Peter Parker adjusted his backpack as he walked with his friends, MJ and Ned, down the halls of Empire State University. It was late—too late for students to be wandering around. But when they heard about the "weird stairwell" that no one had ever come back from, their curiosity got the best of them. Besides, with Peter's powers, they figured they had nothing to worry about.

"Okay, so what's the deal with this thing again?" MJ asked, a hint of skepticism in her voice as they stood in front of a bland, unmarked door.

Ned grinned, pulling up a hastily saved page on his phone. "It's called SCP-087. It's this creepy staircase that just… goes down forever. People have heard weird noises coming from it—like, crying and stuff—but no one ever finds the bottom."

Peter's Spidey sense tingled slightly as he looked at the door, but it wasn't the usual intense warning of danger—just a nagging feeling. He smiled to keep his friends calm, even though something about this place felt wrong. "It's probably just some kind of ventilation shaft. Creepy noises, sure, but forever? Come on."

Ned, however, was already turning the handle. "Only one way to find out."

Inside, SCP-087 was as unremarkable as the hallway—at first. Just a narrow, concrete stairwell, barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side. No decorations. No windows. Just dim, flickering lights overhead.

Peter led the way, stepping cautiously down the first few flights of stairs. MJ followed close behind, looking more annoyed than scared, while Ned took pictures with his phone. "Look how deep it goes," Ned muttered, leaning over the railing. "You can't even see the bottom."

"It's just a staircase, right?" MJ asked. "There's nothing weird about this except for the fact that it's really boring."

But then, after a few more flights down, they heard it.

Crying.

It was faint at first, almost like an echo bouncing off the concrete walls. The sound was unmistakably that of a child—soft, desperate, and far below them.

"Did you guys hear that?" Peter asked, freezing in place. His senses flared again, sharper this time.

MJ looked around, her tough demeanor cracking just a little. "Okay, that was creepy."

"It's gotta be a prank," Ned suggested, but there was an edge to his voice now. "Someone probably set up speakers or something to mess with people."

Peter glanced down the staircase. "It sounds like someone's in trouble."

MJ grabbed his arm. "Peter, we should go back. This feels—off."

Ned, always the curious one, disagreed. "What if it's real? What if someone's hurt?"

The crying continued, growing louder with every step they took deeper into SCP-087. Peter's grip tightened on the railing, his Spidey sense buzzing in the back of his mind. But he couldn't just walk away—not if there was a chance someone needed help.

Flight after flight, the stairs spiraled downward, seemingly endless. The lights above flickered more frequently, casting unsettling shadows on the walls.

"This is weird," Peter muttered under his breath. His legs didn't feel tired, but they had been walking for far too long. He couldn't shake the feeling that the staircase was stretching, pulling them deeper into something unnatural.

Finally, Peter stopped. The crying was louder now, almost as if the child was just around the next corner. But something didn't feel right. The sound wasn't getting closer. It was the same distance away as it had been for the last ten minutes.

MJ glanced at him. "Peter… this isn't normal."

"I know," Peter replied, his voice tense. His Spidey sense was now blaring, warning him that something was very, very wrong. "We need to leave."

Ned took a shaky breath. "But the kid—"

"There's no kid, Ned," Peter said firmly. "There never was."

They turned to go back up, but the stairwell behind them seemed darker, the lights above now flickering so weakly they barely illuminated anything at all. The stairs seemed to stretch upward, an impossible distance away.

"No way," MJ whispered, her heart racing. "How did it get so far?"

Peter tried to calm his breathing, but it was hard when the shadows around them felt so oppressive. He felt something else, something more than just fear—like the air itself was pushing against him, trying to pull him deeper down the stairs.

Then, a soft sound drifted up from below. Footsteps. Light, slow, deliberate.

The three of them froze. MJ's grip on Peter's arm tightened as they all turned toward the sound. Something was moving below them. They could see it now—a figure, just barely visible in the dim light. It was human-shaped, but wrong. Its head was tilted to the side, its body too still as it ascended the stairs slowly, deliberately.

"Who's there?" Peter called out, his voice tense.

The figure didn't respond. It just kept coming, its face still shrouded in shadow.

Peter's Spidey sense screamed at him.

"We need to go. Now."

Ned didn't argue. Neither did MJ. They turned and ran, sprinting up the stairs as fast as they could. But the staircase seemed longer now, endless, stretching far beyond what they had descended. Every flight felt like another trap pulling them down.

Behind them, the footsteps quickened, still deliberate, but now much closer.

Peter glanced over his shoulder, and his heart dropped. The figure was moving faster than it should've been, its head still tilted unnaturally to the side, its face just barely visible now—an empty, hollow void where eyes should have been.

"Keep going!" Peter shouted, practically dragging MJ and Ned up the stairs.

The lights above flickered wildly now, plunging the stairwell into darkness for agonizing seconds at a time. Each time the lights returned, the figure was closer.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they saw it—the door. The exit.

Peter shoved it open, and the three of them stumbled into the hallway, gasping for air. He slammed the door shut behind them, leaning against it as his heart pounded in his chest.

For a long moment, none of them spoke.

Ned broke the silence first. "What… was that?"

Peter shook his head, still catching his breath. "I don't know. But I'm never going back in there."

The hallway around them was quiet again, like nothing had happened. But even though the door to SCP-087 looked the same as before, they all knew better now.

Some places weren't meant to be explored.