Neso

The Middle of the End

6am, 26th of November. Enso was traveling the world, searching for Mae, following dodgy leads that had gotten her into more than one close call with the police. Enso was relentless, she was doing everything in her power to get her friend back. It was then the nightmares begun, every night. Always the same thing. Complete darkness, she was standing in water up to her ankles, then she would light up, the light was coming from inside her. A strange, green, unearthly light. She begun to walk, but no matter what direction she went in, it would always lead her to the edge of a waterfall that she couldn’t see the bottom of. Everything was muted, until the voice started to whisper. It was a strange sound, the pitch would change, rising and falling like heat waves. It was like it was edited on a computer, the base was so deep and the pitch was so unnaturally high. She would always wake at exactly 4am.
Then she begun to glitch. A strange jerking motion that would happen every once and a while. At first it was just a twitch, then she started hearing things, just for a few seconds, she would hear absolute silence, then faint whispers. It was the voice from the dream. Now, it not only haunted her every night, but her days as well. It started with a name you had to strain to hear “Neso,”. Eventually other words could be heard it the void of silence, “I am Neso. I am here,”.  She discovered that if she was recorded static would disrupt the film and black dots would obscure her eyes. She looked like a demon. She started to avoid cameras, but every morning she would open up her phone and record for a few seconds. When she watched the film back a pitch black shadow would be behind her or beside her. Hers were changed to a dark black that covered even the whites of her eyes.
She became insanely paranoid, she was under the constant impression that she was being followed, and she was, but by a force that was incorporeal. She was more focused on finding Mae than ever. She needed answers. On the 2nd of February she found her first clue, another note that pleaded with Enso to stop following her, warning of the forces that she had to keep under control, of the things she battled in her sleep. Little did Mae know of the force that tailed Enso. She had no clue that her friend needed her now, more than ever. Neso became louder, started attempts to infiltrate her mind. To posses her. Enso was determined not to give in, so she continued to search for Mae, she believed that Mae would be able to get rid of her demon and send it back to the hell dimension it came from. Every day she struggled on, attempting to ignore the constant whispering from Neso.
It was a Friday when Enso first saw Neso. She turned to grab her pack and it was there. It was like one of those mirrors you see in funhouses at carnivals that distort what you look like. Except, instead of making her taller, shorter, skinnier or fatter, it made her look dead. There was a long cut across Neso’s neck that looked like someone who had no experience with sewing had tried to stitch it up. Enso’s normally long platinum blonde hair that she plaited, was hanging in knots. Its lips were blue and black like a bruise, varying from her usual soft pink. But the most noticeable difference was the eyes. At first glance they were the same as Enso’s, deep blue, with long lashes framing them. But if you looked for long enough they would flicker, changing from the navy colour to completely black, including the whites of their eyes. Just like in her dreams. Enso froze, taken over by fear. Neso only smiled. A creepy wide smile that showed all of its teeth. Then it disappeared, leaving Enso shell-shocked and shaking.