Once she was able, she yanked the sack off of her head with a shaky hand and threw it in front of her. She cried out––in pain, and in fear.
She was in the hallway again. God help her, she was in that same fucking hallway.
Screams came from her throat, followed by shrieks, moans, whines, whimpers and cursing. Tears rolled down her face. She no longer wanted this nightmare to end. She needed it to end. Things were fucked up beyond all realms of logic. This was a level of insanity she didn’t know existed.
After ten minutes of whimpering and crying and cursing out loud, she heard a voice. “Listen to me, Stephenie,” the voice said. “Listen.”
Stephenie flinched at the sound.
What now? she thought.
Still sitting in the hall, holding her bloated and broken ankle like she thought it might fall from her leg, she turned around and found Christina. She was dressed the same as before: in her little brown and white, retro, polka-dot dress.
Stephenie said, “You!”
“Yes, me.” Christina sat down next to Stephenie looking like she was extremely disappointed. Using the palm of her hand, she wiped the wrinkles from her dress. She said, “What did I tell you?”
Stephenie raised both shoulders. “Huh?”
“Don’t give me that bullshit. What did I tell you, Stephenie?”
“I don’t know. What the fuck is wrong with you? I’m hurt! Can’t you tell?”
“I don’t care if you’re hurt. In fact, you might want to get used to it; it’s going to happen again and again.”
“What? But why?”
“I told you not to go into the basement, remember? I warned you, but did you listen? No.”
“Well, I’m sorry. Does that make it better?”
“Sorry?” Christina huffed like bull and flattened the wrinkles on her dress again. “What the hell is sorry going to do for you? Nothing. That’s what. It’s not going to do anything at all. You’re in deep now, Stephenie; you’re in way over your head. You had the opportunity to get in your car and drive away. You had a chance to leave all this behind. And you almost made it! You were smart enough to get into your car and drive, but not smart enough to leave. God, you’re so stupid and you don’t even know it.”
“What was I suppose to do, leave Carrie behind?”
Christina’s eyes widened and she lifted her hands in the air. “Yes! That’s exactly what you should have done! But did you? No. Why? Too stupid, that’s why. Instead of leaving you came back and entered the one place you weren’t supposed to go. You entered the basement, sealing your fate––probably forever.”
Stephenie felt the tears rolling down her face and she pushed them away with a bloody hand. Her ankle throbbed, so she held her other hand against the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. She said, “I want to get out of here.”
“Of course you do. Jesus lady, you think I don’t know that?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know much, do you? You’ve become one sorry piece of work, I must say.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry, sorry, sorry… again with the sorry. That’s awfully sad. You’re stupid and sad; did you know that? You are. If I could slit your throat and be done with you, I’d do it––but you and I both know killing doesn’t work in these parts, isn’t that right?”
Stephenie shook her head, confused. “I guess.”
“You guess? My God girl, that’s worse than saying sorry again.”
“What do you want from me? I don’t understand what’s happening.”
“I don’t want anything from you,” Christina said. “I don’t want anything, but I can help you… if you’re smart enough to listen.”
“Okay.”
“Okay what?”
“Okay, I’ll listen.”
“Are you going to do what I say?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure? The last time I offered you advice you spat it back in my face the first chance you could.”
“I’ll listen this time! I’ll listen!”
“Promise?”
“Yes, I promise.”
“Okay, fine.” Christina took a deep breath, and said, “There are doors down here that’ll set you on fire as soon as you touch the knob. There are doors down here that will turn you into a lizard, or a snake, or a wasp, or about a million other things you don’t want to be. There are doors that’ll make you scream and doors that’ll melt the arms off your body. They are doors that are capable of biting your hand and doors that’ll impregnate you with monsters that will spew from your mouth for all of eternity. There are too many doors for you to comprehend. There are billions upon billions. But not all of the doors are bad. In fact, some lead to places that are amazing, like tropical beaches and beautiful countryside. Not many, but some. We’re meant to know about these good doors, we’re meant to know they exist. Knowing about them makes eternity here worse. And if you find one, if you step into a paradise room, you’ll get nice and comfortable. They’ll let you be happy. Then after a dozen years or so it’s over and back you come, suffering worse than ever. There is also one door––and one door only––that will bring you back to the place you started.”
“There is?”
“Yes.”
“Which one?”
“What am I supposed to do, describe it? It’s a white door that looks like all the others, but I can show it to you.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Where will the door take me, back to my sanctuary? Is that where the door leads?”
“No. It will take you to the outside, to the parking lot.”
Now it was Stephenie’s turn to huff like a bull. She said, “But there are things out there, too. Don’t you get it?”
“Not if you take this door. This one door is special. It’ll lead you to the moment before you lost Carrie, before all this happened.”
Stephenie opened her mouth but nothing came out. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
There was a door that led to her old life.
The very idea of being tucked away in the safety of her old world seemed like heaven. In her regular life, she never knew how good she had it. But it was good, very good. If she could go back, why then, oh God… the notion of escaping was too good to be true.
Christina said, “Stephenie? Hello? Are you with me?”
Stephenie nodded. “Yes, yes. I’m with you. Where is Carrie? Do you know where she is?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is she alright? Is she alive?”
“Again, I don’t know.”
“Oh.” Stephenie tapped her knuckles against her knee. She said, “If I go through this door you’re talking about––”
Christina interrupted. “If you go through the door you’ll find yourself in the parking lot before all of this stuff happened. Carrie will be fine, you’ll be fine, your ankle will be as good as new.”
“Well, what are we waiting for? Take me.”
“I’m not finished talking to you. When you go back, Carrie will be in the parking lot, inches away from entering the restaurant, inches away from stepping out of one world and into another. If she goes through that door, everything starts again.”
“What?! But why?”
“This isn’t my world Stephenie, this is your world now. I’m only trying to help.”
“But why would it start again?”
“Technically it wouldn’t. Things would simply continue. You’re in hell, Stephenie. I’m not sure if you figured that out yet or not, but you are. You found yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now you’re in hell.”
“But I didn’t die… or did I? Did I die?”
“No, you did not.”
“Then why me?”
“Why not you? There are cracks in the universe that lead from one world into another. People slip through the cracks; it happens all the time. It happens every day. There are billions of people on earth, you kn
ow? Sometimes they get misplaced, as I’m sure you can recognize. And when someone goes missing, it doesn’t always mean they’ve run away from home, or fell off a boat, or found themselves buried in the desert… get it? Sometimes they end up here.” Christina shook her head and her eyes slipped closed. She said, “A lot of times they end up here. You have no idea. The Lords of this place snatch people away every day.”
Silence came.
Stephenie wiped away more tears, and said, “I’m not sure how well I can walk, but I’m ready to leave now.”
Christina nodded. “One more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“There’s an axe leaning against the side of the restaurant. Did you see it?”
Stephenie shook her head almost solemnly. “No.”
“It’s there, probably leaning against the woodpile. Did you see that?”
“Yeah, I saw the woodpile, but I didn’t see an axe.”
“Well you might want to look. If Carrie gets into the restaurant, get the axe. Defend yourself. Remember, when you go through that special door you’ll be in great condition. Your ankle will be as good as new; your cuts and scratches will be gone. Don’t let the dead stab you again. And whatever you do, don’t trust them. Once Carrie gets through that door, just remember, you’re still in hell. But if you can stop Carrie from entering, you can drive away, home free. You and your daughter can lead a normal life, live happily ever after.”
A few seconds rolled past.
Stephenie said, “Thank you, Christina.”
Christina stood up, extended Stephenie a hand and helped her to her feet.
She said, “No worries, babe. Anything I can do to help.” Then she turned away from Stephenie, grinning like a woman that poisoned the children’s candy on Halloween Night.
9
They walked, slowly. Stephenie could barely stand but she walked anyway, leaving a trail of blood in her wake. She didn’t complain. Occasionally a whine or a whimper escaped her lips, but not on purpose. She was trying harder than ever to stay strong. And it hurt. Her ankle felt like it was dipped in acid.
After ten minutes Christina put her hand on a knob, turned her wrist and opened a door. She said, “There are short cuts.”
“Short cuts? How do you know where they are?”
They stepped through the doorway and were in a different hallway. They crossed the hall, opened another door and stepped through again. Now they were in a hallway that looked just like the last two.
Christina said, “We all have our crosses to bear Stephenie, every last one of us. If you don’t escape today you’ll learn my tricks again and again. We learn things as we go. We also get taught. We get schooled. We get forced to do things we don’t want to do, and are required to give hope to those who seek it. The Lords of this place inflict darkness upon our hearts by showing us the light, time and time again. Nothing here is a constant. We are the damned. And the damned cannot dread what they are currently enduring, as I’m sure you can understand. They punish us endlessly, but part of that punishment includes time away from the screaming, so we can heal, so we can wait, so we can fear the future and dread which lies ahead.”
They continued walking.
Stephenie bled, biting back her tears.
In time, they stepped into a hall sticky with old blood. There were chunks of meat on the floor and bones stacked in piles. There were eyeballs, intestines and clumps of flesh big enough to sink a canoe. There were severed hands and feet sitting together in a bucket. There was a pile of human hair so big it resembled a bale of hay.
They walked past the carnage without speaking.
A little further along they saw a frog hopping away from them.
Stephenie wondered if the frog had once been a man, and which door the man had opened. They walked past it, and she said, “Why are you helping me?”
“I’m being forced to do it.”
“So, this is a trick of some kind; is it? I can’t really escape… you’re just setting me up so you can knock me down.”
“No Stephenie, listen to me and hear my words. Stop thinking egotistically. Everything in this place isn’t about you. I’m showing you an exit that I can never take. By showing it to you my existence grows worse. If you are lucky enough to gain freedom it will augment the pain and suffering, not only for me but for others as well. Those who dwell here will recognize your escape from the nightmare they must tolerate. Others will be shown. They will be told. They will be taunted and haunted. The Lords of this world want you to escape so the ill fated will know how unfortunate they are. The suffering in this place does not begin and end with physical pain. It has no limits. They torture the mind as well as the body, in spiteful and malicious ways. And if you are unlucky––if escape eludes you, you will remember this moment again and again for all eternity, which I assure you is a very long time. The freedom you failed to seize today will be a flavor upon your lips forever, and forever the taste will be bitter.”
They stepped through another door, entered another hallway. They heard a man bust into a bout of screaming like he’d lost his mind. Who knows, maybe he did. The screaming ended abruptly. After that, a door swung open.
Christina held a hand in front of Stephenie’s chest and said, “Wait.”
Stephenie stopped walking, looked at Christina and saw fear in her eyes that wasn’t there before.
Something stepped into the hallway not thirty feet in front of them. It looked like it crept from the script of a science fiction movie. It had multiple arms and multiple legs and its head was shaped like a shovel. Its skin was yellow and brown and covered in long scales. Teeth the size of knives stuck out of its mouth in all directions. In some ways, the thing resembled an alligator.
Christina stepped away, saying, “Don’t move.”
The creature looked them, but only for a moment. It didn’t seem interested. It shuffled side to side, reached into the room with one of its arms and dragged a fresh corpse into the hallway, holding it by the face. After sniffing the air, the creature walked in the opposite direction, moving slowly, dragging the body and leaving a trail of blood two feet wide.
It was Christina that finally broke the silence. She said, “Lets go back. I know a different way.”
Stephenie nodded. “Okay.”
They walked the way they came, turned several corners. Stephenie’s ankle was throbbing insanely but she didn’t complain. She was worried Christina would get fed up and leave her stranded.
Ten minutes later they arrived at a door. Sure enough, it looked like all the rest.
Christina said, “This is it. Are you ready?”
Stephenie nodded. “Yes. I think so.”
“Remember what I told you. If Carrie makes it into the restaurant, nothing changes. Don’t believe what you see.”
“Okay.”
“You only get one chance at this… I think. If you somehow managed a second, I’d be very surprised.”
“Thanks again Christina.”
“Like I said, there’s no reason to thank me. I’m being forced to show you this door.”
Stephenie considered her words. She said, “How are they forcing you?”
“You don’t really want to know, do you?”
“No, I suppose not.” Stephenie eyed the floor for a moment; then said, “Can I ask you something? Do you want me to succeed?”
Christina’s eyes wavered. She shrugged and said, “Honestly, I don’t know. Mostly, I wish it would end.”
Stephenie nodded, almost understanding. She took a deep breath, put her hand on the doorknob, turned her wrist and opened the door.
What she saw was blinding; it hurt the eyes to look.
Things were fuzzy and ill defined, like a swooshing, swirling, swimmy kind of static that boiled and swelled, moving back and forth, left and right, up and down.
“What’s this?”
“You need to step through,” Christina said.
“You’re setting me up.”
“No,
Stephenie. This is your chance. If I were in your place I’d be through that door in a heartbeat, before it slammed in my face.” Christina considered her words. “And soon enough, the door will slam in your face. You better believe it.”
Stephenie squinted her eyes and forced herself to be brave. She said, “Okay. Here I go. Wish me luck.”
Christina smiled insincerely.
And Stephenie stepped into the whirlwind.
10
No sound. No light. No taste, smell, or feelings inside her body. Just darkness, an empty void, a vacant shell, a hollow abyss that drained all thoughts and emotions away, nothing, nothing––then it came back. Light crept like static. Sound did too. Her mental self returned, bringing her fear, grief, desires and concerns. The physical self returned too, causing aches and pains throughout her body.
“Oh God,” Stephenie whispered, stumbling in this new place. But the place didn’t look new, and maybe it wasn’t.
She was in a hallway. It looked the same as the last––and the one before that, and the one before that, and the one before that. I’m getting the royal screw-job, she thought before her vision had returned completely. And when it did return, it seemed as though she was right. She was in a hallway, and that wasn’t where she was supposed to be. Because being lost in the bowels of hell’s corridors is a whole lot different than being set free.
She turned around, angry and confused, tired and annoyed.
Her eyes widened.
Looking at the door she had come through, Stephenie gasped. Because what she was looking at, well… it wasn’t right.
It wasn’t… fair.
That’s the word she clung to: fair. But nothing was fair in this place. Nothing was honest.
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