The Horrorscope - Episode 16: The Bad, The Worse, The Sentiment

They keep knocking and knocking. I don’t have time for this, I don’t want to be tortured. Backpack, hope you are sturdy cause we… Are… JUMPING! I didn’t think this through! Come on legs, fucking work! Heal! I need to run! Taxi! Holy shit, it worked. Where to? I can’t think of a good place, I can’t think of a good place… Edge of town take the shadiest routes you can. Just go! GO! He starts driving. Good, I don’t care where he’s going as long as it’s nowhere near here. Where do you want me to take you? Oh no, he’s asking again. Forest next to the port. I’m going camping and swimming and I promised my friends I’d meet them there and I’m already late. He starts to laugh. Breathe, man, breathe. Pretty weird for someone to jump outta window when they’re late for camping. I start to laugh nervously. Well, you know… We can’t die and I always saw it in movies, and I thought why the heck not. I need to replace the windows either way, since they’re run down. He continues to laugh. Good, at least he’s entertained my idea. Now to think what I’m gonna do next, because this is heavy and I’m not in the mood to run all day every day with broken legs.

Ken, wait. Ken. Have you heard anything from Kei? He turns around. No. I tried calling, but he isn’t answering anymore. Telum interrupts him. Well, looks like his phone is at least at home. Bala cuts in. He should be fine then. He’s somewhat smart and capable. We have a much bigger problem. Ken starts to clench his claw over and over again. I don’t like this. My gut tells me that whatever we are dealing with is quite unprecedented. Bala interrupts him. Of course, this is the biggest attack on our country, period. Whoever is doing this is looking for us to panic and scramble. They know we are onto them. Telum starts laughing. Well, that’s not technically true, but I do like the thought that they think we know who they are. Hell, that we even have a clue. Ken turns towards him. I’m glad you find this funny. Bala steps in between them. Now, we need to pull our heads together and figure this out. We can’t be doing this and start bickering. We need to solve this fast so we can go get whoever is behind this. Telum straightens his back. This isn’t one person, this must be an organization.

Bala looks at Telum. Can you go ask anyone to see if they have any idea who did this? On Telum’s face now a smug look. Of course. Now, if you’d excuse me. As he leaves Ken gets close to Bala and starts whispering. What about the plan? Concerned Bala looks around. I don’t know. Bala takes a step back. But, I don’t even know what to do. Unless they find some trace of whoever did this, then we’re in another dead end. Ken hits his desk. Fuck. And I don’t know why we left it with Kei. He might be in danger. Sits down at his desk. What if it kills him? Bala puts his arm on Ken’s shoulder. Calm down. He quickly stands up again. No. Think a bit. We don’t know how that thing works. What the fuck is wrong with us? Bala pushes Ken down in his chair with difficulty. Listen. Even if what you are thinking is true. There is literally nothing we can do. Not just that, but we do need to find them sooner then. Telum interrupts them. Boys, I have good news, bad news and worse news. The bad news, is that our data is gone, nothing is left. Whatever physical evidence is left, is quite insignificant. We can’t trace whoever did this, because it seems it was from literally everywhere, but the good news is that we have a name… Osentimeu.

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Society is EVIL - The Pilot Program 2021

Village, a one man or family endeavor. After years of plight, wars, depressions, famine and other disasters at the hand of society and its rules. Humanity chose to spread out and spread thin. Any memory of old was razed from the face of the earth. Skyscrapers, casinos, stadiums, houses, all gone, recycled for materials. This was with one goal in mind, help rebuild mother nature by carrying the burden of our sins. People left places to go find their own little places to call homes. The rich were left stranded with their worthless paper and numbers, as people were fed up with the old style of living. Yet in this world without any rules, there were some unspoken agreements between people. You could not settle and build a home, if you can see another house. You could not directly talk or help someone. If people married, they had to leave their home and find a new place to stay, unless one side of their family would leave to live somewhere else. Why? Because society is evil! A good society has no poor or homeless. A good society educates those that need education. A good society does not burden others, but let’s them help themselves and grow. This was meant to give us all that and more, as nature bloomed again.

It seems we have some settlers again, trying to settle next to us. These damn parasites. She tugs at his shirt. Will we be okay, dear? He pats her on the head. Don’t worry, dear. A family is stronger than than some dirty leeches, he says as he loads up his trebuchet and lights the projectile before firing it at the bushes and trees. I didn’t think it was necessary, but it seems like we need to order a fence. She smiles looking at him. I am so glad you said that. I order it the week we moved here, when we started building the house. He looks shocked at her. And why didn’t you tell me? She chuckles. Well, you were doing your own thing and I didn’t want to step over your toes. He goes to take her head into his big hands. I love you. He takes a look at the fence and its instructions. This fence can stretch up to the maximum allowed distance of half a kilometer from the house. Simply stick the wooden rod where you want and it will plant itself steadily into the ground. Well… This seems easy. This way they should know not to poke their heads around here anymore, greedy bastards.

As the night falls, the couple sits out on their porch, looking at their new fence with a big smile and hope in their hearts that the settlers won’t disturb them anymore, before going inside. Gruesome stories are told by nomadic families about parasitic killers that wait for villages to pop up, before they kill the host and take their place. Some speak of nomadic heroes that roam the planet in search of these parasites to exterminate them. Others call those heroes deranged vigilantes that hunt humans for sport. And even now, it shows that word travels even when people barely see each other. I am sorry. I should have put this fence the moment you became pregnant, says Etnad. She leans on him as she grips his hand tightly. All that matters is that we’re fine, says Alia. We were so lucky to find this place, says Alia. It feels like this was fate. You, this place, your pregnancy, it all feels like destiny for me, says Etnad. A knock on the door. Etnad turns around to look through the viewfinder. I need your help, please! Alia pulls on his hand and starts shaking her head. Don’t. He winks at her and takes her hand slowly off. What do you want? He shouts with the door closed and hand on a knife. I need your help, man, please. I’m dying. Etnad opens the door quickly and plunges with the knife in his heart. Serves him right, god damn parasite.

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The Horrorscope - Episode 15: Insecure in a Blackout

This feels like a mistake. Maybe it’s the drugs talking, but we shouldn’t’ve made a plan and I shouldn’t’ve left them to leave. So, here we are again. On my own, alone. Well, not exactly on my own, right boys? Y’all can still hear me probably loud and clear! Good thing that we didn’t evolve to read minds. You should stay here. I can’t believe they said that. If anything happens, at least you’ll remain. And do what exactly? We didn’t come up with any backup plan. But, now, I have to rethink everything. If what the mortician said is true in any sense. Yay books. Wait, no. Time is of the essence, I don’t have another 10 years. Who knows if I’ll have another 10 days. I need to look through the digital archive I’ve made. I hate reading on a screen. Now to find the damn laptop somewhere… Where is it? Where is it? There you are. Under the couch, of course. There are a few distinct books I remember mentioning something similar. I don’t know if that’s a coincidence or not. Now come on. What? Blue screen? What the fuck? It’s fine, everything is fine. Well… This… Wait… Where are the files? Where’s everything? What the…

Pick up your phone, Ken. Come on. I pace around the place as I look at my empty laptop. Yes? Finally! Ken, where are you? I hear him sigh. What do you want? Oh, this ain’t fine. It’s gone. My files are gone. All of them. Every little thing I archived, documented and gathered in the past 10 years, poof, gone. This is fucked. I know. It’s happening here too. It seems that someone hacked into our system and deleted any and all files about any mention of the death or deaths from ten years ago. I can hear Telum in the back asking him something. Oh yeah, don’t you have physical backups? I scratch my head. No. I hear him relying the information to Telum before returning to the call. What do you mean no? What are all those books and binders and things? I slam my fist down on the table. They’re just fucking books and binders with books. It’s fucking fiction and philosophy, you moron. Fuck! This is fucked. I hang up as I get up to draw the curtains. Something ain’t right. They knew I left, they knew about me. They knew what we were investigating and they knew how to stop us and create panic.

This isn’t safe anymore. I need to breathe. Breathe in… Breathe out… I need to think this through calmly. Why didn’t they kill us? If they knew where I lived and deleted that data, if they know about Telum, Bala and Ken. Why didn’t they just use that device again? It means that they aren’t ready to deploy whatever weapon they had again. Or… This was their only one, a prototype. Oh… Okay. I need to start getting my physical back up in order, find the stick and leave. I knew this was a mistake, but this definitely isn’t a coincidence anymore. There is no way that someone knows about my existence or cares enough to have kept tabs on me for ten years. Infamy can only get you that much in the conscience of an immortal, right? What time is it? What time is it? I have an hour… No… Less… Thirty five minutes. In an hour, they’ll be here to take me somewhere. And if my guess is right, that’s game over. This is bad, if whoever did this must be powerful. Extremely powerful to pull this sort of stunt off… A knock on the door. Oh no… Yes? Who is it? They are knocking again… This is bad…

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The Horrorscope - Episode 14: High Tensions

Why didn’t you tell us that initially? Telum asks. She looks flustered. I didn’t know if it had any merit. Even now, I don’t. Since these are rumors and stories I’ve heard over the years from other doctors, other people and some unreliable sources… Bala steps in. Telum, think about it a bit. The only reason we’re even involved this time, is because it was one of our own. If it were one from a different station or city, we wouldn’t be left to investigate or see the crime scene. I interject quickly and interrupt Bala. Who knows how much they haven’t told you guys. Ken slams his crab hand into the table. Damn it! Then why Scorpian? Bala interjects. Calm, Ken. Please. I start pacing around the room. And who did this? Bala tells me to stay put. You are just making everyone more anxious. Please, Kei. We all sigh, collectively. But still, how did a billion die? Why didn’t it affect us all? I look at the mortician. Don’t look at me. I don’t know. These are just the rumors I heard. I don’t have anymore expertise… Beyond that it’s pure magic to me and I don’t understand it. Telum goes and shakes the morticians hand. Thank you. I don’t know how we’ll repay you, but if you ever need anything, this is my number… Come, let’s leave.

As we leave the building, Bala stops Telum. What are you going to do next? Where are we going? He scoffs. We are not going anywhere. Ken and I are. Telum tries to side-step Bala, but he gets in his way once more. No. You two are not going anywhere. Telum leans down in Bala’s face. Listen here. Do me a favor and move aside. You and I both know that whatever is happening here is not okay, natural or in any case good. Bala smiles. No. We both know that whatever you want to do right now is dangerous, stupid and will not help anyone. Now, how about we get some beers, some stimulants of your choice and head to Kei’s apartment? Telum smiles now too. Fine. So be it. We’re going to your place, Kei. Shocked, I look at him with disbelief. Why? No. I don’t want to. What do you want there? No way. No. Telum starts laughing. That’s the spirit, Telum says as he turns towards Ken. We’re gonna get to the bottom of this, trust me. Whatever is happening is against nature and I won’t stand for it. But, Bala is right. We need to cool down a bit and think this through… He turns towards me. Put this on.

As I open the door, I can already hear their remarks. Come in. I guess… They make their way in. You live like this? Asks Telum. Wow, exclaims Bala as Ken goes to take a seat on the couch. So many books, Bala says as he looks around the living room. Why do you have so many books? And why are they all on the ground? I nervously smile. Because… Now take a seat. He laughs. Come on, tell us… You have the walls, almost empty. Even the two shelves there on the wall, barely have books on them. Yet the floor is full of them. I smile. Because it’s easier to track what I’ve read and piece things together like a puzzle. If you look down, they have a significance, they are all going from one theme to another. And for the reason why I have so many is simple. We’ve been writing books for hundreds of thousands of years. There’s a lot of knowledge to be read and absorbed. I don’t want to miss anything they might’ve discovered but buried in a book. Now then… What is this? I ask as I place the coil on the table between booze and drugs…

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The Horrorscope - Episode 13: BLACKOUT

What’s the life-source? What pulses in us? Bala asks as he touches his chest. She starts to smile. It’s the nervous system. I turn towards her puzzled. What do you mean? Bala asks. Just like you have capillaries for your blood. Your nervous system spreads throughout your body. Not just the spine or the brain. But everywhere within your body. She sighs as we all look at her confused. You have blood, DNA, RNA and the nervous system, for short. Blood regenerates, your body regenerates, due to DNA and RNA. Scramble your DNA and RNA, your body, your DNA and RNA will regenerate into something resembling a normal human. But, that leaves your neurons, your nervous system that is spread throughout your body and moves it. Makes you think, makes you feel, makes you active and together with your RNA and DNA makes you immortal. Well, almost. If the theory is to be believed. And I for one, can’t say much on that since I haven’t had much first-hand experience. I’m just examining dead bodies on a rare occasion. There is a way to kill an immortal for good…

It’s called BLACKOUT. I scratch my head. You don’t mean… She nods. Yes. I start pacing around the room. How? Telum looks at me with frustrations as to tell me to take a seat. Well, we doctors don’t know much about it, except a few chosen ones. Oh, I’m not one of them. I just deal with the dead. Supposedly, she says looking at Telum, there are a few teams of scientists trying to develop this device. It was based on the rumor that began 10 years ago about how those people died. The BLACKOUT, I interject. Yes, the BLACKOUT. The idea of this theory is that your body is already a conductor for electricity. Which means you absorb some of the electrons floating out there. And it’s the reason you live, since electricity floats through you and powers your nervous system. It’s also the reason you have a consciousness within your thinking brain, but it is the thing that keeps you alive together with DNA and RNA. Which means that as long as there is a hint of a electricity in the air and there is a sliver of a particle of you out there, you can in someway regenerate. It’s gonna take you years and years. But in theory even if nuked, you could regenerate…

We all look flabbergasted at her as she takes a deep breath looking at our faces. How do you kill then someone? She asks in the most sarcastic way. I don’t know. As I told you, I just look at dead bodies whenever they occur. And what I told you might not even be true anymore, since this was a rumor 9 or 10 years ago. But, supposedly, if it is true. Then the bodies ten years ago and the body of you partner, she says looking at Telum. Have the markings of this device that drains all the electricity out of your body. Practically killing anyone, human, animal or plant. Since we all function in a similar way. I get up. But this doesn’t make sense. Shouldn’t having blood, RNA and DNA save you? She scratches her head. I don’t know. But, if the theory is correct, then no. RNA and DNA are molecules, they die if they aren’t fed, so to speak. And blood can’t move around your body if it doesn’t have something to move it around in the body, in this case electricity. Which means, if you drain all the electricity out of the body, blood can’t move, if blood can’t move, you die and once dead, your body doesn’t retain electricity how it should… So, if I were to try to resurrect him, he’d start burning… Shocked, I turn towards Telum with the coil in my hand…

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The Horrorscope - Episode 12: The Mad Always Innovate

When we experimented… We learned a bunch about our bodies. A limb can always be re-attached if you don’t let it get infected. After a year, it will start to regrow. It will take you a few years if it’s an arm or a leg. But, if it’s let’s say an internal organ or a toe, for example, they grow in a few months after that year passes. Yet, there was this one professor that wanted to take things too far. I don’t think many people have heard of him. He’s now more of an urban legend than anything. She says as she takes a key out and unlocks a secret drawer. Robert Liston, he’s a pioneer… Well, more of a madman. We don’t really pride being ourselves being related to him. One night, he started doing the rounds. Talking to the patients in the ward. They were all grieving volunteers looking for answers. He’d never really talk to them, which is why they stopped him from going around. He told them that he will show them the answer the next day…

This is the story how I heard it, back then… The next morning they were all closed outside an operating room like that one. There was one naked man in the middle and Dr. Robert Liston was nowhere to be found. I interrupt her again. But why is there a window into the operating room? She looks at me. There are more than one, because we had to film such special cases. I start nodding. Oh, I see… So what was Dr. Robert doing? She smiles angrily at me. Well, he came in with a flamethrower and burned the man alive. They say the smell was horrible. Obviously, the man didn’t die. He recovered. But, that wasn’t the end of it. The next day, he found another volunteer. And, same as last time, he again locked the other doctors out of the operating room. Only to this time cut the top of the skull of the patient that was in the room with a surgical saw. She sighs. Remove the brain by yanking it, holding it up in the air and shouting that the brain is the answer. Yet, the man on the table was still conscious and alive. So, in his brilliant wisdom, seeing that the man was still alive, he threw the brain on the floor and stomped it. Only for the brain to regrow itself in a record sixteen months. We did discover thanks to this that our nervous system along the spine does have some grey matter in it.

I sigh. Okay, but… She clenches her fist. But, that means that if you are tired of your current life and want a restart. You can pluck your brain out and stomp it. Because just like that man, you won’t remember your life, but you’ll curiously develop the same personality. They then, weirdly enough, got on board with what he was doing. So, they started removing both brain and the spinal cord to see what happens. They regrew and got the same result as the brainless man. They tried to burn it by electricity, and failed to do so. They tried to combine some of these methods only for each and everyone of them to fail. We did learn a thing or two, yet, his theory that it is all in the brain was false. So, after a while we gave up. Until a rumor started to surface towards the end of the first year in our community. That in order to kill an immortal, you have to drain their life-source. There is one thing that pulses in us that also pulses in animals which have hearts… And it’s the thing we’ve been trying to figure out for over ten years now. She again looks at Telum, he nods. It’s the only way to kill an immortal…

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The Horrorscope - Episode 11: Chopped and Quartered

Have you ever tried to kill someone? She looks at me with concern. What do you mean? I sigh and look at everyone around. I assume you must have done some experimenting early on. I don’t know how young or old you are, but it stands to reason that you must have tried to kill yourself at least once, if not tried to kill someone like your annoying little brother. Right? Or was that just me? They all sigh collectively. Anyway, we have no regard for life, since we’re quite literally immortal, or almost… Right? I can tell you that I’ve cut my arms off, both of them. Not at the same time, obviously. I don’t know what I expected to happen when I did it the second time. But, whatever, that’s besides the point. I shot myself thrice. The third time was for fun. Once in the legs, once in the chest and once in the head. Telum smacks me over the head again. Get to the point. I sigh. What I am trying to say is that I literally cannot die. So, for me, it doesn’t make sense how Scorpian or any of the billion people from ten years ago died.

I understand, Mr. Kei. But, that’s what I am telling you. Their organs all stopped working, which is why they died. I slam the table. I know! How did it happen? Telum smacks me. Calm down. I take a deep breath. The thing is… We only have theories. We don’t really know how they died. You’ll see on the video yourself. When we looked at the bodies brought here, the only trauma we found on them, was from their circumstances when they died. So, nothing that could have suggested that they died from any blunt force trauma. I start to pace around. So, I’m right, we can’t die from any physical damage. She looks at me and nods. Yes, as you stated before, even if you hold your mouth and nose shut, you can live happily, as long as you don’t exercise, in which case… I interrupt her. As with anything else you fain and remain unconscious until your can breathe or whatever again. She smiles. Good, you paid attention in school. And besides all that, we can’t die from getting poisoned, having organs or pieces removed.

I get it. I interrupt her once more. I know all this. Then what were your theories? She goes to a cabinet and pulls out a large folder and slams it on the table. These are the files on the people that have died ten years ago. That is the file of Mr. Scorpian. She points at the folder in front of me on the table. And these… She goes back to the cabinet. Are… The folders of all the experimentation I had to do in med school and throughout my career. She slams another five tall folders on the desk. The ones from ten years ago and Mr. Scorpian are exactly the same. So, I had to go through all these ten years ago and now with this tragic passing, once more, and re-read everything. My peers had a theory that somehow the souls were extracted. But, no one had any evidence for that. So, we dropped it. Another theory that was going around that time was that maybe extraterrestrials destroyed the planet of the zodiac sign an thus killing them all. But, again… I sigh. Of course, that’s not true. That’s not how things work and the planets for each zodiac sign can be observed by simply looking up at night. She nods. Exactly. But, there’s one more theory that I don’t know if I can tell you about… She says as she looks at Telum. I too turn to look at him. He nods… It’s the brains…

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New Arc - The Pilot Program 2021

Tokyo

A roar that shakes the buildings is heard as the empty city echoes the HUSK. A faint alarm is heard throughout the city as he begins to stomp around looking for pray. Buildings crumble, roads crack, water bursts out, gas pipes crack and electronics light the fuse to the fire, creating explosions that envelop the husk. As the city is engulfed in flames and destruction, the ground starts to shake. With its big horns, thick yet hollow bones and with no eyes but a face full of millions of holes, the husk bashes into a skyscraper twice its size as the ground starts to shake even more. The husk stops as his bones shot up with long needles, he takes a few steps back. Silence fills the city as the sun shines and reflects into the skyscraper’s windows. As his long needles slowly lay back down, the ground stops to shake and two arms shoot up from within the building. Glass falls to the floor, the hands grip the husk’s neck. The metal screeches as it twists around the bones trying to crack the husk’s neck. Its needles popup. Some scratching the giant mech, some piercing its armor and some going through him. The dark grey mech pushes as the neck bones start to crack. As the husk tries to escape its needles has trapped him in the grips of the mech. A snap is heard as birds start to fly around and the alarm is silenced.

Another one, huh?

Yeah. It’s the fifth one this year. And we’re barely in March.

What’s the damage?

Probably into billions again.

We need to deploy it faster.

And what would you have me do? I can’t force the pilots to sleep in their ARCs. It’s a walking nuclear reactor. We were lucky it didn’t detonate when those needles pierced it!

I don’t know, but, figure it out, commander. We’ve pulled trillions into this program and all we have to show for are two prototypes and now a broken piece of junk. We’re supposed to be the country that birthed mechs.

They can kiss my ass. You can’t put a price on salvation and then complain when you get saved. The fact that we even have people capable of withstanding any of the pressure needed to pilot a mech is a miracle of proportions.

Commander Kotei. What would you have us do with the husk?

Contaminate it and if possible, bring it in. We need to examine it.

Yes, sir.

Knowing them, we’ll sell it piece by piece to the highest bidder again. We need to find out why or even how this keeps happening. Each husk more drastic than the other. Something is off here…

Commander.

Oh, Shin-san. How are you feeling?

Feeling? What’s that? He starts laughing. I lost all feeling in my body the second time I piloted that ARC Mech. He says looking down at his shaky hand.

I’m sorry for putting you through this.

Don’t apologize, commander. At least I get bragging rights for being born as someone special. He starts laughing once again.

You truly are. Since you’re the only one to survive this process. By the way, they want us to deploy you faster. Any ideas on how you’d be able to do that?

We can always try doing it without the capsule pit. It is faster.

Yes, but it’s more dangerous. And there’s always the change of losing control of the ARC. Plus, think about the strain on your body. We were lucky that this time it was a husk you took out easily. Last time you were stuck in a coma for a few months. I can’t put you in such danger. If you die, then we’re all doomed. His stare turns to a blank one as he stares right through me. By the way, Shin-san. How’s therapy?

Oh, doctor Shirazawa is wonderful. She always knows the right words to speak in a moment of need. And I’ve been doing these cool exercises to deal with the PTSD and the medication does its thing, so that’s good, I suppose, he says smiling as an explosion is heard outside and another husk appears on the horizon.

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The Horrorscope - Episode 10: How a Billion Died

That’s not a coil… Ken interrupts me. Then what is that? Telum looks at me as I ask the question. For all we know it could be a grenade or some weird new device. Put it in the bag, put the bag over your head and let’s go meet the mortician. I quickly stop him. Wait. There is one more thing. Telum sighs. What? I slowly make my way back to the bathroom. Ken, please open the window until you can go to the outside of it and just breathe on it. I can feel their eyes looking at me weird. Just do haaa on it. I can hear Telum getting annoyed. Just warm breath, I need you to do the haaa thing with warm breath on the window, see if anything was stuck on it. So we know if the window was opened from the inside or the outside. He the one to kill your partner might have been someone he knows. Fuck! I quickly ramble as I hide inside the bathroom. I can hear Bala laugh at me. What are you laughing at? Telum asks Bala. Nothing… It’s nothing, I swear.

If we spend one more fucking minute in this apartment, I am going to lose it. Ken closes the window. There is nothing on it, Kei. You can come out. As I come out Telum throws the bag at me. Put it on and let’s leave. As I put it on I can hear Bala ask Telum if he really hates places where people died. I can’t help myself but laugh. Of course I do. If we were meant to die, we would’ve been programmed by nature to do so. And what happened ten years ago was the biggest tragedy of… Well… Forever… As we descend with the elevator all the memories of that day come back rushing as a shiver runs through my body. People simply collapsing. Planes and cars crashing. They were screaming. Immortals screaming as they saw a billion people simply die. What a strange day that was. People closed themselves in their apartments for a month. Everything shut down. Governments tried to reason with people, but they were scared. Those brave enough to work were repaid nicely. The doctors that usually helped with migraines and other body pains were suddenly put to work on the dead. They worked intensely for one year only to come up without an explanation… But I worked too that year.

Hey, Kei. We’re here. I take the bag off my head, rub my eyes and look at the mortician. She has such a symmetrical face, it’s uncanny. I can’t help myself but stare at her face. Kei, this is the mortician that worked on Scorpian. I keep staring at her face. Her name? Telum hits me over the head. We’re not disclosing it for obvious reasons. I scratch my head as I reach out for a handshake. She raises her hands and takes a step back. Okay, I get it. I’m going to call you doc, if that’s fine with you. She nods. Did you work ten years ago? She nods. Oh, perfect then. I’d ask you for how many years you’ve been practicing medicine, but it doesn’t matter. So, how does one die? Can you explain it to me? Because it doesn’t make sense what you wrote in that report. We don’t have a heart, so our whole internal system can’t really be interrupted in any way. We don’t exactly breathe when we don’t exert ourselves by running or doing some hard work. So, how does an immortal die?

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The Horrorscope - Episode 9: Window of opportunity

I hate this. I so hate this. I’m going in the bathroom. They turn towards me. What are you going to do there? How is that going to be helpful? I laugh nervously. I am going to try not to faint and hold onto something to ground me. Telum pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. Fine. Bala, Ken, please pull the curtains. As they pull the curtains a blinding light covers the room. Okay. Now, how do we open this? I hide myself in the bathroom. There are three possibilities! One… You might gently tap the windows for them to pop in and slide them to the side! Two… There is a button somewhere that does all that for you! And three, they might not open at all. Which means they might have been pulled out somehow! Telum enters the bathroom. You know we could hear you. There was no need for you to scream. He turns towards Ken and Bala. Okay boys, let’s find a switch first…

They start pushing all sorts of light switches. And I can’t stop myself from thinking that they might be sucked out by a gust of wind and fall from the fiftieth floor. Why is he so afraid? He knows we’re immortal right? Even if we fall, in a minute he’d be able to get up. Ken looks at Bala and shrugs. Sometimes I don’t understand him either. Annoyed at what I am hearing I try to get up. You know I can hear you, right? I’m not exactly dead or gone. And it’s a phobia, of course it doesn’t make any damn sense. It’s so dumb. No luck. Well, let’s try to push the windows gently. I can hear them getting closer to the windows. Bala and Ken start counting down. And push… I hear a click. It opened! Kei, come look. I start laughing. No fucking way! I’m not leaving this place. I can hear Telum sigh. You just describe it to me! As I look down at the floor I can feel something grabbing me by the back of my neck. You coward! You’re coming to see what we’ve found. I feel like a terrified cat being held by the back of its neck.

Open your eyes! Slowly I peak with my eye at what they did. See? It barely opened. Something is stuck. I quickly close my eyes again. Take some pictures and bring them here. Telum slaps me on the back and throws me towards the window. Go look with your own damn eyes. Ken extends his crab claw. Here, come. I take him by the arm. As I look up and down the window, I don’t see much of anything. I was expecting maybe some scratches. What do you see? I shake my head. Not much. Bala, could you please try to close it and open it slowly? Maybe whatever it is stuck or broken will fall? He nods. That’s weird. It doesn’t make any noise. So then, how can it not be open fully? I tug on Ken. Hey, can you take Bala up? Maybe he can see something up there… Telum gets closer. I’ll do it, I’m taller. He extends his arms, grabs Bala and raises him up on his shoulders. Can you see anything? He nods. Here are some gloves, Telum says. Bala reaches up slowly to pull something out. He gently clutches it between his palms as Telum lowers him back down. Here it is… We all look with the same expression on our faces. What is that? Ken asks. It looks like some sort of coil…

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