Tarxan
Level 25
[ Feel free to take finding this ICly. ]
UPON SCOURING HOMES ALONG THE C****, SEARCHING FOR ANYTHING THAT YOU WOULD FIND INTERESTING, YOU FIND AN EMPTIED-OUT HOUSE. THOUGH, NOT COMPLETELY EMPTY. IT WAS AS IF WHOEVER WAS LIVING THERE BEFOREHAND HAD TO MOVE IN A HURRY. PANTRY FOODS STILL IN PLACE, SAME WITH THE FRIDGE. ALL THE FURNITURE STILL THERE, A BOOKSHELF IN THE LIVING ROOM A MESS. THERE WERE FAR FEWER BOOKS THERE THAN WHAT THE BOOKSHELF COULD FIT. PERHAPS THEY WERE A FEW OF THE ITEMS THAT WAS TAKEN ALONG. BOOKS, AND VHS TAPES. THEY WERE ALL LABELED VARIOUS THINGS.
“HOME”
“DAGE”
“KIKI”
“LOVE”
BUT THERE WAS ONE IN PARTICULAR THAT WASN’T LABELED LIKE THE OTHERS. IT WAS JUST SIGNED. THE HANDWRITING WAS HARD TO MAKE OUT AS TO WHAT EXACTLY WAS WRITTEN, BUT ONE COULD CONCLUDE THAT IT WAS DEFINITELY A SIGNATURE. OUT OF PURE CURIOSITY, YOU’D MOST LIKELY DECIDE TO PICK IT UP AND EXAMINE IT. IT IS NOT DAMAGED, IN FACT, IT WAS IN PERFECT CONDITION. DUSTING IT OFF LIGHTLY WITH YOUR HAND, YOU’D GET ONE MORE GLANCE AT IT BEFORE LOOKING AROUND THAT SAME LIVING ROOM. THERE’S A TELEVISION. A LARGE ONE, AT THAT, SAT UPON A WOODEN TV STAND CABINET.
THERE’S A VHS PLAYER UNDERNEATH. IT’S QUITE EASY TO CONNECT THE DOTS.
FLIPPING THE TAPE THE RIGHT WAY, YOU APPROACH THE ENTERTAINMENT SET AND INSERT THE VHS TAPE INSIDE.
THERE’S A CLICK. THEN WHIRRING IS HEARD. WHAT’S HAPPENING?
YOU TURN ON THE TV AND SWITCH THE INPUT TO AV. IT’S A BLUE SCREEN. “REW” IS SEEN AT THE TOP RIGHT CORNER, BLINKING AS THE WHIRRING CONTINUED.
IT’S REWINDING. THIS TAPE HAS BEEN PLAYED BEFORE. YOU ARE NOT THE FIRST.
THERE’S ANOTHER CLICK.
YOU WAIT, EXPECTING SOMETHING TO HAPPEN, BUT THERE’S NOTHING. TO YOUR BETTER JUDGEMENT, YOU DECIDE TO CROUCH DOWN TO THE PLAYER AND HIT PLAY.
THERE’S NOTHING AT FIRST. A BLACK SCREEN WITH A FEW VHS LINES. THEN THE IMAGE WAS CLEAR. IT WAS A CEILING FAN WITH A LIGHTBULB IN THE MIDDLE. THOUGH, YOU COULDN’T SEE THE WHOLE OF IT. THE FAN SPUN QUICKLY. THE ROOM SEEMED GRAY. OR BEIGE? MAYBE EVEN FADED WHITE. WHO REALLY KNEW? YOU MOVE YOUR FOCUS AWAY FROM TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THE MINOR DETAILS OF THE VIDEO TO REALIZING THAT THERE’S SOMEONE SPEAKING. FRANTICALLY, YOU TURN UP THE VOLUME OF THE TELEVISION SO THAT YOU CAN HEAR IT MORE CLEARLY.
IT’S A MALE SPEAKING. HE SOUNDS MODERATELY FAR AWAY FROM WHEREVER THE MICROPHONE WAS. HIS VOICE WAS SOOTHING, IN A SENSE, BUT SOMETHING ABOUT IT SOUNDED A LITTLE OFF.
“-o.”
HE JUST FINISHED A SENTENCE. TOO BAD YOU MISSED IT.
“Home does me decently, but the people here? They’re idiots. They’re reckless. I’ve hated it here. They’re only good for one thing, and that’s profit. People here have too much money for their own good, and will just splurge splurge splurge until they don’t have enough money for rent.”
A SIGH LEFT THE MAN, NOTHING ELSE ABLE TO BE HEARD FOR A MOMENT BEFORE A QUIET ROLL WAS HEARD. MOST LIKELY HIS CHAIR. HIS SPEECH WOULD RESUME.
“For the short amount of time I’ve been here, it’s been almost far too easy to figure out the minds of each and every one of the little gremlins that live here. I absolutely despise speaking so negatively, but it’s so... hopeless. I wonder if they even know what they’re financially playing into both with their money and with their minds.”
THERE’D BE ANOTHER ROLL. WHEN THE MAN SPOKE ONCE MORE, HE SEEMED TO SOUND FATHER AWAY FROM WHEREVER THE AUDIO WAS BEING RECORDED. THE VIDEO REMAINS THE SAME, NOTHING ABLE TO BE SEEN BESIDES PART OF THE SPINNING FAN AND THE LIGHT COMING FROM THE LAMP ATTACHED.
“Money is worthless, as Jiang always told me.”
HE WENT SILENT ONCE MORE.
THERE’S A SUBTLE RUSTLING, THEN A LARGE THUD.
“Money doesn’t do you any good.”
THERE WAS ANOTHER RUSTLE OF CLOTH.
THEN A QUICK ZIIIIIP.
“But money.. Money can be a gateway to creating a permanent solution with something as worthless as a few slips of over-glorified paper.”
THERE’S ANOTHER THUD, MUCH CLOSER TO THE MICROPHONE. SOMETHING IS SEEN BEING TOSSED OVER THE CAMERA BEFORE IT LANDS.
“Maybe I thought too much. Maybe it’s a bad thing.”
HE’D PAUSE IN HIS WORDS, A FAINT SCRATCHING HEARD.
“But as far as I know, they’ll continue playing into the game.”
“And as idiotic as they are, they’re helping me.”
“And in due time, they will be blessed.”
“A curse to become a blessing..”
HIS VOICE TRAILED OFF.
LAUGHTER IS HEARD. IT’S FROM THE SAME MALE. IT’S HEARTY, HEALTHY, HAPPY, AND DIFFERED GREATLY FROM THE SOLEMN TONE HE HAD BEFORE.
“I feel as if I sound so serious... Maybe in my future, the police will paint me as some sort of criminal for the vague things I say.”
HE LAUGHED ONCE MORE, THE CAMERA SHIFTING SLIGHTLY BEFORE THE BLUE SCREEN SUDDENLY FLOODED THE TV SCREEN YET AGAIN.
THERE YOU WERE, NOTHING BUT THE SOUND OF THE FLOWING WATER WITHIN THE C**** FILLING THE SILENCE. OR MAYBE WHAT THE MAN HAD SAID FILLED YOUR HEAD. NONETHELESS, YOU TAKE A MOMENT TO GAZE UPON THE TELEVISION, BEFORE STEPPING FORWARD ONCE MORE TO EJECT THE TAPE, THEN PLACE IT BACK WHERE YOU FOUND IT.
YOU LEAVE THE HOUSE, CONTINUING YOUR VENTURE FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN THE PLAIN-BUT-WACKY CITY OF KARAKURA.
• • •
"Beware of what lurks in the deep of the wood."
https://discord.gg/rdXC5yu
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