The Faces

It wasn't subtle, nor was it swift.
I was at home, reading.
Then there were the faces.
Faces on the wall, breathing in, and out, pulsing, alive, warm, cold and dead.

Foul breath coming from its many mouths, slowly creeping its way into the room.
I could not believe what my eyes beheld, though their horrible forms were, oh, so real.

The faces stood like a single creature, proud as a stallion, subtle as a rattlesnake.

As it stood still, it almost seemed to vanish into thin air.

Were it not for the dangerous and mischievous presence in the room, it would be undetectable.

I did not, however, move.

The thing on the walls - but that's an inaccurate way of describing the creature that stared at me with its thousand eyes - started humming and dancing ever slowly, then faster, and faster, and faster, the humming soon growing into full scream - screech -, the foul breath - that did not, in fact, come from its mouths, but from the room itself - was now the only air around.

There was no air to breathe.

I tried running, but the room spun so rapidly I would not dare to leave my spot.

Then all there was left for me was screaming hopelessly, and wait for the end.

But I couldn't.

The foul air that invaded my lungs would not go out. I could not breathe. I could not scream. I would choke with a full chest.

Then I understood.

The creature came to me - or was sent to me - to eat my soul, and make me one of the faces.

At the peek of its screeching and dancing, one of the faces came to me, stretching itself from the wall, stopping just as it became face-to-face to me.

"I shall devour thee", the face whispered in an ominous tone, "Thou shalt be forever trapped inside me, thou shalt never leave.

"Thou shalt never be free".

To this day I can't say for sure what possessed me to take such an action, but I did.

With the last shred of strength I had in me, I pulled my leg up and kicked the thing in the outstretched face. The creature shrieked, in complete disbelief.

The whole spinning-dance came to a sudden halt, and a breeze of fresh air cleaned my lungs, and I felt a strange force in me, a renewed will to live.

I stood up and said, as loudly as I could, "You will not have me now, nor will you ever have".

It looked at me and retracted, back in the wall.

"Leave me", I said, now not so strong as before.

And it left.

But the thing left with me a vengeful note.

A mask, blank, in the shape of and expression-less face, a warning.

I now can't sleep.

I've sold my house and bought an apartment in the city, because I couldn't sleep there.

I can't sleep here either.

I thought it was the mask, so I burnt it.

Didn't work.

I can barely work. I can barely live.

Everywhere I go, there are faces, watching, waiting.

It's coming to get me, I know this.

I just hope someone finds this and believes me.

I just hope I'm not insane.