Sixteen-year-old Jacob was trapped, trapped in a hellish existence unlike any teenager you’d ever come across. Beginning with small acts of evil, and building up to a marked cruelty, he had lost any sense of empathy. Before long, his life had come to be a ceaseless parade of dread and despair, an eternal damnation on earth. He was tormented by the compulsion to commit mischief, haunted by his wants, and eventually, his isolated, superficial life felt like a labyrinth of horror from which he couldn’t escape. His imagination provided him no solace, instead serving as a breeding ground of nightmares where he was either a tormentor, a tortured soul or a lost wanderer. He came to experience no joy, no laughter, only relentless suffering, trapped inside a grotesque parody of his family home. He was far past the understanding of mortality, instead, he was suffering it.
His village, once a safe haven, had transformed into an unending nightmare, where every road or walking track harbored sinister secrets and predictable routines morphed into never-ending torment. Jacob’s reality was bleak, riddled with dread, and consumed by monsters only he could see. He did not know why, but his innocence had been cruelly stripped away, exposing him to the monstrous realities of the world, far too young. Even yet, his seemingly tortured life was about to take a turn for the worse.
The day it happened was no different from any other. The sun blazed, a relentless sentinel in the sky, birds screeched, and Jacob found himself in a heated running race with his friends. Suddenly, Jacob collapsed. His laughter turned into a throat-clenching scream, his body crumpled to the ground. Panic ensued. His friends watched in dread as Jake lay unmoving, his chest eerily still. His watching Mother’s wailing echoed the piercing cry of, what was left of his dying teenage innocence. And then, Jacob was subjected to the ethereal dread of his afterlife.
He was thrust into an insidious darkness, a sense of terror enveloping him from all sides. He was alone, lost in an unholy realm of his worst fears. A ghastly figure emerged from the abyss, radiating an aura of hopelessness and despair. The creature delivered a chilling declaration; Jacob had to remain on Earth, indefinitely, to live for the sins of man. He was forbidden to take his own life or he would find himself caught in a never-ending limbo, much worse than he could even imagine.
When Jacob regained his consciousness, the room smelled purely of rotting, putrid death. His recollection of the ghastly encounter remained, etched into his very essence. To the outside he was a miracle, but be it so, or not, Jacob knew he was now a prisoner in his own body. He returned, forever transformed.
Jacob’s world had transformed into an ever-lasting horror. Every color was blood red, every sound a death knell, and every breath felt like a curse. His former life seemed like a dream compared to the living nightmare he now found himself in. His interaction with the otherworldly figure had birthed a new reality inside him. A reality that was relentless, consuming, and utterly terrifying.
Jacob was condemned to bear witness to humanity’s suffering, a macabre reflection of his own tormented existence. He was surrounded by faces marked with despair, people grappling with their own personal hells. His unnerving insights allowed him to connect on an agonizing level, fostering a sense of shared suffering and fear.
Others dismissed his tale as a delusion, attributing it to a mind broken by the trauma of his near-death experience. They whispered in hushed tones, openly doubting the authenticity of his horrifying encounter, that is until they noticed that Jacob didn’t ever appear to grow any older. In the early years, he visited his old friends as they ended their days, but of course the shock was too much for most of them. Jacob became unfazed. He bore the undeniable mark of his encounter, a mark that could not be erased by doubt or disbelief, and certainly not by it’s terrible, inevitable evidence. He found a little solace in solitude and reflection, nurturing his connection to the terrifying being that had cursed him to this eternal life.
Centuries later, Jacob’s torment continues. His experience a chilling testament to the unfathomable reality that can exist beyond our realm. He serves as a constant reminder that there are things far worse than death. His life is a beacon in the dark, illuminating the horrifying reality of eternal damnation. Jacob carries the curse within him, spreading the chilling tale of his torment with every life he touches. His never-ending journey serves as a chilling warning about the horrifying gift of seeing past the veil; a trap for innocent souls who feel too much.