Call of the Unknown

A Look Inside

The sun was way too bright in the morning, Martin woke up feeling like he had run a marathon the night before; he was once again in the woods with no clothes on and wondering why the woods were always his final destination. Jae was already waiting for him with clothes and a cup of coffee, he figured the other man must have gotten up before him and gone home to get dressed and get him something to put on so he didn't have to walk home naked.

"I could kiss you right now"

"Is that all it takes to get a kiss, some coffee, and clothes", a smile was slowly forming on his lips.

"Given that our other selves have probably done more, kissing is nothing at this point"

"You are probably right"

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Act like you are just some dumb himbo when we both know you are way smarter than you let on"

"I don't do that"

"Yes you do"

"No, I don't"

"Fine, I got the address of the man with the anchor tattoo last night, we should try to get over to see him today"

Jae was having fun trying to figure the other man out, it was clear the other man was a lot more focused on trying to find out why their bodies were being snatched every night, but he didn't care all that much. He liked knowing that a beautiful man was with him every night, he had felt like an outsider everywhere he went and this was the first time he felt like he belonged somewhere. It was hard to stay in one place for too long but when he got here, he knew this was where he was going to spend the rest of his life, it was like he was growing roots. When he first met Martin he felt something inside tell him this was someone important to him but he's trying to ignore that part of him for fear of getting hurt.

After heading back home to finish getting ready Jae was ready to head over to Martin's so they could follow up on their lead, Martin was waiting when he got outside, he was eager to get going. They didn't talk much on the way, he could tell the other man was thinking of all the things he wanted to ask Colton, the man with the anchor tattoo. He was the only surviving son of Richard and Howard, who they believe are the men possessing them, the elderly man was already outside when they arrived, it was like he was waiting for them. He didn't say anything, just motioned for them to follow him inside, the man's house was filled with various things including family pictures of what looked like two men embracing.

"I assume you two are here about pops and Dad right?"

"Um yes, we wanted to know more about them, we are researching the town and their names came up a lot", Martin was ready with a cover story.

"No need to lie, they told me everything a while back", the man seemed amused at their reactions.

"See I told you we could be honest with him"

"You didn't tell me anything"

"I did too"

"You did not"

"Wow, you two sound just like them, they used to argue like that, but I could tell it was all in fun most of the time", the man was full-on grinning at that point.

"Sorry about that, so how did they tell you about everything?", Martin was back to business.

"A few months ago I got this video in the mail from the two of you, in the video Pops (he pointed at Jae) said that he and Dad (he pointed at Martin) had found a way to come back and that you two would be coming by at some point to find out more about them"

"They told us they were our past selves and that we had to find the man with the anchor tattoo"

"Well you found him, it was a family tradition to get it on your 18th birthday, Pops was with me when I got mine"

Jae looked like he wanted to say something but decided not to say anything, however, Martin noticed and asked him what was up, the taller man took off his shoe and lifted his foot to reveal an anchor on the bottom of it.

"How have I not noticed that?"

"It's a bit hard to see it when my foot was always on the ground; when I turned 18 it was the first thing I thought to do, and now I know why"

"When I turned 18 I didn't have a thought to get that tattoo"

"It was more on Pop's side of the family, Dad never got one, he and Pops decided to get something else when they got married"

"What did they decide to get?", Jae seemed very curious about that.

"Pops drew one half of a heart and Dad drew the other, they got them on their ring ringers as another wedding ring"

"That's so romantic, they must have really loved each other"

"Yeah, when Dad died, Pops didn't last too long after, they were gone within a few days of each other"

"That must have been hard to lose them both so close together"

"Not really, we knew they were together and gave us comfort"

"I'm glad to hear that", Martin said with a small smile.

"Alright, enough about sad things, let's get to why you came"

Colton proceeded to give them a full family history lesson, including other children, siblings, and relatives; by the time the men left, they knew everything there was to know about the men inside them. The car ride back to Jae's was filled with discussion about the two men and what they were going to do about getting them to leave their bodies, they would need the help of Colton. That night they decided to sleep at their respective places and do some more planning in the morning, while they were at Colton's place Martin enlisted the help of his friend Sam again to convert one of the rooms at Jae's place into a kind of cage. Jae wanted to see what would happen if both men were locked up with no way to get to each other, he had cameras set up to catch the whole thing.

When the morning came he was still in his cage but the place looked like it had been torn apart; the bed was broken in half, the chair was shredded, and the bullet-proof window had a crack in it. He waited for Martin and Sam to come and let him out, they needed to watch the video and see what had happened in that room while he was unconscious. The door opened there stood Martin and Sam looking on in complete shock at the room's current state, both men were in amazement at how one man could do all that.

"What happened in here?", Sam looked at Jae in complete horror.

"I have no idea, we have to watch the video to find out"

The video starts with Jae sitting on the bed reading a book, after about thirty minutes he puts the book down and lays down, five minutes later he sits up and looks right at the camera.

"You think this can hold me?", Richard was angry.

For what seemed like forever Richard tried everything to get the door open, he then tried the window and when that didn't work he started to throw things around the room, he ripped the chair apart looking for the metal springs. He used it like an icepick and tried to break the window; everything he tried failed and he was getting more and more angry.

"I will get out of here, one way or another"

The video goes on for another few hours of the man trying everything he can think of to get out, finally after he is completely exhausted, Richard lies down on the floor and closes his eyes. All three men just sit there in silence not sure what to say about what they just watched; Sam was the one to break the silence first, trying to add a bit of humor to the situation.

"Now I know not to piss you off, Jae", Jae started to chuckle at that.

"Really, making a joke after what we just saw", Martin was furious.

"Oh come on, we just watched a possessed man literally try to rip a door off the hinges, I think we need a little levity right now", Sam remarked.

"He's right, Martin, now how did things go over at your place", Jae interjected.

"My guy didn't make a move all night, he just sat on the bed looking right at the camera, it was like he knew what we had done and didn't want to waste his time trying to escape", Martin said with a bit of relief.

"Well I guess we should get started cleaning up that room before tonight"

The rest of the day was spent discussing new plans and cleaning up the torn-up room used as a cage for a very angry spirit, the plan for tonight was to start asking questions about why they were being possessed. Each man had a list of questions they would record themselves asking and when the others would show up Sam was going to play the video on a monitor in the rooms. To make sure they were willing to answer the questions they were once again locked in the rooms alone, only this time Jae's room was empty and the monitor was high up. It was going to be a long night and both men knew it, once they were locked up it was on Sam to make sure nothing went wrong.