The Door

I opened the door, it creaked loudly as it swung open along the hinges. The room was dark except for the small lamp in the middle of the room. The lamp sat in a wooden table along with a folded piece of paper, I walked to it. I reached down slowly and picked up the yellowed note, it read "Can't. Leave." I inspected it more, flipping it to the other side but it was all blank save for those two words. I heard the door shut but the echoes all around me made it impossible to know where it came from. The lamp only illuminated the small table, I couldn't see more than that. The walls were dark and seemingly far away. I heard a strange noise, scratching, scuttling, movement of some kind. I walked towards the lamp so that I could see around me as the noises grew louder. Long, spindly legs moved into the light. The resembled giant black widows legs, but they just kept going. There were no bodies, no abdomens, no eyes, no mouth, just legs. Sharp stabs to my legs brought me to my knees, more made me fall flat on the floor. I coughed up blood, adding to the puddle forming underneath me. The thick warm liquid warmed my skin as I slowly lost conciousness, my vision slowly faded. I felt bliss, serene as the life drained out of me. I watched as another long leg raised above me, and came down through my skull. Then all was dark.

I opened the door, it creaked loudly as it swung open along the hinges...

Original Work by P.H.

Gravity, and Darkness.

My parents had a chunk of land that was about 3 acres in the mountains a few hours away from home. I loved camping and went to our land a lot. I was walking through the forested part of the property and found a large cavern in the ground, I looked down into the hole trying to see what lay inside. It was too dark to see anything, I ran back to the cabin and told my father. He told me we would look at it tomorrow, but I was eager to explore what was inside. I told him that I would go look by myself if he was busy, he said don’t go too far and don’t get stuck or anything. I laughed and said I would be careful and just look around a bit.

I grabbed my small flashlight and walked back to the cavern. I looked at it one last time before pressing the button on the small metal light, shining it into the hole in the ground. It was almost completely void of life and anything but oxygen. A few beetles scurried around, some roots hung from the edges. It went farther than my flashlight would reach, I decided maybe I would crawl in just a bit to see what else there was deeper underground. I ducked and started to crawl down into the dark cavern, doing my best not to obstruct the beam from my flashlight on the ground that my hands were sinking into. My knees hurt from the sharp rocks stabbing their way through the soft dirt beneath me. I crawled until I came to a fork, left or right? I shone the light into them to get a better idea of what was inside.

On the left, the tunnel continued still narrow and small. On the right, I couldn’t see the walls, meaning that this opened up to a cave. I shone my light around the right side more until something shiny caught my eye, I looked hard but couldn’t tell what it was for the life of me. I looked behind me to the mouth of the tunnel I had entered and it was dark, I assumed that it was night time now. It had been late in the evening when I had entered, so it would be dark outside by now. I turned my attention back to the cave and crawled deeper into the large room. I looked for walls but saw nothing around me, just endless darkness save for the hole in the wall where I came from. I looked at the ground, it had a dull sparkle when I shone the light on it. I stepped further, looking for more. I walked for several minutes, not finding anything. This was the largest, darkest place I had ever been. I eventually turned around and made my way back towards the wall where I had come from. I walked for what seemed like an hour but found nothing, not even a wall.

I started to panic, but kept walking. I had to find a wall or a ceiling somewhere, this place couldn’t literally be endless. Nowhere is. I walked for hours, only stopping when my legs couldn’t hold me up any longer. There was no way to tell how long I had been walking around that place, I could have been there days. My flashlight eventually started to flicker, “ No… NO DON’T DO THIS! PLEASE!” I yelled. It was no use. The light flickered out, and I was left in complete darkness. I cried, I was never getting out of here. I threw my light to the ground in anger. I heard a strange cracking noise somewhere in the cave, I couldn’t tell where it came from, the echoes were in every direction. I stood as still as possible trying to figure out what was happening, silence filled in the space all around me. I took a step and heard another crack… it was the floor. The floor was starting to shatter because I had thrown the light. I tried to tread lightly, moving forward into the darkness. More crackling came with each step, until the silence was broken with the loudest one yet. Loud echoes of the sound surrounded me, then the floor beneath me dropped.

At first I couldn’t tell that I was falling, I just felt my body get as light as a feather. I didn’t have to hold my weight up with my legs anymore. I soon felt the air swiftly blowing upwards around me, and I started to tip backwards. I was flailing my arms grasping for anything, but there was nothing. I just kept falling. The darkness made it seem more endless than it already was. I kept falling forever, never stopping. There was no light, nothing to grab, and no ground to fall on. Just an endless falling sensation that lasted forever.

Days, and weeks passed. Even my sleep was filled with dreams of gravity pulling me downwards towards endless nothingness. Sometimes there would be regular dreams, walking in the park, sitting at home, but they all turned into dreams of me hurtling downwards into emptiness. I was alone in this endless tunnel, darkness my only company, no food, no water, just darkness everywhere. I was starving, and had nothing to eat or drink. I wished for anything to satisfy my hunger or thirst, but there was nothing. I accepted this and waited for something to happen, the ground, a ledge, something had to kill me eventually right? A while later a strange phenomenon came to light, I didn’t quite understand why but I welcomed anything that wasn’t darkness. Water started flying up around me, small droplets hitting my skin.

At first I hesitated before drinking them, afraid they would be poisonous. After a while I got so thirsty that I didn’t care whether they would kill me or not, I just kept falling in the darkness anyways. They tasted putrid, slightly like sulfur and metal. I was so thirsty that I didn’t care. That was the only thing in that cavern with me, other than the darkness that encapsulated everything. I almost didn’t notice the droplets because they were the same temperature as everything else, the wind constantly hitting my skin had numbed it as well. I only felt it when it streamed across my face, I wasn’t crying so they couldn’t be tears. I discovered that they were coming from underneath me, falling at a slower pace than I was making it seem like backwards rain. I don’t know how they got there, but they weren’t there long before I was if I ran into them.

I fell more, I fell forever. I never stopped. There was no food so eventually I could feel my muscles being eaten away by my body, trying to keep me alive for as long as possible. The whole world became darkness and water droplets occasionally pelting my body. I lost all sense of direction, I couldn’t tell how long I had been falling in that cave. I wouldn’t last much longer without any food. I lost my hearing from my eardrums being bombarded by wind for what was probably weeks. My senses dulled and eventually were gone altogether. At last, after an eternity of nothing, I fell asleep for the final time. Never to wake from my sleep again, I kept falling forever. Never found by anyone, lost in this dark void forever.

Original work by P.H.

October

Blood everywhere. The entire floor was red, the walls spattered as well. Chunks of human flesh around me, I felt… complete. Warm, thick liquid dripping from my face onto my shirt and into the puddle on the floor. Ripples through the crimson lake covering the floor. Pieces of people floated on the surface. Some sat on the ground, being tall enough to pierce through the surface and be seen above. My reflection looking back at me, grinning sheepishly. White teeth turned pink, navy shirt turned jet black by the red filter of the liquid mirror.

I silently chuckled to myself, causing more ripples throughout the red sea below me. I stepped towards my table, cold, silver and in pristine condition. Then to the tray, my tools glistening beautifully. I kept them all in order, like a professional surgeon would. By now I was basically a professional, all of the experience that I had perfecting my techniques. The blades had become my friends, moving seamlessly, so precise, I had practiced a lot. A person doesn’t get this good at my hobby without putting in many hours of focusing and learning.

I had been stalking them for many months. I saw them at the mall, shopping. They laughed and made light conversation, flashing a smile at something funny that they said. I followed and got closer to them without anyone noticing, they were even more attractive up close. Bright smile, rosy cheeks, kind to the people around them. They were perfect. The best fit for my project, my newest muse.

I moved carefully, being bright and charismatic, kind to them and other people around us. They smiled and made conversation with me, trying to be kind to a nice stranger. I asked to buy them a drink from the food court, some smoothies maybe. They hesitated, “Not supposed to take food from strangers… that could get us in some serious trouble…” I laughed and said alright and backed off. I’ll convince them one way or another. They invited me to stay with them though, not wanting to be rude. I told them I’d hate to intrude, I lied. They said it was alright and included me in their activities at the mall until they started complaining about being hungry, I offered to buy dinner. “Haven’t I earned your trust? I’m not a psycho or anything I promise.” I lifted my hands as if being vulnerable to them, they had no idea and laughed at my comment.

We walked to the food court and I bought them all their burgers and shakes of choice. I walked to get everyone’s trays, and pretended to get straws and napkins while I slipped the pills into their drinks. They would be next, just a few more minutes. They ate, drank, and laughed and by the time they finished their meals they said they were tired and would head home. “So soon? We were having such a good time!” I argued. They said they would talk to me later and got my phone number and walked away. I followed behind them, making sure they didn’t notice of course. I stalked my prey carefully. They had carpooled here so they all got into the same car, by this time the drugs were really affecting them. They all passed out in the seats before even starting the car. Too easy. I got in the car with them when nobody was looking and moved the one in the driver’s seat to the back so that I could drive. I found the key in one of their pockets and started up the car, I’d be back for mine later.

When we arrived at the old farmhouse that I had converted into my workshop, I pulled the car into the garage that was attached by a hallway to the house. I carried all of them to the basement where my tools were, and tied two of them into the metal chairs used for patients in mental hospitals. The third I strapped onto my operating table. This didn’t take long, after all I am an expert. The others squirmed, I had caught about 15 people and chained them to the wall before bringing my new project home. This was going to be fun.

They all slowly woke up, trying to scream through the gags. I laughed, “Good morning, how was your rest?” they tried to scream again. I laughed.” Well I’d love to chat but I’ve got my work cut out for me.” I turned to the table with my tools, and looked at the person on my operating table. I put on my mask, the kind doctors use to keep from breathing onto their patients during surgery. I picked up the bone saw, and started cutting away the limbs. Everyone cried and screamed behind me, it was muffled enough that I didn’t lose my concentration. The blood spilled off of the sides of the metal table, dripping deliciously onto the concrete below. It felt so good to be in control, I had been waiting for this moment forever.

After I had removed all of the limbs, I picked them up and hooked their leg stubs on meat hooks hanging from the ceiling. Then I took my scalpel and cut their jugular, spilling more blood onto the floor. After carving up all 15 of them there was a significant puddle covering almost the entire floor in the small room, a pool filled with blood. I then took their severed limbs and chopped them into small pieces with a butcher knife, flesh, and bone flew everywhere. Splashing in the blood when it fell to the floor, so satisfying. So much blood.

I set my tools down once I was done, and looked around the room. Lifeless, limbless bodies hung from the ceiling. Blood covered the floor. Everything was perfect. I took the pocket knife out of my back pocket, my father had given me this knife before he shot my mother, then himself. I would be seeing him in hell. I opened it, slit my wrists, then my neck. The blood spilled out over my body, warming me like a blanket. My blood swirled and mixed with theirs, we were one. I smiled as my vision dimmed, I could see silhouettes, their bodies around me. Some swayed, like they were dancing in midair. I was barely breathing now, but all I felt was complete satisfaction.

Original Work by P.H.