1 The Whispers

It was dark.

Pitch dark.

Midnight black, not an ounce of light seeping through the close walls, not a sign of life in the unsettling silence of the halls. Further down in the darkness was a-

Skkkrrt Scrrattchh Skkrrrt

The noises echoed down the hallway in a rhythmic manner. First came the chilling sound of something being dragged. A sharp object, inducing the next sound when it scratched the wall and once again when it would be dragged.

Ahead were sounds of footsteps, rushed, frantic. Fear being heard in the steps alone as the figure ran forward in the darkness. Underneath those quick, messy steps were gasps of breath, weak and unsteady as the figure struggled to keep running. 

They had been running. For hours it seemed, forward more, quicker, but yet the eerie sound followed them down the hallways, the hundred of eyes that seemed to pierce their back never eased. The stranger never seemed to get further away.

Instead, they were close, the sounds piercing into the figure's ears, the disturbing distorted chuckles of the stranger continued to get louder. It was haunting the running figure, filling the empty space in the halls, filling the figure's scrambled mind, fueling their fear. 

'Faster... faster... why... why am I not getting further away? WHY?!' thought the figure, her short red-brown hair swishing back and forth, sending shivers down her spine whenever it brushed her neck. 

"Where are you going?" the stranger called out, its voice ever so close, rattling her ears. "COME BACK HERE REGAN!"

'No... NO!' Regan thought, tears forming in her eyes, slowly rolling down her cold brown cheeks. 

"No?" the stranger muttered, a wide smile forming on its faceless head. 

CRACK

Regan shuddered, her head refusing to look back as she pressed forward, her breath shaky, her tears continuing to fall. Even without looking back, she knew what that sound was, she could see it almost. Even in the dark halls, even though she was still ahead, she could feel it. 

CRACK CRACK CRACKKKK 

It was growing.

Its legs elongating, its shapeless figure looming over her in the black of the halls. Its neck bent so far to the right it looked broken, hanging over its thin shoulder limply, its beady red eyes peering straight at her. Following her every movement, following her shaky breaths, following her thumping heart as it continued to walk, webbed-like bone feet scratching the floor along with the sharp object. 

Skrrrt... skrrrt...

'It's closer... it's coming closer... WHY IS IT COMING CLOSER?! AM I NOT RUNNING FAST ENOUGH? AM I NOT...' Regan thought to herself as she ran forth. 

She couldn't see. She couldn't see anything in front of her, beside her or even behind her but yet the stranger's thin and wispy figure remained embedded in her head as if she was starring right at it. 

It was always hard to run in the dark. Having no idea where she was going, no idea what she could bump into but that hesitancy was long gone now. She was pushing forward at her best speed as she had been for the past hour... or two... or three... or fou- she couldn't tell. She was only running, moving towards a goal she couldn't even see and worse, didn't even know existed.

It was getting harder to breathe, getting harder to think but her legs didn't stop. It couldn't. She didn't know what was behind her.. she didn't know what would happen to her if she let it get to her. But she had a certain feeling that if she did, her head would meet her feet, her left eye would touch her left feet and her right eye would be stepped on by her right foot. 

Ripped apart... slowly to pieces. That is what would become of her. 

'Just a bit more... just-' she couldn't let that happen to her. Not today, to tomorrow. Not again.

'Just a bit mo-' 

She slipped on something warm, a thick liquid that seemed to pour into the hallway and she fell headfirst into a pungent smell, a river of mounds of something... 

Something she could feel... something that felt... something that felt horrifyingly like her own skin. Slowly she peered down to the murky things below her, to the objects that were overlapped on each other... mounds and mounds of...

'What is- what the... is that a hand?'

Mounds and mounds of body parts. Heads, eyes, legs, arms, bodies in whole and bodies in pieces, all swimming in the warm thick current of the liquid flowing underneath her, slowly filling the hallway. 

Even though it was dark, just like she could see the figure slowly nearing her, she could see what was beneath her.. its dead eyes staring straight into hers. A misplaced head, cut so perfectly off that there was no neck. Just its face, just its beady eyes set in deep sockets that stared into her green eyes. 

"Regan... do you see?" the stranger called out, its distorted voice letting out a chuckle so vile, she shuddered. "DON'T YOU SEE HOW BEAUTIFUL THEY ARE?! ALL LAYING BENEATH YOU... All laying in their purest forms as simply flesh... no life... just flesh... isn't it beautiful? DOESN'T IT EXCITE YOU?!"

It ran up her throat like a wave and flowed out of her easily. She hunched over, throw up falling all over the bodies, mixing into the thick warm liquid. 

"Come closer... come closer and I'll show you more beauties," the shadowed stranger coaxed, its voice falling deeper, so deep she could hear the screams in its voice. The mangled screams of people, screeches, and hows all mixed into one, each voice fighting its way to be heard. 

It was terrifying... it was blood curling... it was fearful.

Regan stood up from her position on the ground and began to run once again. It was harder this time, her foot trying to find a steady hold on the mounds on the floor, her breaths even more unsteady than before. 

'Just a bit more... just- light... liGHT... IT'S LIGHT!' Regan thought to herself as her eyes looked up at what was in front of her.

Up the bodies laid in a pile, up to a long flight of stairs lead up to a door from which light showed through, running down the stairs like a steady river until the final step where a dot of light remained.

Her goal, her exit... there it was.

Her speed picked up, faster she ran, higher she climbed over the bodies. She was close... she was close.. she was close.

'I'm... I'm close...I'm clos-'

But so was the stranger, its long body easily climbing over the mounds of bodies whereas Regan was being dragged down. Hands reached up from the murky red of below, pulled her down, pulling at the hems of her pants, dragging her into its dearranged bodies. But she still climbed, dragging her body through the bodies, pulling herself unto the first step in the stairs. 

There she shook off the hands that held her and began to climb up the stairs, her steps weighed down from fatigue but still somewhat quick. She was motivated. Heavily motivated by her need to live, heavily motivated by the bright light that was waiting for her behind those doors. 

She continued to climb, the exit growing closer, closer, and closer and closer... until it didn't. 

'Is it just me... is it just... me,' Regan thought to herself, her sight getting foggier as she continued to run up the stairs, each step getting heavier, each move getting harder to make. 

'Is it just me.... or are the stairs... growing? They.. getting longer... getting harder to climb...' she thought, letting out heavy breaths, 'fuck... I'm tired...'

"Regan... Come heree~" the shadow called out, its deep voice echoing through her body.

'No... I can't stop... I'm so... close,' she thought to herself, shaking her head and using every ounce of energy in her to press forward. The door was closer now... it was near.. just in her reach... just 6 steps away.

5...

4...

Her hand reached out to touch it, Her eyes widening as her fingertips neared the handle of the door.

3...

2...

Her hand wrapped around the handle, turning the handle.

1....

She pulled open the door and gasped, the bright light washing over her body, tears falling down her face. 

'I'm safe! I did it!' she cried, her leg lifting to make the step out of the door. She made it. She made it, she was saf-

A hand clamped down on her shoulder, pushing her body down like a heavyweight. 

0...

"There you are..." the voice grinned, pulling closer to Regan's ear as it whispered, its hot breath brushing against her neck. "I got you... Regan."

"No... NOOOO!!!" Regan screamed as the hand pulled her back, her foot slipping off the stairs as she fell into the embrace of the stranger.

It was cold, its body being mere shadows, moving back and forth into each other, black wispy matter mixing in and out of each other. 

"Come here... listen..." the raspy hot breath of the shadow engulfed her body, its harsh distorted voice filling her mind as it began to whisper into her ears. 

"No..." Regan muttered as she listened to the words of the stranger. She didn't want to listen she didn't want to hear what it was saying... she didn't want to believe its words. 

She was freefalling as the voice whispered words into her ears, falling deeper into the darkness, falling near the murky, hot, thick blood that had flowed up the hallway, sinking deeper into the disarranged bodies. 

"no.." her voice called out, muffled under the blood, the warm liquid flowing into her body through her eyes, nose, mouth, down her lungs, filling her up with warm, warm thick blood. 

She was sinking.

"Regan?" a sweet voice called out to her in the darkness. "Regan?... Regan?! Regan! REGAN!! REGAN!!! REGANNN!!?"

Regan looked up through the thick layers flowing around her, up to the light dusts of light that managed to reflect. "Who..." she muttered weaker, her mind being filled with the words the stranger was whispering into her ears. 

"HELLLLLO?! REGANNNNN???! EARTH TO REGAN?!?"

"Who..."

"GURL, WAKE THE HELL UP!"