on screen of Mandela County Police Department, missing children cases, my mother. She was hanging from the ceiling, a rope tied around her neck. Her face.. a look of fear I've never seen on anyone in my life. Sounds of screaming and loud sobbing bounced around the room, making my ears ring.

"No.. she died from a car accident. T-That's what my dad told me. He'd never lie to me. HE'D NEVER LIE TO ME!"

The words flashed on the screen, accompanied by the disembodied voice.

"Do you understand?"

Despite the voice barely sounding human, it still had a.. laid-back tone. As if he did this all the time. Of course I didn't understand, none of this made sense. I could feel my world crumbling around me, everything in my life.

"No.."

I fell to my knees, so many emotions clouding my brain. Confusion, denial, sadness, but most of all anger. Hatred. Tears begun to stream down my cheeks, the voice speaking again, sounding more frustrated this time. The words flashed on screen again in accordance to what he said.

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

Tears blinding me now, I felt like I wanted to scream, cry for someone to help me. But.. who? I felt a fit of anger pulse through me. Anger towards this.. this thing that did this to her.