Chapter 1: Sebastian Bender
Late. What am I going say today? That I overslept. That I
helped a blind man crossed the street. Damn it. I rushed to the washroom and
took a quick shower. Put on my favourite superhero t-shirt ‘Captain America’
and the same jeans I have been wearing for the past few days. My cell rang,
Ang’s face plastered on the screen.
My work isn’t really
what people would call work. I work as a musician, an indie band that play
covers of famous songs like ‘Sway’ and
‘Thriller’ at a local café not too far from my house. I’m the rhythm
guitarist and the backup vocalist while Ang, my band mate, is the drummer;
acoustic drummer to be specific. Our band is made up of 4 not-so-unique
individuals. Apart from Ang and myself, there is Zach, our main vocalist and
Sam the lead guitarist, the only guy in this band that has a proper job as a
part-time waiter in the same café which explains why we got the gig.
As my phone vibrates on the coffee table, I try to
strategize my words to fool Ang into believing my lies. The anxiety to do just
that is completely nerve-wrecking. I picked up the phone to put the sentence I
just made up in my mind to use but Ang’s voice pierced through the speaker.
‘Where the fuck are you? We’ve been waiting for you since
11. You better have a good excuse this time or we’ll have to take actions
against you!’ Ang shouted at his phone obviously irritated by the tone of his
voice.
‘Relax man; I’m already half-way there. I’ll arrive in a
moment. Look I’ll explain myself after our first session aight?’ I apologize.
‘You better be here in by 12 or we’ll start without you.’
I hang up the phone and glance on my watch; 11:49am. Shit, I
have to make it to the café in less than 10 minutes. I planned to take a cab,
I’ll reach there faster but looking at my wallet, I realised that I was
actually broke. All the more reason to make it to the café on time.
The only way I can get my pay check is by attending each
session that my band plays. Each time I miss a session or come in late, my pay
will be deducted not by our employer but by Ang who happens to be our band
so-called leader. Up until now, I have no idea how Ang became our so-called
leader. It was like a role that he made for himself since nobody wanted to take
charge of our band.
Truth be told, the band could have already progress with
only Sam and Zach. Reason being that Zach only requires someone to play the
guitar while he sings or Sam could have probably played an instrumental. From
time to time Zach would sing and play guitar all on his own. Like that one time
when all of our band members caught a terrible flu including myself, he
performed alone and even the manager of the café agreed that he seemed to sound
much different that he normally would. Though there was a catch to it. He can
only perform at his best if there is a beautiful lady in the café. Odd but
true. When he sees a beautiful lady in the café he suddenly changes into a
totally different person. Like a different persona of himself. And that day happened to be on Valentine’s
Day which explains why.
I arrived nearly 3 minutes late. However, late is still late
for Ang. The band on the other hand was about ready to start on a song. I shuffle
across the café towards my band, shook a few hands and prepared myself for the
session. Ang was gave me the frustrated
look as I prepared myself. I merely grin back at him.
‘Alright guys! It’s payday and guess who got the lowest
payment again?’ Ang, simply trying to get on my nerves.
‘Do you have to do this again?’ I answered back to question
his authority.
‘I will stop doing this when you stop bringing shit to this
band.’
‘Relax guys, chill out! What is wrong with you guys... huh?
You used to be so close and now you 2 are constantly fighting. Ang, what are
you doing? You call yourself the head of this band and all you do is pick
fights with Sebastian rather than help him with his problems. ’ Sam interrupted our argument aggressively.
He then proceeds with, ‘And you Sebastian, why can’t you just wake up earlier
and come early for once? Is it really that hard? We all know that Melanie
passed on but why can’t you stop acting like a pussy and move on?’
There was silence for a second. Speechless, everyone stood
where they were silently. Without saying a word, I stood up and walked towards
the exit. Ang and Zach’s faces were both expressing their disappointment in
Sam’s poor choice of words. Even when they all knew that Melanie was and is
still a sensitive topic to me. Sam grabs my shoulder to apologize; I shrug his
hands off my shoulders and continued with my steps.
I wandered aimlessly with my guitar on my back. Roaming the
streets, thinking too much of what has happened to me in the past few months.
Without Melanie my life has been totally different. Once a happy memory; now
becomes a dreadful nightmare.
‘What’cha doing? Thinking of me I presume?’ she chuckles at
me upon seeing me staring blankly at the puffy clouds while I lay on the marble
flooring of our balcony.
‘And what if I am thinking about you Melanie. Thinking about
how long we have been together and the things we’ve done. ‘Responding
romantically to her question.
‘Oh really? Is that really what you are thinking of or are
you just reading out a sentence from a novel? Huh? Which one is it?’
‘I don’t know what do you think? I might be joking. Or I
might be telling the truth here. Which one do you think it is?’
‘You and your structure of words.’ She smiled a little and
began to pour herself a cup of water.
I could have never told her the truth. What I was really
thinking of. At least not at that point of time. If I was given more time with
her, I would have definitely told her that. That I was going to marry her.
After years and years together, I finally muster all the courage I had to tell her
on a specific date which was 11th February. The day we met, they day
everything changed for the better. At least it was for me until 9th
February 2013, the day she left me.
I snapped back into reality as I stumbled upon a shady
looking building, a rundown mansion. The place where I usually go to when I am
emotionally disturbed. Inside, there is a rift and an entity which I believe
stays there. Why? I, myself am not too sure of. Almost every night around
9:16pm, a silhouette will appear on the staircase. This silhouette will later
form into an image of a lady as she descended from the second floor. Though,
the image of her is very blurry.
Based on ‘Fitz’s
theory’, I quote,
‘Upon the tearing of the barrier (creating rifts),
an entity might emerge and take form in that particular area. However during
its early stages, the entity will appear in a form of a silhouette which will
then later form itself into its humanly figure long after. This differs from
one another based on the place with which the barrier is torn (rift) and the
level of human or surrounding interference.’
My watch
shows the current timing; Wednesday, 11th June 2013, 8:23pm. I
hesitated to go into the house but considering the heavy clouds rushing towards
my location, I made a rash decision to go inside for shelter.
The front
door was locked as usual. Like I did not expect that. It has been like that for
over 9 years now. The only way in is through the not-so-secret entrance me and
my friends made back in ‘09. We were kids back then and this was where we would
hang out from time to time. Nobody really thought of going inside and nobody
really knew how to get in. To get in, one must pull out the window sill which
has always been broken for the past few years, move the lock to a certain angle
and voilà, you can now enter the building without any trouble. To be honest, it
is a wonder how other people find it hard to use this method. Obviously we were
not keen to show them our only hangout place so we kept the not-so-secret
entrance; the only way in, our secret.
It was as
dusty as I remembered it to be. Squeaky wooden planking floors. Torn
wallpapers. Graffiti on the walls and some on the floor done by yours truly,
Sebastian Bender and a couple of his friend including Ang. Everything was where
we left it apart from the things that we never touched like the painting that
has been hung up on the wall for decades which has not been touched since god
knows when.
I settled
myself on a dining chair not too far from the staircase where the entity might
appear placing my guitar to the side leaning against the wall. It was already
9:15pm. Anytime now the entity will appear. The clock ticks slowly. Slower now
as I kept on looking at it waiting for the appearance of the entity.
I have
watched this entity form from its early stages up until now. This entity sure
freaked the hell out of everybody when it first appeared as a silhouette back
in late 2012. I wasn’t one of them though, to be freaked out by such a
magnificent figure. Neither was Melanie. We would hang out here often to watch
the thing grow as it embodies into the entity. That is why this place is
special to us, to me.
9:17pm and
still not sight of the entity. Something was not right. This has never happened
before. Not that I am aware of. But still, it was weird. I climb up the
staircase to see if I could find the entity somewhere on the second floor but
to no avail. I might have missed it was my guess.
I wander
around the second floor; into the bedroom admiring the family portrait there;
dashing looking man, a beautiful mother holding a cute and chubby baby with
both her hands. What happened to his family? I have never seen them before but
I want to now. This has never occurred to me back in ’09 when I first entered
the mansion. Maybe because I was too foolish to realise or think of such
things.
It was
getting late, the house was getting dark. My lighter was not much of a help.
There was not power there which perfectly explains why the lights was not
working. I could not even find the candles that we once hid around the mansion.
My cell
vibrated upon receiving a message from Ang.
‘Dude, I’m
sorry for throwing a hissy-fit on you earlier. I want you to know that Sam and
I are both sorry for what happened earlier and Sam should not have mentioned
her name. We know she meant a lot to you. Once again we are truly sorry. See
you tomorrow.’
I should
head home; the rain should be over by now.
Just as I
was about to head towards the window, I heard something coming from behind me.
I turned around to see what was there. Nothing but silence and probably the
sound of crickets and mouse squeaking. As I paced myself towards the window I
began to realise that the floor was wet and slippery. I should be careful, I
told myself. I should have been more careful.
I remember
the feeling of my feet flying out from under me causing my body land on the
wooden planks and the sudden sound of the planks cracking. I knew at that
moment what was going to happen. And true enough, the planks gave up on me. The
next thing I remember was nothing but total pitch black.
