Darkness is all I see. My heavy breathing is all that I hear. The smell of dust and distant blood is undeniable. Nothing is happening. Nothing is giving me any signs, any way to tell me what's going on beyond the closet door. Nothing but cold, dark, excruciating silence. Is this what isolation truly feels like? Is this what death will be like?
A blood curdling scream breaks the intense silence. The screams echo throughout the house, muzzled like a dog. Like the sound itself is being constrained and pulled away. Not even the screams are safe. The only thing you have left to use, somehow rendered completely helpless. The screaming suddenly cuts out, and a loud thud collapses onto the floor.
I am holding back every urge to cry, just bawl out everything and crawl out of the closet. But I cannot cry. I cannot crawl out. I cannot show myself. I cannot die.
The silence returns, except with a sharp edge, a reminder. A reminder that there is something outside the closet, something searching and taking. Something twisted, evil, inhumane. Someone who cannot be reasoned with.
A new sound breaks the silence again. A wet, smooth, grainy sound. The source of the screaming. The sound is once again muffled, but slowly sounding more and more clear. The body is being dragged, scraping across the floor. The corpse must be messy, that wet and mushy sensation smearing across the floor. The dragging sound gets replaced by a distinct creaking noise. A staircase. A staircase leading up, with every step sounding closer and more vile than the last. With every step follows the wet thud that's being dragged with it.
Creak, thud. Creak, thud. Creak, thud. Creak, thud. CREAK, THUD! CREAK, THUD!
Silence. That unbearable, enticing silence. The unknown that's creeping behind my mind, taunting me, screaming that unbearable emptiness into my ears. It's eating at me, corroding my mind down into sludge. My thoughts are rampant, jumping all around the claustrophobic walls. Oh god, make it stop. The more it takes from me, the more insane I feel. Humanity slipping away, falling down a deep dark hole with no bottom. Even the fear I hold inside me. Terrifying, yet embracing. Almost like it's trying to tell me something. Something dark. Something sinister.
A knife slides out of its sheath, cutting through the silence with a confident and clean motion. Someone with experience no doubt. A pair of feet squishing through the pools of blood almost sound happy, with a small hop in between. Giggling creeps into my ears, invading my thoughts with sharp knives. Breaking me down into a panic, weaning away any hope I have left.
The knife digs into the wet, fresh corpse with the speed and proficiency of an eagle swooping down into its prey. It sticks its landing, digging sharp talons deep into the kill. Flesh ripping, bones cracking, muscles tearing. Finally, separation. Blood splatters, crashing into the walls and floor with the force of a wave on the beach. The giggling intensifies, now bouncing off the walls with delight. Another dive. Another rip, crack, tear, snap. Every snap adds more clarity to the laughs, synthesizing with the madness. Every chop fuels the fire of this unstoppable, terrifying flame burning everything in its path.
I hear nothing left but blood dripping down onto the creaky floor, with heavy breathing filling the atmosphere. The atmosphere of blood and terror. A faint giggling still fights for control, but it's already losing ground. The giggling only comes out to play when there's toys to play with.
The heavy breathing stops dead in its tracks. The small giggles pushing its way out subside. Steps become lighter, more methodical. Why did they stop? Their whole person seems to have completely changed, leaving behind the monster that has come out to play and returning to form someone more familiar. The steps become bolder, more clear. Closer.
I sense the person causing this awful carnage is standing just in front of the space I occupy. My heart now breaks out of my body, pounding out skin from my chest. I sit still, frozen in place. Yet also shaking violently, my bones rattling with terror. My breathing picks up the pace, trying to match the blazing speed of my heart beat. My head is light, creating a floating sensation that exhausts everything I have left. The doors to the closet creak open as I lose consciousness, my mind racing with the sudden information provided by the light bouncing into my retina. I see blood covering them from head to toe, pieces of flesh sprinkled all over their arms and legs.
A grin, one to terrify even the strongest of souls, sinks itself into me. I feel consumed by this being, just by being glared at. There's something about them that seems so…
All that fear starts drifting off. My eyes relax into a calm state. Darkness, my dear old friend, has returned to me again. Even in pure blackness, I can tell my hands are covered in blood. I do not feel like I am bleeding, though. In fact, all the pain I was feeling is gone, dissipated into the silence, becoming part of the silence itself. The sweet, soothing, bloody silence. A smile spreads across my face. Relief washes through my body, embracing the darkness that surrounds me.
Noise penetrates the nothingness once more, this time with intense justice behind it. Many footsteps, squishing through the massacre left below. Covering just about every inch of the house; from the kitchen to the basement, nothing is safe from their grasp.
The noise travels its way upstairs, inching its way closer and closer to me. Then, the doors of the closet swing open. Several men pin me down, bringing forth pain into my back and shoulders. I laugh hysterically, nearly bursting into tears with pure ecstasy.