Expelled

What you need to know to understand the motivation behind the strange events recounted in this tale is as follows; 

Hugo Alden Wisenburg is a determined person with a great love for science and all things ‘unusual’. He has little regard for safety and perhaps too much ambition for his small stature and nervous nature.

The final thing to know is that the very nature of our world is much stranger than we could possibly imagine and will only show its true face when threatened by discovery.

And this is where our story begins, with a short copper-haired man in their second year of university. Alden had always been a strange individual. From their affinity for the paranormal to going exclusively by middle name, they had never been considered normal. There was always something for the other kids to pick at growing up.

This led to his passions being pushed aside to be picked up later when he couldn't be mocked for them. Falls University had finally allowed him to embrace these passions after getting in on a scholarship.

Their first year of university was when they started their experiment. The goal was simple; find the causation of paranormal activity and seemingly impossible happenings, or, to put it into shorter terms, anomalies. The experiment was unchanged during the year, never going anywhere; until summer, that is. 

Summer break rolled around, giving him free time to gather findings for his experiment.

Alden could recall it like yesterday; they had traveled around the country, looking at popular anomalous events and attempting to find any connection between them. The trip was exciting, a mark in their memory.

During that trip, he did find a connection. In these findings was the fundamental fact that weird creates more weird. Whenever a nonanomalous object was met with an anomalous object, it would also become anomalous. He hypothesized the particles themselves may be changed in a way impossible to detect.

That hypothesis led to now, Alden, a particle accelerator, and a doll taken from a haunted house in Kentucky, all in a small lab provided by the University. This particular experiment was their way of knocking two birds with one stone, attempting to confirm their hypothesis and a way to find out what could happen if weird particles were concentrated in one space.

There were better uses of his time, considering it was the middle of his sophomore year, but his personal experiments were always top of his list. 

With the flip of a switch, the machine started. The doll was the only thing inside the airtight space, set in a specific place to not disturb the beam. 

Of course, nothing happened. As it would take a minute or two for anything interesting, the student waited, notebook in hand. 

After a minute, they considered getting a closer look, perhaps using a microscope over it. But as they looked through the glass window, they noticed a change. 

It was darker.

There were bright lights inside the accelerator to allow viewing, but the inside was slightly darker. Alden couldn't tell whether his eyes were failing him or something else. He kept watch, and surely enough, it was getting darker by the moment.

It became darker, and they realized it was some sort of black smoke. They quickly shut the accelerator off, but it didn't stop. 

He took a step closer.

“Incredible…”

The beam was steady, despite the accelerator being inactive. More black smoke filled the machine, dark yet darker still. Alden watched on incredulously. Their eyes were wide as they peered closer.

Smoke started creating a black ever-moving ball in the middle. The scientist brought his face to the viewing window, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was happening. The dark circle stayed, spinning rapidly. 

A dark bony clawed hand made of black smoke reached from the ball, hitting the glass with a thud, a small crack appearing. Alden jumped back, tripping over themself. They pushed themselves back but did not make any moves to get to safety, too infatuated with it to even consider the danger.

The ball grew, more cracks appearing in the glass, the metal being dented from the inside. The smoke grew in size, spinning faster and faster. The same bony hands reached out, causing more and more damage.

The accelerator burst open, a scrap of metal cutting Alden’s cheek. Lights burst with it, anything electrical cracking open. He instinctively reached up, feeling beads of blood start to form, unable to tear his eyes away, luckily wearing glasses.

In its place, a humanoid shadow made of black smoke. Wind encircled the creature, picking up loose papers and causing Alden’s hair to dance. It turned its head, looking at them despite its lack of eyes. They were frozen, fear settling in, like dipping into an ice bath.

The creature stayed still. It just stared like something from a nightmare. Alden shook, goosebumps forming all over and hairs standing on end, but he didn't move. He felt like prey staring into the eyes of a killer. Staring into the abyss as death wrapped its hand around him. He dared not breathe, his lungs refusing oxygen. 

The humanoid thing jumped at them, dissipating right before sinking its claws in, leaving them alone in the now darkened room.

It was over. Alden just stayed there, frozen, now in disbelief rather than fear. Pieces of broken equipment littered the floor, sparks flying from one of the broken lights. He could hear students awakened from slumber, flooding into the wrecked building. He stared at the spot where the creature had been, thoughts racing through his head. 

They finally did it.

A smile broke through his face, even as sirens sounded in the distance.

Unfortunately, the property damage couldn't be fixed through happiness alone.

The next few weeks were hell for Alden. The university wasn't too happy losing millions of dollars in equipment to some dumb student. A court case was inevitable. 

Luckily, the security camera showed that Alden had done nothing wrong. Curiously, the smoky creature was not shown on camera, but they knew what they had seen. The lack of footage only proved that it was something supernatural, intriguing them further. Eventually, it was ruled that the equipment was the issue, and they got off scot-free while the school suffered the consequences. Almost scot-free, that is.

Within a month, the school had found some reason to expel him. Something about focusing on personal work more than school work. Either way, they didn't want him around. 

They managed to score an okay apartment, but it was an irritating dent in their work. They had no lab or equipment, which proved trying to continue their experiments difficult. Of course, they started building their own equipment, but little money nor space made it practically impossible. 

He had a job in tech support already, so at least he had enough saved to get a headstart. But even with that, he needed a plan.

Luckily, a plan was what they got. 

He realized that he had to find a lab if he wanted to be able to work freely. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done

They had been searching for somewhere cheap to rent for days. It brought them to a nasty part of town, where they finally started losing hope. 

Until a stairway caught his eye. An underground train station; long since abandoned, covered in graffiti. It was fenced off, but he had no trouble jumping the fence. 

The inside was freezing and dirty, mold growing on the walls and tiles cracked. But most curious was how little people were there. Usually, abandoned places like these served as shelter to the the homeless, and yet as they searched the entire station, not a single soul could be found. 

The next day, research revealed that many avoided that area. Forums with people in the city that had been homeless.at one point showed ghost stories surrounding the station, many having inexplicable experiences that led them to warn others of the place. 

It was perfect.

But he needed some help.