only hope is that you never come across these final words and remember me for the man that I was.
I’m sorry for babbling on, reader. It’s not really my intent to be egging you on like this. You’re probably wondering what is causing me to write down these final words. I just simply need to put myself in a state of mind where I can logically remember everything. You will never know me and I shall never know you, but know for a fact that this may very well become your story one day
I must lay this warning for you though: Once you start reading my story, you cannot stop. This isn’t like some kind of stupid chain letter that tells you you’ll die if you don’t finish reading it. If you stop here, you’ll remain like an innocent child of God, unknowing of the true darkness that this world carries. If you so desire to continue on after this message, you will know what I have seen and will be on edge until the day you die.
It all started two days ago. It’s hard to imagine that such a short time has passed since then. It kind of makes me chuckle. I’m sorry; I’ll stop babbling and continue on.
Two days ago, something happened. My wife Allison and I had gotten in a fight over something so trivial that I can’t remember what it was about anymore. I did end up leaving the house to cool my head for a while. We both needed some time to cool off. We lived next to a park; you see, we had just recently moved because Allison is pregnant with...our only child. Anyway, I decided to walk around the park to clear my mind.
It was dark out, so there weren’t really that many people there, only stupid teenagers who have fun scaring each other. Anyway, I was pacing around the sidewalk, humming to myself, when I suddenly tripped over myself. I fell down, face forward, catching myself from completely smashing my face. Looking back, if I had gotten seriously injured, I’d still be alive and you wouldn’t be reading this. Oh, how cruel fate can be at times.
When I caught myself, I noticed a small scrap of paper on the floor. Curious as to what exactly it was, I picked it up. In a smeared red ink, the paper read:
“In the mirror, you will chant this thrice. ‘I am willing to pay the price.’ Once the ritual has been said, you will lie peacefully in your bed. Beyond then, the future you’ll see, hopeful or tragic whatever it may be. But please do not look for the date, for one should never truly know their fate. If this one rule you should break, all your love it will take. If you wish to have it back, from their future, you must lack.”
You have to understand, I thought nothing of the piece of paper at that time. I thought it was just another one of those idiotic games you played when you were a kid; you know, like Bloody Mary. After tossing the piece of paper to the side, I continued my walk home. The living room light was on, so I knew that my darling wife was still awake.
When I entered the house, we did our best to make up after the fight. Like I said before, I can’t remember what we fought about, although, I now wish I could. We made up that evening and we made gentle love into the night.
In the morning, Allison had already left to work. She is an elementary school teacher and usually leaves early in the mornings. Me, well, you could say that I’m an artist--or, I was an artist. Again, let’s not get into the formalities.
I spent most of that day indoors, waiting for inspiration to arrive upon me. You could say that lately, I have become a bit of a freeloader. It pained me to see that Allison was working so hard and I brought nothing to the table. Just one good slice of inspiration, and I could make it up to her. That’s what I was promising myself.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t come up with anything by the time Allison had come home. It was good to see that she had a smile on her face. She always shows affection for little kids and I know that she is going to make a fantastic mother one day. Exhausted from her hard day at work, the two of us curled up on the couch.
Later that night, something caused me to remember that piece of paper that I had found in the park. I can’t remember what exactly prompt me to think about it. It could have been the leaves blowing in the wind. It could have been when I was focusing at myself in the mirror after I took a shower. That’s the most probable theory, being that I do remember being in the bathroom.
I was trying to remember exactly what the paper said at that time, but I could only remember bits and pieces. The gist of the thing wasn’t even fully in my mind. I did remember the incantation though. I am willing to pay the price.
So, I did it. I said those words three times into the mirror, my sullen face staring back at me. It appeared to be mocking me, telling me how stupid I was to be playing these childish games. However, upon leaving the bathroom, I realized that I had suddenly gotten really tired. It was like a heavy sleeping pill was dropped into my system, and I just had to go to sleep.
For some reason, I can remember my dream perfectly, which is probably the most terrifying part for me.
My dream starts out innocently enough. I had awakened in the middle of a field; my body appeared to have been aged a few years. I looked over my right shoulder, and there is a picnic set up by my wife, who appears much older, but was still very beautiful. Sitting in her lap...I couldn’t believe it. It was our young daughter. She couldn’t have been more than five years old.
This was the kind of dream that I enjoyed. It all seemed very real though, as if this was reality. The sweet taste of the corn bursting into my mouth, the sound of my daughter’s laughter, the touch of my wife’s lips upon my rough cheek; it just had to be real, I wanted it to be.
Suddenly, the phone in my pocket rang. Picking it out of my pocket, I noticed that it was one of those fancy smart phones. Of course, that’s when I made my mistake. It was simple rule, and it was a simple way of breaking it. I noticed the date on the phone and burnt it into my memory. It was five years from this date today.
First, the sky darkened, and the wind was picking up. Everything was happening all in a couple of seconds, but it felt like hours at a time. The images I saw I don’t wish to recall, but they will always be burnt into my memory as long as I’m alive. My clothes had changed; they were much fancier than what I ever would have thought I’d ever own. The scenery had changed as well. I was no longer in the middle of a field, surrounded by the people I loved. Instead, I was standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk. People were rushing by me, not even acknowledging the fact that I existed around them.
I saw my family though, as I walked through the streets of the city. There weren’t in the same nice clothes that I was in; instead, they were both wearing tattered dresses and begging for change. I ran to embrace them, because I had been searching for them for almost an hour now. They refused to have me touch them; it was as if I had contracted some kind of untreatable disease. I even tried handing them all the money I had in my pockets (this “me” must have been doing very well in the financial market or wrote an international best seller, since I must have had at least five hundred dollars on my person). They refused to take the money from me.
I watched them, for only a little while. A man in a dark brown coat passed by my wife and daughter, hearing them beg for change on the street corner. All that he handed them was a couple of cents in pocket change, but they took ahold of it very gratefully. Some of the change spilt on the floor, and my beautiful, young daughter frantically went to pick it up. A few coins spilt into the streets and my little girl went chasing after it all.
My wife and I gasped as we saw one of the cars strike our daughter, sending her back a few feet. I had this terrible pain in the pit of my stomach. At the sight, I started gaging in the middle of the street. It was obvious to me that my young, beautiful daughter died before she landed back on the ground.
Right then, everything faded. The crowd, my wife, and all of the scenery seemed to blend in together. My sight had no focus, so I simply ceased even trying making sense of everything that was going on around me. Everything seemed too real to be a dream, but I didn’t want to accept this. Then, the words of the paper entered my mind, being said with an innocent voice that was burning my ears.
> “In the mirror, you will chant this thrice. ‘I am willing to pay the price.’ Once the ritual has been said, you will lie peacefully in your bed. Beyond then, the future you’ll see, hopeful or tragic whatever it may be. But please do not look for the date, for one should never truly know their fate. If this one rule you should break, all your love it will take. If you wish to have it back, from their future, you must lack.”
As these words appeared from the darkness that was surrounding me, a young girl with white hair and covered in blood appeared in front of me. She said these words in a very calm voice, as if it was just a childish nursery rhyme. For some reason, I wanted to reach out and hug her; maybe it was to place affection for the daughter I had just lost. My arms wrapped around her, but they simply sank through her cold, empty body.
Getting out of bed was impossible this morning. Even when I wanted to leave my bed, my body was still in fright. I couldn’t write off what happened as a simple dream. I knew, both in my heart and in my mind that what I saw was real. That was the destined future that was going to happen to me. I’ll gain all this wealth and probably set myself up for an easy life, but I’m left with a family that wants nothing to do with me.
My