Part 1
A long streak of crimson ran down the dingy walls. Above it sprawled a mural of skull fragments, blood, and grey matter. Directly beneath the grotesque display lay the victim.
Across from him stood the culprit, mouth agape.
The eerie whirring of the old ceiling fan was now the only sound left in the once-roaring room.
Did I really just do that? the man thought as he stared at his once-friend’s lifeless corpse.
“No… no, no, no, no—this wasn’t how it was supposed to go,” he muttered shakily.
His breaths began to grow shorter and shorter with each beat of his rapidly fluttering heart.
First his hands trembled. Then his arms. Then his entire body.
He stumbled backward into an armchair placed almost perfectly in his path.
Seated now, he could only stare vacantly at the magnum opus of grey matter he had just painted the walls with.
“This can’t be happening,” he whispered, covering his face as his elbows rested against his knees.
A sharp ringing began to fill his ears. The soft hum of the lamps grew duller and duller the deeper his heart sank..
He made me do this.
If he had just left me alone like I told him to, none of this would’ve happened.
The ringing worsened until it drowned out everything else.
Along with the ringing came a flurry of thoughts crashing into his mind
What am I gonna do?
What happens if someone finds out?
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?!
His mind spiraled into a hurricane of what-ifs and should-have-beens. His body and mind felt like two separate worlds drifting further apart.
And with no way to hold them together, he clung to every stray thought he could find just to avoid the reality waiting for him in his own skin.
KNOCK…. KNOCK….. KNOCK.
In an instant, the two worlds collided again.
Someone was at the door.
The storm in his head vanished as the truth finally settled into place.
He… was a killer.
Shakily, he pulled himself from the chair and crept toward the door.
Hesitation in his mind gave way to resistance with each step closer to the door.
But before he could even consider the consequences of opening it—
“Callum, look, I’m sorry about earlier. But come on, dude, you didn’t have to storm off like that.”
Time froze.
The voice echoed through the newly hollow space in his mind.
That… can’t be.
No.
It was unmistakable.
But that was impossible.
Because the voice he heard could only belong to one person.
The dead man slumped over behind him.
