A boy could be seen walking down a dark hallway.
He was 13, with a relatively average face, but was for some reason dreadfully pale. His appearance was unusual; he was dressed in a tattered hospital gown, one that was somewhat dirty. His shaky breaths and rather uncalm demeanor made him look quite pathetic and unsightly to the naked eye.
He hurriedly moved through the hallway, almost as if he was rushing towards his room, afraid of what might be lurking in the dark behind him. The stillness of the night was disturbed by the faint and hurried thumping of his heart.
It was all he could hear in the stillness. He could barely speak, and with each breath, his anxiety slowly gnawed away at his mind.
He didn't dare look back. He must keep moving forward.
He had to reach his room.
Even as he stumbled through the darkness, one thought burned through his panic:
Something was dreadfully wrong.
And he was not alone.
But no matter how far he ran, he could never reach his room.
He glanced over to his right, where he saw a small coffee table with a knife sitting on top of it. He moved towards it hurriedly and inspected the table, where he saw five faint markings drawn out on the surface.
His previous fears were now confirmed. He had been here 5 times now. He was stuck in a loop with seemingly no way out.
In a frenzy, he grabbed the knife and made another line on the surface, the sound echoing in the hallway.
'Shit. What is happening, what is this place, and…what has been following me'
He had thought of ways to escape this nightmarish place. He tried to break down the window in the hallway, but no matter how hard he banged his knife on it, it refused to break.He was certain by now that he was trapped in this place. And that thought made his entire body cold, for he knew he was not alone.
He did not know why, for he had never seen the creature or thing that was hunting him. It never revealed itself to him, and he never felt a presence besides himself. But there was this particular feeling of dread that had lingered in his body and mind ever since he came to this place. It was impossible to ignore, and it has slowly been driving him insane.
'My only hope is to get to my room. I must find it no matter what.'
That had been his only thought; he had been running continuously through this loop, his sole motivation. It was as if his body was telling him that the only escape from this place was in his room. His hands gripped the knife tightly, and he took a long, deep breath to calm himself down.
He hesitantly placed the knife over the palm of his left hand and made a quick, faint cut.
Soon, the hallway was filled with the faint dripping noise and the unmistakable scent of blood.
'I-I can't feel the pain.'
'Hell, I can barely smell or taste my own blood..'
The boy now felt even more nauseous, and his stomach churned. Whatever this place was, it was slowly depriving him of his sensory feelings.He had foolishly thought that he would be safe as long as he didn't run into the nightmarish creature chasing him.
How wrong he was.
It was not just the creature he had to worry about; it was this entire cursed place.
'This has to end now, otherwise-'
The boy didn't dare finish his thoughts and instead hurriedly ran down the hallway. His body was exhausted by now; his muscles and legs had grown weak from all the running he had done.
But he did not dare to give up; he had to keep running.
His fear did not allow him to rest, so the boy began moving towards his room, which, at this point, was his only hope of ever leaving this place. His footsteps and breaths were the only sounds in the dark hallway, and as he hurried past the window, he failed to notice that something was horribly different.
Beneath the pale glow of the moonlight, he had failed to notice that his own shadow was no longer mimicking the movements of its owner and was instead seemingly staring into the moon, a chilling smile seemingly implanted on its shadowy face, before quickly disappearing into the darkness once more.
He ran and ran until he tripped and slammed his chin on the wooden floor
"Fucks sake, I need to get a damn grip' he said nervously, tears slowly appearing in his eyes.
He quickly got up and was about to start running once until he heard a weird gurgling noise. His body froze as he turned his head around to look behind him.
And amidst the darkness, he caught a glimpse of the monstrosity that had been hunting him.
It was a peculiar creature, one that oddly resembled a black worm. But instead of being small, it was massive, and he could see faint white spikes slowly jutting out of his back.
The creature seemingly stared at him, almost as if it was basking in its own delight of being seen, before finally letting out a roar, its mouth lined with teeth the size of the boy's arm.
The boy finally managed to snap out of his trance, and he once again started running. This time for his life.
He could hear the creature behind him; its body crashed through the narrow hall.He ran as fast as he could until he felt the adrenaline slowly wear off; his vision was growing blurry.
'Not now, not here, I can not fall here.'
The flames of hope were slowly dying out, as no matter how fast he ran, he could hear the worm-like creature slowly catching up. His body was slowly giving up until at last, for the first time in this cursed loop, he had found a door.
One made of metal, etched with unique sigils. It was not his room, and he did not understand those mysterious sigils, yet he would rather test his luck than end up as monster food. He dashed towards it and tried to open the door with sheer desperation.
Yet no matter how hard he tried to open the door, it would not budge.
And behind him, the monster was fast approaching, its gurgling sound echoing closer to him.
The boy did not give up, and with sheer force, he kept on pushing the door before he finally stopped and moved a little further away. He hurriedly slammed his body against the door, and he kept on doing it until his shoulders were bruised.
The door, at long last, finally budged, and he forcefully pushed it open before entering the room and hastily slamming the door behind him.
The room was dimly lit by a small lantern and cheaply furnished, with a small bed in the middle and a chair in front of the door. Before he could let out a sigh of relief, he heard a dreadfully loud crash. The creature was now outside the door and was relentlessly using its own body to pound the door.
With every loud bang, his heart seemingly skipped a beat. He was afraid the door would break, letting the worm inside, but thankfully, his fears, for once, did not come true, and the door held strong. Minutes had passed before finally the worm slowly grew tired and slithered away from the door.
He could finally rest.
He moved tiredly towards the chair and noticed a small black book sitting on it. He picked it up before finally sitting down on the chair and placed the mysterious book on his lap.
His eyes blinked heavily, and he was overwhelmed with drowsiness, letting out a small yawn.
'This…is…not…'
'Normal…'
His thoughts were sluggish, and he tried to stay awake.
He slapped his hand across his face, but it didn't help.
He repeated it once more.
He could not hear anything.
Yet he still slapped himself once more.
In fact, he could not stop slapping himself; it was as if he was no longer in control of his body.
The boy's face was now barely recognizable. He had somehow beaten himself to a pulp.
But surprisingly, he no longer found himself drowsy.
His mind was foggy, and he slowly turned his head to observe his surroundings.
Nothing had changed, and the room appeared normal, with the sole exception of his shadow, which lingered on the left side of the wall. Noticing some semblance of normalcy, he finally felt at ease and decided that it was about time to open the book, but he forcefully stopped himself.
He wanted to make sure everything was truly normal again and observed his surroundings.
And once more, the room was still ordinary, and the shadow still appeared on the right side of the wall. He finally opened the book and was about to start reading the first page before stopping once more, his face now entirely pale.
'The r-right side of the wall?' his mind could barely think.
He glanced to his right, and his shadow was no longer present. He frightfully looked in front of him, his face slowly starting to sweat, and he finally saw 'His' own shadow.
It was standing right near the door, staring at him and observing his reaction almost as if he was studying the boy, his own 'Master'.
The boy's mouth was slowly opened, and he desperately tried to scream, but no noise came out of his mouth. The shadow, as if amused by the boy's countless antics and struggles, finally let out a blood-curdling smile.
Soon, a dreadful snap was heard in the room.
The last thing the boy saw was His own shadow smiling at him.