The Holder of the Taint

In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to. However, do not enter the building yet. Instead, find a house within a radius of 2753 feet from the institution or halfway house and choose one of the occupants, man, woman, or child. If you have a shred of humanity left, you will not choose a child.

Find out everything you can about that person. Every detail about their life and personality that you possibly can. Find them on the internet, stalk them, become friends with them, and have them share their most intimate thoughts with you, it does not matter. Find out everything until you know that person as well as you know yourself, if not better. Only then are you ready to enter the mental institution or halfway house.

Go straight to the front desk and demand to meet with "The Holder of the Taint". The lights will flicker and the worker there will smile and politely ask for your name. Do not, under any circumstances, give him your name - instead, give him the name of the person you chose. "You need to fill out the application form," he will say and hand you a large pile of papers. There will be an overwhelming number of questions on there, asking miniscule details about your life and things of utmost privacy. Using the data about your chosen person, fill in every item, do not leave out a single one and do it correctly. If you cannot do so because your research wasn't thorough enough or you cannot remember something, god help you.

Only if the form is completely filled and only if every single piece of information is correct, hand the papers back to the worker. He will take them without a closer look and lead you to an elevator. It is an old and small elevator but the lights should be working fine. The worker will press the button for the basement and with creaking noises, the elevator will move downward. It will take long, much longer than a ride to the basement could possibly last.

The worker might try to engage you in a conversation, even ask you personal questions, but you must keep quiet. You cannot risk letting even a single detail about yourself slip. Also, keep an eye on the lights. Should the lights in the elevator begin to flicker, press the button for the emergency stop at once. In that case, under no circumstances make any noise or try to leave the elevator in any way. If you are lucky, the elevator will resume moving downward after a while.

When the elevator finally reaches the basement, the doors will open and you will see a large and brightly lit empty room. Step out of the elevator - the doors will close behind you - and move to the middle of that room. Once you reach the middle, the lights will turn off and you will be surrounded by the most complete darkness you can possibly imagine. Your eyes will not adapt to this darkness and you will be unable to tell whether you are still in the basement, in a sea of complete nothingness, or in the deepest circle of hell.

Do not make any noise or movements other than breathing. And do not ever close your eyes. If you do any of those, it will find you and you will die horribly. Just stand there. After a while, you will hear the noise. Claws on concrete. Sniffing. Sometimes it will be far away, sometimes close but you are to remain still. Seconds will turn to minutes and minutes to hours. Maybe it will even be days. Finally, after an eternity, you will feel a hand on your shoulder, not a human one, a hand with way too many fingers that end in claws. Now and only now speak. Speak loud and clear and only say: "Not me." Then say the name of your person.

The hand will disappear and the noise will move away from you quickly, but for a short while, you should continue to stay still. Wait until you hear a cacophony of the most bloodcurdling screams and ripping sounds one can imagine. Only when the death cries have died down, the light will turn back on, the elevator doors will open, and you can move again. Move fast, take the elevator upstairs and leave the mental institution or halfway house.

Go directly to the house of your person and on your way there don't look into anyone's eyes. They will see you for what you have become, see your taint, and words cannot describe what they would do to you. Once you have reached the house, enter. Don't let the carnage inside phase you. This is your doing, after all. Make your way through the blood and gore and find your person's stomach. The best place to start searching should be the basement but it can be anywhere. When you find the stomach, cut it open. Inside you will find a small flashlight.

Take that flashlight and leave.

From now on, you will notice that people treat you differently, they will act uneasy or downright cold in your presence, like you give them the shivers. But that is not your real problem. For the rest of your life, stay clear of places without light. Get a nightlight, don't go into basements unless you absolutely have to, and never, ever, let go of the flashlight. For in the darkness, it will still search for you.

That flashlight is Object 551 of 2538. One day it will find you and no one will be there to take your place.