Shadows & Screams

Chapter 7; Trapped in Darkness

As they approached the symbol, the room grew even darker, and Willow could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. She wanted to turn back, to leave the room and the asylum altogether, but something kept pulling her forward. She felt as if they were standing at a crossroads, and whichever path they chose could lead them to either salvation or damnation.

Gabe, too, seemed to be caught up in the aura of the room, his eyes fixed on the symbol. "This is it," he said softly. "This is what we've been looking for." Willow could hear the excitement in his voice, but she didn't share it. All she felt was fear and dread, as if something terrible was about to happen.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps echoing in the corridor outside the room. They froze, but the footsteps stopped outside the door. Willow and Gabe held their breaths, but the silence stretched on for what felt like an eternity. Finally, the footsteps receded, and the two let out a collective sigh of relief.

But their relief was short-lived. As they turned to leave the room, they saw that the door had swung shut behind them. Willow's heart leaped into her throat as she tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. They were trapped.

"Gabe!" Willow's voice was panicked. "What are we going to do?" Gabe looked around the room, his eyes darting from the symbol to the door and back again. "There must be another way out," he said. "We just have to find it." And so they began to search, running their hands over the walls and the floors, looking for any cracks or hidden compartments.

But the room seemed to have no other exits, and the more they searched, the more they felt trapped. Willow could feel her panic rising as she realized they were completely alone in the asylum, with no way out. And she knew, deep down, that they were no longer searching for just answers - they were searching for a way out of the darkness that was quickly closing in around them.