Lucien

Chapter 14

When I woke up again, I was in a hospital bed, but something was off. Non of the equipment was plugged in, and the room was very dark, lit only by the dim flickering lights on various parts of the walls. The place seemed abandoned, and the walls were decaying and covered in mould. What stood out the most, was the fact that there was a strong putrid smell in the room, almost as if something was decomposing. I got out of the bed, and started looking around. As I stepped out into the hallway, I noticed that the place was empty. Definitely abandoned. It was like nobody had been here for years, and the state of the building had deteriorated to the point where it couldn't be salvaged.

After a few minutes of walking, I realised something: It was a maze. A maze set up in an abandoned hospital with no doors or windows. The ceiling was surprisingly low, and looked like it could collapse at any moment. Still, I continued to wander through the maze, trying to find an exit. Then, the walls began to shift. The maze was rearranging itself. I waited for the walls to stop moving, and then started to explore again. Suddenly, I heard a loud noise above me. Looking up, I realised the ceiling was cracking. I started to run, as I knew the ceiling would most likely collapse, and I would be crushed under it. I kept looking behind me, soon realising that it seemed as if the crack was following me. I kept running, but ended up at a dead end. I don't know what I was trying to achieve by this, but I jumped, somehow going through the ceiling and ending up on the second floor. It was almost identical to the first floor, only a lot darker, and it smelt a lot worse. It was almost as if somebody had died here, and their body was left to rot.

Bloody footsteps started appearing on the ceiling, almost as if somebody was walking there, and disappearing behind them. Then, the entire ceiling became covered in blood, and it began  dripping down the walls. The walls seemed to get more and more rotten with each passing second, and the smell got worse and worse. I walked around the maze for what felt like hours, and finally found an exit. I ran towards it, but it disappeared. Then, a ghostly laugh echoed throughout the maze. Then, I heard a voice:

"There's no escape, Crystal..."

It sounded like Lucien, but at the same time it didn't. This voice was more feminine. But how... How does it know my name...?

"I know where you are..."

I started freaking out, as the ceiling began to crack above me. A dark shadow appeared in front of me, my own shadow, but something was wrong. It wasn't moving with me. I knew something wasn't right. Red glowing eyes appeared on the shadow's face, along with an evil smile. Then, I heard Lucien's voice:

"I am a reflection of your deepest fears.... I serve to torment you...... To bend reality into your worst nightmares..."

The shadow creepily tilted its head to the side, and its smile got unnaturally wide. It reached its hand out from the wall, gripped my leg, and began dragging me towards the wall. I desperately clawed at the floor in an attempt to get away from it, but it was all in vein. I saw Lucien, watching me and smiling that sinister smirk of his, as I got dragged into the wall by my own shadow...

I woke up in a cold sweat, my heart racing. I frantically looked around, only to find myself in my own bed. I slowly began to calm down, but his words still echoed through my mind. "I am a reflection of your deepest fears.... I serve to torment you...... To bend reality into your worst nightmares..."