Chapter Text
Hi. I'm Ethan. I used to be an ordinary boy. But now, I've seen something that people... weren't supposed to see. Currently, I'm sitting here, in a dark, cold, isolated, dungeon-esque room. Let me explain.
I'm what Paragon Co. Call... a victim. Someone who has seen or witnessed a metaphysical. Metaphysicals are basically strange anomalies that reality can't explain. Entities if you prefer. Because of the fact that I've seen a metaphysical, I'm stuck here, until Paragon Co. Gain enough info about the specific entity I saw. But, I'll be honest.
I don't think they'll ever gain enough information.
Anyway, as to what I witnessed, I haven't mentioned yet. So let me elaborate. There's these things that I like to call "night crawlers" because they come out mostly at night, and they crawl, because they're tiny, beetle-like bugs. I think I've named it accordingly. They're black in colour, and they have a glowing blue pattern on them. Already sounds freaky, doesn't it?
What makes it worse, is when you know what they do. They borrow into live animals, multiply inside of them, and slowly deteriorate the animal. Bit. By. Bit. It's a horrible sight, really. I hated it.. so much. What's concerning, is how the night crawlers can actually take control of the unlucky vertebrate. Horrible, I know.
Alright. Enough of me ranting. Let's get on to why... I'm actually here.
Picture this. Imagine a bedroom. Yes, a bedroom. Normal size, air conditioning, bed, cabinets, closet, lamp, just a normal bedroom. Now picture a boy: 14 years old, tall, brown hair, grey eyes, wearing blue pyjamas. That's my friend Max. I.. you'll figure out what happens to him. Now, picture another boy. Also 14. This time, he is relatively average height, quite skinny, with blonde hair, some freckles on his cheeks, blue eyes, and red pyjamas. That's me. Before the incident.
Now. Me and Max were good friends. We didn't get to see each other often though since Max lives in a more rural area, whereas I live in a bustling city. Sometimes, we drive over to see him, but it's rare. Anyway, for the first time in forever, me and Max got to have a sleepover at his house. We were both practically jumping in excitement, or at least, I could imagine Max also was. What we didn't know, were the horrors that were about to unravel.
Obviously, I was so excited to meet Max. Who wouldn't be excited to sleep over at a friend's house, especially one you haven't seen in what felt like ages? So, I packed my things: pyjamas, toothbrush, and all, and we set off by car. What I should mention though, is that I'm deathly afraid of bugs. Don't laugh. What happened in the car almost made me jump out of my skin. There was a massive spider. In the car. I was so scared that my parents had to stop the car to get it out. Yeah. "Great" start to the day.
If I'm going to be honest, I was a bit anxious before leaving my house anyway. I know that Max's house has a lot of.. "uninvited guests". Specifically, beetles. For some odd reason. Max's house is like a candy store with kids, but it's a house with beetles. Every time I go over to his house, I see a beetle on Max or me, crawling on our arms or legs. That's why I prefer him coming over to ours, not his.
What's weird, is that each beetle is different. Some are colourful. Some are plain. One time, I had one on my hand, and it looked like a face. I hate how Max just brushes beetles off like it's nothing! I can't help but scream every time I have one on me. Does this family just not have any bug spray?
Well. Moving on, when me and Max saw each other, we basically magnetised towards each other. It had been ages since we last met. We told each other what's been happening lately, and we did normal sleepover activities: preparing midnight snacks, drawing, that kind of stuff. What's worth mentioning is that since Max's house is so far away from urban areas, his household doesn't have TVs or computers. Only a touch-tone telephone. You know. The ones with the coiled wire? Yeah. That kind of telephone.
When it came to nighttime, however, things got.. disturbing. Let's just say. It was around 9 pm, when me and Max heard this weird gagging noise outside. It didn't really sound like it was trying to cough something up.. it was more like it was choking or struggling to breathe. It freaked me out. And obviously, Max had the "great" idea to check outside to see what that noise was. When Max came back, he was telling me in this solemn voice that his cat was making weird noises and that it was acting weird. It wasn't walking properly, it was breathing unevenly, had pale, wide, twitchy eyes, that's sorts. I could tell he was genuinely concerned - maybe even traumatised by what he saw. It definitely took a toll on him. 'It attacked me', he told me. His hair was slightly dishevelled, and he had scratch marks on him. I wasn't paying much attention to what he was saying after that, though. I was focusing on the bug attached to his arm.
His japamas were short sleeve, so I could see that a beetle was on his arm. It looked.. different though. Although I could feel a shiver run down my spine, I brushed it off. 'It's just a beetle. Stop freaking out.' I told myself over and over. I didn't realise what... what it was at the time. Or how dangerous it was. Even though it was glowing in the dark, I just told myself that I was just letting my paranoia get the better of me, and that I needed to get over my bug phobia.
Even after all the reassurance in my mind, I couldn't help but look at the bug on his arm throughout the night. It was like my eyes were glued to it, in case it moved, or flew away, or... I don't know. Jumped at me?
One side of me was saying that 'it's just a bug. Get over it'. Another was saying,'That is not a normal beetle. It's glowing, for goodness sake!'. I was conflicted. But, curiosity got the better of me. I went over to Max, who was sleeping at the time, and bent down to look closely at the beetle. And that's when I could feel my heart literally stop. Well. Not literally. Otherwise, I would be dead. But you know, my heart skipped a beat.
The beetle didn't have a head.
Either it just.. didn't have one, which I highly doubted. Or... or its head was IN Max's arm.
I jumped back in fright, and I almost hit the wall. That. was how scared I was. I was shaking like crazy, I could feel my eyes tearing up. That was not a normal beetle. Not. A. Normal. Beetle. I remember I wanted to leave so badly. But I couldn't just leave my friend. My best friend. So I reluctantly went back to sleep, still shaking and heart racing.
I woke up at 12 at midnight to the sound of something vibrating. I lifted my head off the guest bed to see what was happening. I could feel my breath hitching in my throat. Max was shaking as if he was having a seizure. I.. he was foaming at the mouth, and... he was so pale. And wide-eyed.. I.. I can't go into much more detail.. just know that he wasn't ok. I.. I couldn't take it anymore. I was on the verge of a panic attack. What was worse was that Max's parents were out, and there were no houses nearby. I left the room, or, well, I was about to, before Max lunged at me, still foaming at the mouth. I instantly closed the door and locked it. Barely. I ran away from the room, out the house, and stood by the road, calling out to cars driving by. I'm introverted, and that was a nightmare for me.. but I wasn't going to let my friend die. Luckily, a couple driving by stopped, and I ushered them to Max. It was too late.
Max was so pale, and he, for some reason, looked.. extremely malnourished, even though he isn't skinny. He's relatively fit actually. You would've misunderstood him for a skeleton. That's how horrible he looked. He had holes in his skin, and coming out of those holes were.. oh god.. they were the glowing beetles. The night crawlers. Millions of them. Flowing out of Max's skin.. and mouth.. and even under his nails. It was.. horrible. It was all my fault he ended up like that.. if only I had listened to my gut instinct instead of trying to brush off my fear like Max. Why did it have to be us..? Uh.. anyway... me and the couple left the bedroom and went outside for signal. Eventually, the couple was able to call some sort of company, which I thought at the time was called 'Polygon Co.', But, turns out, it was Paragon Co. Yes. The place I'm in now.
They went into the house, which I did not follow for.. obvious reasons. So, they went in, and a few minutes later, they had a bag, with what seemed to have a human in it. It was definitely Max, but at that time, I wasn't thinking straight. I bet that I looked horrible. I was crying like crazy, shaking so much even though it was summer, and my breathing was so uneven. Eventually, I inevitably had a panic attack and passed out later on. When I woke up, I was in a room. Quite simple: Grey walls, wooden table, and two wooden seats, one of which I was sitting on, and tied up to. On the wall, there was a clock. 7am. I dont know how long I was out for. There were metal file cabinets, and eventually, a woman walked in and sat in the opposite chair. Early 30s, brown eyes, dirty blonde messy bun, navy blue glasses. Roughly the same height as me. I'm observant like that. She asked me what happened and a bunch of other questions, all of which I answered vaguely. Why should I trust her anyway? I didn't know her. She didn't know me. At least. I assumed. She knew my name, but that was it. So. After that strange interrogation, she threw me into the room I'm in now. And 3 months later, It's present day and I'm still here. This is all I have to say. Just be warned, though. Don't trust anyone, or anything. Especially the night crawlers.
ENTRY LOG #1
10:46pm:
I got a call a few months back. 'Infectious bug' or something like that. Obviously, I had to go and see what they meant. They definitely were not lying. When me and my crew reached the designated area, a 2 storey wooden house, we saw a weeping boy, a man and a woman. Everything looked fine until we went inside Afflict 1A's bedroom. There they were. They looked like a skeleton. Pale, wide-eyed, and covered in holes and these glowing bugs. I think my team deeply misunderstood how dire the situation was.
A new recruit who went by the name 'Sarah Kim', who I now call 'afflict 1B', got one of those nasty creatures on her. And we didn't realise until later on.
When we did, however, we locked her into a secure room with one-way glass so we could see what happened to her and the effects of these bugs. Here's what we got:
-Although it depends on the person, it takes roughly 3 hours or more for all the effects to take place:
30 minutes: mild headache, slightly higher temperature. Talks normally.
1 hour: headache, fever, slight twitching. Stutters when talking.
1 h 30 min: severe headache, fever, severe twitching, eyes widen, phasing in and out of consciousness. Speaks in a random, different language. For afflict 1, she spoke fluent Spanish.
2 hours: shaking/vibrating, wide, twitchy eyes, paler skin, headache, passed out. Unresponsive.
2 h 30 min: same as 2 hours, but they become skinnier, become lighter(likely due to the bugs eating the person from the inside), and become slightly aggressive. Still unresponsive.
3 hours: skeleton, no longer moving, covered in holes, glow beetles crawling out, wide eyes. Still unresponsive.
Those are what I have found out. Now I am waiting for victim 1 to wake up.
8:53am:
Victim 1 had finally woken up, and I went to interrogate him. He was not very cooperative, giving me vague answers, and sometimes not even responding in general, but I did not push it. I will try again in 6 months' time. Hopefully, he obeys more than today.
[END OF LOG.]