bartholomew

bartholomew

male

unknown

single

35

before bartholomew descended into madness, he just looked like your everyday feline. one eye was brown and one was green (though his eyes were normal besides that), his hat and bow tie were always clean and unscuffed, and he always had a gentle, friendly smile on his face. but after, he was different. his fur grew matted, unkempt, and shaggy over time. what used to be the whites of his eyes were now the same colors his irises used to be and his pupils were white. over time, neglection and rough treatment had turned his hat and bow tie to pristine and perfect to worn and aged. he gradually got thinner and thinner, his ribs soon being plainly visible under his skin. instead of his genuine smile he had before, he now bears a maniacal grin.

back in the day, bartholomew was very friendly and was known both for his kind and gentle demeanor and the fact that he was an experienced magician. nowadays, however, he is the exact opposite of who he was back then. he never talks to anyone anymore, he just stays inside a dingy abandoned house. he no longer has any sense of morals; he doesn’t care what’s right or what’s wrong to do. he can barely even tell what emotion he’s feeling at any given time anymore; he always has the large grin on his face regardless.

bartholomew was a famed magician. he made so many people happy, he loved entertaining people, and he was able to make a living off it. then, however, people started to get bored of his shows. bartholomew started to lose money fast. he did some new tricks at his shows to try and attract more people, but his efforts were fruitless. soon enough, he couldn’t afford food or a roof over his head, let alone to keep going on as a magician. over time, he became more and more desperate for some way to get his normal life back. one rainy night, he was curled up under a newspaper in an alleyway trying to fall asleep when he heard something whisper his name. he sat up and looked around, not seeing anything other than a rat near a dumpster at the end of the alleyway eating an old piece of rotten egg. he heard something whisper his name again. once bartholomew heard the whisper again, he realized it was coming from above him. he looked up to see a figure above him. he couldn’t see what the figure looked like, with it wearing all-black attire along with a black ski mask in the middle of the night. the figure told bartholomew that knew about his downfall and knew how to help. it asked bartholomew to follow him. bartholomew was a bit hesitant at first, with the figure seeming very sketchy. however, his desperation got the better of him and he followed the figure. it led him to a small room hidden behind a bookcase in the old local library located in the town. the room had something in the center that was emitting a purple-ish glow. the figure explained that he could give bartholomew the thing he needed to continue his job as a magician for as long as he’d like without struggle in exchange for one thing; the figure wanted to be able to have full control over bartholomew. the figure would possess him and be able to finally be able to have some sense of control. bartholomew ultimately agreed, just wanting to have his life back. the figure used black magic to possess him, and bartholomew blacked out. he woke up in an abandoned house. he tried to get up and look around, but he couldn’t move. bartholomew also felt.. different. he just felt like smiling and laughing even through there was absolutely nothing he should’ve been happy about. he soon had the realization that the figure had completely taken over. bartholomew started to laugh. he kept laughing and laughing and laughing... he never really stopped. that was the start of bartholomew’s madness and the end of his peak in life.