Alexia prods her tattered old clothes disapprovingly. Everyone else in the room, so seven people, all stare at her, hoping she doesn't do anything drastic. I can't tear my eyes away from her. She looks somber and completely different from the defiant girl I met on my third day in 'the room'. She is a different person, we all are.
Everyone looks weak and tired from the lack of food. Someone goes and checks the underground warehouse every ten minutes to see if, by some abstract miracle, the food has appeared. I guess that's what we all need now. A miracle. I just want to go home, wherever that is, and hug my family, if I even have one. I just want a stupid miracle.
Alexia jumps up and we all flinch. A chain reaction begins as everyone leaps up one by one, effectively making a very suspense filled Mexican wave. Being at the beginning allows me to stare at the row of heads popping up from their uncomfortable seating arrangements that Samantha - being the most obsessive of us all - organised. Alexia looks at me quietly. Small crystal blue diamond-like tears well up in her eyes and she breaks down in front of me. I don't know what to do to comfort her so I stand with Eric in the middle of the row of kids. Samantha and Astra comfort Alexia and push the others away calmly. I feel bad for not comforting my friend b I am on the verge of a break down as well so I try and stay out of it.
Darren and Laya murmur in hushed voices behind us and Maggie watches Astra and Samantha expertly handle Alexia. I stare at the commotion unfolding before us and I find myself drawn to the different ways of handling Alexia and the food shortage.
Samantha has effectively become our leader, she cares for us and organises us so that we don't go mad. Astra has become withdrawn but quick to help out. Being left alone with her thoughts has made her desperate for some distraction. Laya and Darren have both begun yapping like chihuahua and constantly speaking every little thing on their minds, they dread the silence. Maggie and me are both observers. We watch the others attentively and pickup on every little thing. We're very similar really, we have the same line of thought and the same ways to pass the time. Eric however has become questioning. He questions every hurdle and every pebble as if it were a nuclear bomb about to explode.
Eric taps my shoulder wearily. I look at him but he isn't looking at me, he's staring at the walls. I follow his gaze to the blank white wall from which the light of the room seems to be strongest. It takes me a while to realise what he is so intrigued about but then I see it. A darkening and flickering like a failing bulb. The rooms light is slowly fading, the invisible bulb a flickering and dancing naked flame. The darkness in never good. It kills people. It destroys them and corrupts them. I don't want to be like the creature that possessed me. I don't want to be so vengeful and angry.
The darkness creeps up on us silently and pounces playfully, teasing and mocking us. It overwhelms us and all we can do is stand quietly and listen for any sounds. Footsteps slap across the floor but still no one moves. My breaths are loud, too loud. My heart thumps rabidly. I cannot hide the noise and it clashes in my skull like a earsplitting thunder clap. The noise just makes it beat faster though. The foots steps get louder as they draw closer. I gasp as a slimy chilled ooze drips over me and I can barely choke back my tears. No child should go through this! The creature giggles like a little girl and carries on moving, slowing and tauntingly. The footsteps circle us until they stop to the side of us. To where Alexia is standing. She whimpers and gurgles slightly. I hear a squeaking noise that is followed by a cry from Samantha,
'Alexia!' She screams, her voice tortured and sick with worry. 'She is gone! I was holding her arm then she was yanked from my grasp!' She whimpers much like Alexia did and all we can do is listen to the emptiness of the room.
The footsteps start up again but I can tell it is Samantha and Astra, searching for the threat in the darkness. They fumble in the dark stupidly, searching for the creature but grabbing one of us every time. We wait and listen until two minutes have passed. I sit down on the floor and sigh, my leg muscles aching from lack of activity. I didn't know that it was possible but it seems to be happening right now.
The light flashes and turns off again. It flickers one or twice then hums. The lights click and remain on for the foreseeable future. We examine the room and my eyes locate Laya, lying on the floor paralysed, her face paper white. I begin wondering whether the entity that stalked us had got her when I hear a ripple of screams emanating from Maggie.
I rush over to the small crowd of bystanders and follow their line of sight. I search around the area where everyone is looking but I see nothing. Eric walks up beside and that is when I see it. Alexia is hanging from the ceiling, her skin an off colour. She looks partially bloated and wet sticky blood covers her clothes. I allow my eyes to wander freely up to her face and take in the grotesque sight of her bloody mouth. She has her mouth up hung open in a infinite scream and the blood from her mouth is fresh and dripping down her cheek. Eric notices Alexia's body and pulls me away, dragging me by the arm. He stops me from seeing the mangled body of our deceased friend but it is too late. I have already seen what happened to Alexia.
The others try to look away as they take Alexia down from the ceiling but it is hard to miss her. Her beautiful glossy brown hair is matted and coated in a thick layer of sweat from her obvious struggle. There are so many things I want to tell her and ask her but it's too late. It's kind of funny really. Not laughing funny but odd funny. Jason was petrified of water and he drowned. Alexia was scared of heights and some malevolent force stuck her head through a noose. Their deaths match their fears.
A locked door in my brain unlocks itself and creaks open. A rush of knowledge and fright washes over me. So many contained secrets come streaming back and I take note of each and every one. I am about to tell the others what I have learnt when a last thought creeps through my mind. If the room kills through your fears then how will it kill me?
YOU ARE READING
Room 93 (FIRST DRAFT)
Mystery / Thriller'Mr. Moore, what would you do if I told you that I spent one month trapped in a room with nine people. Out of those nine people two made it back.' When journalist Harry Newman interviews a 57 year Elizabeth Moore he gets more than he expected. Whils...
