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Delusional

I told her it was a bad idea. Her bad idea had me suffering. Trapped. Suffocating. Afflicted by the pain and haunted by the memories. What could I do now?

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Now, I was confined to the same four padded walls, left to endure the same monotonous reality for the rest of my life. Held captive by the restraint: the dreaded white jacket. I was a prisoner to my thoughts, the dark depths of solitude and neglect. Why did I listen? Why did I believe?

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Our curiosities had enticed us, deceived us and destroyed us. Adrenaline coursed through my veins as we crept around: tiptoeing down the stairs; past the old caretaker's office and into the school basement. The caretaker had always been peculiar in the way he looked and acted- the thought of him made me shudder.

We stood at the beginning of the corridor, looking into a prolonged, tenebrous passageway that seemed incongruous amongst the rest of the school. Shadows loomed at the mouth of this sequestered beast, ready to be devoured by the darkness that lingered within... little did we know that it was ready to consume fresh souls; it was ravenous and had a desire for flesh. Our flesh.

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A rancid odour bled from the walls, it climbed into my nose and throat, lingering for a moment. My body prickled with horror- like microscopic needles penetrating my flesh- clawing at my insides. I wobbled, trying to stabilise myself. A cloud of charcoal black swam in my eyes. I was paralysed. This time not by fear, but a stronger force I could no longer challenge.

 

An ear-piercing, shrill wail came from behind me... it sounded like Evie, but it wasn’t. It was something far too sinister.

 

I managed to swivel my head enough to see where the scream came from. It was her- but she looked different. Evil. Demonic.

She wailed a second time and this time I felt a wave of nausea surge over me. A turbid, brown liquid gushed out of sockets where her eyes should have been. Mangled flesh hung from her stomach and there were little ravenous white beasts squirming into her, squirming and devouring hunks of gore. Her stomach churned, digesting itself and spitting out chunks of her insides. She was a beast, a monster. Something I could no longer recognise as my friend. She had been taken over- and I was next.

My heart thumped in my throat, willing me to move- but I was trapped.

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A sound, like chains being dragged over gravestones, rattled around me and echoed down the hall. The metallic sound grew increasingly louder and louder until it was unbearable. My brain was a beehive- thoughts buzzed violently around and drowned out all other noise.

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Suddenly, I felt cold. Freezing. My body convulsed as something pressed down on my chest. It felt like a force from within, but it was far too powerful. Crushing ribs, crushing bones, crushing organs- leaving me writhing around. There was nothing I could do. I had no choice but to let it consume me.

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I awoke from the trance of icy darkness to the sound of hushed voices swirling, like a hurricane, around me. I was in a car, on my way to a “safehouse”, as I had been told. I knew what that meant.  Hilden Mental Hospital.

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They didn’t believe me when I told them what I saw- they told me that the school had been abandoned for at least 30 years and that nobody had been inside it since. Of course, I knew that was wrong. I saw it. It consumed me and took my soul.

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As we drove away, I saw a silhouette of a face appear in the shattered glass window. It was her face. A venomous, nefarious smirk, plastered ear to ear. Her eyes, full of deceit and pure evil. Blood shot and cloudy. Murderous and unforgiving. Empty and frozen.  I should’ve known all along. It was her. Evie was a blood-thirsty monster.