A Read to Remember
The outdoors can be a rough place, whether in the city or countryside, no place is ever a safe haven, especially in Night Springs. It's a late night in Easter, and Oliver king is out for the night, looking for a place to rest. He is as one would say "Between houses" at the moment. Most nights it's safer to find an abandoned property to stay in, most nights, not tonight.
He soon found himself sliding, 'perhaps this wasn't such a good idea after all' he thought to himself during his rapid descent. He had pushed passed a sign warning outsiders not to enter, perhaps he should have listened. Upon walking down a short path he found himself standing near the entrance to a cellar. 'Jackpot' he thought as outer entrances to such places were getting harder to find these days. Upon entering and climbing down the set of "stairs" he soon found himself in his current predicament, sliding endlessly down a dark path. Endless it seemed, endless it wasn't.
He hit the ground with a thud, followed by a groan and he got to his feet slower than he would have liked. He found himself in a narrow room, with barely any space to move. He finds a switch after feeling around in the dark; it illuminates the path ahead of him with a quick flick. Nothing significant seems to lie ahead except a single table with a sheet of paper placed neatly on the surface, ahead of it is what appears to be a library, a collection of books on either side of the walls. The books themselves seemed like the kind of thing you'd find in a library, journals and the like containing general knowledge, it didn't interest Oliver, what interested him lay ahead, the paper glaring at him from a distance. Within a minute he found himself examining the paper, after a quick jog towards the table.
"Does mister not intend to stay? Then follow these steps and be on your way" the opening line on the paper read. Upon finishing the sentence Oliver turned around rapidly, he had heard something, something lively moving towards him. The path behind him seemed as still as ever, he went back to looking at the sheet in his hand. He read more "You may run and you may fight, but the beast always feeds at night" the next line read, Oliver was getting nervous now. He turned around; the entrance he had arrived in seemed to be gone. The walls behind him had sealed his exit. He began to run, he had no idea what was going on but he intended at the very least on escaping here in one piece so he could figure it out another time. "Do not stop to read for long or you may find your soul long gone" Oliver had no idea what the last part meant but he had come to the conclusion that the paper wasn't very helpful, the longer he spent reading it the faster the path behind him seemed to vanish.
He ran with all his speed and might, but soon he felt something halting his progress, something had caught him. He turned back to examine it and was so horrified by what he saw he couldn't help but scream, until his very last breath escaped him. He caught one last glimpse of the path ahead of him and only just noticed the door leading to the exit when he felt himself vanishing for good, into the depths of the beast, into the unknown. Another sentence appeared on the sheet of paper as he vanished, "It seems you've lost my little game. Heads up. Screaming will not numb the pain."
Outside a feeble looking old lady glanced momentarily towards the cellar. "It seems another one's found their way in, darling" she said. "Oh really? Well I did put up a sign can't say I didn't warn them, it's always hungry around this time of the year" an elderly man replied. "Yep, one of these days we ought to do something about it" the woman said. "Yes, one day… maybe" the old man replied as the two of them continued watching television.
Did Oliver King get what was coming to him? Was he a victim of his own curiosity? Or a casualty of his own desperation? Such questions surface time and time again in, Night Springs.