Devil's Gateway

Chapter Four

Weightlessness, a feeling I had experienced only on amusement park rides, washed over my body like the crimson waves below me. An electrical current enveloped me, sending sparks along my skin. Every hair on my body stood on edge as the sea below me became nothing more than a red sliver.  

The scent of rust lingered in my nostrils. The taste remaining on my tongue like an unwanted guest for the holidays. My limbs felt immobilized by the drying blood, forming a mold of my body—clothing and all.

How long have I been floating? How long have I been in this house? What the hell is this place?

As if my thoughts were the wrong password, the electricity around me fizzled out like the carbonation of a soda can. My ascent reached a crescendo before the pressure of gravity found me. My heart left my body as I plummeted.

Thud.

I wasn't dead. Something soft had lessened the blow. Peeking one eye open, I found myself staring up at a black ceiling. To the left stood a tall, grey wall—to the right, the same. Peering downwards, I found the object I had landed on. An old, stained mattress with springs sticking out of it lay on a black box spring. A foul smell came from the bed. I upturned my nose in disgust. The rancid scent of vomit seemed to radiate from the seams. I darted from the bed, not wanting to smell the nauseating scent any longer. A brown imprint of where my body had been, joined the multitude of stains.

Looking around the room, I found nothing but monotonous walls. No doors or windows to offer me an escape from this torment. Freedom was a song I was yet to hear. A sweet, forbidden melody I could no longer experience.

"Hello?" I called out. My voice bounced off the wall and floor, making it sound like the room was full of people. "I believe now! Is that what you want to hear? Please, just let me go! My wife is probably worried sick!"

The sound of nails on a chalkboard turned my blood to ice. The walls around me converged, creeping inward towards my location. I turned around, praying that the back wall was still in place. Just like the others, it moved inward. The bed that I had landed on had vanished.

The ground beneath me rumbled, leading me to lose my balance. I fell hard on the shaking floor. Glancing upwards, the ceiling seemed to be coming closer.

"What do you want from me?" I didn't recognize the voice that passed my lips. The echo sounding like a wail of an injured animal.

No answer replied. My instructional blue ghost seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth, leaving me alone to fend for myself.

What the hell was I supposed to do?

The walls inched closer.

My heart seemed to match the scraping of the metal against the flooring. One continuous rhythm of rapid beats. My breath quickened in pace as a heavy pressure settled on my chest.  My breath became gasps for air as the pressure compressed my lungs.

The walls were now at an arm's length. The sleek metal feeling cool against my skin.

I always thought I would die with Allison by my side. I did not picture my death alone and trapped in a steel grave.

Breath eluded me. My head felt light, and the room around me spun. Bile bubbled in my throat, threatening to erupt like a volcano at any given second.

The ceiling neared my head. In seconds, I would look nothing more than a pile of blood and bone. 

I closed my eyes. There was no way out. I'd be dead in seconds.

The weight of the walls started out as a pressure on my arms and scalp, but quickly turned into a painful feeling.

I'm so sorry Allison. I failed you.