What if I told that there were monsters beyond what we call "Reality"? And, what if I told you that they hide among us? Don't believe me? I don't blame you; I wouldn't have believed me either six months ago.

You see, back then I was just your average 25 year old nerd. I spent a lot of my free time either watching T.V. or playing on my gaming console. I loved science fiction shows like Doctor Who, The Flash, and Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. I also loved what you might call "Nerdcore" songs. Um, sorry, I got a little off topic there.

Anyway, it all started roughly six months ago. I was up late binge-watching the latest season of Doctor Who when my T.V. suddenly filled with static. For a second, I thought it was a plot device since the BBC had done this before; but, the static didn't stop. In fact, I even thought I heard a whisper, not too different from the static's white noise, coming from within the static itself. It kinda reminded me of the concept of the voices of those who are dead making up the static noise in Doctor Who season 8, episode 11, Dark Water: starring Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor and Jenna Louise-Coleman as Clara Oswin-Oswald.

Sorry, I did it again, back to the static. I stared at the screen, listening to that infernal noise for what seemed like hours when, just as suddenly as it started, it stopped; and the episode resumed right where it left off. I stopped the episode, figuring that the whole static ordeal wasted all of my binge time---that is, until I looked at my watch and realized that not a second had passed during that freaky experience. I decided to go ahead and hit the sack and sleep away this bizarre night.

I wish I could say that it was just a one-time event; however, that was not the case. For the weeks to come, if I so much as turned on the T.V. it would erupt with that time distorting static within minutes, and remain for what felt like a long time before stopping and start time where I left off. What's worse is that I tried to get my childhood friend, and fellow binge-watcher, Michael to experience it; but, he couldn't see or hear it, only I could. As a matter of fact, I noticed that Michael stopped moving when the phenomenon occurred. So, because that didn't work, I tried recording the phenomenon; but, even if I slowed down the footage, there was absolutely no trace of the static appearing.

One day, while I was watching some original episodes of Star Trek, the static came back. But, this time it was brighter and the noise was louder, the sound reminded me of the winds and rain of a hurricane. After what felt like twenty minutes or more of this onslaught, I heard a voice. It sounded like a multitude of whispers all slightly off in timing; but, there was one that had a little more voice behind it, it was a man's voice. It sounded intelligent and strangely familiar, like I've heard the voice all my life; but, truth be told, I never heard that man's voice, ever. The voice seamed to speak in a language I had never heard before; an ancient language, a language that hasn't heard in this Reality since its creation. I could also faintly hear a higher pitched, more animalistic, non-whispering voice reply to the multitude of whispers.

"W-who's there?" I inquired.

When I asked this question toward my television, the voices stopped; then, the whispers replied, "We are the words that enter into your deepest thoughts, we are the voices that whisper on in your head, we are the Static, we are ones who are truly in control, and we are coming to collect what we are owed."

"W-what, what would that b-be?" I foolishly asked.

"Your time, everything that you ever were and ever will be. It will be all ours!" And with a bright flash, time, and my episode continued as if it never happened. However, the last thing that the whispers said rang on in my head as if he was still speaking them.

I told Michael about this encounter the next day, and he assured me that I was probably lucid dreaming. I knew that he was probably right; but those words continued to ring about in my head.

During the following months I was not plagued by the static on the screen, only by the last words spoken from the whispers in the static. Those words must've had some sort of emotional effect on me that Michael seemed to notice, as he had eventually approached me about my "reclusive behavior" and my "paranoia." He then promptly invited me to a New Year's Eve all-nighter with some of his friends. "How can I resist? We don't pull all-nighters anymore." I thought, "Who knows, I might like these friends that he has failed to speak of before now." I, then, reluctantly accepted the invitation and agreed to bring some snacks.

A couple days later, on New Year's Eve, I went to Michael's apartment with a bag of chips in hand. It was a cozy place; however, something seemed off about it.

"Heya, how's it going?" Michael said, greeting me with enthusiasm.

"Eh, the usual," I replied, "Say, where are your friends?"

"Oh! They're in the living room contemplating what we should eat for dinner tonight," Michael, then, took my bag of chips away from me and started digging through the kitchen cabinets, "Here, let me put these in a bowl while you guys go and get acquainted."

"Okay." And with that I walked into the living room. Oddly enough, there was no one there, just a bunch of cuckoo clocks all with the same design. They were simple house shapes, minus the chimney on the vaulted roof. They had the typical double-doors above the typical clock face. They had two chains, one longer than the other, with some decorative weights attached to them. The pendulums of these clocks were merely a rectangular shaft with a golden disk at the end.

"Wow! You sure have an affinity for cuckoo clocks, don't you?" I said as I forgot that there was supposed to more than just me in this room; however, my words did begin to trail off as I noticed that one of the clocks' pendulum had what appeared to splatters of red on it. But, before I could get a closer look, Michael decided to answer my question (while standing directly behind me), "I guess I have taken a bit of a liking to time recently, 'Time is of the Essence,' that's my new motto."

"How responsible of you."

"Eh, I'm trying. Hey! Let's watch something."

"Okay!" When we sat down on couch, I felt sense of forgetfulness. "There's something missing here," I stated.

"Oh! The chips! I spent all that time looking for a bowl for them and I didn't even bring them out. I'll go get 'em," Michael said as he began to get up.

"No! Wait!" I stood up quickly and faced my friend with a stern look, "Where are your friends?"

Michael sat back down and looked unnervingly relaxed, "You already met them."

"What? No I haven't."

"Yes. You have."

"If I have, then where are they?"

"They're here, in this room."

"Whe-" Darkness and nausea cut off my words; and, after a few moments, the white noise of static sent shivers down my spine. I turned around to see that Michael's T.V. had spontaneously turned itself on and was filled with static. I then heard another occurrence of that horrendous noise in a rhythm similar to that of breathing behind me; however, it was accompanied by the irregular ticking of multiple clocks. I slowly turned around to see that my friend had disappeared and instead, before me was the most bizarre man I had ever seen before. He wore brown pants, shoes, gloves, and coat. The coat sleeves and pant legs both appeared to have two layers: a dark inner layer and a lighter outer layer that was consistent of rings that defied gravity. The coat was open and revealed a white button-down shirt with a technicolor bowtie, that reminded me of a television's error screen. His head however was even more unusual, as it looked like a television without buttons or knobs. Its glassy face (if you could even call it that) was full of static; and, I wasn't so sure, but I was certain I could see a psychotic smile hidden beneath the static. The plastic was black and gave me the odd impression that his head was more organic than it appeared to be. Atop his head were two telescopic antennae that were bent a little out of shape. I also noticed a power cable that came from the back of his head with a two-prong plug that hung just below his right knee.

Unfortunately for me, he was not alone. All the clocks on the walls were gone and were now the heads of hideous lizard-like monsters whose tails were the pendulums that once swung beneath their heads. The gap between the doors of the clocks was shifting back and forth, frequently locking onto me. They seemed to be full of energy, which unnerved me because they gave me the impression that they want to eat me. The bizarre man motioned to the clock headed creatures and spoke in that multitude of whispers that had haunted me for months, "These are our 'friends.' Actually, we prefer the term 'pets.' But, that won't matter as you'll be dead soon." After he said that, they all began to slowly advance on me. I grabbed a baseball bat that was resting against the entertainment center and held it high, ready to swing.

"W-what have you done to Michael?" I asked, more scared than I had ever been in my life.

"Oh, your friend has been gone for quite some time now, you just didn't know. Might we say, he was quite delicious." replied the T.V. headed monster in Michael's voice.

Then, one of the clock creatures got too close for comfort and I swung the bat at its head. The bat obliterated the creature's head; and, to my horror, gears and springs didn’t come out of its head. Instead, biological innards flew from the obliterated clock as a headless body fell limp onto the floor. Fortunately, this seemed to have scared the other clock monsters. The T.V. headed creature turned to the clock monsters, angry at them. "Why do you cower? All of us are more than capable to devour this human."

When he turned back, he got to see what a baseball bat looked like up close and personal---in other words, I cracked that glass face of his. My moment of happiness was quickly spoiled by the sight of blood dripping out of the crack, even the static around the crack gained a tint of red.

Feeling the air of anger around the....um....S-static (that's what I'll call him from now on), I ran through the gap between the monsters, through the kitchen, out of the apartment, and into a hallway that seemed all too familiar. I recognized it as a hall in Aperture Labs from Portal 2.

After a moment of confusion, I took off down the hallway. I ran down several halls and catwalks with the bat clutched tightly in hand. This reminded me of the escape sections in Portal 2 as well. I tried to make as many turns as possible in order to shake my tail. I decided to try weaving through the offices, to further confuse them; however, when the door slid open a completely healed Static stood before me. I turned to run but, the Static was standing there as well. Thoroughly frightened, I backed up into the doorway and fell.

When I hit the ground, neither the door nor the Static were in front of me, I wasn't even in Aperture anymore, instead I was in a TARDIS corridor without my trusty bat. I stood up in confusion and looked both ways in order to decide the best direction. One way, I could hear the sound of over a thousand over-sized, clock-headed lizards racing my way; the other way, was the console room. I quickly decided to run for the console.

Upon entering the console room, I paused by the console and stared at it before hearing the countless ticking getting louder. I, then, dashed to the exit; and when those doors opened, I saw the most beautiful and the most worrying thing in my life. What I saw wasn't Earth, but a black space with wisps of Time and Space floating in limbo.

After I regained my composure, I ran into the void. And when I thought that I had escaped, I heard four cuckoo clocks chime shortly before four slimy ribbons wrapped around me. I was turned around to see the Static standing between four of his "pets," whose tongues that are extending out of the open doors on their heads are wrapped around me; and behind them was a mass of the Temporal/Spacial wisps that was more dense than the ones I saw previously.

"You put up a good chase. We and our pets haven't had that much fun in a long while. But, we're afraid that this game must end now," said the Static in an unnerving tone, "Consider this a mercy, as we're sparing you from the horrors that are about to occur on Earth."

"W-what are you going to do to my p-planet?" I nervously inquired.

"Your planet? HAHAHAHA! How quaint. We're afraid that you're mistaken, that is our world as we are the ones who control it from behind the scenes."

"What do you me-"

"ENOUGH!" ‘shouted’ the Static as electricity suddenly began to teem all over him, "This ends now, YOU end now. And we will go on to harvest our crops. Their time is now up, and they will all perish like you."

With that a beam of static fired out of his face into mine, draining me of all my energy. Unfortunately, the last thing I felt before becoming a stone cold corpse was my body being torn into four chunks and swallowed.


Next Chapter: Click Here