Enter Night 《Cliff Burton》

2

         The first thing I did after waking up the next morning was look at the camera. The red light still shone. I sighed, relieved. The battery didn't die or anything, like I feared.

         I pushed the covers off me and got up, giving myself a good stretch. Then I reached towards the camera and pressed the off button.

           Pete had told us all to not watch the video until band practice, but I decided to watch it then anyway. Which was a very good decision, as I would soon find out.

With another sigh, I took the camera off its stand and sat down on the corner of my bed. An odd sense of anticipation grew in my gut as I played back the video that was just captured.

           The video played. I watched myself as I slowly drifted off to sleep. I didn't move much, besides gripping my pillow tighter at one point. My excitement started waning. I started questioning what Pete even got out of this, about five minutes in. I mean, it was kind of weird, watching myself sleep, but it's not like I was doing anything interesting. I wasn't a sleepwalker or talker, and nor did I snore. All I did was stir, like any other normal person.

          All of a sudden, I heard a familiar sound. The E note again, albeit faint. My ears perked up as my eyes glued to the camera screen, and my heart started thudding. My sixth sense screamed that something wasn't right. Was I hearing things again?

        I felt my ears twitch as I heard a light melody coming from the video being played. I recognized the interlude riff of Orion by Metallica. What the hell? I checked what time it was in the clip. 5:15 am. Why and how could anyone sneak into my room at that hour?

          I paused the video and cautiously looked around at my bass guitar. It looked untouched, still perched on its stand like I had left it last night. I squinted my eyes. Something wasn't right. I placed the camera on my bed, and took tentative steps at the instrument.

         I had placed it on the stand so that the front faced the wall opposite. Now it was hung the other way around.

I swallowed.

          By any means, I wasn't a spiritual person, and refused to believe in ghosts and such. Someone must have been playing tricks on me. But then again, who would? My parents? Bandmates? I had no siblings, so there were no obnoxious brothers or sisters that could do any shit like that.
There had to be a logical explanation, as everything should and does.

          I walked back to the camera and hit the play button again. The melody continued. Normally, I loved this song to death, but now it was making me feel anxious.
I skipped a little ahead.

           The song still played. The part right before the bass solo.

Just as the solo was about to start, whoever was playing hit a dissonant chord and the camera glitched out like an old VHS tape. The audio went static as well, so I tried shaking the camera and hit it a few times.

           Just as I was about to give up and go take a shower, the video went back to normal. It was silent again. I tried to make myself relax as the video played back, but in vain.

          I almost jumped out of my skull as the bass solo of Orion blasted out through the small speakers on the camera. It's probably just my phone randomly playing the song, I tried to reassure myself. A hopeful part of me believed that, until I saw something that made my heart thud. My eyes widened.

Someone had just casually walked in front of the camera, holding my bass guitar. He was the one playing the song.

          Then I noticed another odd detail.

The person was tall, with long reddish brown hair. He was also wearing a Misfits T shirt under a denim jacket with denim jeans. His hair obscured his face as he headbanged to the rhythm of the song. Adrenaline began to course through my veins as I watched. That can't be him, I thought. Someone's playing a trick on me.

             When the solo ended, he suddenly flipped his hair back and looked directly into the camera. My breath hitched, and I gasped. It was him.

Cliff Burton. Or at least, someone who looked exactly like him, played bass exactly like him, and trying to play a sick joke on -

"Fuck." I swore out loud as I noticed something else. I could see through him. He was translucent.

            I then finally realized, he looked very pissed off, for whatever reason. My fear swelled. Then suddenly, he slipped away from the view of the camera, my guitar still in his hand. It was then I noticed the blue early morning light shining through the window. The camera clock read 5:30 am.

Nothing else happened since then until I got up, an hour later, to turn off the camera.
        
          I put the camera down. Had I just captured Cliff Burton's ghost on tape? I shook my head. I tried pinching my arm, to see if it was just a bizarre nightmare.

Everything that just happened however, was very much real. I was wide awake.

            Suddenly, I remembered band practise. I couldn't wait to show this to my bandmates.

"Don't."

I jumped at the sound of someone's voice. A male voice.

"..D-Dad?" I timidly asked. Something told me it wasn't my father. The voice sounded much younger. It, however, wasn't a voice I didn't know.

       "I'm not your dad. You know that." I looked around, trying to locate where the voice was coming from.

"Who are you? And where are you?" I asked, mustering up some courage. Prank, I told myself. It's a prank.

Deep in my instincts and common sense, though, I knew it wasn't a prank.

        "Don't show that video to your friends. Or anyone else. Delete it."

I jumped. Well, now it was confirmed - this certainly wasn't a prank. Whoever was talking knew what I was thinking.

          "Who are you?" I asked again.

"You know who I am. Didn't you see me in the video?"

I swallowed again.

"There's no need to be scared... unless you don't do what I say." Cliff's voice. Of course, I recognized it the moment I heard it, but I wasn't expecting any of this at all; it took me a long time to register everything.

The subtext of what he'd just said suddenly hit me.

           "Cliff?" I called out meekly. My mind was torn between being starstruck and scared shitless. What did he mean by doing what he said? Just keeping the video a secret, or more?

"I'll be back," I heard him say, before I felt an unnaturally cold breeze engulf me. "One more thing," His voice was closer now, "You were really good playing Anesthesia last night."