Well, I can confidently say it wasn’t my best day. After having been fired from my job last week I didn’t really know what to do anymore, and I know it wasn’t the most prestigious job in the world or anything but it gave me a sense of purpose. Not knowing what to do from now on I took up walking around for extensive periods of time for hobby, at least to distract myself. That was about 3 days ago now. I know, I could get a new job but I don’t think I have the mental power for that whole ordeal yet. Anyhow, as I said, I took up walking to distract myself. However, it ended up having the opposite effect, thinking I was going to be more relaxed, I ended up being more grumpy than ever, constantly complaining about the small problems I face. But I pushed through and continued in hope of eventually finding peace. After a few days I decided to take my strolls from the town to the forest, and today, was my first there. It wasn’t really the best but at least I can say it was better than the town.
After wondering around for a few hours, I took notice in something. It looked like a huge tower, maybe a factory or maybe it was just the sun itself with its shine. Coming closer, it turned out that the huge impressive building I saw while walking through the pitch blackness of the damp cold night was a school. Its lights illuminated every nook and cranny, ridiculing the sombre silent cloak of the night like a persistent mustard stain on funeral attire. The forest was still dark but it felt brighter in my inner world, I was baffled, what on earth was this huge school doing in the middle of the forest? I couldn’t hear anyone nearby and the last time I had seen someone was hours ago. At first, I was stoked on entering the school, finally something interesting was happening! But as I approached the door, the reality of the situation started setting onto me, what was I doing, this is surely dangerous, why is this place even here and this looks like the perfect scenario for a horror movie. With these thoughts I leaped back and took another look at the impressive building, the fear was strong but the intrigue was stronger. After debating with myself for what felt like hours, I ran up to the door, closed my eyes and threw myself into the unknown.
The moment I was inside, the ambience suddenly shifted. The sound of nature and the rain outside faded quickly and a strange melody took its place. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere, yet nowhere at the same time, could you even call it a melody. It was more like noises, almost coherent but not quite. Being honest, It was oddly calming. I started to proceed further inside, all the doors inside were differently colored and I couldn’t find anything inside except the classroom doors and an old cafeteria. It looked like no one had been here for a good while, maybe years or even decades. The elevator wasn’t functional, there were 4 buttons on it but none of them worked and I couldn’t seem to find a staircase anywhere in sight. With no other choice, I decided to go to the classrooms. All the doors were shut but unlocked which creeped me out ever so slightly.
After walking back and fourth in front of the doors for a bit I decided on going into the red one, it looked like it had a pattern engraved onto it but I couldn’t make it out. Taking a big breath, I shut my eyes and opened the door. When I opened them back, I can surely say I was not expecting the sight I was witnessing right now, I was in a… train station? How was this even possible? Well I still had the door I came from behind me which was a bit calming but I was still freaking out big time. I could’ve gone back, I wish I had gone back but the call of the void was so strong that I had to stay and explore, where was I? After walking up some stairs I found I ended up in the main hub area of the train station. Going further I could swear I noticed some people in the distance and started sprinting towards them. However, as I got closer, they started to look less human. They were pale, paler than anyone I had seen before and they were staring directly into me. They were so thin that you could mistake them for being 2 dimensional. I stopped, the white creatures were still looking at me, were they even human? They had the proportions but nothing else matched, their cold lifeless eyes following every little movement I made. Sweat was pouring down my body like it was raining, I couldn’t bear being around them, they weren’t human, they weren’t even close to being human. It disgusted me. I was so overwhelmed that I didn’t notice I passed out until I woke up. After regaining consciousness I could still see the creatures. They hadn’t moved an inch. I was a bit relieved, they could’ve done anything to me yet they hadn’t even moved. Maybe they were peaceful or were just unable to move, who knows? They still weren’t showing any signs of life other than their eyes always looking at me, but I could feel that they were alive. After staying with them for a few seconds, I decided it would be best to head back to the school, if it was even possible now. A bit of backtracking later I was back at the door and to my surprie, everything worked out and I was back at the school now. I knew I had to do something, I couldn’t just act like I didn’t see anything just now but I was going to keep it to myself just for now.
The next door that caught my eye was a bright cyan one this time. It didn’t have any decorations or patterns on it, just a plain old door. It was welcoming in a way. I went in hoping for the best. When I could see again, it felt like I was in hell. Everything was red, the sky, the grass and even the tiny shack I could see over the distance, all bloodshot red, and what were those things? They looked like dogs but something was terribly wrong. They were as thin as the lifeless husks from the train station but they were, on brand with everything else in this hellish landscape, colored red. Their faces were disfigured and you could see their bones poking out throughout their bodies. I should have been scared, this was the worst thing I had seen in my life but after the last encounter I couldn’t do anything but be amazed. I wasn’t scared, I was interested. The dogs weren’t moving, so I assumed they were like the previous guys and wouldn’t attack me so it wasn’t that bad now. At least I didn’t faint this time. I quickly remembered about the shack I had seen a few minutes ago and started heading towards it. Inside, I was met with what seemed like a bird, a crow if I’m correct. Unlike any other thing it seemed like it could be picked up and moved, unlike all the other stagnant entities I’ve seen so far. Wanting to bring back something to the school, I had a formal agreement with myself on taking the crow with me but when I grabbed the bird, it felt like a pound of flesh inside my hand, it was so mushy that I instantly disfigured it by accident and it fell apart into lumps of flesh shortly after. I don’t think I can say that was the most comfortable experience I had ever had. Heading outside of the shack I stared into the bright red sky, trying to forget the thing I had just witnessed with my own two eyes. But to be honest, I love this place. I can’t quite point down what makes me feel like this but I could spend my whole life in this little world.
Maybe it had been seconds, minutes, hours or even days but I still had no intention of leaving. This was the best I had felt as far as I can remember and nothing could ruin it… Except one small problem, hunger. Knowing there was no way in hell I was eating the remains of that crow I remembered about that cafeteria I found at the school. I was upset to leave this beautifully hellish dimension but I cant really do anything about survival instincts, that’s how mother nature wrote it. Now, back at the school I headed right on to the cafeteria, I knew there probably wasn’t going to be anything edible over there but it was my only shot. When I arrived there, unsurprisingly, there was nothing but moldy goo. I wonder what this used to be before it spoiled so bad. But I wasn’t giving up so easily, I got up and started searching around for something, anything. I didn’t have that much hope but there wasn’t anything I could do, I could feel my stomach begging me to eat something. And right as i was about to give up, I saw it. I saw hope. This was my savior. A lonely little freezer, still plugged in after all these years behind some counters. I dashed right to it and saw that it had some dough that looked like it was still edible. With pure primal instincts I dug into the dough, finally the feeling of my stomach being sucked out of my body was gone and my whole body felt alive again. Even with just being plain dough a meal that saves your life always tastes better by a tenfold.
After finishing I wanted to head back to my reddish personal hell but right as I was getting up something behind the freezer peaked my interest. It looked like there was a hidden door, sealed away behind the freezer, without hesitation I started pushing the giant hunk of steel away to see what it actually was and accidentally dropped it, causing a mighty loud noise but there weren’t anyone to get mad about it anyway. Looking back, it was clearly a door, a pitch black one, you couldn’t even make out where the handle was. With my interest at an all-time high, I flung opened the door and found myself on the flipside shortly after.
At first, I couldn’t make out anything inside but could definitely feel something touching my legs. Being provoked, I tried to stomp it but noticed the I couldn’t move. It was stuck in some sort of incredibly viscose liquid. Taking a step was near impossible and even when I did, an unknown would put me back into my place. Naturally, I was scared out of my mind but I tried not to faint this time since falling into this gooey mess would be the end of me. After struggling for so long I could feel the dough inside my system start to run out which prompted me to give up, if I just stayed still I could preserve more energy and maybe find a way out of this pickle I put myself in.
Having been here for what felt like an eternity my eyes finally started adjusting to the darkness and I could finally make out my surroundings. The walls and ceiling were covered in endless red swirls, it was almost hypnotizing but even looking at it was giving me a headache so I tried my best to look elsewhere, and elsewhere I looked for so long I was looking everywhere I could from here to find the damned door that brought me here but it wasn’t anywhere in sight. After sparing the time and energy to say some words that cannot be disclosed here, the weight of the situation finally hit me like a truck.
What was I doing, what was I here, how is this even possible? Was I being pranked or had i stumbled upon an experiment? Was any of this even real, am I real? Will I be left here to rot? I wanted to cry, I wanted to give up and I wanted to act like nothing even happened but to no avail, there wasn’t anything that could be done. Finally defeated, I laid down in the liquid that bested me and accepted my fate closing my eyes and thinking about how it was all about to be over soon. Soon enough, I could feel that I was ascending, this was it, I had died. All my life’s work, all my ambitions and progress gone at an instant. But I didn’t have to worry anymore, after all I was dead, right? I was still ascending up but suddenly, it stopped, now we were going sideways. With sudden shock I opened my eyes and realized, I was not dead just yet. Something emerging from the liquid was carrying me onto a piece of land I could hardly make out in the distance. Looks like I had to submit to the liquid for it to accept me and let me proceed. After being dropped off onto the land, I could see another door, unlike the pitch-black door that brought me to here, it was a bright white one, pretty much the polar opposite of the one I came from. Still distraught by the fact that I was alive I couldn’t think of much else to do and hopped right through the door hoping for the best.
Coming out, I was met with a new surprise. I was no longer in the school but was in the forest I was taking a walk in before finding it. I could still see the huge building from over here so the school was real but everything that just happened, I’m not so sure. It was also daytime by now; I had spent at least a day or two in there but I didn’t want to worry about it anymore. It was time to get back into the flow of life but maybe one day, in the future, I could visit the school back.