Game on

Holes for eyes

I was still shaking at the bottom of the stairs. The bird perched on the staircase, his dark eyes flitting to and fro.

It was cooler on this floor, the icy air pawed at my skin. But that laughter was coldness itself; evil and twisted. I felt as if I'd heard it somewhere before. It was silent now. But the sort of silence that holds its breath. The bird lifted a colourful wing and I focused myself.

Time to go through another door.
I pushed it open and I was on the bottom floor.

My eyes widened as I took in the scene.
Unlike upstairs, which held a sort of frozen order, this place was chaos. Gurneys lay on their sides, blood was sprayed on walls, needles and glass littered the floors. The smell of antiseptic was overtaken by the dirty stench of rubbish. This was not a place to be saved.

"What happened here?" I asked softly.

Silence was my only answer. A book lay on the ground, it's cover a lurid red.
I picked it up and perused.

"My date went well. Or as well as can be expected. He was polite and paid for the meal but Mum will never like him...I'm going out with him again in a few days. I don't know why I write in this but it's as if someone can hear me. I always feel empty but you always hear me. You-"

The rest of the page had been violently ripped out. I scowled, wondering at the drivel I had just read. Why was this in the hospital? Why-

A noise startled me. The bird ruffled it's feathers ominously. The sound of footsteps...from another room.

I stepped carefully, avoiding glass, and made my way to towards the sound. My heart was pounding far too loudly. Was it the person from the book?  The one who felt empty...my hand touched the door which creaked.

The slap of a bare foot against floor. I stilled.

"Who's there?"

No one answered. But they were moving closer. I was at the door, half hidden behind it. They were in the room. Fear was clawing its way up my organs, ready to strike the final blow to my heart.

Slap. Slap. Slap.

I could hear a cool breath on the other side of the door. They were waiting. I tensed, readying myself to throw open the door. One, two, three-

I swung the door open.

There was...no one there. An empty room stared back at me. A lonely hospital bed. A T.V long turned off.

"What?" I asked myself and moved into the room. Goosebumps were marring my arms. The bird stayed in the hallway.

And then it hit me. They must be hidden under the bed. It was the only place to hide. They must still be in here. Because I had heard them.

I breathed and an iron smell permeated the space. Like blood. As I approached the bed on shaking feet, images of someone's arm shooting out and grabbing my foot from under the bed played in my brain. I could even see it. Long slashes would mar her hands, a long black tendril of hair sticking and brushing my feet. I shook my head.

As I went to crouch down, I noticed a hair left behind on the pillows of the bed. Long and dark. Curling a little. I froze for a moment. Oh god. Just like I imagined. I could see her-

No. I was the person who had woken up surrounded by a menagerie. I barely recognised fear. I only yearned for exhilaration.

I bent down, ignoring my instincts and peered under the bed.
Darkness. The dim light that should've outlined underneath didn't exist. It was a black hole. I frowned in confusion.

The bird cawed in the distance and it was a troubling sound.
I cocked my head, trying to see deeper and something moved in the blackness. The bed let out a single creak, as if a spring had shifted. A figure was being born out of the darkness. My hand was holding onto the white sheet, my other was balancing myself in the crouch.

A head, an arm, a torso...turning sideways. A face, turning, to me. The light skittered over it and I was mesmerised. That dark hair, short, not a woman at all...I could barely make him out.
Then he turned fully towards me and I screamed.

I threw myself backwards, my body slamming into the wall. He grinned at me with sharp teeth...an unremarkable man except for the fact that...that...where his eyes should have been there were only black holes. Chasms that swallowed everything. Even light.

His hand shot out, desperate to catch me but I scrambled to the door. I didn't dare turn around. My mind was cracking. Because this didn't happen! I knew nothing but I knew...I shook my head, a sob breaking free. Keep going, I told myself. Run!

The sound of something awful getting up, a grunt very like that of a man, that same slap of feet against floor. The rasping breath.

I threw myself away, even as I was sure his fingers grazed the back of my neck. I ran out of the room and bolted away in a random direction. I was very sure I could hear his footsteps leave the room and turn in my direction.

The bird was way ahead of me, attempting to smash through solid glass to get out of the hospital. A homemade sign hung haphazardly over the entrance.

'Games this way.'

The thing was still following. Oh god. I  pushed the door and it rattled but didn't open. Oh no. The receptionist's desk was useless, covered in old forms. Slap. He was coming. With holes for eyes-

I whirled and the bird screeched, its eyes on something behind me. A rasping breath.

But I hadn't looked at the exit properly. Pull, not push. Adrenaline worked my arms and I pulled the door open, fresh air hitting me in the face.

The bird exploded into the air and I ran through a car park, gasping, running, unable to stop. A city surrounded us. I didn't know if the figure was following.