Spooky Short Stories Collection

On Repeat...

The darkened corridor stretched out in front of her. Neverending. The frayed carpet beneath her bare feet was faded and rough, like sandpaper. Cautiously, she began to walk down the hall. 

Soon, she came to a corner, what was beyond it, she didn't know. Peering around the wall, she noticed black markings etched into the wallpaper. As she stepped towards them, she realised they were tally marks. Ten, twenty, thirty - there were too many for her to count. 

Turning away from the wall, she felt something heavy fall into her pocket. She jolted around, but there was nothing. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a small pen knife. A wave of understanding came over her and she began to etch her own tally mark alongside the others. The second she finished, the pen knife vanished, a small cloud of mist appearing in its place.

With a new-found confidence, she continued venturing through the maze-like halls. Turning corner after corner. But one was different. As she turned the corner, she noticed that the walls had changed. The drab wallpaper had been replaced with bare brick; rusty-coloured and worn. At the end of this corridor was a door. The wood was dark and she could make out a handle lying limp, as if it had been tugged on vehemently. 

She began to approach it but with every step she took, she could hear quiet grunts coming from behind her. She quickened her pace slightly and the sound followed suit. She sped up again, beginning to lightly jog towards the door. Heavy footsteps echoed down the hall. It was gaining on her. She ran, her feet pounding on the carpet, muffled. She jumped the last few feet, arm outstretched for the door handle. As soon as her hand collided with it, the noise behind her silenced. She didn't dare look over her shoulder and instead pulled the handle and pushed open the door, her hands shaking feverishly. She slammed it hastily behind her, leaning against it to catch her breath. The room she walked into wasn't what she was expecting in the slightest. She looked up and saw rows upon rows of chairs. They were arranged like a cinema theatre and true to the aesthetic, there was a colossal screen covering the wall in front of them. The room was dark, like just before a movie starts. 

Suddenly, the screen burst to life, the light startling and almost blinding her. 
     "Quick. Come and sit down, it's starting," a familiar voice whispered and she cautiously went to sit down. Audience members were far and few between. Almost all the seats were empty. She chose to sit behind a girl, who's hair shrouded her face.

The screen showed a dank hallway, much like the ones outside. She glanced towards the door, wondering what had chased her in here. The film continued, showing a young girl wandering around, seemingly lost. She tapped the girl's shoulder that sat in front of her and asked what was playing. The girl turned to meet her eyes and whispered, "what we always watch," and she turned back to the screen. It was then that she realised why the voice she'd heard was so familiar. It was her own. The girl who spoke to her was her. 

On the screen, the girl began to run, a hooded beast chasing her. She stared in horror at what was playing out before her. She watched herself run through the hallways, losing stamina and slowing her pace. Her heart quickened, for what she saw next, she wasn't expecting. The creature caught up to her, pouncing and pinning her to the ground. There was a sickening snap and the monster turned to face the camera. In its hand, it held the girl's head, the feared expression painted on her face. It turned to the wall and began to write in her fresh blood. Not so lucky this time, it wrote in scrawled lettering. She gasped sharply and sat back in her seat. What had she just witnessed? Was she doomed to repeat the same cycle over and over again? It was then that she remembered the tens of hundreds of markings she had passed, adding her own to the list. She gazed around the room, how many didn't make it? The thoughts swirled in her mind as the screen went black before wiring to life again.There was another. She began to wander the hallways.

Would she make it to the room?