Hailey & The NoEnd House

Room 3

     As soon as I entered Room 3, It was obvious something was different. There was nothing here. There were no surprises, no robot zombies, no fog machines, there wasn't even sheet ghost.

      It was . . . normal.

      And that wasn't normal for a haunted house.

     The room was about the size of my living room at home. Bigger than average, but not huge. The room had wood panel floors and burgundy colored walls. The only pieces of furniture in there was a sad, little wooden chair in the center of the room and a dim lamp in the far corner. It was a pretty weird setup. Was this a break room or something? If so, it was a pretty lame one. But no. The door behind me clearly said Room 3.

     So what was going on?

     I got nervous. I failed to see what was so intimidating about this room, and that actually scared me even more. I was terrified that something would pop out of nowhere. That was what I always hated about haunted houses. When someone popped out of nowhere and started chasing me. Popping out of nowhere was enough to give me a heart attack, but chasing me is just cruel.

      I'm getting off topic. I do that a lot when I'm scared. I start making no sense. Sorry.

     I was just really confused. Was there an assignment I had to do or something? The Room 4 door was right across the room but, if I went to it now, would it be locked? Was there a key hidden somewhere? Or did they expect me to sit in that chair? It was in the very center of the room, after all. What the hell was so special about this chair?

      There were so many unanswered questions and it stressed me out. I had no desire to stay in this room any longer than I had to. I felt like I was in danger. The slight tugging feeling I felt earlier was now evolving into a full on panic. There was a huge knot in my stomach and I felt weak. Somehing bad was gonna happen, but I didn't know what. I would've ran, but I was too scared to move. Plus, the silence was driving me crazy. It reminded me of how alone I was in here. At least there had been music in Room 2. Maybe if Marcus or even Tommy had came along, I would be a little less scared.

     I looked around, nervously. I wanted to just run to Room 4, but my heart was racing too fast already so, that might not be the best idea. I was pathetic. Nothing had even happened yet and I was already terrified. But I didn't care. I'd had enough of this.

     I wanted to leave. Now.

      I turned around and tried to open the door. Forget the money, forget proving Marcus and Tommy wrong, forget everything. All I knew was that something wasn't right in this room and I was leaving.

      But the door wouldn't open.

      Why the hell wouldn't it open? I tugged on it but, It wouldn't budge. I turned the knob both ways, trying to get it open. I tried pulling the door and pushing it.

      Nothing.

      I nearly panicked. Was someone locking the doors as I went along? No, That's impossible. I would have known if I was being followed. Maybe they locked automatically. That could happen, right? I'd never really heard of doors doing that, but I stuck with that conclusion, for my sanity's sake. . .

      Point is, I was stuck here. There was no going back. I'd have to go through. At this point, I was pretty angry at myself for coming in here, in the first place. I just couldn't resist, could I? I just had to prove something. Well that's another stupid decision added to my list. Once I get out of here, I'm seriously gonna have to reevaluate my life. I sighed and faced the room again.

      The lamp gave a very dim light but it was light enough to reach the whole room. The chair let off a pretty long shadow.

      But something had changed while I was distracted. The chair's wasn't the only shadow in the room.

      There were other shadows now and they were all around the room. There were about five of them. There was nothing in the room that could possibly have caused them. They were just . . . there.

      Now I was really scared. They just seemed to trail out from the lamp and rest against the walls. It wasn't natural. They looked like sillouhettes of people in cloaks. They stood perfectly straight and still. I knew that they were all staring at me.

      My heart raced and I stepped away from the walls, not wanting to be near one. I was next to the chair in the center of the room now. They seemed to be waiting for something. I hoped they didn't actually expect me to sit in that chair. I was not gonna participate in any demonic rituals and that's exactly what this looked like!

      Why the hell am I still in here! My mind screamed.

      Room 4 was a short distance away. I could just run. The shadows weren't doing anything now, and I didn't wanna stay long enough for that to change. But would they chase me?

      I looked around one more time. The shadows were still, but I felt like whenever I turned my back on one, it would try to grab me. But I couldn't look at one without another one ending up behind me. So I kept turning and turning, trying to reassure myself that they weren't moving. It was so terrifying that I didn't even realize how ridiculous I looked. So then I looked down at my own feet to avoid meeting the gazes of any shadows. I couldn't see their eyes, but I could feel them on me. And it didn't feel good.  My Converse shoes showed nothing abnormal, but I noticed something else probably even more disturbing than anything else in this room.

      I had no shadow.

      I felt like something valuable had just been taken from me. I started hyperventilating and my heart raced. My eyes widened and I backed away from the spot, looking at it in terror. Where's my shadow, why isn't it there? I thought in a panic. Wait. . . Is it. . . on the wall too!? I didn't bother finding the answer to that question. I'd had enough. I fled to Room 4 without a second thought.