Midnight One Shots

Story 22 - How I got here.

Me, my friends and a few of their friends started to get excited. We knew we were meant to stay with the group but, curiosity was running around inside us, almost like it was in our blood to have this rather small adventure. We had just passed a sign that said in big, bold letters "NUMBERED AND STAFF ONLY". None of us were numbered and obviously we weren't staff, I meant we aren't thin, little, skeletal men in white lab coats like all of the staff we had seen beforehand. Nah, we had meat on our bones compared to those invertebrate!

Carefully and as quietly as we could we stomped our way down the hallway, the only sound heard was of my mates laughing echoing through the room. This hallway was slightly different compared to the rest we had been in. There was a soft green haze that emitted through the tiles on the walls and with each door we passed the lights would flicker or dim slightly, just like a horror movie!

Me and the boys were just messing about, rather loudly now that I think about it, when a guy in a lab coat shouted in our direction. He was too far away to look at his face but, that didn't matter anyway. We all dove in different rooms and directions, it would have made sense if we had just stuck together because then the guy could have just leaded us out and it really would have been a small adventure. But no. We split like the idiots we were. I was closest to a room labelled "024680" I remember questioning it for a second but, in a panic anywhere to hide was better than nothing. I quickly gave the door a quick push but, it didn't budge. All of the rest of the guys were gone now and the staff member started to walk closer. I shoved at the door this time, still quick and sharp but, more forceful. It still didn't move. The man was even closer now. He started to speak rather slowly, like he was trying to calm an animal down or something. "Now. Now. Kid. Let's. Not. Be. Harsh." His voice started to glitch, what it was glitching in and out of was almost impossible to tell though. I gave the door one last forceful push and a hard kick.

As a consequence the door swung open, my face whacked into the floor and my body flipped forwards. I landed with a hard crack on the floor of the next room. Without hesitation I pushed myself up and turned towards the door which strangely enough was now closed. I took in a deep breath, mainly of relief. The guy doesn't seem to be bothered I'm in here, or at least he hasn't come to get me. I started to trail around the room slowly, studying every table top and floor tile. Most of the tables and floor were covered in white lined paper. Each piece of paper had its own unique, scribbled pencil notes however all pieces of paper I studied had one thing in common, the number 024680. This room unlike the hallway was extremely well lit up and while it was mouldy in all of its corners, it was well looked after. At the end of this rather long room was a metal door, it was a little longer than the door before and probably even harder to open. There words engraved onto the door, they were only in caps and were underlined in what may have been bold a long time ago "NUMBERED ONLY, 024680 ONLY. " I looked the door up and down once more. There was a sign at the top of the door which was unreadable, rust upon the hinges and what seems to be a bolted down doggy door at the bottom. Slowly and cautiously I started too reached for the handle of the door, with all my might I forced down on it.

To my surprise it opened first try and rather quietly too. I stepped into the room making sure the door was left open behind me. This room was completely empty apart from one table the stood in the middle. A pitch black blanket somehow made of a plastic looking material was covering the table. I quickly analysed around me, there was no other way in this place apart from that door... The walls were also just plain white tiles, same as the floor in fact. The only thing in this room that didn't seem to be at least a bulk colour were the tiles on the floor around the table which seemed to have a faint blood orange glow to them. I took another look at the sheet, maybe this wasn't a good idea. Despite, my fears I pulled it off. How did I not realise its shape before?

Upon the table was a girl, alive or not I wasn't quite sure. She was wearing matching underwear it seemed to be slightly too big for her although I tried not to focus too much on that. I stepped a little closer, her chest was slowly moving up and down. 'Thank god, she is breathing...' I thought to myself letting a little sigh out as I did. The girl's skin was stretched tight against her ribs so, they were clearly visible, her arms and legs seemed to be just as skinny as her chest. Along the top rim of her underwear to just pass her navel was badly drawn swirls, maybe tattoos. Like thick, black marker drawn by a 5 year old they lie on her stomach and all up her left arm. They horribly contrasted with her pale, almost white skin which seemed to stay all over her body apart from a few lines where the skin faded from its pale colour into a pink then a brilliant dark red scab, then pink and back to pale. In other areas her skin had been forced together, stretching it even more, with black cotton. A thick red liquid oozed from the pieces of skin trying to be forced together often overwhelming the cotton and making it split. These carried on all the way up her body all the way to stitches making their way at least half way around the bottom of her neck. Every so often the room would start to echo, at first as it was the only sound in the room, I jumped at this but, upon further inspection I realised it was only the poor girl's stomach. I flashed my eyes quickly to the door then back to the girl strapped to the desk. '024680' I whispered to myself. Just underneath her collarbone in what looked like black marker, like her tattoos, were those numbers. A thick grey collar wrapped itself around her neck and looked to be bolted to the table, It wore a sticker with neater handwriting. "024860" I repeated this a little louder this time.

Suddenly the girl's head moved slightly, I jumped back despite knowing she is bolted to the table. Her hair was thin and malnourished just like the rest of her, it was badly cut to her shoulders but, it was hard to tell. It was black like the night's sky and spread in chunks across the table. I took a glance at her face, pale, as expected. Her lips were a soft pink which faded, rather quickly, into a dark purple as black cotton had pulled them shut. These stitches seemed to run from the beginning of her face passed her lips straight to the other side. I pulled my eyes away from her stitches and tried to look for a different way to talk to her. I looked to where her eyes would be. In the place of her eyes was a thick fabric cover that simply said "Please do not feed the ANIMAL."

I scanned over her again there must be a way she can talk to me. I finally decided it was time to say something. "Erm... M-miss... Are y-you- Um... stupid q-question..." From the thin layer of hair two black cat ears flipped out and tilted slightly in my direction. This made me jump so, I decided to step a little further back. Suddenly with no warning the girl started to make noise, she rattled her arms and legs and screeched despite, the stitches and chains holding her down. Without any time to react a slam sounded behind me, louder than the Big Ben at noon. It rang in my ears making my vision swing and fuzz for a moment. When back to reality, the girl was kicking, almost screaming. "M-miss it's alright-" I felt a huge pain radiate through the back of my head, like none I've ever felt before. Then I hit the floor.