You Are Here for a Reason

Chapter 1

 I gasped as I felt the toe of my shoe hit something hard.  With my next stumbling step, I crashed into a cool, rough-textured surface that blocked my way.  Wide-eyed, I looked straight ahead.

 Well, fuck, I had thought.

 To my bewilderment, I was met with a brick wall, solid and real as could be, its reddish colour greyed by the dim light hitting it.  I used my scraped hands and knees to feel for a possible way out in the hope maybe, for some unknown cause, the wall did not extend to cover the doorway. 

 And, strange though it was, it didn't.  There was a minute space on the left side, where the brick seemed to have crumbled, just large enough for me to pass through.  With shaky, cautious hands, I steadied myself as I squeezed my body through the space. 

 I was correct in my assumption; the room opened into a vast hallway, its lighting brighter, yet still grey.  Again, there were no windows--only several doors lining each side of the expanse--and, as I had predicted, one on each end. 

 There was only one thing left to do: a systematic test of each door, beginning with the ones on each end, which I assumed would be exits. 

 First, I tried the one on my right, to which I was closest.  Locked.  I knew it.  The door on the other end, though, let me through, and I could scarcely believe it.

 I squinted into the even lower light behind it, and found myself staring down into a steep abyss of a staircase. I could see down to the bottom, which seemed odd.  A building such as this, which was probably falling apart at the seams, should not be this well lit, I had thought.   It's just a condemned old building. Unless, a grim thought had reminded me, your silhouette visitor lives here, and is waiting to make a game of this scenario.  And that waxy being might be waiting right along with it. 

 One misstep.

 I stumbled forward and lost my footing. 

 A brief moment passed. I felt my brain shift where it rested, cerebrospinal fluid creating cresting waves, time slowing, and I sank as I would in water.

 I fell. 

 Quick as a blink, something blurred into existence below me.  As I plummeted, something wrapped its sinuous arms around me.  I had hit a few of the steps by then, and was already bruising, but my momentum had stopped, and I felt, somehow--grateful?  Paranoia still gripped me, nonetheless, so I struggled to get free of the tight embrace. 

 Whatever held me was strong, horrifically strong.  So panicked was I, I didn't even get an adequate look at my captor; instead I thrashed, kicked, and bit. 

 A clammy hand stroked my face with an almost tender gentleness.

 "It's all right," I heard it say, and I could feel the rumble of its words within my chest. 

 When I felt the hand stroking my face, I stopped dead in my struggles, too terrorized to move, to do anything but shut my eyes tightly.  I waited for the inevitable pain.   

 I could feel the creature swell and deflate, as if to sigh, and it continued, "Do not be afraid."

 Holy fuck. 

 My eyes stung, the roof of my mouth stabbed sharp with the sensation of tears. 

 It was too good to be true, too fucking good to be true, I knew it, I knew it I--

 "Please," I begged in a tremulous voice, "don't."

 The Creature made a peculiar noise.  "Sometimes I cannot believe you humans.  So cowardly.  Yet, you're also exquisite animals.  That's why they want you."

 "Want me?"  I sobbed pathetically.  "I-Why?  Why am I here?  What are you, what is happening?"  My words ran together in a jumbled mess.

 The Creature, as I'd taken to calling it, swelled and deflated once more.  "Just be quiet and be still.  I will carry you out of here; you're too slow."

 "Why are you helping me?"  There had to be a lie, or an ulterior motive. 

 No answer.  The Creature stood, still holding me in its arms, and my eyes shot open in alarm. 

 I shouldn't have looked. 

 It resembled the pink-white, spongy sheen of a raw chicken, blue and red veins running up and down its entire length.  Its form was gelatinous, boneless, the arms and many fingers that held me covered in small, wart-like bumps.  Shallow indentations roamed its uppermost part--its head--the features of its face. Its features looked like they had been smashed inward with blunt force. 

 I would have screamed with every ounce of strength I had, but my breath caught as the entity began to move swiftly, hovering just above the stairs we descended. 

 We moved so quickly that I was unaware of my surroundings.  I wasn't sure how far we had gone or where we would end up, but soon it came to a crashing, bone-jarring halt. 

 A force struck the creature and I with astounding ferocity.  I hit the smooth concrete floor hard enough to squeeze every bit of air out of my lungs, though the creature still held me, which absorbed most of the impact. 

 "Don't look," the Creature warned, and its voice sounded worn and in pain, so much that I pitied it.

 I shouldn't have looked. 

 But I couldn't stop myself.

 A pause, a brief moment of recognition--

 There, peering down at me with rapt interest, was that waxy being from my memories. 

 It reached a perfect but too-pale human hand toward me, and grabbed my forearm, wrenching me out of my protector's grasp.