Battle of Genre Round Three: Horror
devi Versus Devour
Click me for the BoG R3 Main Thread for additional info!
Welcome to a Round Two Battle Thread for the BoG Tournament! Be mindful now, as your votes are the determining factor to who takes the win!
For a few reminders though:
Spoiler for REMINDERS:
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Votals
Simple. 5 points per vote.
Comment and Critique
CnC is important for a writer to flourish and grow in his craft. Giving some will benefit the writer and you as well! A point will be given to you and tallied overall at the end of the tournament [this is a separate tally]. If your CnC proves to be substantial [ergo something that helps the writer improve rather than just saying its good or my favorite part is this] an additional point is awarded.
Now without further ado here are the works of our would-be Masters of Genre!
devi - Silence of the Man
Spoiler for Silence of the Man:
Show
Being a top secret service scientist isn’t all fun and games, at least that’s what Jeffery thinks. Sure, most of the time his job can be interesting, examining and dissecting strange creatures of unknown origin, discovering futuristic technology possibly left behind by someone more advanced than humans, the list goes on. However, this job isn’t one of those interesting jobs.
His current job is to examine the decrease of local wildlife in Africa. Most people would assume that it was just over-hunting, but according to the reports from the local governments, there are no carcasses. Take the elephants for example, they are hunted for their tusks, and when the hunters have the tusks they just leave the elephant behind to rot away.
But there are no traces of anything, footprints from animals abruptly disappearing with no sign of any other life having done anything to affect the animal. Sure it’s weird, but nothing too fun. Right now, Jeff is stuck investigating a possibility of some sort of virus in the air, and he’s stuck in a makeshift lab until he’s done with his work.
To say the lab was makeshift would be to compliment it, they just found an abandoned shack in the area and just started to shove science equipment in it. Funnily enough, they weren’t supplied with gas masks and body suits for chances of virus.
Looking behind him, Jeff took a look at the people that were to work with him the next few, god knows how long, time units. James Cumberback, a UK scientist with a Master in biology, also the very definition of a nerd. Which is funny considering that people these days count scientists as nerds, so, I suppose you could class him as a nerdy nerd or something. Supposedly, some bully during his childhood had hit James so hard in the back of his head that his teeth started to stick out. He’s never wanted to get it fixed because he says that it’s a scar that he wants people to see to be able to understand the danger of bullying.
Next up is Sven Okerson, his last name doesn’t actually start with an O, its one of those weird letters the Scandinavians have. He’s a pretty ballsy guy, willing to try things others don’t. Apparently he has a Masters in Icetology, so I assume it’s a Nordic people thing. Willing to bet he just has vast knowledge of nature, whatever they call that these days. A lot of things have changed since Jeff started as a government scientist.
And last but probably least, Xinsen Pan. Some Chinese scientist, that likes to think that any scientist that’s not Asian is inept at his job. You can probably guess that he’s the least likeable of the three.
And then there was Jeff himself, Jeff had graduated from university at the age of 18 and was believed to be a boy genius. Of course, Jeff didn’t care, he just cared about getting the job done and done well. Much other than that is unknown, and his colleges’ were quite nervous around him.
“So Jeff, is there anything you could tell us about yourself? I mean, none of us know anything about you.” James asked Jeff, his voice sounding as wimpy as he looked, he sounded as if he was trying to make himself as small as possible, like a mouse.
“Sorry dude, not allowed to talk about that.” Jeff replied casually, put down the petri dish and faced the smaller James. Jeff was much larger than his fellow scientists, towering over the tallest (Sven) with about 50 centimeters, and also much more muscular than them with his muscles stretching out his lab coat. “I’m actually interested in what all you guys have to do with this. I have reports about you guys, but I’d rather hear what you guys have to say.”
“You get reports on people you work with? What are you, higher up than we are? We never got any reports about each other.” Sven butted in, slightly annoyed to hear that Jeff had information about him without his consent, angrily scratching his stubby brown beard. His beard had been cut much shorter than what he had originally intended, since the people who had employed them had hygiene as a first priority, understandable in their current predicament.
“Its something that is required to be able to have me on a science team of any sort, I like to know what I get into.” Jeff answered politely, seeming to be unoffended by such a rude interruption. “So can you tell me about yourself? I’d love to hear about you too, Sven.”
“Why the fuck would I say, you already know everything about me you dickwad.”The words getting slowly less understandable as more of Sven’s accent started to show itself, of course you wouldn’t need to understand him to understand that he wasn’t interested in talking about himself. He swiftly turns back to his work. “Don’t try to be funny."
“Fine then, Mr Angry head.” Jeff retorted, shooting a strange look at Sven. “So how about you James?”
“Well I suppose I can tell you.” James replied nervously, a bit nervous after seeing an exchange between two of the people he’s going to work with. “I was born in London to a pretty poor family, they barely managed to earn enough money for me to go to university when I graduated from high school. University was a welcomed change, as it wasn’t very much fun for me in my school as you probably know.”
“At university was where I learned everything I know now and helped me get a Masters in biology, and that’s how I ended up here. Anything else, I’m sure that your report says in much more detail than I can.” James finishes with a quiet ending, giving a pretty brief summary of his own life
“Well isn’t that lovely, you’re a bit of a warrior aren’t you.” Jeff says with a large welcoming smile on his face, giving a thumbs-up with his left hand, keeping his right hand hidden under his coat arm. James took no mind and smiled back with a huge stupid grin, appreciating the sentiment from Jeff. “You seem like a very nice guy James, I’m sure that we will work well together”
“Oh I’m sure we will Jeff, you seem like a very nice guy too!”
“Will both of you stop dicking around, and just get back to work” Interrupted an even grumpier Sven, angrily staring at them.
“All three of you are stupid white idiots, don’t even bother working.” Another voice butted in, this voice was much more sharper and grumpy than Sven, and the voice was none other than the not so friendly Xinsen. “I can do more work better than all of you combined. Just let the real scientists do this”
“So Mr. Xinsen has decided to grace us with his dickheadness? Oh we are truly blessed.” Sven answered sarcastically, facing the smaller and thinner Xinsen. Xinsen was of light brown hue of skin, having black glasses on with many black spots on his face, presumably something he’s had since birth.
Before Xinsen could formulate a reply, there was a heavy knock at the door, snapping all the scientists’ attention to the door and forgetting their current qualms. The door slowly creaked open, making that sharp sound that rusty hinges make when not properly oiled. Through the door came, no one actually, as if someone had just opened the door but never used it.
As the scientists were trying to process it, they all started to fall. The floor beneath them just disappeared as they plummeted down. As they fell, the way they came shut itself, and so they were surrounded in thick darkness, slowly drifting away from each other as the shouting and screaming died out, swallowed by the cold shadow.
James awoke slowly, feeling incredibly groggy and stiff in his body. How long had he fallen? He didn’t know, he had however landed on an incredibly soft material, which cushioned his long fall. In fact, it reminded him of his mothers lap. During the days when he would come home from school after he had been bullied, he would rest his head on his mothers lap to comfort himself.
He quietly got himself up from his comfortable position and looked around, he seemed to be in a barely lit room, the only light being focused on him, anything else that could be in the room was shrouded in darkness. He couldn’t even see the wall, so he wondered where he was in the room, since it seemed he wasn’t by the edges of it. Looking back at where he had sat, the soft thing he lay on was Jeff. He was also asleep, the only sound in the room was James’ and Jeff’s breaths.
James quickly got down on his knees and started to shake Jeff violently in hope of waking him up. Jeff woke up immediately and stood up in an instant, breathing fast and heavily and his eyes filled with terror, as if he just woke up from a nightmare. Jeff getting up so fast startled James and he fell down with his back on the floor.
“What happened?” Jeff asked, barely able to get his words through his heavy breathes.
“T-the floor below us opened and we fell down here. I don’t know where everyone else is.” James replied quickly, stuttering with his words as a reaction to the tense atmosphere.
“And where is here then?” Jeff asked loudly, and as if by queue, the lights snapped on, revealing the whole room. The room was filled with seemingly unending rows and columns of huge tanks, filled with strange creatures and a red colored liquid, the creatures just gently floating within their tanks. The creatures had all different shapes and forms, some looked like humans with large trunks, some looked like over-sized scorpions with a snake like head instead of a tail and arms of humans instead of pincers, all looked like the creations of some sort of vile experiments. Just the way they looked was horrifying enough, but some of them actually started to twitch and move inside their tanks as they seemingly started to stir.
Jeff and James slowly backed away from the tanks in terror, only to bump into something, they turned around, and right in front of them was just one giant unblinking eye staring at them. You could see the veins in the eyes, it was a large brown eye, staring right into their souls. They fell back to the ground in fear, grabbing each other and holding each other close. James was close to tears, grabbing tighter to Jeff who just stared in awe and fear of it all. Both of them sat there in silence as all the eyes and otherwise slowly faced towards them.
Then the silence broke with a muffled scream, both men faced the sound and got up.
“Should we go check it out?” Whispered Jeff to James, as he tried to hide his face from all the abominations staring at them. James didn’t answer, just continued to cry. Jeff patted the smaller James like a child and held onto him as they slowly walked towards the scream, with the monsters tracking them.
They walked for a while until they seemingly reached the source of the screaming, and what they saw was quite an unpleasant surprise. It was Sven, he was stuck in one of the tanks, hitting the walls of his prison and screaming. James immediately snapped out of his fear and tried to break the walls as well, to free his friend from his possible doom. Sven turned and faced James and a huge smile grew behind his oxygen mask. But before Sven could do anything to show his appreciation however he saw something that scared him. He started to shout.
“Get out of here! Run! He’s coming for you!” He shouted at the top of his lungs, hitting the walls even harder and with more ferocity than before. James was so confused, he didn’t understand what his friend was trying to say but he continued to try to open the tank. But then the screams came back.
James fell back in surprise of the scream and looked upon his friend, Sven screamed louder and louder. Then a loud crack was heard. Sven’s body started to move in violently grotesque ways as more cracking noises came, in sync with the movements.
Sven’s head started to grow and grow like a balloon, the screams only continuing its ascent in volume, the skin on him started to rip from the expansion. His head exploded, red gore and body parts covered the see-through walls, making it impossible to see through. James just continued to stare at this terrifyingly disgusting scene, tears trickling down his eyes.
After a while, the blood-curdling screams stopped, and silence resumed. Slowly, James got up from the ground and approached the tank. He slowly inspected it, trying to understand what happened, but as he got close to the glass, a face popped out of the red water and crashed into the wall, sending James to the ground again. This however looked like no face that James has ever seen, it was if someone had morphed the head of a human into a spiky worm head with a massive mouth at the tip with razor sharp teeth. The head attempted to break the glass by biting it, but couldn’t get its teeth stuck in the glass to break it. Yet it continued its futile attempts to escape its prison, scraping the walls with its honed teeth.
James just broke down, slamming his fist into the ground. It hurt so much, but he didn’t care, he just watched someone he knew barely a few minutes ago die violently in front of him. A warm hand grabbed him by the shoulder and comforted him.
“Shh, its okay. I’m here for you.” It was Jeff; James felt cold tears fall onto his head as Jeff hugged him with his arms, shushing James so he would stop sobbing. “We can’t stop here, we have to continue onwards. He is beyond our help.”
James nodded, as the worm headed monster continued its attack on the walls of its confinement. Jeff got James up slowly, comforting him the whole time, as they started to walk towards a door on the far side of the room.
As they went through the doorway, they entered a long and dark hallway, with the only light coming from behind them and in a room right on the other side of the hallways. The two decided to just continue to the other room, instead of exploring in complete darkness. They swiftly sprinted to the other side, both in fear of whatever may rest in the darkness.
They entered the light into another room, this room was painted black, the materials of the wall sticking out with the texture of some crude metal. It was a unwelcoming room to say the least, the parts that sticked out looked like the teeth of a huge beast’s mouth. Nevertheless, our two hero’s continued onwards, through the mouth of the beast so to say.
After a while of walking, they approached a large vat of a red liquid, possibly the same liquid as before.
“What is with all this red liquid? What is it used for?” James asked, drying some of his tears and calming himself, now he understood that he and Jeff has to get to the bottom of this.
“I don’t know, we’ll find it out, James. Together” Jeff answered with a stern but soothing voice. They both smiled to each other and continued. As they reached the edge of the huge vat, they noticed that there was a big platform overlooking the vat. There they also saw some sort of person, stuck to a chair? They couldn’t quite see, but both knew sub-consciously that they had to investigate. So without discussing it, they both continued onward.
It was a steep walk up to the platform, as there was a huge ramp up towards it. They continued through this obstacle and reached the platform. There they saw that the chair was right on the edge of the platform, and that there was indeed someone sitting on it. They cautiously approached with complete silence in movement and in speech. They quickly jumped in front of it and saw who it was.
It was Xinseng. He was tightly restrained to that chair, with silver tape all over his mouth. James was overjoyed to see another of them, and quickly got to getting the restraints off. Jeff immediately followed in James steps. Initially Xinseng was relieved, to see someone, but then he saw something else. He started to shake himself violently, in an attempt to get the restraints off.
However, as the two friends attempted to take off the restraints, the sound of mechanical whirring sounded as the chair started to move forward. James couldn’t let another die, and used all his strength and energy to pull Xinseng back. Jeff did the same, but it was all for naught, as the chair started to tip over the platform to the huge vat. It released the restraints, and Xinseng fell quickly down into the water, unable to let out his screams.
James started to bawl again, knowing he failed again to save a person, but again Jeff was there with his hand and started to lift James up. But this time, Jeff let go of James.
“Good night, sweet prince.” Jeff whispered as he pushed James.
Devour - Doors Collab
Spoiler for Doors Collab :^):
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I stopped being afraid of the dark a long time ago.
A younger me would have needed to turn on the lights when he went down for a glass of water, not really knowing why he feared the darkness. Now that I'm older and wiser, I comfortably do without. I did it right now, staring blankly into shadows that some small part of me still feared. It told me that there could be predators lurking out of my sight. It worried that nameless things could be around every corner, waiting to eat me.
I yawned as an image of some clawed specter filled my mind. It whispered, “what if it's right behind you?”
I'd conquered this fear by facing it. I knew there was no such thing as ghosts. No such thing as monsters. No such thing as anything that the primal part of my mind was still afraid of. When it screamed to me, dreadfully afraid that an imagined beast would tear me to pieces if I didn't leave the darkness right now... I always turned around and faced it. Nothing was ever there. Nothing ever will be there. It's just not the way the world works.
I turned around now.
But this time, there was something there. And it reached out and touched me.
I didn't strike out or scream as I saw its gnarled face. I didn't bolt for cover, and if I did it probably wouldn't have mattered anyways. This being was wrapped in a cloak, formless and solid at the same time, sinking into the darkness so purely that it may as well have been the darkness itself. How do you run from something that encompasses the entire world around you?
Instead I stood still, terrified, violated in the most dreadful sense of the word as the safety of my own home could no longer protect me. I watched as a bony arm emerged from its darkness with a key in hand, holding it with endless patience as empty eyes stared into my soul, feasting on it.
“Six trials you must overcome if you wish to be free. Each one harder than the last.” Its whisper was a tortured sound. “Six keys you must acquire, six doors you must unlock. The darkness will follow you, and the darkness is where I lurk. If you allow the darkness to consume you... So will I.” The hand shot out. Bony fingers as cold as ice clasped around my palm and forced my fingers closed around his gift.
Contact snapped me from my trance. I suddenly screamed, lurching for a light switch as if that creature was some imagined monster that I could scare away into non-existence. It flipped with a click and filled the room with blessed light. I quickly whirled back around...
And the demon was gone. But in the next room over where it was still dark, every primal part of me screamed that something was there, waiting for me. It screamed at every shadow and every pocket of where the darkness was. Where the monster was.
And in my hand its key was still there, shining blue in the light, still cold enough to hurt the skin at its touch. I knew that what had just transpired was real.
I glanced around me, breathing hard, trying to figure out what to do. My daughter Jessica was sleeping somewhere upstairs, and for the first time I thanked God and every being in the sky that she slept with a night light for comfort.
On the other end of the room, though, was my front door.
The number 1 was painted neatly on its face.
Six trials you must overcome. I remembered. But why? So that the monster wouldn't eat me? Did I need to do these trials and I'd be safe again? What was that monster? Why was this happening? Why?
The lights flickered. I realized at once that if they shorted out for any reason that the creature would be upon me before I even realized what happened. I swallowed my fear, snapping my frozen body into motion as I stuck that cold blue key into my own front door. When I turned the knob, it swung the wrong way out.
The room beyond it was not the outside world.
I stepped into a well-lit kitchen. Knives were hung along the walls. Along the racks. They sat in a heap in the kitchen sink, so full that the slightest jostle threatened to send the pile spilling out and into the foot of whoever stood nearby. There were no windows, but somehow this room felt like it was the only room in the entire universe. I could not imagine what could be outside these walls.
Opposite to me was another door, and this one had a simple orange “2” on it.
There was a drawer next to the kitchen sink which had a handle made into the shape of a “2.” I could only imagine that meant the next key was inside. Only one way to find out.
I stepped lightly, eyes fixed to the teetering pile of knives as I gently pulled the wooden drawer open, and I saw I was right. A dark red key waited for me in the same shape as the one before.
Uneasy, I shut the drawer.
Knives spilled suddenly, pouring down from the sink in a startling clatter of blades. It was a flood of banging metal that hurt my ears, raining down in an endless torrent that threatened to cover the floor with their razor-sharp edges. I yelped, watching where I put my bare feet as I scurried to the exit, jamming the key in its place and quickly disappearing behind its face as the knives continued to flood the room.
Room three was dimly-lit just one candle, and it was mostly empty. My instincts screamed at every shadow and I could feel the demon's presence within them like a physical pressure. There were windows which provided no view except a black abyss, so dark that I could not tear my eyes away from its maw.
Until I saw the monster staring right back at me. Smiling.
It was here. It was waiting. It followed. Should the candles here be snuffed out by wind or luck, I knew that it would be upon me and it was excited to the point of ecstasy to have that chance.
The key to the third room was on the ground at my feet, and I tore my eyes away from the windows to take it. The door to the next trial was simply on the other side of the room... but there was a problem. That candle that lit this room sat in the center affixed to the ground. Next to the door was a hinged pillar with a bowl at the end, and I could see that if I opened the door, no matter how little, the hinge would be bumped and fall and snuff out the candle. The room would be filled with darkness. The room would be filled with the demon's presence.
I looked down to the key in my hand and saw that I was shaking uncontrollably. This experience was horrible; unreal and entirely too real at the very same time. I wanted to believe I was dreaming, but I could feel every detail from the pounding of my heart to the grains of the wood beneath my toes. Something about the darkness scared me in a way I had never felt before and for the first time since childhood, I wanted to curl up and cry.
Instead, I made myself take a step forward. I had to be strong for more than just myself. My daughter was not going to wake up to an empty home.
Even if I held the pillar up so it wouldn't fall, I knew I couldn't fit through the door without it clamping its bowl over the flame and snuffing it out either way. My only option was to go as fast as I could. The key unlocked door number three easily. Light spilled in from the other side as I peeked through the crack, and with a surge of willpower I yanked the door back.
I was halfway through when the candle choked out, and a horrible roar core screamed back from the darkness behind. My blood froze to ice and my limbs turned to jelly as I felt something surge towards me, ravenous. I barely slipped through the opening before an unstoppable weight slammed it closed again, banging furiously against the slim wooden barrier between me and certain death. But the light was too heavy for even the demon to push back against. It was screaming and howling and it sounded like the wails of a million tortured souls.
The pounding stopped, but the screaming went on. And on. And on.
Eventually I realized that the screams were coming from behind me.
Room three was built into a rocky cliff, raised above an endless abyss. From the darkness below came the wailing cries that twisted my heart with its every echo. Down there was something horrible and beyond comprehension. It wasn't Hell, I think. That would be too easy. These were the ones who had been swallowed by the darkness. Swallowed by the monster. The demon. It was the fate that awaited me should I fail; to be trapped in oblivion for eternity as I screamed and screamed and screamed.
From the wall behind me, a door with a silver four on its face sat a meter or two to the left. To my right was a rickety bridge that swayed and creaked in the wind. Across the bridge was a display shaped like a 4, and on the display was a bowl. I guessed it was there where I'd find the key to my next trial.
The bridge and its height wasn't what scared me as I crossed it. It was looking down into the black sea below and trying to imagine what was there that rattled me. How many people had been taken by that horrible creature? Would there ever be an escape from this place? How many thousands or millions or billions of years would they have to endure this torment before death released them?
When I took the key, it almost fell from my shaking grip and into the abyss. White hot fear burned my veins before relief extinguished their fires, and I held that key to my heart as I slowly made my way back across.
It was hard not to let the screaming get to me, but I knew those people would not want me to join them down there. I knew that I needed to press on.
The screams dissipated the moment I stepped through and closed room four's entrance behind me. But even though they were silenced, I knew they were still there. Countless people still suffered, and I would never be able to forget that. Even if I survived this, the knowledge of their eternal agony would haunt my sleep for the rest of my life.
Room four was much different than the last. Before me was a long hallway lit by fluorescent lights, stretching on for about half the length of a football field. I could see a white door at the end with a barely-visible “5” in its center. Right next to me was a table, and on the table was a key with a bright green sticky-note attached. I picked it up, frowning, turning it around so that I could read the text inscribed on the note.
“Run.” It read.
What? I looked behind me to find that the door had vanished, and so had the walls. The hallway instead stretched on forever, closing in to a single point as the corners and lights shrunk to a single point in my vision somewhere in the distance.
And then with a very distinct noise, the lights began to shatter one-by-one.
I yelped, holding the key tight in my grip as I sprinted towards the door ahead, racing against the darkness that closed in from behind. With every passing the second the sounds of shattering glass intensified, coming closer faster and faster. I could feel the monster's hunger and excitement as it roared towards me.
I slammed into the fifth door, shaking so badly that I couldn't get the key into the knob as I cried and whimpered until some stroke of mercy slipped it in with a click. I didn't look behind me as the darkness screamed closer. I didn't see how close I had come to a fate worse than death when I dove through door 5 and it slammed shut behind me.
“Daddy?”
Suddenly I was in my daughter's room. My ragged breathing was hard and loud in the closed confines. My nerves were jangling so bad that I looked into Jessica's face in the dim glow of her night-light, and for a second I saw the demon staring back at me. It was enough to make me flinch back, until I realized that it was just her.
“Jessica!” I cried. “Are you alright? Are you safe?” I scrambled to my feet, holding the eight-year-old girl's concerned face to make sure she was really there, that she was really okay.
“What's going on? You look so scared.” She allowed my touch for one last second before uncomfortably pushing my hands away. I acquiesced.
“I... Nothing's going on.” I gasped after a moment of deliberation. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Wanted to come up and say that I loved you.”
“Well... Love you too, Dad.” My lie was pathetic and it showed, but for now that didn't matter. I would explain everything once I knew everything was okay again. I just needed to find...
I turned around, and saw that the bright-pink door of Jessica's bedroom was plastered with a wet, bloodstreaked 6.
The next door.
Looking back to Jessica, my eye caught the glint of a small piece of metal on her bedside table. It was an ornate key. My daughter followed my gaze, gasping in startled surprise as she quickly snatched the key from its spot, hiding it behind her back.
“Where did you get that key?” I demanded. I was more frightened at the prospect of the demon finding her than I was confused by her need to hide it.
“What key?” She lied.
“The key you have behind your back, Jessica. Who gave you it?”
“Nobody gave me it! I don't even have a key!” Her lie was even flimsier than mine, but something was wrong here. Jessica wasn't a liar, and even stranger was her reluctance to fess up when she knew that I knew she lying. The girl sounded genuinely terrified by me finding out about that key.
“Listen to me, Jessy...” I breathed, trying to be calm for the both of us. “Daddy is in a lot of trouble. I need your key to get through this door. If I can't make it through to the end, then a monster is going to eat me alive.”
“But I don't have a key!” She cried out once again. My explanation was forgotten.
“Why are your hands behind your back then, huh?” I tried not to raise my voice, but I was frustrated and scared. I took a step closer.
After a second of fidgeting, her hands were outstretched towards me, empty of any key. It was obviously underneath her now. “I don't have a key! See?!” My stubborn girl was not going to listen to me, but if I needed that key if I wanted to survive. I would apologize later.
Before she could react, I struck my hands out to grasp Jessica's arms and yank her from the bed and off of that key. But as soon as I gripped her, the girl let out a bloodcurdling scream so horrible that I flinched back and fell to the ground.
“Please don't take my key, Daddy.” Jessica was crying now. “Please.”
“What am I supposed to do then?!” I cried, dumbfounded. Something was definitely, horribly wrong. The glow of my daughter's night-light was darker. More sinister. Jessica's face was pale and gaunt in its glow.
“Please.” She repeated again and again. “Please, please, please, please, please.”
“Jessica...” I was disturbed. I felt like my sanity itself was being worn thin. “You're not real, are you? This is just the fifth room's trial. It has to be. If Jessica had a key... she wouldn't have made it through the fourth room.”
“What do you mean? I'm Jessica! I am!” The girl stood up onto her feet. Her eyes had become empty black pools, reflecting none of the room's meager light. I took a step closer.
Her mouth became lined with fangs and her hair became wild. Black ichor dripped from her eyes and from her ears as her cries became more and more warped and distorted. “I'm Jessica! I AM! I AM!”
This time when I grabbed her, the creature that called herself Jessica howled and began to claw at me with her nails, gouging scarlet lines into my flesh as her screams shook the room itself. I gave a mighty shove that sent her flying, wailing, and she hit the ground with a sickly crunch, landing head-first and jamming her neck at a grotesque angle behind her shoulders. Even though it wasn't truly my daughter, the sight of it was enough to make me heave. I barely avoided vomiting onto the floor.
The key to room six was still on the soft white sheets of Jessica's bed, warm from the heat of her body. I forced myself to not look back as I took it, and I stumbled out and into the maw of whatever waited for me in room six.
It looked like I was back in the second room again. Only now, the candle in the middle was a stump of its former self, flickering weakly in a puddle that dripped over the edge and splattered onto the floor. The hinged bowl by the door on the other end was gone, and in the windows...
I glanced out once and immediately wished I hadn't. The shadow demon's white face was pressed hard against the glass, straining against the weight of the dying candle's light. It wanted in so badly that I could feel its desperation. Its smile filled the entire glass frame and seared itself into my nightmares forever.
Besides the candle, room six was empty except for a knife stabbed tip-first into the wooden boards, handle up and facing directly towards me. I couldn't see a key anywhere, nor a hint of where it might be found. Dread sank deep into my stomach. That stump of a candle would not last for long at all.
Something else came from my stomach without warning; a sharp, sudden pain that stabbed without mercy. I cried out, lifting my shirt before what I saw caused me to scream with the sock of it. What I saw showed me the trial that was room six.
The letter 6 was painted onto my stomach.
The key to escape was inside my gut.
The knife, razor sharp, gleamed in the dying light.
This dilemma had an obvious answer, but it was almost impossible to accept. What I'd have to do and what I'd have to endure made my mind shy away from thinking it as if I'd touched a red-hot stove. I didn't want to do this. I couldn't.
My eyes drifted back to the demon that thirsted for me outside the windows. I remembered the pit of wailing souls where it would leave me, tossed away after tearing me to pieces like a dinner of chicken thrown into the trash.
I remembered my daughter—my real daughter, still asleep back at home, totally unaware that anything was wrong in the world. She thought she would wake up tomorrow to the smell of pancakes and bacon and eggs. I would ask her about school and she'd tell me how they played in the gym and sat beneath a wonderful rainbow cloth that somehow stayed afloat. She'd tell me about the bullies, the teachers, her dream to be a doctor. She'd tell me how she missed Mom. She thought that everything was going to be okay in the world.
My fear. My revulsion. My dread... For Jessica, I put it aside.
I picked the knife up from the ground.
I wanted to look away or at least close my eyes, but I had to make sure I was accurate as I lined the blade against my skin. Every iota of pressure placed on the knife towards my body was like lifting a mountain, going against every instinct and desire I had.
The softness of the skin gave way rather than penetrating for a long time, before a final horrible push plunged the knife deep inside my body. I wasn't expecting it, and I did not expect the sudden roiling sickness that overcame me and had me retching onto the floor. It was worse than anything I had felt before. Blood began to pool onto the ground. Even worse than the awful sensation though, was knowing that I still had to do more.
Whimpering, I shifted the knife again and lengthened the incision, worsening the pain. The image of seeing Jessica's face again was the only thing that kept me together as I cried out and gave one final yank against the knife. I accidentally pulled it too hard and cut even more than I wanted to, but it was too late for that to matter. The knife slid back out with fire behind every inch... and then came the worst part of all. I reached my hand inside of myself.
Vomiting had left my stomach empty except for the key, and I found it in the heat of my insides with merciful quickness. Grasping it formed my hand into a fist, and I had to tear the skin as I removed my hand from my body, screaming in agony, but overcome with relief and the knowledge that the worst was over. Blood was pouring from my wound as I stumbled towards the exit to room six. Towards escape from this sadistic demon's hell. The key seemed to be pushing back against me as I forced it into its slot, and with a final reluctant twist it finally opened. Blinding white light shone in through the other side, bathing me in gentle radiance. I stepped through the light and closed the door behind me before my strength finally faded, and I fell to the ground as all went dark.
___________________________________
I woke up in my bed.
My eyes flew open and adrenaline flooded my veins as some primal part of me screamed to fight and run away. My hand flew to my stomach... and felt nothing but smooth skin. My wound was gone.
I fought to calm down as my heart pounded against my ears, ice slowly thawing from my veins. I wanted to throw myself out of my bed and run to Jessica's room to make sure everything was okay. But with herculean strength, I made myself climb to my feet slowly.
The clock on my bedside table read 10 PM. If I was lucky, she might still be awake.
Every light in my path was flicked on without prejudice as I walked unsteady to my daughter's room. I knocked once on her bright-pink door and carefully stuck my head in, feeling a flood of relief that nearly made me fall to my knees as I saw her sleeping safely under the covers.
“Hey, Jess... Are you awake?” I whispered. The mound beneath the blankets moved until my little girl gazed up to me with bleary green eyes.
“Mmmm? I'm still awake...” She rubbed those eyes and sat up a bit in her bed.
“Is anything important happening at school tomorrow?”
“Not really...” A bit of life came into her voice as she wondered what I meant by that.
“Well, what if I said we should just stay home tomorrow? We could stay up late and watch TV together. How do you think of that?”
The tired girl's eyes beamed. I wanted so badly to run up and embrace her and cherish that I was still alive to see her, but I didn't want Jess to be worried by how shaken-up I still was. Instead I made myself smile as she definitively flew from the covers, and it was her who ran up and embraced me. I bent down and scooped her up, hugging as hard as I dared, hiding tears of joy and relief that I had ever lived to hold her once again.
I didn't let her go as I carried her down the stairs and into the kitchen, where we fixed a bowl of ice cream for the two of us to share while she squealed with delight, and it was only hours later after the end of the fifth episode of Jessica's favorite show that I realized she had fallen asleep against me. Rubbing the sleep my own two eyes, I brushed the hair out of my daughter's face to kiss her goodnight.
And then I stopped. Choked. The entire world around me came crashing down.
The number seven was on Jessica's forehead.