It all happened too fast. The planks under me practically dissolved as Nick crashed into the boardwalk with all of his weight. My arms thrashed at the night sky for some sort of cosmic support, reaching for the stars in hopes of escaping this nightmare. I need a hold, a structure to sever myself free from this chaos. Keep the parts of my body that mattered intact. Instead, I'm swimming through wooden debris, my thoughts shattered to pieces as I collide with the ground. Oh god, everything is falling apart! It felt like an entire house was being demolished over my head. Planks crumble, dust kicks up, and it's all unfolding above me. I flopped over on my side, shielding my vitals against the pieces of timber piling on me with lethal speed. My bandages were torn apart, I'm certain my torso is sliced open on several places. I force the pain out and gurgle on the sawdust and bits of wood raining down over me, treating my body like a sack of squishy meat about to get flattened. Buried under my own failings. Forgotten. No matter how much I fooled myself into believing I could survive, delaying my doom was all I had been doing.
I put my arms up in a pitiful attempt to protect my head as the boardwalk came down with great velocity, able to crush anything that stood in its way, and stopped short just above the ground.
There was about an inch between me and the planks.
I remained frozen in place, my heart thudding against my chest. The tremors under my skin refused to calm, I was still trying to process the fact that I was alive, and with all my sensory organs intact. There was a moment of serenity as I stared up at the collapsed boardwalk, moonlight seeping through the cracks. I'm alive. I can breathe. I made it. How am I still alive?
It took a moment for the pain to settle into my nerves, all the wounds I sustained while I was free falling made themselves known to me one by one. Fuck, I need bandages. Or at least some cloth so I could treat my wounds. I had to get free before I bled out, stop these boards from crushing my body. I gasped at the soot that spun around the narrow tunnel as I lifted the planks off my torso, grunting when the jagged edges punctured my hands. Crap, need to change out the bandages on them soon.
I put an arm under me as I bit my lip, the pain in my backside assured me I had some form of spinal injury. My left shoulder had gone numb, from the flaming arrow no doubt. I definitely needed bandages, or some clothing I could make rags from. I propped my body up and took out the camera, the pouch giving some trouble before unlocking. I had to check if it was damaged, or all my evidence of this place would be gone.
Shit, I'm lucky. The night vision and microphones were in good working condition, no damage at all. A small crack had formed in the lower right corner of the visor where a piece of wood must've scratched it, but it wasn't interfering with the visibility unless I was looking directly at the crack. I returned it to my eyes and fired up the night vision, lighting was still poor under the boardwalk despite the moonlight.
I had to look for a way out of here. Maybe a weak spot where the planks weren't as numerous and solid. I barely started crawling forward when I noticed the bruised corpses of Laird and Nick on my right, a large hole in the boardwalk where they crashed in from. I felt my heart beat faster as I backed up, this was the first time I had seen them up close, especially with a clear mind.
Both of them were dead, no doubt. They appeared to have plunged headfirst onto the boardwalk, with Laird absorbing most of the impact and dying instantly. Nick had several wooden planks lodged deep into his gut, the flesh around his stomach filled with purple blemishes. Heavy crimson blood was dripping down their lips, and their eyes slunk back to their skull.
For some time I stared at them, trying to take it all in. They were really dead. I had beaten them. I could look at their lifeless corpses all night long, and no one would bat an eye. It felt strange. My parents were always there for me, supported me. My mom would prepare me breakfast every morning, and I would play sports with my dad. They didn't judge me when I lost my faith, after she died. They were the best parents I could ever ask for.
Unfortunately, I experienced both of their deaths first hand. That kind of loss utterly breaks a child, and it only discouraged me from attending catholic school again even more. I was overcome with grief, and I think losing both of them in a short span of time broke me in a fundamental way.
Recording
"My dad died within a month of my mom. He was perfectly healthy until she was gone, and then..."
I leaned against the ground and lowered the camera, stopping the recording and pressing a palm over my forehead. Oh god, what am I saying? Can't think about that, especially not here. I closed my eyes, focusing on the insects vibrating inside my skull. I was starting to see images behind my eyelids, contortions and nightmares swirling in my brain. A low buzz reverberating through my bones, into my blood vessels and out from my skin. I lock my fingers into the camera and lurch physically from the overload of static, gushing through my brain like an electrical current.
I'm going insane. This place was evil to its core, and it would leave my sanity in shambles by the end if I didn't watch myself. Goddamnit, how did this whole thing happen?
I brought the camcorder back up to my eyes and moved further along the tunnel, towards a wooden hatch promising a way out of this collapsed structure. This section of the boardwalk was somewhat intact, but dust was still heavy around my head, drying out my eyes as I fought not to blink. The only thing that brought me a bit of solace was that those two maniacs got what was coming to them. I wouldn't have been able to climb up that window if those two scalled members didn't show up and help me out. Fitting that Laird met his demise because of his short temper, and mistreatment of the population he was looking after.
My lungs ached as I coughed up all the dust I had inhaled while crawling towards the hatch. I was a bit taken aback by how cold the handgrip was, my fingers damn near glaciated just by holding it for about a second. I couldn't make sense of this illogical glitch in the matrix, but I would only waste time by trying to come up with some sort of explanation for it.
It was only a second before I found out why it felt so cold.
An audible gasp escaped my throat as I swung open the hatch, a freezing gust of wind blasted me straight in the face and I stumbled out from the tunnel with my nerves frozen stiff, wobbling forward and latching onto a metal railing before I could falter. What the fuck is this? Where am I?
The sudden shift in temperature was too overwhelming for my body to handle it at once. I choked on the raw ice compressing around my throat, and shoved back from the railing before it could burn my hands too much. It took me only a second of looking at my surroundings to figure out I was hallucinating the school roof, with the hatch behind me now made of metal instead of wood.
I put my hands around my chest as I looked up at the heavy snowfall, coating the pristine silver environment with a form of pure white. I don't understand. This isn't real. It's all in my head. How can I feel the cold? Is it possible for me to freeze up here? I used to be able to lucid dream when I was a kid, but even then it wasn't as corporeal as these school hallucinations.
Just stop trying to make sense of it. I had to find a way into the building, self induced hypothermia wasn't how I wanted to die after all I've been through. The hatch behind me was now locked tight, it didn't even budge when I pulled the handgrip. I wasn't sure how that was possible, but I didn't question it. There was a door bathed in brilliant light across from where I stood, it could've been my way in if it wasn't obstructed by several feet of thick snow.
Goddamn, it's fucking freezing out here. I need to keep looking. The wind picked up and I shivered into the warm embrace of my jacket, moving along the catwalk towards the overhead lamp. Several thick pipes stretched out from either side of the metal path, topped with ice and some sections buried under the snow. The white substance shifts under my weight as I step off the catwalk, nearly throwing me off balance before I clamp onto the metal railing on my left.
Fuck me. I'm being too careless, even a mouse could scare me at this point. I focus on the faint hum of the cooling units while I recover from the shock, the camera still locked tight between my fingers.
The snow level was lopsided in this area, the highest point starting from one wall and descending in height until it reached the other side. It made traversing quite bothersome, but I managed several long strides in the impeding snow until it settled down to a more tolerable level. My jacket was painted white and my legs were soaked, but it was possible to walk now.
Snow, snow, and lots more snow. I stopped and directed the camera towards a door left ajar, brightly illuminated under an overhead lamp. It looked like it was stuck in a perpetual motion of bouncing back and forth whenever the wind picked up, but it was most certainly my way in if I could reach it. Small miracles come through yet again.
The door was at another section of the rooftop, across and to the left from where I stood. The path ahead branched to the right, and it most likely curved around this part of the building and stopped at the ajar door. I was going to need the night vision though, this area wasn't illuminated at all. I thawed out some of the ice formed on the camera and took out the dying battery, putting my last one in and making a mental note to use the camera sparingly. I did not want to run out of power here.
There's a distinct feeling of dread in the air. It made my hairs stand on end. I swept the camera over to the right and didn't quite register the bloody footprints made on the layered snow, not until I ventured towards the turbine vents whirring mechanically in the dark. Could it be that demon again? I felt somewhat colder around my neck as I recalled the memories, the way that thing just tore me apart like a piece of sushi. I don't want to go through that again. Please.
I shivered deeper into my jacket as I continued forward, scanning the area for some sort of clear direction. There was a vertical pipe coated with snowflakes on my right, connected to a cooling unit blanketed with snow. I don't know if I should feel safer in these waking dreams than in reality. There's no medium between the nightmares that lurk, I'm either freezing or hunted by cultists.
Wait. I'm hearing footsteps. I lowered the camera and paused to listen, my hands trembling as I fought to resist the terror released into my veins. Keep calm. It's probably nothing, just my imagination playing tricks on me. I still kept my back to the chain link fence as I moved along the turbine vents, the footsteps made it seem like there were multiple entities stalking me, or that could just be the sounds reverberating off the metal vents. I need to focus.
"You were jealous. You were frightened."
No. That voice...
Something's definitely out here with me, and it's out for my blood. I quickened my pace when I caught the demon visibly making footprints on the snow, invisible but warping the space around it. I can't let it blindside me, need to watch my back and be ready to run if it decides to attack. My instincts screamed death, but I drew in a sharp breath and quietly slipped between the whirring cooling units, crossing over to the other side in search of a path forward.
"You're not evil Blake, just confused."
I need to get the fuck out of here, fast. There has to be some sort of door around here. Maybe a hatch? Anything at all? There was a brief moment of relief as I turned the corner and spotted a door raised up on a platform, only the metal railing acting as a means to deter little school kids. The demon must've realized I was escaping, it picked up speed as I broke into a wild dash towards the platform, the snow rapidly crunching under its feet. The visor reads images backwards, the monstrosity fixed on my heels whispers something but I'm only running, purely focused on putting distance between me and that thing.
Oh god, my head! That shrieking static. I barked out a terrifying sound and tossed the camera over the railing, practically locked on with my fingers and hoisted my entire body upwards. My boots scraped the ice as I propelled myself forward, the grated metal clunking when I fell straight on my stomach. I quickly pushed up on my knee and whirled around, getting a glimpse of its black shape behind the railing before it dissolved from sight.
Fuck that! Did the demon teleport, or was it gone? I buckled and dashed towards my camera on all fours, I could only hope the night vision wasn't busted after I threw it over in my frantic sprint. I snatched it up and flipped open the visor, making sure nothing malfunctioned beyond use. The microphones and night vision were fine, although another small crack had formed on the edge of the screen.
It'll be fine. If I didn't find a way into the building soon, I had no doubt the demon would eventually find its way to me again. I made sure the camera was fully secured in my pouch before I tried the door on my left, although the ice crystals collected on the handle already gave me the hint that the door wouldn't even budge. I should just accept this place was doing everything it could to make sure I was inconvenienced.
I need to find that other door. I wiped the moisture from my glasses and pressed forward, down the metal stairs and back into the snow. My nerves had gotten completely numb down the ankles, the only thing I wanted right now was to just get inside. The path continued along the fence, taking a sharp left and towards another metal door clogged up by snow. The chain link gate leading through the fence seemed to be wide open however, unlike all the other damn doors on this rooftop either closed off by snow or frozen shut because of the temperature.
I shivered when another gust of wind burned into my exposed wounds. I stepped through the gate and quickly shut it behind me, the air now felt piercing. The static supplied me images of pain, fear, and isolation. I was a long way from the world, and far from sanity. How can someone ever be normal again after this?
My mind was utterly broken, and I suspected the pieces were destroyed sometime this night.
There was still some hope left in me though. If we managed to escape this place with our heads attached, the first thing I'll do is quit my job. I had no intentions of being a journalist after this, let alone work under a boss who decided I should be sent to a barren desert with no reception to investigate the death of a pregnant cultist. Fuck them all. I'd rather live in the wilderness.
The path ahead was thin and packed with snow, crystal ice formed on the brick walls. It seemed my short time glaciating under the snowfall had finally concluded when I turned the corner and came upon the shifting door I had spied from across the rooftop. The bloody footprints going in through the doorway sparked my unease somewhat, but not even Freddy Krueger could deter me from leaving the cold at this point. I flung the door open with a loud snap and threw myself indoors, smashing my hip dead into a metal railing I failed to notice in my haste.
Fuck me. It took some time before I recovered from the blow, without a thought I snared the handle and wrenched the icy door back into its frame, silencing the howling wind drilling into my eardrums hopefully for good.
"You can't hide your sins from God, Blake."
Just shut out his voice. The small room I had barged into was quiet, but still felt somewhat cold. I was inside and protected from the snow, but my next goal of escaping this hallucination was a lot more ambiguous than just simply entering the building. It didn't seem to be something I could force. Knoth said the hallucinations were from God, constantly reminding us of our biggest sin. I didn't want to believe him and fall prey to his manipulation tactics, but I struggled to find another plausible explanation for these waking dreams involving my guilt with Jessica. My biggest sin.
No. That's exactly what Knoth wants me to believe. There has to be a way out of this, I just have to think. The last time I flashed back to the school, I woke up at the cafeteria. This time, it was by opening a hatch. In my escape from Loutermilch after he pushed Jessica down the stairs, he chased me through the underground tunnels and up to the cafeteria.
Are the hallucinations showed to me in... reverse order?
It all makes sense now. That's why I keep coming back earlier every time. Blake, you fucking idiot. How didn't I see this sooner? It was staring me right in the face. Right in the face! I need to reach the cafeteria and get the hell out of my head.
I took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. If my memory served me right, the underground tunnels were accessed from the courtyard. One of them would lead me straight under the cafeteria, I would push up the hatch and presumably snap out of the nightmare. Not that long of a trip, if I was quick on my feet. That damn creature would surely attack me again, and I needed to be ready for it.
Although the small attic was poor in lighting, I decided against using the night vision and wasting precious battery life. The door on my right led into a storage closet, containing brooms and whatnot. I quietly returned it back to its frame, instead opting for the metal staircase I could somewhat make out in the dark. I put a hand on the cement wall to guide me as I lurked down the grated steps, moving along the narrow corridor until my hand bumped against a metal shaft. It took me a solid minute of jerking the frigid cylinder back and forth before I recalled how the doors in this school worked.
Goddamn, this door is heavier than it looks. I pushed it open just enough so I could wedge myself through, and visibly flinched when it smashed back into its frame quite forcefully. Just fuck this place. It seemed like everything in this demonic school had made it their personal mission to scare the shit out of me.
That aside, at least I was making progress. The stairs on my right were the only way down to the ground floor, elevators weren't something the school could afford. I tried to suppress my footsteps as I ventured down the first staircase, but it was impossible to hide any sounds in this dead silent building. I had no idea if the demon relied on sight or sound, but it was still a worthwhile effort to pursue rather than do nothing and stroll like I owned the place.
I stopped briefly to view the courtyard when I noticed it past a large window, although it was a bit difficult to make out anything through the blood smeared across its midsection. It felt good to distract myself with small objectives, helped me keep myself sane after witnessing psychotic cultists inflict all kinds of violation upon their fellow human beings. I was definitely sane compared to them, sure. But when compared with an average man...
My footsteps are too damn loud. I don't feel safe while generating this much noise. The school was mostly built out of cinder block, which seemed to amplify this type of sound above all else. Deliberate design choice or not, I will say it again: Fuck this place.
Okay, need to go down one more floor. I didn't bother checking the glass door at the far end of the staircase, I had enough of roaming those endless corridors and suffering under my guilt, only to get decapitation as my reward. Going back to that moment physically made me cringe every time. I knew without a doubt I'd wake up in the middle of the night shrieking, my heart racing in my chest and the memories of this place coming back to me in full force. Wondering if the creature stalking through the black shadows would find me. The air was still cold and frosty, but I felt sweat trickle down my forehead. I moved around the metal railing and continued my descent.
Would I be fast enough to keep away from it?
My legs came to a grinding halt when a door audibly clicked shut directly under me. My vision became distorted, and veins of crimson goo materialized along the walls. For a moment my mind went blank, images of grotesque insects and membranes swirled before my eyes. I felt a twist in my gut as the demon surfaced from the opposite staircase, its body encircled by a cloud of black contortions. The scar on its forehead... resembled that of Loutermilch. Was that creature really how I viewed him deep in my subconscious?
I'm fucking staring at death itself, save it for later Blake. The demon picked up speed upon noticing my presence, I spun away and practically took flight up the staircase, the lamps above flashed against my skull. My body felt incredibly light, I swung myself around the landing and stumbled only for a second, pushing forward and up to my feet before the demon had a chance to cut the distance between us.
Don't stop, don't stop! Not until my head is severed from my torso. I raced up the steps and pivoted on my heel, skidding on the floor until my momentum dissipated. Going back up felt like undoing my progress, but attempting to zip past him would be basically suicide. I caught no glimpse of the demon as I threw myself around the next landing, taking three steps up the final staircase before I thought to look up, and was brought to a standstill when I found the damn creature had instead replaced itself just above me.
The gears in my mind were set in motion as the demon let out another screech, my time before it lunged forward and ripped my head clean off was extremely limited. It had the ability to teleport, but it couldn't clone itself, which meant I was free to go back down and hopefully lose it in the courtyard. I vaulted over the railing on my right as the demon charged down the stairs and narrowly grazed my shoulder, determined to kill me once again.
My landing onto the adjacent staircase was a bit uncertain, but my knees soundly absorbed the impact and kept me from losing my footing. It was a risky maneuver, but whatever meager distance I put between us was invaluable. I ignored the pain my legs gave as I stumbled down the steps, gradually picking up speed until I was full on tearing it through the stairs.
The fucking demon was still hot on my heels! It felt like an eternity sprinting down the floors, but a fleeting moment of ease came when I turned the corner and found the last staircase was all that stood between me and the courtyard. My heart was racing, I only went down three steps before I launched off the ground and leapt over the rest, impacting the cement with a resounding boom.
I didn't bother with the first glass door in the slightest, just another dark corridor I had no need being in. The demon was right above the staircase when I twisted around, its dull stare enough to strike terror into even the most hardened individual. I charged forward, behind the staircase and towards the glass door, more than willing to bust through if it wasn't unlocked.
The demon let out a final screech as I dashed by its crimson goo and powered through the door with my arm, the cold rushing into my skin almost instantly. No time to stall, I swung back and snapped the glass door shut with a deafening crack, backing away as I glanced to my left and then right, searching for where it would appear next. My throat produced a meek gasp as I felt something sharp go into my back, but a dead black tree was all I could see when I turned around. Must've backed away towards one of its twigs, damn near gave me a heart attack.
Is it still here? I couldn't feel its presence anymore, but I still took the time to scan the vicinity before moving on with my objective. That invisibility trick it pulled on the rooftop really caught me by surprise, I couldn't allow myself to make the same mistake again. It was obvious the demon couldn't actually kill me in these dreams, so looking at them like practice for my real pursuers might alleviate some of the fear? Huge maybe, but I'd take anything at this point.
Okay, calm down. It's over, it's gone. I need to focus, get to the cafeteria. The courtyard had several underground passageways connecting to various areas of the school, shortcuts meant to be used by the staff. They were locked during school time, but the janitors always left them unlocked after everyone left, something me and Jessica took full advantage of while playing tag. I didn't remember which one lead to the cafeteria, so checking them via trial and error was my safest bet.
To my benefit, most of the light sources in this area were perfectly functional. The lamp posts illuminating the snowy grounds, even some of the classrooms overlooking the courtyard. The camera was on its last battery, until I found more, so this played hugely in my favor. The harsh winds from my time at the rooftop had somewhat lessened, but the cold was still sharp enough for me to audibly shiver.
I gave several glances over my shoulder as I moved towards the first shortcut, just making sure the demon wasn't stalking me. The only footprints in the snow were my own, at least for now. The metal hatch gave way without much struggle, an odd contrast to everything else I've found locked thus far. It was a bit of a let down as I looked down at the ominous passageway, shrouded in complete darkness. I'd need to use the night vision, so that meant a quick check of where it connected to, then right back up the ladder. I couldn't afford to lose a vital asset like my camera.
The camcorder was held tight in my hand. I drew in a frozen breath and dropped down, my impact onto the concrete echoing back to me several times. The corridor was drowned in absolute pitch black, kinda felt like I jinxed myself when I said most of the lights worked, fucking proved wrong instantly. Classic.
I brought the camera up to my eyes, slowly. I could discern the glass door from the light above reflecting off it, just ahead from where I stood. The night vision purred active as I stepped through, keeping it open to let more light in. The corridor was dead quiet, making it easier to focus on the buzzing inside my head. Reverberating, like hot water boiling inside a pot. Several pipes ran from the ceiling and the walls, following the passageway as it took a left. I couldn't stand listening to my footsteps anymore, especially indoors where they echoed back to me like an amplifier. Really bad obsession to have in this place.
The corridor extended left, a lone cabinet filled with carton boxes, some dry paint, and a chalky radio. There was another door at the far end, but I had to get closer before it entered the range of the night vision. The battery was still above half power, but nothing to relax about. Needed to check if I was going the right way or not. I was honestly dreading the very possible moment when the camera would go dead, and I would be left blind in the dark. Especially because the lantern stopped working while in the school, but the camera storing complex circuitry was fine, aside from the occasional visual glitch.
I could see the corridor extended further behind the door, but the hefty piece of metal wouldn't even budge. Although I knew guessing the right one first try was a fifty-fifty chance, going back up and checking the other one wasted precious time while Lynn likely suffered unimaginable torture, deep below the surface. I had no way to bash these metal doors open, too solid for anyone short of that fucker Nick.
No choice but to go down the other hatch I suppose.
The metal door back near the ladder clunked as I pulled it loose, secured the camera in its pouch and started my ascent, keeping a tight grip each step I pulled up. I won't let all of this be for nothing. I will save her. I will make up for my failure, whatever it takes. I promised myself, and Jessica that.
This chapter was originally a bit longer, but I had to cut it in half because of where I plan to end the next one at. Just a quick question, would you prefer longer chapters that took longer to publish, or shorter ones that don't take as much time?
