Changed: Janitor's Closet

Chapter 3

You walked for a long time through hallways. Encounters like the one you just had were incredibly scary, but even so, you kind of hoped that a cat or whatever popped out of the next corner and tried to absorb you. At least the adrenaline rush kept you entertained, now it's just boring. The walls are just as white, the lights are just as bright. It all just feels... Same-y. There's nothing new. No new pictures, no notes, no rooms with slightly different layouts, nothing.

And as if god had answered your call, there it was: a room that was actually different from the others.

The room had a desk with chairs that pointed towards a glass panel. In the panel was an empty room, which had plenty of motionless puddles of animal-inator. From the looks of it, you assumed this must've been a room used for testing the "samples", as they call it in the research papers. Seeing the big, empty room past the glass panel was quite unsettling, in a way. You always felt a certain unease when you walked into big rooms that made you feel small, like the painting room for Little Big Island in Super Mario 64. Getting back on topic, through the haze of white Silly Putty, you spot something shining in the back of the testing room. You tried to take a better look at it, but you still couldn't tell what it was since it was of so far away. You hesitated to go for it, as it may not even be worth your time. It could be someone's phone as much as it could be a soda can, the possibilities are endless. Before you do go inspect the mysterious shiny object, you decide to inspect the desk first. On top of it was a computer. From the outside it looked intact, but it was connected to a busted-out screen, so even if you did end up getting the computer to run, you couldn't really be able to see anything. Below the screen was a post-it note that read: "Someone please tell Alex to stop playing video games at work." You chuckled.

You directed your attention back at the shine in the testing room. You pressed a button which opened the door that lead into the room. You tightly grip onto your broom, ready to attack anything that moves even but a millimeter. You were careful not to step in any of the puddles of gelatin, as you knew the consequences were dire for doing so. You turn your head to the side, making sure nothing wakes up from your presence. You tip-toed your way to the object and crouched down to get a closer look. The object ended up being a skeleton key, judging by the blade and the pattern on the bow, which was a skeleton, funnily enough. As disappointing as it is, it might end up being a useful item. You then proceed to put it in one of your pockets, waiting for an opportunity to use it. You tip-toed your way back to the door, still holding on tightly to the broom. You walk through the door out which had miraculously not closed and pressed the button to close it.

The door didn't budge.

You press it again and again.

Still nothing.

"Must be jammed," you thought. As you looked at the doorframe, you notice one of the blobs had latched itself on it, somehow keeping it from closing. You slowly raise your broom as if you were swatting a fly when you hear gooey liquid sounds from the test room. Five forbidden Jell-O anthropomorphic cats had formed from the puddles. You silently stared at them, none of you making a single motion. You lowered your broom, hoping that's all they wanted: to be left alone. Sadly, that's not the case. All of them ran straight towards you and the blob that was attached on the door jumped at you. You successfully dodged the slime in time, but you still had to outrun the 5 felines that were coming for you. You took off towards the door you came from, opened it and ran in a random direction - it doesn't matter if you go back where you started, you need to run from these goons. You took a left, then a right, then straight ahead, then faked a right turn before turning left. But no matter what you did, you couldn't escape the creatures forever. They were slowly but surely catching up to you. You needed to do something about it. Should you go full-on Bruce-Lee mode and fight all of them off with your broom? No, that would be wreckless, and would definitely get you ganged up on and get absorbed into one of these animals. Maybe you could throw stuff on the ground to slow them down? That would've been a decent idea, if there even was things to throw on the ground. What other options do you have? Give up and let them catch you? Or run away and delay the inevitable? You look back to check on the cats. All four of them were chasing you.

Wait, four?

As you look in front of you, you see the fifth one standing there, ambushing you. You quickly brake before you ran into it. Taking advantage of that, the felines quickly circled around you, making sure you had no way to escape. You looked around at the cats that were slowly walking towards you. Your entire body shook as if someone had turned on the air conditioning in the middle of winter. Your mind said fight, but your body said freeze. The creatures grew closer. You fell to the floor in a fetal position, as you were unable to do anything else to protect yourself. You knew it wouldn't do much, but at least it made you feel a tiny bit safer. The creatures grew closer and closer as you felt a gooey hand reach down your...

Pocket?

The hand rummaged through your pocket and pulled out the only thing in it - the skeleton key. You wiped your tears as you looked at the animals, who were looking at the key with big eyes. The four that were looking at the key traced back their steps. You got up.

"That's it!?" you shout. "That's all you wanted!? You could've just have told me-"

You felt another gooey hand, this time on your mouth, grab you from behind. It wrapped its other arm around your waist. You completely forgot about the fifth one. You felt the goop enter your mouth and throat, which felt less than enjoyable. The liquid was strangely tasteless, but it still didn't make up for that fact that it was entering you larynx without your permission. What the feline didn't realize is that your hands were free. You wacked its head with your fist, which made it release its grip. You fell to your knees and coughed out the fully coagulated milk out of throat before taking big breaths. The fifth cat ran back into a vent. You audibly cussed before getting up and wiping the dust off your clothes. You then looked around to make sure nothing else was around before continuing on your merry way, shaking immensely due to the extremely close call you had.