- A late night walk -

Edited: 05/02/20

Once upon a time,
there was a man who sat in one of his rooms and recorded videos for his community. He was playing a horror game-

- No, that is too cliché, lets scratch that and... okay, here we go.

Once upon a time,
there was a man with tanned skin, slightly curly black hair and hazel - or what people like to call chocolate - brown eyes. He wore a plain sleeveless red shirt, grey sweatpants to cover his lower body parts and some simple black and white sneakers. To give his outfit the final touch, he wore a dark grey cardigan and some round glasses on his nose. The slight moonshine that lightened the dark streets of LA drained all colour from his sun kissed skin and left him with a greyish colour.

You may ask yourself: "Why is this man out at such late time?"

- The answer is simple: Said man is out for a walk to get his mind off things.

Before I proceed any further, I want to introduce my protagonist to you.
His name is Mark Edward Fischbach, in general called Mark. He works as an entertainer, as he likes to describe himself to others, but to come straight to the point; He is a Youtuber. He lives alone in his house, his lovely dog, Chica, excluded.

The male hummed a tune that played in his head as he walked down the almost empty streets. It was rarely the case that almost no one was out, be it drivers in their cars or pedestrians. Mark tried to play it off, but he knew that it freaked him out more or the less. He was out for about ten minutes when he started to get the feeling of being watched. He quietly hummed another song in hopes to distract himself to distract from his thought. The feeling didn't go away after another few minutes. Apparently, it seemed like the shadows were lurking in the dark, waiting for him to round the next corner, then grab and pull him into the pitch-black darkness. Mark shook his head at his thoughts and focused back on walking down the street.

"Maybe it's just the lack of sleep that's getting on my nerves," Mark thought aloud.

His eyes scanned the streets and buildings but nothing suspicious could be seen. A vibration in his pants snapped the male out of his thoughts and back to reality. His hand wandered into his pants and grabbed his vibrating phone-

Okay, hold on this- this sounds kinda sexual. Let me just scratch that and just... here we go.

He glided his hand into his pocket and pulled his phone out. A pop-up message was on Mark's screen and he instinctively clicked on it. The next thing he saw was the dark themed background of his working platform. He read the newest comment that was written there.

"Amazing as always, Mark! Even though I'm a few years too late to comment. I love your sketches, be it an older one or the latest. It's damn amazing to see that you can show yourself as a completely different character, that's after related to you, if you get what I mean. What I actually wanted to say was, that your sketches are damn much fun to watch, even if I've watched one more than five times a day. Just wanted to say that. Even if I know you won't see this, Mark, I just wanted to tell you that your videos make me smile and that it brightens my day watching them!"

The brown haired male slightly smiled, a warm feeling spreading across his chest. Getting all those comments made him feel good and all warm. He would love to respond to it, but it didn't seem right to him. Only responding to the latest lovely comment was unfair, he than should respond to all the other ones from years before. Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair, in his eyes.

The next moment he looked up, he found himself in front of a park entrance. He walked through the dirt paths and sat down on a bench before he looked up into the night sky. A calming silence was in the air, as everything seemed to be quiet. Mark closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the fresh and chilly air, freshening his senses and mind. The male couldn't put his finger on it, but the feeling of being watched intensified. His calm brown eyes scanned his surroundings, on the watch for any possible reason why he felt so weird. He looked to his left, than right, turned his head back towards the trees behind him. Mark swallowed and his senses sharpened as he continued to look around, his eyes narrowed in the slightest at the minimal unsettling feeling.

"Why so paranoid," rang a voice to his ears, reverberating in his head.

Mark's gaze stopped dead in its tracks and his body tensed up.

"What the actual fuck." He turned his head to all directions, looked everywhere, but there was nothing but darkness.

"Watch your language, Mark," the same voice taunted.

"Oh god, I'm going mad, am I?" he asked himself as his breathing sped up slightly, combing a hand through his curls.

"You wish you would if you knew who I am."

Mark tried to recognize the voice in his head but he couldn't find a match. It sounded like his own, but at the same time so different. It was deep, like his, but somewhat raspy and... distorted? - He was unsure.

"Stop it," Mark murmured as he stood up to walk back home, all of the sudden getting a light headache.

"So you wish for me to leave?" The voice was low, a bitter bite to it.

Mark shook his head lightly and fixed his eyes on the pavement before him as he speed-walked home.

"It's fine, Mark. It's just your imagination. You should really start to work on your sleep schedule. It's going to be the death of me, I swear."

When Mark reached his house, he basically stormed into it and locked the door behind him. He leaned his back against the now locked door and tried to steady his breathing, his heart pounding in his ears.

After he collected himself again, he decided to make himself a midnight tea while his mind started to wander back to the event that just happened.

"What happened out there? I never felt so... weird... ever. It's a strange feeling, like a cold breeze spreading throughout the inside my body. Rushing through my veins and infecting my entire system, especially towards my brain. It felt like the cold would eat me from the inside. Not literally, but metaphorically. Chills shooting into me like fine needles, stiffening my body and letting my mind swirl as wine is swirled in a wineglass. Just a bit, softly, but it had a big effect after all, making me feel light headed."

Mark sat down at the dining table, enjoying the hot drink. His mind went off to different directions, but not into the one with that strange voice that was inside his head. However, even as he tried to fight it, he could not not think about this mysterious voice. Mark thought about why he might have imagined it, but he couldn't find a logical reason. -The half Korean sighed. He was too tired to make any straight thoughts right now.
After he finished his drink, he put his cup in the sink and made his way up to his room.
- - - -

A content sigh escaped his lips; he loved the feeling of being completely exhausted, knowing that he's improving. That he gets better from day to day and making so much progress.
Mark cuddled himself into the blanket and pillow to get more comfortable. Slowly but surely he fell asleep, slipping into the world of dreams.

Little did he know it's going to be a hell of a ride this night.

Because the storm was slowly and silently approaching.