The Glitch

Episode Six: The Eldritch Book

                “How do we close this f*****g wormhole before it swallows the school and the town?”

                “I don’t know, ok?!”

                “Think Vic! How did this even start!!?”

                “The Book!” Victor gasped.

A WEEK EARLIER…

                “It’s your first day and you’ve already been in a fight!”

                “Calm down Richard, let’s hear him out first.”

                “No Mary, I’m not relocating again. I was lucky to have gotten a job here but if this continues we’ll keep relocating till we die.”

                “Stop making assumptions, you weren’t there. You don’t know what really happened!” Victor yelled.

                “What did you say?” Richard pushed Mary aside and walked up to Victor, “What did you just say to me?”

                “You’re not deaf are you?”

Richard boiled with rage, clenching his fist as tight as he could. He tried to stop himself but when he looked into Victors eyes he saw a mad man, he wasn’t afraid of him. He definitely wasn’t going to apologize for what he said; he just stood there staring at him with his cold dead eyes. The rage overtook Richard and he couldn’t help but smack him across the face. He fell to the floor and kept his face down with his fists clenched too, gnashing his teeth.

                “What are you going to do? Hit me?”

                “Please stop!” Mary cried.

Victor inhaled deeply for a moment and picked himself up; he glared at Richard for a few moments before going up to his room. Richard was furious by his care free attitude and wanted to make sure he learnt a lesson.

                “Don’t you dare walk away from me boy!”

He charged at Victor who stopped and stood there on the stairs staring at him as he approached like a raging bull but he suddenly trips over before he could reach the stairs and fell. Margret happened to be passing by with a knife in her hand and Richard fell next to her. The knife grazed his right shoulder cutting through his T-shirt and leaving behind a flesh wound.

                “Richard!”

                “Sir! Are you alright? I’m so sorry.”

Mary ran to him, she and Margret helped him up. He grabbed a hold of his wounded arm and looked up at Victor who still had no expression on his face. He was cold and distant.

                “He did this, I know he did!”

                “No he didn’t, calm down Richard.”

                “The school burnt down and he somehow came out untouched. Something’s wrong with him, he did it. It’s always him.”

Victor just kept staring at him ramble about how their lives has been one rollercoaster ride ever since they adopted him. Mary looked up at Victor and saw he didn’t care if the knife almost caused a great damage to Richard. Victor was a big challenge for her ever since the day she met him.

10 years Ago: The Orphanage…

A young lady entered the ST. Vincent’s orphanage with her husband who seemed reluctant to be there. She was beautiful and full of life. But for a couple to come to the orphanage it would have to be one thing, they can’t have kids of their own and are looking to adopt before their marriage falls apart. Children are one of the pillars that keep a marriage standing. She was wearing her silver dress and a diamond necklace. The husband was in a nice Tux.

                “They must have arrived from a party or something.” One of the workers thought to herself.

                “What are you looking for?”

                “I think it’s pretty obvious.” Mary smiled.

                “This way, I’ll take you to Madam’s office.”

They followed the woman and as they passed by they saw many kids of different ages. The lady was excited but she had to make sure she finds the right kid. They passed a particular room where a 4 year old boy sat alone doodling on the floor. He looked sad and unhappy whilst most of the other kids were happy, he seemed lonely. The husband couldn’t care more, he didn’t hate children but he wanted a child of his own, blood of his blood. The visit to the orphanage was just to satisfy his wife’s desires to be near kids.

                “She’s in there.” The woman points to an office at the end of the hall.

                “Thank you.”

They went ahead without the woman and when they got to the door, Richard made one last attempt to talk her out of an adoption.

                “We can still walk away Mary and have kids of our own.”

                “I will have kids of my own but I want to take a child home today.”

                “Can you even hear yourself? You’re not barren yet you want an adoption. It’s insane.”

                “You said you would stop trying to stop me and support me once we got here.”

                “Huh! You’re right, I’m sorry.”

                “Don’t bother knocking; I could hear your conversation. Enter.” The Lady inside said when they were about to knock. Mary slightly opened the door and examined the office and the madam before entering.

                “Adoption is a very delicate issue. You and your husband have to agree to it completely otherwise the child entrusted in your care with suffer and your marriage will most likely be over.”

                “That’s one way to greet people.” Mary said.

                “I’m sorry, I just heard you two argue about the adoption so I decided to give my honest opinion on the matter. Please have a sit.”

They sat and began to discuss the issue. Mary’s mind often wondered off to the lonely kid she saw earlier and she felt for him so much she decided to he would go with her.

                “I agreed to the adoption as long as were taking a baby. Few months old maybe.”

                “Why only months old babies.” Mary asked.

                “Because we would get to raise them but if they are older, who knows what little personality they already have? Mary, this is my only condition for this adoption and I want to see their parents’ background and cause of death too that is if they’re dead.”

                “Don’t go all Lawyer on this.”

The madam just watched them argue in front of her and it seemed it might not end anytime soon so she interfered, she had already warned them of the consequences of diverse opinions on the matter.

                “Follow me; I’ll take you to the ward where you can select your baby.”

                “Let’s go.” Richard said.

While they were at the ward, Mary was looking at al the cute babies and playing with them while Richard went through their files. He had built up quite a reputation and life for himself and an outsider’s kid could burn it all down. Mary looked at the corner and saw him still busy with the files and slipped out to check on the boy she saw earlier. She got to the room but it was locked and it made her sympathize with the boy.

                “Excuse me can you unlock this room for me please?”

                “No, only the madam holds the keys to that room. Why do you want to go in there?”

                “Because there’s a kid all alone inside.”

                “Well he deserved it; he’s been bad and so needs to be taught a lesson.”

                “How can you say that? There are other ways to reprimand a kid. Isolating them can have psychological effects on them.”

                “I’m sure that psychological effect was there when he was born.”

                “Go call your madam for me; I don’t want to talk to you.”

As soon as she left, Mary tapped on the glass window of the room drawing the attention of the boy. He slowly looked up at her for a while then ignored her and kept scribbling on the floor. Mary tapped on the glass again and each time he would look up at her and continue his scribbling. Mary tapped the last time and placed her palm on the window, she wore an inviting smile. The boy got up and walked up to the window and kept staring at her. He eventually placed his hands on the glass and locked eyes with her as she smiled brightly. He looked hopeless and she wanted him to feel loved.

Victor ignored them and went up to his room. Mary walked Richard over to the couch while Margret got the first aid kit. Victor stared at his room and kept comparing it to the one in his dream and it was very similar. He fell back first onto his bed and sighed while staring at the ceiling fan. He suddenly sprung after a though flashed through his mind.

                “Billy was real and the dream was similar to reality, what if there’s actually magic?” He thought to himself.

                “Richard might be right, I wanted everything to burn and suddenly the school was on fire. What if I did that? In the dream I was only able to do a few spells after I found… THAT BOOK!”

It struck him, the old dusty book he found under a loose floor board in the library. He was able to do magic after his encounter with it.

                “I’ll have to find the book and prove to Billy that I was right. That’ll be tomorrow, I’m tired.”

He laid back down trying to sleep but Richard’s screams when Mary tried to clean the wound kept him up.  That wasn’t annoying enough; Macy woke up and started crying loudly. Victor was so furious he got up and marched into the room where Macy was and wanted to yell at her but as soon as he entered she stopped and reached out for him to carry her.

Mary heard her cry and was about to run upstairs when she saw Victor coming down with her. Richard saw him with his daughter and rose in anger from his seat with his wound and marched up to Victor and snatched Macy away.

                “Don’t go near my daughter.” He said and turned to Margret, “Margret carry her.”

Macy started crying and kept struggling to break free of Richards hold. She clearly doesn’t want to go near Margret. Richard kept forcing her but she leaned towards Victor with her arms stretched out. Victor was confused, why wouldn’t Macy let Margret hold her, he grew more suspicious of her after the incident with her in his dream state.

                “I’ll carry her don’t worry, go upstairs and rest.”

Mary took Macy and followed Richard up while Margret went into the kitchen to drop the knife. Victor followed her discreetly and watched her toss the knife on the counter and went out back. He entered the kitchen and examined the knife; he tried to touch the edge but was immediately cut.

                “What the…?”

He suddenly heard her coming back in and quickly ran upstairs grabbing the first aid kit. Margret walked in and suddenly stopped upon reaching the door. Her nose itched and took a big whiff, she could smell something. She looked back and saw drops of blood on the counter, the knife was also stained. A sudden bloodlust took over, she was breathing heavily and black veins appeared around her eyes. She quickly leaped unto the counter and licked it clean. She lifted knife up and her tongue stretched out farther than the human tongue could go and wrapped out the sharp edge of the knife and rolled back into her tongue at an unimaginable speed, leaving the knife spotless. She chuckled maniacally; the blood on the knife obviously wasn’t Richard’s because she had licked it clean before, so it had to be Victor’s. Her tongue was split in two by the knife but it didn’t bleed at all. She put the knife back with the others and left.

Victor stuffed his bleeding thumb in his mouth and suckled on it for while. He paced around the room with his thumb in his mouth like a baby wondering why the knife was so sharp. He looked out the window of his room into the yard and saw marks on a stone and quickly went downstairs to take a closer look.

He felt the surface with his left palm and it seemed someone put in a lot of effort and time to sharpen the knife.

                “It had to be her and why would she be walking around with a sharp knife like that and ended up not using it?” He thought to himself.

He had no idea what was going and it made him angry. The book might be his only insight on what he is and what has been happening around him. He opened the first aid kid and attended to his bloody thumb first before plotting how to go about the book.

The next morning he came down for breakfast and everyone was already at the table exempting Margret who was busy cleaning the dishes.

                “What happened to your thumb Victor?” Mary asked.

Everyone’s attention was now drawn to Victor’s hand even Margret who was busy listened in. Richard was glaring at him while eating. Mary was genuinely concerned; she was worried Victor’s going back to the way he behaved in the past. It was absolutely horrible and it terrified her, it seemed those days are not behind her yet.

                “It’s nothing.”

                “You’re clearly hurt.”

                “Did you perhaps play with the knife yesterday?” Margret asked from the kitchen sink.

                “The same knife that cut Richard cut you?”

                “I guess karma is real.” Richard said, stopped eating and left.

                “Richard?” He ignored her, “I’ll get the first aid kit and do it properly, wait here.”

Victor glared at Margret, he’s not sure yet what’s wrong with her but if the book would help then he would have to find it as soon as possible. He started eating fast and before Mary could return.

                “Who are you?” He asked Margret.

                “You’ll find out soon…” She murmured.

                “What did you say?”

Margret was mute and the school must be near the bus stop. If he didn’t leave now he might miss it. He took his bag and walked out leaving Macy alone in the kitchen with Margret. Margret kept washing the dishes for a while before turning around, Macy had stopped eating and her eyes were fixated on her. She dropped the dishes and walked up to her with her wet hands reaching out at the little girl. She quickly lets out a loud cry.

                “Why is she crying?” Mary asked from behind her.

                “I don’t know madam.”

                “Don’t worry I’ll take it from here.”

Victor got to school but he had other things to do than to go to class, he headed straight for the library where he found the book before and decided to start his search there. An hour passed and still found nothing no clue at all. His other option was to read books based on magic and the history of New Orleans to see if there’s a hint as to how to get the book.

Billy walked in looking for a book to complete his project. He’s grades has been down lately and he had to pick it up or else he would be dropped from the school’s football team. He kept moving from shelf to shelf but wasn’t sure what he was looking for. The project was due the following week and he’s betting it all on this project. Someone seemed to be stalking him; he could see their shadow from the other side of the shelf.

                “I can see you, you know?”

                “No you can’t.” Victor revealed himself, “You only saw my shadow which I wanted you to see.”

                “You again? Can’t you leave me alone kid?”

                “You part of all this somehow so I can’t.”

                “Part of what?!” He asked loudly.

                “Ssshhh!!” Went everyone in the library.

                “Leave me alone man.” He grabbed a book off the shelf and left.

Victor really didn’t seem to care how annoying or stupid he was in doing all this. It happens to be the most interesting thing in his life so far. He stayed in the library till school closed.

The next day being Thursday, he went through various rooms within the school including the teacher’s lounge, the janitor’s closets, and the office of a few teachers. He bumped into Billy a couple of times and was more annoying than before in convincing him it was all real. He kept to his routine till the following week. He wasn’t attending any classes and didn’t tell anyone, he kept snooping around the school hoping to find the book before anyone catches him or his parents hear of it.

On a Tuesday afternoon just before the school bell rang for closing, Victor bumped into Billy again in the gym. No one else was there and as soon as Billy saw him he got pissed off again and moved in to beat him up properly hoping that he would get the message this time and stop following him.

                “Wait!” Victor tried to explain.

                “I ain’t listening to you, not today.”

But before he could land a punch on Victor, something suddenly smacks him across the room and he fell flat on his face.

                “The hell was that?”

                “Like I said before, I think I can do magic.”

                “You still believe that? You’re dumber than I thought.”

                “I know things about you like your single mum who will probably start dating Mr. Lou your neighbor.”

Billy was silent for a while, what Victor said must have been true.

                “You’re wrong though, that was years ago. Mr. Lou is dead now.” He wiped the tears off his eyes. “I’ve seen you running around the school, what are you looking for exactly.”

                “A weird looking book.”

                “Like this one?” He pulled out the Eldritch book from his gym bag. “Mr. Lou gave it to me before dying. He wanted me to keep it safe but there’s nothing written in it.”

He gave it to Victor and he felt the surface of the book. It seemed the cover was made from flesh, human flesh to be precise. He opened the big book and weird symbols and words slowly appeared in red. Billy was curious to see what Victor saw but it seemed only Victor could see what’s written it.

                “Ecta F-f-flin Terra …” Victor tried reading a page from it and an earthquake suddenly began underneath the school. A huge wind blew open the windows and spread through the town.

                “What did you do?!” Billy yelled as they tried to evacuate with everyone.

                “I don’t know!”

They entered the halls but every door suddenly shuts and they’re stuck in the hallway. The lockers blew open and the ground slowly cracked open.

                “He found it.” Margret murmured to herself. “And so it begins.”

Ep07  The Young Warlock…