The Bloody Man (A short horror story)

"The bloody man scuttles softly through the diseased mind, its body eternally resisting the current of thought that flows so strongly through its world... It sings a song of ancient, dark things, of fear and madness and deceit, its shrill melody splitting the sky open as ash falls around it."


Joseph put down the book slowly, shaken. He had always been a mythology buff, showing off to his friends his knowledge of Greek gods one day, Indian demons the next. Naturally he had been drawn immediately to this small volume, its pages darkened with age and its binding real leather. He picked it up again, blinking away the strange, hazy mass of half-formed opinions that had built up in the darkness behind his eyes. This was a new feeling to him, and he felt that it might dispel fully if he were to finish the passage. He leafed through the pages, trying to find where he left off, for a few minutes before realizing that this was not the book he had been reading. A book on engineering? Dull. He looked around, unable to find that book on mythology. Something vague and gray flickered in his peripheral vision. He turned to look, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Trying to recall what he had been doing before turning around, he probed his mind for memory but could find none. He turned to leave the library and walked sluggishly through the automatic doors.

 

The uneventful drive home took about twenty minutes, enough time for the sky to begun to turn crimson from the light of the setting sun. As he hung his coat in the closet of his small apartment, he realized something wasn't right-- his dog hadn't jumped up eagerly to greet him as usual, but rather stood in the corner staring.

 

"What's wrong, buddy?" His voice sounded hollow and unfamiliar, and he hastily gulped down a glass of orange juice.
"What's wrong, buddy?" He tried again. It almost seemed as if two voices were speaking together this time, one of them soft and unnerving. Shrill. He coughed, clearing his throat, and decided to go to bed early. His limbs felt like lead, and his back felt sunburned. He fell into fitful sleep, sprawled on his bed still wearing his clothes.

 

A nightmare jolted Joseph awake. Moonlight streamed into his room from an open window. Fragmented memories from his dreams-- an orb of thousands of eyes, an enormous pale worm dripping with mucus, an endless plain of flesh-- drifted through his mind. He leant to the side of his bed and violently coughed. Thick black fluid dribbled down from his eyes and mouth. His body felt oddly sticky, as if he had been sweating heavily in his sleep. Rubbing his eyes, he stumbled into the bathroom and flicked on the light. Squinting, he surveyed himself in the mirror. His flesh was pale, his body soaked with sticky liquid. He stared at his hand, opening and closing it as the substance reflected fluorescent light. He smiled and walked to his kitchen cupboard, ravenously chewing at several strips of jerky. He spat onto the floor. Inadequate. Then his eyes fell upon the small animal that lay asleep in the corner. With a swift stomp, the dog's neck broke, and Joseph gorged himself. He might have feasted for minutes or for days. Blood spilled all down his front and pooled on the floor.

 

Only after he had sated his appetite did he realize that every one of his teeth lay amongst the dog's remains. He rushed to a mirror. Where his teeth once were lay wet, squirming feelers. His tongue had split into five thin tentacles ending in sharp prongs of bone. He could no longer speak, but he found new, wonderful, beautiful words to say.
"Y'ai'n'gah... h'lee, l'geb, fai throdog, yog-sothoth... ph'nglui mglw'nafh..." He shivered with pleasure at the blissful noises issuing forth from his mouth. Symbols and imagery raced through his mind as he stripped himself of clothing and sang, his head raised to the heavens, hissing and screaming with glee.

He sang a song of ancient, dark things, of fear and madness and deceit, and his shrill melody split the sky wide open.
And ash fell around him.

 

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???
This is not a roleplay.

 

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