Forgetting about the window, Xavier immediately turned around and lifted his phone, lighting up the corridor.
One of the doors was wide open, with the doorknob practically stabbed into the wall.
Other than that, though, there was no other movement, no other sound. After the door smashed open, the place returned to its eerie tranquility.
Seconds passed, and nothing happened. No monster crawled out of the open door, no other door burst open.
However, just because the corridor was peaceful once again, that didn't mean that nothing was hiding in there, just out of Xavier's sight. There was no question that there was nothing natural about the situation. Something like that couldn't be caused by a draft, especially not with how stale the air was.
It was a clear invitation.
An invitation to a fast trip to the afterlife.
The trip that Xavier didn't want to take.
He stared at the door, quiet and motionless, not even daring to breathe. There was no way that he would be dumb enough to go there.
…Of course, there was also a possibility that he could find some clues, or maybe even an exit, there. After all, he didn't know the rules of the place, and his horror knowledge could be completely inaccurate.
According to his self-preservation instincts, though, he felt that he shouldn't go there. So, that would be the last place he was going to check.
If everything else failed.
For now…
Xavier turned his eyes to the door on his left. There were two dots, a reversed 'S', and a horizontal line painted on it.
What could that mean? Xavier had no clue. And the only way to find out was to check it himself…
Still keeping an eye on the open door in the middle of the corridor, he slowly inched towards his nearest door. Then, he grabbed the doorknob and turned it, pulling the door open an inch and raising his phone to take a glance inside.
What was behind them was another corridor, nearly identical to the one he was currently in. The only difference that he could tell at a glance was that it started with a door, not an elevator.
And there were no open doors in there, of course. Not yet, at the very least.
He threw one last glance at the open door in his current corridor, before sneaking into the next one, and closing the door. Quietly, so that if there was anything lurking around, it wouldn't hear his movements.
'Alright. So, what now…'
The logical thing to assume was that the symbols meant something. Xavier just didn't know what yet. Once he checked what was behind enough of the symbols, though, he might be able to crack the code, and find the way out…
"Ugh…"
Xavier's brows furrowed, and he lifted his hand, grabbing his aching head. The adrenaline cleared his mind a bit, but it didn't solve the problem entirely. He was still drunk. Solving a puzzle in his current state was…
Drip. Drip.
Xavier momentarily froze.
A second later, his head snapped back, to where the noise was coming from.
But there was nothing behind him other than the closed door.
…Had he imagined it?
That would have been a nice explanation…
However, Xavier doubted that it was the case.
Or, at the very least, it was safer to assume that whatever he saw, heard, or felt, was real. Especially since…
Drip, drip, drip.
There it was again. Water dripping on the floor, or other similar surface.
Xavier listened for a while, but in the end, he decided to move forward to examine the corridor ahead of him. As unnerving as the sound was, at least it wasn't coming from anywhere near him, but rather from the corridor that he had just left. Most likely from the room that had opened, since it started not long after the door burst open.
Now he was even less eager to investigate it. While the water dripping wasn't the most alarming noise, in his current circumstances, anything could spell danger…
Drip. Drip.
With each step, the sound grew more and more distant. Until eventually, Xavier couldn't hear it anymore.
Only then could he focus on the symbols on the doors again. He swiftly opened his notes app, and started sketching all the symbols he could see. If he hoped to have any chance of understanding it, he needed to keep a log. Otherwise, his drunken brain couldn't be trusted to remember anything.
"Haaah…" He let out a heavy exhale, as he reached the blackened window at the end. By then, he had almost a dozen symbols sketched in his notes. Only the symbols, for now, without any descriptions, as he hadn't dared to open any of the doors just yet.
Now…
He focused his eyes on the doors in the middle of the corridor.
Were any of them going to slam open again?
Counting to two hundred, Xavier waited, but nothing happened.
"Haaah…" Another sigh escaped his lungs, turning into vapor. Despite the biting cold air that turned his fingers numb and stiff, he was covered in sweat.
But standing around wouldn't save him. Now that he had confirmed that the same situation wasn't going to repeat in this corridor, he turned towards the door on his left. It had a similar symbol to the door that had let him into this corridor, only that without the dots…
Taking a deep breath, Xavier approached it, and slowly took a peek inside.
What greeted him was the sigh of another corridor, identical to the one that he was in.
Did a reverse 'S' with a horizontal line mean this type of corridor?
But what about the dots?
And… was it really that simple?
Xavier pressed his lips, turning to his right. The symbol painted on it resembled a 'V' with a dot inside.
To solve the puzzle, he needed more clues, so he tried opening it first. Unlike the door he had tried before, it opened inside rather than into the corridor. As he lit up the space behind it with his phone flash, though, he couldn't see anything, so he pushed the door open a bit more…
And he instantly took a big step back.
His phone flashlight couldn't lighten up the darkness, because there was simply nothing on the other side. Just endless, (possibly) bottomless abyss.
'Alright, so the door with 'V' on them are a no-go zo-'
Drip, drip.
Xavier stopped in the middle of writing the description, his fingers hovering over the screen.
Drip, drip. Drip.
…It was…
Behind him, wasn't it?