Red

I was sitting and watching TV in my living room. It was a late evening, probably around 8 pm. Nothing caught my attention so I simply kept switching between channels, hoping to find something nice to watch. I wasn't sure what exactly I was looking for, but still, I'd probably figure that out when I saw it.

Outside, it was slowly getting dark. Quite normal considering this hour and season. Nothing at all was unusual in it. Without a haste, from east there were clouds coming in direction of my house. They were giving an impression that they were a rain clouds, but I paid no attention to them. I had no plans to go outside and even if I had, many hours would pass before they had reached my area, so most likely I would be already asleep then.

To be honest, I was terribly bored. I had no clue what to do with my life. I kept sitting in my house, sleeping and living from money my deceased parents left for the better start in life of their only son. Maybe I wasn't proud of that, but hey, if they left it for me that means I could do what I wanted with it. Sooner I would find a job. Just later, when I spent all. I guess, I was quite lazy.

By that time, I knew that I should abandon all hope of finding something good in TV. I lost track of channels I checked out when I was probably around 210 or something like that. I was wondering what I should do, when an idea came to my mind. When I was on my way home from the market I stepped in to a small shop with DVDs. They had a sale, so I thought it is a good opportunity to get a decent movie to watch for a reasonable price. And yeah, I bought something for just a one dollar. From what I was told by the shop assistant it was a very good indie horror movie from Japan. Probably, I got lucky. It was a last copy they had.

So I grabbed the box and examined it closely for the second time. Under my fingers I felt a material which must have been at least a year old. It wasn't nice in touch. Also, it was giving an impression of being made of leather. It seemed to be quite cool, I guess.

Front side, by some people called cover or tittle side my eyes met another, creepy ones. In the dark shapes, which probably meant to be shadows, in a very center of the cover there were red eyes looking at me in a bit disturbing way. Good one. I hoped that it wasn't all they could give to scare me. Under this picture I found the tittle. In a small white font reminding handwriting there was something written in Japanese. I could read it, so I was glad that English translation was also there. "Red". That was the name of this movie. I have never heard about it before...

I put the disk in a proper device and sat comfortably on my sofa and soon the movie started. It started on the view of and old Japanese styled mansion. I could tell that because of the decorations and basic architecture, which was typical for buildings from that era in Japan. It was a night and I had to admit I was looking forward what would happen next. Then something happened. Something that really freaked me out. In the very same moment, both on the screen and in reality, a lighting struck. Who would have believed in such a coincidence? I felt that I jumped so high that I hit the ceiling with my head. That was a perfect timing!

Next, the scene changed. This time it was an alley of small houses. It was also a night, like before. Then images started to move and the mansion and the alley began to merge into one. That was the moment when I realized something that made my heart stop for a second...

There was no way I was mistaken. But, HOW? Wasn't this movie supposed to be Japanese? I knew that alley from the movie! I couldn't be wrong. I've seen it so many times in my life. This was area around my house! All details were like in reality. I was speechless. I thought that if something now surprised me I would die from a heart attack. Suddenly, the TV screen changed once again, this time into a blank white surface. I was looking on it with a pure terror on my face...

Black letters started to appear like they were being written by some invisible hand. One by one they kept coming and soon a full sentence was here. "Survive and pass it to another". I had no clue what was going on. All I could do was staring at this strange phenomenon until another unexpected event helped me to come back to my senses.

Something hit the glass door to my back yard. Most likely I screamed, however I felt like I was watching from another person's perspective and no sound was acknowledged by my hearing abilities. My legs were shaking and my hands nearly useless, but somehow I knew that I should find the strength to investigate what happened.

One insecure step by another and time, which felt nearly like the whole eternity I arrived where I was heading. I looked around and noticed a small crack on the glass panel. I drew my hand trying to touch it and confirm that it was really going on. A real thing. When my fingers met with the soft surface of glass I have frozen.

Someone was standing right behind me. That person was around my height and wearing a little too big dark robes with a hood deep on their head. I was unable to see the face, but those eyes... Deep red, emitting light nearly with a force of a flashlight eyes. The very same eyes from the cover of that god dammed DVD I bought.

As if my eyes weren't enough to believe what I was seeing, my mind kept rejecting everything what happened in past few minutes. I knew I had to do move or something bad would happen.

With all power I had, I rushed into my living room afraid to look back. I wanted to escape, but where? I thought that I should leave the house and run as far as my legs could take me. On full speed I charged towards the main entrance...

And immediately changed direction when something heavy hit the door.

It was a miracle that I haven't lost it yet. For the first time in my life I was in a dangerous situation and possibly even my life was at risk. "Survive". It must have been a warning. That robbed person wanted to kill me! I knew it. Now the only way to escape was the garage.

I felt like the rest of my sanity was fading away. Once again, I made it to the living room and then it happened...

I tripped over a table and fell on the floor. At this point panic overwhelmed me. Heavy footsteps were heading in my direction and all I could do was a desperate attempt to crawl away on my knees. My nails were furiously attacking the floor leaving a nasty sound in addition to all of those scratch marks.

And then my head met with the wall.

Desperately, I turned back, but it was already too late. My pursuer was right in front of me. I was breathing as fast as it was only possible and it could be just a wonder I haven't died on my own yet. Anyway, in a moment that would change.

Hopeless, I tried to shield myself with my hands. That was when I saw for a slight second face of my killer. Unnatural white pale face, full red lips and those terrifying flashy eyes of the same second. Even if that thing was giving an impression of a human being, there was no chance of that. A monster. A monster in a human disguise was about to end my life...

I saw it moving and I closed my eyes waiting for the final blow to happen. Minutes after seconds passed, but I felt that no harm was done to me. Was I already dead? I have never thought about dying before. There was no pain in my body.

Wondering whether or not it was the afterlife, I found a courage to open my so far firmly shut eyes and looked around.

I was sitting on the floor of my living room with my back pushing against the wall. The house was in a total mess and so I was. Truth to be told, I might have been in a worse state. Nearly catatonic, unable to perform any action, I had no idea how long it took before I regained a full control over my body. Finally, I stood up. My head was shaking and I felt extremely weak. I knew that I wouldn't be able to rest until I get rid of that DVD.

2 days later

A friend came to my house to visit. We drank a few beers and at some moment, the discussion topic moved into the movies.

"Anything worth watching in your collection?" "Hmmm... I think I could find something for you as long as you don't mind horrors." "Sure, what is it? I couldn't find anything good in a while." "Ok. So it's a Japanese indie horror. Red is its name." "Red? Never heard about that one. Is it at least scary?" "Yeah. I swear, you will never find a more terrifying movie." "Wow, sounds epic. Can I borrow it to watch later?" "No problem. I hope you are going to enjoy it as much as I did." "Thanks man. You are the best."

Later on, he left my place with that cursed DVD and that was the last time we had seen each other. A few days later I was told that he hanged himself. However, I didn't even care. For the first time since I have seen "Red" I was happy and felt completely safe. The DVD was gone, so were all of my worries. I opened a new beer and triumphantly smiled. For me that nightmare has ended.