"What... happened?" I asked myself.

I had just woken up. It felt as though something terrible had occurred. I remember what happened to me, the sounds, the shadows, the way I was dragged under the bed, everything felt so surreal and horrifying.

I opened my eyes hoping that everything that happened was all just a dream, but as I regained my vision, an unfamiliar ceiling met my gaze.

"What?"

I felt around me and realized that I was lying on the floor. I quickly stood up and looked around in confusion.

It was dark, yet some sort of light bulbs lined up on the walls gave off a red lighting, an unsettling hue of red, much like the deep crimson of blood. It wasn't powerful enough to illuminate the surroundings. It was quite dim and couldn't even reach the other side of the wall. At the very least, It allowed me to navigate the area.

Based on how many lights I could see in the distance, I realized that I was sleeping on a hallway, quite a long hallway, in fact, I couldn't even see the end of it due to how dark it was.

I looked around a bit. Nothing looked familiar to me. I'm not quite sure because of the lighting, but I believe both the walls and ceiling are white, while the tiled floor is some hue of brown, a bit close to that of chestnuts.

"Just where the hell am I?" I muttered.

I was still scared. One moment I was dragged into a void by some creepy shadow hands, next thing I'm in a dark hallway without any clue on where I am. What a great night this was.

I walked around a bit, keeping close to the left wall with the red lights.

There were a lot of rooms in the hallway, each room was about 20 feet from each other. I went in front of a random room, a white sign plate to the right of the just-as-white door displayed 208. There was a sort of black smudge below the numbers. I could tell that there was writing behind it. I tried to wipe the smudge off with my palm, but it did nothing.

I grabbed the doorknob but suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my hand. It was my wound from when I shattered the knife. It wasn't bleeding anymore but it hurt quite a bit. I placed my wounded hand inside my pocket. With my other hand, I tried to open the room again but failed as the doorknob didn't budge an inch.

I went to the opposite room and tried there, but it was locked as well. The numbers 209 and the same black smudge under the numbers were displayed on the sign plate.

"Is this some sort of hotel?"

It had quite an eerie atmosphere, almost like something could pop out at any moment, and remembering everything that happened so far, it might just happen.

I felt a slight chill in my legs, yet no breeze passed by, just pure nervousness.

"Hello? Is anyone home?" I knocked frantically.

There was no response. Not even a single sign that there was life inside.

I took a deep breath and looked towards the hallway.

"I hope this nightmare ends soon." I said to myself, even though I had evidence that this wasn't a dream. Deluding myself was my only escape.

I traversed the dark hallway, trying all the rooms as I went. With no luck, all of them were closed shut.

"This is normal. It's night so everyone must be asleep." I assured myself.

After a few more locked doors, I finally saw light at the end of the hallway.

I rushed towards the light, running as if something was chasing me from behind. Finally, a way out.

As I got close, I observed that it was indeed night time and the light that I saw was coming from the moon.

From the window, I could only see the dark sky and a dense forest in the surrounding area. There were a few buildings in the far distance, but I couldn't recognize any of them. I'm practically in the middle of nowhere.

I was on the second floor but seeing as my courage keeps getting drained with every second of being in this unfamiliar settlement, I decided it was best to jump from here.

I used to do a lot of physical exercises back in the day. This included mountain climbing so the height from the second floor wasn't that bad, not unlike the dark bottomless void a while back.

My plan quickly failed as I couldn't seem to move the window. I pushed, pulled, slid, and punched with all my might, but it didn't even move or crack a bit.

"Is this bullet-proof or something?"

As I caught my breath, I only realized now that sometime must have passed from when I was unconscious. It wasn't raining anymore. A few hours must have passed or this is in a completely different area, far away from my apartment.

I looked back into the dark hallway where I came from and felt another chill creeping up my legs.

"I have to get out of here quickly."

To my left were the stairs that lead to the floors above and below. There was also an elevator but based on my experience of watching horror movies, that's something to be avoided.

But before those modes of vertical transport, there was a sort of receptionist desk next to them.

I scavenged the area for anything useful.

There wasn't much here, just an office chair of some sort, a long counter that curves near the railing of the stairwell, and a wall of drawers at the back.

Many stationaries were scattered on the counter. They could definitely be useful for self defense, but seeing as the only sort of weapon that can be used is a pair of scissors, I passed on it. Who knows what I would do once I get near that thing. Instead, I grabbed some pens and stashed them in my pocket. It'd be nice if I found something blunt, much like a fire extinguisher, but I haven't seen one around.

I opened one of the drawers and found that it was stocked to the brim with folders. I grabbed a random one and opened it. Inside was paperwork, a lot of them. On the top left of the paper was a symbol of a stethoscope that formed the shape of a heart. On the other side was a small 1x1 photo of someone but it was too blurry to see their face. The paper was filled with black smudge just like the ones below the room numbers near the doors, but some words were still readable. Patient.. Diagnosis.. Symptoms..

"Is this place... a hospital?"

Looking at the logo again, it does seem sort of familiar, but as of now, nothing comes to mind.

I looked into the file a bit more to try and discern some more words on it but suddenly the black smudges moved around, much like they were wiggling.

I let go and dropped the file in surprise.

Another chill went up my legs as I crouched down to grab the file.

As I slowly turned it towards me, fear filled my mind once again.

SAVE HIM SAVE HIM SAVE HIM. These words replaced the black smudges.

They were still moving around on the paper. After a second or two, the words started to swirl and grouped together in the middle of the paper, forming a circle of black smudge. It was like a black hole, trying to suck me in, draining my courage away. I was about to let go of the paper when suddenly, the black smudge scattered and formed one large message on the page.

HE'S DEAD.

Reaching the peak of my fright, I threw the file on the ground and ran to the stairs.

"I need to leave now!"

I was now on the stairs, ready to go down to the first floor, but I couldn't. I took one step down and then something prevented me from going deeper into the stairwell. It was as if a wall of air was pushing me back up into the second floor. I tried to brute force my way down, but I wasn't strong enough.

Leaving me with no choice, I tried the stairs up instead. Luckily, nothing was blocking my way. I'm now on the third floor. Instead of being near the exit, I'm now two floors away from it, two floors deeper into this nightmare.

Directly in front of the stairs were the restrooms. I knew this because of the male and female sign that separated the two doors. Wouldn't get more obvious than that.

I went inside, thinking that it would be a good place to hide and wait out the night, which is a good option seeing as something is preventing me from leaving. Things might just get a bit less scary when daylight comes around, If I can survive the night that is.

I pressed a switch on the wall. The lights turned on.

The restrooms were pretty clean. The floors were sparkling white while the walls and ceiling were just as clean and white.

In spooky situations like these, I expected it to be a tad more dirty, something to add to the atmosphere.

I looked in the mirror mounted on the wall to the left of the doorway. I could see myself just fine, unlike a certain mirror I'm very much familiar with.

I went up to the stalls and tried to open them, but they were locked.

"Damn it. It would have been such a good place to hide." I sighed.

The stalls were a bit too tall to climb, plus, there weren't any ledges that could help me.

In front of the stalls, there was a much larger mirror, one that spans across most of the wall with the sinks just below it.

"A nice face wash should brighten the mood." I whispered to myself.

At this point, any sort of distraction would do good for my sanity. Just a minute break from all these frightening things would be very much appreciated.

I washed my hands and face. The water was frigid, enough to give me a boost of energy, something that will be helpful when I need to start running from whatever is in this place.

I didn't have a towel on me and there wasn't any sort of fabric in the vicinity so my clothes were my only option. I wiped my hands on my pants and then pulled the bottom of my shirt to my face. My face was now a bit dry and the second that I uncovered my face, the lights suddenly went out.

I immediately looked in the direction of the light switch.

In my mind, I hoped that it was some sort of blackout, but seeing that the light switch was toggled off, someone or something had pressed the switch.

I was about to leave when I caught a glimpse of the mirror.

It was here again, that.. black thing. I could see it clearly, it's in front of the stall by the corner. This one was the same as the one under my bed but instead of two spectral hands, it was an entire person. It didn't have a face nor any feature that can show its identity. It's just a silhouette of a person, and basing off on its height, it was probably that of a young boy.

I turned around to look at the creature, but as my eyes wandered around the room, it wasn't there anymore.

"Enough with this disappearing act!" I yelled in frustration and fright. All these phenomenons were slowly getting to me, and I could very much feel that my remaining courage was nearly diminished. Anymore of this and surely I will lose my sanity.

I turned back to the mirror when suddenly, my eyes widened. WHY WAS IT ME? was written on the mirror in black. It spanned across the entire mirror with each letter in uppercase, making it seem like it was written with anger.

I stepped back in fright, my eyes frantically explored the room.

"Please, let this nightmare end!" I pleaded in mind.

I stepped back some more and felt my back hit something. I thought I had bumped into a stall but as I turned around to look, it was the shadow.

My entire body shook and I fell to the ground in front of it. I gazed into the shadow while it gazed back. It just stood there, unmoving.

"Why?" It said in a whisper-like questioning manner. Its voice was distorted, as if a low and high voice were talking at the same time, but I could very much hear what it said.

In the next heartbeat, I regained my stance and bolted to the doorway, leaving the restroom with my entirety quaking in fear and my clothes drenched in sweat.

"Someone get me out of here!" I yelled as I approached the stairwell. I felt my face get squashed as I ran into something. Yet again, there was an invisible barrier that prevented me from going down.

"What the hell!"

I could no longer take refuge on another floor. I couldn't go down and there weren't any stairs left to go up. All I could do now was dash across the hallway to find somewhere to hide or another set of stairs.

I ran as fast as I could, all the while twisting all the doorknobs along the way, trying to find a room to hide in. All of them were locked.

Upon twisting another doorknob, my carelessness bit me in the ass as I took off in an unstable step, twisting my ankle, causing me to tumble down to the floor.

"Tsk, that hurts!" I held my ankle.

Suddenly, a horrible chill went up my entire body. Without looking anywhere, I knew there was something behind me. In just a split second, my entirety was sweating in fear while my nerves trembled.

I was in no condition to get up and run at the moment so all I could do was slowly turn around to meet my fate.

It was the shadow. It stood there staring at me. It had no eyes but I knew that it was looking right into mine, piercing into my soul.

I crawled a few feet away trying to escape, but as I glanced back, it wasn't following me. It just stood there looking at me.

At this moment, I was able to catch a bit of a break. It didn't seem like it was coming for me. I felt no hostility at all but I still couldn't shake the feeling that something bad will still happen. Looking at the shadow now, it really does look like a young boy, seeing as how its proportions were suitable for that of a grade schooler.

The boy started to walk again, taking slow careful steps in my direction. With each step of the boy, I dragged myself a few inches back. This continued on for a few seconds.

Because I was still on the floor, the boy inevitably caught up to me, around seven feet behind. My ankle felt a bit better and I was confident that I could start running again. Before I could even form the urge to stand up, the boy took a turn and phased through a door, leaving me alone in the hallway.

I finally stood up. A sharp pain struck my ankle but I knew it wasn't anything serious. I'm sure I could just walk it off.

I gathered my thoughts about everything that happened. Was that boy really not going to attack me? It would seem so. Looking back, even from that time in my bathroom, it hasn't really done anything to physically harm me... well, not directly at least. Seeing as how that boy appeared in a restroom, I figured he was the same entity that appeared in mine back home.

But then what about those shadow hands? And how the heck did I go from my home to some creepy hospital?

Well, standing here and doing nothing wouldn't be the best idea. The only clue that I have about this place and whatever the hell is happening lies on that boy.

I walked over to the door that the boy phased through. Playroom was written on the signplate.

I grabbed the doorknob and twisted it. To my surprise, the door opened. I thought for sure I had tried this one when I was running around trying to open doors. Either I missed it or it was the boy that opened it from the inside.

I gulped as I pushed the door open.

The lights automatically turned on and revealed the inside of the room.

The boy was here. He stood directly in the middle of the room facing away from the door. He turned around and I saw that he was holding something. It was a rubik's cube and it looked as if all his attention was focused on it, not even minding me entering the room. He repeatedly twisted the sides of the puzzle, pausing for a second here and there. The more that I observed the boy, the more harmless he seemed. He continued to fiddle with the puzzle. I'm quite certain that he doesn't know how to solve it.

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I walked deeper into the room and looked around.

The inside was colorful. It was as if a rainbow had vomited and sprayed the walls with random patches of vibrant colors, filling the room with a kindergarten aesthetic. Shelves lined the walls with random toys scattered throughout them, while the rest were piled in a box at the corner. I could see a few toys that were the foundation of my childhood. Seeing them all really takes me back. I remember the first time my father bought me one of those toy basketballs. I've never developed an interest in competing in sports but it was still quite fun to play around with them as a kid.

I took a step forward but I accidentally stepped on something. I lifted my foot to see what it was and in that same second, I felt my heart rate increase.

I took a deep breath.

"Calm down, it's just a toy." I said to myself.

On the floor was a toy knife, presumably from a kitchen playset or some other cooking game. It might have just been my eyes deceiving me but for a second, I saw a real knife.

I continued on my way and approached the boy. As much as I didn't want to interact with the unknown, he was the only thing I could turn to.

Just when I was about to talk to him, he suddenly turned around and walked to the box filled with toys. I observed him for a bit to see what he does. He rummaged through the pile and pulled out some toys. A plastic tomato, a plastic cabbage, and a toy spoon and fork. He sat down and with the fork, he motioned in the air, pretending to cut the tomato and scooping it into his mouth. He repeated this for a bit, switching to the cabbage after around a dozen spoonfuls of pretend eating.

I caught a glance of the plastic knife on the floor and seeing as the boy was pretending to slice it with a fork, I thought it would be a friendly gesture to hand it to him. So I did just that.

I grabbed the plastic knife and walked closer to him. He still didn't look in my direction. I began to doubt if he even knew that I'm here. I got right in front of him and crouched down. He still didn't bat an eye. I tapped on his shoulder, surprised that even though he was a shadow, I felt like I was tapping on an actual living person. He stopped what he was doing and finally looked up at me. I slowly brought the plastic knife into view, holding it on the handle, and I extended my arm to give it to him when suddenly, the lights were cut off.

I couldn't see anything and all I could do was look around in surprise. The door slammed shut, leaving us in complete darkness. I felt a chill go across my neck, it's as if a pair of cold hands had grabbed my nape.

A second later, the lights were back on. Everything seemed to be alright.

I turned to face the boy but something was wrong, very wrong. My eyes widened in surprise and I froze like a statue.

My arm was still extended and I was still holding the knife. I didn't know how this happened but for some reason the boy wasn't in his earlier position, instead, he was a few feet closer to me while an object was lodged in the middle of his chest, the knife, the very thing that I was holding. I stabbed him.

An immense pressure sunk in my heart, making me drop down to the floor. My body couldn't stop shaking and all I could do was nervously hold out my hands, the very hands that committed such an unforgivable crime.

"I-I didn't d.. do it! P-please.. b-believe me!" I tried to yell out, but all my voice could do was stutter and crack with each breath.

The boy stood there motionless, no emotions, no pain, not even a flinch in response. It's as if he died standing up.

I groveled on the ground.

"Damn it! Why.. why do this again!" I slammed my fist on the floor repeatedly, not giving a damn about bruising.

I felt my eyes watering but haven't completely broken down in tears, instead, I was frustrated.

"I'm so goddamn stupid!" I slammed my forehead on the floor. A sharp pain spread throughout my head and when I lifted my head up, blood was smudged on the brown floor. I had injured myself, but I didn't care. All I had in mind at this moment was how I'm going to beat myself up from everything that I have done. My mind was filled with self-hatred and frustration. After all this time, I haven't changed one bit.

I looked at my hands again. Suddenly, a vision clouded my eyes. For a split second, I saw my hands covered with blood, blood of the innocent, but after I blinked, it was clean again. Who the hell am I kidding? no matter how spotless my hands were, even after years of being rid of these felonious weapons, they would never be clean. Even if I were to wash them tirelessly or even subject them to the guillotine, they will never be rid of blood, for the memory of it all stays within me, haunting me for the rest of my life.

My self loathing was cut short when I saw movement in my peripheral. It was the boy. He raised his head and looked at me.

"You're.. alive?" I stood up in disbelief.

I approached the boy slowly, a few seconds passed with each step. My hands were still shaking while my eyes observed the boy from head to toe.

The knife was still lodged in his chest. From the moment it happened, I deluded myself that it was a real knife stabbed in the boy. I had forgotten that it was just a toy. Now that I got a closer look, all my worries and anxiety were fading away, but my hatred for myself still stayed, and it will follow me to the grave.

Confusion replaced my earlier emotions, confused on how the toy stabbed the boy with such a dull edge.

"I was cured." said the boy. His voice was still distorted.

I had stopped my approach.

A few emotions resurfaced in my mind: nervousness, anxiety, and worry about what might happen next. The second that the boy spoke, I remembered my situation. I was in a nightmare, a nightmare where I am fully awake, and happy endings certainly aren't favorable.

"I wanted to live. Why?" yelled the boy. He wasn't actually yelling, it was more like his voice got louder without putting force into it, much like increasing the volume of the TV.

I took a step back.

The boy started to levitate. He got up into the air slowly until we were at the same height.

From behind the boy, a black swirl of black emerged and it quickly imprinted itself into the walls. The black smudge swirled around and dispersed into every direction on the wall, each particle forming a single word—WHY.

My instincts kicked in, more accurately, it had already gone haywire a while ago. It was only at this moment where I got the courage to take off into a frenzy flight. I bolted to the closed door, pulling the handle with all my might, but it wasn't budging a single bit.

The words multiplied and started to cover the entire room bit by bit, slowly approaching me, while the boy was still in the air.

"Why?" asked the boy. The loudness of his voice was almost enough to burst my eardrums.

The words increased in speed and the boy slowly levitated towards me.

I panicked, making me repeatedly kick and punch the door. It would seem unlikely to open that way, but as millions of dangerous things were approaching me from every angle, it was the only thing I could do. There's no way I could fight against those things. Running away, even as cowardly as it would seem, was the only option.

The boy was only around twelve feet away while the words were now spreading across the wall of the doorway, almost to where I am at.

I mustered up all my strength and walked two steps back. The boy extended his arms to grab me, his hands were just a ruler away. With a loud yell, I dashed to the door and used my entire body to slam into it. A loud thud and crack echoed in every direction of the hospital as I slammed into the wall outside of the room, breaking the door down on my way out.

With my efforts rewarded by allowing me to escape, but also counteracting it with pain, I shrugged everything that I was feeling and quickly stood up, booking it for the stairs across the hallway.

I ran with all the speed that I could muster. A frigid chill went down my spine as I knew that the boy was still approaching me, both him and the words.

The boy started to speed up, he could now match my speed and we were now in close reach of each other.

The words were no longer spreading in every direction, instead, it merged into a line on both sides of the wall. After a moment, the line thickened and detached itself from the wall, forming two large black hands.

I leaned forward and tried to run faster. The terror of my room was here. I knew from instinct that they were the same black hands that dragged me into this mess, and it would seem like the boy was its summoner.

"Why me?" asked the boy.

The right arm swung at me but I outran it by a hair.

"It could have been anyone!" I yelled back.

"Why did you do it?" his voice increased a bit more.

"I.. I don't know, I couldn't control it!"

Both arms swung at me at the same time. I could see them both in my peripherals and they definitely seemed like they would hit their mark.

I ducked my head as I ran and managed to barely dodge them. Because of this, my footing became a bit unstable but I managed to recover in a split second. But because of this, the boy managed to catch up a bit. He was now close, dangerously close. If his fingers were to double in length, he'd be able to touch me.

I tried to run faster, but this was all that my legs could manage, and I was definitely starting to get tired. Any more of this and I'll start to slow down soon.

"He's dead, but I was alive." said the boy.

I ignored his words even though they pierced my ears like nails drilling into them.

"To hell with this!" I yelled. The hallway wasn't normal anymore. I've been running for a while now but the end doesn't seem to be in sight. I must have passed a hundred of those red wall lights but the window on the other side was still nowhere in view.

"I wanted to live!"

The arms swung again.

"I'm sorry!" I yelled as I barely dodged them again.

"Out of all the children..."

My feet were starting to hurt, I could feel myself slowing down.

"Why did it have to be me?"

"I'm so sorry!"

"Why..." his voice softened.

He stopped moving and so did the hands. I got a good distance away when I noticed his absence behind me.

I looked back and saw the boy, motionless, but a faint whisper could be heard from him. The shadow hands loomed behind him and his head was looking straight down as he levitated.

He was whispering something repeatedly but I couldn't hear him from this distance.

Just as I thought it was over, the boy's head slowly raised up, and his voice became audible, too audible.

"Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why!" he yelled repeatedly. This time, I could feel bloodlust behind those words. His voice became gruff and its distortedness worsened.

I ran again, not looking back this time. I could hear his vengeful yells approaching me from behind, echoing across the hallway and shaking the entire hospital.

I wanted to cover my ears. The sheer volume of his voice was almost enough to make my ears bleed. But I needed to focus solely on running.

A light pierced through the darkness of the hallway. It was the window. I was close to the stairwell.

I gathered up the last of my strength and powered up my legs for a final sprint. I dashed through, slicing the wind in front of me. I was almost there, my hope of survival was almost in reach.

Suddenly, the boy appeared in front of me, seeming to appear out of thin air while the shadow hands were about to grab me from behind.

The boy held out his arms and tried to grab me. He now had eyes and both of them were blood red with veins almost bursting.

All my hopes of escape were crushed in this split second. I didn't know how to survive this situation and everything seemed to be against me at this point. There was no hope left.

My eyes roamed the surroundings before death. Because of this, I realized that the stairs were just directly to my left.

Before they could ensnare me, I jumped to the stairs. I could feel their hands graze my skin, sending shivers into every part of my body.

A loud repeated thud echoed in the stairwell as I fell down. I was able to barely escape. I didn't fall all the way and all my strength seemed to have left me, but I pushed on, rolling myself down further.

My face almost landed on the floor. Good thing I was able to raise it just in time, but my body did receive the full force of the fall. I managed to get all the way down to the first floor. Thank God there weren't any sort of barriers this time.

I slowly stood up but once I got my posture correct, the pain suddenly flooded from every part of my body.

It hurts so bad. It's a pain that could make me burst into tears and go limp on the floor from pain. I did indeed want to do it, but I had to stay strong. I endured the pain.

I'm almost there. An escape from this nightmare seemed a bit more plausible.

I continued forward and didn't look back. I walked slowly due to my injuries, taking it easy so I could recover some energy for when I need to run again.

The boy didn't seem to be chasing me anymore which was a relief. Who knows what would have happened to me if I was caught by them. Either a painful death or something else more sinister. I don't want to even think about it anymore. Even just remembering how his eyes looked in those last moments could give me nightmares for the rest of my days.

Up ahead I saw a sort of counter. I dragged myself there, still feeling the pain from the fall. A sign was displayed on the top, it read Pharmacy.

"Looks like things might just be looking up." I said to myself.

Every pharmacy should have the essentials and at this moment, pain killers were my number one priority.

I peered through the glass above the counter. There doesn't seem to be anyone inside and luckily, the shelves were stocked full with various medications.

Just when my luck was turning around, it ended up being taken away in seconds as the door to the pharmacy was locked.

"Damn it!" I groaned in frustration. Just when I was this close, it ended up unreachable to me.

I quickly formed a fist and swung at the door, but I stopped at the last second. I got a bad feeling all of a sudden and causing a ruckus wouldn't be a wise choice. It was best if I stayed cautious. Who knows where that boy could be lurking.

I peered through the glass again, desperate as I looked for any container which looked like painkillers.

And as if lady luck was finally smiling down upon me, many bottles of painkillers were placed conveniently near the counter. They were in the corner of the pharmacy right next to the counter. If I hadn't peered through the side then I would have never seen them.

I reached my arm in to try and grab one. The counter top was digging in my stomach as I struggled to reach. The process of getting the painkillers resulted in more pain, but hopefully my efforts will bear fruit, fruit in the form of painkillers that will save me from suffering.

I reached in further but something felt odd. Something cold touched my hand, making me flinch. Then in the next moment, an object fell right into my grasp without me even noticing, it's as if someone or something handed it to me. I was in a position where I couldn't see what had occurred.

I quickly pulled out my hand in a panic and walked backwards from the counter. There was definitely something inside there. I could imagine the shape of what had touched me. It was only for a second but those were definitely fingers, I'm sure of it.

But luckily, I got what I came for. In my hand were two things, the bottle of painkillers and something else. I am sort of grateful for that thing or whatever that gave me the painkillers, but what's with this packet?

I brought the packet closer to my face to inspect it. Inside of it was a white powder of some sort. Upon opening the packet, I felt strange, as if my body knew something that my mind hadn't registered yet. I took a pinch of the unknown substance and looked at it closer in my hands, but nothing still came to mind. I didn't know why, but the next logical step for me was to smell it, so I did just that. I sniffed the inside of the packet and just from the split second of its scent entering my nose, I knew what it was.

I immediately threw the packet which was still open. The packet flew across the hallway, through the counter window and somewhere inside the pharmacy while some of its contents spilled out from the throw and landed on the floor of the hallway.

"What the hell! Drugs!?" I said with disgust. I obviously meant that they were a different kind of drug, not the ones that save lives. The ones that I threw away were the opposite. They were the addictive ones, the kind that could both fuel an addiction that could harm the individual, and also others. A force that could rival that of weapons of war, but in this case, the user is also the victim.

I walked away from the scene, chugging the painkillers as if they were a drink to forget what happened. I didn't want to get further into that mess, never again.

Another room came up. The sign above displayed Operating Room.

I pushed the two large doors open, going inside the dark room. The lights immediately turned on as soon as I took a step inside.

This was horrible, beyond horrible. The scene that I saw was the very definition of hell, to me atleast. I wanted to puke, scream, run, and everything else that could voice the emotions I'm feeling.

The room was almost empty, there were no tools or anything to show that this was an operating room. The floor was barren. But the horrible part of it was the walls. Around the entire room, in a literal 360 degree sense, various blades were displayed. Knives, saws, swords, and every other blade imaginable were mounted on the walls, as if the room was an arsenal.

I would have definitely ran the first moment my eyes laid upon this horrid scenery but something caught my attention. In the back wall of the room, the very middle of it, sat a lone shadow person. It was like the boy, but this one was taller and a bit curvier, showing signs that it was a woman, a full grown one. It hadn't done anything yet, it just sat there and by the looks of it, it definitely knows I'm here. But one thing that I am confused about was why the shadow lady was shaking, as if it was scared by something.

After a moment of staring at each other, the lady started to move. With its shaking hands, it reached for something behind her and seeing that there was nothing else in this room other than weapons, I knew nothing good will come out of this.

I took a step back and was prepared to run. The lady then pulled out a large blade, something so large that it could very much be the killer's main weapon in a slasher film. I didn't know exactly what it was. The handle was pretty much a wooden rod of about six inches while the blade was much longer and curved like a katana. It's more or less a slightly straight sickle.

I knew what would happen next. She was going to stand up and attack me like every other shadow person that I had encountered, but this time, things went differently. Instead of using the blade as a weapon, she instead held it flat on top of her hands and brought them forward, as if she was motioning me to take it.

"Take it... take it... take it..." The woman whispered repeatedly.

I could hear her faintly from this distance, but I could very much hear the nervousness in her voice.

"What the hell is going on?" I unconsciously mouthed a rhetorical question.

"Take it... take it... take it..." The girl continued to repeat.

It would have been smart to just take the blade and run. It would have been great to have something to defend myself against creatures like her. But this was me that we're talking about, someone who freaks out in the presence of such an object and doesn't even have the courage to hold one.

I still didn't know what the deal was with this lady but I refused her offer.

I walked out of the room, still wary about the countless blades adorning the walls. I closed the doors, the lady who was still repeating her line slowly disappeared from view. Once the doors were fully closed, I noticed from the gap on the bottom that the lights inside turned off.

"Just when will this end?"

The long journey continued. I walked further along the hallway and something hopeful finally came up. Light was seen from the very end. I ran closer hoping that it was an exit and to my surprise, it was the very front door of the entire hospital.

Two glass doors stood between me and survival. The outside was just as barren. It seemed like directly in front of the hospital was its parking lot, but not a car or even a bike was in sight. Only the dust wanders the landscape.

It was still the dead of night. I thought that I've already been here for quite a while but looking at the distance now, the dark hue of the night hasn't changed much. Dawn was still far away.

I pushed the glass pane doors and to my absolute horror, they wouldn't move an inch. Absolutely nothing has gone right today hasn't it? All these locked doors are seriously getting on my nerves. I pushed with as much force as I could muster, even punching the goddamn glass with my bare hands. But nothing that I did worked. I'm starting to not like the idea of bullet-proof glass anymore. This technology certainly saved many lives, but now it's endangering mine.

I continued to repeatedly bash my fist on the glass. Safety was right there, a few millimeters away, just a few millimeters of this godforsaken glass but I still couldn't do anything about it. If only I could be flattened like a pancake and squeeze myself through the gap. I'm this close, but close never really mattered, it's either death or survival. I longed to breathe the fresh air outside. Even just sticking my hand out into the safe open world could fuel my drive for survival, but I couldn't even have that. Instead, I'm stuck inside here like a mouse in a cage, more accurately, stuck inside my soon to be grave.

I want to drink coffee while enjoying the cool melody of the rain. I want to lay on my bed and not think about what I will do the next day. I want to goof around in my home without having to be productive. I want to eat biscuits alone without being concerned about my health.

I... I want to go back to how things were. I want.. no, I need to see the picture again. If only I could get out alive.

With no luck, I continued to walk aimlessly.

The hallway finally came to an end when I arrived at another set of glass doors. It wasn't an exit but a rather large room. Above the doors was a plate that displayed Waiting Area.

I still didn't have anywhere to go so I might as well look here. It's a bit nerve-racking to do so but there really isn't any other way to escape but to explore and find a way out. Standing around here wouldn't benefit me, rather, I'll only be a sitting duck to those shadow things.

I pushed the glass doors inward and this time, they opened. Guess this was something predetermined. I realized that whenever a door was open to me, something would definitely happen, and as of now, nothing good has yet to come.

I looked around inside. It was a large space with around a dozen rows of steel chairs. Mounted on the wall in the front side of the room was a large TV, its size puts mine to shame. There were lots of decorative plants at the corners of the room with many other ornaments scattered on the shelves and cabinets on the sides of the room. But none of these mattered because at the very end of the room, I saw another door that leads outside.

I almost took off in a hurry, desperate for another chance of an exit, but my dash ended in fear as I had just noticed that there was another shadow person near. Sitting on the chair at the very corner of the room, to the right of the exit, was another shadow. This one was a large man, its frame was muscular, and it looked as if it was nodding off with its head looking straight down.

I tried to sneak around him silently to get to the exit. Without me even making any sort of noise, the man noticed me. He had no eyes but his gaze made me freeze in fear of what he would do.

The man stood up and slowly approached me. His steps looked quite weak as he struggled with every step, as if something was wrong with him. I took a step back with every step the man did. After a few exchanges of steps, the man dropped to the ground in a kneeling position.

This shadow was quite confusing. I still have no clue on what it can do. Is it hostile like the boy? or is it like the lady shadow back in the operating room? Whatever he is, I'm not letting my guard down, never again.

"Why... why... why..." I could hear the man mutter. "Why, Why! Why!!!!" He yelled, each one louder than the previous.

I started to walk back. This doesn't seem good.

The man slowly stood up, and while he did, he started to change. His shadow skin gradually changed to red, taking on a deep shade similar to the crimson of blood. He still had no sort of facial features but based from experience of being surrounded by creatures like him, I knew he was angry.

I began to run back to the hallway. I wasn't going to just wait for it to chase me. I took a quick glance back as I ran and saw the fully red man pointing at me.

"You don't deserve to live!" the man yelled.

I turned the corner and was now back in the straight never-ending hallways of the hospital.

His footsteps could be heard in the distance. Its frequency was quick and the loud thuds it made with every step echoed across the hallway.

I didn't look back anymore. I knew it was angry and is now chasing me in this desolate hospital. All I could do now was run.