A Bargain

Eric could not believe what he found in his backyard, a key with a sticker "Basement" on it. He moved only one week ago and wondered why he could not open the door while the nervous and fidgety landlord gave him supposedly all the keys.

He could remember how he came across the "deal of the century" like he said himself, after trying numerous real estate agencies. One day, Eric, following a failed deal -related to the poor student situation he was in- was accosted by a thin man with bags under his eyes but clearly well-dressed once he went out of the agency.

The man proposed him a deal, he could offer him a house ten times better than any of the offers he tried for just a hundred euros of rent monthly. What a bargain!

As any of you would have been suspicious, Eric, naive as he was followed him without a second thought.

But he was not lying apparently, the thin man led him just a few meters further from their original position, passing a public park with the promised housing at the end of the stone path.

Eric could not believe that such a manor could be rented for just a hundred, he did not think two times before handshaking the landlord. They both entered the property and signed the deal in minutes.

"Oh well.' Eric thought. "I should not worry too much about those matters, I have everything I want."

He picked up the key, stuffed it into his pocket and went back to the manor. The manor was a work of art, taller than the surrounding trees, large red stone walls and a garden that you could fall in love with. Eric thought that perhaps the cost of a hundred was due to the fact that the large bell that used to be suspended in the bell tower was sitting in an unstable manner on the second floor after crushing the upper ones. But the landlord assured him that it was safe.

He admired the horizon one last time, returned home and dashed into bed.

His sleep was agitated, he dreamed about cities and people chanting in a circle. The chant slowly seeped into his mind until he mumbled.

"The Green is the colour of Man. The Door is a Rainbow. We are the Light, your Gaze is a Shadow." He repeated in the same rhythm with long pauses between each sentence.

Suddenly the dream stopped when he swore something grabbed his soul, a weird sensation. It was similar to having your head squished by a hydraulic pump and losing every marker of time and space.

But he could not wake up, he was trapped in a state of semi-sleep with a paralyzed body. Eric did not know what to do, pinned to his bed by phantom hands on every limb. Slowly, figures started to draw themselves in the dark. First the nose, then the jaw and finally the eyes. Their mouths were sewn by a red thread. Suddenly one of them put his hands on both of his cheeks and stared directly into his eyes.

"I am the potter, you are the clay. You are the lost lamb, we are the shepherds." The shadow whispered in an ear-ripping voice.

Another one took the place of the first with the same gesture.

"You must bow. I am Three." This one whispered in a calm but irritating voice.

The last one did not replace the second in the same position but still whispered in an energetic but nasty voice.

"Your river is fear, mine is mercy. Your heart is stone, mine let the river flow."

Once they were done, they disappeared in the shadows of his home, leaving him staring at the ceiling with his eyes wide open and bloodshot.

Silence. Sensations slowly returned to his body, he could move his fingers, slightly, but not much more for the time being.

Eric felt drained, emotionally in particular because of the nightmarish figures. He continued to fight his own body for a moment to try to jump to the bathroom in order to clear his mind and when it finally happened, his own strength surprised him and he fell off his bed. While laying on the floor like a poor imitation of a turtle, blood started oozing out of his nose due to the impact.