A couple of dead rats

Blogging chained up to shit isn't all that fun, but needless to say, slide out keyboard, and occasional one handed typing gets the work done.

Been making the rounds while I'm waiting for death too.  So...yes interesting things are happening.

Got some new sages...

Yes that pissed me off immensely, but I'm over it for now.  Fucking bullshit Maduin....

That fucked up title system that Robert started, we all know had major fucking flaws in it.  Mainly because we tricked ourselves into thinking that by taking a title, we were more than human.

I've had a bit of trouble with that myself a while ago.  It happens, we want to be greater than we are sometimes.

Well, while I'm all sane and such, let me just say this to our new keystones.  "Don't let it get to you,  Don't let it control you."

Moving on, I also got a text message inviting me to a BBQ over the upcoming holiday.  Yeah, someone invited Nessa to a BBQ.  Remember folks, this is her phone I stole after tazing her.

I wonder what she's doing nowadays, if she's still alive.  I remember she popped up post-amnesia, then let it all go, as she should...

Which reminds me,  more support for Redlight being Jay.  Jay said that after wiping minds, people could still easily get thrust back into the horror.  This naturally makes me look right back over to Robert's experiences.


So, let's end this 'in media res' bit, so I can tell you how I got to this point.

Massachusetts.  Nice place really, a bit cold as expected, and ridiculously hard to spell properly.  I had finished my unfortunate business with Slice, and had really run out of personal leads for my work.

Amherst isn't a big town really, the buildings seem to have an old school quality to them, which I enjoy.  Reminds me of this little town called Rockville that I used to frequent back years ago. 

However being a fraction of the size of Indianapolis, this also meant that the police force was going to be able to track me easier.  I don't blend in as it is, even when I'm out of gear.  So I decided that I needed to clean up, you know, shave, shower, clean the blood and vomit off of me.  It'd give me a chance to charge my phone and my taser.

The local YMCA works out for all of those needs, some of them even offer hot meals, but I didn't see that option.  Now the problem is that I couldn't very well bring my sword into there, so I stashed it up in a gutter, after climbing on one of those newer hard plastic trashcans.

I emerged from the showers, and the shelter an hour later.  While I didn't feel whole, I did indeed feel better.  My scabs had finally started to fade, and the hot water helped sooth my physical pains.   I looked out to the sky, my hands in my pockets, as I felt the wind.  Sure, the sun was too bright, and made my eyes hurt, but I felt...more human than I have in a few weeks.

And as all things in my life, it faded far too soon.  I felt...okay I shit you not people, I felt a disturbance in the Force.  Something felt wrong out here, yet everything was as it should be, aside from all the color washed out, and the two dogs barking at me.  Must've smelled the blood, or the murder.  Sigh.

I realize now that I saw what was wrong immediately, but it hovered in my subconscious for far too long before it became apparent.

Just as I started to look away, I saw a woman, hand in hand with a little girl, turning out of view.  I heard her laugh, as she arched her head back, laughing to the sky.

Rika.

Rika had a little girl with her.

Trouble.

I followed her naturally.  That child was in mortal danger, being associated with a proxy agent of the monster.  The girl was probably no more than six, holding an ice cream sandwich in her hand, as the two skipped merrily down the street.

I tried to run after them, but..shit, it was like those monster movies, where no matter how fast you go, it's still chasing you.  Well, they were almost always out of view.  Even when I nearly got hit by a car trying to stop the girl.

They passed through a playground, as I scrambled after them.  I even heard a bit of a song they were singing before I tripped into the sandpit.  When I looked up, I saw the treeline, and nothing more.

Led into the trees.  Towards the monster.

I pursued, cursing myself for leaving my blade behind.  I rushed into the woods, as I screamed for the little girl, for Rika.

And I saw no trace.

For an hour I scrambled through the woods, looking for this child.  I couldn't lose a child to her, not to her, not to it.  She was innocent, I

I found a wrapper for an ice cream sandwich finally, as it tumbled through the trees, carried by unseen fingers of the wind.

Without any other leads, I headed upwind, as leaves and grass swayed in the springtime forest.

Where evil things lurk.

Something caught my eye a few minutes later, as I splashed past a small brook.  A building partially covered by the flora,  covered by time.

I am no stranger to such things, we had them back in my original neck of the woods in Indiana.  Cistern wells, or access tunnels that led nowhere, just out in the woods, part of a former network that was long abandoned.  I figured it was for the city sewer system. I investigated it.

The stairway was a bit lopsided, as if the entire building had mudslide down a hill, it was subtle, but noticable.  There was little light, from tiny windows up top that barely lit up the hallway.  My feet clacked softly on the metal grating as I continued.

I woke up in a boiler room, chained to a pipe, my head was killing me.  I dunno if I was mindfucked, tazed, gassed, or just good old suckerpunched, but I was in pain, and I wasn't alone.   The room was in disrepair, two of the small windows were shattered, mud had entered through the windows.

Then there were the rats.  About three of them,  big ones, maybe not the type you'd see in a house, but do recall that they can survive in the wild as well.

They skittered and shrieked as I made noise in their nice home.

A low female chuckle arose from out of my view.

Me>>>  ...Oh god dammit, Rika.

I struggled against the pipe, hoping to break free somehow, before the psycho finally came for me.

Rika>>>  Man of Steel, you ain't, sugar.  Somehow I doubt you're going anywhere.

I thought about the child she led out here, I clawed at the pipe, at my own arm as if I could rage my way out of the binding.

Me>>>  A fucking lure....where's the girl, Rika?

She stepped out, casually, a sway in her step, her head tilted forwards as if to say 'don't you know?'

Rika>>>  Do you really want me to answer that?

Her Southern drawl hung in the air.  I didn't need to hear her say it, I knew what happened.

Vehement, I reached out towards her.  My arm quickly fell limp to my side.  I'm sure I'm setting myself up for another impotence joke, but I...I felt so helpless.  I can't understand what hold she has on me still.  Why can't I

Me>>>  You...you're such a monster.

Rika>>> Sticks and stone, Shug.

She sounded slightly offended.  I decided I had to push the issue.

Me>>>  She died just so you could get me here?

I glanced at the floor, envisioning that little girl, who will never grow up.

Rika>>>  Nope. She was gonna die no matter what. Getting you here was just a spur of the moment plan. And you followed it so nicely, well done!

She clapped, mocking me.

And that was going to be the end.  She had won,  I was broken, and bound, and weaponless...

Me>>>  Just...get it over with, alright?  I lost.  I tried my best.

Rika>>>  Oh Shug...

She shook her head softly.

Rika>>>  Do you really think it's that simple?


I felt a bitter smile form, picturing what was next to come.

Me>>>  Torture?  Go ahead.  I'm already broken.  I won't even feel it.  Doubt you'll hurt me worse than I have...

Then she reached into my hoodie pouch, her movement slow, as if savoring a lover's touch, before she pulled out my mask.

A pocketknife gleamed in her other hand.

The rats stopped squeaking.

Rika>>>  You shouldn't dare a girl...


I was speechless.  That mask was my identity, my life.

Me>>>  You arrogant b.....


I reached out for her, to no avail, my attempt dying before I could even muster the force.





Me>>>  When I find out...why I can't hurt you....Why I can't wring your n....if you don't kill me here, I *will* end you someday.

My threat seemed better in my head, thinking back, she never did worry about death before, and my words fell like ash from my lips.

Rika>>>  Maybe you will, Maybe you won't.  Doesn't matter as long as I get to have a little fun beforehand.

I spoke, like a coward.

Me>>> Don't...

She giggled in response.  Always laughing at me....always fucking la

Rika>>>  And why shouldn't I?

Still she played with that knife, as she swayed, enjoying seeing me sweat I imagine

Rika>>> Come on, Sage of Nothing.  You normally can't shut up.

I looked away, I couldn't bear to see it.

She got pissed, as I refused to play her game.  I couldn't bring myself to administer a snarky response, or even a defiant remark

Rika>>> Pathetic...

She started to storm out, stepping on my mask as she left.  I admit, I was afraid that I would be left there forever.

Me>>> M...My shadow....

She didn't turn around, but she stopped.  I felt I had to convince her that I couldn't be chained.

Me>>>  If I stay here, it will kill me...and...and you won't get your fun.

It was worth a shot.

She looked back towards me, over her shoulder

Rika>>>  Well I think of it this way. I'm gonna head on back here in a day or so. Either this shadow that you are so terrified of will have gotten you and I'll have the pleasure of knowing you died pissing yourself in fear. Or else you'll still be alive and we'll get to tell the whole world about how your shadow really was a delusion and you've been murdering people for nothing other then your own insanity... and then I'll kill you."

That was maybe 3 days ago

Since then I've blacked out, and typed a little, to try to keep my mind off of things...

Sorry to disappoint you Rika, but I've been out for two days now.  I managed to wear out the pipe's pins in the concrete.  After it got off the wall, I levered it enough that the rust made it snap off.

Sick bitch even broke the rats backs while I was out cold.

Soon, it'll be my turn.