Whispers in the Dark

Chapter 5: Helpless

Whispers in the Dark

Chapter 5: Helpless

Another shuffling sound echos from behind me, only faint this time. Distant.

As before, my body stiffens tightly at the dulled sound that doesn't belong to me. I decide to wait it out like I did with the last one just to make sure it has disappeared.

Suddenly, a terrifying thought stabs through my mind and bleeds into the core of my bones. I can feel my legs begin to twitch and struggle to hold my weight. I stop myself from breathing - from making any sound at all.

So I am, after all, not the only one wandering through these twisted hallways. I am not alone trying to scratch at escape. But who - or what - is in here with me? Who else is tying to escape this maze too?

Or perhaps is it something that's chasing me...?

I shake my head and finally stumble forward. Watching my feet, I am sure to walk as quietly as I can so the thing can't hear me. I don't care if whatever is in here too is good or bad; I just want to get out of here as soon as possible.

The bare light bulbs around me flicker for a few moments before completely buzzing out. A loud popping noise snaps from the bulbs telling me they all have suddenly gone completely out.

I immediately stop walking and stare at the ceiling where a light bulb was once dimly glowing a few feet ahead of me.

I bite deeply into my lip until I can faintly taste the hint of blood. I slowly continue to creep forward in the dark. I cannot let this stop me. I have to get out of here, with or without light. After all, the sudden absence in the faint glow doesn't affect my hands from leaving the right side of the wall. I should get out of here sooner or later.

After a while, about to turn another corner about to go right, I stop myself from moving and cringe behind the corner. Peeking past the crumbling wallpaper, a single light bulb at the end of this hallway twitches and gleams in the darkness. It must be the only bulb that didn't buzz itself out in this whole place.

Standing under the shower of bare light, a dark, tall figure faces away from me just... standing there. The lean figure seems to twitch along with the light - but it never moves from its place. It's as if it's waiting for something.

From here, it's impossible to tell who or what that is. But as soon as I think that, a wave of relief flows over me.

It's a good thing that I'm not close enough to observe the details of the figure - and I damn sure don't want to.

Cautiously taking a step backward, I make sure to be as quiet as possible - but as soon as I take the next step, a sappy liquid thickly drips and slides down my neck into the back of my shirt.

Wincing, I immediately take a step forward away from the sickly cold drool and spin around. My jaw drops as I cover my mouth with my clean hand - the one that didn't touch the thick blood on the doorknob - to push back a scream.

The hallway I just walked down from... the hallway I turned my back on for only a moment is now... dripping with thick, dense blood slowly pouring from the ceiling and doors in vast amounts and onto the crippling carpet.

I stumble a few feet back from the pouring blood soaking everything that it touches. My hand covers my mouth not only from choking back a scream, but also because the strong metallic scent is making me gag and wince.

I watch as the vast amounts of blood thickly poor in front of me. Staring at it, I notice an object moving from behind the blood, but the certain of the crimson liquid is so thick that I can't see a foot past it.