As I stare down into the hole i'm filled with doubt. I can't really see down there, and the red light illuminating this part of the hallway makes it even harder to see. I kneel down and try to peer down into the darkness but I can only discern a floor almost two and a half meters down.

"As the stranger had knelt down, it felt a surge of confidence that this was the true way out of here. It jumped down the hole without fear and walked through the tunnel to freedom."

The voice sounded almost pleading right now. The hard concrete floor was digging uncomfortably in my knees and I decided to sit down more comfortable to ponder what to do. Should I go down and take my chances? Or should I return and wander through this installation aimlessly, being followed by a voice that would constantly try to lure me back here.

An exasperated sigh sounded and I had the distinct feeling that the body less voice was getting impatient with me. Debating my options I decided that the quickest way to resolve this issue was to simply do what the voice wanted. I would eventually give in anyway and I'm basically invulnerable so nothing would really be able to harm me. No need to torture myself endlessly and being hounded by this voice.

I swing my legs over the edge of the hole and feel them hanging in the darkness. I hesitate for a second but then I resolutely push myself over the edge and let myself drop down. The drop was greater than I had expected! There was no floor where I had thought to see a floor! For a second my heart stops as it's gripped by doubt that I made the wrong choice, but then my feet hit the floor hard and I buckle over, hitting my head on the floor hard, sending spikes of pain as if a bright light illuminated everything within my skull, burning every neuron with searing heat.

I grab for my head and feel wetness on my hand. I look at my very dimly illuminated hand through my blurred vision and see my fingertips covered in a black liquid. I must have hit my head harder than I thought. I feel at my head again, but all I feel is more wetness, but no wound. It must have healed already. Now that I think about it, the pain inside my head is subsiding rapidly, as if someone is using a dimmer on the bright light in my head.

I sit up straight and look around me, still a bit shaky from the fall and the memory of pain and I wipe my hands on my shirt absentmindedly. Above me I can see the square hole where I fell down, illuminated with a sinister red glow, that barely seems to be penetrating down here. As my eyes adjust to the darkness down here I see that I'm on a small square platform backed by a single wall, surrounded by pitch black darkness where there seems to be nothing.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I lean over and gingerly touch the edge of the platform and I notice that there is indeed nothing there. I'm stuck here on this platform, surrounded by darkness, with no way up. "Great choice I made." I think by myself. I lean one hand against the wall and get up.

Suddenly there are sparks ahead illuminating what seems to be a hallway with a track, where my platform is resting on. Suddenly the platform i'm on sets itself in motion, forward. I hear a loud metal grating sound in front of me and then a loud bang.

"Ah yes, stranger, ahead lies the path to absolute freedom for you. As your body is crushed, I will be absolutely free from your intrusion."

"What!"

After my exclamation of surprise I yell profanities against the voice as I I try to get off the platform but it is as if there are invisible walls locking me into place on this platform. I throw my body at it in an attempt to budge the walls, but nothing happens and I'm slowly moving forward accompanied by a metal grating ground beneath me. In the dimly lit corridor through which my platform was moving I head the constant grating sound followed by a loud metal clang. As sparks illuminate the hallway again I see that two huge crushing plates are moving to each other before they vanish into darkness again as the sparks subside. I head the bang and I realize what the voice had intended for me.

"Bwa ha ha ha ha, you didn't expect to be led to your own freedom did you stranger? You don't belong here and I need you out of my way. I have my hands already full enough on that stubborn Stanley."

"Please spare me! I have done nothing to you or this Stanley. I'll stay out of your way."

"Oh no, sadly I can't do that, you would somehow mess up Stanley's story, and I would like it dearly if he would do what I asked of him just once. I can't have you messing up his story as it has been ordained. Have a nice death and see you never again."

I head the bang in front of me and I feel the gust of air being pushed out of the huge metal plates. The plates grate away from each other and I feel my platform moving forward. Time seems to slow down, the grating sounds sounding louder and louder until each second seems to stretch out for an hour as I realize that this may be my actual end. I doubt I can heal from being squashed between two huge metal plates.

I sigh out and whisper

"Not like this"

I feel the platform stopping. It feels like a definitive stop. Sparks illuminate the hallway again and I see how the huge metal plate sets itself into motion towards me. I try pushing against the invisible wall again, trying desperately to escape as I see the plate rushing towards me, seemingly unstoppable, unimaginably slow, as in a horrible nightmare. The grating sound are like huge boulders being dragged over a road, reverberating through my bones as if loudly announcing my impending doom. My mind feels numb as I give up pushing against the wall and look at my death approaching. I feel sad.