The rest of the floor seems empty. I make it to the flight of stair that leads to the next floor quickly. I crouch down and slowly walk up then on all fours, not wanting to be obvious in case something, or someone, awaits me.
I poke my head up cautiously when I reach the top. There's nothing there.
The fact that I'm alone makes this place even eerier than it was before. Every creak makes me jump. The cold breeze from the smashed windows turns my skin to ice. I'm hesitant as I tip-toe down the halls, trying my best not to make a sound. There's appears to be no one on this floor, but a gut feeling tells me otherwise. I eye off the handles of every door that I pass, expectantly waiting for them to turn.
Footsteps behind me make me freeze. I turn around, and am met with a pale, sunken face at the end of the hall. His long, matted hair drapes the sides of his thin face. His sunken cheekbones are barely hidden by unkempt facial hair. His eyes, dark and bulging out of his sunken eye sockets, stare at me intensely. He lifts his bony hand, and motions with a thin finger for me to come closer. I turn and run the other way.
I can hear manic moaning as he runs after me. I wish the halls were longer as I try to keep a safe distance from him. I'm almost at the stairs, when I trip on an untied shoelace. There's enough distance between us that he can't catch me yet, but not enough for me to run ahead of him fast enough. I see a door open to my left, and run inside. The lights are on, so I can see it's empty. I quickly lock the door and push filling cabinet in front of it, hoping it will make a difference.
I walk over to the window opposite to the door. Looking out, it appears to be too high up to jump from. I look around for something to make a rope out of, but fail to find anything. I look out the window again, but regret it immediately. Yellow eyes from a distorted figure look up at me below. An open mouthed reveals sharpened teeth.
'What the fuck is that.' I think as I quickly move away from the window and sit down, trying to hide myself. Some of the patients here are more grotesque than I could have ever imagined.
I look towards the door, glad that the man from outside didn't bother trying to get in. I look back at the window, as wish I could say the same for the thing outside when I see yellow teeth and a monstrous grin. I rise to be feet, keeping eye contact with it the entire time. It mockingly tilts its head to the side, and begins tapping on the window. At first I think it's just patronising me. But that quickly changes when the glass under its claw-like nail begins to crack. I walk backwards towards the door, hoping I have time to move the filing cabinet and unlock it. But I don't.
The glass shatters in front of me. The creature crawls in, moving on all fours. I look around for a weapon, but have nothing. Instead I shove the filing cabinet out the way and turn my back to unlock the door. I'm surprised that I could unlock it so easily without shaking. I turn the door handle, and feel something lunge onto my back. Claws dig into my shoulders as I throw myself out the door and onto the floor. It detaches itself as I roll onto the floor. I end up on the other side of the hall, sitting there with it looking back at me. It lifts an arm up and places it in front of itself. And then does the same with the other one. I realise it's moving towards me when it raises its legs. I look to my right, and see the stairs to the roof not far from me. The only problem is that the creature blocks my path.
I push my back against the wall behind me. Seeing as it's body is flattened when on all fours, the humanoid creature is barely up to my knees. Which will hopefully make it easy to jump over.
(A/N: So imagine the shoulder and hip joints don't bend down how they would if a person was crawling. Instead, they go outwards. Basically its arms and legs only really bend at the elbows and knees.)
I stand up straight and take a step back. I decide that jumping off the wall would give me a better chance of jumping over this thing. I take a deep breath, step away from the wall, and run.
It raises itself to grab me, but can't lift itself up enough to do so. I land as steadily as I can and immediately take off running towards the stairs. I'm almost there, when it jumps and grabs my right ankle. It drags me down pulls me closer to it, its heavily breathing getting louder and louder until I can feel its hot breath on my face as yellow eyes look down at me. I close my eyes, expecting the end.
I can feel it lift an arm, and expect to feel the ending blow. But instead a horrendous shriek fills my ears as the creature is heaved off of me. I gasp and keep my eyes closed, not wanting to see what is happening. The screams echo through the hall for what seems like hours. When they finally end, I open my eyes.
And see Jongin.
I shuffle backwards until my back is against the end of the stairs. I stand up as I see him coming towards me. I go to run, but he teleports in front of me.
"Natalie." He purrs, looking down at me. I turn my head when he gets to close, but that doesn't stop him. Instead he leans to my ear. "I was wondering where you had gone off to. You didn't try to run away from us, did you?" I weakly shake my head. I try not to be frightened, but it's no use. I am afraid of him.
"You know what I asked for last time I saved you, right?" He says, harshly forcing a hand under my shirt. "I wonder what I should have this time."
"Natalie." I hear from beside us. I look to my left, and see Chen staring at us, wide-eyed. "Chen." Jongin gasps, quickly moving away from me. "This isn't what it looks like."
"Save it." Chen huffs, turning away and marching up the stairs. "Chen!" I call, and run after him.
The cold air hits me immediately as I step outside. The others are already there, but they don't seem to be affected by the cold. They all look as I follow Chen storming out.
"Chen, please." He stands on the edge of the roof, looking down below. "It wasn't my fault." I say, reaching out to touch his arm.
"I know about what you two did." He says, turning and glaring at me with a piercing gaze. "I didn't want it." I state.
"Oh, you didn't want it?!" He snaps, grabbing me by my arms and getting in my face. "Do you really think I'm going to believe that? I've seen how you look at each other. I've also seen how close you are to Luhan."
"Chen, calm down." Luhan tries to intervene after hearing his name. "Shut up!" Chen snaps at him, sending a lighting strike to land in front of his feet.
"I've had enough of you thinking you can play me." He huffs at me. He turns around, still gripping my arms. My feet are now barely on the edge of the building. "You've just been wanting a way out of here, haven't you? Well, how's this for a way out."
He lets go of my arms, and I begin to fall. I try to grab onto him, but it's too late. The world around my begins to blur as the cold air rushes past me.
The expression on Chen's face as he realises what he's done is the last thing I see as my body hits the ground and I close my eyes one last time.
