Liminal Spaces - BackroomsSimp

Mono-Yellow Walls

I couldn't see anything except for myself. Everything was jet-black. I felt like I was being chucked around, like a leaf in a storm. I desperately took deep breaths, trying to calm down in this unfamiliar environment. I couldn't think straight; new thoughts stormed into my mind. I sobbed uncontrollably. Out of nowhere, a miniature dot - no bigger than a grain of sand - appeared beneath me. At first, it steadily increased in size, but once it became as big as a tennis ball, it grew rapidly, quickly becoming a colossal world. I braced for impact.

CRASH! I collided with the ground and my body felt like it was a bunch of mush. The tension in my body slowly dissipated, leaving me with a warm, comforting sensation. But my calmness was short-lived though, as a sudden jolt of sound blared into my ears, causing me to recoil in fear.

Around me, were shades of yellow. As my eyes steadily became used to the blinding lights, I surveyed my surroundings. What is this place? Where is everyone? There were sickly-yellow walls, and its faded wallpaper peeled off. The moist carpet below me held some sort of sticky liquid and the fluorescent lights above me seemed to be buzzing and flickering irritably. A quarter of a pillar that stored the same yellow characteristic as everything else stood to the right of me, which didn't look important at all. Three streaks of what indicated to be scratches on the wall creeped me out. Maybe something was here with me.

Mere seconds before, three of my friends and I were wandering down a street when out of nowhere, a blur of bicyclists - uncountable at their speed - zoomed towards us.

In the short moments I had, I glanced at them. One of them seemed to be smoking cigarettes and had tattoos dotted around them. Another had a buzzcut and was drinking a bottle of what I presumed to be alcohol. They acted sketchy.

The last thing I remember before falling was tripping over and sinking through the raw concrete.

Extreme heat latched onto my clothes, and my backside was still damp from the ground. Although it wasn't as bad as the endless void, I still had a sense of worry and confusion. What if those stupid bike riders kidnapped us?! It was the only reasonable explanation.

"Hello!?" I bellowed, "Is anyone here!?"

The air was humid but my tongue felt drier than a desert. A sudden waft of mould and compost shot right up my nose, causing me to gag.

"I know you stupid bikers have trapped me here!" I cried, "Let me out, this isn't funny!"

I had a backpack with me. It was a medium-sized, dark blue one, and I threw it onto the floor to see what I had inside. Luckily, a couple of minutes before I met those rough people, I had strolled to the shop to buy some simple things. I unzipped my bag and scavenged for anything that could help me get out of here. It had the following:

. A can of Dr Pepper

. A packet of the zombie-flavoured Squashies

. A snickers bar

I also had a rope inside, as for a school project, we were doing pulley systems and we had to use homemade things for it. The most useful thing inside was my phone.

"My phone! I need to call someone."

I typed my password and looked at my network. It was on no bars. I still tried to call someone. I rang my best friend, Harry. He didn't answer. I dropped to the floor. There is no way I can escape.

I examined the mono-yellow walls. Their texture was fuzzy, like velcro, but in some places - where it peeled - felt rock hard. In front of me, was what seemed like an infinite labyrinth of the same boring wallpaper, buzzing lights, and damp carpet. It all looked uniform. Although I had some sort of explanation of how I got here, the one question I didn't know was how do I get out of here? I looked around for anything that could answer that question, but I couldn't find anything but one escape route.

Above me, was a tiled roof, and one of those tiles appeared to be loose. With determination flowing within my veins, I eagerly clambered onto the pillar that was now a couple of feet away from me. I leapt into the air and grasped onto the tile. It came tumbling down and shattered inches away from my feet. I stretched my neck upwards, toward the roof that now had a decently large gap. Inside it, was an attic-like area. Unfortunately, even after many attempts, I couldn't grip my hands onto it. Instead, the tile that I was using to pull myself up tumbled down with me, and I injured my back. I grimaced.

The now recognisable humming above me began to get louder. Moments after, it became deafening, then suddenly silenced. I was hallucinating.

I got up from the floor and decided to start exploring. Nothing changed; everything was identical to the previous rooms, except each one had its unique layout.

As I scanned the room I was currently in, tiredness took over me, causing me to drop onto the floor. I need to get to sleep. The room was probably as big as an ordinary primary school classroom, with one of the walls not tall enough to reach the roof, allowing me to see into the other room. I clambered to the top of the wall and rested. Before I could even think about how perilous this could be, my eyes snapped shut, and I went to sleep.

After what only felt like 30 minutes, I opened my eyes. I was on the floor. My arm felt like it had been shredded. I stared at it. The skin was a bluish shade, and it was badly bruised. I had broken it. Tears shot out of my eyes as I rose from the moist carpet. I limped. I knew this was a bad idea. The next few rooms I staggered through were identical to what I expected. I found myself at a crossroads. The hallway in front of me led to a similar place, except for the fact that all the colours on the carpet, walls and roof were changed to red. The hallway to the left of me led to a door. To the right of me was a T-shaped corridor, and I couldn't identify what was at the end of it, but it seemed like a vent. I concluded that the vent seemed like an interesting place to go.

"Please, God. Let me live if I go through that vent," I prayed, hoping that it wouldn't lead to death.

I trudged towards the vent. I still felt exhausted and my broken arm didn't help me either. As I stood at the entrance of the vent, I made sure that I wouldn't put pressure on my arm. The only reasonable way to do that in my opinion was to go backwards (go in head first but on my back.) I got into position and dragged myself inside. It was extremely claustrophobic inside, but it was quieter, as there were no lights in there. It took me around 30 seconds to get to the end, and I realised that it led to nowhere. I couldn't turn back because of the position I was in, and I began to panic. It started with heavy breathing, then I started to scream. Just as all hope was lost, I felt a drop. This was the only way out. I arranged my body to be able to drop. This could've badly injured me, as I was going to drop into an unknown place head first.

"Come on Josh, You have to do this," I reassured myself.

I crawled backwards. I fell, fell and fell. Instead of a landing that would surely end in me dying, it seemed to steadily slope out, kind of like a slide, cushioning my fall, allowing me to come out uninjured. I stood up and observed my surroundings. My hair was greasy from the carpet slope. Around me was a small room, with a door and a black painted arrow with a smiley face imprinted on the wallpaper. I marched over to it, still astonished that it didn't injure my arm any more than it already was. Before continuing on my journey, I lay down beside the door, anticipating even just 10 minutes of sleep. I closed my eyes, and I dreamt.