Gengar

Chapter 7

By this point, you inspected the entire room. There wasn't a single door in sight.

How did I even get in here?  You wondered.

Suddenly, your toe jammed into something. After fumbling for a brief moment and catching yourself, you turned around and looked down. Under the maroon carpet was a small lip that was raised to form a bump.

After a brief moment, you knelt down and grabbed the corner of the carpet, flipping it over. Revealed was a worn, wooden trap door. Without thinking, you sucked in your breath. The air that escaped the corners of the trap door was as cold as ice, rushing up your hands and forearms that resulted in immediate goosebumps. You didn't give the hair on your arms so much as a second to stay raised before you threw the carpet back on top of the trap door, backing away until you were in complete warmth again.

What the hell...

You decided that you weren't even going to try opening it, much less enter it. Despite the warmth and brightness of the room, the area along the floor of the trap door seemingly felt like a black hole. It sucked the warmth of the room around it, and the wood itself looked like it was a hundred years old—not to mention riddled with large scratches. A cold chill rushed over your feet and ankles as you stood up, deciding to steer clear.

Nope, not today, you thought.

After what felt like at least an hour of this silent stand-off, you suddenly heard a quick blip of noise. It was airy and sharp, yet muffled and far away. You paused where you were, staying perfectly still while your brain scrambled trying to figure out what it was.

Was that a voice?

Although it never came back, you were almost fully confident that muffled noise was a human sound. Before you had time to come to any conclusions or make any decisions however, you felt the heat around you disappear. In what felt like a second, your entire body was suddenly cold.

The hair on the back of your neck suddenly stood up, instinctually causing your head to whip around behind you. You were hoping you wouldn't see anything, but your heart dropped when you turned around.

In the corner was a large black shadow, a colossal dark void drastically contrasting the rest of the room. It was an unmistakable figure, about 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide, a massive presence in the medium-sized room. You were frozen in place, feeling a primal fear taking over your body once again. You didn't know how much of this fear you could take.

As if a switch went off, the shadow disappeared. You blinked once.

Then, the walls started to melt.

The walls are melting?!  Your mind started to panic. You felt your heart rate increase as the adrenaline in your body spiked, reaching levels you didn't even know you could still reach at this point. Then, you noticed something.

The melting walls were revealing something else on the other side. Something green and even brighter than the room that was now melting away underneath your feet. In what felt like 5 seconds, you were suddenly surrounded by bright green trees, and... a breeze?

Your eyes and brain adjusted, concluding that you were now standing outside. You looked around frantically, trying to piece together what just happened. However, your surroundings were eerily familiar. After a few seconds, you realized where you were. You gasped.

The park at my apartment?! How could that be?

You scanned the area, expecting to see your apartment complex full of people walking around outside like it usually was. Your heart dropped. Not even a single car in the parking lot, or the adjacent road for that matter. It was as if the entire block was completely abandoned.

Suddenly, you heard a crystal clear voice state your name. It didn't seem to come from any given direction... it was as if the voice came from inside your head. Before you had time to respond, the voice spoke again.

"Are you afraid?"

Your gut sank when you realized what this was.

"Yeah, I am." You blurted with a low, shaky voice. You were surprised when you heard how raspy it was.

"We were instructed to make you feel safe. What place would make you feel safe?" The voice asked in a low, smooth and almost expressionless tone.

"Home." You answered quickly. There was a silent pause that followed, causing you to realize where you were. Heat flushed your face, causing your ears to turn red when you realized you weren't actually home, and that whatever was happening was all Gengar's doing. "My actual home," you said in almost a whisper.

Suddenly, you realized something. "Wait, instructions?" You blurted. "Who is giving instructions? And who are you?"

"We are Gastly." The deep, smooth voice in your head declared. "Gengar instructed us to help you feel safe, so that you no longer feel afraid."

"Why can't I just leave?" You asked sharply.

"That is something we cannot do."

You felt anger rush over your body. "And why is that?"

"Humans came to look for you and found the body of the attacker. More humans are now coming. That, and Gengar has different plans for you."

"The attacker?" You repeated, ignoring everything else Gastly said. A clear image of the look on that man's eyes in the manor suddenly took over your mind, causing shivers to run down your spine as you remembered everything. "The man from earlier..."

"Yes. That human planned to harm you. We saw it inside his head. We felt it inside his body."

You were silent as you digested what you heard. "Then he..."

"Then Gengar left his body, and took his soul with him." 

You sucked in your breath as you realized what this meant. Your heart rate began to spike.

"Ah," Gastly speculated in an undertone.

Shortly after, the sky above you began to break.