THE BACKROOMS: Mystery of the Shrouded Halls

Chapter 2

I begin bolting towards the hallway, out of the big room. My eyes must have been playing tricks on me. Was I seeing double back there?
My first thought is that I must be dehydrated or severely hungry. Now that I think about it, if I WAS hiking, why didn't I have my bag? Maybe whoever took me here decided to leave it somewhere in the wilderness. It doesn't matter now, I just need to keep moving.

All of the rooms in this place look identical, the architecture is slightly different every time, but all the walls still have that same mono-yellow color, the floor still made of wet carpet.. This place is starting to frighten me. I keep walking and walking. My stomach begins to gurgle and my mouth is beginning to dry up, but I don't have anything on me to eat. And of course I don't have my phone, so there's no way I can call for my dad or brother. I'm starting to feel hopeless.

I had already been walking for what felt like hours, but at some point, I finally decide to rest, since I realize walking aimlessly wouldn't help at all. I enter a small room, about as big as my own bedroom back home. As I plop down onto the carpeted ground, I realize something: I hadn't checked my pockets yet. With my back against the wall, I sit down with a small bit of hope.

"Let's see here.." I whisper, while digging into the pockets of my black jeans. I feel a small object in my left hand, a cylindrical object. Bandages. I always bring these when I go hiking, or anywhere in general, in case of an emergency.

Next, I rummage through the pockets in my jacket. Nothing, except a pen I must have left in there a while back. No luck, I was hoping I would have some sort of nourishment. Or at least some ear plugs, so I can stop listening to those damn lights.

After about 15 minutes of rest, I get back up with a grunt and begin walking again. I really can't do anything else, except think and walk. I would mostly think about my family: Mom, Dad, Robby. Then I would begin walking again. Think, walk, think, walk.. It was honestly starting to drive me mad.

About an hour or so of walking later, I notice something in the distance. Behind one of those dark areas that popped up from time to time, where the lights must be turned off or broken. It resembled some kind of figure... a person!

"Hey!" I yell towards the figure. "Hold on!"

The person disappears behind a wall, leaving me no choice but to run after them. I enter the dark area and quickly exit into the light again. However, as soon as I turn a corner, the figure is gone. My only chance of seeing someone else was gone.

"Damn it.. where did you go?" I curse under my breath.

I decide to walk in the same direction as the figure, when I notice something on a wall, about 20 meters away in front of me.

I rush over to see what it is, when I realize that it's some kind of writing in wet ink, maybe spray paint, written in big letters. I begin to inspect the words.

DO NOT TRUST THE SOUNDS.
DO NOT TRUST ANYTHING.

"Do not trust the.. what?" I begin confusingly. "What the hell does that mean!?"

My heart begins to beat faster and my stomach churns. Who had written this warning? Am I in danger? Questions began to wrap around my mind like a cocoon. My heart was racing rapidly the more questions entered my mind. Wherever I am, I need to get out.

* * *

I begin to walk again for.. I'm not sure how long, until I enter a dimmed hallway, only lit up by a single kerosene lamp. Or lantern, whatever people call it. The hallway looked promising, but I knew my paranoia would never let me go through. Instead, I back out of the hallway, pull out my pen, and mark a nearby wall with an 'X', to make sure I know I'm making progress.

"Well, I guess I'll look around and come back here later," I say to myself. Talking to myself seems to help me a little bit, but not by much. Sure, it makes me look insane, but does it really matter? I'm practically alone in this place.

I then enter another hallway, which was marked with that same paint, like the message on the wall. Designs of eyes, hills, and windows littered the walls of the hallway, almost as if to appease the people who were here before me.

As I cautiously step into a smaller room, my eyes catch an unusual sight. In the corner of the room, a cluster of mushrooms sprout in multiple directions. Their pale, short caps contrasting the walls and carpet, but becoming a blinding sight, reflecting the bright ceiling lights. A queasy feeling begins to form in my stomach, followed by curiosity. How could anything live in this place, let alone fungi? The only thing I could relate the little spurts of white was the moist carpet and air.

Leaning closer, I inspect the mushrooms closely, to see if they're edible. Since I hike a lot, I'm familiar with plant and fungal life, but I don't recognize these. Even if they were remotely edible, I wouldn't risk getting some disease from the dirty carpet, moistened only by what could only be corrosive water.

After going through a few more hallways and rooms, I end up in one which is slightly less large than the one I had found the chair in. Three pillars hold up the ceiling in random spots, and under one of them, lays a navy blue colored backpack. In hopes of finally finding food or water, I immediately start rushing over to the pack, when suddenly, I hear something to my left, which makes my heart drop. A sound which could only be described as a horrible, inhumane howl.