The Blurred Man and the Journal of Ryan Archer

The Blurred Man is a constant even beyond his 'native' sphere. It's not easy keeping track of this one. He bleeds into the minds of others, turning ordinary men and women into monsters like him.

My name is Bradley Walker. It would be in my best interests to explain the purpose of all this. I aim to shed some light on the strange case of a man named Ryan Archer. Why is it so strange, you may ask? You will soon find out.

 I started my investigation by discovering what had happened to his family when he was only a child. The official story reported by the authorities was that his parents, for some reason, had killed his brother and sister and fled the home. At least that was what Ryan Archer recounted. Something about this didn’t add up. The case remained cold since they did not find his parents, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. When it was first reported. The oddities of what occurred left me with so many questions:

 Why did the parents soak their rooms, beds, and carpets in water?

 Where did they go?

How did they not kill Ryan Archer?

 And most importantly, why do it in the first place?

My research brought up nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing that could implicate them as the killers. The fact that they could have killed their children for no reason didn’t sit right with me. Hell, I hadn’t even thought that far when I started this investigation. Since the house they lived at was empty and abandoned, I decided to visit it despite stories springing up about it being haunted.

 I stood anxiously outside the home on a cloudy September day and seeing the house for the first time in its current decrepit state was enough to send shivers down my spine. I imagined in its prime, it would have been homely, but its faded colour and moss that clung to the brick walls shattered that illusion. The door, to my surprise, was slightly ajar. It creaked open, and I now stood on the threshold between the present and the long-forgotten past. I imagined how the hallway would have looked back then, flowery wallpaper with immaculate laminate flooring. Now though, it all looked decayed. The walls were barren, and the decorative designs all but faded away. I looked upstairs first and soon stumbled upon what I believed was Archer’s old room and like everything else inside the house it was mostly empty except for the stripped wooden bed without a mattress, a dresser in the corner, and a clutter of boxes left scattered around the room. As I approached the boxes, I could feel that some floorboards were loose, implying someone had removed them in the distant past and then put them back. I bent down and tested this in one particular section. It looked like Archer had removed it but he also put it back in place without using nails, so unsurprisingly, it came off with ease. What I saw in that cubbyhole would be a game changer as there rested an old dust-covered book. I was extra careful in lifting it out and soon realised that since Archer’s name was scribbled on the front, this was his diary. I had already trespassed into his past by even being here. This could reveal so much more. The first few pages are what you would expect a kid of his age to write about, but around the 23rd of September 1988, the cheerful tone quickly vanished. Here is what he wrote.

 23rd Sept.

 Dear Diary,

I am hearing things. At first, I thought it was this old house, but I’m convinced it is something else. I can’t understand what I hear, but it sounds so close to me. And it speaks in my dreams. It promises me so much, but I don’t know what it wants.

 25th Sept.

Dad shouted at me. He always does now. I don’t understand why it’s just me! My brother and sister are praised at every turn. I do my best at school and stuff. I don’t understand what they want from me. The voice I keep hearing is becoming clearer. I think it’s saying ‘KILL’

 But why? I love my mom and dad.

I froze and just sat there for a long while. The word kill itself looked almost carved into the page. It became apparently obvious that something may have been mentally wrong with Archer. I take a breath and resume.

 5th October.

I get blamed for everything these days. Even if it’s nothing. No one cares, but my new best friend, Blurry. He speaks to me from the mirrors. He says I’m destined for great things. My brother and sister think it’s stupid to have an imaginary friend. It’s better than having no friends. Besides, Blurry always says nice things. He’s not nasty at all.

 7th Oct

 Kill. Kill. Kill.

 I know what it wants me to do.

When they sleep, they won’t wake. He said he wanted to free me. They don’t care for me anyway, I won’t miss them. It told me what I needed for this. I could find most of it in the house. Blurry was my guide, and I followed his will.

 8th Oct.

Tonight’s the night. I have everything I need stored in a box. I know I’m young and all, but Blurry was specific about his request, so I crept into my parent’s room and soaked the room in water and then repeated the same thing with my brother and sister. After that, I will sleep and call the police in the morning and spin a story. Only then will I be free.

The rest is blank. I place the diary into my bag. I didn’t want to stay here any longer. It felt like something was watching me. It dawned on me that other than what I saw initially upon entering the room; I had somehow missed that there was a sheet covering a standing mirror. I felt drawn to it and it took some amount of self-control to back out of the room and flee the house. 

I will update this when I find another lead and I remember now why this case always stood out to me. A documentary had aired a couple of years back and it spoke of various supernatural occurrences throughout history, and one so happened to mention something that communicated through mirrors, or at least the entity could only be seen by looking into them. I had brushed it off as an elaborate hoax, but after reading that diary, it hit me. What if Blurry was more than just Archer’s imaginary friend? What if he truly had been manipulated by this unknown entity? It sounds absurd, but why soak the rooms in water? It doesn’t make sense. All I can do is keep digging and hopefully, I’ll find the answers sooner rather than later. 

Note: I went to the orphanage nearby, and they said that Archer was a strange boy who liked to be reclusive. They said that as soon as he turned 18; he was gone. Never to be seen again.