10,000 Doors

Door 14

Her chest felt heavy as she walked away from the door, and it felt as if it were weighing her down, causing her to move more sluggishly than before. It hurt to think that she couldn't even keep a mouse alive for more than ten minutes.

As she reached the new door, her mind had travelled to thoughts of Hunter. Was he being taken care of? Was he still with Benigno? Was he even still alive?

Femie stopped moving for a second as thing thought stuck her like a fist to her stomach. No, he was only eight years old at the most. He had to still be alive.

He had to be.

Dragging herself out of that mindset, Femie unlocked the door she was facing.

The door swung slowly open, but the room inside was completely empty. There was only one light in the room. The same pale, white light from all the others, except this one didn't light up the whole room like before. It was a small halo of light that filled only the middle, so that the walls were barely visible.

Barely visible, but enough that Femie could see something on the back wall. From her position in the doorway, she couldn't quite make it out. It seemed to be some kind of writing, but what it said was still a mystery.

If she wanted to know what it said, she was going to have to go in. And Femie wanted to know. What if it was a clue as to which door was the right one? She had to go in.

She was still cautious about entering these rooms, so she leaned in to check the ceiling as she had done before. Her foot found its way across the threshold, and she took a few careful steps in, keeping one hand on the door frame. Nothing happened, and so she let go and walked towards the back wall with purpose.

A quick, muted rumbling noise caused Femie to stop in her tracks. She had reached the centre of the light, and the writing ahead of her was becoming visible.

Another step, and another rumble. It caused Femie to hesitate and turn around. The door wasn't so far that she couldn't run back if she needed, so she continued forward.

Each new step she took was met with more of the noises, growing louder every time. Then, the writing was finally in her sight.

"Don't look down," was scrawled across the wall in deep, red paint.

Suddenly, the room was filled with a deafening sound, as if a volcano was erupting beneath her. Frozen to the spot, Femie was terrified to move. Cracks began to spread from the place where she stood out towards the edges of the room. Taking heed from the warning on the wall, Femie stared straight ahead at the exit and began to run for her life.

Each step she took now created a new crack in the floor, and parts of it began to fall away. Femie kept running, but she wasn't fast enough. As her foot slammed into the floor in the middle of the room, it finally caved in all at once. Femie felt as if the wasps in her stomach had all turned into a swarm as she started to fall.

However, the beginning of the fall was all there was, as she painfully struck the ground with her knees, grazing them both on the rubble of the floor. Her hands met the ground immediately after, sending a sting of pain up her arms. Femie sat back and brought her knees up to her chest to see the damage. They were covered in dust from the destroyed floor, but very little blood was coming through. Her hands were no worse for wear either.

Femie managed to stand up, though rather unsteadily on the piles of broken floor. She wobbled haphazardly back to the still open door. The fall could not have been more than a metre down, as she could see perfectly into the corridor from where she stood.

She struggled to climb out of the room, just barely managing with the pain in her hands, and sat on the edge where the floor had fallen in.

"Of course, it was a trap. ¡Por supuesto!" Femie said, smacking herself in the head.

"¡Idiota!"

Finally, she stood up and closed the door.