Midnight Society

Nowhere To Run

Run!

A desperate voice in my head screams at me.

Go now!

RUN!

I am frozen by fear, my feet glued to the blood-stained tiled floor.

He's coming after me. I don't know where he is, but every second I stay still is another step closer to me.

I listen. I can hear my blood rushing through my ears. I swallow hard, a bead of sweat slowly trickling down my right temple. My mouth is dry.

A thick metallic smell floats thickly in the air. I wipe my clammy hands on my jeans. I try to hold my breath, to block out the blood smell, but one can only hold their breath for so long.

Run!

I suddenly hear a strange noise. Like a wet metallic scraping sound. It sounds close. My heart stops, a cold feeling in my chest as I look down the hall I'm in, in search of the source of the scratching and scraping sound. Nothing catches my eye.

I peer cautiously around the corner and I see him.

He trudges down the dim hallway, his head hanging down. His long dark hair hangs down over his face. I can't tell if he sees me or not.

He continues down the right side of the hall, gripping a long machete in his right hand. He scrapes it along the wall, leaving a streak of blood on the yellowed wallpaper. Crimson droplets fall onto the floor.

He steps underneath the flickering beam of a lone light bulb. It dully illuminates a small part of the hall. He reaches a glistening hand up to tuck his hair behind his ear.

Finger marks appear on his face, as red as the blood on his machete. I unintentionally let out a little gasp, my eyes wide.

His dark eyes suddenly meet my terrified gaze. His mouth twitches into an evil grin. His yellowed, sharp teeth catch the light.

I force my legs to move. I run down the hall in the opposite direction from him and I come to a corner. I turn right and continue down the next long dark empty hall.

"Don't run!" I hear him call in a warning after me in a somewhat friendly tone. "You cannot get away!"

I pant hard, panic building in my chest. I slow as I begin to smell the sweet and sour scent of decay. It's unlike anything I've ever smelled before. Every breath I take I pull in the acrid, rotting stench and it adds a nauseated feeling to my already sick feeling stomach. Whatever it is is better than what lies behind me.

I come to the end of the hall, the stench stronger than ever. I quickly round the corner, something dark darting in front of me. Unable to stop immediately, I collide into something soft. I fall backwards onto the floor. It feels slick under my body.

I look up in horror and see a corpse hanging from the ceiling, a long rusted chain of barbed wire wrapped around its shrunken-in neck. Long gash marks litter its blackened, rotting flesh. A big spot in its head, where someone had bludgeoned a hole in its skull, has congealed blood in it.

Amidst the scraping I hear a buzzing and a fly crawls out of the corpse's mouth.

I gag as I scramble to my feet and slink past the corpse. I continue down the hall and come to another corner. In the next hall is a lone window.

I run up to it and begin to desperately search for a latch. I run my trembling fingers over the rusted metal of the old window frame, but find none. I let out a cry of despair.

I am desperate to get out of here. I need to try anything to leave this haunted asylum.

I press my hand flat on the surface of the dirty glass. I push hard on it, using all of my body weight. To my surprise it warps slightly.

I slam my elbow into the glass. It gives way. I wretch my arm away as I suddenly feel an intense stinging. I see a long shard of glass sticking out of the surface of my sleeve, blood quickly seeping and soaking into the fabric. I pull my sleeve down over my other hand and I grasp the glass shard. I yank it out, giving a low cry in pain.

I lean over the window sill. I see the ground, but it's at least a hundred-foot drop. I'd die if I jumped; but do I want to die this way or by the hand of the monster following me? I decide to continue and try to find another escape option. I jog down the hall, my arm stinging badly.

I come upon two staircases. One goes up into light and the other plummets into darkness. I hear a sawing sound and an echoey crash. I have to go down. There has to be a way out.

I cautiously descend into the darkness. I take each step slowly, making sure I don't fall. I nibble my lip anxiously, beginning to regret my decision. It's the safest way, I tell myself, even though I barely believe my own words.

I force myself deeper down into the darkness. I reach cautiously into the pitch black, my right hand on the wall and my left extended into the dark.

I feel a corner and I turn right again continue. The silence is deafening. My footsteps sound deafening. I must be getting away from him.

I see a faint light in the distance. I cautiously tread down the hall. I peer around the right corner wall, holding my breath. I see a gaping hole in the ceiling, bloody handprints against the edge of the hole and on the piece of floor below it.

I feel my jaw drop. He figured it out. He's down here.

I have to try to outsmart him. I turn around and go back the way I came. I have to try the staircase going up.

I suddenly feel something warm and firm under my right hand. I gasp, quickly yanking back towards me.

"Got you." He whispers, his voice hoarse. He grabs me in his vice grip. I feel his hand wrap around my throat. He lifts me up, slamming me against the wall. His fingers slink their way up and over my mouth. I feel a cool hard blade press to my throat.

I am still, frozen by fear.

I can't breathe, which forces my brain to kick into survival mode. I claw at his hands.

"Did you really think you could get away?" He whispers cruelly, his voice hardly above a whisper. "You're dead."

I wake suddenly, a scream erupting from my lips. I stop as I look around, blinking rapidly. A bead of sweat drips down my temple.

I get up and go to the washroom, my heart still pounding from my nightmare. I stand before the sink, my eyes still stinging from the fluorescent light.

I bend down, splashing some refreshing cool water on my face. I peer up into the mirror, blinking as water drips off my lashes.

My eyes widen as I see a bloody handprint across my mouth, the blood running down my chin from
the water I splashed on my face.

I feel a stinging in my right arm. I peer down, seeing a bloody gash near my elbow. I gasp in horrified surprise as I feel arms wrap around me, my body being pulled against something hard.

"Got you." A deep voice hisses. I feel my blood turn cold as I recognize the voice.

A blade presses to my throat. His bloody hand covers my mouth to suppress my scream as he slices my throat.