The Strange Case of the Jackson Building

Chapter 4 - Birth

Chapter Four

Birth

“Ah, shit,” Petra moaned, as she turned on the small TV set in her bedroom and noticed, with a sinking heart, that the reception there was also horrible. The images on the screen wouldn’t hold on for more than a few seconds without turning into a maze of white stripes and ecstatic. It also only tuned in the colors green and blue. “Does anything work in this ratchet house?”

She was hoping some sugary and superficial show would help distract her as she tried to fall asleep, as no matter how tired she was, images and flashes of the nightmares she knew she would have and the novelty and stress of her sudden change of life wouldn’t let her mind rest.

No such luck, it seemed.

Frustrated, she decided to go to the living room to see if the problem was a general one or just a particular issue with her room’s TV set.

Trying to be sneaky, so that Natasha wouldn’t insist on her eating or on them unpacking together, she quietly walked the hallway, avoiding to even glance at the portraits which, she was sure, had their empty eyes locked on her, feeling more deadly alive in the dark.

It was surprising and odd to notice that the entire house was, once again, silent and in shadow. Natasha was definitely not in the kitchen, unless she was an unnaturally quiet cook – one who enjoyed cooking without any lights on.

She shrugged. Natasha had probably finished her business while she was chatting with her mother and Olivia. She was probably eating in her room. After all, how long does it take to make a salad? It was actually a relief.

Making use of the lamp light that penetrated through the curtains and bathed the living room with shyness, she turned on the old TV.

Disappointment washed over her again, as she realized the problem, whatever it was, affected that TV as well. She wondered how Natasha managed to get over it and watch perfectly good shows in her set, as Petra recalled hearing perfect quality audio from the inside of her “badroom”.

Petra sighed in defeat.

She turned around, wishing to at least spend a few relaxing moments on the balcony, smoking a cigarette, enjoying the cold breeze and the quiet slumber of the city.

But, as she walked towards the glass door, her eyes were drawn to the beautiful shapes the light drew as it conquered the darkness of the inside. And in that moment, her eyes locked with the wall, right where the orange light hit it the strongest.

She was paralyzed in the spot.

It was the most peculiar thing she’d seen, and after everything she had seen so far, that was saying something.

There was a footprint on the wall.

Not a normal footprint either – it was long, way too long to belong to a normal person. No bone in the human body could have a shape like that. It looked unnatural, inhuman. No one would ever buy any shoe with that horrendous shape either. In fact, it couldn’t be that of a shoe, as she could clearly see the twisted shapes of something that perhaps was meant to be a toe. It was ugly, deformed, terrifying. Right there, drawn in black on the wall of her living room.

“What in the world…”

She walked closer to it, even though she really didn’t want to. Her mind was screaming at her to run away as fast as she could, but she was mesmerized by it. It was so ugly, it was fascinating.

Petra touched the footprint on the wall and, what appeared to be black soot or some sort of weird black powder, glued to her fingers and fell to the ground. It was so much bigger than her hand.