“Damn it.”
You throw your phone across the room, and it shatters into little pieces. You stare at it for a second, thinking that wasn’t the most rational thing. Either way, you just lost your job. It was supposed to be a prank. You weren’t even involved, you just supplied the materials. Your boss didn’t see it that way. Your average paying albeit enjoyable job at Executive Auto Service was over. You had worked there for almost two years. You turn on some trashy TV and ponder what you are going to do next. You drift off.
The next morning, you make up your mind and decide to go back to try and plead with your boss. You hop in your car and notice that you are almost out of gas. “Guess I’ll stop at the Terrible’s on the way.”
As you start pumping, you realize you need to pee, very bad. Someone else is in the bathroom. As you stand outside the door, you watch the sun rise from across the valley. With a start, you realize you aren’t casting a shadow on the exterior wall of the bathroom. Upon closer examination, you realize that it is a darker color than the rest of the walls around you. You think maybe it’s just too dark to see your shadow on. You hear the guy in the bathroom finish up. As he walks out of the bathroom, you bump into him by accident. You start to say, “My bad-” when he shoves you, and you trip into the wall. You barely have time to think, what’s up his ass, when a strange sensation falls over your body. It’s like the molecules of the wall pass through yours, and you can feel it, but there is no pain, just discomfort. Everything goes black.
You wake up on your back, looking up at a stained yellow ceiling with fluorescent lights. At first, you think you got knocked out and are in the hospital. You close your eyes and roll over. Squish. You inhale something moist, and almost retch. Your eyes shoot open. You’re not in a hospital. You’re laying on a gross-looking moist yellow carpet. The walls around you are a sickening shade of mono-yellow. They remind you of a room in your childhood home. You stand up and survey your surroundings more carefully. There is a hallway to another room. You walk into it, just to find it exactly the same as the other room. You pass through more rooms, all nearly identical. Eventually, you come to a four-way junction. As you look different ways, your panic starts to rise. There is nothing but the horrible yellow interior for as far as you can see. “Hello?”
You call out into the rooms. Nothing. It is like your voice is absorbed by the musty walls. “What the hell? This isn’t funny.”
Again, your voice is just absorbed by the walls. Despair starts to overwhelm you as you try to take in the situation. You think that it would be best to think about the situation later, and figure out what you need to survive now. The only thing you have is your jeans and t-shirt you are wearing, and your phone and wallet. You take out your phone and text your homie. It won’t send. Frustrated, you jam your phone into your wallet and start walking. As you round a corner, you freeze. Someone is standing at the end of the hallway. They are staring directly at you, and not making a move. “Hey. Hey! Who are you?”
You try to get closer, but they stay rigid. “What the f*ck?”
With a start, you realize where the person's face should be is just smooth. You start backing up. It waves to you, and starts casually walking towards you. Not knowing what it is or what is happening, you turn around and set off at a dead sprint. You hear a grunting behind you. Not daring to look over your shoulder, you make several turns before stopping and looking around. The… thing doesn’t appear to have made chase. You catch your breath before realizing you are exhausted. Not sure how much time has passed, you check your phone. It says only three hours have passed, but it has felt like a day.
You continue walking, looking for a covert spot to rest. You can’t get your mind off what you just encountered, though. What in god’s name was that? It had seemed humanoid enough, although it behaved strangely and didn’t have a damn face. Come to think of it, you realize it was acting almost curious and friendly, although you were inclined not to trust something that looks like something out of a nightmare. Still, in the back of your mind, you wonder if you could have gotten some information from it.
After more of relatively undisturbed trekking, you spot a hole in the wall, covered by a ventilation shaft. That should work, you think to yourself as you pry it off. It’s tight but should be concealed. Now that you know you are not alone in this place, you are a bit more cautious about making noises. You crawl in and close your eyes. Sleep comes surprisingly easy.
When you wake up, you are hungry, thirsty, and have an awful headache. It is like your head is pulsing. You peer through the shaft cover and crawl out. Out of habit, you check your phone. Still no service. Your headache was making you sleepy, almost making it impossible to think. Not exactly sure where you were going, you set off in a direction, taking turns here and there. Your headache was getting worse, almost like you weren’t even in control of your own body. After what felt like days of walking, you took a small break to catch your breath. Unsure of what to do or how to deal with the incessant pain in your head, you notice an inconsistency in the wall across from where you were seated. You walk up to it, curious, but also cautious, considering your recent experiences with walls. Go through it. Your mind says. Skeptical, but welcoming any relief from the hellish landscape you resided in, you sort of try to run through the wall, and promptly give yourself a concussion. You try again, this time ready to give up if it happens again, and free fall through the wall, going limp instead of trying to force your way through. The sensation you felt at the gas station overtakes you, and you find yourself looking at a different wall. You look around. You seem to be in a small, enclosed room. It is not all that different from the one you were just in, but the wallpaper is a little different, and so are the lights. Another thing you noticed, that you hadn’t before, was how nice silence was after the awful buzzing of the lights in the yellow… place.
Still not ready to think about what is happening to you, you instead take stock of your surroundings. There is a small table in the corner, with a faded pink and yellow can on it. You walk over, and on closer inspection, the can appears to be something called “Almond Water”. You have never heard of this beverage, but decided your thirstiness definitely needed attending to. You opened the can. Sweet notes of vanilla and rose wafted out. Not sure what it would taste like, you take a tentative sip. Instantly, you feel calmer about your situation, and even the meager amount feels like a huge relief to your system. You take a couple more sips. Feeling revived, you start to nod off, thinking maybe this won’t be so bad.
Scriiiitch. The hell is that? It sounded like something was scratching on the wall outside of the room. On the other side of the room, a faint knocking started, and slowly moved to the next wall, and the next. You tense up. Is something trying to break in? As far as you can see, there were no ways to get into the room, but then again, how did you get in? You tense up, and prepare for an encounter. After seeing the faceless person, your mind started to run wild about what kind of monsters lurk around here. DOOOOoooooooooooooooo. What now? As the lights go out, casting the room in a pitch blackness, you wonder, what fresh hell is this? Unsure of whether going into this room was for better or worse, huddle into the corner. The knocking and scratching are replaced by distant clanks and purrs of machinery. This terrifies you even more, and you wonder how intelligent these creatures are that they created mechanical contraptions. Suddenly, the lights click back on. This time, they are a deep orange, casting the room in a rather ominous glow. You huddle tighter, wishing you could leave this place. You press your back against the wall, and close your eyes, fighting back tears.
You shudder, and feel a squish. What? The incessant buzz is the first thing that hits you. No. You find yourself back in an unfamiliar part of the horrid yellow maze. “F*ck me. I gotta be more careful about what I wish for.”
You stand up. As you creep through the hallways, you notice the smell is worse than normal. For the second time, you turn a corner, and what you see stops you in your tracks. Two human-dog looking creatures are bent over, occupied on something. At first, you almost retch at the sight of them. Could these be what you heard knocking on the walls? As you turn to try and sneak away, you bump into a wall that you could have sworn wasn’t there before. You hear a low growl. They definitely heard me. One appeared at the corner, in a low stance, like a tiger about to pounce. You back away, then realize the second one got behind you. You have no choice but to fight. You swing around, kicking the second one in the head. It lets out a yelp, and is temporarily stunned. Your victory is short lived, however. The one you turned your back on pounces and latches on to you. You grab it by the throat and violently snap its chin upward, breaking its neck. Horrified that you did something that brutal to another living thing, yet relieved to see that they are relatively weak, you turn around just as the second creature lacerates your arm with it’s wicked claws. You scream and almost pass out from the initial pain. As you round the corner and go down the hallway, your pursuer is right behind you. You give it another solid kick, and this time it scurries down the hallway. Not convinced it is gone, you wait for a long time, feebly holding your destroyed forearm.
Finally, sure the dog thing isn’t coming back, you look at the bloody mess that your left flexor is. Sure that you will bleed out if you don’t treat it, you remember that infection will cause a slower, much more painful death. As you reached for your precious can of water, your heart dropped. It must have fallen out of your pocket back when you were fighting the creatures. You slowly stand up, still cradling your arm. Your water can is nowhere to be found. Fighting rising panic, you turn your attention to finding anything you can to sanitize your wound and staunch the bleeding. By now, your shirt is completely bloodsoaked. You notice that it’s harder to focus on things, and your headache is back.