Day 57

It caught your eye just lying there in the shop window.
You'd never seen a necklace like it before.
You had to have it.

It hung so perfectly around your neck you felt it was made just for you.
You wore it every day.
You noticed yourself losing a lot of weight after you purchased it.
Putting it down to coincidence you continued life as normal, still wearing
the necklace.

It felt heavier than you remembered it being.
You decided to weigh it every day after you weighed yourself- still concerned
over your sudden weight loss over the past few months.
You discovered that the necklace gained the same amount of weight you lost.

You decide to sell it in the hopes that your weight will return.
Putting it for auction online was easy enough.
You finally felt at ease.
You could finally relax, knowing this would soon be sorted.

You awoke with a start, unable to move and a huge weight on your chest.
Managing to look down you see the necklace around your neck glowing a
dark red.
You can see the outline of your ribs, you weren't that thin when you went to bed.
Slowly the weight on your chest grows as your body wanes.

You wonder what will come first, being crushed by this cursed pendant or will
you simply cease to be when its had its fill?
Either way, you won't wait long.

Day 56

What if you could see ghosts?
What if they were nothing like you expected?

Imagine walking down the street at night and hearing the echoed
voices of hundreds of people all around you.
They are trying to get your attention, calling out to you by crying
out your appearance.
Hey, red coat! Over here! Excuse me, miss! Oi shortie, I'm talking to you!
You mustn't respond, if you do they will all rush at you at once and  yes, it
is entirely possible to be crushed by ghosts.

You notice they aren't just calling to you, they are calling to everyone,
sometimes by name.
They remember their former lives and they want to return.

If you squint you can see them, blackish people shaped clouds.
Almost gaseous, they float along following people.
Sometimes you only see a few in one area, sometimes there are huge swarms
of them in the sky.

You even see them chase after someone.
A young man.
He runs around a corner with a large group of the dark shapes following after.
You cautiously go over to where he ran, just to see if he made it away from them.
He didn't.
They surround him, screaming.
When they leave you see what's left of the poor man.

Unable to stare any longer you turn around.
They have you surrounded.
They know you can see them.

Day 55

"Your clothes become you" can be taken two ways.
A compliment, your clothes suit you perfectly.
A warning, your clothes are adapting.

Yes, I said adapting.
The more you wear something, the more of you is taken in.
Souls cling to familiar objects, given enough time these objects become more.
They are given life from your presence, or do they take life from you?

Little by little these items begin to devour their host, leaving gaping holes
where flesh and muscle once were and forming a body over the wearer.
Given enough time the host may be devoured wholly leaving nothing but the
newly formed creature.

Another possibility is that the creature will run out of strength midway leaving
the host trapped inside a thick layer of their own skin.
This leads to death by asphyxiation.

Should the creature live through this, they can be spotted by the texture of their
stolen skin and the lingering scent of blood.

Day 54

The results are in.
You aren't human.
In fact we aren't sure what you are.
You look reasonably human but somehow not.
Like somebody took a description of human and made a being accordingly.
Only the description was full of myths.

Whatever you are, blending into the darkness, turning to smoke at night,
you aren't human.
Yet you think you are.
Curious.

Curiouser still you remain alive while your organs are on the tray beside you.
Oh you didn't notice they were gone?
Well we wanted to see what you were made of.
Not much really.

Your only organs seem to be a heart (twice the expected size), a pair of
lungs (again far larger than they should be) and a stomach full of partially
digested humans.
Yes humans. Plural.
The family who raised you, if the police records are anything to go by.

How does that make you feel?

Day 53

Great aunt Mavis stopped speaking three years ago.
Her pale face utterly void of emotion.
Her breath a strange hissing wheeze.
You felt glad your only interaction with her was tidying her room.
If only you could get rid of the smell.

You and your relatives take turns sleeping in the room next door
to aunt Mavis' in case she needs something.
You never get sleep when you're there.
All you can hear is that wretched hissing wheeze breathing.
You plan to end her.

On your next turn you will smother her in her wheelchair.
It'll look like she naturally passed away.
You'll play the part of distraught relative losing their beloved great aunt.
It couldn't be simpler.

Two weeks later it was time to put your plan into motion.
3am you creep into her room.
She was still propped up by the window.
The open curtains to reveal an empty morning.

You move in with the pillow but trip over her oxygen tank.
Accidentally the wires have come out... of her head.
Pulling a good deal of her flesh with them
The stench of decay is nigh overwhelming as is the silence.
You hear the wheezing hiss coming from the wires on the floor.

How long has she been dead?
Since she stopped talking?
Since she had her first stroke?
Since before she came here?

Wait, her eyes were closed a moment ago...
Her head turns towards you

Day 52

We are surrounded at all times.
Countless microscopic organisms have made us their home.
They are everywhere.
You can't wash them away.
They cover the water too.

At which point does water cease to be water?
Do these trillions upon trillions of organisms think or feel?
Are they us?
Are our conscious minds nothing more than the gnawing of
minute beasts in our heads?

Are you human?
Are you a meat suit for something else?
How can you prove either?

Day 51

There's an old children's play area nearby.
One of those foam-padding-everywhere, spit-soaked-plastic-ball-pit places.
Cheery paint, cheerier staff and food dripping with grease.

There's always been a lot of missing people here.
After the old place closed down I found them.
Some of them at least.

I went in at night, when security was low and everyone else was sleeping.
The smiles on the murals seemed wider than I remembered and I swear
their eyes followed me.
The foam padding had already been torn apart by whoever came before me.
The kitchen area looked ransacked and grease-stained, still the scent of food
lingered in the air.

Heading further into the complex I came across the ball-pit.
Empty of course, they'd taken all the balls when they moved out.
I stepped in and walked the length of it, for old times' sake.
The front right corner was hollow, peeling back the tattered foam I saw a handle.
It was well hidden, I'll give them that.
It took several good pulls before it finally opened.
The hinges seemed to be sticky with some unnameable grease.

There was a ladder heading down, my torch beam hit the floor, it wasn't
deeper than 7 feet.
A nasty fall for a kid, I wondered why this was here.
Maintenance maybe?
Holding the torch in my mouth I began to descend, nearly slipping on the
slick rungs.
The floor wasn't much cleaner but I noticed it had reddish streaks.
Kind of like someone had dragged paint buckets along it.

I headed down the tunnel opposite the ladder.
The streaks grew thicker along the ground, in some places I swear I saw hand
prints.
Tiny hand prints.
The tunnel ended in a large room.
A room full of bodies with most of their limbs missing.
Mostly children,some adults.
Their clothing was hanging on hooks at one end of the room.
To my horror I recognised a few missing friends' things and at least one police
uniform.

Further into the room were butcher's tools, stained and blunt with use.
Where were they taking the missing body parts?
I soon found out, there was a dumbwaiter in the very corner.
I'd almost missed it, someone had pushed a few empty boxes in front.
It was larger than they usually looked in the movies and seemed stable enough
so I climbed in and pulled myself up with the rope attached.

I hadn't realised how long the tunnel was, how large the room was.
The dumbwaiter took me to the back area of the kitchen.

Day 50

Among the deceptions in life, trees rank highest.
We know them as givers of food and air but they take so much more.

Have you ever wondered why we hung humans from lofty boughs?
Have you ever wondered why the original sin came from a tree?

The truth is we often sacrificed our kin and watered the trees with their
flesh to appease them.
Their appetite knew no bounds.
We had to invent new crimes like witchcraft  and heresy to give reason
to their bloody demands.

Now we have forgotten this.
With technology we found the strength to curb their demands and wreak
havoc back at them.
And yet the Aokigahara forest still claims lives.
And yet we surround ourselves with trees and their kind, pretending they
are inanimate.
And yet we read our children stories like the Giving Tree.

They will move against us soon.
We have lowered our guard for too long.
Give them their blood.
Give them your blood.
Give.

Day 49

Some games aren't meant for everyone.

Some games are meant for no-one.

This game was meant just for you.

You found it in a small shop you walked past a million times before.

A spur of the moment decision left you down by £12 and gave you this peculiar game.

It claimed to be the first and last game you'll ever want to play.

It also had zombies on the box so you could hardly resist.

It gave you a list of things you needed outside of the game to play it "to the fullest".

You needed a needle, black thread, a paper person and a handful of dead grass.

It gave you three dice to roll, you got three fours.

Picking a card as the instructions said you had to tie the grass to the paper person

with the needle and thread.

After some minor difficulty you did so.

You then had to think of your family and times they had angered you.

A slow thudding came from downstairs.

Leaving your room you see a trail of blood and dead grass.

You smell the overpowering stench of decaying meat.

The trail led to every room in your house.

In every room were body parts, you recognised them by the tattered remains of

fabric and pieces of jewellery.

Their heads were lined up in the living room.

One in each chair.

Written on the wall in their blood were the words:

You have won the game.

Day 48

Today is the longest day of the year.

New age druids flock to "sacred" places such as Stone Henge.

They have forgotten the real sacred places, the real rituals.

To find your local sacred place you'll need to head to one of

several potential areas.

Bring salt, sage and a serrated knife.

Firstly there are city centres, the exact centre.

This may be an old courtyard, a shop or just part of a road.

There will be a tall person waiting there, the gender will vary.

Offer them the sage and say "for old times' sake".

If they take the sage, smile and reply "the times' are old indeed"

you will gain the ability so see spirits for the remainder of the year.

On the downside you risk being consumed should the spirits

realise you see them.

The second place requires the use of dowsing rods.

In a pinch use two straight sticks.

Drive for one hour east of your home and then head to the nearest

wooded area.

From there use the dowsing rods to find an underground spring.

Using the salt make a ring around a small section of the area and

whisper "Et mundabo sanguinem iste meo."

Using your serrated knife, cut the palm of your right hand and 

retrace the salt circle with your blood.

If all is successful the circle should dissolve completely.

This grants you one untraceable murder at the cost of your vision.

Blessed be.

Day 47

Humans lose between 40-120 strands of hair today.
How much hair have you lost today?
This week?
In your life?

What if you stated losing more than just hair?
What if chunks of your flesh began to fall off?
What if piece by piece you fell apart?

What would be worse?
Knowing you're falling apart or knowing everyone
else is waiting for you to finally die?

As the last chunks of your torso hit the floor you
begin to see them closing in.

They've waited so long.

You shouldn't keep them.

Day 46

Look behind you.
There is a trail of red.
Is it blood? Probably.
Your blood? Uncertain.
It it always behind you.
Directly behind you.

Ever think there's someone in the room with you?
Ever think you're in danger?

Hold a small mirror just over your shoulder.
You'll see she's been dragging her legless body behind you.
She's always been behind you.
She can't bear to let you go.

You should have buried her deeper.

Day 45

Spirits are like flies.
Terrible at aiming, confused and easily trapped.
The most common place for them to be stuck is the
last place you'd think of.
In money.

Most people carry cash on them at all times.
As they die their spirit becomes trapped in whatever
material possession they last thought of.
It could be a photo of their family, their most
expensive item of clothing, anything.
Sometimes they get stuck in their murderers items.

Spirits stuck in money are the hungriest of souls.
Well maybe hungry isn't the right word...
Money attracts greed, possessed money detracts
from the owner.
Has your change gone missing? Your keys? Phone?
Has your money ever seemed hungry?

The more powerful ones can take more than your
petty cash.
Memories, abilities, identity.
They hunger.
Always so hungry.

Day 44

Death isn't the skeletal figure we've grown up seeing.
Death is more...subtle than that.
Death is whatever you see it as.
A car.
A person.
More commonly a cloud of greyish vapour clouding
around someone.

Yes I'm sure it isn't just cigarette smote.
Would the smoke exit if it they weren't breathing in
death's own air?
Would cars make smoke if they didn't cause over
400 deaths per year in the UK alone?

Death is the miasma we see daily and ignore.
How often have you seen death?
Do you see death now?
Is it hovering over your keyboard?
Is it outside your window?
Curling its way under your door?

Death comes for you.
Breathe deep and rest forever.

Day 43

They say it started right after the meteor shower.
I say its always been there.
The plants have been working up to this for aeons.

One by one people reported their plants all dying.
Water had ceased to sustain them.
Mass hysteria followed as the world wondered how
they would survive without such a vital part of life.

As always happens when a situation is dire, cults
began to form.
New religions preaching sacrifice to appease their
varying deities who were somehow all displeased.

As always happens people soaked up the messages
calling for death and more death.
People were killed by the thousands and their blood
was poured over nearby plants.

It worked.
The plants fed, grew and soon enough what was left
of humanity began a new civilisation.
We knew them as Mayans.
Their genocide saved us all.

Day 42

Every day someone follows you.
Have you ever seen them?
They appear in many forms.
They are the stranger in the car next to you.
The cashier helping you pack your shopping.
The birds in your garden.

They always have the same feature though,
the one tell-tale thing...
Their scent.
Hauntingly familiar yet sickening.
Like rotting flesh and lavender.

Breathe in, can you smell it?
Our brains gradually grow so used to
certain smells we stop noticing them altogether.
This is how they escape notice.

Pay attention.
Smell the air.
Smell their sickly sweet decay.
Run. Hide. Do not let them catch on.

Day 41

Some people have reoccurring nightmares.
This isn't one of those.
This will be real.

One day you will wake up.
Restless you will go for a walk.
Eventually you will see a procession of cars.
You will be drawn to them.

They will take you through country roads, to a small church.
As people step out of the cars you begin to recognise them.
All of them.
You see your family, friends and others you haven't seen before.
They all weep.
This is a funeral.

They read eulogies to their lost one.
To you.
As they lower the body - your body - into the ground everything
fades away to darkness.
To a stifling pressure.
To a wooden interior lined with taffeta.

You wonder which will happen first - the lid caving in or suffocation.
You don't have to wait long.

Day 40

Humans are weak.
We can survive on average less than a month without water.
How long do you think you can survive for?
1 week, 3 weeks?
A day?
A lifetime?

Someone you knew found out the hard way.
They upset the balance.
They drew too much attention to themselves.
They paid the price.

I will not tell you what they did but I will tell you the consequences.
They awoke as usual.
Left the house as usual.
The only thing wrong was the vague taste of iron in their mouth.
Anything they consumed made it worse.

Their tongue felt heavy as lead.
It wouldn't move.
It spread.
They lie trapped in their own body,  overwhelmed by the taste of metal.

They want so desperately to scream.
Scream their apologies.
Their regrets.
The things they see stalking you.
The things I see stalking you.

Day 39

It started small, as most things do.
You spat blood when you brushed your teeth.
Just a little at first.
Then your teeth began to fall out.
The dentist had no explanation, neither did the doctor.

Your new teeth don't feel right.
False ones that were surprisingly cheap.
You adjusted slowly until your new teeth began to grow in.
You had no idea how, the dentist said you were seeing things,
your teeth were gone.
He gave you the number for a psychiatrist.

Your new teeth are fully grown in now.
They are a lot bigger, more pointed.
Nobody else can see them still.
You bite at your arm to make sure they are real.
The blood running down your arm suggests they are.

The blood.
The delicious blood.
Why have you never done this before?
You can't seem to get enough of it.
Your arms are falling to pieces but you can't bring yourself
to stop.

They find you with no arms, most of your legs torn to
shreds and eaten.
They are never heard from again.
You are still hungry.

Day 38

Look at the back of your hand.
Is it as you remember?
Has anything changed?
Are your veins still flowing with blood?
Do they flow with something else?
Are they even veins?

They are not all veins.
On your right hand where a prominent vein should be
is a scorpion.
It sits under your skin but not so far that you can't
see it.
It waits for you to look away.
When you do it burrows further into your skin.

If you've never seen the scorpion under the skin of
your right hand, I'm sorry.
I am so, so sorry.
The most you will live is a week.
Expect blinding pain and internal bleeding.

Day 37

Have you ever noticed your food go missing?
Have you ever heard strange noises at night that reminded you of someone who left long ago?
They didn't leave.
They're still with you.
In your house.

Is there a room you rarely spend time in for one reason or another?
The real reason lies within.
Your mind convices you that the room is fine.
There's nothing out of the ordinary there.
Your mind lies.

In the warmest corner of the room lies a pile of pulsating flesh.
You knew them.
You still know them.
You feed them.
They grow.
They change.
Some day they will be reborn.
They will not be human.

Day 36

Rain is an unavoidable part of the water cycle.
Rain is made up of water vapour which includes bacterium from the surrounding areas.
Sometimes it includes more than that.
Sometimes it is joined by other things.

You are walking down a road when it starts raining.
Just as fore casted - a light shower.
It comes and goes and leaves the ground damp and...red?
The normally clear puddles of rainwater are red.
Walking slightly faster you notice that all the puddles are red.
They begin to smell.
It is a distinct, metallic scent.
Blood.

As if drawn by your realisation another downpour starts.
Heavier than the last.
Much heavier.
You don't know how you couldn't have noticed before - the sky is teeming with
dark red clouds.

You hear a distant wail, almost like a siren but much more human.
It comes closer, you brace for impact.
The sound surrounds you, near deafening it howls and cries as you try to outrun it.
Your eyes clamped shut as you sprint, hoping to find a doorway to dive into.

You hit something soft and soaked.
Opening your eyes you see a towering thing that seems to be made of the blood
rain.
It begins to sink down.
It has a head.
Its face is your mother's.
She seems angry with you.

Day 35

You walk through your front door and into somewhere else.
It is not your home.
It seems to be backstage somewhere.
You vaguely hear a mixture of cheering followed by screaming followed
by the sound of something being torn apart.

You see other people around you practising.
From their costumes they seem to be performers of sorts.
You look at your own clothes and they too have changed.

Curious you head to the side of the stage where a child recites poetry.
The lights are too bright to see the audience but you hear them growl.
The child looks terrified but not for long.
The front row of the audience leap onto the stage and maul him.
The rest of the audience cheers.

A tap on your shoulder signifies you as next.
You are pushed forward as fear renders you frozen.
When you reach the centre of the stage you are pushed again but
you slip on the bloodied stage floor.
The audience catch you.

Curtains fall.

Day 34

People is a term that generally refers to humans.
Not all people are humans.
They look just like us.
They are our thieves,  our dictators,  our serial killers.

Their weakness is peppermint.
Spray them with it at your own risk.
It causes their veins to expand rapidly whilst simultaneously dissolving their internal organs.

In layman's terms - blood and viscera.
Blood and viscera everywhere.
Note that this still doesn't kill them.
They will come after you if you try this.
Their stumbling bodies trailing gore behind,  heads sunken, eyes fixated on you.

Day 33

Loud chewing is one of the most obnoxious traits a person can have.
There is little worse than hearing someone sloppily working their
way through their food.
Unless you turn to rebuke them only to find yourself alone.
The chewing is just behind your left ear.
It is loud.
You yell STOP.
It stops.
You hear it swallow.
You hear something meaty tear just beside you.
The chewing begins anew.
You leap to your feet and walk quickly out of the room.
The chewing grows quiet.

Morbidly curious you move back into the room.
It is darker now.
You tread closely to the window.
To the source of the chewing.
You step in something wet.
It splashes up your leg.
Daring to look down you see blood.
the floor is covered in blood.
A wet chunk of something lands on your shoulder.
It is lifted up.
The chewing continues.
You stand frozen in fear as you hear it swallow loudly.

Searing pain then darkiness.

Day 32

Remember your childhood dog?
Remember you never had a childhood dog?

Notice the sound of panting faintly behind you.
Notice how quiet everything else is.

Look closely at your reflection.
See the disembodied canine head floating over your left shoulder.

It looks happy. Its mouth hangs widely in an open smile.
Too widely. You see the muscles in its jaw are rotting.

Look closer - you see maggots writhing in the festering flesh.
They drop to the floor and vanish. You wonder where they go to.

You try to ignore the dog that looks very much like the one you had
or never had. You can't remember anymore.

It's been weeks now. The head continues to follow you and rot with you.
You've grown used to sweeping its flesh off the floor. The maggots still vanish.

You wonder why it never smells. Rotting flesh should smell vile.
You smell nothing. The head is mostly flesh and maggots. The fur is gone.

The flesh is scarce now. The maggots have left. It still grins.
You continue as normal.

You cut yourself while peeling potatoes.
So that's where the maggots went.

Day 31

Did you know cats leave dead animals because they think you're too weak to hunt?

Did you know ghosts do something similar?

They don't always leave dead animals.

Sometimes they leave knives.

Sometimes they leave poison in your food.

Sometimes they reach deep into your chest and squeeze your heart until you collapse.

They don't think you're bad at hunting like cats do.

They think you're bad at living. 

Day 30

Do you ever feel different when you wear a certain piece of clothing?
That's because souls tend to cling to material objects.
Wear the item that makes you feel different.
Stand between three mirrors.
Slowly turn.
If your face begins to change you have found the former wearer.
Do not try this alone.
These souls long for a new body.

Day 29

Light's a funny thing
Its never there when you most need it
For instance, on those nights where something just doesn't feel right
Like there's a weight on your chest
Like someone is breathing slightly out of sync with you
Like you really aren't alone

On those nights, don't leave the light on
Don't let it know you're there
Don't pray for salvation
Pray it kills you quickly

Day 28

Floors creak at night where houses relax.

We know they are alive, but where does this life come from?

Ancient architects used to bury living people within the foundations

of new buildings to guard them.

Their souls linger within the walls and floors where they walk, ever

vigilant.

Who is in your house?

Count the people.

Then count their shadows.

If you find an extra shadow that vanishes when you look directly

at it, you've found your houses soul.

You have someone buried at the heart of your home.

They may watch you when you sleep.

They may chase other spirits from your home.

They may not like you.

You don't want them to not like you.