“So… Pip, how long have you and your mother been here?”

“Hmm… about a week? I don’t remember too much brother Abe.”

“Then you must know a lot about this place. Can you guide me as I walk around this place? It’s boring to do that alone you see.”

“Okay. Leave it to me, brother.” Pip excitedly replied.

First Pip took Abe to the previous garden. Then he explained that the garden is connected to three buildings. Building A where Abe was locked. Building B where Pip lived with his mother and building C.

While listening to pip explaining the basic layout. Abe noticed that the sun is not in sight anymore. Calculating the time when he woke up and the sun’s position, Abe concluded that noon is almost over.

“Pip let’s explore that building first.” Abe pointed at building C. Pip nodded and then led the way. Inside the building, the interior was the same as the others. The difference was only the number of rooms.

“Are these building rooms empty?” Abe asked while looking at Pip.

“I don’t know. I only went here once with mother.”

“I see… then let’s check every single room together.”

Abe walked ahead. They checked the first room which turned up to be a library. They looked around for about a half-hour inside. When they found nothing interesting, they left. The next room they search was a bedroom. From the looks of it, it was intended for a single person.

“It’s the same layout as my room.” Abe mumbled quietly.

From the looks of it, the room hadn’t been used for quite a while or it had always been empty. There is no trace of someone using it. no scratching mark on the bed or the wall. No writing, nothing. Finding nothing they left the room and then went to the last room.

When they open the door to the last room, Abe was stunned.

“What is this room Pip?” Abe asked with his feet still stunned on the ground.

“It looks like an archive room. I’ve never entered this room before.” Pip entered the room ahead of Abe. Looking around without touching anything.

Then Abe followed. The first thing he did was look around the room. Something interesting caught Abe’s eye, an old audio tape recorder. He walked toward it and then pressed the button to play it. The only sound heard was only broken static sound. Then Abe stopped the player. He checked the tape inside the player.

When the tape came out. Abe found out that the tape seems to be fine. But looking closer at the transparent case, Abe could see that the ribbon tape was entangled.

“Pip can you help me find another tape like this?” Abe handed the tape to pip.

While pip was looking for another tape. Abe was looking around inside the room. Abe found a file cabinet. But it was locked. Giving up after a few tries pulling the handle Abe searched another place for the key. In the middle of searching for the key Pip shouted loudly.

“I found it.”

Abe stopped searching immediately, then went toward Pip.

“There are a lot of tapes inside, brother Abe.” Pip said while pointing at the box on the floor.

“Well let’s try every one of them. We got nothing better to do anyway.” Abe said while patting Pip’s head.

“Hehe, okay brother Abe.” Pip giggled happily.

Then they bring the box full of tapes to the tape player. Looking at the tape inside, every one of them had numbers on them. The first one he tried was a tape with the number fifty on it. When Abe inserted it into the audio player it only made a broken static sound again. When he checked the tape, it was entangled too. Then Abe checked the other one. This time he looked through the transparent case in each of them to check if it entangled or not. He threw the broken tapes on the floor, then kept searching. Pip helped with the search too. Half an hour passed by when Pip finally found one tape with the number 133 on it.

“Brother Abe this one seems fine,” Pip said while handing the tape carefully to Abe. When Abe received it, he checked it again.

“Hmm, seems fine to me. Let’s try playing it.” Checking it for a bit. Abe then played it on the recorder. After a short static sound, there are rustling sounds heard. Then there was a woman’s voice speaking on it.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

‘Progress log number fifty-three. Date of examination sixteenth April two thousand five. Time of examination 3.22 PM. The patient’s name is Abraham Brooks. Patient Number 6431204129701. Problem pertinent review of symptoms as follows: Feeling of anxiety sometimes occurring. Abraham confirmed experiencing anxious moods. Sleep disturbance is reported. He confirmed the last two weeks he had not enough quality sleeps. Abraham denied using any other substance besides the prescribed medical pill. He reports that he has been regularly attending group A support meetings. He…….’

“What the hell is this?” Abe was baffled. He couldn’t believe what he heard.

“Is this your counseling session brother Abe?” Pip asked while looking at Abe.

“No-no-no. I had never attended any therapy at all.” He answered. Then out of nowhere, Abe felt his head hurt. The pain slowly grew stronger. It felt like hundreds of needles pricking his brain. Abe let out a painful moan. He dropped to his knees while holding his head.

“Are you okay brother?” Pip panicked, and he helped hold Abe’s body.

The pain lasts for a minute. While Abe felt like a few hours long.

“I’m okay now Pip. Thank you.” Abe slowly stood up.

“Let’s continue tomorrow brother, we didn’t have a launch yet and it’s almost dark outside I think.” Pip urged Abe to rest.

“Okay let’s rest for today”

Abe and Pip went out of the room. Since they left the room Abe hadn’t said anything. He was still immersed in his thought. Trying hard to remember the memory. If he indeed had gone through counseling he should have remembered. Abe found that the oldest memory he had was from when he was 7 years old. He started to trace his old memories, looking if there were gaps in his memories Abe paused for a second. There were really gaps in between. Some of the memories were not consistent. There were some memories that didn’t connect at all.

Realizing this, Abe stopped his track, Pip looked back at Abe.

“Brother Abe!” He shouted while tugging at Abe’s right sleeve.

Feeling the tug on his arm Abe snapped out of his thought. Then looked at Pip. Pip was face was filled with concern.

“Ah sorry Pip, I was lost in thought for the moment.” Abe reassured Pip while rubbing his hand on his head.

Pip nodded but the concern on his face still didn’t disappear. Seeing that Pip was worried for him. Abe didn’t know what to do. He looked around searching for something that could make Pip ease his concern. Realizing that they were out in the garden he saw something. There was a dark long corridor. It was slightly hidden from where Abe stood. The plants around hide it well.

Pip saw Abe was staring somewhere, he followed his gaze and then found that Abe was staring at the dark corridor.

“That corridor is always dark brother Abe.”

“Hmm? Why is it? Is there something there?” Abe puzzled

“There is no light in there, only a metal door. But it doesn’t have a handle or anything. So, I think it’s only a one-way door. If you want to check it, I can guide you there tomorrow.” Pip said while his hand still tugging Abe’s sleeve.

“Okay then. Let’s go eat something then head to your room. And it seems like we missed launch after all” Abe looked up, finding that the sky getting darker.

Then Pip led Abe to his building. The layout is the same as the building where Abe was locked. They had dinner first before resting in Pip’s rooms. The room was very simple. There were only a single bed, a desk, and an empty cabinet. There was no decoration at all. The only thing that contributed that someone live here were dozen drawing scattered on the floor.

Pip quickly gathered the drawing and places it under the bed. Seeing how quickly Pip move, Abe let out soft laughter. Abe thought that Pip was embarrassed by the drawing so he didn’t mention it.

“All right let’s sleep Pip.” Abe wave at Pip while standing beside the bed.

Since the bed was not big, they have to snuggle together. Seeing that Pip was already on the bed behind the quilt Abe walked to the light switch.

“Ahh don’t switch it off!” Pip shouted seeing that Abe wanted to turn the light off.

“Are you afraid of the dark Pip?” Said Abe with a grin on his face.

Pip nodded quickly. Seeing this Abe walked toward the bed and then lay on the bed.

“Good night Pip.” Abe brought his body closer to Pip.

“Good night brother Abe.” He smiled while drawing the quilt closer to his chin.

----------------------------------------

In the middle of their sleep, Abe suddenly woke up. The first thing he do was looking at Pip. Seeing that Pip was still sound asleep Abe smiled.

“This kid is so cute” Abe mumbled softly. “And a heavy sleeper at that.”

Abe moved his body searching for a more comfortable position. When he was ready to close his eyes again Abe’s ear picked up something. There was a sound outside.

Instantly Abe’s body tensed up a little. His breath started to quicken. Abe slowly raised from bed. Looking around to find weapons. But there weren’t any. Abe slowly tip-toed toward the door.

When he was in front of the door, he slowly put his left ear on the wooden door.

There was a sound of something moving. But there was no sound of steps. He listened closely to it. The sound was fading. It seems like the sound was getting farther from him. When the sound was gone, Abe slowly placed his hand on the knob handle. Then he turned the lock really slowly.

‘Clicked’

In the dead quiet atmosphere, the sound was so loud that he felt like it could be heard from every corner of the place. His hand was frozen. A really chilly cold hit his spine. Sweat started to drench his back.

Then a scratching sound was heard. Slowly it was getting louder. The sound was so loud that it felt like scratching his heart. When it was so loud that he felt like his eardrums were going to tear, the scratching stopped.

Abe placed his ear on the door once again. It only met with silence. The sound disappeared so suddenly that Abe felt like the last few seconds were only his imagination. Just when Abe let out an exhausted sigh. Abe heard a heavy breathing sound from the other side of the door. It was so heavy that it didn’t sound like human breathing. It was so oppressive that made you feel that the loudest lion’s roar felt cute compared to it. Abe’s body started to quiver. His back right now was drenched with a river of sweat. Right when Abe’s legs couldn’t support him anymore.

“Abeee~” A soft whisper was heard from the other side. It was so abominable that Abe’s body and mind couldn’t handle it anymore. Abe’s world quickly plunged into darkness.