[OLD] Deep Underground

18. Mechanical Thing

I stood frozen, staring at the pair of eyes in the dark. It felt like the world had come to a standstill. Then the flashbacks started.

My name is Y/N. I'm 23 years old. My life sucks.

I walked up to the building and looked at the bright, obnoxious sign that advertised the establishment.

I grinned lopsidedly, knowing that this would be fun.

I wanted to cry, but I was in too much of a shock.

So you're a murderer, huh?

They crowded around me and only then could I move, but not how I wanted.

I wanted, needed, to figure this out.

I wasn't sure anymore.

Make it stop! I wanted to scream. I couldn't move. Couldn't hear. Couldn't see. I could only watch.

Then chaos broke loose.

"What's your name?"

My eyes widened in horror and fear.

For some reason, my vision blurred and I lost my balance, falling forward.

'Am I going insane?'

'Did you make the right choice?'

For some reason, I had a strange feeling.

Nothing had changed.

Finally, I managed to pull myself out of the torrent of voices. My breathing was heavy, as though I had been running. I frowned. I looked around. The robot that I had seen before was gone.

Hesitantly, I moved back toward the ladder. I kept repeating two words to myself in my head, as though it would block out everything else. I'm fine.

I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine.

I'm fine.

I climbed the ladder again, and pressed my hand against the trapdoor when I was close enough. This time, the trapdoor opened. I scrambled out. The trapdoor shut behind me with a loud bang.

I leaned against a nearby wall, no knowing how much more of this I could take. I shut my eyes taking deep, shaky breaths. First the nightmares. Then the voices. Then the hallucinations. Please no more.

Taking a few more deep breathes, I felt my heartbeat calm. My breathing returned to its  normal pattern. Shaking my head, I opened my eyes. I walked out of the dust filled room, keeping a cautious eye on my surroundings. I made my way back to the entrance of the building.

Walking back into the dusty entrance of the building, I looked around. Nothing seemed like it had changed.

I pretty much sprinted out the front doors.

I'm not scared it's just... you're the one making me do this, right?

Yeah, yeah that's it. Allergic to dust. Definitely.

I got into my car, and just took a moment to sit there, looking at the rundown building. I sighed.

Putting my keys in the ignition, I drove to my house. In the silence. In the dark. Alone with my thoughts. So why did it feel like there was someone next to me?

A ghost?

No.

Just my imagination...

Pulling into my driveway, I parked the car and walked quickly to my house. I went to put my keys in the lock when I realized that the door was already unlocked.

And open.

It was only a small crack but it was clear that the door was ajar. I hoped it had been my fault. That I had forgotten to close the door when I left, and the wind had pushed it open slightly. I cautiously opened the door and walked into the house, before closing my door and locking it.

As I looked around, nothing appeared to be out of place.

I wandered through the rooms of my house. Nothing had been taken or disturbed. Everything was as it should be. Ordinary. Except for me. I thought dryly. I hadn't had a normal life since I had taken up my job.

I wondered if I could quit. It would be so easy to just run away from this madness and eventually forget all about it. I shook my head, as though I were reprimanding myself.

While it would be easy to run, it wouldn't be the right thing to do. Plus, I had a bad feeling that if I tried to run or hide from this, it would pop up later anyways. Better be safe than sorry.

I also couldn't ignore the fact that I was extremely curious now to learn what exactly was going on.

I wandered into my room and put down my bag before plugging my phone in to charge. I was exhausted. Whatever adrenaline I had been running on had finally run out. I turned toward my bed and froze, biting back a scream.

There was a mechanical thing on my bed.

I unconsciously took a step back as I observed it. The thing didn't look like much, only a mess of wires and scrap parts. I frowned. What was it exactly?

I grabbed a random clothing hanger from my closet and slowly leaned forward...

And I poked it.

I jumped back just in case, but the thing didn't move. I waited a few more moments but nothing happened.

Putting the clothing hanger back, I slowly walked up to my bed. The thing still didn't move. I poked it with a finger, leaning away slightly, and when it didn't react I decided it would be safe to examine.

Kneeling next to my bed, I looked at the mess of scrap parts. Oddly, the mess of mechanical pieces reminded me of the innards of an animatronic. There was a piece that looked like it came from an arm and another that looked like it came from the head. But the head didn't have any eyes.

Shrugging, I picked up the mechanical pieces and walked over to my desk, dumping them into a draw that held only a few pens and some sticky notes. Nothing important. I decided that I would examine the mechanical thing again later, but right now I wanted to sleep.

I quickly changed before crawling, exhausted, into the warm comfort of my bed. As I pulled the blankets over me, I frowned. Now that I thought about it, that thing seemed strangely familiar. It was almost as though I had seen it before, somewhere.

Shaking my head, I lay in the dark. My eyes closed and sleep came over me.

But, of course, so did the nightmares.

Sorry for not updating for a while. I've been super busy. Hopefully I'll be able to update a bit more often soon. I've got a lot of stuff going on. Nothing bad, just a lot. :3

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please don't forget to comment! :)

Later MLG Fluffies. :3

~Gamer

Word Count: 1094 words