I wake up on a cold and grimy floor in the dark. My body aches all over and my clothes are damp. I try to turn on my phone, but it seems dead. And worse, wet and slippery. The air smells metallic and reeks of vomit. I reach around in the dark for a while until I feel a switch.
I wish I hadn’t turned on the light. The floor is smeared with red. It is starting to harden into crusts at the edges but there is plenty of fresh blood. I frantically look all over my body. I was covered in it too - as well as other stuff, but I couldn’t figure out where I was bleeding from.
I’m starting to wonder if all of it is mine. It can’t be, there’s too much. I’m surprised I could even stand! Then I feel a knot in the pit of my stomach. Ideas started flooding my head. Memories? No, that can’t be, can it? Now that I think about it, I can’t remember how or why I got here. I hear someone running and huffing outside and I immediately feel a pressing need to get out.
The door handle is red and I couldn’t tell if it was rust or dried blood. I heave my whole body into the heavy metal door and leave it open. It is surprisingly quiet. The hanging bulbs outside flicker and show a smeared trail from further down the hallway going into the room. There are several other rooms with trails of blood going into them. Some of them are open.
The trails seem to come from the same direction so I go down the hallway away from it. The doors are eerily identical even from opposite sides, like it was mirrored. Even down to the blood stains. Images flash in my head of me pushing the metal door. I couldn’t remember anything before or past that. But I was pushing it close from the outside.
I look around and I couldn’t tell where I came from or where I was going. My pulse raced and I feel a sharp pang in my head. Maybe it’s from the blood loss. I can’t think clearly. I choose a direction and run. I keep running but everything looks the same! I’m starting to think the hallway goes on for miles. Eventually I slow down almost breathless from running for what felt like ages. A few minutes? Close to an hour? It’s impossible to tell!
In the confusion, I had another memory. A spiral staircase. I remember climbing it but something else happened. It’s a blur, but I swear there was someone else. Were they the one who put me here? I panic. Thoughts race through my head. What if they come back? What if they see me? What will they do? I quickly continue down the hall.
Sometimes I pass through an open door and my curiosity gets the best of me. I cautiously peek inside. It’s the same every time. The exact same room I left. I think I might be going in a circle, but that’s impossible. I’ve been going in a straight line. Sometimes I hear movement inside a closed room and I rush away. Despite everything, I check another open room. It’s different and should relieve me, but no. It’s the staircase.
Maybe the some of the trails of blood aren’t going into the rooms, but coming from it. I shake off my confusion and notice a large blood splatter right in the middle of the stairwell. I stagger back as I remember clearly. I pushed someone down the stairs. The realization makes me nauseous. I look up the stairs and see light. Natural light, an escape! My head was spinning. I can’t make coherent thoughts. I go up slowly.
In the haze, I see someone behind me. They were going fast. I panic. They reach for me. I grab their arm. It was like clockwork. I pull them into the railing and watch them fall from the momentum. I pictured them falling. Arms stretched in front. The stairwell spiraling out of reach. Then a heavy thud. A sick crack.
It snapped me out of my daze. I’m confused. It was so vivid, almost as if I was falling. I’m curious. I have to see. I’m going crazy! The closer I get to the body, the more my heart pounded in my chest. It’s a man wearing the same bloody clothes I was wearing. I have to know. I have to know! I turn his face towards me and I throw up on the spot.
My thoughts were all over the place as I dragged the body away. Everything is confusing and makes sense at the same time. I can’t seem to figure out how I got here or how to get out. If I change things, maybe I won’t be here. Yes. Maybe I could do things differently. Yes! My hands shake from the thought. From excitement. I feel giddy to try. Desperate to try. I push the metal door shut and run down the hallway.
I enter the room and see another self slowly going up the staircase. I’m not thinking. I just want to get out! I want to get out of this hell! I close in on him. I reach out to shove him aside. He catches my arm. He pulls me and I fall over the railing. I reach out to the light. The stairwell spirals away from me. Then a heavy thud.
ns 15.158.61.23da2
