- Local time
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- 357
- Age
- 37
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- he/him
Doomsday prophets, religions, and any number of folks who believed the world going out in a single horribly tragic event had their own predictions. This one said fire, this one said flood, this one said ice, this one pestilence; the list could go on and on forever. There were just as many predictions as there were people on this planet. However, there was one man who knew the exact ending to the world. What makes his prediction all the more true than anyone else's? By all accounts he could be just as crazy or maybe even cruel as the rest of them. Well you see, he had uncovered an ancient artifact, one that should have been left alone. He took it, because above all this man was a scientist; there was no room for superstitions other than to be a story you tell over cocktails. A man of science wished to take, catalog, study, and place it into a museum so all may look upon it. Why yes, it would have been wiser had he left it, but arrogance about supernatural things is what the world had no room for.
Dr. Michael Hansen, Micky to his friends, stood in the front living room alone. He was looking out onto the streetlamp lit Franklin Boulevard. The weather hadn't been cold enough for snow today, but there was still some lingering fog from earlier. The stars and moon were blotted out by the typical thick gray clouds of Cleveland. He watched unblinking, his muscles rigid that one might have mistook him for a statue. The only movement he gave was raising his glass of whisky to his mouth, taking a long drink before lowering it once more. A car drove past the window, it didn't look like a drunk driver but the night was young.
Other than the quiet noises the house made and the bit of wind outside there wasn't much going on. Micky's long time colleague and best friend, Professor Ethan Bond, had gone out to a New Year's Eve party. Well more like Hansen had convinced him to leave. Ethan was almost dead set on trying to drag him out, nothing Michael said swayed him. He knew what Ethan thought of him, he watched what was happening and it seemed reasonable for him to want to stay. But with some molding and a promise to check in with a text every so often was what it finally took for Ethan to be out of the house. If anything had happened to his friend because he hadn't been able to get him away, he would never forgive himself. Michael Hansen had brought this on himself, no one else needed to get hurt.
His eyes were focused on the window, when something moved to his left. His eyes moved enough to see a man standing next to him. Pale face, well pressed suit, beard. Then the mouth opened like a snake's and let out a blood curdling scream. Micky dropped his glass to cover his ears, after a moment the scream stopped. There was a light ringing in his ears as he readjusted to the quiet of his house. He looked around and no one was there, he cursed softly and went to go get tools to clean up his mess. As he walked away something came into his mind, he knew that face. That man's face was familiar to him and with that he bolted to his library. He ran to a section more led by his gut instinct rather than forethought.
He ran to a shelf, fingers lightly touching over the spines, quickly reading it, then dancing to the next one. One book his finger just stopped on and he gently pulled it from its place. He sat down at his desk and looked at it. It was the History of Franklin Castle, he let out a shuddering sigh. He opened the book and just by chance it opened up to Hannes Tiedeman with his family. There was a cold chill that went down Micky's spine, it was like a hand had gripped that column of bones and threatened to rip it from his body.
Michael's breath shortened into small gasps, it took him taking in a long deep breath to finally melt that cold hand. He closed the book and got up from his desk to go get another drink. The stairs creaked softly as he went down them to get his drink. He couldn't shake the feeling of eyes on the back of his head, the little gooseflesh that pimpled his skin along his arms. No, this was nothing.
When he had purchased Franklin Castle a few years ago, he was warned of the ghosts but as a man of science he didn't believe in such things. With shows like Ghost Hunters being popular he sometimes allowed amateur ghost hunters into his home for a fee. The more they paid the longer they could stay. Needless to say anytime he posted openings they always were snapped up immediately. It was a nice innocent side gig that he did, took so little effort but there were so many of them who were convinced that they had captured evidence. Some of that had been with a little help of technology and a little help from a friend who ran a haunted house, they were able to make a very convincing act. He never repeated a trick too often, but he had a good thing going.
Never had he felt like something invisible was closing in around him, the house which had been a comfortable 70 degrees felt icy. It felt colder inside than outside, his breath came out in small cold puffs. Then there was a crack of lighting in the sky and the immediate clap of thunder. The noise lightly vibrated in Micky's chest. He realized it wasn't just the thunder, it was his phone as well.
He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that it was Ethan calling. He took a deep breath and a quick moment to compose himself. "Hey Ethan, how's the party?"
"Had me worried, the party's going good. I think I might be able to get into a three way tonight."
Micky chuckled at this, "What ancient discovery did you unearth this time?"
"Well! I just so happened to get chosen for a deep sea dig. We were going to examine some bones someone had found while doing research. Anyway we got down there, the bones were nothing like what happened to bones on land. Between the pressure and sand these bones had turned to pure diamond. It was practically all the way intact. With a bit of snooping we realize it's an ancient whale skeleton. It didn't take us long to find its giant cock bone."
"Whale cock bone? Is that so?"
"Oh yes! But unfortunately it wasn't large enough to beat the record of the world's largest member."
Michael chuckled at that, "Who has the largest cock?"
Ethan then put on the accent of an old British man, "Well you see, unfortunately for you my dear boy that title belongs to me. Soon I'll have two maidens astried it at the same time!"
"Alright, get your maidens, don't trip on your dick!" He hung up the phone with a chuckle, almost forgetting about what had been troubling him. It was good that Ethan called, he wondered what Ethan would do when he stopped answering.
No, he couldn't think that way. There had to be something he could do, he went to his gun safe and started to pull out his guns when a large gust of wind rattled the windows. It wasn't long before he realized it wasn't the sound of wind but the sound of beating wings. He ran up to his desk and hastily scribbled out a note, folded it and put Ethan's name on it. He could feel that fear rising up at the back of his throat, or maybe it was vomit. The flap of wings only grew to a deafening roar.
When all of it ceased and was replaced by deafening silence. His breathing picked up rapidly, terrified out of his mind. His gun wasn't even close to him, he did have a pen at least. Micky didn't even notice the warm liquid running down his leg and pooling beneath him. He opened his eyes and saw the creature he had seen last year during the dig. It was a large skeleton decorated with owl feathers and bright Aztec beads. The great horned owl head looked at him with soulless black orbs, the beak opening and snapping shut.
The words he heard weren't with his ears, but with his mind. "I've come to collect what is due."
"I don't have it." Micky's voice was shaky, terrified.
"Then I shall take what is mine." He spoke, moving with lighting speed and snatching the man up by his throat.
Ethan staggered his way down the gangway with a lady on each of his arms. They stumbled and laughed their way to the cab. The cab driver didn't seem thrilled with them but quietly did his job. Ethan went between kissing each of the girls, lipstick smearing every which way. It wasn't long before they arrived at Franklin Castle.
"Wow! You really live here?!" Brittney exclaimed, her eyes looking over it.
"Yeah! It belongs to my friend but I'm sure the lonely bastard wouldn't mind some company." Ethan said as they walked up to the front door.
"Is your friend as attractive as you?" Monica said.
"Oh I'd say he's close competition." This caused the two ladies to laugh as they entered the house. "Want me to get you ladies anything?"
"None for me, where's your restroom?" Monica said.
"Upstairs and to the right of the library at the end of the hall." She nodded and watched as Brittney and Ethan went to get a drink.
Her heels thumped softly on the carpet as she walked down the hall, it was then she noticed the study light was on. Ethan did say he lived with someone, maybe he was up late doing some reading?
Downstairs Ethan was grinding his hips on Brittney, his need and desire growing more and more. Everything stopped when Monica let out a blood curdling scream. Ethan bolted upstairs, thinking she had gotten hurt. She was sitting on the floor with her face in her hands as she cried loudly into them. Her body shivered with fright but she seemed physically alright.
Ethan watched as Britt took to comforting her, he then walked down the hall towards the library, there were brown feathers outside the door. Inside there were so many feathers it could have come from one hundred birds. They stuck up between the floorboards, between books anywhere they could lay flat or find purchase had a few feathers on it. His eyes followed a small path in the feathers to the back of the library.
There hanging from the ceiling was none other than Dr. Michael Hansen. He wasn't hanging from a noose. He was strung up by his feet with chains. The chains spread his arms apart, throat slashed, long lines opened up his arms. Deep cuts in his thighs relieved him of every drop of blood.
The weird thing was that there wasn't a single drop around Micky's body. Ethan quickly shut the door, ran to the bathroom and retched in the toilet. After he had finally stopped he flushed the toilet and went to the sink to rinse his mouth out. He then splashed cold water on his face, letting the temperature shock him back into calm. He shakily dried his face and hands before he gathered the ladies into the living room, then called the police.
What a weird way to end the evening. It wasn't long before those flashing red and blue lights flooded the street. Micky, him and some other friends had plans to go to the Browns game versus the Steelers. The fridge was full of tailgating stuff. They were ready for another loss but that's not why you go to a Browns game. Now any plans were just gone. He sat on the couch trying to process the meaning of this, how did he end up like that?
Both him and the two women had to deal with questions about their whereabouts that night, what they had touched so they could rule out some of their markings. The two women left shortly before the coroner and others came in with a gurney to wheel out his best friend in a black body bag. He covered his mouth while he watched them leave.
One of the police officers came down with a note opened inside a clear plastic evidence bag. "Your friend seemed to have written you a note before he was murdered. Maybe there's a hidden clue that you would see in it."
Ethan took the paper into his hand and looked at the rushed handwriting. "Burn what we found at Cueva del guardián del tiempo. Don't read it." Ethan mulled over this for a moment, maybe his friend hadn't been crazy. Ever since that trip to South America he had watched as Michael slowly spiraled into what seemed like madness. What had happened to him? Surely it wasn't anything like a curse. This in front of him was a rather grizzly murder. Though how they managed to leave a trace of blood was beyond him.
"Any idea what he means?" The officer asked.
"Just an expedition we had gone on, found an old owl mask but that was it." Ethan puzzled over the note and handed it back. Ethan couldn't say how long he sat in that chair while the police went about his home looking for clues and evidence. Making sure that everything was documented and photographed. He even heard the quiet joke among them of Edgar Allen Poe. He rolled his eyes as he tried to think of what could have happened to his friend. The feathers. The lack of blood. No sign of forced entry and no sign of a struggle. Whatever had done this couldn't have been human, Bond even felt ridiculous as the notion even dared pass through his mind.
Dr. Michael Hansen, Micky to his friends, stood in the front living room alone. He was looking out onto the streetlamp lit Franklin Boulevard. The weather hadn't been cold enough for snow today, but there was still some lingering fog from earlier. The stars and moon were blotted out by the typical thick gray clouds of Cleveland. He watched unblinking, his muscles rigid that one might have mistook him for a statue. The only movement he gave was raising his glass of whisky to his mouth, taking a long drink before lowering it once more. A car drove past the window, it didn't look like a drunk driver but the night was young.
Other than the quiet noises the house made and the bit of wind outside there wasn't much going on. Micky's long time colleague and best friend, Professor Ethan Bond, had gone out to a New Year's Eve party. Well more like Hansen had convinced him to leave. Ethan was almost dead set on trying to drag him out, nothing Michael said swayed him. He knew what Ethan thought of him, he watched what was happening and it seemed reasonable for him to want to stay. But with some molding and a promise to check in with a text every so often was what it finally took for Ethan to be out of the house. If anything had happened to his friend because he hadn't been able to get him away, he would never forgive himself. Michael Hansen had brought this on himself, no one else needed to get hurt.
His eyes were focused on the window, when something moved to his left. His eyes moved enough to see a man standing next to him. Pale face, well pressed suit, beard. Then the mouth opened like a snake's and let out a blood curdling scream. Micky dropped his glass to cover his ears, after a moment the scream stopped. There was a light ringing in his ears as he readjusted to the quiet of his house. He looked around and no one was there, he cursed softly and went to go get tools to clean up his mess. As he walked away something came into his mind, he knew that face. That man's face was familiar to him and with that he bolted to his library. He ran to a section more led by his gut instinct rather than forethought.
He ran to a shelf, fingers lightly touching over the spines, quickly reading it, then dancing to the next one. One book his finger just stopped on and he gently pulled it from its place. He sat down at his desk and looked at it. It was the History of Franklin Castle, he let out a shuddering sigh. He opened the book and just by chance it opened up to Hannes Tiedeman with his family. There was a cold chill that went down Micky's spine, it was like a hand had gripped that column of bones and threatened to rip it from his body.
Michael's breath shortened into small gasps, it took him taking in a long deep breath to finally melt that cold hand. He closed the book and got up from his desk to go get another drink. The stairs creaked softly as he went down them to get his drink. He couldn't shake the feeling of eyes on the back of his head, the little gooseflesh that pimpled his skin along his arms. No, this was nothing.
When he had purchased Franklin Castle a few years ago, he was warned of the ghosts but as a man of science he didn't believe in such things. With shows like Ghost Hunters being popular he sometimes allowed amateur ghost hunters into his home for a fee. The more they paid the longer they could stay. Needless to say anytime he posted openings they always were snapped up immediately. It was a nice innocent side gig that he did, took so little effort but there were so many of them who were convinced that they had captured evidence. Some of that had been with a little help of technology and a little help from a friend who ran a haunted house, they were able to make a very convincing act. He never repeated a trick too often, but he had a good thing going.
Never had he felt like something invisible was closing in around him, the house which had been a comfortable 70 degrees felt icy. It felt colder inside than outside, his breath came out in small cold puffs. Then there was a crack of lighting in the sky and the immediate clap of thunder. The noise lightly vibrated in Micky's chest. He realized it wasn't just the thunder, it was his phone as well.
He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that it was Ethan calling. He took a deep breath and a quick moment to compose himself. "Hey Ethan, how's the party?"
"Had me worried, the party's going good. I think I might be able to get into a three way tonight."
Micky chuckled at this, "What ancient discovery did you unearth this time?"
"Well! I just so happened to get chosen for a deep sea dig. We were going to examine some bones someone had found while doing research. Anyway we got down there, the bones were nothing like what happened to bones on land. Between the pressure and sand these bones had turned to pure diamond. It was practically all the way intact. With a bit of snooping we realize it's an ancient whale skeleton. It didn't take us long to find its giant cock bone."
"Whale cock bone? Is that so?"
"Oh yes! But unfortunately it wasn't large enough to beat the record of the world's largest member."
Michael chuckled at that, "Who has the largest cock?"
Ethan then put on the accent of an old British man, "Well you see, unfortunately for you my dear boy that title belongs to me. Soon I'll have two maidens astried it at the same time!"
"Alright, get your maidens, don't trip on your dick!" He hung up the phone with a chuckle, almost forgetting about what had been troubling him. It was good that Ethan called, he wondered what Ethan would do when he stopped answering.
No, he couldn't think that way. There had to be something he could do, he went to his gun safe and started to pull out his guns when a large gust of wind rattled the windows. It wasn't long before he realized it wasn't the sound of wind but the sound of beating wings. He ran up to his desk and hastily scribbled out a note, folded it and put Ethan's name on it. He could feel that fear rising up at the back of his throat, or maybe it was vomit. The flap of wings only grew to a deafening roar.
When all of it ceased and was replaced by deafening silence. His breathing picked up rapidly, terrified out of his mind. His gun wasn't even close to him, he did have a pen at least. Micky didn't even notice the warm liquid running down his leg and pooling beneath him. He opened his eyes and saw the creature he had seen last year during the dig. It was a large skeleton decorated with owl feathers and bright Aztec beads. The great horned owl head looked at him with soulless black orbs, the beak opening and snapping shut.
The words he heard weren't with his ears, but with his mind. "I've come to collect what is due."
"I don't have it." Micky's voice was shaky, terrified.
"Then I shall take what is mine." He spoke, moving with lighting speed and snatching the man up by his throat.
Ethan staggered his way down the gangway with a lady on each of his arms. They stumbled and laughed their way to the cab. The cab driver didn't seem thrilled with them but quietly did his job. Ethan went between kissing each of the girls, lipstick smearing every which way. It wasn't long before they arrived at Franklin Castle.
"Wow! You really live here?!" Brittney exclaimed, her eyes looking over it.
"Yeah! It belongs to my friend but I'm sure the lonely bastard wouldn't mind some company." Ethan said as they walked up to the front door.
"Is your friend as attractive as you?" Monica said.
"Oh I'd say he's close competition." This caused the two ladies to laugh as they entered the house. "Want me to get you ladies anything?"
"None for me, where's your restroom?" Monica said.
"Upstairs and to the right of the library at the end of the hall." She nodded and watched as Brittney and Ethan went to get a drink.
Her heels thumped softly on the carpet as she walked down the hall, it was then she noticed the study light was on. Ethan did say he lived with someone, maybe he was up late doing some reading?
Downstairs Ethan was grinding his hips on Brittney, his need and desire growing more and more. Everything stopped when Monica let out a blood curdling scream. Ethan bolted upstairs, thinking she had gotten hurt. She was sitting on the floor with her face in her hands as she cried loudly into them. Her body shivered with fright but she seemed physically alright.
Ethan watched as Britt took to comforting her, he then walked down the hall towards the library, there were brown feathers outside the door. Inside there were so many feathers it could have come from one hundred birds. They stuck up between the floorboards, between books anywhere they could lay flat or find purchase had a few feathers on it. His eyes followed a small path in the feathers to the back of the library.
There hanging from the ceiling was none other than Dr. Michael Hansen. He wasn't hanging from a noose. He was strung up by his feet with chains. The chains spread his arms apart, throat slashed, long lines opened up his arms. Deep cuts in his thighs relieved him of every drop of blood.
The weird thing was that there wasn't a single drop around Micky's body. Ethan quickly shut the door, ran to the bathroom and retched in the toilet. After he had finally stopped he flushed the toilet and went to the sink to rinse his mouth out. He then splashed cold water on his face, letting the temperature shock him back into calm. He shakily dried his face and hands before he gathered the ladies into the living room, then called the police.
What a weird way to end the evening. It wasn't long before those flashing red and blue lights flooded the street. Micky, him and some other friends had plans to go to the Browns game versus the Steelers. The fridge was full of tailgating stuff. They were ready for another loss but that's not why you go to a Browns game. Now any plans were just gone. He sat on the couch trying to process the meaning of this, how did he end up like that?
Both him and the two women had to deal with questions about their whereabouts that night, what they had touched so they could rule out some of their markings. The two women left shortly before the coroner and others came in with a gurney to wheel out his best friend in a black body bag. He covered his mouth while he watched them leave.
One of the police officers came down with a note opened inside a clear plastic evidence bag. "Your friend seemed to have written you a note before he was murdered. Maybe there's a hidden clue that you would see in it."
Ethan took the paper into his hand and looked at the rushed handwriting. "Burn what we found at Cueva del guardián del tiempo. Don't read it." Ethan mulled over this for a moment, maybe his friend hadn't been crazy. Ever since that trip to South America he had watched as Michael slowly spiraled into what seemed like madness. What had happened to him? Surely it wasn't anything like a curse. This in front of him was a rather grizzly murder. Though how they managed to leave a trace of blood was beyond him.
"Any idea what he means?" The officer asked.
"Just an expedition we had gone on, found an old owl mask but that was it." Ethan puzzled over the note and handed it back. Ethan couldn't say how long he sat in that chair while the police went about his home looking for clues and evidence. Making sure that everything was documented and photographed. He even heard the quiet joke among them of Edgar Allen Poe. He rolled his eyes as he tried to think of what could have happened to his friend. The feathers. The lack of blood. No sign of forced entry and no sign of a struggle. Whatever had done this couldn't have been human, Bond even felt ridiculous as the notion even dared pass through his mind.