I sit on the carpet, while jack is at my eye level, Leo is looking down at me, he is picking at his teeth with his finger trying to get plaque off. “So, are you going to ask me questions or do I have to play charades with you?”

I take a breath in, its getting more and more apparent this is somehow real. I'm holding the knife in my left hand while my legs are crossed, i still don't feel safe whatsoever.

“So… that thing I saw... Is that normal to run into?”

“Ohhhh an echoist, don't worry they rarely come down here.”

Leo slaps Jack on the head, “stop using that name dipshit, we decided on ‘voice snatcher.’ Which is objectively cooler.”

Jack turns on his back and slaps him back, harder, “YOU, decided on that.”

“Yes because I NAME the monsters, because I'm better at it.”

Jack kicks himself off the couch and looks down at Leo, “I'm not the one who came up with the name ‘face spider.’”

Face spider?

“that was a work in progress.”

“A work in progress we STILL use, Alice, which name is better? Tell me.”

I look between them, Leo seems like he cares less about this than jack. “I don't... really care... like at all, sorry.”

“Useless, this is why women shouldn't vote.” Jack sits back down, “I'm kidding, hey Leo pass me some snacks will you?”

Leo gets up with a groan, “this is getting no where, we have no food because you didn't get any. Alice you’re coming with me.”

I grip my knife harder, “What? Why?”

“You want to learn about this place, right? Lets go hunting.”

He holds a hand out to help me up, “take those heels off, we can go barefoot.” He leans on the wooden wall while i take them off, the back of my heel has blisters from walking for so long. My commute to work usually takes around 4 minutes so walking for any longer is torture.

“Leooo... are you mad at me?” jack lays belly first on the leather couch, trying to reach for his arm.

“Yes? I asked you to bring back food because I wounded my arm, and you come back with a woman.”

“I'm just a playa, don't knock down a baller like me.”

I don’t like that at all.

Leo just sighs while grabbing a spear made of a plastic pole and a kitchen knife, “actual parasite, ill be back in an hour, okay?” He leans down and kisses Jack on the cheek, somehow that simple action eased my worries by 90%. “Go shower, you smell like shit.”

Jack stretches out his arms, “the shower sucks here...”

“Then go to the one next door.”

“And get off the couch? No way.”

“Jack.”

Jack rolls off the couch and lands on the floor with a thud, “fiiiiine. Hey Alice, get my axe, its in the bathroom.”

“Why is it in the bathroom?” Leo spits out, “did you not bring it??”

“Why would I? Its just the 297th floor.” He gets up from the ground and walks into the bathroom, I follow. The bathroom is very lived in and looks more like a storage area, it has a bath and a bucket. I'm not sure what era this place was made in but it seems very very old.

“Treat him with care and respect, his name is J. Ack...s.” He hands it to me, it seems like its an actual axe used for battle, like from the Viking era. “Cool right? We found it in this cabin, its a rare find.” I put the knife I was holding on the sink and get a feel for the handle and weight.

It is incredibly weird holding this metal one-handed axe while in a dress, I look in a mirror, my usually straight hair is very unruly, and there are dark circles under my eyes. Although those dark circles were from before I arrived here.

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Leo just stares at Jack as he walks back to the couch, he turns back and nods softly, making his way to the exit.

“Just don't freeze up, these higher floors are safer, but there's some messed up... uh... stuff, I suggest you never look at a Tv or pick up a phone.” He opens the door for me, I walk through into the hallway, the green paint on the walls almost giving me a migraine.

As we walk out he initiates exposition mode, “so as you can see each room we have searched has a mark on it, a little scratch mark below the nameplate, nowadays we have to travel pretty far to find a fresh room.”

I nod, “how far?”

“Uh... like 40 minutes?”

Okay I'm glad I'm not wearing my heels because Jesus Christ. We just walk shoulder to shoulder, accidentally bumping into each other sometimes, the hallways are pretty wide but something about these doors makes me want to stay in the middle.

“So uh... Leo, how old are you?”

“the same age as you, 27. Everyone I've met here has been 27 physically, but I think id be around 40 now in the real world.”

Old. “You don't seem 40, mentally I mean.”

“Thanks I guess? You don't really mature in a place like this, Jack is around 50 in the real world, but he acts like a child.”

27... 27... “So, its like the 27 club?”

“The what?”

“The 27 club, like how a lot of celebrities die at 27.”

“Celebrities die at a lot of ages, maybe 27 is just the age when all those drugs catch up to you. I don’t think it’s relevant.”

I assume this is the conversations natural conclusion because he steps aside, taking out a piece of paper from his pocket, “I have a lot of this place memorised, but... yeah a hallway got removed. Fuck.”

We are currently at the corner of a hallway, the only direction being left. He is staring at a green wall, there are little white intricate patterns on the wall I didn't notice before, it's like a line of white thorns that act as stripes.

“Well... this makes the trip over 2 hours... okay we are going down to floor 296 follow me. It'll save time”

We start backtracking, “uh... is that normal? Hallways disappearing?”

“Happens every once in a while, although that is just a really bad spot for it to happen.”

That doesn't make any sense, “Is this place... like, alive?”

“No, probably not, things just like, bleep into existence or get deleted. Like for example, whenever you open up a room that hadn't been opened before, all the food is fresh inside, then you close it, leave it for a few days, then its all gross and mouldy, the room only exists when you open that door. It just.” He snaps his fingers, “Boop, into existence.”

The hallways make me feel dissociative again, is this just my life now? Some part of me is just so sure ill be back in my bed by tonight, that ill be out of here. But if i go to sleep, then wake up in this same space. Thats when it becomes real. Like how you move houses and you don't really feel it until you see that new ceiling in the morning.

I don't think I've really taken all this in yet.

“Alrighty, this stairway goes to floor 296 and 295. Uh, just don't be grossed out, this area is kind of infested below, it should be fine. Do you have arachnophobia?”

I have arachnophobia.

“I don't.”

“Well, you’re about to get it.” he opens the door, the stairwell has webs in the corner, red webs that pulsate and look meaty.

“Okay no, no, no no.” I step out back into the hallway.

“its fine, hey.”

I slam my back against the wall, am i acting crazy? No, just no.

“You’re probably having a delayed reaction, to all this.”

No, there's no way i LIVE now, in a PLACE where there are god damn red vein spider webs.

“No, fuck this, no, no no no.”

Where even am i? Who is this person even? I NEED to get to work, something is missing, what am i missing, I’m missing something. Im missing.

“What the fuck is all this?”

Leo crouches down in front of me, my eyes meeting his, “I know what you’re going through, but if I'm going to floor 296 I need eyes in the back of my head, you need to be that for me okay? It'll be 5 minutes tops, then we enter a room and it'll be fine.”

He takes something out of his pocket and shows me, its a drawing, “this is whats down there, see? Not too bad right?”

Its a detailed sketch of a head with spider legs coming out of it, human hair on its head and legs. Little hands on the edges of each leg.

“No, no. This is all... this is all wrong, just let me out, I'm done, let me out.” I push further into the wall, hoping it will absorb me and take me back. “LET ME OUT, IM DONE, IM DONE.”

My hand grips the axe, if i swing at him right now he will call the police right? No i need to threaten him. I get up and hold my axe towards him, “call the cops right now.”

“I…cant.”

“TAKE ME TO A PHONE.”

Leo, if thats even his name gets up, “fine.” And opens up the closest room, it already had a mark on it. I stumble in, my feet dragging across the floor, the carpet looks moldy and everything is dusty. I then spot it, a phone on a glass table, it looks to be a home phone.

I run over and land on my knees, giving my feet carpet burn, but it doesn’t matter, i press 9, 1, 1, and hold out the axe to make sure Leo doesn’t get close.

It picks up, “Hello? I need help, I’m in an apartment building, i don’t know where... please track this call okay...?”

The other line has whispering, a faint voice of a child can be heard, “mom... mom is that you...?” The faintest sound of bugs can be heard, like bees or wasps. “They’re hurting me mom, it hurts… where are you? Why aren’t you here mom? HELP ME, THEY’RE HURTING ME, HELP ME MOMMY, HELP ME.”

I throw the phone as far as I can, it snaps in half but the sounds of screaming can still be heard, I feel myself dragged by the armpit back into the hallway.

I don't have a kid, I was never pregnant with a child. But that sounded like my kid, like how my kid would sound, how my kid would scream for help. That was somehow my child.

Leo lets me stay in the hallway for a few minutes, his spear resting on the carpet while holding the axe. “You done?”

I'm done; I'm done with everything. “Okay. Yeah.” My voice comes out coarse.

“Lets just take the 2-hour trip, come on, walk it off.” He gets up and hands me the axe, I take it hesitantly, his grip loosening until I'm holding it safely.

“Sorry.”

“No need, you should've seen me when I first got here, you are handling this exceptionally well... Probably shouldn't have shown you that drawing...” He pats me on the back, “Jack can wait, lets take the longer route.”

We both walk, taking the left on the hallway, walking aimlessly, every door marked.