The Mysterious Ring

“Hey sup Mike, what you doing here?” A youth between the ages of 20 to 21 said giving a fist bump to a younger version of Micheal who snapped out of his daze and glanced at the youth in confusion.

“Are you okay, you seem shocked or something?” The youth asked again noticing Micheal’s confused expression.

“I’m fine, I think, what are you doing here?” Micheal massaged his temple while observing his surroundings.

“Um I live here, what’s wrong with you, you seem to be acting strange, are you sure you’re okay?” The youth replied before posing the question again, now worried about Micheal’s strange behavior, his words only now made Micheal realize that he was standing outside the Youth’s house, he stood silently trying to understand what the strange feeling he was experiencing could be.

“Yeah I’m okay Jeff, just had a strange sense of Déjà vu” Micheal shrugged before replying, convincing himself that he was just overreacting.

“Well it had to be a really powerful one to make you so confused, come inside, it looks like it’s about to rain” The youth named Jeff replied with a chuckle before inviting Micheal into the house, he had also just arrived from work and had met Micheal outside his house.

“Yeah” Micheal muttered still thinking about that strange feeling as he entered the house.

“Okay so now can you tell me what happened, what are you doing here by this hour? Jeff asked handing over a can of soda to Micheal was seated on the couch watching a television show, after handing it over to Micheal he also took a seat on the opposite couch waiting for an answer.

“He did it again, he signed me up for some stupid soldier training program which I so nicely told him that I have no interest in, you know he keeps doing all this shit that pisses me off, do Dads have to be such assholes?” Micheal as if just remembering what he had come here for, placed the soda down on the table and then went off into anger mode, Jeff as if used to it silently sat listening to all he said.

“This soda tastes strange, did that old guy sell me generic soda, this shit tastes like crap” Jeff remarked in disgust after tasting the soda.

“Hey, are you even listening to me?” Micheal who realized that Jeff was paying attention frowned and facepalmed.

“Yeah of course I’m listening, and correction, not all dads are assholes, mine was the best, may his soul rest in peace” Jeff replied with a smile, reminiscing good memories.

“You are a crappy friend, you know that” Micheal sighed and grabbed his soda can.

“I love you too bro, I wouldn’t do that if I were you” Jeff said pausing Micheal right before he could take a sip.

“Uh, my dad is the worst and I can’t even drink soda, definition of a bad day” Micheal sighed deeply and placed the soda down before turning to the TV which he watched.

“Come on it can’t be that bad, I heard they’re recruiting women now, maybe you can get a shot over there, hahaha” Jeff said to try to console Micheal who shook his head in disbelief.

“I freaking hate you, I also hate that camp, I mean this is the same shit that he did that got Liam locked up, and now he’s rotting in a government facility as a freaking convict” Micheal scoffed at Jeff’s words watching as a character on the show he was working explained how to shoot using a gun, giving tips to beginners, watching it only made him remember his plight even more.

“But didn’t you hate Liam even more” Jeff said with a smile.

“You don’t seem to be getting the point, ever since my mom died, he has made it his life’s wish to control every factor of our life, he thinks that a way to ensure that we don’t go ‘astray’, he never even asked us what we think about the whole thing, he just does it” Micheal looked up at Jeff with a frown, after seeing his expression, Micheal realized that Jeff was just trying to get at him.

“I hate you” Micheal added before turning back to his show.

“Hahaha, come on, just forget it, he can’t control your life forever, plus you’re 18, you have rights now” Jeff chuckled before finally deciding to make Micheal feel better.

“He’s a military general of something, rights don’t mean shit to him, don’t you have whiskey or something, I need something to clear my thoughts” Micheal replied getting up.

“I’ve got some spare soda in the basement, that’s gotta be better than this generic fake shit” Jeff replied causing Micheal to pause.

“You mean that creepy basement, maybe you should get it” Micheal made a quick turn and was ready to sit back down when Jeff’s next words made him pause.

“You’re going to join the soldier camp, you should learn how to face your fears, most undercover missions are usually done in the night so you should learn not to fear the dark, you know I’m right Mike” Jeff said with a smirk, knowing that he was right.

“I hate you so much, urrg” Micheal groaned as he turned around, Jeff knew exactly what his weakness was and always exploited it.

‘Huff, it’s just a basement, nothing to be scared of” Micheal said to calm himself as he walked into the dark basement.

TAP TAP TAP

The sound of him stepping on the stairs echoed in the darkness which made Micheal’s heart clench, while descending, his mind also pictured images of creatures staring at him in the dark, he walked down slowly convincing himself that they weren’t real.

He finally reached the end of the stairs and reached for the light switch just as he heard a slight creak somewhere behind him in the dark which caused his hand to pause on the light switch.

‘What was that? I did hear it right? I’m sure I heard it right, there is something in here with me, should I make a run for it? What if I don’t make it? No, there is only one thing to do now’ Almost a million thoughts ran through Micheal’s mind in a second, he analyzed, and planned before coming down to one conclusion.

SWITCH

His hands moved quickly flipping the light switch then in one swift motion turned around to face whatever was waiting for him, but when he turned around he saw nothing.

“Huff” Micheal sighed in relief, thankful that it was just his mind playing tricks on him, after realizing that there was nothing to be afraid of, he relaxed and searched the room for any sign of the soda cans before chancing upon a freezer which he opened up to reveal the soda cans within, he took them out and closed up the freezer quickly before turning around and heading for the staircase where he moved his hand to the light switch to turn it off but just as he was about to, once again he heard a slight noise from behind him which made him pause and turn around in alarm to see nothing, he shook his head and sighed thinking that it was his mind once again, he was just about to turn around when.

“Rustle” Yet again, his ears picked up another sound which he quickly identified to be coming from a pile of boxes piled up at a corner of the room, after hearing it for the third time, part of him yelled for him to leave as another part convinced him to stay, he glanced at the staircase wondering if he should leave but in the end, his curiosity got the better of him.

“I’ve got to see what it is” Micheal muttered to himself picking up the flashlight he found on the ground, he inched closer to the pile of boxes, curious to know what it was that was causing that noise.

“Be a rat, be a rat” While creeping closer, Micheal chanted to himself praying that it was a rat.

“Here goes nothing” Micheal took in a deep breath before pulling one of the boxes.

“SQUEAL SQUEAL” A rat shot out of the boxes like a bullet shooting past Micheal’s leg and startling him causing him to buckle over and fall over pulling one of the boxes as he fell.

BANG

“Hey is everything okay down there?” Jeff’s voice sounded from above which caused Micheal to get up massaging his head which had struck the ground.

“Yeah everything’s fine” Micheal replied quickly to prevent Jeff from coming down to meet him in this state, his eyes were blurred from the fall so he closed his eyes and opened them to try to adjust them, as he did, his eyes caught sight of a purplish glow coming from an object on the ground, he got up and walked over to it, his eyes still blurry.

“What’s this?” Micheal asked picking up the glowing object, he realized that it was a strange ring that looked antique, as he brought it closer he felt a strange wave of pain assault him as he grabbed his head in pain, this lasted for only a few seconds before vanishing after which he realized that his sight had gotten better, he could see better now.

“Huh? Did I imagine that?” Micheal asked himself discovering that the glow of the ring had disappeared, so now he wondered if he had just imagined it or not.

“Hey, what’s keeping you down there?” Jeff’s voice sounded again which caused Micheal to flinch as he hid the ring and quickly packed the objects that had fallen from the box back into the box, when he chanced upon one particular object he froze in shock before picking the object up.

“Is this……a gun?” Micheal’s eyes widened as he stared at the gun in his hands in shock, he didn’t understand what a gun was doing there, he heard footsteps approaching so he also hid the gun and placed the box back before picking up the cans of soda just as Jeff descended the stairs.

“I half expected to find you sprawled on the ground in fear, what’s keeping you, did you see an alien or something, grandpa was one for keeping strange things” Jeff said after arriving at the foot of the stairs, his eyes on the boxes behind him.

“Your grandpa?” Micheal repeated turning to the boxes.

“Yeah those boxes belonged to my grandpa, my dad stored them here after grandpa died, haven’t gotten the time to go through them, but maybe I should soon” Jeff replied with a smile.

“Oh okay then, yeah you need to do that, let’s go” Micheal said before heading up the stairs with Jeff, he didn’t want to reveal the existence of the gun yet.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Late in the night, Micheal lay asleep on the bed, on the table next to his bed was the ring he had picked up and the gun, everything was calm for a second and then all of a sudden, there was a huge explosion outside the house somewhere on the block which caused Micheal to shoot out of his bed in alarm.

“What the..what was that?” Micheal asked with shock, he got out of his bed and grabbed the gun before walking over to the window to see what was happening, he peeped through the window to see cars crashing into each other, people rushing through the streets in shock and fear as others jumped onto other people biting into their flesh and tearing them apart, above them were also several creatures which swooped down to scoop them off the ground.

“Is that a giant mosquito? And a giant rat, the fuck is going on?” Micheal was even more shocked to discover a huge mosquito swooping down to scoop a man from the ground where several rats rushed out of the sewers to attack the people around, he was still peeping when his door burst open for a figure to rush in, this sudden action caused him to quickly point the gun at the figure.

“Hey put that shit down before you kill somebody, did your dad give you that shit” Jeff whispered to Micheal motioning for him to get down.

“How you gonna break through someone’s door like that” Micheal replied with a frown, still peeking through the windows.

“Let’s go, we have to leave now” Jeff said to Micheal.

“Do you see what’s happening outside, it’s utter chaos, where do you expect us to go?” Micheal asked watching people get brutally killed like chickens outside.

“I know where we can go so be quick and let’s move, we can’t stay here” Jeff replied urging Micheal to move, after hearing these words, Micheal decided to trust him and followed behind him but when he got to the door, he turned around and remembered that he hadn’t taken the ring so he moved back to the table and grabbed the ring just in time to dodge a figure falling through the roof which smashed into Jeff turning him into mush immediately.

“JEFFFFF!” Micheal yelled in shock and anger staring at the huge bat which was now getting up.

“NOOOOO!” Micheal filled with anger aimed the gun at the bat and squeezed the trigger causing bullets to shoot out striking the bat who groaned in anger as it was struck by a barrage of bullets that tore through its flesh inflicting injuries across its whole body.

“CLICK CLICK” It was only when he heard the click sound that indicated that the magazine was empty did he take his hand off the trigger as he watched the bat groan in pain while glaring at him in anger.

“SCREECH” The bat screeched angrily before swinging its wing at Micheal.

Micheal not expecting this was hit and flung against the wall which he crashed into and fell to the ground weakly, he could feel that the bone in his right arm was fractured and two of his ribs had also cracked.

“Uggghh” He muttered weakly while staring at the mashed flesh which was Jeff, a teardrop fell down his eyes, he could feel like he was about to die, the broken rib had punctured a lung and he was bleeding intensely.

“Th…e…ri..ng” In this weakened state, his eyes grew blurry and he felt his consciousness fade, he could see the bat approach to finish off the job but before he could fall unconscious, he spotted a flash of purple lightning across the ring that melted into his hand and entered his body, at almost the same second a huge bolt of purplish lightning came down from the sky striking the bat on its head before traveling through its whole body turning it into ashes as a holographic screen appeared that read.

“Ding”

[System Activated Successfully]