Bloodied and bruised

“What the hell happened to your arm?” Terrance asked loudly, jumping from the couch like it'd been set ablaze, his girlfriend not too far behind.

David quickly pulled his bandaged arm closer, wincing as a spark of pain travelled across it as a result of his pitiable attempt of hiding the obvious injury. The familiar warmth and viscosity of his blood beginning to emerge again from the wounds not far behind. “You don’t have to worry, I’m fine…”

Those words came out of his mouth as soon as they surrounded him, though it seemed as if he didn’t even believe that statement himself, and neither did Terrance. 

“Like hell you are!” David’s roommate shouted back, sounding more worried than angry at the whole situation. “Come on man, what happened to you?”

Quickly taking notice of how the two of them had closed any possible opening he could have used to crawl away into the safety of the bathroom or his own room, it was dawning on him that confrontation was the only thing he could really do. So he accepted that there was no other way out.

Still, the worried and scared tone in their voice made near impossible for David to even look at them in the eyes. Cradling his arm like a newborn child, sensitive and frail, he could not find it in him to reveal what had happened to him, to inadvertently drag others into that dark world. In wasn’t until he felt the soft and warm touch of a hand over his unwounded one that he was pulled from his thought, finally looking at the two worried classmates with something akin to remorse and weakness glinting in his eyes.

“I was in the forest again,” David finally spoke, voice trembling as he let out shaky breath. Looking at the two he only received nods and gestures to continue, so he did. “and out of nowhere I started hearing these sounds, like an animal but wrong, and I kinda got spook. I don’t know if someone was playing a prank on me or something, but I’ve seen enough horror movies to not wait and find out.” 

“Okay, but that still doesn’t explain why your arm is fucked up…” Terrance quickly received a smack from his girlfriend in the back of the head, her eyes clearly showing her displeasure at her lover’s lack of subtlety. Had it been any other situation David might have laughed at the whole situation, but whatever dark cloud that hung above him seemed to have affected him too much for even a small smile to form. 

“I was high on adrenaline and running like a maniac, the moment I felt as if someone was breathing down my neck I stopped thinking entirely and blacked out.” As he rubbed his arm, David’s classmates began piecing together the story in their minds. All the injured dark brunette had to do was wrap it up for them to believe it. 

“And then you woke up like that?” Mary’s voice was softer, kinder, compared to her boyfriend. It was motherly in a sense, and it made David wonder if that was how and older sister would sound like. 

He simply nodded back, his fingers now curling over each cut as the urge to scratch at them began to invade his mind. It didn’t matter if rivers of blood would spill from doing so, all his mind could currently focus in was that promised relief he would feel upon tearing at his own flesh.

“y-yeah, surprised it wasn’t too severe despite waking up to my arm caked in blood.” The urge continued to grown inside him, like a voice whispering over and over again for him to give in to the commands and destroy his own flesh. David felt like a cornered animal the linger he was being questioned, and he feared if in this primal state he would harm those he started considering friends. Would he harm them like he’d been harmed, or would he push them away like so many other before? David didn’t want to know what it was he would do nor what will come of it.

Before another question was made, the injured brunette slowly started making way to the bathroom, finalizing his recounting of the events that lead him to a bruised and bleeding arm. “Luckily, Ash and Clive found me on the side of the dirt path, helped me out and brought me back here.”

“What about the infirmary? Why not take you there instead?” 

Despite the growing desire to fulfill his sudden desire, the feeling of protection and remorse kept him from fully reaching the bathroom. Specially when hearing just how worried Mary sounded as she sincerely asked if he was going to be alright. “There was no one there, so I came here since I have a first aid kit in the bathroom.” He could almost feel the betrayed look on her face as he gently pushed her to the side as me walked down the hall to that safe haven David needed to reach. “I will be fine… its going to take more than a few scars to kill me!”

Knowing well that his comment wouldn’t land or lighten the mood, David didn’t spare them a last look before finally stepping into the main bathroom and locking the door behind him. 

Leaning on the door, he remained there in silence, waiting for them to leave him as he dealt with the wounds. It hurt him having to push more people away from him again, to be the one to cut ties with everyone who’d sought to help him because he knew if he let them close to him their lives would only know despair and hopelessness. As the sound of retreating footsteps reached, he finally moved to the sink and began removing the bandages from his arm.

Black ooze flowed down along with his own blood from the cracked portions if his skin, dropping silently over the once pristine white of the sink. He knew better than to focus on his reflection as he started cleaning the wound, specially when being in such an unstable state of mind. David did not wish to stare into that endless void again. 

Quickly checking his phone with his free hand as the other was still being washed with cold water, he was met with several messages from his friends telling him that the small runes and totems were put back in their place and that there was of sign of that husk lurking inside when they closed the perimeter around the town, a mirthless laugh escaped his lips as he saw John praising his efforts after spotting the scorching remains of where he’d retaliated against the nightmare.

The feeling of a sharp sting brought his attention back to his arm, the deep claw marks sealing up as the intense heat emanating from his body turned water into steam as soon as they made contact with each other.

When the marks were no longer visible he finally closed the faucet, sighing tiredly as he started at nothing in particular. 

The sink remained untouched safe for the fresh drops of water in them trickling down to the drain, no sign of his blood mixed with that terrible tar-like substance that monster tried to infuse him with. It was as if he never bleed over the porcelain to begin with. 

Memories of what had happened began overtaking each and every one of his thoughts. David could feel his legs give out beneath him as he ran between trees in a hopeless attempt to lose the pale beast, how his heartbeat pounded inside his chest at the sound of heavy branches being snapped by that terrible strength hidden in lanky arms, the feeling of cool and pure air entering his nose down to his lungs burning his insides as he took even bigger breaths of air. He had been drowned in that instinctive fear he was so familiar with, and he hated it.

In an instant he was back in that forest, his back to the damp dirt as that humanoid creature crawled towards him, its elongated front arms protruding from its back and arching like those of a spider moving in slow strides. 

The beast had brutalized him, throwing David around like a ragdoll. It enjoyed the sound of crushing bones and agonized screams. 

He did his best to endure having his body broken again, feeling that pulse of dark energy keeping him still in the land of the living. Part of him could feel those empty eyes watching him, ensuring that he still remained alive. David could worry about him later. In that moment he focused on finding an opening to fight back and repay the horror for the suffering being endured by him, a miraculously uninjured hand clutching tightly around a smooth stone carved with particular angles and runes. 

As the thing drew near, ready to mindlessly consume much like the master it served, David pressed the stone against its sickly pale flesh. The cries it let out, so unnatural and human, would have been mistaken as nothing more than an injured fox’s shrieks of pain by anyone in the distance. 

It didn’t take long for the being to be consumed by the unholy flames contained in the rune, making the already pale skin of the monster glow like snow upon reflecting the sunlight. It quickly retreated into the depths of the Blood hills, away from the circle he and his group had set up after what happened in the first weeks since they arrived, and as it vanished so did the fear that took over him.

He would have to keep the act up, to lie and manipulate everyone around him like he’d done since the first vision of that which inhabits the primordial abyss. As long as he could prevent their return, all which he and those close to him have sacrificed would have been worthy, even if no one would know of it. 

David will not let this world fall into darkness like the others before. He will not let the nameless king claim another one.