Hellingly

Alex couldn’t relax, and he was annoyed. He felt a little stupid, but as much as he tried to put it out of his mind, he had to admit that the strange photographer had severely unnerved him. Alex found himself constantly looking over his shoulder, wondering if he would spot him again. This was something Alex had never done before – he had never felt the need to keep looking behind him, unless he heard something or it was dark. Of course, when it was dark, it was only natural that he would be a little unnerved.

As he walked around, trying to relax and not let the strange photographer get to him, he remembered the strange footage he had seen earlier. The way the photographer’s face had always been blurred was certainly strange, and Alex was finding it difficult to find any sort of rational explanation for it.

Alex stopped and sighed. As frustrating as it was, he had to admit that he wasn’t feeling it today. He was just going to have to head home, and come back another day, when the strange man wasn’t wandering around. Turning back, Alex walked sup the decaying corridor, looking at the way the paint bubbled and peeled off of the walls, seeing the streaks that came down from the rainwater leaking through the holes in the ceiling. Sometimes, when the wind was right, one could smell the slight hint of smoke, left over from the many arson fires that had destroyed some parts of the building.

Turning the corner, Alex spotted the photographer again. This time, however, something was different. The strange man was standing unnaturally still, facing Alex as though he had been expecting him. Alex froze, suddenly not wanting to go any closer, feeling the instinctive warning that something was dangerous, that something wasn’t right. Looking at the man, Alex noticed that his clothes were a lot dirtier than he remembered. The sleeves of his jacket were frayed and scuffed, mud streaked up one, and, to Alex’s horror, blood appeared to be staining the elbow of the man’s right arm.

"Are you ... OK?" Alex asked nervously, nodding to the man’s arm. The man took a second to reply, as though there was some sort of satellite delay that Alex sometimes saw on the news. When he did speak, he seemed to dismiss Alex’s question.

"My name is Adrian Mathers," Adrian said, and there was a slight hint of desperation in his voice. "You don’t forget that, all right?"

Alex glanced around him, subconsciously planning escape routes. There was definitely something wrong with Adrian. Alex got the feeling he was mentally unstable, or something along those lines.

"All right?" Alex asked uncertainly, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. He didn’t even feel disappointed about having to leave early now – he just wanted to run back to the safety of his car and get out of there.

"Your friend saw me," Adrian stated bluntly, and Alex noticed that the other man seemed to have moved closer. He was too scared to take a step back for fear that it would be too obvious, and provoke the unstable Adrian into something that they would both regret.

"My friend?" Alex repeated.

"The guy with the video camera," Adrian replied. "I saw you talking to him."

Alex was unnerved. How long had this guy been watching him?

"Yeah?" Alex asked. "He always records around here. Why do you sound so annoyed?"

"He left," Adrian said, his voice rising a little. "He left me here. You all leave me here."

“Dude," Alex said, acting on his instincts and taking a step back before he could stop himself. "Of course we do. What? You want someone to stay here all the time with you or something?"

"You don’t understand," Adrian hissed dangerously. "None of you understand. You want to understand?"

"Not really," Alex said, but he knew instantly that he would regret it.

"None of you do," Adrian said softly. Alex saw something in the man’s eyes at that moment, and he realised that he was now officially in trouble.

"Come on, man," Alex said nervously. "What’s wrong? I mean, no offence, but you’re sort of freaking me out. Don’t let this place get to your head."

"It didn’t get to my head," Adrian replied. "It got to someone else’s head. Do you know what it’s like to be here for so long and have no one know where you are? Do you?"

"Well, why don’t you leave?" Alex asked. "I mean, nothing keeps people here. Sure, it keeps me coming back, but it’s not hard to just hop out of a window and head home."

"See," Adrian muttered, shaking his head. "You’re an idiot. You just don’t get it."

"Then explain," Alex demanded, beginning to grow a little indignant. "Go on. If you’re so sure that you can’t even climb out of a bloody window, you tell me why. It’s all very well accusing me of not understanding, but if you’re not going to bother your arse to explain, you can’t really blame me, can you?"

"Oh, I’ll explain," Adrian replied, and there was no denying the anger in his voice now. "Perhaps I should have explained to you friend as well, eh?"

"What the Hell is wrong with you?" Alex suddenly burst out. "You really need to get out of here and get some help, man."

"It’s too late for me to get help now," Adrian said bluntly, and then he smirked. Alex froze for a second, before deciding that he would rather draw attention to his fear by running for it than stay with this weird man for another second. However, before Alex could jump back and run, Adrian moved. Alex didn’t have a chance to react before he was suddenly knocked to the floor, and as he landed he felt a searing pain shoot up his left side. He gasped, wondering what he could have landed on that would cause such excruciating agony.

"It didn’t get to my head," Adrian repeated, leaning right up close to Alex’s face. Alex could feel the man’s breath on him as he spoke, and it was ice cold. “You’ll see what I mean.”

As Adrian stood up, stepping over Alex to walk away, Alex noticed that he was bleeding. He forced himself up slightly so he could see his side, and pulled at his T-shirt to see a huge gash was there. He froze in shock for a second, wondering how he could have possibly done that just by falling backwards, and it was then that he noticed the bloody knife Adrian was holding in his hand. Alex looked up the other man, shock and confusion evident in his face.

"What the Hell?" Alex asked, but Adrian didn’t reply. Instead, he gave a small shrug, and walked away.

Alex must have passed out. It was the only rational explanation he could think of as he suddenly became aware that it was now pitch black and incredibly cold. He forced himself into a sitting position, realising as he did so that he wasn’t in as much pain as he had been beforehand. Instead of a stabbing pain, it was now more of a dull ache. He fumbled in his jacket pocket, finally locating the small torch he always kept on him in case of situations like this. Of course, he never anticipated he would be attacked and stabbed, but he had considered the possibility of something falling and injuring him and being knocked unconscious, waking when it was dark. As he flicked the torch on and its bright light lit up the corridor, he thanked God he had decided to bring it with him.

First thing was first – Alex had to assess how badly he was injured and if he needed to stem the bleeding. He was surprised at how calm he was keeping as he gently moved his T-shirt up to see where the ache was coming from, but his calm attitude didn’t last when he saw what was there. He had been expecting a large cut, probably a little on the gory side, and he was prepared for that. What he wasn’t prepared for, however, was for there to be nothing there. Absolutely nothing. The skin there was smooth and unbroken, and although Alex could still feel the aching pain, he could see no injury – no sign of the huge gash he remembered from earlier.

Alex scrambled to his feet, his heart thumping, and swept the torch across the filthy floor. There was no blood.

"What the –" Alex muttered, and for the first time in his entire career of exploring abandoned places, he felt true fear. He needed to get out of this place, but never had he been in Hellingly when it had been this dark before. He was going to have to be careful – the floor or ceiling could give way, or even worse, he could meet his strange attacker again.

If that ever happened, a voice in Alex’s head told him, but Alex shook it out. He refused to believe he had hallucinated the whole thing. He couldn’t have – the cameraman had seen him too, and Alex knew that man existed. He had spoken to him before, after all. However, there was time to worry about that later. Right now, Alex just wanted to get out of this place, before he started to worry about what the Hell had just happened.

It took him a little longer to find his way back, even though he knew that he hadn’t strayed too far from the window he had entered through. He guessed he was disorientated, as he was finding it hard to work out his lefts and rights and his head was spinning slightly. Never before had he been so frightened or confused, and it was a relief when he finally tumbled out of the window, landing in a disgruntled heap in the weeds below. He sat there for a few seconds, gasping, before he stumbled to his feet and hurried to his car. As confused as he was, he knew as he began driving that he was going to have to report what had happened to the police. Either there was some crazy guy running around the place with a knife, or there was an equally crazy guy playing cruel tricks on people in that place.

It was another decision Alex would regret. He realised this as soon as he entered the warmth of the police station in the small nearby village. He was shivering, and he noticed his clothes were filthy. As the person behind the desk noticed him and looked naturally concerned, Alex noticed something behind the desk which concerned him. For a second, he could barely believe it. It was a missing poster, and as he moved closer, Alex saw that it was his attacker.

"Can I help you, sir?" the officer behind the desk asked, sounding slightly worried, and Alex looked at him with wide eyes.

"That guy," he muttered, pointing to the poster. "He’s not called Adrian Mathers, is he?"

"Yes, he is," the officer replied, looking at Alex closely. "Do you have information on him?"

"You’re not going to believe this," Alex muttered. "But he appears to be running around the old mental asylum attacking people."

Something wasn’t sitting right, and Alex noticed this in the air. He didn’t know what was going on, but he knew it couldn’t be good. He collapsed down in a nearby chair and sighed. He was in it until the end now.