by J E Feldman
Olivia shook her head. “No, it’s just too hot in here.”
“The AC is working perfectly, honey.” Dan touched her forehead. “God, you’re burning up.”
“I said I’m--” Olivia stopped.
The screen went dark. The confused crowd began complaining. After half a minute, light buzzed onto the wide screen, but this time, it didn’t play the movie. Instead, an image appeared.
To many it meant nothing. Their confusion was evident from their blank faces. But the massive black creature floating in the ocean strangely looked very similar to the blob. Olivia squinted her eyes to study its features. The blaring of horns, however, made her shut her eyes and ears. And despite that, she could hear the recording that played over and over again.
It said, “Seamouth is coming.”
All her life, Olivia believed bizarre things happened only in the movie world. But ever since the Seamouth crisis began, she wondered if the walls between the worlds of reality and fiction had collapsed.
When the word Seamouth first flashed on the wide screen, Olivia could bet this was some prank. Then as masked men wielding silver blades stormed into the theater, she couldn’t help but scream. No, this was definitely something more sinister than a prank.
By the time she realized Dan and she had to escape from...from whatever this was, the theater was thrown into utter chaos. Half of the crowd was rendered motionless from watching the masked men carve the blob on people’s foreheads with silver blades. The other half ran in every direction frantically for an opportunity to hide.
When a group of masked men neared her row, Olivia and Dan jumped like cats off their seats and began toward the exit. With everyone struggling to escape, she felt like a powerless fish caught in a strong current. She lost Dan in the crowd. A large woman accidentally drove her elbow into her stomach, knocking air out of her lungs. Olivia staggered back, coughing.
A man grabbed her hair from behind. Another masked figure forced her head to remain steady. Two more men came to hold her hands and legs. She jerked and slipped out. A dozen hands came to pin her down. She bit the sweaty arm nearest to her and released only when blood filled her mouth. The man she had hurt didn’t even flinch.
Tears began trickling down her cheeks. “Dan! Danny!” She shrieked, but her husband was nowhere to be seen. “Please.”
One of the men brought his silver blade to her forehead. As soon as the cold metal touched her skin, Olivia clenched her eyes shut. She had braced herself, but the pain was otherworldly. As the metal bit into her flesh, Olivia felt her sanity slipping. She howled, she cried, she shrieked, she thrashed.
“LET ME GO!”
“Olivia!” Dan jumped on the men.
He knocked one out in a single punch and kicked another masked man. But he grabbed his leg and others pinned him down. One man drove the silver blade right through his heart.
Something died in Olivia’s heart. Her revolting hands and legs stopped moving.
“You’re blessed. Stop resisting for our Lord only wishes to gift you. Wear this gift with pride,” a masked man said.
Others chanted “Seamouth” again and again and again.
The blade glinted before it lowered onto her forehead. Olivia saw it, but no longer cared.
A few minutes later, a crimson tattoo adorned Olivia’s forehead. Carved into her skin was an outline of the blob. It fed on the blood, which oozed out and trickled down the wound, painting her entire face with red.
“Now you’re one of us.” The men released her. “Soon you shall see Seamouth.”
The golden beams of dawn invaded the dark realm of night. Sun emerged from the horizon to battle against this new darkness that had seeped into the very core of Olivia’s heart. And while it succeeded in lighting the world, its rays could never touch this crushing emotion inside.
Fear.
The first time she experienced this blood-curdling fear was when she was a child. A simple child unaware of the dangers of the sea and tides. One day, she walked into the mouth of this indifferent monster just before a high tide. And it got her. The water was cold, but colder were the merciless teeth sinking into her consciousness and freezing every thought, replacing it by raw fear, the kind that killed one’s sanity.
The second time was now.
When the masked men had left her, she had passed out. She woke up hours later. The moment she gained consciousness, she launched herself toward the exit. Once out in the open world, she realized she wasn’t the only victim.
Streets were filled with the masked men dragging people out of the shops and restaurants. As some made the same horrendous art on their foreheads, the other masked men vandalized the property. They spray-painted the ominous figure on doors, windows, walls, and vehicles. Those who tried to escape were either shot dead or burned alive.
Olivia looked around while tears streamed down her cheeks as the images of gore and horror haunted her sight and mind. She screamed, she begged for help, but no voice would come out of her shuddering mouth. Tears blurred the world outside as started running.
Her neighbourhood was quiet with no masked men around. Maybe they had spared them for now. Or maybe their job here was already done and all they had left behind was this evil silence. Olivia had no intention to verify. She sprinted to her door, grabbed her keys from her purse, and with trembling hands twisted it inside the lock until the lock clicked. She went inside and slammed the door shut. Convinced the horrors couldn’t break into her home, she sighed with relief.
And just then a sharp sound of metal clashing against metal came from the basement. Her sense of security broke apart. The hair on Olivia’s neck stood. She cautiously walked to the basement door and locked it from outside.
“W..who’s...there?” she stuttered while fishing out her phone from her purse to call 911.
The sound stopped, followed by the creaking of stairs and the banging on the door.
“Olivia?”
Olivia dropped her phone. It’s impossible, she thought. But if there’s anything in the world she could never forget, it was this voice. She unlocked the door and waited, holding her breath, praying.
The door swung open. Standing in front of her was a tall, broad-shouldered man with messy red hair and a long face. Olivia jumped on him, burying her head in his chest. It seemed the warm feeling of safety returned to the house. She fought back the tears, but couldn’t help it. The memory of Dan’s death had been playing in her mind, an endless movie. She pressed into Roger’s chest and cried her heart out.
Roger hugged her back. “Shh,” he whispered. “Everything will be alright.”
Olivia moved her head toward his chin. Roger lowered his. As soon as their lips met, she remembered the look on Dan’s lifeless face and pulled away.
“I’m sorry. I can’t.” She wiped her cheeks. She had what she needed: a distraction that would hopefully save her from thinking and rethinking the ugliest night of her life. “What are you doing here? I told you I didn’t want to see you.”
“I know,” Roger said. He sounded casual, but Olivia could see the muscles on his face twitching, upset that they were so close in getting what they yearned for and couldn’t. “I’m not here to try to get you back either. I came to warn you, but I guess I’m late,” he said pointing at the carving on her forehead. “You’ve seen Him, haven’t you?”
“Who?”
Roger shook his head. “I won’t take His name. Names have power and He’s already powerful, very powerful. Can’t you sense it? The energy swirling around in this house?” He took her hand. “Come.”
Olivia followed him. She stepped onto the first step of the staircase and glanced around. “What the fuck?”
Everything in the basement—the boxes, the objects, the shelves and what they contained—was unmade and thrown to the sides of the walls. The bronze sculpture stood at the center. The red eggs gave off an unnatural glow. Green water gushed out from beneath the nest and spilled onto the floor. Arranged in a spiral around the g
leaming sculpture were the dozens of paintings of the blob. The nearest ones had disappeared below the thick murky liquid. The farther ones had just been touched and turned soggy. As the dark waters continued erupting from the invisible hole beneath the sculpture, the floor soon submerged.
“Don’t look at me. It’s what you did that day in the sea. I’d fucking warned you, but you didn’t listen.”
Olivia stared at him blankly. “What?”
“Back when we were kids, Olivia. The thing on the rock, remember?” Roger grabbed a hammer from the toolbox kept at the entrance of the basement and walked into the murky water.
Olivia climbed down the stairs. The bottom two steps were now hidden beneath the rapidly growing waters. She stopped on the last dry step, watching the water level rise, trying to remember. Roger reached the bronze sculpture. He raised the hammer behind his head and swung it down onto the largest egg. A heavy clank filled the air.
“Stop it, that’s my grandma’s gift!” Olivia shouted.
“I don’t know how your grandma got her hands on this, but trust me, it’s not something you want to keep in the house. The eggs have power.”
“Yeah, I don’t believe in that kind of crap, but she said the eggs will help me further my painting career. It gives off good vibes.”
Roger glanced around the basement. “All I can see are dozens of paintings of Sea--” he stopped. “You-know-who. I bet these vibes made you paint Him over and over again. This isn’t the kind of power you want in your life, Olivia. It’s dark. It’s evil. Look what it reduced your art to?” Roger made a face as though a heap of garbage surrounded him.
“Another insulting comment on my art. You haven’t changed a bit, have you?” Olivia said, forcing her tears back. “After destroying all my paintings that night, you still crave to humiliate me. The Blob is a masterpiece.”
Roger laughed bitterly. “He is punishing you, Olivia, and you don’t even know. After all this time, you still believe it was me?” Roger struck the bronze again. “It wasn’t me!” He said, pulling the hammer back and striking again.
Olivia couldn’t help but cry. The memory of the nightmare returned to her fast like the rising water.
After another ugly fight with her ex-husband, she had gone out with a couple of friends, and Roger, like usual, spent the day drinking. When she had returned, she had found Roger passed out in her private art gallery. All her paintings were removed from the walls and kept in a heap. Every painting was drenched through with water. The paper soggy, the paints messy, her life’s work ruined in one single night.
And today, when she had finally given a second shot to her dreams, Roger had to come to destroy her new work too.
“It was you. You did it that night and you’re doing it now.”
Roger struck the sculpture and panting, turned to Olivia. “For years, I believed this lie. I even tried to hurt myself. I was about to slit my hands, Olivia. And that’s when I saw Him. I’m still not sure why He bothered. These creatures obey the old laws even Gods cannot break. Maybe for what we did in the past, He believed He owed me this much,” Roger gulped. “I saw Him, Olivia. He showed me what happened that night and this knowledge saved me.”
“Who?” Olivia cried, not sure whether to listen to his story, call a plumber to fix the disaster, or salvage whatever was left of her paintings. She looked below, but all she saw was the dark, murky waters.
“Yes, that night I did drink a lot. But I was passed out. I couldn’t move a finger. It was He who came that night and destroyed your paintings. He was angry you would draw so many things, but not Him.” He paused. “Maybe that’s why he made you paint so many this time.” Roger stared straight into Olivia’s eyes. “Look at me. I might have been a douche, but do you think I’m so evil that I would ruin your career? It wasn’t me, Olivia,” Roger said putting his hand in the water. He fished out one of the paintings that was surprisingly intact. In fact, the Blob looked more real than ever. “HE!”
Olivia gave him another blank stare, wondering if he had gone mad or something. She glanced below when the cold, dark water finally did kiss her feet. Something snapped in her mind and her jaw hung open.
She remembered.
Roger and Olivia would often go to the beach after school. One day they decided to swim farther than ever and stumbled upon a large rock in the middle of the sea. On it, shining in the sun, sat a large red egg.
Olivia climbed up the rock and watched it eagerly. A crack spread across its surface. “Oh my God, Roger. Look, it’s hatching!”
Roger pulled himself up and sat cross-legged before the egg. “Whoa, I’m seeing something like this for the first time. Didn’t know eggs could be this large. Any idea what animal this is?”
Olivia shrugged. “I bet it’s a fish.”
“Nah, never heard of fish eggs that hatch outside water. It must be a bird.”
“No, come here.” Olivia dragged Roger to where she was standing. “From this angle, you can clearly see its wet and slimy skin.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Roger neared the egg and squinted his eyes to observe closely. He flinched when an eagle screeched in the sky.
The egg hatched almost suddenly. Smaller cracks spread from the larger one and the shell splintered into a hundred small rectangles that disintegrated further and vanished into thin air.
“Whoa, did you see that?”
“Okay, I’m not sure if that’s how it works.” Roger scratched his head. “When my chicks hatch, the egg shells always remain. Strange.”
“Dude, I meant the animal.”
It emerged from another inner layer and expanded into a basketball-sized slimy black ball. It had no fins or gills or even eyes. All it had was a large gaping mouth with cute tiny pearl-like teeth.
“What kind of an animal is that?”
“Yeah, it’s so plain. It looks like a blob. If we’re keeping it, I’m naming it Blob.”
Roger nervously touched it. “Yuck, its really sticky.” He moved his finger to its mouth, trying to examine the pearly teeth. It bit him. “Oww!” He put his finger in his mouth to suck blood oozing out of the narrow cut on his fingertip. “We can’t keep him.”
“Because it bit you?” Olivia laughed. “That more than works with me. Yep, I think I’m going to keep it.”
“That and because it’s clearly not formed properly. There must be a problem with it. That’s why its mother left it alone on this rock.”
The eagle descended and sat near them. Tilting its neck, it gaped at Blob. Roger looked at the eagle.
“Maybe we should leave it alone too.”
“We can’t. The eagle will get it. Look at the way it’s staring at Blob.”
The eagle flapped its wings and began edging toward the animal.
“No, we need to do something. Quick, help me put Blob in water. The eagle can’t get it there.”
“Let’s get out of here. I don’t want any eagle biting my nose off.”
Olivia kept a wary eye on the eagle which was dangerously close, and scooped up Blob in her hands. The eagle flapped its wings and landed directly beside her. She froze.
“Roger, do something!”
“Just put the animal back. The eagle won’t harm us because it wants the animal, not us.”
“What’s wrong with you? It’s as if you don’t want to save Blob.”
Roger gave Blob a hard stare. “Just look at it, Olivia. It’s so cold and dark. And those sharp teeth. It’s not an animal. It’s a monster.”
“How dare you call my cute little Blob a monster! Now come on, help me save him.”
The eagle brought its beak near Blob.
“So it’s a him now? You can’t treat it like your pet dog, Olivia.”
“I told you I’m keeping him. He’s my pet. I treat my pets like they are humans. Me, Dog, and Blob are going to have so much fun this summer.”
Eagle touched Blob and the animal trembled.
“He’s scared. Come on, do something fast.”
“It cannot be a pet. It’s a hideous monster.”
At that moment, Olivia felt so angry that she grabbed the eagle and smacked it hard against the rock. A jet of blood coloured her face red and a slimy string of muscle sprang from Blob’s mouth, which greedily licked her cheeks. Olivia giggled as Blob’s tongue tickled her.
“Blob is my pet. It’s not it. It’s him.”
It’s him. It’s him. It’s him… her child-like voice echoed in her mind.
The memory faded and in front of her stood the grown up version of Roger.
“It’s Him, Olivia. It wasn’t me who ruined your paintings. It’s Him!”
“Blob...is...a...monster?” Olivia fell to her knees. Roger helped her up and took her to the stairs so they could sit on the dry steps.
“No, Blob was your pet. At first, I feared the animal, but eventually I got over it. That summer I remember we spent most of the time just playing with Blob.” Roger smiled. The smile vanished. “But one day, Dog wouldn’t stop barking at him and Blob swallowed the poor animal. You were so angry you decided you never wanted to see his face again. Blob felt bad. He wouldn’t leave your side, maybe trying to show how sorry he was. But you tossed him in the ocean and threw stones at him to force him away. That’s when his feelings turned into anger and he became--”
Olivia closed her eyes and swallowed. “Seamouth.”
“He vanished into the depths of the oceans and stayed there, eating, growing, evolving. And now He has returned. He’s so powerful, people are losing their brains because of the vibes He emits. He has created an army for Himself. It isn’t just here in the US. I watched the news. The masked men are everywhere, and everyday more and more people are getting converted. Those who are sane are trying to bring everything in control. The only way to do that is by killing the monster. The missiles worldwide are ready, but how can they attack when He cannot be seen anywhere? There have been sightings, but no one knows for sure where the monster lives. Some say He’s like God, nowhere and everywhere.”
Olivia buried her head in her laps, crying. The images of people being shot and burned and marked flashed in her mind.