Finally, Jay was pushed to the limits of his endurance and, summoning his courage, he confronted the painting. Demanding freedom. Stating in no uncertain terms that he would not be made a slave.
The Prince did not speak, he merely stared at Jay, cold pitiless eyes boring into his soul as Jay felt his bravado sucked away. Suddenly he was terrified, he felt like a petulant child. Whineing before a God. Digging deep, Jay drew upon his adrenaline, determined to destroy the painting once and for all.
He woke suddenly lying in his bed in the apartment. Today, 4:00amJay went through the following day in a clinical, monotonous fashion. No words, no emotion. Just working. As he went to hand his coworker a tool-
He was at the apartment. Somehow there was food on the table. How did-
He collapsed to his knees, terror crushing him down as he felt the Yellow Prince's overpowering presence crawling through his skin.
Crackling, hissing.
One of the horrible abominations from the Techno-hell was writhing towards him. Rotting, reptilian flesh with visceral wires and plugs protruding from it's body. Razor sharp, metallic pincers snapped at the air.
The creature moved towards Jay. It was in no hurry, it wanted to make this last. Jay backed away in panic, back pressed against the counter as his hands scrambled for something, ANYTHING, to use as a weapon.
His hands closed around the handle of a large pot and he charged forward, fueled by sudden adrenaline.
The creature was taken by surprise and Jay slammed the pot into it's skull, the impact splitting it's head open.
The creature collapsed and Jay slumped against the counter. Pot clattering to the floor as he tried to slow his breathing.
The creature stood up.
Jay lept back in horror, the monster was surveying him with a vague curious expression while blood and flesh leaked from it's eyes and the deep crack in its mutilated skull.
Jay was trapped, the creature blocked the exit, and he was fifty stories above the ground.
The creature slowly walked forward, mindless sadistic hunger evident in it's bleeding eyes.
Jay saw the razor sharp appendages. He imagined writhing in pain as those wicked blades peeled the skin from his bones.
One option remained, to die quickly.
He lept from the window, desperate to escape the hellish abomination.
Wind, speed, pai-
....
Lights, voices, hands, grasping him, shaking him. Pain throbbed in his head, warm sticky fluid covered his sheets, his limbs ached. The voices were asking questions now
"Can you hear me? Do you know where you are?"
He was at a hospital.
Jay spent the next few days at the hospital, trying to recover from his wounds. As the doctors said, the very fact that he was alive was an utter miracle. He was given his own room which suited Jay just fine, he needed to be alone with his thoughts.
The peace was shortlived.
As it turns out, some brightspark had the BRILLIANT idea to hang a painting on his bedroom wall.
Orderly: There we go! Adds a nice touch don't you think?
Jay: Yes. LOVELY. (thinking: I will kill you in your sleep).
This painting depicted a vast lake in the middle of a valley. A small elegant boat could be seen at the distance, and upon it's bow: The Yellow Prince.
Jay had never felt more helpless. He couldn't ask for help, the doctors would think he'd gone insane. And he'd seen first hand the folly of trying to confront the Yellow Prince.
But as the day's passed, he could not ignore the boat coming closer and closer to the edge of the painting.
One night, he decided a bath might help calm his mind. As he watched the tub filling with water, he let his mind wander, pondering a way to defeat the Yellow Prince.
A hand grasped him by the neck and slammed his face underwater.
Jay began thrashing wildly, lungs constricting as he desperately tried to avoid inhaling the water. Fingers jabbed into his neck and he let out an involuntary gasp of pain. Water flooded into his lungs, he could feel it, filling up the fleshy bags as-
Suddenly the pressure disappeared and he wrenched his face from the water.
He felt hands grasping him and briefly struggled, until he realised it was one of the nurses.
In between coughing and spluttering, Jay warned them.
"Someone- attacked me- ran away- find him- should still be-"
But that was impossible, the nurse had been standing outside the only entrance to the room.
Jay found himself inside the doctors office. The doctor was asking him several questions:
"Have you been experiencing any headaches lately? Dizzy spells?"
Suddenly he found himself lying in his bed. The room was FLOODED, water was pouring from the painting as the Yellow Prince finally stepped out of the boat.
And into the room.
The Yellow Prince did not look at Jay, did not even acknowledge him. The second he entered the room, the Yellow Prince immediately turned on his heel, and walked out the door.
Jay climbed out of his bed and followed after the Yellow Prince desperate for answers to the nightmare that had plagued his life.
No one tried to stop him as he walked out the hospital. Despite their bizarre appearances, no one even acknowledged him or the Yellow Prince. As Jay followed the Yellow Prince through the busy city streets, he eventually saw the prince enter a large building
St Adler Mental Institution.
The corridors of the madhouse were surprisingly well lit. Jay entered the building in time to see the Yellow Prince round the corner. Jay went to follow when suddenly he found himself pinned to the floor, a great weight was upon his back and Jay realised with horror that it was the abomination from the techno-hell.
Jay struggled furiously to try and throw the creature of, but the thing was to strong. Jay screamed in agony as the monster bit down into his shoulder, ripping out a large, bloody chunk.
Summoning a final burst of adrenaline, Jay threw the creature from his back. The monster landed in a patch of sunlight and burst into ash.
Jay picked himself up, every inch of his body was wracked with agony, his skull throbbed with a full ache, he was feeling dizzy and nauseous from the shock and bloodloss, he could feel something inside his mouth and his shoulder seemed to scream with burning agony. But he pressed forward, he had to find answers.
The corridor ended at a single room. The door was open but the Yellow Prince was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was an open filling cabinet in the middle of the room, with the first file clearly labled 'Jason 'Jay' Finney'. But that was impossible! He had never even heard of such a place.
His shoulder was still burning, and he could still taste the bizarre object in his mouth, but he ignored those factors, and grabbed the file.
Date of Incarceration: February 4th, 2000.
Eight years ago. There was no release date.
Ignoring the object in his mouth, Jay forced himself to look down the page.
Reasons for Incarceration. High level Schizophrenia, Paranoia, Hallucinations. And Self-mutilation.
Finally, Jay spat the object out onto the palm of his hand and stared at it in growing horror.
It was a chunk of his own shoulder.
THE END
Greetings tropers!
This is a ghost story a friend told to me about 4 years ago. I decided to post it on here just for the fun of it. Enjoy.
The protagonist of the story, is a twenty year old man named Jay. Jay was always a very down to earth sort of person, valueing comfort and practicality over ambition. He spent most of his days working in a factory, until one day, he received a call from an old friend: Lucas.
Lucas and Jay had always been something of an "Odd Couple" at school. Where Jay was down to earth and practical, Lucas was Bold, outgoing, charismatic and ambitious. These qualities had skyrocketed Lucas to the head of a wealthy hotel chain. So, needless to say, Jay was rather surprised to hear from him.
"Hey man how have you been. Listen, I'm sorry we haven't talked in awhile, been busy and all, but I need to ask a favour of you. I'm going to be overseas until November, so I was wandering if you could look after my apartment while I'm gone. I'll pay you for your trouble, I just don't want to come home and find some random hobo sleeping on my bed."
Jay agreed to the request. Even if he and Lucas hadn't spoken in ages, the idea of being paid to live in a penthouse apartment for over three months was nevertheless an exciting prospect.
Upon arriving at the apartment, the first thing that caught Jay's eyes were the paintings. There were several large works of art throughout the corridors and halls, very expensive ones at that. Jay was intrigued, Lucas had never been what one would call "cultured", he would rather go to a nightclub than a museum. And yet, here were several old an expensive paintings decorating the walls. Three paintings in particular intrigued Jay.
The first painting, depicted an old tower in the middle of a lake. Birds flew over the tower and vines were creeping over the cracked and crumbling gray walls.
The second painting was far more disturbing in nature. Against the backdrop of a burning post-apocalyptic background, hoards of vicious abominations- part twisted, flesh part blasphemous technology- tore each other apart in a never ending war.
The most striking of all however, was a simple painting of a handsome man with sharp features and yellow robes.
As Jay settled into to his life at the apartment, he began to notice changes in the paintings. They were subtle, so subtle infact, that Jay didn't even notice them until after a week. But eventually it was evident: the images had shifted. It was happenning to slow to be directly observed, but the birds of the tower had been on the left hand corner, now they were over the middle.
Worried about his sanity, Jay tried to ignore the paintings. He briefly considered tearing them from the walls, but the very idea filled him with a terror so intense, he could barely stand from the force of his own shaking.
That night, he felt The Yellow Prince calling to him.
The Prince beckoned and Jay came. He didn't know why, he didn't know how. All he knew was his duty, to carry out The Yellow Prince's command.
He woke up in his bed suddenly, horror twisting inside him. He tried to remember what had happened, what tasks had been commanded of him, but shadows clouded his mind. He new of darkened halls, twisted shapes and hushed voices, echoing throughout his mind. He tried to focus on his work but paranoia gripped his spine, shivers up his skin as he could feel the piercing stare of the Yellow Prince through the face of every man he saw. The pattern repeated itself for weeks. Fear, control, fear, control.