Chapter 141.

I exited the bathroom, closed the door behind me then returned to my bed. I took out my phone, then out of pure curiosity, I shone the flashlight on the wall parallel to the bathroom door. After several seconds, I noticed a black gooey liquid squeeze it’s way under the door in the mirror.

I only did it as a test, but I was disappointed when I found that this small amount of light allowed it to move. What if it stuck around until morning? With the light from outside, wouldn’t I be screwed if it was still there? What kind of stupid monster can’t move in the dark anyway? What the bloody hell is with this broken freakshow?

I turned the flashlight off and weighed my options. What choices did I have though? Well… what if I lured it far away, trapped it in a dark room, then returned here and went back to sleep? If it didn’t know where I was, maybe it would lose interest in me and go after some other poor sap.

It was at least worth a try. Although it meant I’d have to take the risk out in the brightly lit hallway where it would be able to freely move around unhindered. This was honestly such a pain in the ass. Well, I guess it was still a much better alternative to being chased to the end of the Earth by one of my psychotic exes. I’ll take a date with a weird retarded monster-like thing over one of my psychotic exes any day of the week.

With a dejected sigh, I got off the bed and opened the door to exit the room. As intended, light from the hallway lit up inside the room. With my foot, I put down the door stopper which kept the door wide open. When I exited the room, I walked further down the hallway at a leisurely pace. I figured it would eventually get out of the bathroom if I left it like that and opted to use the spare time to look around for somewhere to lock it inside so I could go back to sleep as soon as possible.

I walked in the direction of the elevator, but it didn’t take long before I realized something was off. I’d already walked for several minutes and I should have long reached it, but the elevator was nowhere in sight. Not even the stairwell. I had a strange sense of déjà vu all over again. Wasn’t this the same twilight world shit that happened back at Rick’s place?

Was I trapped at a point where many world lines intersected, a singularity? Could that explain this strange phenomenon? Then that strange monster like thing… what is that supposed to be or represent? A bad omen? An amalgamation of evil?

Something that moves around in the light and rests in the dark, what would it represent? Aren’t there too many things? An animal? Maybe a human? Would something of its nature mean it’s a bad person? Who’s a bad person? Val? Was this a warning related to Val? No, but what about the weird dream I had? Maria, my fourth ex, or maybe my fifth ex?

Why was it in the bathroom though? Was there a reason for it? Haaaaaaah. Why were so many freaky things related to the bathroom anyway? Was it all some sort of grand conspiracy?

Whatever, forget about that for now, I need to figure out what to do first. The only notable thing in the hallway were the doors. Could one of these doors be an exit to this weird looping twilight world?

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Will any of the doors even open to begin with?

I turned the knob on one of them to test it.

Click.

It wasn’t locked. As for what was behind the first door I opened, it was a hallway identical to the one I was in. I could even see far down, standing in the hallway, was myself opening a door and looking at what was beyond it. I took out my phone, placed it on the ground, and recorded the door. When I turned back and gazed beyond the doorway, I could see my phone lying on the ground in the same position recording the depiction of myself and the door down the hallway. What the hell was this supposed to mean? 

I chose to not immediately enter through the door, instead, I ran down the hallway I was still in for a short distance, but I never came across my phone. I turned around and after I took a single step, I discovered my phone was right there where I left it. It was as if I never moved an inch from this spot. I could also see at the end of the hallway in this direction there was an open door. It displayed my side profile with a phone on the ground beside me.

“Hah? What in the...?”

This world was really messing with my head. It was far worse than a simple labyrinth and it would be a nightmare for anyone trying to construct a map of the place. Thanks to this early discovery, I immediately gave up on trying to construct a map of the place to avoid losing my way. It seemed pointless as space was somehow wrapped and convoluted. My perception of both space and time was likely completely off in this strange hallway.

I turned the phone to record me from behind again and repeated the same test. This time I also ran away from the open door at the end of the hallway where I was depicted. I still never came across my phone. When I turned around and took one step, my phone was right there beside me, it was like I’d never moved an inch again. 

I picked up my phone then replayed the video and found something that left me confounded. The video showed me moving away from the phone, but when I turned around and took a single step, I was suddenly directly in front of it again.

I next ran in the direction of the open door at the end of the hallway where I saw myself. The image of myself in the door disappeared around the corner. However, it didn’t feel like the open door had gotten any closer. I turned around and found my phone right beside me again. When I examined the open door at the end of the hallway, I was visible again.

What in the fuck is this madness! It was far beyond my comprehension. I watched the first recording I’d taken when the camera was pointed at the door beside me and it didn’t answer any questions either. It only raised more instead. I could hardly call it teleportation; rather, it was like bending space and time into itself. One step back was no longer equivalent to one step forward. A single step back eliminated all forward progress in an instant.

It felt like it was a message to myself on a subconscious level. Even if I ran away from a problem, the moment I turned around, the problem would still be there, it would never just conveniently disappear on its own. Was that supposed to be a hint on how to escape from this strange hallway?

Face the problem head-on rather than trying to flee from it and hope that it goes away, was that what this meant? The problem being, whatever that black monster-like thing was supposed to be? Just how the hell am I supposed to do that? Did somebody give me a rocket launcher I could use to blow it up? I don’t think so. 

Haaaaah. What a stupid door and hallway. I slammed the door shut in rage, moved on to the next door, then opened it up hoping to see a different view.