I open the door ever so slightly, and the smell hits me instantly. The metallic odour engulfed my senses.
I knew exactly what was going to be behind those doors. I couldn't help but hesitate.
These sick fucks actually did this? How... this can't be real.
A few deep breaths.
I flung the door open and was greeted with red.
Splatters of blood everywhere, the floor, the ceiling and the walls decorated with them. I walk in.
Squelch!
Looking down, I saw the pool of blood. Everything was still fresh.
Getting lightheaded, I lose my balance as I fall onto my knees, soaking myself more in the pool of blood.
My hands are now bloody as I feel the warmth of the blood still there.
"This is not happening."
Struggling to breathe, I close my eyes, trying to calm down.
It's just a bad dream, it's just a bad dream, it's just a bad dream.
I repeat these words to myself multiple times, attempting to soothe my emotions.
The room spins as I try to pick myself up. I struggle as I reach out for the desk to hold onto. My bloodstained hand did not get a good grip on the desk, making me slip as I fell face-first into the pool of blood.
My nausea intensified.
Shit! No, it's not real... It's so warm. Is this how it felt back then?
I tried to wipe the blood off my face, pushing my dripping wet hair back, only making it worse.
I look at the door to the exit, which is not that far.
A deep breath.
I run for it, but this time it's not the plain empty corridor, this time it's the hallway of my old house.
A train of blood, as if a body had been dragged through from my room to another. A whisper could be heard, faint words that I could not make out.
But I knew exactly what they said, "Kai, don't come here. Run away."
When I was a child, I had followed those instructions and never looked behind that door.
Hidden in my closet, I had watched my parents being murdered, and as the killer dragged their bodies down, my brother, who had been struck near death, had dragged himself to the bathroom and locked himself there.
To keep the killer away from me and give me enough time to escape, he told me to run away, and I did.
I was just a child, but in the end, no one came to my aid.
I jumped out of the window from my own room as my brother distracted the killer by screaming from the locked room. The attempt to break down the door by the killer gave me a chance to escape, muffling my cries at the same time.
He never knew that I was there.
The killer was never caught, no justice for my family, and my case just died out as I went through the system.
Instead, all I was left with was relatives trying to use me for my parents' money and my brain.
I had accepted my fate, that no one was going to care, so I should forget. I did not want to remember or think about this again.
I was scared, so I had hidden myself from this for years and lived a good life, but now I was forced to face them. I looked at the stairs leading downstairs and saw nothing but blackness.
I don't think I can go down there. So, in the end, this is what they want me to do? Look at my dying brother's face?
I place my hand on the doorknob and grip it tightly. I take a deep breath, still shaking.
I open the door and there it was.
An empty black corridor.
The same one I had gone through multiple times.
I fell to the floor, gasping for air, relieved that he was not there.
"Fuck!" I punched the floor with my fists as my skin broke on contact. I wince and look at my hands, still covered in blood.
Taking my time to catch my breath, I lean against the wall.
"This is not real, right? What the hell is this place?" looking at the corridor, and at the very end, the same door that I had seen countless times, "I need to get out of here."
A couple more deep breaths, and I push myself up. Though I had become determined to leave this place, my legs still gave way as I felt no strength and toppled onto my knees.
I pulled my legs harder, lifting myself up The corridor seems longer than it did before. The distance to the door appears to get further and further.
The smell of blood was still on me, and the door behind me that may or may not have vanished. Would I be able to go back, or would I even be able to keep on going forward and leave this hellhole?
I was too terrified to turn around.
Slowly, with immense struggle, I finally reached the door and grabbed the knob.
With a weak grip, my blood-soaked hand slipped, making it impossible for me to turn the knob.
"Fuck, seriously... I can't stay in this place any longer!"
Gripping it harder with both hands, it finally turns, and I step inside.
In front of me was darkness, never-ending darkness and in the middle of it all a well.
Curious, I walk towards it.
What the hell is this?
A well with a symbol that looked quite familiar and the words 'The Beginning' underneath it.
I scanned the well a bit more, wondering about the significance of the sword and symbol.
Something was stuffed into the crevices between the misshapen bricks that made up the well. I pulled it out.
A note.
'I am back here again. I think the more I use it, the closer I get to my escape from this abyss.
What is the world outside like now? Did my family even notice I was gone?
I need to keep on going...
This place seems to have these wells everywhere.
I will be fine... I have to be fine. '
Reading the note, I see a sketch at the bottom. I rummage through my bag and pull out the coin.
It's the same sign.
"Is this the well? So if I use it, I can escape?"
I reread the note a few more times, figuring out if that was the way out.
"This is the same coin I was given in the reward... it told me to throw it in the well, so this has to be it!" I grimace at the unknowing situation I had been put into, "There is nothing to lose at this point. Fuck it, I have to try whatever I can to escape from this hell!"
I look at the coin one last time and throw it in the well.
A few seconds.
Plop!
The coin hit the water.
Nothing felt different.
A slight glow on my wrist as I looked at it. There, suddenly, I had a tattoo on it saying 'The Beginning'.
"What the fuck?"
I rubbed it, trying to get it off, but it would not.
At this point, I had no energy and felt as if I was rubbing the blood into my skin, and I gave up.
I decide to keep moving forward, hoping that something better lies ahead.
Moving forward, I walked for a while, and just when it seemed like there was no end to this darkness, a forked road appeared in front of me.
Five paths, no signs.
Nothing to indicate which one was the correct one, all identical.
Deciding to follow the path I had chosen from the start, I take the path straight down the middle.
I walked and walked for hours, but it seemed like there was no end to this long road.
Looking behind me was dark, the fog buildup making it impossible to see the path.
It was clear that I could not walk back; the only option was to keep walking forward.
When will this road end? Will it even end? If not, does that mean I will be walking forever?
Anxious, with the blood drying onto my skin and clothes, I felt uncomfortable walking. I take off my shirt and look at the blood dried all over my body. I try to scrape it off, but it only makes things worse, irritating my skin.
"Dammit. Will this continue indefinitely? I can't even get this blood off me... is this even real blood? Is it human blood?" I scratch it harder in frustration, "Just let me the fuck out of here!"
I scream, but there is no response; not even the echo of my voice can be heard. It was as if my voice just disappeared into the void.
Walking on the never-ending road, finally, I see something ahead of me.
As if running on my last fumes, I sprint for it.
It was still very foggy, but by the end, I could see something in the distance getting clearer and more transparent.
I can't be?
I ran faster, then suddenly, where I had expected ground was nothing.
I was now falling.
"Arrgghh! Fuck, No!"
The last thing I had seen was something I was so unsure about. I realised what it was.
The well.