Supernatural [Reader Insert]

30. Mistakes and Steak Knives

That night you had a series of unsettling dreams.

In the first you found yourself on the outskirts of a large bonfire. It was dark and you were surrounded by what you thought must be jungle, though you had never been in the jungle. People danced around it wildly, all of them wearing masks. A large bass drum beat from across the clearing. In a corner sat a small hut. You were sure they would not have welcomed your presence, but they didn't seem to know you were there. Quietly, you walked around the edge of the firelight and over to the hut. There were only three walls and the fourth side was open to the fire. You looked inside and found a table spread with sharp tools and leather. A man stood hunched over it, a dark robe covering his body. He drew his hand up, and then brought it back down. As he repeated the process you recognized that he was binding a thick book. He finished with that and then moved to the side. Your stomach churned when you noticed that he was pulling skin off of a human corpse. Suddenly you realized that the whole place smelled like burning flesh. How had I not noticed before? Why can I smell this now? The body lay face down on a low table at the side of the hut. He cut a large piece neatly from the body's back and took it over to his workstation. He somehow wrapped it around the book. It was the cover. Then the man took a large metal object in his hand. It had a sort of handle and one side was mostly flat and round. He patted the book gently and then turned and walked past you towards the fire. He shouted something in a language you couldn't recognize. The dancing immediately stopped and the drum beats slowed to a steady thrum. The dancers cleared a path for him to walk up to the fire and then he stuck his hand into it, metal object and all. You thought for sure screams of pain would follow, but everything was silent except for the drums and the crackling fire. When he finally pulled his hand back it seemed untouched, but the object was red hot. He shouted something and then the dancers cheered. He pointed at one of them; to you the choice seemed random. The chosen person whooped and cheered. He came around the fire and followed the robed man back to the hut.

With the red hot object in one hand, the robed man grabbed a long knife. The chosen person stepped into the tent and then stood still, his chest puffed out. The robed man waved the red hot object around the man's chest and said some kind of incantation. Your hair stood on end. You had no idea what the man was saying but you knew it was bad. Quickly, the robed man threw his arm forward and swiped across the chosen man's neck with the knife. The cut was deep and blood immediately poured down the body. The face went slack, but the body remained stock still. You watched as the robed man pressed the red hot object into the man's chest, covering it in blood and burning it into the body. The smell was awful, but you couldn't look away. Something was keeping your eyes on what was happening. As it pressed into the now dead body, the object seemed to absorb the blood around it. Rather than cooling, the object began to glow an even brighter red. The robed man shouted one syllable as he pulled the object back. The body collapsed to the ground, apparently having served its purpose. It's head, mostly severed at the neck, lolled to the side at an awkward angle. The robed man turned back to his work table and stamped the object into the front of the book.

A wave of something cold came over you and as it hit the bonfire it burned brighter. The people around it shouted and whooped, resuming their dancing. You turned back around and found the robed man smiling at the book like it was a newborn baby. The cover had dried and turned black. The drumbeats echoed in your chest as he opened to a page somewhat in the middle. As he flipped the thick, leathery pages you shuddered. This wasn't right. The man smiled still as he brought the book out of the hut and began to read. The drumbeats seemed to quicken. Each syllable the robed man spoke sounded like ice on your ears. The last word sent a shock through your insides. As he finished he looked up expectantly. The drums stopped and the entire clearing was quiet.