The church bell tolled four times.
In the dim light of a secluded alleyway, a boy that couldn’t be no more than six nervously clutched a wooden stick close to his chest, his small frame trembling as he looked at the man who had been fervently trying to show him something.
“M-My mom said I can’t talk to you anymore….” The boy stammered. “She says you’re a stranger now..”
The man barely paid attention to the boy’s words, his focus on the paper in his hand which he brandished like some sort of holy grail. He shoved it so close to the boy’s face that the letters blurred.
“LOOK! YOU AREN’T PAYING ANY ATTENTION!! THAT’S NOT GOOD FOR YOUNG CHILDREN! NO NO!”
“I-I don’t want to…” The boy’s word trailed off as he took a couple of shaky steps back, visibly frightened and clutching his stick tighter.
The man bellowed, “WHAT DOES THE PAPER SAY?!”
“No! L-Leave me alone!”
Without warning, the boy swung the stick with all the strength he could muster, striking the man in the face. The force sent the man sprawling onto the damp floor. He didn’t wait to see what happened next. Swiftly, the boy bolted out of the alleyway, calling for his mother with panic and terror.
The man laid motionless for a while, before a nerve-racking cry tore out from his throat. “NO! LITTLE BOY! COME BACK? COME BACK!”
…
The watch on Officer Rayner’s wrist hit four o’clock as his partner approached, the crunch of boots on dirt piercing through the rain.
“Sir, we found something in the backyard. I think you should see it for yourself.”
Rayner nodded, tugging his sleeve over his watch as he began following his colleague into the backyard. Walking into the backyard, almost instantaneously, a foul smell invaded his nostrils. No doubt, it was blood. Must’ve been recent as well. He pinched his nose and looked at the scene in front of him in disgust.
The scene before him was nauseating. In front of him, four black garbage bags half-assedly tied, to the point where the heads were poking out, laid in a heap. Maggots writhed through the jagged tears in the bags, revealing glimpses of bloodied remains inside.
“Jesus…” Rayner muttered under his breath, suppressing a gag. His partner approached him once more, holding a folded piece of paper.
“This was found with one of the bodies.” He said before handing it over. “Seems like a bunch of rambling to me. Maybe you’ll make some sense of it?”
Rayner slightly hesitated before unfolding the piece of paper and began reading it. The handwriting was erratic, letters overlapping each other as if written in a rush.
[I am a fool for trusting in that man, no, that thing! Ever since then, those noises never stopped, repeating, continuing, and overlapping with each other. Why can no one else hear it? I hear them! It is not words in my mind, I can hear them whispering and their breath near my ear! Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah. Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah. AtzilutBeriahYetzirahAsiyah, AtzilutBeriahYetzirahAsiyah, AtzilutBeriahYetzirahAsiyah!
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I am not going to rely on that man, he is a trickster, a puppeteer! Today, I will make the noises stop, one way or another. Adam, forgive me.]
Rayner shook his head, “It’s gibberish. Sounds like they were losing it.”
With one swift motion, he ripped the piece of paper into two and let it fall to the side of him,
His partner frowned, “What will we do with the remains?”
Rayner checked his watch again, but the hands hadn’t moved. It was still 4:00. A chill ran down his spine, but he buried the unease beneath a mask of professionalism. Without glancing towards his partner, he placed his hands in his pockets and turned around, beginning to walk away.
“Burn them.” He said, his voice low. “Burn them all. Lest they stand up again.”
…
On a busy street, a man sat slumped over his steering wheel inside his car. Honking of cars ensued as the light turned green, but still, the man was sound asleep. The time read, 4:00. Suddenly, the man jolted awake by the shattering of glass. A pair of arms broke through his side window with tremendous force and grabbed him by the neck.
“BASTARD!” The attacker roared, veins bulging in his forehead. “YOU’RE HOLDING EVERYONE UP!”
The man gasped for air, his hands clawing at the stranger’s grip. He struggled desperately, his legs kicking at the dashboard with panic.
The dashboard clock flicked to 4:01.
Without warning, the sky above the busy street fractured, cracks spreading outward like a spiderweb. Then, it shattered completely, revealing a void that overshadowed the sun. Everyone looked up in confusion, awe, and slight fear. Then, suddenly, the void stretched out endlessly, casting the world into an unfathomable dense darkness.
Screams erupted in every direction as chaos overtook the city. Some curled into fetal positions, weeping uncontrollably, while others froze in stunned silence. The usual cacophony of horns and engines was replaced by cries of fear.
The man in the car gasped for breath as his attacker’s grip loosened. Both stared upward, their conflict forgotten in the face of something far beyond them. The stranger stumbled back, his hands dropping to his sides, eyes wide with terror. The man who had just been strangled felt a tear fall down his cheek, and he couldn’t help but audibly whimper. He reached into his car’s glove compartment and pulled out a knife as he sobbed, tears streaming down his face. Without warning, he lunged forward and stabbed the blade into the stranger’s neck!
The stranger staggered back, his hands flying to the knife lodged in his neck as blood gushed between his fingers. He choked on his own blood and sobs of unspoken mercy, stumbling as the man emerged from the car, his sobbing gradually turning into hysterical laughter.
“You left me blind…” The man whispered through his uncontrollable laughter. Then louder, “You left me blind.”
Over and over, he repeated the words as he repeatedly stabbed the stranger in the chest, his voice growing louder with every repetition.
“You left me blind! You left me blind! You left me blind! You left me blind!”
Blood splattered onto the cracked pavement, becoming a pool under their feet. The stranger took his last breath, falling limp as blood escaped through every entrance, leaving his sockets, nostrils, ears, mouth, bottom, nails. But the man didn’t stop. He continued stabbing the lifeless corpse, laughing with the others that echoed through the darkness.
“YouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblindYouleftmeblind!”
The man stopped, dropping the knife and raising his arms into the sky, blood falling from his hands and onto his face.
“Happy birthday to a happy day.”