Her head hit the floor and the door slammed shut. She laid there for what seemed hours in complete darkness the hood provided. The kidnappers had grabbed her as she walked out of the grocery store and thrown her in the back of a van and driven for hours to this location. The room felt damp but she felt the warmth of sunlight and she pulled the cover from her head.

The walls were stone with one single window that allowed sunlight to flood the room. It was warm but the room felt damp. She saw a mattress laying on the floor and crawled over and curled up in the corner. _At least they gave me a mattress and blanket _she thought to herself, and wrapped herself to try and keep warm.

The day passed and she could here what she figured was her kidnappers outside of the door, and then a small window in the door opens and one of the men calls into her.

“Do you know why you are here?” He asked. Mary was almost to scared to answer but thought it was safer to say something instead of staying silent, try to build a rapport, “No I don’t. Can you please tell me?”. The man just laughed and said “You will find out soon enough.”.

After the man left Mary decided she needed to find a way out. There had to be a way out of this place, but where. A small door at the bottom opened and some food came through. The same man who had talked to her earlier told her to eat. She pulled the tray over to her and began to nibble on the bread and at the porridge on the tray. She knew she had to eat something to keep her strength up.

The rest of the night she tried to get some sleep and managed to get what she figured was at least a couple of hours, but none of it was restful. The next morning as the sun began shining through the window she heard some noise outside the door. There were now two men talking outside the door.

“We have to take it in there and do this.” One of the men said. “I don’t know I feel pretty shitty about this. Why don’t we just ask for some money, we can get out of here.”, “That’s not an option.” The other man said, and the door opened up.

Mary looked shocked at what they were rolling it was an old CRT television, one like her family had when she was a kid. In fact it looked very similar to the one they had, even the scratch that appeared on the side. The hooded man rolled the tv to the end of the mattress, plugged in the lone outlet in the room, and turned it on.

When the man left the room left the room he removed his hood and told his partner it was done, she was going to do whatever they wanted her to do. The television was a mind altering device, she would be the one to kill her husband for them. Both men laughed and watched her through a CCTV in another room.

Staring at the door after the man had left the room Mary looked back at the television. There was nothing but static on the screen, and with that she smiled. _I finally have a way out _she thought.

The two men little known to Mary were her husbands partner at work Jeffrey and Jack. They wanted to remove him and take his place at the CEO of the company and blame him for the embezzlement they had done. They had taken millions from the company and if they did this right her husband John would be blamed.

Watching Mary on the screen they saw as she reached her hands to the television and closed her eyes, “What the fuck is she doing?” Jack asked with a quizzical look on his face, “Isn’t that suppose to start the brainwashing?”. Both men continued to stare at the screen when all of the sudden everything in the room started to shake and their screen went blank.

Mary continued to chant and touch the screen, she had used her magic through the television and summoned her demon Michaelangelo. The door started to shake and flew open, she heard screams down the hall and large banging down the hall. She removed her hands from the screen and walked out the door and down the hall.

Entering the room where the two men had been the only thing that remained was pools of blood on the floor and pieces of the men on the wall. She smiled and walked over to one of the remains and picked up a cell phone. She looked around and found a finger to open the phone up and dialed her husbands number. “It’s done, the problem is eliminated.”

The family was torn on what to do. Everyday grows more maddening and exhausting . Their daughters shrieks keep everyone up at night. They’ve padded her bedroom walls like a mental hospital, her head can not take anymore blows to the wall. She would bang her head over and over again if she was given the chance. The doctors, therapists, and even the priests don’t know what to do. She is a threat to herself and society. She has almost escaped twice now, the parents can’t help but to doze off every once in a while since they haven’t slept in weeks. They have no choice but to lock her in the basement where she will be unable to escape.

The parents waited for the first in many nights, for their daughter to finally fall asleep. The mother grabbed her legs, the father grabbed her upper body and brought to the basement room with the great metal door. The father spent the previous night installing six locks on the door, and putting bars over the window. As they carried their daughter down the stairs, the parents weeped, at the sight of their daughters self inflicted bruises. They put her in the bed and took one more glance at her, before she wakes and starts screaming again. The priest says the demon will not stop until she is dead. The priest advised putting a single tv in the room with her,  playing non stop sermons to hopefully stir demon out of her. For anyone being in the room is far too dangerous, the demon is too violent and too strong to restrain. She has already broken through three sets of restraints, almost over powering two full grown men while they tried to exercise the demon out of her. As they stood in the doorway gazing at their daughter, the biggest concern they have is if she will begin smashing her head on to the stone basement wall. The priest and parents, agreed that if any physical harm started they would intervene and try their best to stop it. 

When the daughter awoke her eyes were bloodshot red and her head was pounding. “What is going on,” she said in a strained voice. As she begin to awaken more, she could feel the demon steering in her mind and fighting for control. She sat up suddenly, the demon was on the verge of control. That is when the tv began to play. The sermon began and she could see a pastor reading from the Bible, but the demon made her ears start to ring so she was unable to hear. The girl began to weep and plead for her mind back. She concentrated as hard as she could on the tv, hoping and attempting to pray for release. The demon began to laugh hysterically through her, and then began making her slap herself over and over again. “Please stop, please stop,” she screamed with agony. The demon laughed more and more. Then she felt as if someone snapped her head backwards and she felt a terrible crack inside her neck. She opened her eyes and through the blurry vision of her tears she seen the most beautiful hazel eyes. The demon rested his long taloned hand on the side of her cheek and for a moment she felt peace. She started to feel herself drift to sleep, the demon leaned forward and whispered into her ear. “You’re mine.” She snapped her eyes open and saw the beautiful hazel eyes turn to pure hate, and she could now see the long black horns and the razor sharp teeth. She let out a long shriek and the demon set her flying forward through the tv. The parents and priest, heard the loud shriek and the something smash in the room. They stood stunned, paralyzed in place. “DEAR GOD WHAT HAS IT DONE,” the parents yelled hysterically. The mother dropped to her knees and began to pray. The father opened the door and when he looked in he saw his daughters mangled body smashed in to the tv.

They kept us here.

They kept us until the madness set in.

The madness sets in and we are set free… or so we think.

We claw at our shackles, we shake the bars and we scream defiance.

It didn’t work- It made it worse.

So much worse.

They had found you, dragged you from your home and set your bones in chains.

All because you bore the mark of SoliSis, ‘tis a mark that cannot be broken nor can be forged. SoliSis finds its Keepers, the ones chosen by Harken Sky before the atoms shiver into cells of life.

The city, Kalif, had ordered your ‘complete and fair distancing’ one dawn, which is how you found yourself on the outskirts of The Outcasts.

A ramshackled village, but a honest and just place where you found purpose in your living phase.

Now, you cower under the hard hand of Daemons Guard.

Sequestered away in a lime mortar cell, you curl into the biting chill. Afraid to let the iron clad door out of your sight, you begin to feel the dilerium of exhaustion sneak under your gritty eyelids.

Growling lowly, you curse yourself for your unshakable mark.

There is nothing in your cell, the mattress shrivelled from resting in a space too small. Only irregular patterns of breath dance with the chill of the apparent night, or so you assume. No windows offer the time of day, nor is there the cuckoo clock’s croak.

Your eyelids stumble, browbeaten and deranged; the jerking jangle of fortified key clashing with the derelict lock sounds clear as Death’s Tolling Bell. Snapping drunkenly upright you desperately try to shake yourself awake.

SoliSis will not help you, its power unknown.

Serpentine fingers shoot towards your ghostly-blue skin, sending an army of crawling bugs deep into your soul. You don’t want to be touched… again.

Yet, here you are- defenceless.

“Move, SoliSis branded. Quan wants you to fix blizzard box.”

Gruff, with notes of tenderness, is the voice that hauls you out into the whistling corridor. Wincing at the flints that try their luck to drink the unshod blood, you meekly sprauchle after the towering shadow.

Somehow you are compelled to move without harsh yanks on the bitter, iron bracelets. A new magick perhaps, left only in the Daemons Guard’s fibres.

Only if you knew the truth.

Even that won’t save you… not this time.

Forced through wrought doors, you blink softly as the Daemons Guard’s control loosens. Owlishly, you drink in the midnight velvet, which hangs from twisted bars, and the ceiling telling of Mythes and Legendes.

“Quan be here soon.”

Silence.

Silence descends upon the very soul of the impishly bored.

Quan did not arrive, nor did the ‘blizzard box’.

Yet, Mythos blinks from high above… unnoticed.

Unable to resist temptation of unbidden freedom, your toe draws a lazy circle in the fine film of dust. Giggling, you do it again… and again… and ag-

“Death compels the weak, life deters the strong!”

There is no mouth from which the words are marched.

Desperately, you reach with SoliSis to find the one who owns the tongue of the spoken.

Emptiness rings back, a tinitus buzz.

Why?

Simple, when we know the truth: It is the chamber itself who holds the tongue.

You know nothing.

We know everything.

A lone tear sluggishly pulls itself from your left lacrimal gland, except it fails to roll.

It oozes.

Pushing itself free, it shudders at the sudden drop in temperature… the tear smells off.

You fail to find the tang of salt, instead there is a peculiar wiff of bitter iron.

Tears don’t- shouldn’t- contain iron.

Frantically, you scan the lofty walls and stout ceiling.

Nothing.

“The SoliSis branded weeps, but not of mortal’s tears! Strife has summoned immortal’s blood… so it begins!”

Whirling around you claw at your chest, an animalistic draw of nails.

With unnecessary splendour, four colossal sheets announce their arrival with a storm like wail.

Gone are the scoured bricks, and tactful beads of art.

You are surrounded by Arctolian stillness, something you would have found comforting in archaean times.

Folding into your aching soul, you lap tentatively at the droplet of blood that has reached your lip. A queer mixture of sweet and sour, rolling your own life force around your mouth you note the creamy texture.

Desire flickers to life, you want more.

More More More More More!

Blizzard’s static hisses… roars through the emptying numbness of the looping catacombs of your mind.

Hurling yourself at the frenzied abandon, you howl with soul fire as your cells begin to dissolve.

Bleeding into all and nothing.

Sweet SoliSis, that legendary brand… becomes naught but mortal’s curse.

I wonder if they look for me, beyond these cellar walls. For its the little kid that lives in me, who beckons every call. It’s been so long since falling off That I believed we could be strong. But how can we heal pain,
If there isn’t any fog?

Now for decades long I sing this song beyond the cellar walls. For im hoping those that hold me would just tell me that im strong. But its that little kid inside me that cant seem to own their wrongs
And the window to our freedom has been unlocked all along.

Sally woke up feeling different today, something was not right. As she sat up, she looked around. " this is not my room." sally whispered to herself. She stood to find a window above her bed that looked to give a view of a hold that she had never seen before.in the reflection of the window she could see herself. Her skin was warm to the touch as she sent her cheeks. Her eyes were bloodshot and her hair seemed to be of a dry straw like consistency. " where am I? Why do I look like: have been through hell and back " She turned around to see a tv across the room, the room was A gloomy grey color. The TV turned on and static filled the silence. Suddenly the to turned to a channel where she seemed To recognize the person, it was her, but not in the same setting. She was sleeping in her bed.in her room.

My father past away in early October, he was my rock. The reason I kept going in life. When he passed away my world crumbled. It had now been 4 weeks since he passed away. I stayed in bed everyday watching television. Whenever he came home from work we would watch our favorite show, Full House. Our favorite character was Jessie. I haven’t watched it since his passing though, on this particular Friday, I decided to watch it. As I switched to the channel this episode had everyone listing what they were thankful for, everyone was brought together as a family I knew what I was thankful for, and that was my father. As I watched the television closer I saw it go blurry. Sitting up to fix it I heard of voice coming from the television, everything became clear and the camera zoomed in on Uncle Jessie. He looked at the camera, “I miss you too.” He said. All went blurry once again. I put my hands toward the glass, this couldn’t be true.

"Im telling the truth, why does nobody believe me." I screamed. The nurse turned around and nodded. A second later nurses ran in. I cried as they held me down. I could feel them putting the cuffs on my wrists and ankles. I could feel A needle poking my arm looking for a vain. For a few moments that was the worst pain I has ever endured. "How could they do this to me?" I thought before drifting asleep.

Hours later, I woke up with a nurse looking over me like I was a newborn baby. I looked at the nurse with a stare of terror. The nurse had pretty blue eyes and blonde hair. A few second later she started mumbling. All I could make out was, "Shes up." Her voice was calm and low. She looked back and soon enough more nurses came in and started taking the cuffs off. Finally I could move my legs. They felt weak and numb. One nurse left the room and a few minutes later came back with an ice pack. When they took the arm cuffs off, the nurse came over and put one icepack on each wrist. Then she went to the end of the bed and put an icepack on each ankle. My wrist's were all red and in pain.

When one nurse comes to check on me later in the day, she takes off the icepacks and starts wrapping my ankles with a bandge. She then does the same with my wrists. She then looks at me and says, "How are you doing, hunny?" I stare at her for a moment questioning what she just asked. How am i doing? I then reply, "Fine." She smiles and leaves the room.

The next day i wake up and get in the shower. The water is freezing cold and i almost just want to ditch it and just get dressed, but i have not took a shower in 2 weeks. After a moment of thinking, I step in and slowly put my head under the water.

I step out of the shower and dry off. I brush my teeth and get dressed. I walk out of my room for the first time in 4 days, and sit down at a table. I get some weird looks but not anything ive never seen before. A few minutes later, they call for breakfest. When its my turn i take a tray and fill it with, 2 pancakes and hashbrowns.

After breakfest we have group. Then we watch TV. I go back to my room and read a book. I end up picking "Strangers." People here say the book is haunted. I open to the first page.

Eventually its dark out. I have one more chapter then i can go to bed.

One hour later i finish the book. I then turn off the light. I eventually fall asleep. A while later i wake up felling like i could not breathe. When i finally caught my breath i stood up slowley and walked to the bathroom. What was that, i thought as i flushed. When i walked out, i heard the TV go on. "What?" i thought. I thought nothing of it and walked back to my bed when i saw it. I saw a big figure. For a moment i hesitated but went over. It was A TV. "How did this get here?" I sat down and stared at it. Soon it turned to a channel. There was a big man and a little kid. I continued to watch as it looked normal although i was confused how nobody heard it. Who cares, im having fun.

Moments later the big man named "Teddy" takes the little man named, "Carl" and bashes his head into cement. It was all bloody and gore. I screamed as it was terrifying. No nurses came. I then ran out to the day room and nobody was there. Was this a dream? Is this a joke? I call out for someone but its silent. I go over to the nurses station as i thought maybye they were on the other side, but when i look in only on person was in there.

Teddy.

They call me insane.

I can’t imagine why.

They locked me up in this room with an uncomfortable mattress, cracked walls and a tv at the bottom of the mattress.

When you turn the tv on it just shows you these strange moving patterns. I like it.

They tell me if I start acting normal I can go home, but what’s that supposed to mean? I’m not crazy, not insane, so how am I not normal? How do I act NORMAL?

hssss, the tv static buzzed in her ears, an annoying droning that she begged would just shut up.

she considered for just a moment punching the stupid tv and breaking it, but that wouldn't be the best idea, now would it?

no, she'd need a blunt object to break it with!

she wandered her room, looking for something she could use to just bash the tv to smithereens; it was all she felt like doing at the moment, and who was going to stop her? her mom was the one that locked her in this room and begged her to just watch her show and keep quiet while she took a supposedly very important phone call. what could be more important than your daughter, though? she thought her mother had her priorities mixed up.

searching around her room was starting to become quite boring, if she was being honest. she presumed she could escape through the window if she really wanted to, but that felt a bit overkill.

mucking about searching beneath furniture and inside desks clearly wasn't working, so it was then she decided she was going to open the dreaded Blue Plastic Box beneath the bed.

and, upon opening it up, she found..

another box.

and upon opening that box, she found a clock shaped like a statue. score!

she readied her murder weapon in her hand, before--

the tv turned back on. there was a young effeminate boy on the screen with light orange, curly hair and sporting a white-collared shirt reminiscent of the color bars one sees when the tv isn't working properly. along with that, he had bicolored red & blue shorts, the red side polka dotted. he held a microphone in his hands just far enough from his mouth so that anybody watching wouldn't hear whatever he was muttering to himself. the strangest part of this, however, was the array of tvs behind him.

he glanced forward. one could convince her he was looking through the screen directly at her and she'd believe them.

then, he began to speak.

"why, hello, people of lansing!" he said in a chillingly cheery voice, "welcome to my broadcast! i recommend you sit back, relax, and let the magic happen! because i assure you, this'll be the broadcast of a lifetime." he riffled through his pocket for a moment before pulling out a rectangular object with various wires pouring out of it and a red, important-looking button on it. and in a click of said button,

everything went black.

She had nothing, nothing but the light from the inescapable window, the robes she dons, the mattress on which she sits, the itchy blanket she wears to keep warm and the static on the old television at the end of her mattress that whispers the hellish words to her.

“Your family were sinners, they’ve paid for their sins, they’re all sinners, they all must pay, and once they do you shall come to me wearing their blood and spend eternity by my side as my loving bride.”