The Madness of Man

I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know when I was. I didn’t even know if I was awake or asleep. All I knew was that I didn’t belong there. Wherever “there” was.

There wasn’t the slightest indication of wind, yet a menacing chill crept down my spine. Every bone in my body begged and screamed at me to leave the wicked place, but there were no doors, no windows, and no walls. Although I stood on solid ground, no solid ground was visible. All I could see was the blood-red light that surrounded me, which barely allowed me to see my hands and legs. Anything outside the light was engulfed in the vast sea of darkness.

I stumbled forward in an attempt to gain my bearings and realized that the red light seemed to follow me. I then got the feeling that something was alarmingly wrong. With every step I took it became increasingly difficult to breathe. It was as if I were breathing the darkness in, and the darkness was devouring my very existence from the inside out. I ran as fast as I could, trying to desperately find a way out of that hell, but it was as if I were running through water. My legs were quick, my arms swung fiercely, I was tiring and panting, but I moved mere inches at a time.

Then there was the presence, an insidious force that crept and stayed behind me. I felt it breathing down my neck as if it were only centimeters away from me. In a burst of anxiety and adrenaline, I spun around to confront my stalker only to see the empty abyss and feel the presence behind me again.

There was a sudden gust of wind that pushed me forward, nearly knocking me to the ground. I recovered and looked to see where it had come from, and as soon as I did, the red light surrounding me was no longer visible, leaving me completely immersed in the dark. Even more unsettling to me was that I could no longer feel the presence behind me. It could have been anywhere, and I knew that it was out there amongst the infinite shadow watching me. A few eternal moments passed, and the red light reappeared in the distance. I slowly shuffled towards the light but froze when I noticed that there was someone, or something, crouching underneath it.

Before, an eerie silence hung in the air and every noise I had tried to make was muffled and mute. Now, the only sound to break through the silence was the heavy, raspy breathing of the thing in front of me. The same breathing as the presence that was behind me just a few moments earlier. It was wearing what looked to be a long cloak. I couldn’t see its face, only its glowing, red eyes from under its hood, staring me down.

After what seemed like a millennium, I finally mustered up the will to move forward again, even if only at an extremely slow pace. As I began to get within feet of the crouched thing, I saw that its only visible body parts were its long, bony hands. Once I was within arm’s reach of it, I was stopped cold in place when it let out a disturbing, deep growl.

“What are you?” I just barely gathered the courage to ask.

“You should know,” the being responded. Its voice shot through my body like a bolt of lightning, shaking me to my core. Its voice was that of many people speaking simultaneously; some were old, some young, some men, and some women. “I am the creature that all Man fears. Since the creation of Man, through every sin Man’s committed, every war Man has waged and still wages, I was there. I am your envy, greed, and lust; your hate, pride, and deceit. I am the monster under your bed; the dormant violence in your head clawing and shouting to be released in every second of your life.”

The creature rose and stood to be significantly taller than me. Its fingers began to extend and wrapped themselves around my ankles and slithered up to my neck. Before long, the creature was almost completely fused to my body; only our torsos were separated. I felt such a deep and piercing fear that even the slightest movement to struggle was impossible. All I could do was stare into the fire of the creature’s eyes.

I managed one final phrase. “Who are you?”

The creature drew its hood back. Its face was sickly pale and had deep, empty holes for eyes. Its grin was distortedly long with abnormally large teeth. Its nose was absent with only two slits in its place. I tried to scream for help, for anyone to help, but my voice no longer worked. It wasn’t just the creature’s distortion that terrified me so immensely, but that the monster I was staring at was a twisted abomination of myself.

“I am you,” the creature said in a monotone voice.

Then everything went black.