A dining table in the middle of a candle lit room, lit only by a single candle sat upon the table. A lonely rose stood, dead in an empty vase right beside it. The smell of mildew was secreting through the old wooden walls. The tattered wallpaper on the walls were a drab yellow, staring at it for too long would make anyone go insane. A family portrait hung by a single nail on the center of the dull wall. Where was I?

I was woken up in a wooden chair that sat alone in this near empty room, with no memory of how I had got there. The last thing I remembered was I was on the bus with that girl, the bus entered a thick cloud of fog, and then nothing. Did I pass out?

I made my way towards the hallway, but when I looked, there was only darkness. Pitch black. I went back to the table, for now I needed to come up with something. Think! I’m stuck in this room all by myself, I need to look around for materials. I searched around the room, but nothing. The room was empty. I grew frustrated, I was stuck in this stupid empty ass room with only a candle!

The candle- that’s it! Immediately, I reached for the candle but as soon as I grabbed it my eyes were caught by the portrait…

What was a portrait of my family and me doing up here in a place like this? With the candle, I walked closer to the portrait. The portrait was an old painting of my family and I, like the one that hung in our living room wall. My dad was in his best suit, and my mom in her classic purple dress. I sat in the middle with my old teddy bear. How old was I here? Four? Five? The years felt like they passed by so fast, but there was something wrong with this painting.

The eyes were following my every movement. Every motion I made it followed. On top of that, I could hear a strange noise coming from the direction of the painting. It almost sounded like muttering. I leaned my ear closer in to try to make out the quiet words. As my ear was getting closer, the words became clearer.

“Help us… Help us…” It was the same two words repeated over and over again. Surprised, I took a step back. As I looked back up to the painting, it was easy to see something was horribly wrong. Red paint…No, it was blood dripping from the eyes of my parents as their words grew louder and louder.

“HELP US! HELP US!”

I tried to respond but no words came out of my mouth, no sound. It was as if my vocal chords were ripped out of my throat. I turned away from the painting, only to be met by that thing standing across the table. That thing that took the appearance of my mom was standing there with that disgusting smile. It slowly started to open its mouth…

“How could you forget…” Its voice trailed off, like a hiss of a serpent. It raised a finger, and pointed it towards me. Shocked, I stumbled backwards. How was that thing here?

It moved its way around the table, approaching closer. I crept back, trying to put some distance between that thing. It kept slowly walking closer and closer.

“Why did you abandon us?...” I was backed into the wall, nowhere to escape. The creature was right in front of my face, opening its hideous mouth.

“Join us…” It hissed with its twisted tongue about to touch my face. Just in time I was able to find the lit candle with my hand and throw it at the monster's face.

I’m sorry mom. I pushed it off of me, and dashed for the hallway. The room started to catch on fire along with that thing’s face. It screamed in pain in my mother’s voice. I closed my eyes and kept running.

“Soon…” A quiet, hoarse voice whispered right into my left ear. I opened my eyes to look… A ghoulish figure, with a white cloak and a face with holes where its eyes and nose were supposed to be popped up with an ear deafening screech.

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I woke up to the sound of the bus screeching to a halt. Was that all a dream? No, it felt too real, but how was I still on the bus then?

A gentle nudge to my side called me to attention. The girl with the purple hair was smiling at me, a pretty smile.

“You’re awake now too…” The bus doors opened with a creak. “Good, it’ll save us some time.”

Even in this situation having her by my side made me feel calm for some reason. Maybe it was her presence or smile. But now that I had time to think I realized that I never got her name. She started getting up from her seat when I grabbed her wrist. She froze for a second before looking back at me.

“What is it?” she asked. “You okay?”

I don’t know what got into me! I didn’t mean to grab her wrist, my hand just moved on its own!

“Yo-your n-name…” I stumbled over my words, why was I so nervous all of a sudden? “I never got it…”

“Oh that…” She chuckled to herself a bit, I felt embarrassed. But quickly she smiled towards me again and said, “My name is Mira Akame!”

Mira Akame? A smile came across my face. It was the first time I smiled in a while. I think she noticed too as she patted me on the head and said with a smirk, “We have to go…Remember follow my lead.”

Getting up, I noticed the stranger that was on the bus already walking out. We followed suit, and walked down the stairs. We were in front of what seemed to be like a normal office building, but there was nobody else around. We followed the stranger as he walked towards the front doors, they were unlocked.

The main lobby was what you could expect from any old office building. It was eerily quiet in there, which would make sense considering the time. However, some of the lights were still on, flickering and humming away. We walked straight towards the elevator and stood there quietly with the stranger.

We entered the elevator once the doors opened. All of the floors were clearly labeled next to the buttons. The buttons went in order from one to twenty, but the button for the 13th floor was missing. The stranger pressed a series of buttons in a specific order starting with the fourth floor then to the second then to sixth. Each button he pressed he did so slowly and precisely. He pressed back to the second floor then the tenth and finally to the fifth floor. The doors closed and the elevator started to ascend.

The number at the top of the elevator counted upwards. From one to two to three, and eventually until six then it came to a sudden halt. The elevator doors opened on the wrong floor, and what stood outside was a woman with the same smile as that thing from my dreams. She slowly looked at all of us, observing with her prying eyes, before walking into the elevator. She stood in the front corner of the elevator hovering over us watching, as the doors closed and the elevator started moving upwards again.

Shivers went down my spine as that thing kept staring. I looked towards Mira for help, she seemed to notice my signal for help. I felt a warm hand grab mine and squeeze, I quickly glanced over to see Mira’s hand grabbing mine. She glanced towards my direction and mouthed the words, “Don’t look at it.” I got the message and tried my best to avoid its gaze.

However, the thing noticed and approached me slowly, leaning in, she whispered, “It’s a cold night tonight, aren’t you cold?”

I tried my best to ignore her, but she continued asking me questions. “Where are you heading to at this time of night?”

Mira squeezed my hand again tightly and when I looked towards her she mouthed, “Don’t respond, don’t look.”

I shut my eyes as tightly as I could and tried to ignore her words. She kept asking me questions with her high pitched voice. I was saved by the elevator, as it finally reached the thirteenth floor, and as it did the whole box shook and the lights flickered on and off like crazy. The doors opened again, revealing a dark and empty office hallway. The thing backed off of me now and took the lead, leading the stranger out the elevator. Mira and I followed, walking down the dark path.

There were empty rooms along the sides of the hallway. Each one was of a different scene, each entirely unique and different. One could be a simple old office room while another would be a poor replica of a beach. A bizarre light shone dimly in one of the rooms down the hallway. We continued to approach and as we got closer to the room it started getting colder and colder to the point we could see our breaths.

The thing that was with us passed the room without a thought and continued down the hallway, the stranger followed. But my curiosity of where the light was coming from prevented me from ignoring it. As we passed, I decided to look in and once I did I froze in shock.

What was this room doing here?

The dining room from my dream… The same exact dull yellow wallpaper… The single rose next to the lit candle… The same portrait that hung in the same exact spot…

What was it all doing here?