Comedies and Tragedies

"Come here," Dean said to Zak. "We need to break the legs off this table so we at least have something to beat the shit out of people with."

"What do you mean?" Zak asked.

"Listen, I need you to not ask any stupid questions and just do what I tell you to."

"Don't act like you know what's going on here. You're just trying to act tough because you're a scared little bitch," Zak said as he walked over to the door to leave the room. "There's nobody out here."

As he opened the door, a woman dressed all in black was standing in the doorway, looking down at the floor.

"Jesus! Who the hell are you?" Zak asked. The woman said nothing, just raised her head slowly, looking at him with eyes as dark as the bottom of a well. Looking into her eyes, Zak could feel an overwhelming sense of dread overtake him. His vision slowly faded, making his whole world black, though he was completely conscious. Faintly at first, he heard screaming just before he felt Dean pull him back to the center of the room. Suddenly his vision came back and he noticed the screaming was coming from him.

"What the hell happened to you, dude?" Dean asked him. "You just opened the door and then started screaming."

"Didn't you see her? The woman?"

"What woman? There's nobody there." Zak looked at the doorway and was shocked to see nothing there.

"She was dressed in black period clothes. She was right in front of me, but kind of...not. She seemed to be a little..."

"A little what?" Dean pushed.

"Transparent. As if maybe she wasn't...all there." Zak said the last two words more to himself than to Dean. "Holy shit. I've heard of this place."

"You mean you know where we are?" Dean asked, ready to finally know something useful that might help him get out.

"Not exactly where. I've heard stories from other people about people disappearing and then they show up again two or three weeks later in the middle of nowhere in Kansas. Then they have these stories about being locked in what seems to be an underground warehouse. They talk about having seen what they describe as ghosts or spirits. Of course most everybody dismisses them as being crazy or wanting attention. I had thought the same thing. But here we are."

"Well, since you've heard of this before, you know more about it than I do. So what are we dealing with? Just a haunting to the extreme?" Dean asked.

"I have no idea. Like I said, even I had ignored most of the stories."

"Great. So we still know nothing." Dean went back to the table and snapped one of the legs off. "Whatever it is, I'm killing it and getting out of here."

"Killing it? How do you kill a ghost? Or whatever it is."

"You have a lot to learn, buddy." With strong determination, Dean walked to the door and went right through it. Zak ran after him, not wanting to be left alone after seeing that woman. They walked down the hallway to the only other door and Dean stopped just short of opening it.

"Maybe you should hang back for a second. I don't want you screaming again and letting someone or something know where we are." Zak remembered the feeling he had looking into the woman's eyes, and didn't object to staying behind.

Dean slowly opened the door and peeked inside. He saw a large empty room with seven or eight aisles of empty shelves. The only light came from a single row of fluorescent lights running down the center aisle and the faint glow of a lamp coming from the open doorway of what looked like an office.

"I think it's clear," Dean called back. They walked slowly into the dark room, heading towards the office. Suddenly, they saw a black shadow dart quickly by them in the next aisle over. Dean turned quickly, wielding his makeshift club, ready to swing at anything. Then the shadow swooped past in the next aisle over.

"If only I had a camera, everyone would see that I'm right," Zak mumbled under his breath, trying to hide his fear. Dean, however, could tell just how scared he was.

"Let's just run to the office as quickly as possible and we'll see if there's anything we can use in there. On my mark, run as fast as you can, and don't look back. Ready? Now!" They ran to the office, a large black shadow following them just inches behind. They dove into the room, just as an enormous black hand reached to grab Zak by the ankle.

"Close the door! Close the door!" Zak yelled to Dean, who had gotten into the office first. Dean tried slamming the door on the massive forearm connected to the hand that was just about to grab Zak, but the door felt like it had just hit solid rock. The arm didn't flinch at all and just grabbed Zak and ripped him out the door.

"Help me!" Zak yelled as he was pulled away into the darkness.