Nightmare of an Endless Night

Chapter Twelve

I almost giddily marched on, even though I knew that it wasn’t the time for such “happy” emotions in such a dire situation I still felt the way I did. Perhaps it was because of my sudden luck with Kaiju and the batteries.

I walked through the hallway. Graffiti still scrawled the walls, floor, and even the ceiling. I didn’t think it was possible for someone of our average height to even reach that high, but no matter, now is not the time for thinking, now is the time for doing.

When I reached another doorway I saw the nude boy mannequin again. He was perched up against the wall, his face mushed into it as if someone had purposely done that to humiliate him.

Walking on I heard a sound as if someone was sharpening a knife against a stone. Actually, no, a sword; it sounded like a sword was being sharpened. I stopped in my tracks when the sound stopped. Then one came that sounded like the purring of a satisfied cat. I only recalled Naoki mewing, growling, and screaming; not at all purring.

The purring stopped, and then came the sound of a crying infant. Was Kaiju playing mind tricks on me again?

I grabbed the closest doorknob, which happened to lead inside the men’s bathroom, and pounced inside. There were countless urinals lined up against the wall and only a few stalls stood inside. I then heard that ever so familiar sound of Kaiju’s footsteps. When I turned the flashlight to the door I could already see her webs of hair approaching before her body.

Despite myself I panicked and locked myself inside the stall closest to the wall. Turning off the flashlight, I bent down slowly as to not flare up my knee to peek under the crack of the stall. I saw Kaiju’s worn feet creep across the tiled floor, disappearing out of sight.

I stared at the doorknob in anticipation. Was this the end? Hopefully not; I wasn’t about to die at the hands of Kaiju. When I was positive she was gone I opened the stall. For some reason my heart was pounding against my chest. I’ve never felt this much fear before, not even with my first encounter with Kaiju. Maybe it was just my nerves working up; maybe my body could tell something was going to happen before my mind did.

Before exiting the bathroom once and for all I glanced at the smeared mirror hung above the sinks and I could’ve sworn I saw Naoki’s reflection instead of mine. Never mind that, I have more important matters to take care of.

I went directly across from the men’s bathroom to a gold framed glass door. On the inside I saw some metal poles. Whatever could they be used for? I went inside out of pure curiosity and fear of what will happen next in this version of events.

I turned to the right to see the naked mannequin woman, she was upright and her hands were outstretched, her plastic fingers pointing down the hall as if to guide me. If only those were her true intentions.

I went to the back room to see more female mannequins, some were headless and a few were just torsos. Behind them all was a shelf and I could see it housed something important to my journey.

Underneath two plastic hands was a pink slip of paper, a pin memo. But only the number “9” was stamped on it, the rest of the letters were soaked in blood. Maybe in another room I’ll find another memo with the rest of the numbers stamped on it.

I tucked the slip into my pocket and just as I turned around my eyes met Kaiju’s. She shook my shoulders and violently shook me, with my brain rattling in my skull I thought of a plan to escape this situation. But right when a light bulb starting to shine, Kaiju evaporated into thin air.

Once again I was left in a haze of extreme confusion. But I took this as an opportunity to race down the hallway outdoors.