(18+) Someone in the dark

Ch. 23: Number 59

The moon was gone, and I stumbled my way down the graveled path like a zombie. All I could see was the colorful haven in front of me. By now the voices were so loud that it felt like a pounding migraine, and the key vibrated so strongly that I had to hold it with both hands to keep it from wiggling out of my weak grip. I just wanted it to stop.

The gravel turned to grass, and the grass turned to soil under my feet, but I didn't really notice. It seemed like I was floating above it. The shed pulsated rhythmically, and for each alluring beat I could hear a squeak in the wood like it was about to burst, and now the bright colors beamed through cracks that got wider by the second. It was like someone had trapped the sun in there, and now it was growing out of its prison.

"Nothing will ever live there."

Carl's words echoed in my head, and I finally realized that he wasn't talking about flowers, but humans. He was talking about lost souls, and now I was about to become one of them. The moment I opened the door, it would be too late. I would be dead in a matter of minutes. I only had to put the key in the locker that danced around and tried to tear itself loose from the hooks on the old double door. It would be a tremendous relief to get away from everything representing The Silver Fox Mansion. But would it, really? Something told me that wasn't true. That it was an illusion from something that, in reality, was a transition into eternal suffering.

But there was no going back. The house spoke loud and clear. So did the portrait and all the framed pictures of dead people. And whatever was trapped within the four walls of the tiny building in front of me was knocking on the walls and screaming for me to open up. Sounds of nails breaking from clawing at the wooden planks were both disgusting and alluring, and the colors beaming through them were so strong I got blinded.

The key had gone from vibrating to literally rattling in my palm like it was an angry snake, and it got worse the closer I got to the lock. I knew I shouldn't, but how could I not? There wasn't a thing on earth that told me not to do it.

Michael... He told me to stay away. He told me to never go there. But it was too late. I was already at the gates of hell.

I tried to turn away from the shed, but they immediately drew my eyes back. The voices had cast a spell on me and were reeling me in, persuading me with a crumbling noise similar to maggots feasting on a dead body. I could already smell the decay and rot, the scent of death, and instead of running in the opposite direction, I had an intense need to become like them. I wanted to be trapped like them, even if it meant that I would suffer in painful endlessness as long as I got away from the house and its life shattering power. I was doomed.

I love you, mom. I love you, Michael. Goodbye. Don't miss me.

I didn't even have the strength to say the words out loud. I had to use all my energy to lift the key and aim it at the lock.

"You're the next in line. You're the next in line. You're the next in line."

I'm coming.

However, unlocking the doors became an impossible task. But just as I was about to give up, some external force sucked the key inside the lock and was about to turn when something stopped it. Then I thought I heard something. Unfortunately, it was so far away that it drowned in the constant chanting from the dead, and my arm was so heavy that when I lifted it to turn the key properly, it felt like someone tried to rip it apart from the rest of my body. I whimpered in pain but did it, anyway. And when the doors finally opened, I was blinded by a heavenly flood of colors. I was home.

Arms were reaching out for me and made me feel welcomed. Then they turned into long, slimy tentacles that wanted to drag me inside and consume me, and the urge to flee flashed across my mind like someone took a picture. Then it was gone again. I shut my eyes to prepare myself for the inevitable, but the colors were inside my eyelids and filled everything that now was just a shell left of my previous human body.

I took a step forward. Then another one. I almost tripped, but a tentacle reached out, strangely helpful to save me from falling. Somehow I knew it was Carl, and when I looked around, I saw a figure looking like Leo standing like a soldier surrounded by light that changed color for each time I blinked. Everywhere I turned, I saw faces I recognized from the pictures in the REDRUM. There were no smiles. Only gaping mouths, as if they were calling for help. There were no eyes. Only empty, black holes.

I knew I was number fifty-nine, but there were way over fifty-eight in here. At least over a hundred, and I couldn't quite grasp how all of them fit inside a tiny shed. Being in here was like an entirely new world, and I didn't know if I should be relieved or scared, thinking that this was the place I would stay for eternity. But I didn't really have a choice. I couldn't fight anymore, so eventually, I took my final breath and let myself float into nothingness. The last thing I registered was the enormous beam of light that reached up and beyond the skies the moment I closed my eyes.

Then I was gone.