[kenopsia]; of liminal spaces and what not to do in them

"Holy shit, dude. It smells like ass in here," Sapnap says into the front-facing camera of his phone, his words slightly muffled by the sleeve of his hoodie that he has held up to his face. "Like if you put a bunch of wet towels in a laundry basket and left them in there for a week. The carpet is, like, damp and moldy. Shit," he coughs, gagging on the smell.

He looks sickly under the fluorescent bulbs, the yellow of the walls behind him doing no help against the paleness of his face, which is white with worry. His eyebrows are furrowed deeply, his nose wrinkled as he removes his sleeve. He clears his throat once more, eyes scanning his surroundings before he looks back to the camera.

"I don't know where I am. I don't know what the fuck even happened! I was at Foolish's doing a stream, and this little door near the back of the room, like, opened behind me at one point. It was freaking everyone in chat out so after stream I went to look at it, and I don't know, man," he sighs, running a hand over his face. "I had to get down on all fours to be level with it and when I opened the door and looked in it was, like, pitch dark. Next thing I know I fucking tripped over my knees and fell in, but... I landed here."

He takes another look around, then looks down at the camera for a moment before turning his phone around to reveal the room he's in. It looks like something reminiscent of an office building; pale walls, dull carpet, ugly florescent lights. There's a low but prominent neverending buzz emanating from the lights above, and everything is shrouded in yellow, the lighting bouncing off the wallpaper to create an eyesore of a color that does nothing to help settle the eeriness of the area. The room is completely empty and has two ways out, one hallway to the left and one hallway straight ahead that takes a sharp turn further down, leading God knows where.

Sapnap turns the phone back to face him, his eyes looking down at the camera with worry. "This is fucking insane. Like, this has to be someplace under Foolish's house, right? Like some sort of old building, or- or- like, an old, abandoned office? That's happened before, right? With malls and stuff," he shifts, looking uneasy. "I tried to call people; facetime, text, snap—fucking everything! But I don't have any service," he sighs heavily. "There's no way that something like this can actually be happening, right? 'Cause, this looks like..."

He pauses. Turns around in a circle, eyes scanning every inch of the room he's in.

"This looks like the fucking Backrooms, dude."

He lets out a sudden, single laugh, incredulous.

"There's no fucking way. There's no way! That isn't real. It's a meme! A- a- a creepypasta! It's made up—people make stories about it! But..." his face falls. He looks back to the camera, eyes wide, brows furrowed heavier than before. "Those videos aren't real. Right?"

Sapnap takes a step forward, the carpet squelching lowly beneath his foot as he cranes his neck to look down the hallway to the left. "There's just more walls and empty rooms down there," he looks forward. "And there's this creepy as fuck, dimly lit hallway. Great," he looks back at the camera. "Guess I'll go to the left. It's more open. More shit to find, if there's even anything here."

And he starts to walk.

Sapnap falls silent for a bit as he trudges along, the camera trained on his face. He looks deep in thought; concentrated as he makes decisions on which ways to go, twisting and turning through various similar-looking rooms and hallways, the faint yellow glow cast across his face accentuating how his features continue to harrow by the minute.

The damp carpet makes it sound as though he's walking through overly wet grass, and after a few minutes, Sapnap looks back down at the camera, pulling a small, tense smile across his lips as he shakes his head in disbelief. "I can't believe this is happening. This has to be a dream. Or a prank. Something, dude. Like, there's no way this is real," he sighs. "Recording and talking to my phone is... nice, though. It's almost like I'm streaming. Like I'm playing a VR game, waiting for my friends to join VC."