Bump in the Night

Mr. Harold Winfield was driving home after a long day of hard work. It was dark and the road to his home in the little town of Biltstone was badly lit, only by the full moon. As he was dozing off behind the wheel he didn’t notice the dark shape crossing the road. Mr. Winfield tried to avoid hitting the figure, to no avail. The humanoid form crashed into the screeching car and flew over it. Harold got out, thoroughly shocked he saw the victim (an old man) lying on the road, unconscious and bleeding heavily. He put the poor man in his car and raced towards the village. There, the old man was put under the care of Doctor White. After surviving the night, the man is now in a coma.

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Yet, strange things are happening in Biltstone. Mr. Winfield went insane shortly after a visit to the old man at the hospital. Nurses and doctors often perform their surgeries and other tasks imperfectly, with horrible consequences. Patients are scarred for life because of incisions that weren’t even needed. Babies are born with sickening deformities...

Still the old man lies there, no relatives, only under the care of Doctor White, still in a coma. Dr. White becomes more and more reclusive and secretive.

Possibilities

1 The old man is a rare form of Nyarlathotep. It lets itself become wounded or hurt and then starts to terrorize the people who take care of it. Meanwhile, the caretakers are slowly becoming completely devoted to it, dedicating their whole lives to it. At the peak of this dedication (which even surpasses the greatest love), the old man dies, devastating the minds of the caretakers. Should anyone guess at its nature (for example asking him, while in coma: “Hey are you Nyarlathotep?”) he’ll slap them around a bit, when nobody’s watching, scream and moan, spit blood at them, and die.

2 The old man is a witch. He popped out of a gate and was hit by Mr. Winfield. Physically incapacitated, he cursed him and all his relatives (among them Dr. White and some other hospital employees, after all, Biltstone IS a small village).

3 Doctor White is a mad man. After finding some of Herbert West’s notes in the Miskatonic Library he decided to carry on with West’s experiments. With great success: Some of the employees of the hospital are living dead (hence the accidents during surgery and so forth). White intends to make the old man his Opus Magnum, during several operations (including some rituals) the old man will be enhanced with metal parts. He will then be resurrected and herald the coming of a new human race.

© Kars Alfrink