Page 50 of Possess Us
My hand rests on the door handle. But ahead, another door slowly clicks open. And with a creak, it widens.
‘Not creepy at all,’ I tell myself in a painfully high pitch I can’t control. ‘And in no way ominous.’
Looking at the door, I know precisely where I’m supposed to go. Where the house and the demon stalking its halls want me to go.
‘I really fucking hate spiders.’ I force myself to take a step forward. ‘Why did I take my shoes off?’
The spiders like to make a point of scuttering over my feet. All those tiny legs. I shudder and try hard not to look or think about it. Especially when I stand on them. The crunching… eurgh!
Rats brush past my ankles, and when I pass three rats happily eating a woman's fingers, exposing the bone as she watches me pass with wide eyes, I can’t help it. I go to help. To kick the rats away and help her up.
I get held fast by an invisible force, like someone has a firm grip on me. Hot breath lands on my neck, and a whisper warns me.
‘Do not disappoint me. You will regret nothing more.’
It’s a whisper. One filled with warning. And one which forces utter terror into me. Fills me with it. Paralyses me with it!
I’m released, and the icy fear dissipates. With a final look at those still on the ground, I walk towards the open door. The spiders and rats letting me pass without overwhelming me.
And I step into the next room with a relieved sigh.
Of course, the door slams shut behind me on its own. A cold shiver passes me, and I swear I hear a child giggle.
‘Ok. So you’re actually a haunted house. I get it!’ I quickly brush off the last of the spiders, stand straight, shudder again, and face whatever comes next.
It’s a long corridor with metal doors. Above them are security monitors showing the patients inside. I walk on, every instinct telling me to run. That evil isn’t simply walking the halls but seeping out of the foundations.
Each cell has a patient inside. And they are far from actors. They scream and cry, trapped inside straitjackets. Hurling themselves against the walls of their padded cells.
‘Let me out! Let me out!’
I know that if I help them, there will be consequences. And I’m running out of time. Determined, I make my way down the hall and turn a corner.
The next room is deafening with the sound of electricity. More flashing lights as I see what I guess is supposed to be electroshock therapy. Only it’s a man, a very real man, strapped into a chair being electrocuted. I keep running. I pass half-eaten corpses. A woman dressed as a ghost, clutching her body and rocking back and forth. I stumble into a hospital ward illuminated only by candles and the lightning flashing outside the windows. On the beds are what I assume are park guests, as they are dressed in costume. There’s a clown. A ballerina in black. A prisoner in an orange jumpsuit. But all of them have been operated on. Bandages cover large parts of their bodies. Metal instruments of torture have been secured to mangled limbs. One has had her eyes and tongue removed. All are strapped down and writhe in pain.
‘Willllloooow…’ a deep voice calls from behind me.
I run away from the voice. From this room of hell, and into another.
The next room holds jars of body parts floating in discoloured liquid. The blood all over the floor tells me they are very real and fresh body parts.
On the wall are torsos with random arms and legs stitched onto them. One has three fucking heads.
Their eyes watch me, and their fingers twitch!
This is some sick and twisted kind of experiment. My throat is unbearably tight, and I am running on pure fear and adrenaline, shaking from head to toe.
They all leap from the wall and scuttle after me, their limbs disjointed and flailing about, their mouths open in a perpetual scream.
‘GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!’ I scream. I run.
I have no idea where I’m running to. No idea what is chasing me. It feels like everything is. The rooms all start to blur. Lights flash. The screams come from the speakers and the air. A siren begins to wail, and some airhorns warn of disaster. The scenes in this haunted walkthrough have come alive, stealing the guests for their sick tableaus, making them real. Making them hell on earth.
I fall into a room flooded with blue light, landing face down.
I swallow the urge to make any sound when I push myself up.
I’m in a fucking morgue. An entire wall is filled with drawers. Pale feet stick out of each and every one.
