~ZANDER~

... I opened my eyes.

I woke up on the cold, wet stone floor. It was so dark that I couldn't see anything. My back hurt. My neck hurt. Everything hurts. Voices in a strange language resound in my thoughts. Screaming. Laughing. Crying.

I tried to recall what had happened before this... but nothing. I couldn't recall a single thing before I woke up. I didn't even rememeber who I was. All I can remember was a name—Zander. I had everyday clothes on, but I had nothing else on me. Just shoes, pants, and a shirt. I stood up, almost slipping, but I managed to grab onto a metal railing attached to the wall. I started to walk, dragging my feet and hoping I could get out of the darkness.

After a minute of dragging my feet along the wet floor, I hit a tube-like object with my feet. Curious, I reached down to grab it. A flashlight? I took a deep breath and turned it on. The first thing I saw was the floor, and it was drenched with... blood.

But the blood wasn't the only eerie thing in this place. I pointed the flashlight behind me. It was a stone room that went on forever, with the railings and even the blood repeating infinitely.

I pointed the flashlight in the other direction. Fortunately, this room DOES have an end. There was a wall with a door meters away from where I'm currently standing right now. I sighed in relief and continued walking, but knowing I'm stepping on blood makes it somehow difficult to move.

Eventually, I managed to reach the door. There was no handle on the rusted metal door. I pushed the door open, but it did not open. I tried prying it open with my fingernails, but it wouldn't budge. I stared to panic.

This is just a nightmare, right? I'm going to wake up, right?

I kept trying to open the door by putting my nails between the gap and pulling, but no luck whatsoever. I put my hands on my head out of frustration and started banging on the metal door.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

"HELP!!!" I kept banging on the door as loud as possible, "SOMEONE PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR!!!"

... But there was not a single living thing out there.

I felt like I'd been hitting this door for almost an hour now. My heart started pounding hard in my chest as the flashlight started to run out of batteries. It was pure darkness again. I stopped and lay on the ground to sleep. Hopefully, once I wake up, I'll escape this nightmare.

***

I woke up, but still in the same dark, damp place. I was unusually calm for some reason. Should I be more worried than this? The voices were back, I couldn't understand what they were saying, but they seemed like they were laughing.

I was about to give up, but suddenly...

*Click*

The door opened.

I turned my head up and saw three figures appear at the door. It was two girls and a guy. One of the girls was carrying an old oil lamp. The other girl holds a wooden rod. They seemed surprised to see me on the bloody floor, as if all of the stuff on the floor was mine. I cheked myself and from the looks of my own body I looked like a teenager, just like them. I smiled to them and tried to slowly stand up.

"Don't move! Don't you dare try anything stupid!" The girl who was holding the rod yelled at me. She looked like she was scared at me, like I was about to jump and attack her. I sat back down and raised my hands. I had no other choice. I didn't want to make them more wary of me. Hopefully, they're not the ones who'll jump on me and attack me.

She walked next to the girl with the lamp. I can see her a bit better now. She had a bob cut dyed with a bit of red, green eyes, and wore a black long-sleeve shirt and jeans. She looked like a punk and she was giving me a weird look that made me think she saw me as a threat.

"Um [https://img.wattpad.com/14715493b91e4e89884a6a857100210cfd9f4a6c/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f3842496a5f48754d5a4a796275673d3d2d313231303335393838372e313666373534643831656563663933363431363839323532343731392e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

"Um... Fey, he looks human. I don't think he's one of them," The girl with the lamp spoke. She had wavy brown hair, brown eyes and glasses, and she wore a white sweater and a skirt.

"Just because he looks human, doesn't mean he's not a threat," said Punk girl whose name I assumed was Fey [https://img.wattpad.com/4b210be81f04fa0971ba973d232b5d363d81c88b/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f5749476d32526861497a2d6c49773d3d2d313231303335393838372e313665393331316535633939636637343732363833383737313936312e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Just because he looks human, doesn't mean he's not a threat," said Punk girl whose name I assumed was Fey.

The guy who'd been behind them the entire time started to speak up. "You're being paranoid. Plus, you're armed and there are three of us. Anyway, we should bring him along. We can't leave him here. The more, the merrier."

The guy walked closer to the girl with the lamp. I can get a good look at him now too. He was a tall guy who had medium black hair, black eyes, and wore a blue hoodie and jeans.

He was a tall guy who had medium black hair, black eyes, and wore a blue hoodie and jeans [https://img.wattpad.com/84390304d313ff41042acf9a76ee3bd81aa9d1f0/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f4572634831424b734d2d366965773d3d2d313231303335393838372e313665396466306333623466313764373832313836303030393139352e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

"Do you know where we are?" I asked the group. Hopefully they had an idea of what this place is.

"Sorry, but I'm not sure. It seems we're in a giant mansion though."

"Mansion? Any idea how you ended up here? "

"No, sorry. We're as confused as you are," Lamp girl walked behind me and looked out the window...

Wait.. A window? What? That wasn't there before!

The entire room looked different from before. It was now just an empty stone room with a single window. I stood up and looked out the window. All I was able to see was pure nothingness, not a single thing out there.

"Yeah... That happens. This place will often mess with your mind," Hoodie guy laid his hand on the walls, "I'm guessing the room was different before we got here. You better get used to it. This place is a living nightmare."

"Don't you think it's a good idea to get going? What if that thing comes here?" Punk girl looked worried and started clutching the weapon in her hand.

"Yeah, I think we should. Besides, what do you guys think will happen if that thing find us again? Do you think we'll be able to fight them off? We barely have any weapons, and even if we did, I doubt we'd win against something like that, especially if there's more of that thing," Hoodie guy replied.

"Well, we have her menacing stick of power, so we seem pretty safe," I pointed to punk girl, trying to lighten the mood.

"Ha. Ha. You're so funny," Punk girl scoffed.

"You two seem to be getting along," Lamp girl stopped looking out the window, "We should go. We can't be sure this room is safe at all."

I should ask this first, "Can you tell me what you know about this place? I'm lost in the dark here."

"To sum it up, we're in a giant mansion. The entire place is filled with doors that lead into weird rooms. Like REALLY weird rooms," Hoodie guy replied, "The last door had this long-neck lady painting the walls with the blood coming out of her mouth," he shivered, "It chased us for a good minute and stopped for some reason. Don't wanna see that again."

Could that be the "thing" they were talking about? Anyway, they've been nice enough to not attack me. I think it was time to introduce myself, "By the way, my name's Zander."

"My name is Sandra," Lamp girl was the first to speak.

"The name's Ethan," then Hoodie guy.

"Fey," and then Punk girl.

"We need to go back to regroup," Ethan said, grabbing the lamp from Sandra and leading the way. "There's this large courtyard area. The others are waiting there, so we should hurry."

"Others?" So it's not just the four of us.

"We split up with the rest so we could cover more ground in this place," Ethan walked out of the room, "You can tell that was a dumb idea. But hey! We found you and now there are 10 of us."

We walked out of the room, and the dark hallway looked really eerie, with the lamp being the only light source. It felt like a maze. Every now and then we saw a bunch of doors that all looked different from one another and looked completely out of place. The floor had a large trail of blood, and it was probably from that thing that was chasing them earlier. The doors that appeared normal led us to one-way rooms where the door we came from was the only entrance and exit—typically bathrooms, bedrooms, and other normal rooms—or doors that weren't one-way and had more doors that led into more rooms. They said it was too risky to go that way since they'd probably get lost. The doors that looked out of place—on the ground, the ceiling, were sideways and were a completely different style, like a sliding door or a door made out of old wooden planks. These doors were the ones that led into the most dangerous and disturbing areas. It could either have dangerous creatures or dangerous areas that can mess with your perception. I'm still not sure what the latter exactly means, though.

We were walking in a formation where Sandra and Ethan were taking the lead, while me and Fey were at the back. The two at the front were chatting about something. Me and Fey? Pure awkward silence.

"Do you remember which direction's the courtyard?" Sandra asked Ethan.

"Yeah, I've got a little trick to get back there without getting lost," he replied.

"By the way. Next time, we should close the doors properly. I don't think they can open them from the inside."

"We were panicking during that entire time, so it was fine. Plus, it's the person behind's fault. They were the ones who left it open."

"Ethan... YOU were the person behind."

"... The person behind was not the one accountable. We are all equally responsible for that silly mistake."

"Um... Okay... Once we closed a door and saw something running to the door, have you ever noticed they were completely silent?"

"Whaddya mean?"

"I mean, aren't we at least supposed to—"

"Okay, you two," Fey interrupted them, "That's enough chit-chat. Maybe you guys should not talk about that last part around him. Let's not make any noise anymore. I don't want that thing to find us."

I heard something dripping from behind me. I stopped walking and turned around. The sudden realization brought chills down my spine. The rest noticed me, so they stopped and turned too. The light from the lamp wasn't much, but we could see it. A figure with a long neck and something continuously dripping down its mouth. Its long arms and metal-like nails straddled the walls, leaving claw marks behind. It walked towards us, making itself more visible in the light. It smiled, and started laughing, with blood spattering out of its mouth.

Right at this moment, I just realized that [https://img.wattpad.com/f09258ad0905d3ec707c6d847ffb4225b8ba2ea6/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f49726c7771786534336b305f53673d3d2d313231303335393838372e313665393139653361343664343237663337333632353632333533342e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

Right at this moment, I just realized that... This was not a nightmare.

[To Be Continued...]