#art commisions from @porart

[bemused2dust]

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧REPOSTING my story with this NEW and WONDERFULLY ACCURATE commisssion from @porart

I had the fortunate opportunity to commission a piece in regard to a scene from my story "Around the Corner and Down Below".

They exceeded my expectations and really gave me a chance to see my story in a exciting way. I absolutely love their style, the way they built the tension and dark atmosphere with the deep blue tones and warm orange glow from the weighted salt lamp. Please, if any of you have time to seek a commission and want to boost your own lovely projects with some amazing art by a supportive artist, take a look at their work and reach out! Super nice and a real gem to collaborate with! Thank you again so much for your kindness @porart and 1000 kicks to your enemies! If you love the art and want to know more about this scene and the story itself, have a seat and discover what’s around the corner and down below.

~SENSE AND SAGACITY PRESENTS ~

Around the Corner & Down Below

Summary: Sometimes It’s crazy where the mind will go when you’re bored and overworked. You would think keeping your hands busy typing and buried in research would be enough, but the mind just wanders. Wanders just enough to make you question the things around you. Wondering if anything is really what it seems. Words: 1961

Short horror story about creepy things lurking around.

I had been writing this paper for hours now and was in need of a desperate break. Looking at the time and seeing 7:49 at night, I knew my next one wasn’t until forty mins from now. With a deep desire to finish as soon as possible, I decided to push through. 

The night was boring, and the room was dim enough for the only source of light to really shine through was the setting sun and dull light from my laptop. The apartment was quiet with some of my roommates either asleep or gone out for the night. Their TVs were low in volume and the atmosphere was stale and calm. The resident house pup Gem was snoozing by the doggy gate set up next to my door. 

I adored her so much, but she was a nosey dog who sniffed and touched everything she could. Always the cause of some goofy mess, hence the doggy gate. She was a small and tiny white dog, with just 3 or 4 diamond shaped holes in the doggy gate framing her whole face. Overall, she was a pretty chill dog who usually just waited until someone moved around enough to pique her curiosity.  She had been in that spot for hours, just like me in mine. I would occasionally look in her direction and be touched that she was still there and in front of my door and not one of my roommates.

I checked the clock again and only ten minutes had passed. I huffed and continued to type away. Facts start turning into fluff pieces and repetitive sentences as I make my way through this anthropology paper. As I searched on into the next set of facts, I heard a scratching noise. I immediately looked up and towards the gate. I thought it was Gem waking up and wanting attention. Yet, there she was, still sleeping and laying perfectly still in that same spot as earlier. Which was strange because I'm sure I had heard a noise. 

Then again, there were people still walking about outside and my roommates did have their TVs on even if they were low in volume. So, not exactly inaudible. Rubbing my eyes and now eager that I'm looking forward to my break even more, I try to finish the current page I'm working on. 

Suddenly, I heard the same noise again but much louder this time. My head shoots up expecting to see something new. A light turned on, or the dog moved, or even the voices of my roommates starting to fill the atmosphere. Again, nothing but growing darkness from the sun's absence and the little Gem shaped figure by the gate. I wanted to get up and go look but something just felt off. I also just really wanted to finish this assignment. 

I know, I know, it seems stupid to act like nothing is happening, especially when my gut is telling me the opposite. However, I also knew that I had been sitting in this position for a really long time and my head was so deep in anthropological lore about unsolved mysteries of disappearing societies. So, it made sense to rationalize that it was getting late, and the silence was just freaking me out a bit. 

Trying to calm myself down, I told myself “Third times the charm”. If I heard the noise again, I would get up and go check it out. Though, not before grabbing the nearby salt lamp on my desk. It was heavy enough to at least hurt the intruder and give me an advantage to get away if it really was someone trying to sneak in.

I slowly start ducking my head down to focus back on my laptop. Slightly shaking my head and exhaling a small chuckle at my growing paranoia, which I'm all too familiar with. No longer focused on the topic of my paper, my mind begins swirling with thoughts about the suspicious noises. 

A few minutes passed by, and I heard nothing. Absolutely nothing. Which somehow, made it worse. The house was even more silent. I felt like I couldn't hear anything at this point. Not the TVs, not any snoring, not even- before I could finish that thought, there it was again, louder in volume but more of a tapping sound mixed in with the scratching this time. 

Completely making me jump up from the bed, my heart attempting to punch its way through my chest. My legs were shaking so much that I thought I would either fall down or start knocking the items off my desk. 

Turning my gaze, I attempt to investigate the darkness of the hallway from my new position. Nothing. I looked down by the gate, knowing that Gem had to have heard the noise this time and was looking up curiously as to what was going on. Again, I just saw her figure, in the same spot lying on the floor. This was ridiculous, I was getting scared at nothing or at least something I couldn't see. Logic and common-sense flooding back in my head, told me to turn the light on before trying to use the weighted salt lamp blindly in the dark. 

I turned around as fast as I could to turn on the light and then sharply looked back in the direction of the hallway. Enough time had passed for that little hallway to become so dark that my vision was dulled. If my heart hadn’t punched its way through my chest yet, it surely dropped like an anchor when I saw that the figure on the ground wasn't our resident dog. 

Sunken in face and partially shrouded by the bottom corner of the wall and in the same place where the dog should have been, laid a strange humanoid figure. Even though the bedroom light was now on, it wasn't nearly enough to see it fully. The thought of it being one of my roommates never had enough time to cross my mind because this thing radiated something unnatural. I hated how it just lay there on the floor, almost looking like it was snuggled up against the gate. I couldn’t fully grasp the size of it. Its head peeked around the corner just enough so that those 3 or 4 diamond shaped holes framed its intense eyes and a part of its disturbing smile. 

I was frozen in place for what felt like too long. I felt so nauseous that the room seemed like it was spinning. The longer I stared at this thing the more my veins turned ice cold and my skin flushed. Even longer because the intruder never moved, just stared at me with that nauseating smile. Everything felt the opposite of itself. That same feeling you get when you just stare at something unmoving, never blinking or turning your head once. Just letting your vision darken the corners of your eyes and everything seems to faze into itself. Ultimately becoming static. 

I pinched myself because I knew something nonrational was overcoming me. Something strange and out of place. I didn't want to wait for it to start moving just for me not to be able to call for help.

I tried to shake my head, trying to bring myself to what bit of reality I could continue to hold onto. Like trying to regain focus after being hit in the head, movement caught in slow motion. If I could only move my body from this spot, then surely my mouth could cry out. Mustering every bit of consciousness I had left and forcing myself to scream as hard as I could for help. I started yelling for any one of my roommates to wake up and come notice this thing and help me. Hell, I'm sure I even called for someone outside. Or at least that’s what I thought I was doing, but in cruel reality it wasn’t. Even that was a feat because a thick claggy feeling began to seize my throat like a firm hand gripping tightly but slowly around it. 

This was it, a feeling that was now consuming me had me inches away from passing out and unwillingly succumbing to this entity. Who, by the way, never moved from its place, never spoke a word, not even that disturbing scratching noise could be heard from earlier. 

Wait, that scratching noise... Why was that the only sound it made? Why was that the only thing I heard and nothing else after locking eyes with this disturbing being. Not even the TV or outside produced any sound anymore.

No way, it couldn't be that it was just to get my attention. Forcing a subtle but natural way for me to look at it and that’s when it chose to not let me go? That had to be it. 

If sound was no longer an issue, then it must be the fact that I'm still focusing on it. Giving it exactly what it wanted, attention. An audience of one, weak in mind and now body.

The only thing I could think of doing was take the rest of my fading strength, shut my eyes tight and start shouting again. I refused to let this thing have me. Breaking the environment that it created in the first place. It didn’t belong here, and I was going to let it know that. In the midst of screaming, my nausea faded and what felt like a cool breeze rushed past my body. The sounds that were once nonexistent came rushing back in the form of my name being shouted multiple times and the sound of barking in the background.

There I was, still in front of my desk, screaming bloody murder while my roommates were picking one leg after the other up and over the doggy gate, moving towards me. Asking me what was wrong. I picked up a bit of annoyance that my screeching woke them up but was grateful that they ran over embracing me from my untold nightmare. 

I suddenly looked over my shoulder to see if shutting my eyes and taking my attention away from this presumptuous life seeker actually worked. Thankfully the only thing on the ground now was a slanted doggy gate and a small white dog trying to climb over to check on me as well. Relief washed over me that it was really over. However, the dread wasn’t completely gone when I caught sight of the time. It was way past the break time I was supposed to take and now read 3:23 in the morning. A bit of that sick feeling from earlier came back. 

I spent the rest of the night trying to calm my nerves and explaining that I had experienced something terrible. My roommates, as tactfully as they could, theorized that I was overworked from writing all these assignments and pushing myself with projects. That I must have fallen asleep and had some sort of sleep paralysis moment or a sleepwalking situation. 

I wanted to protest and say something else about how realistic everything felt. How I was sure something bad was going to happen to me or the fact that something uncanny found its way into our home and enjoyed terrorizing me. Unfortunately, I was having a hard time rationalizing what happened as time passed by. 

I did make some attempts to find out what it was or at the very least why it happened. Always questioning “Why me?” I still don’t know what it was. Overall, I didn't push too much. I never really felt safe again. In truth, I wasn't prepared for another encounter.

I can’t help but look around every corner, expecting to see something, down below that shouldn’t be there.