Loop 1 Chapter 2
Looking Inside The Closet?!
"That... That was weird," Jacob muttered to himself.
He could hear the familiar sounds of traffic outside, which brought a wry smile to his face. While he could not remember anything, he was not entirely hopeless. He still knew about the PlayStation 5 and automobiles.
"But nothing about closets," Jacob said, and he stepped away from the door with a deep sigh. He still had no idea who Alice was, but something felt... off about her.
He simply stood in the middle of the room for several minutes. His mind worked frantically to remember, but each time his efforts came up short. He knew his name, but not his father''s. He could not even be sure he had a father. Alice had mentioned a job, but for all he knew it had been another joke. His unusual roommate seemed to take nothing seriously.
"Except for closets." The tiptoeing spiders returned as he remembered the... the insanity of her stare. Jacob was not even sure if he had ever met someone with red eyes be-
"Red eyes?" Jacob replayed his entire interaction with Alice, both inside the apartment and at the door. "Red...?"
He was confident that her eyes had been yellow before. Did she... wear colored contacts? Was she some kind of stripper? She certainly had the face for it.
"Just shut up," Jacob sighed, and he realized he was talking to himself a little too much.
With another sigh, he looked up at the apartment around him. There had to be some kind of clue. If he had amnesia... If he had amnesia, should he call an ambulance? Was amnesia a hospital sort of thing?
And his eyes suddenly alighted with excitement. Fireworks went off in his chest as he hurriedly groped his pants pockets.
"Yes!" Jacob exclaimed as he found his cell phone. He had no memory of this particular black cell phone, but it had been in his pocket. He had an entire device full of memories right here.
He quickly turned it on... and felt the fireworks fizzle and die.
"The password..."
Jacob stared blankly at the PIN screen. A morbid chuckle escaped his lips. He tried a random set of numbers, but even muscle memory failed him.
Incorrect PIN number.
He tried another. He tried a third. He tried a fourth, and then his phone locked.
"Come on!" Jacob shouted. It took a supreme force of will to keep from smashing the useless black box against the floor. His phone did not even have a wallpaper.
He bit his lip and looked around the apartment for the hundredth time. A clue. If he lived here, there had to be a clue. He did not know much about amnesia, but wasn''t it often resolved with some sort of... trigger?
Jacob stowed the useless phone back into his pocket and started to walk around the apartment. He moved with the slow trod of a detective and stopped beside the unfamiliar Nintendo Switch.
There was a stack of games beside the console, and while he recognized most of the titles, he had no memory of ever having played them. Most of the games were... childish. He had never seen the appeal of Animal Crossings or Kirby.
"Which means... these belong to Alice?" Jacob wondered aloud.
He hovered over the pile of games and then turned his attention elsewhere.
A small kitchen revealed itself in the other room. There did not seem to be countertop enough for two, though much of the space was empty. It did not look like Alice or Jacob owned a food processor or even a rice cooker.
"I feel like... I like to cook, though," Jacob said as he ran a hand absentmindedly across the speckled counter. He opened drawers at random. Nothing jumped out at him. There certainly were no family portraits hidden away beneath the sink.
He opened the cabinets one by one, but many were empty. He turned towards a white fridge that hummed contentedly in a corner of the cramped kitchen.
The freezer was full of ice, but not ice cubes. A small wintery wonderland had spread throughout in neglect. There was not even room enough for a microwavable pizza amidst all the homemade snow and ice.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He closed the freezer and went to open the fridge beneath it...
...but a dizzying warmth spread from his head all the way down to his toes. It felt as if his body was unraveling like a knitted quilt. The floor beneath his feet shook, and he found it hard to breathe.
"Wha... What was that?" Jacob muttered as the unusual sensation fled from his body. He might have fallen over if he had not braced himself against the fridge.
His left hand trembled uncontrollably.
"Maybe... Maybe I do need an ambulance..." Jacob muttered aloud. His eyes locked onto the fridge''s handle, and another lance of... of fear shook his body.
He was afraid. It made no sense, but he was afraid of opening the fridge. He could not remember why, but something deep inside his head was telling him don''t.
"This is... What is going on today...?" Jacob wondered. His left hand was still trembling as he reached out and grabbed the handle. It was just a fridge. What was he afraid of?
He pulled open the fridge door and a dull light flickered on. Jacob held his breath as he stared, wide-eyed, into an empty refrigerator.
Almost empty. Tucked away on the bottommost row was a large plastic bag. It was sopping wet, though who knew from what.
"Terrifying," Jacob muttered to himself, and he closed the door with a frown.
Because there was no food in the kitchen.
He had checked all the drawers and cupboards. He had checked the freezer and frightful fridge, but there was no food in the house. There were not even ingredients. Jacob was not looking for lunch, but it still struck him as... odd.
"Is this... really my apartment?" The spiders returned as he began to wonder if Alice had been lying to him. For one, Jacob did not like to drink. He could not imagine-
...thunk...
Jacob''s introspection was interrupted by a distant noise. His head jerked in its direction, but several cupboards and a wall stood in his way.
...thuuunk...
Jacob opened his mouth, but no words escaped his throat. He had heard the noise a second time. It almost sounded like someone with heavy boots stomping their feet.
He poked his head out of the kitchen and stared down a long hallway.
...thuuuuuunk...
"H-hello?" Jacob called out. He strained his ears, but not even a mouse stirred.
A horrible silence followed his shout. Whatever had been making the noises seemed to stop. Or whoever? Jacob could not have explained it, but there had been an... an intelligence to the thumping. It had not sounded random.
Jacob stepped into the hallway. The lights were not on, but the sun''s brilliant smile filled the way. There were three doors on either side of the way... and a closet.
"Hello?" His eyes jumped between the three doors and then back to the closet. Several coats were hanging on a peg attached to its door. Just like Alice had said.
Nobody answered.
Jacob suddenly realized that one of the doors could have led to his bedroom. He had sort of lost track of his mission, but clues. His bedroom would have to have clues. If this was amnesia, he needed something to jumpstart his memory. Wasn''t that how it worked in the movies?
He began down the hallway. His eyes glanced absentmindedly at the three doors, but his stare always returned to the closet. Somehow he knew the thumping had come from inside.
A bathroom revealed itself behind the first door. He flipped on the lights but did not step inside. He was fairly certain brushing his teeth with a familiar toothbrush would not banish his amnesia.
The second door was locked. Something inside smelled... sweet, however. The odor bled through the door and for whatever reason brought Alice''s mesmerizing stare to mind.
Across from what could have been Alice''s bedroom was the third door. He reached out for its handle.
...THUNK...
Jacob jumped in surprise as a loud noise practically exploded from within the closet. He half expected the entire apartment to shake.
"Hello?!" His breathing was heavy as he stared, wide-eyed, at the closet. "Is anyone... in there?"
And a mad thought flickered through his mind. What if Alice had kidnapped someone and stuck them inside the closet? What if she had kidnapped Jacob? What if his memory loss was actually just his being drugged? Didn''t that happen with some serial killer back in the ''70s?
"Hello?! Are you..." Jacob bit his lip. "Is there anyone there!?"
He did not care about clues anymore. He needed to get out of this apartment. Something was wrong.
But before that, he had to check the closet.
"I''m... I''m opening the door!" Jacob said as he approached the white door. It was covered in coats, though none looked like anything he would have worn.
He kicked the door with his foot. Nothing happened. He held his breath and listened, but there was nothing to hear.
Jacob reached out and grabbed the doorknob. He turned it and pulled...
"Ugh!"
Jacob had not opened the closet more than an inch, but he immediately recoiled. The smell of rancid garbage slid out from behind the door like a brood of venomous vipers. They filled his nostrils with disease, and Jacob had to take another step back.
"What is- " Jacob began, but he never finished the thought.
The horrible smell vanished from his mind. His amnesia vanished from his mind. All sane thoughts fled from his mind as he felt something puuuush through his back like a surgeon''s scalpel. He felt the blade scrape against bone as it pushed deeper and deeper into the cage of his flesh. He could not breathe. He could not scream. He watched mindlessly as a crimson hand eruuuupted out from his chest in a visceral shower of red wet.
"Naughty, naughty."
Every thought was misery. He scarcely even heard the voice that whispered behind his ear.
"I thought I told you not to open the closet."
The crimson hand slid back inside his chest, and he collapsed onto the floor. Tears muddied his face, but he could make out a woman standing over him. She had long black hair and impossibly red eyes.
"But I''m not upset!" Wet hands wrapped around his throat as the hallway grew darker and darker. "I could never be upset with..."
Loop 1
Result: Failure
Reason: Curiosity killed the cat