《Alice In Hell》 Chapter 1. Al. Ou. Ne. Click, the tapping of heels on hot concrete. Chit, the chattering of crowds at a red lit crosswalk. Beep, the honking of an expensive car driving just a little too fast, not too too fast but fast enough to warrant a reaction from gawkers. Tap, the clicking of shoes of those who saw that the crosswalk was safe to travel without the little green man telling us so. That little green man knows nothing of schedules. Stupid little green man. Whistle, the wind between skyscrapers simulating what my ancestors would¡¯ve heard in the mountains, most likely to be prayed to. Then. Nothing, the nothingness is full of empty. Floating, the feeling of weightlessness. Mindless, the synapses struggling to find a purpose. A rooftop. When did I get onto a rooftop? The concrete below me seems freshly made as if it had just been set. A freshly set rooftop. The sky is nothing but black, not like a nighttime black but a ¡®I¡¯m closing my eyes in a dark room¡¯ kind of black. But the roof, the freshly set roof that seems to go into the horizon is fully lit. Unnaturally so. Oh I¡¯m having a psychotic break. At 27, really? I mean I guess there¡¯s no right age for a psychotic break, but I was hoping to at least make it to 30. ¡°Heeelp? Uh, I¡¯m in some sort of psychosis thing! Am I still on the cross walk? Hello?!¡± Maybe I collapsed? The rooftop is completely flat besides some edges with rails and concrete blocks that most likely hold entrances to stairways. If I collapsed I guess there¡¯s no reason not to check out what my melting subconscious mind scrambled up for me. I walk over to a spot that has guard rails and look down through the square hole, it must be a perfect 20 by 20-meter hole, windows on the side of the buildings going all the way down, along with balconies that look unlived in, my balconies always had clothes hanging off the sides, this place must have a rough landlord. Looks to be an apartment complex. I feel the call of the void looking down for this long but decide to not kill myself just yet, maybe later. I continue walking, these square pits are pretty common, sometimes placed together making a 40 by 20-meter hole, the guard rails are simple metal pole fences. It all feels very general and recognisable, must be my brain remembering some rooftop I was on. I walk to one of the small stairway entrance rooms, this was the only thing that made the horizon interesting to look at, they are placed at long distances from each other but overpower the scenery with its blockiness. They are brutalist concrete blocks with a silver door attached to it, like a cube. There¡¯s a yellow strip on the door with black text saying ¡®STAIR.¡¯ Thanks door. I try opening it but alas to my wrists disappointment, it¡¯s locked. Of course it is, I¡¯m Miss boring from boring town, mayor of boring city. I¡¯d obviously conjure a mind door that has no purpose. I get bored and sit down against the concrete block, my business formal dress doing very little to make the concrete more appealing as a seat. I¡¯m tired. ¡°Helllooooo!¡± I¡¯m really doing all the cliches today, now I¡¯m a yelling crazy person. I always thought I¡¯d be one of the crazy people who¡¯d laugh not scream. From the distance I hear, ¡°helllooooo.¡± It¡¯s uncomfortably close but has the reverberations of something far, directly going into my ear. An echo? ¡°Hey? Is anyone there?!¡± I stand up, please don¡¯t let this be some weird moment I¡¯ll have to talk to my therapist about. ¡°Hey. Is anyone there.¡± I hear from afar, but it is spoken like it is being whispered into my right ear. Like how headphones simulate distance in audio. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m here! Hey, I¡¯m Alice, and you are?¡± I look around not seeing anything or anyone. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m here. Hey, I¡¯m Alice, and you are.¡± The voice doesn¡¯t have the reverberation any longer, its voice is mine pitched up. This is all just psychological stuff with my brain, right? I¡¯m trying to scare myself for some reason, it¡¯s very much working. ¡°I¡¯m. Here.¡± The voice speaks into both ears this time. I¡¯m still leaning against the concrete block, I look to my left and there¡¯s nothing, just the endless expanse of roof, then I look right and see fingers gripping the edges of the block. White white white fingers. ¡°Hey, Alice. You are. Here.¡± It sounds like it¡¯s splicing my words together, and although I clearly see the fingers to the right of me, I hear the voice behind me. I think it¡¯s time to wake up, I close my eyes, hoping to free myself from whatever this is. Back when I¡¯d have nightmares, I had a strategy to wake up, I¡¯d always move my eyes to the back of my head, like upwards, and it would wake me up so easily. ¡°There. There. Alice. Here. You are. Al. Ou. Ne.¡± Okay yeah wake me up, get me out. The voice has taken a sickeningly sweet quality. ¡°What the fuck are you doing!?¡± A smooth voice of a man alongside the harsh grip of my wrist had broken me from my weird daze. I refuse to open my eyes or mouth or ears to take in whatever my brain wants me to see visually. I¡¯m taken aback into a colder climate, aircon? A metal door slams close, footsteps get louder until they stop. Someone is breathing in my face, I still don¡¯t look, ¡°are you broken or something? Helloooo?¡± My face gets poked at, ¡°dying from an echoist sucksss, trust me.¡± I don¡¯t want to open my eyes, I can¡¯t open my eyes. ¡°Okay¡­?¡± I hear a groan, then his hands forcibly opening my eyelids up, I see a man in comfortable baggy clothes, stubble on his face. ¡°There, that wasn¡¯t so hard was it?¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. He smells awful, very very bad. Why can¡¯t I just wake up? The guy in front of me looks me up and down, scanning my frame and features. ¡°You must¡¯ve died in a pretty terrible way to go non verbal¡­¡± he says like I¡¯d understand anything he says at all. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve died plenty of times to know how that goes, you¡¯ll eventually go back to your original state. The ol mind is pretty sturdy.¡± He has brown hair with streaks of lighter blonde, it looks to be cut with a knife seeing as how there¡¯s no layering and some strands stick out like spikes. His face has a long feeling to it, the only decent facial feature being his eyebrows. What am I even doing? Why would I conjure up a man this boring? This has got to be the weirdest dream ever. ¡°Wellll. Okay introductions then, I am jack¡­ uh I¡¯m 27 just like you obviously, I''m not exactly sure anymore how long I''ve been here but it''s been around 30 years? I think?¡± He is 27 but has been here for 30 years. Okay I''m having a fucking stroke. I finally regain my voice, that moment before had actually been the scariest situation in my entire life. Dream or not. ¡°Where... am I?¡± ¡°Ohohoho! You''re new? Like you just arrived?¡± He gives off a childish smile. ¡°¡­Yes?¡± ¡°Well, I cant say I''ve met someone this recent! uh, okay.¡± He bows, ¡°you must be confused miss new person, you''ll enjoy your new home, you''ll love the benefits, fluorescent lights, inedible food, strange creatures. It¡¯s all very macabre with its presentation, you¡¯ll experience hardships, pain, love! After all you¡¯re here forever. Welcome to hell.¡± I stay in silence for a second, oh this guy is just crazy, okay. He claps his hands together, ¡°was that good? I wanted to keep the introduction really memorable, I dunno I just thought that if someone gave me an introduction like that when I first got here id be pumped.¡± He begins to go down the stairs, there''s a white light above us which actually gives shadows unlike on the rooftop, I think this is the stairwell. ¡°What¡­?¡± is all I can get out. ¡°Follow me, I live on the 297th, we¡¯ve mapped it out, we will be fine.¡± He walks down the stairs with a jump in his step, ¡°come on.¡± I gain control of my body again, I feel sick, I slump down and walk the steps carefully, it was two flights of stairs, stopping randomly at an uncomfortable position with a wall and a door saying ¡®297.¡¯ He opens it up and walks through, holding the door open for me, courtesy isn¡¯t dead here I see. I walk through and see green walls, painted green walls. Did a drunk architect design this place? The doors are painted red, the carpet an off white colour, tinted from the florescent lights above, the roof is green too, the lights being slightly blue. This place looks like if a fever dream and crack cocaine had a baby and that baby was very into interior design. He closes the door behind me, it reads ¡®EXIT FIRE.¡¯ Which I guess works just as well as the alternative. ¡°Sooo, how¡¯s the world going? Last thing I heard was that a plane had taken down New York. Unless Leo is lying. Crazy stuff. How¡¯d all that turn out?¡± Right, okay, so if this person really was taken here 30 years ago that would mean he is from 1994. This whole thing is just messed up. Slightly in front of me, him and I walk through a hallway, each door is marked with a gold plate near the top saying a random string of numbers and letters then ¡®ROOM.¡¯ which helps me know that there is indeed a room these doors lead to. There¡¯s a distinct scratch below every door nameplate. ¡°You gonna answer? Or do you have a whole mute chick thing going on?¡± ¡°I uh... yeah after the attacks I think they waged war with the middle east, was a big thing. I don''t know I don''t keep track of politics.¡± My voice is surprisingly strong after that encounter with the ¡®echoist.¡¯ But I¡¯m still kind of just stuck in a mode of dissociating. ¡°Oh, that''s boring, no World War 3? Leo arrived right after the attacks, like a day after so I didn''t get much info from him.¡± Okay this is the second time Leo has been mentioned, he clearly wants me to ask, ¡°who is Leo?¡± ¡°You''ll see.¡± He looks back and smiles, taking a left in the hallway, everything looks the exact same, it¡¯s making me feel disoriented. ¡°Who designed this place?¡± I step perfectly in the middle, avoiding the doors encase something comes out of it. ¡°I dunno, the more you learn about this place the more questions you have, Leo will run you down the basics though.¡± We take a right turn, the carpet is now on the floor, ¡°so¡­ that ¡®echoist.¡¯ What is it?¡± ¡°Oh, that is one of the monsters, there¡¯s different kinds but that one is probably the most dangerous out of the floors 290 to 299.¡± What. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Like monsters, ghouls, demons, accountants.¡± He snickers to himself, ¡°no need to worry, if you die you just respawn back on the roof, although you¡¯d probably never see me again.¡± He takes a left turn, ¡°I never got your name.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ it¡¯s Alice.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ well this is a pretty shitty wonderland.¡± I¡¯ve heard that joke a million times. ¡°Funny. So when we die we don¡¯t die?¡± ¡°Yep! You just go back to the roof in a random spot, probably billions of miles away from where you died.¡± ¡°Right¡­¡± We keep walking, my heels are beginning to hurt and the air in these hallways is so stagnant I get allergies. ¡°We are here, my humble abode.¡± We stop at a room that had the golden plate removed, along with some of the red paint scraped off. He knocks like a mad man, ¡°ARGHHH IM DYING HELP HELP.¡± Someone opens the door in a frenzy, pulling him in, ¡°what the fuck dude, stop doing that.¡± He looks over at me, this man is tall and slender, long black hair, brown eyes, bandages all over his hands and neck while holding a makeshift spear. He is dressed in a nice suit, well ¡®nice¡¯ would be be a bad word to use. An expensive suit that looked worn and torn. ¡°Who¡¯s the girl? Jack I told you we don¡¯t human traffic people, dickhead.¡± ¡°Hey no fair.¡± Jack walks in further disappearing into a room. ¡°Hello? You awake? Are you coming in?¡± He opens the door further, ¡°so you¡¯ll fit.¡± He smiles, ¡°that joke doesn¡¯t really work, you are actually pretty slim, but still.¡± Trying to avoid eye contact, I walk into what seems to be a living room, it doesn¡¯t look like an apartment but a wooden cabin. ¡°Jack did you bring back any food?¡± ¡°I thought we¡¯d just cook the girl.¡± Jack looks through cabinets with a bored expression on his face. I step back a second looking at the exit, I really hope he is joking. Leo seems to notice, ¡°why are you scared?¡± Jack gets up, eating what seems to be an unrecognisable brand of chips, ¡°oh right, she hasn¡¯t died before, she¡¯s a new one.¡± He speaks with a mouth full of chips. ¡°Ohhh, that makes a lot of sense.¡± He steps back and bows, ¡°I am Leo, welcome to my pretty little palace. This apartment is super rare, you get anomalous rooms sometimes. So don¡¯t tell anyone okay?¡± I just shimmy around him into the kitchen, I grab a knife. I just really think I¡¯d be safer with a knife. ¡°Scary¡­ chips?¡± Jack hands me a bag, with my spare hand I hold it, not quite sure how to eat with a knife in my other hand. ¡°Ah you¡¯ve ran into the ol knife in your hand while trying to eat chips conundrum.¡± He smiles while walking back onto the couch. Leo just watches from the hallway where the exit is, ¡°how¡¯s the modern world, any nukes get used yet?¡± ¡°Nah.¡± ¡°Boring, I¡¯m going into the living room so don¡¯t stab me, you have fun with your knife¡­ and chips.¡± Leo follows Jack onto the couch and cuddles close, somehow rather than being scared out of my mind about my circumstances I¡¯m more worried about being a third wheel. I place the knife on the kitchen counter and eat the chips, it tastes super foreign, like a flavour that doesn¡¯t exist. I read the text on the yellow chip bag, it has bold red letters saying, ¡®ULTRA CHIP, king flavour.¡¯ Which is awesome. ¡°Hey, its creepy having you in the background, come, sit. You must have questions, right?¡± Leo has his head turned to me over the couch, while jack¡¯s head seems to be laying on his lap. ¡°Uh... yeah, okay.¡± Chapter 2: The hunt I sit on the carpet, while jack is at my eye level, Leo is looking down at me, he is picking at his teeth with his finger trying to get plaque off. ¡°So, are you going to ask me questions or do I have to play charades with you?¡± I take a breath in, its getting more and more apparent this is somehow real. I''m holding the knife in my left hand while my legs are crossed, i still don''t feel safe whatsoever. ¡°So¡­ that thing I saw... Is that normal to run into?¡± ¡°Ohhhh an echoist, don''t worry they rarely come down here.¡± Leo slaps Jack on the head, ¡°stop using that name dipshit, we decided on ¡®voice snatcher.¡¯ Which is objectively cooler.¡± Jack turns on his back and slaps him back, harder, ¡°YOU, decided on that.¡± ¡°Yes because I NAME the monsters, because I''m better at it.¡± Jack kicks himself off the couch and looks down at Leo, ¡°I''m not the one who came up with the name ¡®face spider.¡¯¡± Face spider? ¡°that was a work in progress.¡± ¡°A work in progress we STILL use, Alice, which name is better? Tell me.¡± I look between them, Leo seems like he cares less about this than jack. ¡°I don''t... really care... like at all, sorry.¡± ¡°Useless, this is why women shouldn''t vote.¡± Jack sits back down, ¡°I''m kidding, hey Leo pass me some snacks will you?¡± Leo gets up with a groan, ¡°this is getting no where, we have no food because you didn''t get any. Alice you¡¯re coming with me.¡± I grip my knife harder, ¡°What? Why?¡± ¡°You want to learn about this place, right? Lets go hunting.¡± He holds a hand out to help me up, ¡°take those heels off, we can go barefoot.¡± He leans on the wooden wall while i take them off, the back of my heel has blisters from walking for so long. My commute to work usually takes around 4 minutes so walking for any longer is torture. ¡°Leooo... are you mad at me?¡± jack lays belly first on the leather couch, trying to reach for his arm. ¡°Yes? I asked you to bring back food because I wounded my arm, and you come back with a woman.¡± ¡°I''m just a playa, don''t knock down a baller like me.¡± I don¡¯t like that at all. Leo just sighs while grabbing a spear made of a plastic pole and a kitchen knife, ¡°actual parasite, ill be back in an hour, okay?¡± He leans down and kisses Jack on the cheek, somehow that simple action eased my worries by 90%. ¡°Go shower, you smell like shit.¡± Jack stretches out his arms, ¡°the shower sucks here...¡± ¡°Then go to the one next door.¡± ¡°And get off the couch? No way.¡± ¡°Jack.¡± Jack rolls off the couch and lands on the floor with a thud, ¡°fiiiiine. Hey Alice, get my axe, its in the bathroom.¡± ¡°Why is it in the bathroom?¡± Leo spits out, ¡°did you not bring it??¡± ¡°Why would I? Its just the 297th floor.¡± He gets up from the ground and walks into the bathroom, I follow. The bathroom is very lived in and looks more like a storage area, it has a bath and a bucket. I''m not sure what era this place was made in but it seems very very old. ¡°Treat him with care and respect, his name is J. Ack...s.¡± He hands it to me, it seems like its an actual axe used for battle, like from the Viking era. ¡°Cool right? We found it in this cabin, its a rare find.¡± I put the knife I was holding on the sink and get a feel for the handle and weight. It is incredibly weird holding this metal one-handed axe while in a dress, I look in a mirror, my usually straight hair is very unruly, and there are dark circles under my eyes. Although those dark circles were from before I arrived here.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Leo just stares at Jack as he walks back to the couch, he turns back and nods softly, making his way to the exit. ¡°Just don''t freeze up, these higher floors are safer, but there''s some messed up... uh... stuff, I suggest you never look at a Tv or pick up a phone.¡± He opens the door for me, I walk through into the hallway, the green paint on the walls almost giving me a migraine. As we walk out he initiates exposition mode, ¡°so as you can see each room we have searched has a mark on it, a little scratch mark below the nameplate, nowadays we have to travel pretty far to find a fresh room.¡± I nod, ¡°how far?¡± ¡°Uh... like 40 minutes?¡± Okay I''m glad I''m not wearing my heels because Jesus Christ. We just walk shoulder to shoulder, accidentally bumping into each other sometimes, the hallways are pretty wide but something about these doors makes me want to stay in the middle. ¡°So uh... Leo, how old are you?¡± ¡°the same age as you, 27. Everyone I''ve met here has been 27 physically, but I think id be around 40 now in the real world.¡± Old. ¡°You don''t seem 40, mentally I mean.¡± ¡°Thanks I guess? You don''t really mature in a place like this, Jack is around 50 in the real world, but he acts like a child.¡± 27... 27... ¡°So, its like the 27 club?¡± ¡°The what?¡± ¡°The 27 club, like how a lot of celebrities die at 27.¡± ¡°Celebrities die at a lot of ages, maybe 27 is just the age when all those drugs catch up to you. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s relevant.¡± I assume this is the conversations natural conclusion because he steps aside, taking out a piece of paper from his pocket, ¡°I have a lot of this place memorised, but... yeah a hallway got removed. Fuck.¡± We are currently at the corner of a hallway, the only direction being left. He is staring at a green wall, there are little white intricate patterns on the wall I didn''t notice before, it''s like a line of white thorns that act as stripes. ¡°Well... this makes the trip over 2 hours... okay we are going down to floor 296 follow me. It''ll save time¡± We start backtracking, ¡°uh... is that normal? Hallways disappearing?¡± ¡°Happens every once in a while, although that is just a really bad spot for it to happen.¡± That doesn''t make any sense, ¡°Is this place... like, alive?¡± ¡°No, probably not, things just like, bleep into existence or get deleted. Like for example, whenever you open up a room that hadn''t been opened before, all the food is fresh inside, then you close it, leave it for a few days, then its all gross and mouldy, the room only exists when you open that door. It just.¡± He snaps his fingers, ¡°Boop, into existence.¡± The hallways make me feel dissociative again, is this just my life now? Some part of me is just so sure ill be back in my bed by tonight, that ill be out of here. But if i go to sleep, then wake up in this same space. Thats when it becomes real. Like how you move houses and you don''t really feel it until you see that new ceiling in the morning. I don''t think I''ve really taken all this in yet. ¡°Alrighty, this stairway goes to floor 296 and 295. Uh, just don''t be grossed out, this area is kind of infested below, it should be fine. Do you have arachnophobia?¡± I have arachnophobia. ¡°I don''t.¡± ¡°Well, you¡¯re about to get it.¡± he opens the door, the stairwell has webs in the corner, red webs that pulsate and look meaty. ¡°Okay no, no, no no.¡± I step out back into the hallway. ¡°its fine, hey.¡± I slam my back against the wall, am i acting crazy? No, just no. ¡°You¡¯re probably having a delayed reaction, to all this.¡± No, there''s no way i LIVE now, in a PLACE where there are god damn red vein spider webs. ¡°No, fuck this, no, no no no.¡± Where even am i? Who is this person even? I NEED to get to work, something is missing, what am i missing, I¡¯m missing something. Im missing. ¡°What the fuck is all this?¡± Leo crouches down in front of me, my eyes meeting his, ¡°I know what you¡¯re going through, but if I''m going to floor 296 I need eyes in the back of my head, you need to be that for me okay? It''ll be 5 minutes tops, then we enter a room and it''ll be fine.¡± He takes something out of his pocket and shows me, its a drawing, ¡°this is whats down there, see? Not too bad right?¡± Its a detailed sketch of a head with spider legs coming out of it, human hair on its head and legs. Little hands on the edges of each leg. ¡°No, no. This is all... this is all wrong, just let me out, I''m done, let me out.¡± I push further into the wall, hoping it will absorb me and take me back. ¡°LET ME OUT, IM DONE, IM DONE.¡± My hand grips the axe, if i swing at him right now he will call the police right? No i need to threaten him. I get up and hold my axe towards him, ¡°call the cops right now.¡± ¡°I¡­cant.¡± ¡°TAKE ME TO A PHONE.¡± Leo, if thats even his name gets up, ¡°fine.¡± And opens up the closest room, it already had a mark on it. I stumble in, my feet dragging across the floor, the carpet looks moldy and everything is dusty. I then spot it, a phone on a glass table, it looks to be a home phone. I run over and land on my knees, giving my feet carpet burn, but it doesn¡¯t matter, i press 9, 1, 1, and hold out the axe to make sure Leo doesn¡¯t get close. It picks up, ¡°Hello? I need help, I¡¯m in an apartment building, i don¡¯t know where... please track this call okay...?¡± The other line has whispering, a faint voice of a child can be heard, ¡°mom... mom is that you...?¡± The faintest sound of bugs can be heard, like bees or wasps. ¡°They¡¯re hurting me mom, it hurts¡­ where are you? Why aren¡¯t you here mom? HELP ME, THEY¡¯RE HURTING ME, HELP ME MOMMY, HELP ME.¡± I throw the phone as far as I can, it snaps in half but the sounds of screaming can still be heard, I feel myself dragged by the armpit back into the hallway. I don''t have a kid, I was never pregnant with a child. But that sounded like my kid, like how my kid would sound, how my kid would scream for help. That was somehow my child. Leo lets me stay in the hallway for a few minutes, his spear resting on the carpet while holding the axe. ¡°You done?¡± I''m done; I''m done with everything. ¡°Okay. Yeah.¡± My voice comes out coarse. ¡°Lets just take the 2-hour trip, come on, walk it off.¡± He gets up and hands me the axe, I take it hesitantly, his grip loosening until I''m holding it safely. ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°No need, you should''ve seen me when I first got here, you are handling this exceptionally well... Probably shouldn''t have shown you that drawing...¡± He pats me on the back, ¡°Jack can wait, lets take the longer route.¡± We both walk, taking the left on the hallway, walking aimlessly, every door marked. Chapter 3: fresh doors Shaking, I am shaking. Not because it¡¯s cold, well it is cold but that¡¯s not the reason. I just don¡¯t have control over my body right now. I must look like an idiot. Leo and I had been walking for around 2 hours without a word said, I think he realised I needed time to process everything. But now I need distractions from my distractions. ¡°So¡­ you and Jack¡­ how long have you been dating¡­?¡± ¡°Oh, uh, we¡¯re not. But we met around 5 years ago, he was still on his stupid mission to reach floor zero and I stopped him.¡± He slows down a bit to make sure we stay shoulder to shoulder. ¡°Floor zero?¡± ¡°That¡¯s where people think you can escape, but it¡¯s not worth it. You think that phone call was bad? You should see what this place throws at you floor 260 and below.¡± Oh. But if I can¡¯t die then I guess there¡¯s no reason not to try, ¡°but why not keep trying? You have eternity right?¡± He sighs, ¡°things below 260, sometimes even 270 aim not to kill you but trap and torture you. Because they are smart enough to know we respawn.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± If that phone call was anything to go off, and if the floors get exponentially worse, I can¡¯t imagine what floor 100 or 50 would be like. This reminds me of that Greek thing, Sisyphus. Instead of rolling that rock up that mountain our goal is to make it to floor zero. But every time we die we get sent back to the top, to restart. These people just decided to setup a nice house at the foot of that mountain, not even willing to try. We reach a point where everything seems burnt, ¡°what happened here?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know, probably some person in the past tried to set fire to this place.¡± The lights had turned from a bluish tint to a red tint, and the walls instead of green are now mint. The carpet was the main part that got burnt, that¡¯s how I could tell, it has black spots where the carpet meets the hard wood floor. ¡°You ever try to dig down?¡± ¡°Yep, you fall into some void.¡± He takes a right turn and I see some red webbing, it pulsates. ¡°Relax, this floor doesn¡¯t have many of those spiders because voice snatchers eat them all.¡± He cuts down the webs with his spear, it dissolves into the carpet. ¡°Just don¡¯t touch the webs, they act as leeches, sucking out your blood. It¡¯s gnarly.¡± We continue walking, the webs get more and more common. ¡°Hey uh¡­ why do you guys live so far away from any fresh doors?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s because that cabin door has the strongest interior, any voice snatcher can come into a room by knocking the door down, but the cabin door is stronger for some reason.¡± I give up trying to make sense of anything, this guy is obviously a veteran, I must look like a toddler with all my useless questions. A toddler with an axe. ¡°And here we are, fresh doors. We will go through about 10, grabbing anything useful. You go right I go left.¡± I just stand still, ¡°we go into different rooms?¡± ¡°Rooms are safe, just avoid any media, you see a tv? Destroy it. A phone? Don¡¯t pick up.¡± He walks into a room on the left. Leaving me all alone. I don¡¯t want to be useless, especially after I got saved by Jack and Leo having to deal with a mental breakdown. So I walk into the right room. It looks like any other apartment, all the windows that should show a nice view are just fully white.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. I walk over to the tv and smash it with my axe, breaking it. Job done. Making my way to the kitchen was easy, I checked all the cabinets and found some beans called ¡®bean flavour nut¡¯ which sounds incomprehensible. I open the fridge and find some meat, but it¡¯s like, a liquid meat in a bag, which doesn¡¯t seem useful. I find some of what seems like spring onion. I put all these into a trash bag and move into the bathroom. I find toothpaste, some pills called ¡®grief pills¡¯ with the side effects being ¡®it¡¯s so cold in summer.¡¯ I put them in the bag. Finally I move into the bedroom, finding a flashlight, one of those beauty masks and a small switch blade. Easy. So I just do that for every room? This isn¡¯t so bad. I walk out and Leo is standing beside my door waiting for me, ¡°nice, just making sure you¡¯re okay.¡± It looks like he had already checked 4 rooms while I checked one, he uses his spear to mark my door. ¡°Good luck, you¡¯re doing fine.¡± He walks into the 5th door on the left, his bag almost fully filled with items. I go to the second door and walk in, this time the lights are off, and the tv is already on. I turn on the lights and slowly creep towards the living room, it¡¯s playing a show, everything is dusty and has an awful awful smell. The tv is showing someone¡¯s life, a man with a woman in a sort of sitcom, then there is a¡­ corpse on the couch¡­ okay nope. I slowly stroll back outside and wait for Leo to arrive, a little after one minute he does and looks at me confused. ¡°There¡¯s a dead guy in there.¡± He walks over and into the room, from afar I can hear him say ¡°oh, we found the guy who tried to burn this place down, cool.¡± Then walks back out, his face as cold as ever. He marks the door. ¡°You got unlucky seeing that, he is still alive though¡­ somewhere, you know that right?¡± Alive¡­ how could a corpse be alive? That doesn¡¯t make any god damn sense. How can his corpse be there if he respawns? Leo grabs my bag and walks into the 3rd right door, leaving me alone. All alone. I wait until he is done. He puts the bag in my hand and walks fast, I try to keep up, ¡°can you slow down?¡± He looks back and puts his finger on his lips, telling me to shut up. In my ear I hear it, ¡°can you slow down.¡± Which causes every muscle in my body to stop, he nods softly and continues to move quickly, I follow. For hours I¡¯m convinced something is about to happen, some creature is going to come out and murder us, rip us apart and then feed us to some spiders. It allows me to stay high on adrenaline the entire time, making the walk back less boring. Eventually we move into the cabin, he knocks three times and the door is opened, I ignore their bickering and move straight to the couch to sit down. ¡°What¡¯s with her?¡± Jack asks beside me as he sits down, he smells like soap now. ¡°Don¡¯t ask, leave her, come on, it¡¯s bedtime.¡± He drags Jack away, I¡¯m hungry, incredibly hungry. Leo and Jack go into a room and I stay here, looking at the floor, at my feet, at my knees, at my dress. Every breath just seems to compound my worry, I¡¯m here forever. Eventually after who knows how long Jack comes out and starts organising the food we got, he cooks something and places it in front of me, I barely register what he says. I¡¯m left with scrambled eggs and a fork. I don¡¯t want to go to sleep. If I wake back up and I¡¯m still here, I don¡¯t know what I¡¯ll do. ¡°You okay?¡± Jack places a hand on my shoulder, grabbing my fork and taking a bite out of my food, ¡°its rough out there, Leo told me you saw a human corpse. Don''t worry the guy that corpse was in is still alive somewhere, so don''t feel bad.¡± He puts the fork near my mouth and i take a bite, it doesn¡¯t taste of normal eggs, its somehow off and spicy, i still manage to chew it down. ¡°Leo told me to talk to you, uh, I don¡¯t want to be the one to do this, but you need to step up okay? This isn¡¯t a place you can shut down and do nothing in. You made him walk for longer than he should have instead of going down to floor 296 because you were scared. That really pissed me off.¡± He takes a bite from my eggs, chewing loudly. ¡°You need to gather food tomorrow, if you don''t get your shit together and you make Leo take any more unnecessary risks, I will get rid of you.¡± Get rid of me? Is he threatening to kill me? Even though its obvious he is, it doesn''t feel nefarious somehow, does death really mean this little to him? He places the plate on the table, ¡°don''t you ever fucking threaten him with an axe again.¡± He steps away into the bedroom, leaving me alone. All alone. I mindlessly eat the rest of the eggs, the spice on my tongue hurting me in just the right way. I begin to lay sidewards, my body being the perfect uncomfortable length on the couch, my feet pushing into the arm rest but can¡¯t rest above it. A candle is lit on a stone table near an unused fireplace. How would a fireplace even work here? I¡¯ll go to sleep and wake up in my bed, this¡¯ll all just be a bad dream, a very very bad dream. Something that will haunt me forever. A dream that¡¯ll change my outlook on life. But still just a dream. Goodnight. Chapter 4: training day I hear the soft click of a door, then whispering, ¡°don¡¯t wake her up.¡± Leo speaks softly. ¡°Why not? She doesn¡¯t own our house.¡± ¡°What can I say, I¡¯m a communist, everyone should be happy.¡± The exit door opens with a creak. ¡°Don¡¯t joke about that, you weren¡¯t very communal last night leaving me all alone for hours, I thought you were dead.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make it up to you, come on.¡± The door closes, I do not want to open my eyes. If I open my eyes and I¡¯m still in the same spot, my life has ended, the prenup had been signed and I¡¯m in a loveless marriage with a new reality. I force my eyes closed, trying to somehow control reality, soon ill wake up in my real apartment, the honking of cars and curses of the people through my window, the bad air quality making me sick to my stomach. Oh, how I miss the air quality. Here feels too perfect, like everything is new, like I''m living in the beginning of genesis when God first created the earth. Now I know why eve wanted to get out of there, its disgusting living in a world that isn''t designed by humans. After a while, after the sounds disappear and I cant really tell where I am, I finally open my eyes. Fuck. I move off the couch and open the curtains, the bright light from the windows irritates my eyes causing me to scratch them. Its official, I am now married to my new reality, and it is abusive. Both physically and mentally, what a world we live in. I hadn''t got a good look at this place yesterday because I was not really in my body. But this is a really cozy spot. Its what seems to be a rich person''s cabin, the ones you''d find in the middle of the woods, where teenagers in those horror movies would get slaughtered by guys in hockey masks. But its nice, the kitchen has a mix of new elements like a fridge and sink, stuff that doesn''t really fit the area. It makes me wonder something, do these rooms ¡®spawn¡¯ depending on what people assume would be behind them. Like if Jack from 1994 opened up a room would it be something older, than the sleek room I got when I opened a door. I don''t know, but if I''m going to live here, I should at least make some theories, although I''m guessing they both have it all figured out. I find a deck of poker cards, its called ¡®free poker cards.¡¯ I open them up and lay them on the table, setting up a game of solitaire, each card has some sort of god on it, its hard to tell what they¡¯re supposed to be. The Jester card has a name on the back, named ¡®Dolos.¡¯ ¡®Eros¡¯ is the queen card, ¡®Zeus¡¯ is the king card, and the ace card is completely blank, making it hard to actually play a game of solitaire. The numbered cards are also Greek gods, but I just don''t care that much anymore. I play for around 10 minutes until Jack and Leo come in laughing, they are both wearing new clothes and their hair is wet, probably from showering. Jack sees me and jumps onto the couch over the arm rest, ¡°ohhh you gambling?¡± I look over, its weird to see him back to ¡®normal¡¯ after he threatened me last night. ¡°Just playing solitaire.¡± Jack looks excited, ¡°do you remember the rules? Seriously? Write them down, I wanna play too.¡± Leo sits down at the edge of the table, watching me play, ¡°you play this a lot?¡± ¡°Yeah, on my computer. At work.¡± I put an 8 under a 9 and store a queen. Jack seems to be incredibly invested in every movement, ¡°are computers better now? Leo said they got all crazy, but considering you are even further in the future they must be simulating whole worlds.¡± Leo chimes in before I can talk, ¡°I actually had a theory that we might be in a video game somehow, like a simulation.¡± ¡°Yeah... video games look realistic now, like real life.¡± Jack and Leo both say at the same time, ¡°for real?¡± ¡°jinx, you owe me some ¡®dark soda¡¯¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Leo grunts and gets up, walking over to the fridge and grabbing ¡®dark soda, evil star flavour.¡¯ he holds 3, one in each hand then one under his armpit. ¡°Here, make sure to brush your teeth after.¡± I take it, it has a dark star with white space around it, a fully white can, the design is pretty cool actually, I open it up and drink, it tastes like nothing I''ve ever tasted before. There aren''t words to describe it. Jack gulps his down and crushes it, ¡°alright Alice, we are going hunting this time, okay? So, suck it up because we are going to the 296th floor.¡± He makes his way to the bathroom and grabs his axe, I look at my cards then Leo. Leo just smiles, ¡°he is a lot better at hunting than me, believe it or not. You''ll be safe.¡± Leo gets up and begins to pack up my cards, ¡°that is if he remembers to actually grab food this time!¡± He yells at Jack who is in the bathroom. Jack comes out looking all smart with his hair sliced shorter and stubble shaved, ¡°bitch, I got you a fully grown person instead dumbass.¡± I get up, ¡°I won''t freak out this time, can I use your spear?¡± Leo nods, grabbing it from beside the fireplace and handing it to me, ¡°don''t worry if it breaks, I can always make a new one. Just... don''t freak out this time, okay?¡± Patting me on the shoulder he whispers, ¡°you have to adapt quickly, or you''ll die, Jack is probably going to push you.¡± I wave as I walk out with Jack, ¡°Bye.¡± He doesn''t respond, already writing in his notebook. We stroll through the hallways, Jack seems to be on a mission to walk annoyingly fast, ¡°okay, rule 1, you don''t yell on floors 297 and above, echoists can hear you and will eventually find you.¡± Oh so I really did put Leo in danger for freaking out earlier, it makes more sense why he is mad now. ¡°Fun fact: the reason there are less face spiders here is because the echoists feed on them, making this spot the goldilocks zone, another goldilocks zone is floor 288, so if you are ever in a situation where you cant go up, make it to floor 288 and find a balcony room.¡± My mind is spinning from all this information, ¡°a balcony room?¡± He holds a finger up, ¡°balcony rooms are rooms that connect with the pits on the roof, allowing you to climb back up safely if you have rope. You cannot go down on balcony rooms because for some reason if you go down one you stay on the same floor, don''t ask why.¡± I just nod, following his brutal pace, we make it to a grey door, ¡°quiz time, why is floor 296 infested with face spiders?¡± ¡°Uh, because there''s no natural predators?¡± ¡°ding ding ding, yep that''s it.¡± He reaches into his pocket and gives me a piece of candy, ¡°thought id start training you like a dog.¡± He giggles as I take the candy and eat it. It tastes like clay, but the aftertaste is fine and sweet. He opens the door and i see the red webs again, this stairway goes up and down, the way down seems to be a bit sticky, covered in a weird goo. ¡°Oh you¡¯re not wearing shoes... okay just give me a moment.¡± He pulls me back into the hallway and walks into a random red door, I wait for a few moments, he comes out with slippers, ¡°hope these are your size.¡± They are about a size too big, they look worn and torn, but its fine. Walking down the concrete stairs my slippers stick and make a gross slapping sound every step. We make it to the door that says ¡®296¡¯ and walk through. The hallway is nightmarish, its the same layout as above but covered in red webs, the carpet is wet and mushy with some sort of black goo, making it incredibly hard to traverse. ¡°It''ll be fine, there''s fresh doors like 5 minutes away, just keep my back. The hallways echo with sounds of tiny feet, we make a turn and see what seems to be a red egg sack, it is almost transparent and pulsating, Jack just ignores it like its the most normal thing in the world. I see tiny hands through the sack, grabbing and pushing, like how a baby kicks in a mothers stomach. The webs were less of a problem than I thought, they are mostly in the corner of rooms and lining the walls, they seem more like thin vines than webs though. Jack stops and holds his hand out, ¡°there''s around... yeah I hear 3 around the corner, they like to jump around a lot so take any out that get behind me.¡± He crouches down barely, and slowly moves. My body instinctively leans backwards as i move, trying to delay whatever''s going to happen by centimetres. We make a turn and I see 3 heads. Just heads with legs with hair, one has red hair and seems to be a girl, the other two seem to be older people, one with grey hair and the other balding almost, showing the skin of their stick like legs, their eyes are fully black and way too big proportionally. They make an awful clicking noise with their tongues. I am mortified, expecting a similar reaction from Jack I look over, he has almost a smile on his face, fully zoned in, ¡°okay... go.¡± He steps forward and lunges himself at the 3 heads, going for the lady one first he fully punctures it with the axe in the forehead. The creature still attached to his axe was then used as a mace in a haymaker attack on the grey-haired head, knocking it towards me. I let out a screech and stab it multiple times with the spear, fully on instinct. My legs keep jumping, left, right, left, right as I slam the head into the wall while its attached to the spear, blood drips down onto my hand and I drop it onto the ground. Jack seems to have taken care of the balding head and walks over. He stomps on the head below my feet and takes the spear out, ¡°cool. Start searching doors.¡± Before I can reply he has already stepped into a room, shutting it with a slam. I look down at the creature, its jaw had been leaking blood from the stab wound. I avert my gaze while making an almost whimper sound, I never thought id ever see something like that in real life. Sure, I''ve seen people die in videos, just not... in real life. And for all intents and purposes that thing has the head of a human being. And now I know what one of those looks like with a stab wound through the jaw. I walk to a door and open it, the door handle feels sticky but then I realise that''s just the blood on my hands. I have actual blood on my hands now. Chapter 5: heavenly rewards Jack knocks while holding the bag full of things we collected, ¡°ahhhh I¡¯m dying ahhhh.¡± He says while shoving me playfully, trying to get me to join in. I don''t. Leo opens the door while brushing his teeth, his jaw opens upon seeing me, ¡°holy shit you look straight from Carrie, you slaughter a pig down there?¡± Jack looks me over, ¡°she did a good job, hey Alice go to the door to the left, there''s a shower, oh I also collected you some clothes.¡± He reaches into the bag and throws some random clothes at me, some too big, some too small. I hold them carefully to not dirty them too much and walk into the door to the left. I feel sick. I feel wounded. I feel sinful. I open the door, this looks like a normal apartment from the early 2000s, did Leo open this door? I walk straight into the shower and take my stupid dress off, the shower is the only place here that was clean, the rest was dirty and worn through. I turn the hot water on, letting it steam up, i walk in and feel the burning on my skin, pigmentation turning red. I just let it flow down my body, leaning my face up and feeling every trickle. I run my hands through my hair, i make sure to keep my eyes closed to not see how red I''m making this place. I stay blind as I reach for a bar of soap, letting the soapy water go into my mouth and eyes. I purposefully open my eyes to let the soapy water run down into them, its like I have to clean everything, even my vision after what I saw. Around 40 minutes pass and I step out. The shower is covered in blood but i cant seem to push myself to clean it, I put on whatever clothes jack got me, they all seem old fashioned, but I find drawstring sweatpants and a tank top, I have no replacement bra or underwear which is annoying. Its not like it matters anyway. I step out into the hallway, for a moment i just stare down at the green wall. This is my life now. I walk over to the room Leo and Jack are in and try to open it, its locked. I feel a sense of terror. What if they locked me out? Oh god. Did they betray me? ¡°Guys! Let me in please? Please?¡± That thought process was slowly laid to rest after Leo opens it up, letting me in, Jack is sitting on the couch all excited, ¡°we have booze!¡± he swings a bottle of clear liquid around, ¡°you took your damn time, I was about to drink this bottle alone.¡± ¡°I... I don''t drink, sorry.¡± Jack seems almost offended, ¡°you some alcoholic?¡± Leo walks by me and grabs 3 glasses, ¡°trust us, it''ll be better to drink, we don''t live in that old world anymore.¡± I almost say something like ¡®but I have work tomorrow.¡¯ but realise that doesn''t make a single bit of sense. I walk over to the couch and sit in the middle, between Jack and Leo. Jack smiles as he pours the liquid into each glass, filling it to the brim on each one, ¡°this is a reward, to our fresh little baby hunter.¡± Leo and Jack pick up their glasses, waiting for me to follow, my shaking hand grabs it and spills a little as I put it to my mouth, I gulp it down as it burns, welcoming the pain. I could only make it halfway through the glass before taking a breath. At least alcohol tastes like alcohol. ¡°Where¡¯d you find this?¡± I ask coughing a bit. Leo looks all smug, ¡°I fermented it out of potatoes, vodka.¡± Taking another sip he looks over to jack, ¡°hey about those plants from 294, do you really want them moved up?¡± ¡°Yeah dude, it¡¯ll make the air quality better, thats what makes 294 so easy to breathe in... well sometimes.¡± Leo seems to notice I¡¯m confused, ¡°oh right, yeah 294 has alot of greenery, rather than the apartment complex these floors look like, that floor looks more like a... uh, not sure really, an office maybe?¡± ¡°Yep, a lot of plants there.¡± Leo continues, ¡°the sprinklers on 294 activate every day and let the plants stay alive, it also washes those pesky webs away and makes face spiders less likely to live there, although some figured out, they could web up the sprinklers and destroy them.¡± We all seem to drink at the same time, Jack nudges me, whispering into my ear, ¡°Leo is in exposition mode, he is very passionate about this stuff.¡± And snickers. Leo continues, ¡°you may be wondering, ¡®why don''t we just live down there?¡¯ well that''s pretty simple, the mold gets crazy dangerous down there, think about it, water and carpet.¡± Jack lays back with a groan, ¡°oh my god shut upppppp. Nobody carrreeeeesssss.¡± Leo ignores him and opens up his notebook, showing a detailed sketch of the 294th floor layout from stairwell F. It looks like some areas are reddened out as ¡®contagious zones.¡¯ ¡°Contagious?¡± ¡°Mold gets all crazy in your lungs, makes you sick. Not sick enough to die but has made me and Jack out of commission a couple of times.¡± He sips his vodka like its cherry juice, ¡°need a refill?¡± I can tell Leo is getting slightly drunk with his words slurring. Jack is now on the floor groaning. He refills both of our glasses, ¡°Jack, get up you look stupid.¡± ¡°I don''t, I''m mysterious and alooof.¡± He gets up and drinks the rest of the glass, ¡°lets go to 294 now!¡± Leo chucks the packed-up poker cards at him, ¡°you''ll die dumbass.¡± ¡°awww would you miss me?¡± Jack slumps over and falls onto Leo¡¯s lap, I move to the side and lay on the arm rest. ¡°Would Leo miss me?¡± ¡°Yes idiot.¡± ¡°Awwww, ill drink to that.¡± He grabs the entire bottle and takes a swig, hanging of his shoulder, ¡°loooove you.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°We have a guest...¡± Jack looks over and moves to sit down on couch instead of on his lap, ¡°Aliiicceee my friend, you wanna gooooo to 942¡­ no, 294...¡± I take another sip of my now refilled glass, trying to forget about the day and this awkward situation I''m in, ¡°no...?¡± ¡°Silly silly Ally... can I cally you Ally? A...leeeee.¡± He moves off the couch and rests his head on the table. ¡°Sure...¡± Leo just scooches over and rubs Jack¡¯s back, ¡°sorry about him, lightweight...¡± he says while also slurring his words, somehow keeping a proper sitting stance. ¡°You feeling okay?¡± I lay back, the room spinning around me, I cant tell if its because I''m drunk or if the room is actually spinning for some unknown reason, its weird how either is possible. ¡°I''m fine. But... everything feels pointless.¡± ¡°Ah, pointless. I get that... you''ll feel more pointlessness after you die... sorry never mind, shitty thing to bring up...¡± Jack snores, half his body now on the table, Leo picks him up by the armpits, ¡°find a purpose, have little goals... uhm... that''s all I can really say as advice...¡± My mind is so out of place that I decide to ask something personal and out of place, ¡°are you two dating or what...?¡± ¡°We aren''t.¡± ¡°You should...¡± ¡°Its complicated, basically... yes we are, but he doesn''t like labels, you know, different times... goodnight...¡± he drags Leo into the bedroom and closes the door, leaving me alone yet again. I feel an overwhelming sense of loneliness, like everything is over, like I was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Is that another day? 2 days in here... rather than feeling scared I''m more just feeling, empty. Like there''s no point, if there''s no death after death then this is actually just it. This is it. This is it, i spent my entire life unhappy and now I''m here, in this hell. This is it. I finish the bottle of vodka, hearing the giggles from the bedroom, there''s nothing left, there is nothing left to be excited about. This is it. This is it. I get up from the couch and make my way to the exit, I open it up and walk through, strolling through the halls aimlessly, the lights blurry. This is it. Anything could pop out and kill me, anything, maybe I want that, maybe I want what''s after death. Maybe they are wrong, or maybe this is it. I turn a corner, ill be lost soon enough, maybe ill starve, maybe ill be eaten alive, but the alternative is living here, living in this world, looking at these hallways every day. Maybe I need to die to return back to my world. Or maybe this is it. I realise that if I die ill never see them ever again, but then again what''s even the point? They don''t need me, nobody does. I find a stairway, walking up, stumbling a bit as I reach door 299. I open it and see the black sky again, its so grainy, this is the roof. This is it. I just walk, walking and walking, barefoot on the newly set concrete, I should go inside, but none of this feels real, especially with how drunk I am right now, if this is it, I don''t want to exist. This can¡¯t be it. I give up, and scream. ¡°HELLLOOOOOOOO! I''m aliceee!¡± waiting for a few moments. In my ear, loud as it can be I hear a "hellloooooooo. I''m aliceee¡± back, a figure is in the distance, the dark fog making it difficult to see, its human like. ¡°Kill me please, I''m begging you. Send me back home.¡± ¡°Kill me please, I''m begging you. Send me back home.¡± It takes a step forward, its leg looks broken into 4 parts, it goes in, then out, then in again, then out with the foot. ¡°Send, you, home.¡± ¡°thatsss it! Thank you!¡± The voice is being whispered into my eardrum, I smile as I see its body, bony and proportionally wrong, I''m about to be killed hahah, its over, this is it. This is it. It takes another step, beginning to speed up, suddenly I''m shot back into my body, oh fuck, I''m about to die. My feet slam into the floor as I sprint back to the stairwell. ¡°I''m, home.¡± I hear, its scorchingly loud in my ear, it knocks me off balance and I scrape my foot on the concrete, quickly I get back up and run and run. This cant be it. It can''t. I eventually get the stairwell door open and run down, I''m safe right? I fall down the stairs and land at the bottom, hitting my head harshly. I see a hand creep into the doorway. I forgot to close the door like a god damn idiot. It¡¯s foot appears and then the body, the face slowly looks directly at me down the stairs, the head tilting, it has no jaw, just eyes and a nose. Its grey, like its made of bone. I slide off the ground and go to floor 297, hoping it''ll stop following me. ¡°ALLLIIIICEEEEE¡± runs through my brain, knocking me over physically, I slam my body through the door and onto the green wall, running as fast as I can. ¡°IM HERE, ALICE.¡± knocks me over again, I fall to the floor and watch the creature slam through the stairway door, its body tilting almost at 90 degrees while its misshapen legs stomp towards me, running like a gorilla. Ill be dead in seconds, I run into a marked door and slam it shut, locking it. I take a couple breaths in and out, hoping its over. ¡°Alice... I''m. Here.¡± Its hand slams through the door, it reaches for the doorknob, I run into the bathroom and hide, locking it too. The creak of a door opens up, I hear soft steps around the apartment, then the bathroom door being opened, I thought I had locked it but apparently not. Or maybe the lock was broken. The door opens fully, its face creeping towards mine, I hear a faint whisper ¡°beg...¡± in my voice. ¡°Please... please don''t kill me...¡± my voice wavering. It replies back, overly exaggerated and almost sarcastically, ¡°Please. Please don''t kill meeeee.¡± My head leans slightly to the side, the pure white eyes in front of me not even seeming real, like I''m watching a show. ¡°Beg...¡± the jaw that I thought was missing opens up from beneath the nose, the skin from the philtrum to the neck opens up to reveal a mouth like a crocodile, its teeth being completely human. ¡°I... I don''t want to die... let me live, please... I beg of you.¡± ¡°I. I don''t want to die. let me live, please. I beg of you.¡± Its hand grabs my wrist and puts it in its mouth, ¡°Beg...¡± Its mouth slowly closes and hurts my arm just slightly, making sure I can''t rip it away. ¡°Please...¡± ¡°Pleaaaaseeeeee.¡± It chomps harder till blood trickles down its mouth. It hurts, it hurts. I''m really about to die aren''t I? ¡°STOP IT, OKAY, IM SORRY, IM SORRY, DONT KILL ME, IM BEGGING.¡± I try to bow somehow, but in this position its almost impossible. ¡°stoooop it. Okayyy. Im soooorry. im sorrrryyyy. Dont kiiiillll me. Im beggginng¡± Its voice sounds disturbed and on the edge of laughing. My arm breaks with a sickening crunch, ¡°AHHHHHH, HELP ME, HELP ME PLEASE, HELP.¡± ¡°ahhhhhhhh, heeeelp me. Heeeeeeelp meeeeeee. Pleaseeeee. Heeeelp.¡± I try to force my head into its mouth so it kills me, but its hand pushes me back, it begins to slowly walk back with my arm in its mouth, dragging me across the carpet. It takes me out into the hallway, my arm bending in unnatural ways. If I wasn''t super drunk right now id be in a lot more pain. I recognise the hallways, the monsters movements seem meaningful. I see it, the room Leo and Jack live in, it slams its hand into the door, not able to break through. Letting go of my arm and pushing me face first into the door. ¡°Beg.¡± Tears start flowing down my face, ¡°HELP, JACK, LEO, PLEASE, THERES AN ECHOIST, HELP ME, PLEASE.¡± The monster doesn''t copy me this time, waiting for a response. I hear someone walking to the door, then a small thud, ¡°sorry Alice.¡± Leo¡¯s voice comes through, very faintly on the other side. ¡°OPEN THE DOOR, PLEASE.¡± I wail and cry, ¡°PLEASE IM GOING TO DIE.¡± ¡°I''m sorry... I enjoyed our time together...¡± ¡°LEO, LET ME THE FUCK IN NOW.¡± The creature bangs on the door, Leo responds softly, ¡°please don''t hate me, stay safe okay? Bite your tongue, you''ll bleed out.¡± ¡°IM GOING TO DIE LEO, LET ME IN. PLEASE, PLEASE.¡± My voice runs coarse, i can barely breathe. ¡°I''m so sorry Alice. Why¡¯d you have to be so stupid?¡± I hear another thud. ¡°Hey ally.¡± Jack says, ¡°we cant open the door, surely you understand, just... I don''t know...¡± his voice slurs but comes through strongly. The monster picks me up, slamming me into the door, ¡°PLEASE.¡± I feel my leg break, ¡°HELP HELP HELP HELP¡± I get slammed again, my neck loses its grip to my head and falls to my shoulder weirdly. The rooftop. I feel my feet placed soundly on the floor, my dress back on, all the pain gone, all the intoxication gone. I died. Chapter 6: cook, eat, shower, sleep The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Chapter 7: deep breath If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Chapter 8: 287, 288, 289 Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Chapter 9: Zee This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Chapter 10: good food The balcony... 299, 298, 297, 296, 295, 294, 293, 292, 291, 290... I have a lit cigarette in my hand, I take a drag in, blowing the smoke slowly out into the pit. The man is still waving, I have a clearer look now, he is most definitely smiling, his face looks like a mask of a face on a misshapen head. Every wave feels mechanical, it doesn¡¯t feel right, none of this feels right. I step off the balcony, leaning over the pit, falling, trying to end this dream, the wind in my hair, the feeling of true flight fills me with joy, suddenly my arm is grabbed and I hear a ¡°ALICE.¡± scream directly into my ear hole, its masked face in my face, my arm dislocating from the force of gravity. I wake up in the bath, the boy still in my arms. The bath is completely stained, the culprit being the boy sitting on my lap, I pull the plug and the noise wakes him up. ¡°Hey¡­ you sleep well?¡± He nods, looking confused. ¡°You remember me? I¡¯m Alice¡­¡± I stroke his hair, I can¡¯t stop thinking about ways that this boy could protect me, it¡¯s like I¡¯ve been given a golden goose with a rocket launcher. ¡°Zee!¡± ¡°Yep, zee, want to get out?¡± He doesn''t respond and I lift him out of the bath, my clothes are ruined. He is still stained completely with blood. ¡°You need to shower zee, okay?¡± I get out of the bath and turn the hot water on, ¡°just, remove your clothes.¡± He shakes his head, ¡°bad tv.¡± He points at the shower. ¡°No¡­ good, good, up, shower is up.¡± ¡°Up?¡± ¡°Very up. And blood is down, the shower will make blood go¡­ uh¡­ bang¡­¡± He nods and takes his clothes off, I make my way out and into the kitchen, hoping he won¡¯t mess anything up in there. Parenting is easy. I decide to cook some breakfast, I have green beans and¡­ that¡¯s it¡­ I also have leftover stale chips. I try to make them look presentable, but it looks more like an art piece on poverty than actual food. Placing it into a bowl I walk over to the bedroom to grab oversized clothes for the boy, I hear humming. It¡¯s a cute little tune, something a mother might hum to their kid¡­ I just wonder who this is, how did they get to floor zero, and why did they go back up? All questions I should ask him when the time is right. He steps out, turning the water off. ¡°Alice¡­¡± he almost whispers, I definitely wouldn¡¯t had heard from the dining room, so he is lucky. I walk up to the door ¡°here, clothes.¡± I give him a shirt and underwear, the oversized shirt will probably reach his knees anyway and I couldn¡¯t find any pants to fit him. I drop them through the door, he continues to hum softly as he puts it on, walking out looking a lot cleaner. Almost innocent. ¡°I uh, made you some food¡­ if you want?¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. He jumps up and runs into the kitchen, looking around, eventually spotting the plate and eating with both hands. He nods while spilling food on the floor. ¡°Up.¡± He says with his face full, chewing quickly and gulping it down way before he should. He finishes it in record time, 37 seconds, almost a world record. ¡°Oh¡­ uh wow¡­¡± ¡°Good tv?¡± He points at the plate, I think he is confused. ¡°Uh¡­ just say ¡®good¡¯¡± He doesn¡¯t get it. So I do a thumbs up, point at it, ¡°good.¡± Then do a thumbs down, ¡°bad.¡± ¡°Good.¡± He points at the food. I nod and hug him softly. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Thaaank¡­ thank you. Good.¡± He says like he is trying on new shoes. It is eerily similar to how those echoists learn to talk, but more innocent somehow. I guess this is just how children learn? No matter, I feel super safe now, ¡°do you want more good food?¡± He nods, okay I think he is more understanding my tone than the words that I¡¯m speaking. Urgh. I step out into the hallway, it¡¯s still all red and gross. He follows me as I take a left to the closest door. We walk into the same room and begin to loot, he picks up on it pretty fast and we build a sort of system. He brings something to me, I either say ¡®good¡¯ or ¡®bad.¡¯ He uses this to find out what items we need. He is incredibly intuitive after our 5th door, bringing out items that seem rare and food. I eventually want to double our production, I point to one door ¡°Zee.¡± Then I point to another, ¡°Alice.¡± He nods and goes into his door, I go into mine, and we both meet up and I do the whole ¡®good¡¯ and ¡®bad¡¯ thing with his items. The day ends and I cook, we had an incredible haul of items, including a book, which is basically incoherent, story wise. It has functional sentences but doesn¡¯t really connect in a way that makes a single bit of sense. It goes like ¡®there is a box in the woods, but the wolf and the blue guy had grey skies and forgot who had the keys.¡¯ And it goes on and on and on. I gave it to Zee, hoping he can somehow learn something from it, like homework. He reads on the couch while I cook up some mystery meat and onion blocks, little centimetres of onion. Smells absolutely delicious. I top it off with ketchup and we have a working meal, the ketchup also tasted like ketchup. Oh, also, I checked out the rooms Zee spawned in when we split finding items, his rooms have a more nonsensical and confusing aspect to them, everything seemed bigger too, like how a child sees the world. So, I guess my theory about rooms generating depending on the person is correct. I serve the food and make sure Zee eats with a fork this time, he doesn¡¯t like it but listens to me now. The dining table is now set with nice napkins and glasses for water. This space almost feels normal until I realise the kid in front of me and kill me at any moment. ¡°Good.¡± He points at the dinner. I decide to teach him a new word. I point at the dinner and say ¡°food.¡± He tilts his head and challenges me, pointing at it and saying ¡°good.¡± Almost like he is angry. I shake my head, I do a thumbs up, pointing at it, ¡°good.¡± He nods, then point at the dinner, ¡°food.¡± Then I point between them rapidly ¡°good food.¡± He smiles, and yells ¡°good food!¡± Almost like it was a present he wanted for Christmas. I nod at his enthusiasm. ¡°Yes. Good food.¡± ¡°Good food, good food. Good good food.¡± He keeps saying, then points at me ¡°good Alice.¡± This makes me genuinely happy for a moment, like he had taken his first steps. I point at him ¡°good Zee.¡± He shakes his head, ¡°bad Zee. Bad bad bad Zee. Down Zee.¡± And gives a thumbs down to press his opinions firmly. I just give no reaction, back to being scared in his presence, ¡°Uhm¡­ it¡¯s bed time¡­ shower time okay?¡± ¡°Good shower.¡± I smile and let him shower first, we had found shorts for him, and a smaller fitting shirt. He comes out all proud of himself then I go in, I¡¯m still in my stained red clothes. After the shower we both crawl into the same bed, he keeps sniffing me. The body wash must be nice. Eventually the white void outside goes black, and I can sleep. Goodnight. 299, 298, 297, 296, 295, 294, 293, 292, 291¡­ he is still waving, I hate this now. It was interesting at first but now it¡¯s just annoying. I sit down and wait for it to be over, tapping my finger on the glass table. Suddenly a normal human man sits beside me, no features, I can somehow tell it¡¯s supposed to be Leo. It isn¡¯t Leo but I can tell it¡¯s in his image. ¡°The hungry revolt, kill a couple men, the revolters gain power, make people hungry. Who are the villains?¡± He says in Leo¡¯s voice. The faceless man looks directly at me, I think for a moment, ¡°the¡­ farmers for not supplying enough food? Or the government for not providing?¡± He shakes his head ¡°God.¡± I wake up in the morning, another day begun. Chapter 11: three teeth Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Chapter 12: Poker Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Chapter 13: Split the pot This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Chapter 14: Time passes; nothing changes ¡°No.¡± His smile creeps up, ¡°I''ll give you a month to decide.¡± The knife disappears along with him, leaving me on the balcony. All alone. ¡°HEY, WAKE ME UP.¡± I try to jump over the balcony, but an invisible wall stops me yet again, I try to break through the balcony glass door but behind it is just a black void, I''m stuck. Time passes; nothing changes. ¡°LET ME OUT.¡± I sit on the table, playing with the cigarettes, i have no lighter so they are useless, there''s about 7 left. Time passes; nothing changes. I roll the cigarettes on the table and see how close i can get it to the edge, I''m not getting hungry or dehydrated. Time passes; nothing changes. I can''t sleep in this place, I ripped one cigarette apart and eat the green stuff inside, it tasted like shit but at least it''s something. Time passes; nothing changes. ¡°OKAY I GET IT, LET ME WAKE UP.¡± I try to learn how to juggle the cigarettes, its irritating because they don''t have any weight. Time passes; nothing changes. I broke a chair apart, playing with the little screws i found in between the wood, i take off all the splinters, seeing how pieces i can turn the chair into. Time passes; nothing changes. I slowly ripped splinters off the chair, chipping away at it, I''m about halfway done on a chair leg. Time passes; nothing changes. Half of the chair are small wood chips, my fingernails hurt, I got a few splinters in my hand but it''s fine. Time passes; nothing changes. First chair down, I go to the next one, I use the nails to stab at it, the wood was kind of soft, not sure what type it is, some light colour wood, birch? I really don''t care. Time passes; nothing changes. Second chair is gone, I¡¯m moving onto the tiled balcony floor, I¡¯m using the metal screws to dig through, I have about 20 in total. Time passes; nothing changes. All the screws are dull or broken, i managed to remove one tile, but below is concrete, i used some of the tiles to break the other tiles, and now i just have a pile of tiles made from who knows what, not ceramic because it seems too strong. Time passes; nothing changes. All the tiles are dust or too small to use now, the hole i made wasn¡¯t enough to dig through the bottom, so i broke the glass from the glass table and am now working on extracting the metal from it, possibly one of the legs by just stomping on it repeatedly. Time passes; nothing changes. I severely misunderstood how strong metal was, my foot is in agony, but i managed to break a bolt and every single leg fell off easily, the only problem is that the legs are connected as a sort of wheel-like structure, 4 legs in total. Time passes; nothing changes. I used the metal to smash into the concrete, it was uncomfortable but eventually i got a loose concrete rock I could use to slam into each leg, disconnecting them from each other, now I just have metal sticks. Time passes; nothing changes. I made it through the balcony but below was just more of that squishy void material, I broke the glass on the balcony doors and began to try to disconnect them from the sliding hinges.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Time passes; nothing changes. All of the metal legs are bent, irritating, the railing of the balcony has been completely destroyed, not like it''ll make me able to jump off, I tried hitting the invisible wall with the metal but all it did was hurt my wrist. Time passes; nothing changes. I got the doors off the hinges and just... kind of left them broken, I had no plan with that. I''m beginning to mutter my thoughts a lot, talking to someone who isn¡¯t here, like there''s a person watching me trying to give me advice and my voice isn¡¯t me but the person talking, if that makes sense? Like a vessel? Time passes; nothing changes. ¡°So, the explosion COULDN¡¯T have made it through the floors because I remember Leo saying that digging down just met you to a void, so, therefore, the only way the explosion could have reached the upper floors is through that stairwell, so hopefully our home is fine.¡± Time passes; nothing changes. I ripped all my clothes off and made a noose, until realising that that would just kill me, stupid idea, I''d just die in real life because pain transfers over, stupid. You¡¯re stupid. Time passes; nothing changes. ¡°IM NOT GOING TO GIVE UP, YOU KNOW THAT RIGHT?¡± my voice is getting softer over time, I think I damaged my throat, it hurts a lot. Time passes; nothing changes. ¡°LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT YOU SOCIOPATHIC DEMON, OR WHATEVER, I DONT KNOW HOW TO INSULT YOU.¡± I rest in my little concrete hole. Time passes; nothing changes. My voice comes out as squeaks now, I can''t say a word without some vowels missing, so now I''m left with my thoughts, my boring thoughts. Time passes; nothing changes. I begin to dream up my life back on earth, I have this nice fantasy, I got promoted, and there''s a hot boss, very hot boss, so so so hot. Time passes; nothing changes. ¡°Hey sorry I''m late.¡± She comes in, her newly bought dress covered in a veil of rain, dripping hair that was anything but professional. ¡°Relax its fine, thanks for bringing the ocean in, I can hear the seagulls already.¡± He smiles at her, a smile that could be misinterpreted for professional by anyone viewing in through the glass window into the office, but Alice knew, oh she knew. ¡°Yeah... uhm I got the papers, for the office thing.¡± She walks around the table and leans over a bit, his face below hers, her hair simulating a light drizzle, a drop of water falls between his eyebrows, goes down his nose, and into his mouth. He leans back a bit, anyone normal would take this as a sign of a lack of comfort, but not Alice, Alice was not a normal girl. ¡°so...¡± She grabs his tie, pulling him close, ¡°I''m really wet right now.¡± She steps back, going around the table and opening the door, ¡°so I should dry myself off, see you.¡± She leaves him stunned, a faint blush on his face. Time passes; nothing changes. ¡°LET ME OUT YOU FUCKING DEMON, LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT.¡± I bang on the invisible wall, my hands getting bloodied. ¡°PLEASE, PLEASE.¡± Time passes; something changes. ¡°Hey.¡± a voice behind me, it''s my dad, full face, full eyes, full terror. ¡°Let me out.¡± ¡°Give me a finger.¡± He holds a knife out. I wait for a second, ¡°no.¡± ¡°Okay, I''ll give you another month then.¡± ¡°Yes, do that." I''ve realised something, he can''t hurt me, can he? Not much, he has some set of rules, right? So, it''s either just lock me up in here, waiting for me to break, or let me wake up. ¡°Give me a year, I don¡¯t care. I''m willing to bet you are just as trapped as me.¡± He grabs my hand and forces it to the ground, forcing a finger out and holding the knife, ¡°watch me.¡± He stays still for a moment, ¡°yeah you¡¯re right.¡± The knife disappears, ¡°so, a year?¡± ¡°Yes, give me a year.¡± Please do not give me a year, let this bluff work. ¡°Hm, how about I raise you an offer, how about I give you tasks to do for when you wake up? If you do them, great, you get to be safe, if you don''t, I trap you here for... let''s say 4 million years and see how well you can take it.¡± I smile, it worked, it actually worked, ¡°okay. Tell me.¡± He smiles, ¡°Kill Zee, strangle him, hurt him a lot. Watch the life from his eyes drain, the white turn to grey.¡± I frown, ¡°why?¡± He frowns, ¡°why not? Deal?¡± He holds his hand out, I shake it, I''m 100% not going to do that. ¡°Wake me up.¡± ¡°I know you¡¯re not going to follow this deal, but it''ll 100% haunt you the next time you sleep that you didn''t take it. Goodbye Alice.¡± I wake up to my throat hurting, my arms and fingernails bleeding, my chest heaving, my head banging, my feet pounding. Zee is in front of me staring into my eyes, ¡°bad dream monster makes Alice hurts. I am makes dream monster hurts.¡± I smile, ¡°thank you.¡± I get up and look around, the smoke is still going out of the stairwell, it felt like a month but... I was asleep for probably seconds. ¡°Okay, I can''t sleep, I need to figure this out.¡± I say to nobody but myself, I still have some of the side effects of being alone for 1 month, I pace the roof, ¡°is... zee, win game is bang?¡± He nods, I think for a second, if dying gets rid of this thing, what if i do die, but barely, I''m not sure how the respawning works, but if I die then come back alive... I need to completely stop my brain somehow, kill it, like how a fever gets rid of a virus, I need to hurt myself to get rid of this curse, that''s all I can think of. This is all baseless, there''s no scientific backing, I don''t have tests or a consensus. But I need to try something. There was a boy in my class, he had drowned in the river and came back around 7 minutes later, the mother said his brain completely stopped and was revived from CPR... the boy had brain damage but still, I could try it, if the alternative is death i might as well die. I need to teach Zee CPR first. Chapter 15: Special Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Chapter 16: Anniversary ¡°ZED, COME DOWNSTAIRS.¡± I am cooking up some Italian cuisine, very sophisticated stuff, spaghetti. The pasta is boiling and bubbling, its a nice soothing sound, I grind salt into the pot to give it some extra oomf. ¡°mooom, I was studyinggg.¡± Zed stomps down the stairs. ¡°Don''t you want to help mama make some delicious pasta before daddy gets home? Come on.¡± He walks over, he has grown so tall, they never tell you that you wouldn''t be able to recognise your son once they hit puberty, he isn''t my little baby anymore. ¡°Ew, speak in first person, I''ll help but I seriously do need to study for midterms.¡± He steps beside me, he is now taller than me, i notice him wearing some expensive cologne, i wonder... ¡°Zed... any girls at school you have a crush on?¡± He shoves me playfully, ¡°wouldn''t you like to know? You the crush KGP?¡± ¡°In fact, I am, is your girlfriend expensive? Like that cologne?¡± ¡°If I DID have a girlfriend, which I don''t, she would be very nice, but we wouldn''t be at the stage where we tell our parents.¡± I smile to myself, ¡°right, well tell your imaginary girlfriend she can come by any time.¡± He cuts spring onion, dropping it into the pan with the sizzling mince, ¡°hey uh... can you take care of this? My ankle is killing me again...¡± I walk over to the couch and sit. Zed does so happily, ¡°you ever get that figured out?¡± ¡°Doctors think it''s like, chronic ghost pain.¡± I rub my ankle to soothe it, ¡°like neurological.¡± ¡°Sucks...¡± he doesn''t say anything else and just adds the correct spices and herbs to the sauce, he is such a good chef, he is good at everything. ¡°Hey, when''s dad getting here?¡± ¡°Uh... let me call him.¡± I take out my phone and go to contacts, there''s only 2, dad and zed. I press dad and it rings. ¡°Hey sorry, I can''t pick up right now, leave a message.¡± A beep plays, ¡°Hey uh, its Alice, when will you be back? I swear if you took another late shift, I''ll kill you... love you...¡± I end the message. Zed looks over, ¡°you¡¯re incredibly bipolar with your voice messages.¡± I chuckle a bit, rubbing my ankle, the smell of spices fills my nostrils, I feel at peace. ¡°Mom dinner is ready.¡± ¡°That was quick.¡± I walk over and sit at the table, Zed places the spaghetti in front of me and pours a bit of wine. ¡°Can I have wine?¡± ¡°Yes, just for tonight, it''s my wedding anniversary... so...¡± I drink my wine, savouring it on my tongue, it''s hard to taste for some reason, I must really focus. ¡°Yeah... mom, do you think dad loves us?¡± He takes a sip, spitting it out into the cup, ¡°is this poisoned?¡± ¡°Ah you figured out my master plan heheh...¡± my eyes meet his, ¡°Dad is... well, busy a lot.¡± ¡°I''m old enough to know now.¡± he stabs at his food, he was never good with his fork, bad at holding things.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°He... he loves us.¡± ¡°So, when will I get to meet him?¡± What? ¡°You¡¯ve met him, what¡¯re you talking about.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve said I''ve met him, I don''t... I don''t know if I have.¡± I close my eyes and squeeze them. Then I open them. He takes a sip, spitting it out into the cup, ¡°is this poisoned?¡± ¡°Ah you figured out my master plan heheh...¡± my eyes meet his, ¡°give it to me, mama needs her wine.¡± He takes another sip and gulps, ¡°no, I''m old enough to drink now... in Europe...¡± ¡°If we are taking rules from third world countries maybe I should put you to work in the mines.¡± ¡°Europe is... it''s a continent for one, and there are no third world countries there... besides England.¡± I smile, a small giggle comes from him as he takes another sip, the wine almost gone somehow. ¡°You know... I''m glad it''s just us...¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re the only person I need... mom...¡± we hold hands, the ring on my index finger causing it to be purple, its fine though. ¡°Now, let''s clean up and let me help you study for midterms!¡± ¡°Hm? It''s the holidays mom, I don''t need to study.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know, by study I meant you study how to beat me in poker. Doofus.¡± He takes out poker cards and tokens from his pocket, we play, my eyes are tired so I can''t exactly read what''s on the cards. ¡°All in.¡± he does on the first turn. ¡°tryna beat the master?¡± I go all in too, I lose, he had pocket aces. He celebrates by cooking the spaghetti, I''m on the couch rubbing my ankle. ¡°I''m going to call your father, okay?¡± I grab my phone and call him, it goes to voicemail. ¡°Heya, if you¡¯re hearing this... I''m dead... just kidding! Leave a message.¡± I breathe in, ¡°Hey its Alice, I''m worried you''ll miss our anniversary... Zed misses you...¡± Zed taps the end call button, ¡°don''t lie, I don''t miss him, you¡¯re all I need mom.¡± ¡°Thanks... that''s nice of you to say Zed...¡± ¡°Is it? Because that is a horrible thing to say.¡± He sits beside me, ¡°that ankle, its purple now... should we go to the hospital?¡± I look over at it, it is purple, I look back and zed doesn¡¯t have a face, ¡°it''s fine, happens sometimes.¡± ¡°Okay mom... just stay safe, I''ll be home soon.¡± I end the call with Zed, he was at basketball practice. ¡°I''m hooome!¡± Zed walks in with a bag full of chocolates, ¡°I got the final 3 pointer, my reward was some English chocolates, your mothers Favorites.¡± He sits beside me. ¡°Where the FUCK were you?¡± ¡°Just... with some friends...¡± he shakes as he walks through the door and sits next to me. It¡¯s way too late for him to be out. ¡°Without calling? I WAS WORRIED, I thought you were hurt.¡± I put my arms around him, ¡°sorry... I''m a mess... after your dad died... sorry for yelling...¡± ¡°it''s okay mom... I love you...¡± ¡°Prove it.¡± He takes out a knife and slices his hand in front of me, ¡°there.¡± ¡°You, okay? What happened?¡± I get up and go to the door where Zed walked in bleeding. ¡°I fell on my bike... is it bad?¡± ¡°It should be fine... here run it under water.¡± I take him to the sink and hold him under water, drowning him. He struggles and grabs my wrists, ¡°sorry...¡± is all I can say as the baby in the sink drowns, my own son, I''m sorry, I didn''t want to... I didn''t want to... it''s to get rid of the demon. ¡°ALICE.¡± A man grabs my hand, ¡°WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING... oh god... our son, OUR SON.¡± He pushes me onto the floor. ¡°It was... to get rid of... the demon... had to reset him... it kept showing up in his dreams...¡± ¡°Alice... what did you do...? Why? Why? Why?¡± I close my eyes... back on the balcony... my neck hurts again so I shift positions for the tenth thousand time. ¡°Hey...¡± A man in a suit stands in front of me, on the balcony, ¡°thought I should dress up for our one-year anniversary... let''s bring you back home.¡± Lips on mine, then a pushing on my chest, I spit out what seems like way too much water for my mouth to hold, I gasp, I gasp again, I keep gasping for air, air finds its way into my lungs... all I can get out is a scream, the boy in front of me moves back. My hand grasps at my neck, I push my back into the wall, I''m covered in water, dripping, my mouth opens again to another screech, tears bombard my face, dehydrating me instantly. I breathe for another 2 seconds then return to screaming, I slam my ankle into the ground, my body shifts over and over again, I can''t do this, I can''t do this. I close my eyes, they open again, I scream. I''m taken to the bed, I scream, I have my wet clothes removed, my eyes close, I breathe, I scream, I''m put onto a chair, I''m given a coffee, I sip, I throw, I scream, I''m given chips, I eat, I bite, I bite, bite, my tongue bleeds, I scream. I slam my hand into my head, then again, then again, like a primate, I scream, I breathe, I scream, my body falls to the ground, I scream, I''m hugged, I scream, I fall onto a lap, I breathe, I sob, I scream. One year of nothing ended in a second. Chapter 17: Energy drink Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Chapter 18: A rock and a soft place ¡°No.¡± He steps back, giving me more space, ¡°suit yourself, bit rude.¡± He takes off his backpack and gives me a marble. ¡°Swallow.¡± The marble feels unnecessarily heavy for its size, its tinged blue with a yellow swirl within it, ¡°what is it?¡± ¡°it''ll heal your ankle and shit, got it from floor 262.¡± He stands a bit towards me, ¡°that''s why you didn''t want to fuck, right? You were hurt?¡± Once he places a hand on my shoulder I step back. After a few paces I feel confident enough to speak, hoping to bargain some deal and buy time, ¡°maybe, but first give me information, what is this place?¡± ¡°Youve never been in a trap floor? Are you new?¡± ¡°No, I''m not new, I just stay on higher floors, 297.¡± ¡°Why not 288? Traveling with someone?¡± No clue how those two relate. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°I get that, pretty lucky guy or girl, to be traveling with you... too bad we are both dead, hope you said your goodbyes.¡± He sits down, leaving the bag beside him, he whistles painfully. ¡°Yeah...¡± this guy seems like a dickhead, but he also seems experienced, ¡°you ever... seen the waving man?¡± ¡°Hm? Yeah? What do you want to know?¡± ¡°How, how do I get rid of it.¡± ¡°You have it? Oh, then you¡¯re fucked, have you died yet?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Well, if you weren''t trapped here, you would go down to the floor you saw it and kill it, do you remember the room codes near your home? For the coordinates?¡± ¡°Coordinates?¡± ¡°You ARE new, aren''t you?¡± His whole demeanour changes, like he feels a lot more powerful than me, knowing I''m not a veteran here. ¡°I''m not new, been here 20 years, I just like to stay put on higher floors...¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± He doesn''t believe me and steps forward. ¡°Just tell me about the coordinates, please.¡± ¡°Hm... I could, I very much could. I''m not evil, and I know it''s not ¡®culturally appropriate¡¯ to say this, but you don''t have the capacity to understand the coordinate system.¡± Fuck this guy. He steps closer, I take a sidestep, trying to slowly reach his backpack, I think he notices but doesn''t try to stop me. ¡°What''s your plan here? Kill me and then die? This room will squish us soon.¡± He pushes himself onto the wall, this hallway does seem a lot narrower, ¡°you¡¯re so dumb, its cute.¡± I take another step to the side, he steps towards the bag, ¡°okay, then let''s fight, you get a knife I get my hands.¡± He reaches into the bag and for a knife that seems more like a small machete. He is treating this whole thing like a game, guess that''s what happens after you die enough, nothing feels serious. He holds it out, ¡°okay let''s start on the opposite sides of the wall,¡± I take it from his loosening hands, ¡°alright, thre-¡± I slice at his skull.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°FUCK YOU.¡± I pull my arms back and slam the sharp end into him, straddling his body that fell to the floor, his arms go up, shaking a bit, ¡°FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU.¡± I speak as a mantra as I repeatedly hit him, his arms drop and rest by his sides, turns out I had a lot of anger boiling. He should''ve realised I''m new enough to not treat everything like a game yet, what a dumbass. My breathing gets unsteady again, ¡°JUST SHUT UP.¡± I start slamming the knife machete against his chest, the spray getting in my eyes and mouth, he doesn''t even move anymore, clearly a dead body, probably was dead by the second time I hit him. I lay down on top of him, a soft small whimper or laugh bubbles to the surface, god damn it. I grab his arms and squeeze them like stress balls, this doesn''t even feel good, I just feel pissed, like after you throw a phone at the wall in anger then get angrier at it breaking. Just to be clear, I am not a psycho, I''m not crazy, I''m normal, any normal person would do this. I know I kind of cheated, and he probably expected me to at least play along a little bit, but no. I get off him and look in his bag, I truly do wonder if this marble heals me, or if it was like a paralysing drug, ill test it once I''m out, if I get out. The walls are about the width of one dead English human body lying down, when they used to be two dead English human bodies lying down, cool. The bag has some very interesting items, floor 260 he said, the items seem a lot more practical, there''s a glowing glowstick that glows far too much, perfect for this situation in the dark so I flop it over onto his dead body, giving him a green hue that he should get used to, since he''s a corpse and all. There are some good bandages, real ones, what looks to be a sling shot, another machete, a few more marbles in a bag, one green and one yellow, ¡®happy pills,¡¯ which ill have fun with later and a ton of snacks. Nothing to stop the wall from crushing me, so that''s fun. I hear the slam of a door, like someone had just walked in through a staircase, ¡°ZEE?¡± My voice comes out slightly manic. ¡°Alice!¡± He screams, running over, like an idiot. ¡°NO, NO GO BACK, GO BACK TO THE STAIRCASE, KEEP IT THERE.¡± I see him turn the corner around the hallway and run towards me, all in the green lit darkness, he hugs me like I''m a teddybear, ¡°alice!¡± He squeezes harder, seeing the dead man behind me while peaking beyond my waist. I am beyond annoyed right now, I know he doesn''t know English too well, but it seems like he just actively ignored me. ¡°let''s go, come on.¡± I push him towards where he came from, hoping the staircase is still there, knowing it won''t be. Knowing this world just hates the easy way out, we make the turn and to his surprise and to my fake surprise, it''s not there, the walls small enough that it''s bending the dead bodies legs upwards. ¡°Okay.¡± I walk back and put the bag around my shoulder, ¡°Zee.¡± I hold a finger gun at the wall, ¡°bang?¡± His mouth opens then closes, seemingly unamused by the idea, he holds his arm out and speaks a small ¡®bang¡¯ into existence, all it does is push air around, none of the wall was destroyed. ¡°Why didn''t that work? Zee, destroy the wall, now.¡± I grab his shoulder and point at the wall, ¡°now.¡± ¡°I am... uh... uh...¡± he doesn''t know the words, of course he doesn''t, it would be convenient if we could communicate like human beings. I grip my machete and slice it into the wall, the paint ripping off easily. He just stares at my violent attack towards the wall, I barely get anywhere with the hard wood on the other side, ¡°ZEE, BANG!¡± I yell at his face. He tries to find ways to convey his words yet again, failing. Fantastic. The wall is basically the width of me arms if I hold them out ¡°DESTROY THE WALL ZEE.¡± I scream again, pulling his arm to face the wall. ¡°Bang.¡± A gust of air shoots out, but nothing happens again, I grab a little tighter before letting go, okay, think, think, my plan right now is to get to that squishy void, Hoping it''ll somehow send us somewhere else if we get crushed into it, just like that fork how it got sucked into it. Does Zee need an actual target? All the times before he has had a definitive object to destroy, a monster, a tv, an egg sack and face spiders, all disconnected. I begin to scrape the paint off in a door shape, showing of the hard wood behind it, please work. The walls can barely allow any arm movement for Zee anymore, I hear a sick crunching sound from the corpse beside us. I get the door fully scraped away, ¡°Zee... Door, bang.¡± He holds his hand and touches the wood, ¡°door.¡± and the wood disappears like it was cut out of reality, leaving a black squishy void, I was not expecting that. I place both our bodies in between it, a rock and a soft place, I wonder what''s beyond this, I hope it''s not something stupid. My bag pushes roughly into my back, it feels like my face is being smothered by a pillow making it hard to breathe, I swear if I die from smothering, I would have officially died in the two most painful ways, actually burning is pretty bad I''m fairly sure. I stop being able to breathe in, Zee is probably feeling the exact same, it hurts, it really does hurt, my nose feels like it''s about to break, everything feels like it''s about to break, is everything breaking? And then something pulls me in, like a vacuum. Chapter 19: Waiting room There is red text placed boldly on the wall saying ¡®WAITING ROOM, WAIT.¡¯ And then an arrow pointing to chairs, I look down at Zee who is shaking a bit by my leg and pat his back. The room is fully white, the walls are made of the roof and the roof is made of the floor, all a white glossy perfect material. I¡¯m suddenly not covered in blood, I feel weirdly clean everywhere. I usher Zee to sit on the chairs, not really wanting to disobey whatever power may be in here, this is incredibly strange. I sit in a chair by the corner and Zee sits right beside me, hanging off one of the chair arms towards me. ¡°Are you okay Zee?¡± He doesn¡¯t speak, I think he is a bit mad at me for being so pushy and screechy. ¡°Sorry¡­¡± I say softly towards him, I can¡¯t explain but it feels like I¡¯m calm here. Right after that one year dream I felt incredibly on edge, like I had a giant fan blowing me off a roof and I had to balance on my tippy toes to not fall off into a pit of anger, but here I feel fine. ¡°Next.¡± Me and Zee are called to stand up, the green cushioned chairs squeak as we move, there is now a reception desk in the middle of the room, where a blonde haired girl with freckles sits tapping at her computer. I walk over, ¡°uhm hey.¡± She snaps her fingers ¡°I do the talking.¡± She types for a few seconds as I nod, ¡°what floor were you on?¡± I think for a moment. ¡°Floor zero¡­ so close to escaping¡­ can you send us back?¡± This is a far reach of a lie but I¡¯m hoping this works. She looks directly at me, her blue eyes are magnificent, just overall beauty, her accent is a bit confusing but it sounds like she is from Greece. ¡°Oh so you¡¯re a liar?¡± She looks back at the computer and types. ¡°No I¡¯m not lying, Zee tell her, what floor zero looked like.¡± Zee looks over at me, ¡°zero¡­ elevator, beep, vrmmmm, makes up.¡± He does the whole elevator thing again. Embarrassing me severely. ¡°Well I¡¯m convinced.¡± The woman speaks sarcastically, ¡°elevators usually don¡¯t stay on the same floor, so tell me, what floor were you on?¡± I step forward and lean over the reception desk, ¡°why don¡¯t you tell me why we are here?¡± ¡°You caused an issue, I¡¯m trying to figure out what you did.¡± She swivels her chair to lean in close enough that I can see her pores. ¡°Did you make this place?¡± I should be angry right now but I¡¯m not, this place is so calming. ¡°No? I just work here, information gatherer. So tell me, what. Floor.¡± ¡°293, a trap floor, someone called it that at least.¡± She types for a few seconds, ¡°ah, Alice right?¡± She stands up and goes to a printer ¡°forgive me but our file on you is incredibly small.¡± Something prints out, a small contract. ¡°Sign here.¡± She points at the bottom ¡®sign¡¯ box. I read it, it states that I will forget the time I spent here after the rewards have been used up, I have collected 65 reward tokens over my time here and I can use them in the game room, it also includes that I¡¯ll have to explain the way I got here so the higher-ups can fix the issue. Once my time here is spent we will be sent back to the floor we were on, in a safe position. ¡°What is this?¡± Is all I can say. ¡°What is what?¡± She seems genuinely confused, tapping at the paper. ¡°So did someone make this place?¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m just as confused as you are.¡± She shrugs ¡°sign.¡± I grab a pencil from a holder, ¡°what if I don¡¯t sign it?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll be here forever? Feel free.¡± She leans back in the chair with a posture that will definitely become an issue in years to come. ¡°What about Zee?¡± She gets up and leans down ¡°oh? Uh, let me check his file, he¡¯s a natural born correct?¡± She types on the computer. ¡°Natural born?¡± ¡°Someone born here, through pregnancy. You know his mother or father?¡± I click my tongue, ¡°no clue.¡± She types for a few more moments, her eyes scanning the screen, ¡°no file, you don¡¯t exist Zee, isn¡¯t that cool? That means no contract for you.¡± Zee steps back a bit, ¡°mom¡­ is Erida¡­¡± The girl at the desk seems confused and types at the computer again, ¡°right, well, okay. Which child?¡± ¡°Zee...¡± ¡°26th... okay.¡± She goes to the printer and creates a contract, its in a language I¡¯ve never seen before. He signs it quickly and it burns in front of us, I then sign mine, it does the same burning process. ¡°Great, walk into that green door over there into the game room, and when you are ready you can tell me how you got here and leave. Please remember injury is on you and food is not included, have fun.¡± She waves as I stagger to the door, all this calmness has made my ankle completely numb, it¡¯s not even painful. We walk into the game room, greeted by 4 different coloured doors, each one having a word on it ¡®mind, body, soul and faith.¡¯ In this room there is a token dispensing machine and a vending machine, it has a common area with seats and desks, much like a small cafeteria. Zee walks over to the token machine and it presses a button, it says his balance is 0. ¡°That¡¯s okay¡­¡± I press the button and withdraw my 65 tokens, apparently they accrue depending on how much you suffer. The coins are little metallic gold ones, pretty heavy. I hand him 30 and he goes straight to the vending machine which was full of full coarse meals, his face painted with excitement, it makes sense my cooking is absolutely horrible. The selections were all the big ones, all of humanities best hits. I get some Chicago style pizza because it seemed the most nutritious to share with Zee, set me back 5 tokens. I grabbed some water cups and filled them with the water dispenser, cool. ¡°What¡¯s?¡± He points at the thing we are eating at the table as we settle in. ¡°Pizza.¡± ¡°Pizza is good.¡± He smiles as he takes a slice and practically swallows it whole. ¡°Slow.¡± I show myself eating slowly, this is some proper real food and I¡¯m not going to disrespect it. ¡°Slow.¡± He repeats and eats at a reasonable pace. While he is eating I look through my bag and take out the marbles, specifically the one the man said would heal me. I stare at it while moving it between my fingers, eventually I just decide to swallow it down with some tap water in my plastic cup. What¡¯s the worst that could happen? Nothing happened, oh. I just shrug and eat more pizza, Zee watched this whole thing play out and doesn¡¯t seem to care too much. Actually he seems a lot more quiet than usual, he normally tries to talk and learn English, but currently, nothing. I feel a faint tingling in my fingers, like my blood pressure is spiking, my body jerks a bit and muscles keep moving without my will. Pins and needles cover my whole body and I fall backwards. ¡°Alice!¡± Zee runs over to be beside me, I suddenly feel fine. ¡°It¡¯s okay¡­¡± I look at my finger, it looks normal but feels incredibly strange, I feel like I have little creatures inside of me fixing me. I stand up and feel great, ¡°okay, let¡¯s check out these things.¡± I smile as I make my way to the 4 weirdly coloured doors. Body, mind and soul cost 20 to get in, the faith door costs 30. I¡¯m going in mind¡­ I think? Actually no, mind might bring back that balcony, I don¡¯t know if these doors are positive or not, the nice food could be a misdirection. ¡°I¡¯m going into the body door.¡± Safest option, at worse it¡¯ll just physically torture me hopefully, I¡¯m fine with that. Zee chooses the faith door for whatever reason, I don¡¯t know what it could include. I put each token in separately, it clinks after every single one like an arcade machine. After 20 I hear a soft click and I can turn the handle on the door, great, this is so strange. I look over at Zee who is still inserting coins, ¡°maybe wait until I get back? Just to see if it¡¯s safe?¡± I say, he doesn¡¯t seem to understand and continues to put in coins. Whatever, I walk into the dark room the door leads into, it slams behind me harshly. ¡°Okay? You going to torture me now?¡± I yell, there¡¯s no echo so this room can¡¯t be that big. A tv lights up, a cute cartoon character with a high pitched voice speaks, it¡¯s a weird blue human thing on a CTR screen. ¡°Heya! Welcome to body! This is where you can finally test your limits for rewards¡­ but first! Let¡¯s check if you¡¯re cheating!¡± Suddenly my backpack gets deleted, the weight displacement almost making me fall over. ¡°It seems like you have a Gieia orb activated in your body! That is cheating! Do you accept these terms?¡± I walk towards the screen which now shows an ¡®agreement.¡¯ It says ¡®survive 10 minutes and have Gieia orb active for life (weaker). Challenge (HARD). Lose penalty: left arm GONE.¡¯ Do I just tap yes? I feel like this is a no brainer, having that healing thing constantly activated? Is this some stupid joke? That¡¯s objectively a great idea. Losing my left arm would suck, but I¡¯d just get it back after death. I tap yes. The blue mascot comes back. ¡°Yay! You have accepted the challenge! The game room has begun, prepare yourself!¡± The walls flash white. Chapter 20: An attraction for time loops. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Chapter 21: Olympiad. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Chapter 22: Seize me Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.