Jake shuddered, hunched over, bile covering his hands. Trails of spit dangled from his mouth. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t force the rotten flesh up from his gullet. Whether it was because of the voice's cruel design or his own desperate desire for food, he couldn’t tell, but the rotted flesh stayed trapped inside him. He felt his stomach gurgle and turn over in disgust as he gasped and shuddered, trying desperately to recover his slipping sanity.
“What… What did you do to me…” He finally managed to spit out, not caring for the consequences of the voice's retribution, just in need of answers.
“What did I do, dear guest? Nothing, nothing at all! You’re the one climbing over yourself to rip apart a corpse, gnash its flesh apart. It’s not my place to judge, dear guest, but surely you could have found something else to snack on?”
“WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!” Jake screamed out, tired of the voice’s constant sarcasm and overly sweet tone dripping with barely contained malice. The air grew still all at once, and suddenly Jake found himself forced downward, face slammed down into his own bile.
“What I do with my playthings, dear guest, is none of your concern. Would you let a doll question you if you were to make it dance? I thought not. You’ve amused me greatly, little doll. That’s all you need to know.” The force was pulled away, and Jake pushed himself up quickly, the vile smell of the bile still stinging his nostrils. Reaching up, he wiped his face clean as best he could, yet the effort felt wasted. The smell still clung to him, following him now with every step.
“Go along now, little doll… sorry, dear guest, entertain me some more!” The voice spoke with enthusiasm, and Jake could hear it wore a wide smile. Swallowing a gulp, Jake took off running wildly after the lights. He felt lighter than he had in ages, fatigue seemed to drain from him with every step. He had to find Alice, find some way to escape.
“Oh, this is most fun!” He heard the voice say, followed by distorted crackling laughter, “I love the chase, dear guest, how did you know?”
Jake ignored the voice tickling his ear and ran forward, hoping to come across some sort of turning point, a pathway, a doorway, something to break up the monotony of the endless corridor. There was nothing, though, save for the sound of his feet breaking against the stone floor below and the voice's laughter circling above. Suddenly, Jake was forced to stop his run, almost carried forward by his momentum into the wall that had suddenly appeared to block his path. Spinning around, he saw the corridor he’d been running through gone, now replaced instead by a spiraling stone staircase that climbed up above into infinity.
The voice was silent now, even its laughter gone. With no other options, Jake ran up the staircase, hoping to reach the top before the voice could take him by surprise again and force some other horrible task upon him. Yet no matter how fast he climbed, two steps at a time, he never seemed to make progress. He was always treated to the same set of stairs winding around themselves in an endless dance.
Frustrated, he let out a scream and lost focus, tripping over himself on the latest set of stairs. Falling forward, Jake began sliding down the winding staircase. Jake hoped to slam into the curved wall below him; it was the only way he saw himself not dying as he fell down the stairs, but instead, he slipped straight through the wall.
Tumbling end over end, Jake landed with a thud on solid stone. Yet it felt different from the rock of the corridor; it felt hot and bumpy, and Jake could feel large cracks cutting through it. Looking around, Jake realized he was sprawled out along an asphalt road. The walls of the corridor remained, though, unbreaking all around him save for a wooden door inlaid across from him. Standing up and walking closer, Jake saw a single word carved across it in jagged letters,
“Mill’s”
A chill ran down his spine as he gripped the handle. Pulling the door ajar and stepping inside, he found himself home. The hallway he’d left so long ago, only planning to be gone an hour at the most, opened before him. Stepping inside and allowing the door to close behind him, a strange wave of nostalgia washed over him, and despite his situation, he couldn’t help but feel comfort at being back. A tear rolled down his cheek as he struggled to contain himself, leaning against the wall for a moment before stepping back, confused.
The wall was coated in a layer of grime and dust. Looking around more closely, he saw every surface in the entryway was filthy as if the house lay abandoned. A sinking feeling quickly took hold of Jake as he quickly ran through the house, checking every nook and corner. Rotted food, broken furniture, and trash littered the place. It was as if his home lay abandoned and condemned, unlived in for years.
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Even worse, there was no sign of anyone else in the house. His parents and sister’s rooms all had their doors ajar, but they were trashed inside and coated in dust and filth. No sign of proper habitation remained. Waves of grief hit Jake as he realized he wouldn’t be able to see or talk to his family. Even if they were fakes, just twisted puppets of his torturer, to just hear their voice would have meant everything. Walking the length of the upstairs hall, Jake suddenly froze before the door to his room. It was the only door closed and the only surface in the whole house properly cleaned and maintained.
With nervous breath caught in his throat, he gripped hold of the handle to his room and stepped through, ready for whatever twisted nightmare awaited him. He was not prepared for the blinding rays of the sun, which washed over him in a warm glow. Turning his head away from the sudden brightness that surrounded him, he saw the door behind him was gone, replaced by fields of green grass. Trees dotted the landscape, along with rows and rows of polished stones. With a gulp, he realized he was standing in a graveyard.
Looking back around, he saw an open grave directly ahead of him. Stepping forward till he could clearly see the inscription carved into the stone, Jake read,
“Jake Wilson Mills| 5/22/2002-1/1/2025|Gone with The Wind, Carried to The Unknown”
Jake stepped back in horror, not sure how to process seeing his own grave, when suddenly he felt himself falling. With a thud and groan of pain, he looked around, only to realize he was lying flat in a coffin. The sky up above was perfectly clear, the sun frozen directly above him. He could just barely see the edge of his gravestone up above before, all at once, the lid of the coffin slammed shut, locking him in darkness.
Jake tried to force the lid of the coffin open, yet despite all his efforts to budge the lid, it stayed shut tight. He let out screams of protest and calls for help, yet no one came. Jake was locked alone in the dark, the cloth lining of the coffin scratching uncomfortably against his body. He soon entered a cycle of screaming, begging, crying, and pleading, only to be ignored and forced to curl up and recuperate his strength.
“Having fun? Dear guest, I sure hope you enjoyed your visit home!” The voice returned, echoing off the confines of the coffin, causing Jake’s head to rattle with the noise it caused.
“What… What is this…” Jake managed to gasp out. He felt weak and lightheaded. He’d been fine for ages despite the lack of oxygen, yet as soon as the voice returned, he found himself struggling to breathe, barely able to draw half a breath.
“What do you mean ‘What is this?’ Dear guest, you made it! You made it home! Granted, I had to help you a bit, but you still managed alright in the end!”
“That… that… wasn’t home…”
“Oh, dear, sweet, stupid guest, did you really expect nothing to change? That you could just leave and come back without a care in the world? You’ve been gone so very long now that as far as anyone you knew is concerned, you're dead, an empty coffin rotting in the ground. No one is waiting for you, missing you. Not anymore. Your family is gone, your home is gone, I’m sorry to say.”
“What… would you… know…”
“I can understand it’s hard to accept, but really, why fight the truth? Why fight what you’ve been avoiding for so long now, dear guest!”
“… Just… let… me… out of… here…”
The voice was silent after this request before breaking out into mad laughter that seemed to shake the coffin violently. Tiny flecks began to land on Jake's skin, and though he couldn’t see clearly in his dark prison, Jake could tell the coffin was splitting apart from the force caused by the voice’s laughter.
“Let you out? Dear guest, haven’t you figured it out by now?”
Suddenly, Jake was free of the coffin, flat on his back in the stone corridor where his desperate run had started,
“No one ever leaves, not ever.”
Loud cackles caused the stone of the corridor to ripple and groan with pleasure while Jake simply lay flat, gasping for breath, refusing to humor the voice any further.
“Now, dear guest, if I were you, I’d stand up. It seems you have some extra special friends here who want to play!”
Jake let out a groan before forcing himself upright, body screaming in protest. Looking around, a gasp escaped him as he saw large sections of the corridors ’ walls sliding up and away, disappearing without a trace. They slid away to reveal dozens of side corridors carved into the wall. Jake hurried forward, readying himself to start rushing wildly through the side corridors in hopes of making some progress that defied the voice’s will.
Instead, he froze suddenly as a snarling snout appeared around the corridor closest to him. Jake watched as a wolf with matted fur and black blood dripping from its jaw made its presence known, stalking toward him slowly. It wasn’t alone. From out each of the corridors, more threats began to appear, all facing Jake and all showing clear hostile intent.
“Go ahead, little doll.” The voice said with a short, crisp laugh, “Dance for me!”