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It was a dark, cool morning in October as John drove to his apartment. He had just finished working third shift at Wal-Mart. Even though he only lived a couple of blocks away from where he worked. John stood 5'10" with dark brown hair, and he typically wore an orange hoodie that he has had since high school. Little did John know, he was left on the door step of an orphanage when he was a baby; and adopted by his new parents shortly after. As John drove through the darkness, he felt as if someone was watching him. He decided that it was probably the lack of sleep that was getting to him. That night, John was supposed to have band practice at his friend Tim's house, but he decided he was too tired to play.
John arrived at his apartment and was greeted by the lingering smell of cinnamon rolls, and his roommate, Mason, who had just woken up to get ready for his morning classes. "Morning John," Mason spoke through muffled words. He had just crammed part of a roll into his mouth. "I made breakfast if you want some, or I guess it would be considered dinner for you." The smell of the cinnamon rolls hit John's senses like a heavenly freight train.
"Thanks", John said in a tired slump as Mason went out the door. John thought to himself, "Great, now the whole place smells like cinnamon rolls. How am I supposed to sleep when everything smells delicious?" He decided to make some coffee to keep him awake as he ate what Mason referred to as dinner. He then shuffled his tired legs through the hall towards his room with his coffee in one hand and a cinnamon roll in the other. John entered the doorway of his room and looked at his bed as if it were calling to him like a Siren's song, but he resisted the urge to sleep.
John's room was dark from the closed curtains, his bed was in the corner, opposite the bed was his computer desk. John sat at his desk and picked up his guitar to hopefully keep him from passing out.
"Maybe some loud music would keep me awake till the coffee is ready", he said as he plugged in his amp. Since he didn't go to practice, he might as well do something band related. John began to tear through riffs that he had put together a couple of days before. His fingers danced across the frets, linking with chords which made the guitar roar like a hungry beast, but he noticed that he too was very hungry. What John hadn't realized that he had been playing for almost an hour. "Great," he muttered. He threw a couple of cinnamon rolls into the microwave and poured himself a cup of coffee. Taking his reheated roll and coffee into his room, he set them on a nearby nightstand and continued playing. "I guess I'll just eat between verses." He spoke as he was about to sit down.
As he began to set his food down, he noticed that there was a dark spot on the floor. Although the room was dark, this spot in particular was like an unusual blackened shadow. John knelt down to feel the spot to see if Mason had spilt something in his room. As he touched the shadow, he felt the dark spot pull at his hoodie as if trying to grab him. John quickly reeled back in surprise and took another quick glance at the shadow. It seemed to be coming out of the floor in an almost human shape. The figure stood as tall as John, with a black form whose skin seemed to jump about its body like electricity. It wore half of a white mask that had an expression of psychotic laughter. The creature had long carpenter nail-like fingers that quickly reached out to slam the door shut leaving John with no escape. John had no idea what this thing was or how to get away, but he knew that he had to do something. Grabbing the nearest blunt object, which happened to be his guitar, he gave a mighty swing at the creature. The guitar phased right through the creature as if it wasn't even there. The guitar crashed into his bookshelf, making the strings crash about, which was directed through the amp to form a very loud and harsh sound. The creature screeched with whining displeasure as it backed away in pain. Realizing the creature wasn't a fan of loud noises, he put his guitar strap back on. The dark figure lunged at him, but just before it got to him, John hit a chord that knocked the creature off its feet. As he continued playing, the creature was backed into a corner and it began to fade. Its dark form seemed to become more and more transparent, until there was nothing left. John sat down on his bed with a feeling of relief and hope that the creature was gone for good. He took a bite of his cinnamon roll and fell asleep as the sun began to move over the morning sky.
John awoke that afternoon, wondering if what he had experienced was a dream, but there was still a half eaten roll next to him, he was worried that it was real. He decided to go visit his parents to see what they thought about what happened to him. John knew he had to be careful with what he said. He didn't want his parents to worry about him.
As he pulled into his parents' driveway, he saw the surprised look on his father's face through the window. His mother and father came out to greet him and offered him to come inside. They sat at the dining room table as they used to before John moved out.
"So what brings you out here so unexpectedly?" his father asked.
"I have something that I'd like to talk to you about." John said worriedly. Sensing the tension in John's voice, his parents began to explain what they had been hiding from him his entire life. His mother spoke in an almost worried tone.
"John, when you were a baby, we adopted you and took you home. We didn't want to tell you, because we thought that you would be better off not knowing." John reacted with only moderate surprise; he always had a feeling that his mother and father weren't his real parents. "There were also a few things that were left with you when you were left at the orphanage." John's father left the room to open the safe in their closet and retrieve the old belongings. He returned, holding an old, leather-bound book, a hastily scribbled note, and a necklace that had a triangular shaped locket.
"This note told the orphanage and your future parents to keep you safe, but we don't have any idea what the book means. It talks about some sort of monsters. Probably a children's book but it has some really advanced vocabulary", his father said. John took the book from his father and quickly skimmed through it. He noticed that some of the things mentioned in the book were similar to what had happened to him earlier.
John quickly got out of his chair, "Thanks, I appreciate it", he said. He then left for his apartment so he could read the book in more detail.
It was about 9'oclock by the time John arrived at his apartment. Mason was in the living room playing video games as usual. He went to his room and turned on some heavy-metal music hoping to not get attacked. He read his newly acquired book for almost three hours, studying these "shadow creatures" to learn where they came from and how he could get rid of them. He was now wearing the strange triangular locket that had been left with him when he was left at the orphanage. The book stated that his real parents were the decedents of an ancient and powerful magic-user, who decided to create minions from the shadows. Unfortunately, his minions turned on him and have been attacking his family ever since. The creature that had attacked John was called a "Reaver", one of the smaller shadow creatures.
"Smaller?" John asked himself almost fearfully. "There has to be a way to get rid of them. There's nothing in here about how to fight them though. I guess I might've gotten it right with fighting with sound." There was a section in the book that explained where the creatures had been sealed for hundreds of years. It was a temple that was hidden deep underground. "How am I supposed to find an underground temple?" John asked in frustration. The locket had suddenly begun to glow with a blue light and pulled John as if it was trying to lead him out of the room. He held on to the locket as it pulled him out the door.
The strange locket had been leading him through alleyways, across streets, and around buildings. "Wait, I know this route." John muttered as he realized that this is the path he takes to work whenever he doesn't have enough gas for his car. John reached the front entrance of Wal-Mart. "You're kidding right?" he asked as if expecting an answer. The locket pulled towards the entrance of the store.
"Hey John, I thought that you had the night off." It was Tim, the stores nighttime manager. John franticly tried to think of an excuse as to why he was there so late, as he hid the locket in his shirt. "Are you glowing?" Tim asked curiously.
"Uhh...Yeah." John said. He quickly tried to come up with a story. "I came here to get some ointment, it's a rash." The ornament hidden under his shirt began to hum in a low tone. "It's a very rare…uhh…humming rash. It's from a plant called extra-glowi-huma…ivy." John tried to sound as convincing as he could. "Well I have to go. I'll see you later." John said as he rushed off as Tim gave him an oddly confused look.
The pendent lead John to one of the back isles, near the automotive section of the store and began to pull towards the ground. "Great, now what?" John said as he took off the locket. The triangular part of the locket flew into a small crack in the tile he was standing on. It began to turn as if it were unlocking a door. The tile opened like a trapdoor and the locket affixed itself back around John's neck and began to try to lead him down the newly discovered Wal-Mart cellar.
He was lead down a tall latter into darkness. John pulled out his phone to try to illuminate his surroundings. He noticed that once he reached the bottom he was in a large ornate chamber that was lit by a dim, green glow emitting from what almost looked like lights around the chamber. In the center was a round, dome shaped obelisk with many strange markings. He began to hear strange noises as the shadows began to move across the floor. John knew that he had to do something, so he began to play loud ringtones off of his phone. The locket began to hum loudly as it pulled him towards the obelisk. When John had reached the obelisk, the shadows began to emerge from the ground in large inhuman forms with grinning faces and glowing yellow eyes. The locket flew from John's neck and into the obelisk. The large dome began to open and the creatures roared in pain as the descended into the darkness. The locket emerged from the obelisk and opened. It was a picture of him with two people and instantly he knew it was his real parents. They had been with him this whole time. "Thanks mom and dad, for everything."