Wednesday 30 October 2013

Moving Up In the World

In short, after the events of my last post I caught some rest, grabbed as many cans of food as I could carry, ripped up the blanket into a vaguely poncho-like shape for warmth and set out. It wasn't easy going, it's not easy going. The path that had taken me to the house didn't continue for much longer and I was soon condemned to climbing over rocky mounds and climbing small ridges.

Each night, I can see the lights behind me, following me on my way. They've gathered around the base of the mountain, truly no turning back now. Every time I stop for rest I don't get more than a couple hours before the lights get too close. I'm not even sure what they are, I only see the glow that proceeds them, and if that post from before is anything to go by I probably don't want to see them.

To be honest I have little to say here. I'm moving, I'm surviving. I don't know how  long it will take me to get to the top of this mountain. It's been easy-enough going so far, but I don't have the training or the supplies to climb the entire thing. I remain hopeful nonetheless. I've resigned myself to this task. This Challenge.

I guess what I'm try to say with this post is: I'm alive.

Hope all you out there are too.

Wednesday 23 October 2013

I grabbed my laptop as we passed and-

I limped out of the cave with Jane as my support. We exited into the glaring, white, reflective snow fields. Did you know Inuits/Eskimos/(insert politically correct term here) can be rendered blind from sunlight bouncing off the ice? They can also suffer tremendous sunburn! But that's just a fun-fact I thought was relevant to the blaring illumination that assaulted me after spending so long in the dark. We were on the side of a mountain, on a long winding mountain path. Gazing out over the snow-capped landscape it was beautiful. For a split second I almost forgot about the horrible situation I was in.

We were relatively low down on the mountain, still high enough to kill me if we fell, which was a distinct possibility when trying to ascend an icy pathway. But we made it without incident. Made it where you ask? A house. A perfectly fine, perfectly large house built on the side of a mountain. But I continued to believe, because she told me it would be fine and I trusted her because I believed in her.

She opened the door and inside was almost bare. There were three chairs in the room, the nearest one she placed me in. She walked into the next room and came back with a plate of food. I don't even remember what food it was. All I know is that it tasted good and filled me faster and better than that small amount of food should have. I was too relieved to be paranoid. After the food I was taken upstairs into a bed and fell asleep. It was the first time I slept in a warm bed in at least a month (From my perspective), if not longer. It felt good and I woke up feeling better than I had in a long time, even since before I came here.

I would have updated then and there, but I got sidetracked getting caught up on Jane. She claimed to have gone unconscious in the motel where she died and woken up in this house a month ago. She had gone exploring and had encountered nothing and no one, but the cupboards of the house were well stocked with food. But then while exploring she found me in the cave. I told her everything that had happened since after she went unconscious to now. I left out the part where she had actually died. We talked for hours about everything, and I felt happier than I think I ever have in the past.

No wonder life took that moment to ruin everything, again. She walked out into the kitchen and I heard a crash, I presumed she had accidentally dropped some of the food so I went out to check. Then, well, then I found her dead for the second time. The same knife wound in the same place, her laying on the ground, blood pooling around her, cans of food rolling over the floor. I fell to my knees. I burst out crying. My tears froze half-way down my face. I was cold. Colder than every before. Colder than the Cold Boy had ever made me, colder than any of the times I thought I'd lose fingers to frostbite, colder than any of the times I had to trudge through snow storms. The blood froze in my veins. I fell back into the floor of the main room, unable to feel the hard, wooden floor on my back. Unable to feel anything anymore. Life had taken everything away, before giving it all back, and then violently ripped it away again.

"Well well well. Giving up are we?" The Glitch flickered into view, laying on the ground next to me. I didn't even acknowledge him -it. "Oh, ignoring me? Now now, Christopher, are you really as petty as all that?" "Petty?!" I spat out, "SHE'S DEAD! AGAIN!" "Oh come now, Christopher, you and I both know she only died the first time. Pretty naive of you to think she had really come back to life to save you and lead you away to peace and happiness in this conveniently placed house." He was right of course. I was a fool to think it was really her. She was nothing but a jumble of words created by the Tale Weaver. Nothing but a trap to bring me back from the precipice so that the fall would be all the more spectacular.

"I'll tell you what," the Glitch began to speak again, "ALL you need to do, is make it to the summit of this mountain. And you make it to the next round! I mean, it may not be ideal, if you want you can stay here and starve yet again. Except you won't get another chance at salvation. There'll be nothing but pain until I grow bored with you. But I'm not here to make the decision for you. It's up to you to choose. Die slowly here, or push forward with a chance of success. Maybe win the whole thing! And go back to your life. Think about that. You could have a life again." With that it static-ed away. My blood was pumping through my body again, my flesh warmed up and my tears melted.

I lay there for a while. But I already knew what I'd do. The Glitch was right, I knew that. I only had one chance of escape. One chance to escape this nightmare. Never before had I felt this alone in my life. Never before had I craved company as much as I do right now. I will make my way back to the world. And I will NOT die trying.


Capture and Escape

Wow. Where do I start? According to blogger it's been about HALF A FUCKING YEAR since my last post. I wish I could tell you how long that's been for me, but unfortunately I've been unconscious for an unspecific amount of that time. Given the nature of everything that's been happening for the past year I could have easily spent most of it unconscious in real time.

But, explanations. I was sleeping in my cabin when I hear something outside, a loud screeching noise. It woke me up quickly as you would imagine and I grabbed my chunk of timber, holding it close as I rose to my feet and prepared to defend myself. The screeching stopped suddenly before starting again a few seconds later. It did that several times before I saw them. The dark, phantom things. Each screech was accompanied by a sudden burst of blurring speed as they shifted across the field of snow.

They drew closer and closer and I could tell they, finally, were coming for me. I backed away from the door and held my weapon at the ready. A screech sounded again and before I knew it one was standing right in front of me, taken by surprise it struck out at my jaw in a swift motion. Pain shot through my skull as I hurtled away against the wall. That's when the unconsciousness struck.

I woke up in a cave somewhere in this unknowably large tundral realm, within a cage. There were no phantoms to be seen. I sat up and I grabbed the bars of the cell, rattling them back and forth to no avail. My futile state of existence had only increased in futility. The cage was solid, no food or water to be found, no help would be coming. Here I was without a hope. I didn't even have my laptop to keep all my loyal followers updated. It was sitting on a rock, out of reach. So I lay there and waited for dehydration to claim me/my captors to return to finish me off. As it happened, neither happened.

Though I was there for what had to be days my body refused to die. My thirst and hunger ate away at me, the pain in my stomach killing me but without the death part. Weeks passed. How long would I have to endure this? How long would I be able to survive? The phantoms didn't return either, leaving me to my eternal suffering.

You know how I said no help would be coming, well of course I thought that at the time but as it turned out I was wrong. I was coming up on what I had counted to be my 28th day trapped without any source of nourishment when a figure appeared, silhouetted against the white light of the cave entrance. It was Jane. Yes, Jane. Remember Jane, from a few months back. The one that died. I shouldn't have trusted it, I shouldn't have believed it. It was impossible. Even if it wasn't, why would a Fear(ish thing) controlled domain offer a kindness? It wouldn't. But I was so relieved to be rescued. So relieved to see her! Against my own better judgement I chose to believe it was really her.

"Chris!" she called out to me, hastily grabbing the lock and pulling a pin out of her hair. "I bet you didn't know I could pick locks," she laughed as she inserted the pin. "What are you doing here? How are you alive?" she asked me. I could only groan in response. "Never mind, let's just get you out of here." She grabbed me and hoisted my arm around her shoulders and I didn't resist. I grabbed my laptop as we passed and-

-And now I have to go. The lights are getting closer. I'll continue this later.