From Darkness Comes Insanity

The room was pitch black, and the musk in the air was nearly palpable. Dripping water echoed throughout the corridor, leaving the dank halls silent between drops. The floors were made with a worn tile that was once a welcoming white, but over the years had become a dirty gray. The ceiling was littered with cracks, unknown bugs constantly crawling in and out of their crevices. A chill ran through the building, leaving it cold and unwelcoming.

As if the building itself wasn't ominous enough, the entire place had an eerie feel to it. It was the kind of place where you were scared to turn the corner, and you always kept your back to a wall. The creaks and moans of the building were nothing like that of an old house where a couple sat around a crackling fire. They were signs of someone else lurking in the darkness besides yourself.

It is here where she awoke. Splayed near the south wall was an unconscious girl. Her blond hair was scattered across the tile, matted with dirt and knots. A lone bug scampered across her pale cheek, burrowing somewhere in her nest of hair. Dried blood was caked along the side of her face, the wound that it came from still pulsating. The girls fingers twitched and scraped against the floor.

Her hand lifted from the floor to dab at the area around her head wound. She winced back from her hand, leaving the gouged portion of her head alone. Her eyes fluttered open one by one, then closed once more. They did this for several minutes until she finally awoke. She remained on the floor as her eyes adjusted. The only sound in the building was her shallow breaths and the echo made from dripping water.

Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she sat up, steadying herself against the wall with one hand. She brushed her knotted hair out of her face and quickly scanned her surroundings. In the corner sat a bed with moth holes in the comforter, revealing the yellow moldy mattress. A door sat directly in front of her. The single window in the top middle of the door was bashed out, leaving jagged pieces of glass remaining around the frame.

Her head was pounding with pain - both a headache and a byproduct of the head wound. She rubbed her eyes sleepily, even though her building adrenaline had her wide awake. Amelia pushed off from the ground using both hands and clung desperately to the holes in the wall. She stood there for a moment, trying to clear the black that was closing in on her vision. The new world she was in was blurring in and out. Her legs threatened to give out at any second. She wobbled over to the bed and plopped down on the lumpy mattress, cradling her head in both arms.

Amelia laid there for a lengthy period of time. Maybe 10 minutes, maybe 40. Time seemed to cease as she aimlessly traced the cracks in the ceiling with her eyes. Her head eventually numbed itself, and the blood stopped gushing out of the wound. For the second time, she made an attempt to stand. She clumsily swung her legs over the side of the bed, and placed a hand on the metal rod protruding from the corner of the bed. The frame creaked under her weight as she pushed herself up. She swayed on her feet, but made sure to keep a tight grip on the bed frame. After standing for several minutes, she hesitantly released the frame and took a step forward. Her weight shifted awkwardly under her legs, but she decided that this was as stable as she was going to get. She proceeded to find whatever lurked behind the rotting door.

Once she stepped out into the pitch black hall, she began to realize that she was in an unfamiliar and abandoned building, alone and abducted. Fear crept into her head as she turned and scanned the darkness in front of her. Shadows seemed to move, and the creaks and moans no longer seemed like the building breathing. She let the door behind her drift to a close, cursing under her breath when it made an obnoxiously loud whining noise. Three corridors were laid out; one stretching forward, one left, and one right. Each one appeared to be an eternal stretch of darkness, full of unknown beings that could pop out and take her by surprise at any moment.

She took a deep breath and took another step into the darkness, carefully examining each hallway as if it might change at any moment. Panic crept into her throat when her eyes wouldn't adjust to the darkness. The blackness that filled the hallway seemed to be strangling her. Amelia had never been claustrophobic, but it felt as if the black was engulfing her completely. She knew that she needed to leave soon, before she was too panicked to do anything.

She wiped away a tear that managed to slip down her cheek. Even though she was trying to calm her frantic mind, her heart kept accelerating at the sight of nothing. Paranoia clung to her. Her palms started to sweat and her breath became labored and heavy. A sheen of sweat coated her forehead; the room was uncomfortably warm for winter. Her head felt woozy, and it wasn't entirely due to the head wound.

The thought of why she was there or how she had even gotten there was now only a lingering question in the back of her mind. The only thing Amelia could think about was the darkness - and how she had to walk straight into it. She balled her hands up into fists until the knuckles were white. She tried to slow her breathing, but knew she was only delaying the inevitable. Panic gripped her muscles, locking them into place. She willed her legs to move, but they seemed to be paralyzed. Her stomach turned as she stared into the darkness surrounding her. Finally, she forced one leg forward, immediately regretting it.

A pair of footsteps echoed down the right hallway. She spun around, looking for anything she might be able to see. Her eyes scanned the darkness, finding nothing. Her hands started to shake, and a scream rose up into her throat. The feeling of something watching her made the small hairs on her neck stand up. Her throat felt too tight for comfort.

Her breath was shaky now, and she could feel the hot tears streaming down her dirty face. “Please, no.” She whispered in an almost tortured tone. A hot breath washed over her back, sending her sprinting down the hall.

The breath pumped in and out of her lungs. Her legs ached to push her one step further. The only thing she could hear was her hammering heart thudding over and over again in her heaving chest. The corridor seemed to stretch on, but time seemed to slow down. She stopped by the door at the end of the hall and entered it, slamming the door shut behind her. There was no lock, so she dragged a steel bed frame and mattress in front of the door. She threw herself into the farthest corner from the door, curling up into a tiny ball on the dirty tile. Finally, everything that had happened set in. She buried her head in her arms and started sobbing uncontrollably. Her head burned when it made contact with her arm, but she made no effort to move, terrified of everything that was lurking outside of her corner. The adrenaline kept her heart pumping faster then it should have been. Her throat ached for water, but there was none to be found. Every instinct in her body told her to get up and run, but cold, harsh fear raked through her body, locking her in place.

Amelia was devastated. She didn't know where she was, or how she got there. She didn't have the slightest idea of who would put in her a place like this. She sobbed against her dirty arms, wishing someone else was here to comfort her. She wanted someone to tell her that everything was going to be okay. That she was going to be okay. Her world was crumbling around her. She doubted she would make it out of here alive. The thought brought another round of tears out of her eyes. She screamed out, over and over again, hoping that somehow the situation would be dissolved by her unrelenting wails. She screamed until her throat was raw and begging for water.

This isn't supposed to happen, she thought to herself. Things like this are not supposed to happen in real life. The thought kept running through her head. It was better then thinking about the psychopath that was going to kill her.

Amelia closed her eyes against the tears. She tried to shut out the thoughts racing through her mind and just sit there. It didn't take her long to realize that wasn't going to happen, so she lifted her head slowly, keeping her eyes sealed tight. When she finally opened her eyes, the only thing she saw was the face smiling in the window. The person slammed their hands against the door, evoking a final scream from Amelia. In a panic, she shoved her entire body backwards, slamming her head into the brick. She slumped into the wall and slipped into unconsciousness. The last thing she saw was the man opening the door. He was still smiling.