Cockroach eater

[THIS TELEGRAPH CONTAINS DESCRIPTIONS OF CHILD ABUSE AND DESCRIPTIONS OF INJURIES. IF YOU ARE MENTALLY WEAK, IT IS NOT RECOMMENDED TO READ THIS.]

Mordecai Heller

Mordecai went blind after an incident when he was 8 years old. That day, he was walking to school on foot — just a few meters away from the school building — when he was grabbed by two unknown individuals.

Later, he was found completely blind and unconscious on the other side of the city, covered with a bedsheet. He was interviewed several days later after a short rehabilitation.

Here is an excerpt from the interrogation:

:: So, Mr. Heller, do you remember who grabbed you?

H: No.

:: Do you remember what happened?

H: Yes.

:: Can you tell us what happened?

H: Yes.

H: They grabbed me and pulled me into the woods and tied me up. Then… then they made me look at the sun. My eyes were burning. I can’t see anything.

:: Did they do anything else besides making you look at the sun?

H: Yes. They slammed my head against the ground. They spat in my face and they...

:: What did they do?

H: They peed on me. And they made me eat a cockroach.

:: What happened after that?

H: Then they threw me into some old house. It was really bright there. Like, really bright. Like the sun was everywhere.

:: Did you cry?

H: Yeah… I screamed and called for help, but we were too far from people.

:: Did they take you to the woods?

H: No, we were on some empty lot… or a field, I don't remember...

:: Was anyone else there, besides you and the two people?

H: Yeah… there was a girl. They… they cut her into pieces. They told me to eat her insides.

:: Did you eat them?

H: No. Someone hit me with a metal stick for that. Then I was in a big hallway like in my school, and it was all white with black dots…

Thirty-nine days after the interrogation, a corpse suspiciously resembling Mordecai Heller was discovered.

The Mordecai from the interrogation wasn’t the real one. He was an Alternative — a fragment of the Antichrist. All Alternatives possess cognitive supremacy over any being except their creator, who is also them.

Alternatives can move silently, alter their appearance in real time, hear everything, see everything, and say anything. They can create a "timeless room" — a space where the real person they’re replacing is taken. In rare cases, their corpses reappear in the physical world.

Mordecai’s body was found nearly untouched by decomposition. Metal wire was wrapped around his wrists, ankles, and neck. His shoulders and feet were twisted out of place. In his stomach were found fragments of cockroaches, bricks, and glass. His head had suffered extensive trauma — the lower jaw and brain region were the most damaged. Eight ribs and three vertebrae were broken.