Stairs

Lukas

The plaque reads 'stairwell three, to basement, bottom floor'. He stops. To the bottom floor? Isn't he on the ground floor? He waits for a moment to feel the soft breeze and hear the rustle of the dust and cobwebs. No wind comes. The only thing he hears is a faint scream and then an even fainter gurgling sound. His heart rate quickens and he looks around frantically. All he finds is a small cracked frame on the wall, and it looks like a map. He walks over to the dilapidated parchment and can barely make out the floor numbers and a small 'X' that marks, 'you are here'. It is next to basement twelve. He stops and just stares at it, disbelieving. How has he walked so far? It barely feels like he walked a few steps, much less twelve whole flights of stairs. As he stands there he hears a soft creak from the floor above, and a Finnish accent whisper his name.

"Lukas," it whispers. Recognizing the voice, Lukas runs upstairs to the next floor and hurries to exactly where he heard the sound. Surprisingly it's easy to find. It's almost as if he remembers being there before. No, that's impossible. He may have walked through here but no way on earth could he remember the way that well. Lukas hears the voice again, this time whispering a few other words he can't make out. He follows it, a rank, rotting scent emerging along with the voice. As he comes upon the spot where he remembers hearing it, the smell grows stronger and he has to cover his nose. Lukas nearly vomits at the sight around the corner, but instead screams, and has to look away for a long while before looking back, the scene already seared into his mind.