You should press play

There is an end to the process. I promise.

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I can easily say that I hadn’t seen that much blood in my life. It’s not a memory I want to remember but it’s there, stuck to the walls of my mind like a malignant tumour. It’s a scar I will always have, a shadow dwelling behind my eyes.

The blaring sound of ambulances and police cars around my mother’s house were deafening though, I can admit to the noise being muted to me. I sat on the stairs to the house, numb and distracted as police officers and EMS paramedics moved back and forth from the sitting room.

Sara was shivering. She was seated next to me on the stairs and her blood pressure was being taken by a paramedic. Tristan was helping the police officers with statements while Detective Wells examined the scene with a few CSIs.

I didn’t care. I couldn’t.

I had far too many questions swirling around my mind to make sense. Somehow, some random person knew how to track me down to hand me CDs of whatever this shit is and my mother was killed by it somehow. Somehow, a woman on the screen died by slitting her throat and somehow my mother’s throat split open too.

Rationality was not quite connecting the dots. It had no means to do so.

After what felt like hours, I got to my feet and headed for the door. Sara looked at me, trying to call out but I forestalled her with a shake of my head and exited the house. The road was packed from all the emergency vans, coupled with a few journalists past the police tape. I saw the lights in neighbouring houses as people tried to see what could have warranted such a response.

Something about it irked me. But it also gave me an idea.

I turned around, about to make my way towards the detective, when he strode out to face me with a grim face.

“You had me worried there. I thought you had run away…” the detective said, looking at me suspiciously.

“Where would I run to?” I answered but the detective only shook his head.

Dipping his hand into his breast pocket, he produced a cigarette and a lighter. A flash of flame later and the detective inhaled the cigarette like his life rested on it.

“I was thinking…” I began as he blew the cigarette smoke towards the sky.

“Yeah?” he said.

“The neighbours. I reckon someone probably saw the postman. I figured maybe if they were questioned, they would know. Plus, I don’t know if you’ve contacted royal mail…” I said.

He stared at me for a long moment, inhaling the last of the cigarette before tossing it to the ground and stomped the fire out.

“You know, I took you for one of them canary wharf pricks. Rich apartments, egotistical attitude, the whole lot. But you’ve got a good head on your shoulders, mate,” he said after some time.

I scoffed at that without meaning to, which in turn made him chuckle.

“I’ve already told my men to ask around for any suspicious characters and I’ve got some others looking into the deliveries from royal mail scheduled for the house today, or any deliveries really. The former is pending a reply from royal mail. The latter is where the difficulty is at,” he added, looking at the busy scene before us.

It didn’t quite make me calm but I was happy that some steps had been taken on that front at the very least. Someone out there was trying to make my life difficult. And it scared me how they could locate me so easily.

The point of the CDs didn’t make sense either. Why should I press play? What was the significance of it? So that I could watch my mother die? Like really? My vision blurred for a bit and I shut my eyes as tears began to roll down my face.

Even after everything that I had gone through with her, she was still my mother. She still looked after me, Sara and Tristan. She made us school lunches and took us to the park on Saturdays to run around and play. She came to our dance recitals, plays and even managed to round up some cash for a weekend at a theme park.

And I never got a chance to make any real amends before these sick fucks took her away from me.

I cried for the first time in years, falling to my knees as I did so. A hand patted my shoulder gently but it only intensified the tears until I was spent and tired. I don’t know what was happening or why but I was done. It had only been a few hours since the package in the morning, but I was tired.

The sunset as indifferently as it always had as the lights of the police cars illuminated the area in colours of red and blue. The sirens had been killed and more people surrounded the police cordon now. I had remained outside to watch as the ambulances left with the body of my mother. Sara followed her.

I gave my witness statement and ignored the calls from journalists to talk about what had conspired in the house. I figured the police could tell them because I was never talking about it. Katie had made the journey down to find me after the news broke on the television.

Breaking News and all the accompanying speculations.

She embraced me in a big hug and I barely kept myself from breaking down in front of her. It was around 10PM when Tristan and Detective Wells shouted for me to return back into the living room.

I ran back into a room with a couple more officers surrounding the TV. Tristan’s face looked pale as he pressed his back on the wall away from the screen as if trying to run away. The detective looked as troubled as my brother did.

“What’s going on?” Katie asked as she stepped in front of me. A police officer turned to face her and he licked his lips in hesitation before gently pulling her to the side to allow for me to pass through.

“What’s going on?” I repeated carefully to the detective.

He was kneeling by the player, looking at the blank screen in deep thought. I had to ask again before he turned to face me. He pointed towards the CD player and muttered something.

“Sorry?” I asked.

“I said… the recording is different, Will. The video with your mother’s lookalike? It’s not there anymore. We watched the full length of the recording. All the way until it cuts off, mate. Nothing but the room and the single light,” he said exasperatedly, running a hand through his hair.

“That’s not possible,” I replied, moving towards the equipment.

I removed the CD and put it back in. The sound of the disk being read filled the silent room and after a few seconds, the static screen of the TV blinked to the room.

“What the hell…” I heard a police officer whisper in the background.

The screen showed the room once more and the single light bulb hanging overhead the chair that stood in the middle of the room. The light flickered and blinked on and off intermittently. I glanced at the detective who had moved away from the CD player and was making a phone call. He looked disturbed.

Tristan was quietly muttering to himself with his eyes closed.

I opened my mouth to say something when the oni-masked figure walked into the frame and sat on the chair. I heard a few officers swear in unison. The figure leaned forward just as the camera zoomed in on him.

“Hello, Will. Hello detective. And to the officers who are now joining in on this game, I bid you welcome. Welcome to the collective where I will try to bring you into the light,” the man in the TV said and the room dropped into dead silence.

“You will not find me unless I deem it. You will not know me unless I wish it. But as you are all now involved with this, I am immensely glad you all pressed play. You see, I am part of what you would call… a collective. We are many. And I’m only a face. Our statement is to remove the veil from the eyes of the many to the simple truth of the world.

“The simple truth that the world is due for a cleansing. A renewal of sorts, to wash away the sickness that is human and to transcend the very laws that shackle us to the ground. There is more to be revealed. More to be spoken about. But this, this disk is out of space. So await my next correspondence.

“As always, you should always press play. That is the only way to get to the end.”

There was a pop and sizzle as the CD player sparked up. Smoke rose from the player as the TV shut off in unison. No one moved for a while. No one wanted to. In that moment, no one knew what to do.