Tim and the Cult of the Crimson King

There was a boy. His name was Tim, and he was from Beijing. He had moved to Ohio six years ago to live with his uncle, and his aunt's family. He missed the spicy food of his home country, but he did enjoy the ice cream here, especially on a hot summer day, like today. That meant he had to walk all the way to the convenience store to buy some, because his aunt and uncle were busy working today.

"This'll be the last time," Tim muttered to himself as he trudged up the hill. "I can't take this heat anymore."

Tim heard a strange noise behind him while he was walking down the road. It sounded like…

A growl?

Tim looked around quickly before running towards his house. But it wasn't quick enough. The thing pounced on him before he could react, knocking him to the ground. The creature began licking his face with a tongue that felt like sandpaper against his skin. Tim struggled in vain, but the dog-like creature on top of him was too heavy for him to push off. Frantically, Tim reached into his pocket for one of the knives he always carried with him, just in case something like this happened again. He stabbed blindly at the beast beneath him as tears streamed down his face. It yelped and jumped off of him before falling to its side on the road, whimpering pitifully.

"What have I done?" Tim whispered sadly as he crawled over to where it lay curled up on itself. "I'm so sorry…"

He cut away its clothing and examined the wound on its shoulder where blood still flowed freely onto the road beneath it. He couldn't see any bone or organs through the gaping hole in its body; fortunately it didn't seem like anything vital was damaged. He cleaned it with water from his canteen before wrapping up what clothing remained on its body tightly around its torso with bandages torn from his shirt until it stopped bleeding completely. Then he picked it up gently and carried it back to his house with him in order to treat it until it was better again.

It took four months for Tim's doggy companion to heal from its wounds enough that Tim could leave it at home alone while he went outside by himself without worrying about what might happen if he left it alone again. That evening when Tim returned home after going out for ice cream again in town, however, he found that everything had changed.

The walls of his house were covered in symbols that had been painted onto them with red paint that stained the wood underneath them permanently crimson red: jagged lines that twisted into each other at odd angles along with strange symbols that Tim didn't recognize stood out sharply against the plain white walls of his aunt and uncle's house in which they lived together with their son Yi-Liang who had graduated from high school only a month ago and got an internship at a medical research center in Boston thanks to help from Uncle Chang who worked there himself as a researcher for a big pharmaceutical company since more than five years already now which meant that he could finally work there too although not yet but maybe next year when Yi-Liang finished college already then he would help Timothy apply for an internship too because Uncle Chang said Yi-Liang wouldn't even need one anyway because you don't need an internship if you have a degree from an American college already anyway because they're all super easy here anyway plus they're even easier than Chinese schools so really you can just go straight into working after graduation anyway if you're smart enough which Timothy definitely is so there's no problem at all

Tim ran upstairs where his room used to be; now it was strangely different and covered entirely in red paint everywhere except perhaps where the windows were or maybe even those too because now they looked black instead of yellow anymore with words written on them too instead of just numbers or letters like they used to be now but somehow still readable despite how dirty they looked so maybe those parts still weren't painted over after all although maybe most of them were but if so then why? And why did mom and dad have red smears around their eyes now too? And why did Yi-Liang look different also? And Uncle Chang? And Auntie Ling? And grandpa?! Were they all transformed into demons by someone who wanted to live here instead of them? Or maybe someone who wanted things that belonged to them? Was that why their faces were covered in red paint everywhere except where their mouths were? So people wouldn't know if what was underneath matched their faces or not? Or did everyone suddenly become allergic to something poisonous so everyone who lived here needed more protection against whatever made them sick so they all started wearing masks everywhere except where their mouths were? Or did everyone just decide that painting themselves all over with red paint would make life more interesting? Maybe it turned out they could read minds while they were doing it so they knew exactly what everybody else thought about while they were painting themselves! Except not about why anybody would want masks covering their entire face including where their mouths were! Because nobody knows about that! Not even me! Because nobody told me yet! Except maybe I know why people wear masks sometimes myself because I've seen books about little kids who are scared of people wearing masks on Halloween night despite how much their parents tell them masks are supposed to be scary because they're supposed to cover everything except where your mouth is or else nobody will know whether you're smiling or frowning or surprised or upset or angry or happy or sad! But those kids don't understand those books right now so I can't explain anything right now either! Which means I don't know why my room looks different now either! Except maybe I should find out which makes sense right now but I'm not sure how yet because I feel confused right now but then maybe I'll figure out how when I start thinking more clearly again! In other words I probably shouldn't try figuring things out right now because then I might forget that thinking clearly is important later on instead of just feeling confused! Because then I might think something dumb like thinking clearly means understanding everything immediately which isn't true because thoughts usually take time first instead of appearing instantly suddenly like magic which never works if magic is real because magic doesn't exist! Even wizards don't use magic anymore unless they're studying wizardry at wizard school which isn't allowed here legally anymore but some people do it anyway secretly since laws are hard for police officers even though laws are usually good so if laws aren't being followed illegally then bad things might happen normally instead although not always personally but sometimes objectively objectively objectively objectively objectively objectively objectively objectively objectively objectively objectively objectively objectively objectively objectively objectively objectively objectively objectively objectively Objectively Objectively Objectively Objectively Objectively Objectively Objectively Objectively Objectively Objectively Objectively Objectively Objectively Objectivesobjectiveobjectiveobjectivesoobjectiveobjectionsobjectivesobjectiveobjectionsobjectionsobjectionsobjectionsobjectionsobjectionsobjectionsobjectionsobjectionsobjectionsobjectiveobjectiveobjectiveobjecetivceobjecktivveobeckctiveobeckctiveobeckctiveobeckctiveobeckctiveobeckctiveobeckctiveobeckctiveobeckitiveboecktivvebeocktivcetooeictvvebeocktivcetooeictvvebeocktivcetooeictvvebeocktivcetooeictvvebeocktivcetooeictvvebeocktivcetooeictvvebeocktivcetooeictvvebeocktivcetooeictvvebeocktivcetooeictvvebeocktivcetooeictvvebeocktivcetooeictvvebeocktivcetooeictvvebeocktivcetooeictvvebeocktivcetooeictvvebeocktivcetooeictvvebeocktvceoecctibeoectvoceboectuveoectivocectoeoctevoctrevoctrovoctrovoctoveocteveoctovovectoveoctoveoctocvtolvtotvtotvtotvtotvtotvtotvtotvtotvtotvtotvtotvtotvtotvtotvtotvtotvtotvtotvtotoctotoctotoctotoctotoctotoctotoctotoctotoctotoctotoctotoctotoctotoctotosoctotosoctotosoctotosoctotosoctoosoctoosoctoosoctooso

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