Fear

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.

I awoke to the sound of what I thought was a heartbeat monitor. Actually, it probably was, but looking back I wasn't so sure. I opened my dreary eyes, only to be blinded by the bright light of the ceiling light. I covered them with my tired hands to block out the strong light, pain singing into my eyes. After the light cleared, I was met with what looked like a hospital room. But there was something wrong with the room.

Something entirely wrong.

The whole room was what I though looked out of place in numerous spots. Firstly, the light was busted and flickered in random intervals, making the rest of the room dark. With the exception of the window, which only showed a glowing moon guarded by slowly waving dead branches, there was no other light source. It was hard to look at certain places without giving it a second thought of what it is.

I then noticed that there was nobody here to greet me, or to give me the reason why I was here. I couldn't remember what led me here, or why I was injured in anyway. For good measure, I lifted my blanket. Instead of finding out what my injuries were, I found that I was wearing my regular clothes; my black hoodie, my regular pair of jeans, my green sneakers, and my fingerless gloves.

"How did I get here," I said to myself quietly as I lifted my self up. There was no noticeable pain as I propped myself on the edge of the bed, and there wasn't anything that was really noteworthy when it came to pain. As I sat, I searched my memories for anything that I can remember, so maybe I can get an answer to all of this.

Suddenly the memories started flooding back in. I remembered that I was walking to my house after a gloomy day, and just as I wrapped my hands around the door knob, my vision was consumed by total darkness. I felt and heard my body dropping to the floor just as I lost consciousness.

As I scanned the dark room, I noticed a little table that doctors would use to keep their tools. I was curious, but I was not willing to get off the bed, as I felt that it would be okay once the doctor or a nurse came. Minutes passed, and yet there was still no one there to greet me. I was still here, all alone on a bed in a cold hospital room.

Wait, I thought to myself. Why am I waiting for someone if they're not obviously coming?

Getting off the bed and briefly stretching my bones, I walked to the table so I could study it further. On the table laid out was an assortment of items. There was a regular flashlight with two extra batteries, three rolls of bandages and lastly my leather over the shoulder bag which I used often.

I wondered briefly why these items were here, but I discarded those thoughts and picked up the flashlight with one hand and shoved the two batteries into my hoodie pocket with the other. I got the bag and put the strap over my shoulder, and then I grabbed the bandages and put them in my bag.

I headed over to the door, eager to exit the uncomfortable room. My hand grasped on to the door knob. I twisted, not quite sure what I was getting myself into. I pushed the door open, and I was met with a semi lit hallway. When I mean semi, I mean that some of the lights are broken and the ones that do happen to work were flickering, just like the ones in the previous room.

Like before, the air was just as cold as in the other room. There were no windows, and the floor was massively dusty. It was almost as if like the building was never used for years. Scanning the narrow hallway, I found a small fire axe propped against the wall. For some strange reason, I picked it up and studied it. I had an odd feeling that I would be using it somehow, but I wasn't sure why.

With my flashlight in one hand and the fire axe in the other, I headed out into the hallways. Navigating the hallways was almost like a rat maze; there was no map, so I was wandering the halls with no idea where these would lead me.

I raised the flashlight up and I took some time to think. There was some working lights, but they were flickering, but not in quick successions. I wondered; What happens if they go out and I've wasted my batteries in a mostly lit hallway. I made up my mind. I did not turn on the flashlight and placed it into my bag.

Walking through the hallways, with the only sounds being the echoes my footsteps and the lights flickering, I decided to check the doors to the side and see if they were open.

First door, locked.

Second door, locked.

Third, locked, fourth, locked.

I checked every door and I came to the conclusion that they were all locked, for one reason or another that I couldn't figure out. When I got to the halfway point of the hallway when they usually split into two paths, to the left or right and forward. However, the path ahead was blocked by a barricade of benches and beds. I raised an eyebrow and started to investigate for a better look.

Before I could even take a few steps forward, I heard something moving from behind the makeshift barricade I jumped at the sound, considering that I didn't hear anything the entire time I was in this hospital. Looking at the barricade, I decided to yell out and see if there was somebody that was behind it.

"Hello?! Is there somebody over there?!” I shouted, expecting a human voice to reply to me. Instead, I was only meet with more movement from the barricade and then silence.

Unnerved, I turn to the other direction and in front of me lying on the floor was an opened red box with a white cross on the lid. Looking inside, I found a bandage and a morphine syringe. I put both of those items into my bag I moved onward. Soon, in front of me was a set of metal door with rusted push bars. I opened the door, revealing another long hallway, completely dark with no light source at all. I took the flashlight out of my bag and flicked it on, the light shining at the ground.

I saw something. Upon closer inspection, the light shone to a small pool of blood on the floor. I took a double take, until something else caught my attention. I shone the flashlight at the celling. I could see a open vent, some blood trickling down to the puddle on the ground.

There is a dead body.

There was a fucking dead body. I almost threw up on to the puddle on the ground. The body was of some brown horse like creature with a unicorn horn on its head. It was looking at me with lifeless, almost human eyes as no life stared at me. I stared at it until something else happened that gave me chills.

I hear something crawl in the vent and then, I'm not lying here, something drags the strange horse like creature off into the depths of the vents.

I stared in shock at what just happened. Shock soon turned to terror as I heard something moving in the vents as metallic thumps banged and echoed in the dark hallway. I darted away from the vents, not wanting to know what was in those vents. I turned my head and shone my flashlight to the end of the hallway. There was an elevator that looked like it was still in working shape. The sound of something moving in the vents became closer as I ran like hell to the elevator.

Making it to the elevator, I saw something drop down from the vent. I panicked. Inside the elevator, I pressed random buttons, not caring where it was going to take me. Pressing them didn't work. I kept on bashing the board, insanely hoping that the elevator would close. I pressed a random button and suddenly the door started to close. I shined my flashlight in front of me, lighting up the thing in the hallway.

I fucking see it. It was like the horse creature that was dragged away in the vents. It crawled in a spider like position on its four hoofs. Its mouth was wide open and stared at me with one empty black eye and the other eye was bloodshot, with pinprick black pupils and twitched erratically.

I praised to god that the elevator door was closing. As the elevator door closed, the creatures two front hoofs opened the door slightly as it tried to stick its hoofs into the doorway. It growled at me, making some gurgling sound. Eventually, it poked its head into the elevator, trying to bite a part of my skin. Its mane was straightened out and slightly purple, although I have never seen a horse look like that before.

Its attempts to get me were in vain, however, as the elevator door closed on its head, spraying my face with blood. Its head rolled in a way that made its one bloodshot eye stare at me as the life of the horse, or maybe even a pony, died.

I dropped down against the wall, every single one of my senses in shock. I stared blankly at the things eyes, and it stared back. I used my shaking foot to roll the head in the opposite direction so I wouldn't have to see that horrifying image any longer. I was shaking uncontrollably, a constant stream of sweat rolling down my face.

My goal was crystal clear at that point; getting out of this hellhole of a hospital.

I slowly got up, rising up to my to feet. Suddenly, the elevator door opens and reveals another winding hallway in front of me. At the end of the hallway, with my flashlight, written on the wall in blood, was the single phrase:

Fear