As I step into the long corridor, it almost feels like I'm being swallowed. The air feels a bit thicker, almost like I'm drowning in it. I force myself to keep calm. After all I knew the risks in doing this, and if worse came to worse I wasn't about to go out like those wimpy side characters in horror movies.
It isn't long until I notice something weird. This hallway has no doors, no windows. It doesn't even seem to change direction. It just stretches on and on, never seeming to end. Is this some sorta futuristic treadmill, or is Spooky pulling a Super Mario 64 on me? I wonder, smirking to myself a bit. normally I'd throw away thoughts like this as merely jokes to myself, but seeing as I'd seen a literal ghost not to long before, there's no telling what could be possible in this place. Was there some sort of collectible I missed that's keeping me from accessing an exclusive area, or maybe-
"Agh! Damn it!" I take a jerky step back, my face scrunched up in agony as I desperately massage my throbbing elbow. Normally I don't swear like that, but as everyone knows, hitting your elbow hurts. Like really, really hurts.
I carefully move forward again, investigating what I'd hit my elbow on. It was the wall.
So the apparently endless hallway was changing finally, and not at all in the way I hoped for. The walls began to grow closer and closer the farther I went.
Now, here's something I still think was a stupid decision to this day. At this point, I did back out, but not so I could escape. Nope, I backed out so I had enough room to turn and start going down the hallway sideways. Great idea, I know.
Sidestepping like this was more than a little awkward, and it got to the point where I had to suck in my belly a bit to fit. But besides going back entirely, I think it was the best decision. Had I continued normally, I'd of probably gotten stuck. And that's when I felt it.
I can only describe it as a primal sort of Adrenalin, the sort of thing a rabbit or other small animal might feel when a fierce predator is on their tail. But in all honesty I only remember two things I learned in the next few moments.
1. Endless claustrophobic hallways are common dwelling places of floating red skulls.
2. I am surprisingly fast at sidestepping when I need to be.
Everything happened super fast after that. I bolted back to the left, then sprung out of the hallway and fell to the ground. I crawled for a few feet than sprang up, whirling around. A blurr of red rushed me, and rather than screaming and dying right than and there like any other girl in my situation, my reflexes born from summers spent playing baseball with my grandpa kicked in, and clay met palm in a truly magnificent catch, if I do say so myself.
For a moment I just stand there, letting my brain catch up on everything that just happened. The catch kind of stung a bit since I didn't have a glove, but I was only now noticing that as well as my aching knees (presumably from hitting the ground and crawling.) Guess that's what people mean when they talk about going into shock. But back to the weird skull thing. It wasn't the weirdest thing I've ever seen (the weird side of youtube had seen to that) but it was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen and touched in real life.
Whoever could sculpt a skull that realistically, I had no clue. I knew it was skulpted though, the feeling of hardened clay underneath my fingers was unmistakeable. There was also a weird quality though, a sort of vibrating and pulsating. Not only that, but I was also starting to feel it struggling in my grip. I quickly grabbed onto it with my other hand, turning it to face me. I stared it down like my mom stares at me when I've done something wrong and don't quite realize yet, which happens more often than I'd like to admit. Even though the skull doesn't have eyes, I can tell he (I'm tired of calling it 'it') is staring back. It's a bit creepy, and I'm not even going to try to win a staring competition with this guy, so I opt for a different technique.
"That was very rude, y'know," I drawl, trying to mimic the tone of a disappointed parent. "Trying to kill me when I was in such a jam. Then again, now that I think about it I don't know you were trying to kill me. Maybe you were just in a hurry, coming from a different direction and didn't see me. Aw what the heck, I think I'll give ya the benefit of the doubt." I risk letting go a bit to give the thing a pat (mostly so I can brag about the accomplishment later) and when that didn't result in my painful demise I let go completely. The clay skull just floated still there, staring. Probably waiting to see what I would do next. I inwardly congratulated myself, my plan was working.
The truth was, I knew the skull thing was trying to kill me, seriously, why else would he be hear? No wonder Spooky treated getting through one thousand rooms as a challenge, this place was littered with obstacles waiting to stop me in horrific and undoubtedly painful ways. Playing dumb had saved me this time, but I knew it couldn't possibly work every time. I'd need to stay on my toes. either way though, I didn't regret going down the endless hallway. If I hadn't, I would have no clue what to expect. But now that I did, I felt I had a greater chance of survival than anyone else who ventured here. I took the time to add a little PS to my earlier note, saying that I wasn't dead before moving on, finally going through the door on the left. I'd spent way too much time in room 52, if the endless hallway counts as part of that room.
But as I continued on I noticed something that made me wonder if maybe my plan had worked a little too well. The clay skull thing was now following me. Not chasing exactly like before, just following. The heck is his deal? Oh well, guess I have a sort of traveling companion now ... I think? Things are getting weird.
A/N: Hopefully I fixed the weird stuff in chap 2-3, I think it had something to do with copying and pasting the text from fiction pad but if that was the case then why did chap 1 not have the same problem? I repasted the text to see if that would help and it looks like it did. if it didn't though, I'll have to do it the manual way. I hope it doesn't have to come to that.