Why? Why? Why? Why? The voices grew louder and louder, a signal that he was coming closer. You hear a loud crash on your right, and your head snaps that way but darkness is all you see with the small light of a hot torch in your hand that illuminates a small circle of where you are standing. A growling seeps through the air as you realize it's not in front of you, but it is behind you. Without hesitation, you bolt in the direction your pointed towards, away from the beast the dark damp stone tunnel. Your feet slap the puddles as you hope you took the right turn to light, the beast is hot in pursuit, thirsting for food and a chew toy. Picking up the pace, you continue and see a light. Salvation? No, another torch in the line of torches on the wall. In a glimmer of hope mixed with adrenaline, you turn and face the beast chasing you; it's hideous, matted black fur coated its body, holes of fur torn away from its flesh where previous victims hoped for survival, blood hot on its breath. Black eyes that pierce the soul stares at you as it creeps slowly towards you, believing it has won and time to collect the prize. In a blaze of glory you chuck the light you carried with you at the monster. It hits the beast in the muzzle, but before you see the further damage, you run along the now lite path down in the stone tunnel, the beasts whines echo through the tunnel as you slip farther and farther away from its paws. In a triumph you pump your fist into the air as you are running. Farther down the path you reach a door; a wooden door with golden hinges and a silver doorknob. You reach out for the knob but hesitate, this entire experience has been a trouble, every open door led claim to a new horror. How much worse could it get, you think to yourself, and you grasp the silver. Oddly enough, it's warm, not burning like the sun, but a nice day on the beach warm. Maybe this is the Heaven that was mentioned at the front gates, the Valhalla, Nirvana, Heaven. You twist the shiny knob around and hear a soft click and swing the door wide open. Inside is beautiful; a lush green area with a crystal water fall and a pond clearer than glass, birds chirp from the canopies and animals from deers to rabbits surround you their fuzzy physiques and large eyes so warm, so inviting. You jump in the water once the animals surround you, this experience has made you fear animals for the rest of your life. In the water, the claw marks from one of the horrors washes away and brings back smooth skin and no scar, no memory of it ever being there. With a large smile on your face you dive into the water and feel the pain that you've experienced wash away. Opening your eyes, you see a clear object on the bottom of the water, a mirror surrounded in gold swirls. You swim closer to the mirror and see your reflection, but something in the mirror is altered, you aren't clean and free of wounds in this reflection, you are a skeleton covered in random scraps of flesh and fish nibbling on the remains; air escapes your lungs and your blood runs cold as you scramble to the surface. When you breach the waters tips, you take a long draw of oxygen and look around; the green was brown, the waterfall was frozen in place, the fuzzy animals that once inhabited were now dead and decomposed, their skeletons lied out on the ground frozen in eternal fright. How could they have died and decomposed in the little time you were submerged, staring at your gruesome reflection; how long were you there? Slowly you creep out of the water a feel the water run off of you, the only noise that could be heard in the entire area. A groan escapes your lips, the wounds you thought cleansed from the pond were slowly coming back, creeping across your skin and making the once dried blood resurface and pour out of your body. You cry out, it was more blood being spilled than before. A dangerous cocktail of confusion and fear spreads across your body as you see the doors encompassing the forest, all wooden, all with golden hinges. Every door, every monster you've faced before getting here. You cry out as you see each and every door creak open to reveal the monsters inside standing, growling, hungry. You black out before you can feel the sting of their teeth.
