I am writing this under an appreciable mental strain, since by tonight I shall be no more.... and thus had begun the short story dagon by H.P Lovecraft. The tell of a shipwrecked man traversing through the eerie vista of a barren island covered with black mush originating from dead fishes where at the end of his walk, there remains a horrifying secret only to be found by him! A captivating novella yet you'd be doing yourself a favor by not reading it at night if you are scared of the dark!
You see, I am afraid of the dark, always have been! As soon as I flick the light switch and my room goes dark, fear takes over! As if something is there! A monster, or perhaps more! In the far corner of the room, waiting to jump on their prey and gnaw away at the meat while warm blood spewes unto their faces! While their laughter amicably takes away the last flicker of hope from the hearts of their victims, they go on and have a feast! My shrink says i have paranoia, something to do with a childhood trauma! That is why I am obsessed with lovecraft's horror fantasies! In wonder I always denied the existence of such a foul event in my life, one which could lead me to have become mentally ill! And then i go on asking if one such trauma were to exist, what could it originate from, as i had laid my life open like a book in front of her so she must know! She would look sharply in my eyes and reply that I am still hiding something! Consciously or subconsciously, I hide it, to avoid judgements! She is a good shrink, even though I know my skills at lying were very superior, she somehow sees through it! Yes, I have always lied to her and it is true! I do hide something from her! Except, it is not a trauma, it is a dream!
It is a recurring dream! Every few nights, I have it! This vivid telefilm-like vision of an old man with peculiar green eyes! In it, I find myself standing on the ledge of a bridge while both of my hands are spread like the wings of a falcon! My purpose there, to me, is always unknown. The water beneath me is vaguely visible as winter fog, carried on the shoulders of northern winds, follows the river like a busy freeway! And there I stand, waiting, thinking of taking a step forward, towards the unknown! And then all of sudden, the old man comes along. Wearing the clothes of a janitor with an unfitting poise, he pushes forward a cart full of cleaning supplies on the sidewalk ! Slowly he comes up to and says not to do it! And adds by asking if one life is not enough for me, that now i have to take another! Then, I would wake up!
Countless times, I have tried to understand what it meant and failed again and again! A lot of things in it don't add up! Like who is he, the old man? I know for a fact that i have never seen him in my life! And what does he mean by ‘if one life is not enough’. I also know that if i ever talked about this dream with my shrink, she would have an answer! But I can never sum up the courage! What if I am mad! What if the dream is contagious! And I give it to her? Does it make me look crazy to have always thought dreams to have been contagious? Or is this the work of that monster who stands in the corner of my room under the veil of darkness?
‘You know, you can go home now! Our job here is done! Go home and sleep!’
The strings of my thoughts were ripped into shreds when he started talking! My partner who and i have been working this case, the murder of the old man.
That horrifying sight and the god awful smell! Bluntly cut pieces of body parts in zipper bags hidden under the floorboards for days! When he was reported missing, our assumption for the case was to be open and shut! The old man had alzheimers for god's sake! People with that disease do all sorts of crazy things! Leave their home and walk fifty miles! He could have just left his room! Only if the cat wasn't playing with his eyeballs, as if they were bought off of the 99 cents aisle!
You should hang for this you bastard! I whispered and cursed while they took the janitor of the senior care away! But, there was something in his eyes! As I return to the car where my partner awaits, I flip the cover of the book I had collected from his room! A book, with the title written in bold fonts, ‘Dagon’. The next page starts with...