- M. Rainekorre
It’s been years upon years since this tale has been told. But now, it’s back, from me to you. Today is the day. Halloween. Ninety years ago today, we were found. There were hundreds of us, seemingly with only one thing in common. Our unusual lack of teeth…
This tale takes place but a day before Halloween. October 30th, to be exact. It was a nice, but chilly fall evening. My girlfriend and I were walking through a forest, just enjoying each other’s company. That was when we heard it. *CRASH*.
“Wh- What was that?” she asks, always the one to be scared. To be fair, we hadn’t seen or heard another living being all day.
“Probably just a tree falling down or something,” I say, even though I doubt myself a bit.
“We should head back… I’m scared.”
“No, it’s not even dark yet! We’ll be fine,”
“Okay…” she’s still terrified. *WHOOSH* Another sound, this time louder, closer. A streak of black tore through the woods, somehow leaving no sign of its passing. “Did you see that?!”
“Yes…” alright, I’m worried now. Even if it were only a bear, any bear that could move that quickly, with more calculated precision than any surgeon, would be something to be scared of. “Maybe we should turn back.”
Just as I said that, darkness started coursing to a spot near us, from the trees. Slowly, ever so slowly, it takes shape. I am too paralyzed to do anything.
When I was just a boy, my father had told me a story about a creature from the woods. He called it, ‘The Legend of the Rainekorre.’ According to the story, you should never venture too far out into the woods without a large group, or the Rainekorre might just appear. When he appears, you can never tell what he might do. According to my father, he would steal you away, and torture you, removing body part by body part, in exchange for things, slowly in his lair. According to my mother, he’d slit your throat with his long, black, shadowy claws right on the spot. As I’d gotten older, I’d started to dismiss the story as a ploy by my parents to get me to stay near the house. Now, I wasn’t so sure.
“It’s here!” I exclaim in terror, “The Rainekorre is here!” I’m still unable to move. My girlfriend’s jaw is open, seemingly in horror of what may be about to befall us. The Rainekorre’s eyes materialize, which snaps her out of it. She grabs my arm, and tries to run with me. We sprint farther into the woods, not once daring to glance backward. There’s a stone wall up ahead. We jump it, and decide to hide in a little crevice in the bottom, barely big enough for the two of us. Everything is silent, other than our breathing, which we’re attempting to mute in our sleeves. It’s odd, complete silence in a forest populated by animals… At least, when the Rainekorre isn’t here it’s populated.
The only clue as to how close the creature is is a deep, guttural groan every now and then. Its “footsteps” were totally silent. *ROUUGGGHH*
“It’s near,” I whisper to my girlfriend, as if she didn’t already know. She doesn’t reply. I look next to me, on the outer edge of the crevice and I find her gone, in her place is a single finger. No longer able to contain my pure terror, I let out a scream that pierces through the cold night air. Despite having probably alerted the monster, I cover my head and don’t dare to peek out and check. Do I? I have to see. I peep my head out of the crack, and see the Rainekorre, a few meters to my left, and I stick my head back in, quickly. I don’t think it noticed me. As the ethereal monstrosity approached, my heart rate increased by more beats per minute than could be safe. Slowly but surely, it kept coming. Now it was close enough so that I could hear it breathing. *hughhh ughhhh* It was scratchier than a scarecrow with a hoarse throat. It’s passing by, and it’s much taller than I originally thought. At least ten feet tall, and even that’s probably a gross under-exaggeration. I can’t see it now. I think it’s gone.
I wait about fifteen minutes, and I decide that I do dare to peek. I can’t see it. It’s gone. Slowly, carefully, I exit the crevice. With my back against the stone wall, I survey the landscape nearby. Very dense woods, fallen down trees everywhere. I glance behind me, and I realize there’s no way back through that tangled mess. I would have to go farther into the woods. I look ahead of me, and I see it. The Rainekorre. Right in front of me, not two yards away. Quick as lightning, it envelops me. Everything goes black, no, not black, blacker than black. This is the kind of black that makes you wonder if you’re dead. Am I dead? Probably. If not now, then soon.
After what feels like an eternity of darkness, I’m suddenly aware. I’m in a small room, with my arms tied with rope, to a corner. There’s a door to my left, made of metal. Locked, judging by the heavy duty padlock on it. In the very center of the room, there’s a lighter, standing upright. To my right, there’s a long metal pole with a hook on the end.
“Helloooooo…” A voice coming from all around me, not audibly, but mentally, interrupts my observations. It’s as loud as the sea during a monsoon, with a harsh, raspy feeling to it.
“Wh- Who are you?” I ask, fear evident in my tone.
“You well know who I ammm… I’m the creature of your nightmares. You’ve dreamed about me since you were young. I am…-”
“The Rainekorre.” I interrupt him, with no doubt of what his next words would be. Still in shock, I look around the room, as if for an easy way out, although I know there is none.
“Correeeect, humannnnn. You may think I’ll just kill you, but you can have a chance. These are the rules of the game; You will have but ONE HOUR to complete the task. If you fail, I will take something, from both you and your girlfriend. If you succeed, I will spare you and return her to you.”
“She’s alive?!” Perhaps a spark of hope still lives, although I believe that if the Rainekorre has anything to do with it, that will change. He’ll stretch that spark long and wide, as if it were taffy, leading me on, slowly stealing my life away.
“Not for long, unless you succeeeeeeedd. Your first task begins soon, very soon.”
“What do I have to do?” I ask, assuming the worst.
“Sever the rope.”
“That’s it?” I ask. This task feels impossibly easy. Just use the hook to get the lighter to burn the rope.
“Thissss task may seem easy now, mortal, but it’s not as simple as you may first believe. Good luck, your time begins nowwwww,” A timer set for one hour appears on the other side of the room in the wall. I’m too focused on the task at hand to consider what kind of supernatural ability the creature must possess to be able to do that.
To begin, I may as well try the easy method. I reach for the hook. I’m just a hair’s breadth away from reaching it. I keep striving, and I’m so close that I can touch it with the tip of my finger, but unluckily for me, I couldn’t get a grip. I try straining myself more, but I just end up pulling a muscle in my lower back, making movement in general painful. Cursing, I returned to sitting with my back against the wall. As I sit, something sharp strikes me in the thigh. I look down, and there’s a hypodermic dart sticking out of my leg. Already falling asleep, only two thoughts kept spiraling through my head. Will she die? Will I die? Willl weeee dieeee-…
I awaken. Fifteen seconds on the timer. Terrified, I rush myself and go back to the hook, dart still stuck in my leg. I reach, and despite the excruciating pain to my back, I nearly reach it. Ten seconds left. An idea quickly forms in my head, and I put it into execution immediately. I pull the dart out of my leg, and use it to pull the hook to me. Six seconds. I reach out to the lighter, pull, and nothing happens. The lighter’s stuck to the ground. I can’t get it. Two seconds left. Do I have time to-…. the lights shut off.
“Time’s up. You bore me. And now, you owe me. Something will happen. You’ll see. Just go to bed, my little play thing.” That’s all I am to this creature, this abomination of heaven and hell. A play thing. It does what it wants to me, and I just accept it. I have to. There’s no way I sleep after this. Sitting in darkness, leg still tied, I wonder what would happen if I try to saw my way out now.
“I wouldn’t do it,” the Rainekorre ‘speaks’ to me again, reading my mind. Terrified, I consider my possibilities. If escape isn’t a current option, then what?
“Sleep, you’ll need it for the next game. Do you need help to sleep? I think you doooooo…” Another dart punctures my leg, and this time, sleep is instantaneous. I don’t dream, which surprises me, as I’ve had the same dream every night since I was a young boy. It begins simply, with me laying in an unknown bed, a window at my feet. The moon is as full as a glass of milk, casting light throughout the room. After a few moments of stillness, a shadow darts across the room. Paralyzed by fear, all I can do is sit and watch. The shadow crosses my bed a few more times before disappearing, seemingly gone. Soon, it darts past once more, but swerves and takes a turn to be next to me. Time passes, as the shadow waits patiently by the side of my bed. Not daring to move a muscle, I lay in complete silence. Slowly, the shadow begins to exit the room. I have never considered moving, as I somehow know that it means that the monster will kill me. The dream usually ends abruptly.
However, tonight is dreamless. When I wake up, I’m not in the small room anymore. Not the Rainkorre’s small room, that is. Looking around me, this new room is entirely devoid of color and objects. Padded walls lock me in, so tight and featureless that they feel like they’re closing in around me. Maybe they are. I reach my arm out, as if to stop them, but I can’t. Looking down at myself, my arms are tied to my shirt, as if I’m supposed to be hugging myself. Speaking of my shirt, it’s new, and white like the rest of the room. *HEHH HEHH HEGGHHH* A familiar, raspy laugh fills my mind.
“Don’t look at me humannn… You know what happennsss when you doooo…” It warns me, to no avail. Behind me, I see it. That familiar shadow creature’s face on the wall, smiling, without teeth.
“Without teeth? Not for long…”
“Wh-What?” I ask, aghast. One by one, my teeth begin to be yanked out by an unseen force. Crying out in pain, I crumple to the ground, unable to get up as a stream of teeth cascade out of my face. Looking back up to the monster, my teeth begin to fly up to him, filling in his lunatic grin ONE… BY… ONE…
The following is an excerpt from an obituary published on October 31st, 1926
- M. Rainekorre
Age 23
Died of unknown causes after being hospitalized to a mental facility. His corpse was suspected to have been raided by vandals;, as his teeth had been violently wrenched from his mouth and embedded in the wall.
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