The Darkness Within Us

Chapter Two: A Dark Mark

"And I will see you... In the next video. Buh-bye!" Mark said, finishing up his outro. He closed out of his game and saved all his recording devices before sending them to his editor. He sighed and ran a hand through his red hair and looked up at his ceiling.

"Oh man," he said to himself, "I've got a splitting headache. " He stood up slowly and out of his recording room. He slowly walked down the hall to his bathroom. He picked up a bottle of aspirin and took one, hoping that It was better than nothing. He then had a sudden realization. "Oh, no," he whispered. "I've been able to keep him in check for so long..." he forced himself to consider his mirror.

Sure enough, Dark was looking back at him. "Aw, fuck," he whispered softly. Dark had the same cherry red hair, but it was slicked back to reveal a few scars on his forehead. He could also see that his eyes were lined with eyeliner.

"Hi, Mark!" Dark said, waving nonchalantly at Mark. "Did you miss me?"

"Nope, not at all," Mark replied as calmly as he could. He absolutely hated everything about Dark. He was so cold and distant, and reminded Mark about everything that he didn't like about himself. His frown became slightly larger.

"You know, I just had a chat with Anti," Dark said, "And he told me that Jack let him out for a little bit of fun on Halloween." His red irises started to glow. "Why didn't I get to have any fun?"

"Wait, that was all real?" Mark asked. "I thought that Jack made it all up for a prank."

"Well, that's what he was able to convince everyone," Dark said, "but we both know that Anti and I are very much real."

Mark shook his head and backed up a few steps. "No... Jack... Who made all of this happen?" Mark asked.

"You idiots brought it upon yourselves," Dark answered. "You get scared, you keep it inside, you never let out all your inner frustration and anger, and we are born. Your opposites made flesh!" Dark giggled maniacally as Mark tried to process it all.

'Jack ... has as much rage as I do?" he thought. 'That can't be right, it just can't!' Mark ran out of the bathroom and into his recording room as quickly as his legs would carry him. He turned on his computer and looked up Jack's Halloween video. It was called "Say Goodbye."

Reluctantly, Mark watched it. Everything seemed normal for the first minute or so, but then Jack reported that he was hearing noises, and every so often the camera would distort to show an image of .... someone who looked like Jack but wasn't Jack.

Mark could feel his stomach clench up as he continued to watch his video. Near the end of the video was what scared him the most. He watched as Jack seemed to be possessed by something that made him slit his own throat. He could even see the blood coming from the wound. He watched as Anti made his first full-fledged appearance on camera. The second video, however, rubbed it off as a prank. "Which one is true?" Mark asked himself, curious to see if Anti was as real as Dark was. "Well, only one way to find out." He exited out of his browser and messaged Jack: "Skype me. I need to talk to you."