Hide and Go Seek

Prologue Grim :2

What I saw filled me with horror. There, above the tub, was an abomination. A corpse, half rotted and decaying, hovered over the stuffed, voodoo animal, hand outstretched as if to grab it. Tattered clothing barely clings on to its horrendous half torn skeleton body. It freezes. Unnaturally still. Then its head snaps toward me, bent in an impossible angle, one eye glares at me crawling with maggots, the other an empty socket. No, not empty. The eye had somehow been ripped out and was dangling, whacking its shredded cheek bone with a wet splatting noise. We lock eyes. And then the only thing I felt was impending doom, and the realization that I just made a huge mistake.

I scream as it blurs towards me, too fast for the human eye to see. My scream becomes so shrill as a bony hand grabs my face. I should run. I have to run. But I can't get my legs to move. My own body is betraying me. It wrenches my mouth open. I can smell it. It smells fouler than rotting flesh marinated in warm water. I scream again as it forces my jaw open wider, dislocating it, breaking it. I scream louder still as the pain blinds me for a split second. I feel my muscles stretching and tearing. I fear I will no longer have a jaw that it will rip it clean off.

Tears are running down my face, I feel my vocal cords give out as my scream cuts off short. Then, everything gets so much worse. I watch, muted and half blinded by tears, as it raises its other hand. I whimper as I see bits of flesh barely clinging on to its four and a half fingers. Then, he shoves it down my throat.

I gag as I feel its hand slither down my throat, pushing and expanding my esophagus. I start sputtering. I can't breathe, I'm choking, dying. I feel its bones scraping the walls of my esophagus with bits of cold, mushy flesh in between. I feel like I'm drowning, I'm dry heaving, and then the actual vomit comes, shooting up to meet the hand that continues on its way down. Then I'm actually drowning. The vomit being blocked, nowhere to escape, I panic as I start to suffocate. Pressure pushes against the walls of my body, begging to burst. My tears are no longer water.

Blood and vomit are dripping from my eyes. Blinding me, burning them from back to front. The pain is unbearable. I black out.

I heave a sigh of relief as my consciousness is forced into a dark corner of my mind. I start to relax until I notice what is happening. I can still see out of my half digested eyes, but I can't control where they roam. I can't feel my limbs as I watch them curl and straighten, as if being tested. And then I realize that they are. I am aware of everything, yet I have no control; I'm being possessed.

I hear a whisper in my mind. That is not how you play, child. You have to follow the rules. But when you cheat, so can I. my body whirls around, looking out at my room. I want to scream at my friends to run as my eyes land on them, talking them in. ahh, I see you didn't just cheat. You had an audience. It made a tsking sound, as if to reprimand me, this game is called 'Hide and go Seek Alone' little missy. But let's make this more fun, shall we? Out loud, it started speaking in a raspy voice thanks to my torn vocal cords.

"Well, well, well, look what we've got here! A group! Don't you know it's bad to break the rules? Tsk, well, let's play any ways!! This is going to be so much fun!!" It claps my hands together as my friends stare at my ruined body in absolute horror. It giggles, shredding my voice box farther. "Now you see, you're lucky a nice spirit was around to hear your voodoo magic and your call. Since you guys didn't hide, even though the game is hide and seek, I will be generous and give you some time to hide. Because your dear friend Grim broke the rules, I immediately became the seeker! Isn't that joyous?! Now, how does a year of hiding sound, hm? Should give you plenty of time to hide! Make this more fun, shall we?" Alan's mouth gaped open, spilling his water. He looked ready to vomit. Tsk! Now, now, you aren't supposed to spit that out. Isn't it supposed to help you? Protect you? Ha! Anyways, enough chit-chat! I'll see you guys in a year. It winks at them with one, half ruined eye, before my body goes limp and collapses.