13.

The world was dark and silent. He was waiting. The darkness house ghosts who were swaying around, pitying the luck of this unfortunate, and preparing to feast. For the forces of hell have seized the bell, the hour of evil has begun. Devil has now eclipsed thy father, and thus, the children shall scream and run.

A low hum. What? It's quiet, it was just his imagination. The sound of a water- drop. Silence. The ground under his feet quivered. No, nothing. Only the water-drop. The darkness feels different. Mechanical beeping came from inside the room. There is something...wrong. Slowly, he turns his head and looks over his shoulder. A red dot in the darkness. His head shot back straight. His breath paused. He turned around. The red dot in the darkness. The sound of a water-drop. Is it his imagination?

The red dot moved. Wait, really?

He closed his eyes—black. He opened his eyes—the red dot. It moved again. It's moving towards him. He can't move, his feet were glued to the floor. It's coming closer. He's trying but he can't move. The chains of fear have seized him, like a black snake, coiling around his body, and he is waiting...waiting for the snake to bite his head off.

The red dot became a red pea when it stopped against his foot. James's hand, unconsciously, went down and picked it up. James brought it closer and his eye reflected the red. It weighed more than it looked. He saw it was actually a small red bulb, and in its faint light he saw its four tiny feet moving. He gasped and threw it away. It fell and disappeared in the gloomy darkness it come from.

Now James was down, breathing hard, his palms on his knees. He had never felt so disgusted before. His stomach was stirring, he thought he might vomit.

Again, the darkness stirred. The water-drop's sound ceased. The darkness was angry. It seemed to be getting the faintest of red. James was still on his knees when red luminescence lit up his face. He looked up. Lit in the red shadow, he saw, the thin corridor, the clothes and a wheelchair, and plants. The holes in the walls, the portraits hanging, the closed overhead lights on the ceiling. This dim redness was getting brighter by the instant.

The hum got louder. The ground trembled and from the corner a flood of thousands of red bulb thingies flowed in like a tide.

14.

It was coming for him. The flood splashed down and rose, consuming all that fell under it. James felt it's filling and rising to the ceiling and that he's about to drown in it. He started to run, but the tide was faster. It fell on him and consumed him. James felt a great weight pressed on him. What he couldn't feel, under the rush of adrenaline, were the electric stings those creatures were raining on him.

Against the mighty force he jumped in his last effort, with all his might. The wave tore open, some creatures flew out, and James rose out. The tide rose behind him. James fell flat above the wave, smashing some creatures, and got up, surfing for a second, then running out.

The anger of the wave lit up everything. James ran and ran from corridor to corridor, but they weren't to stop until they had him.

James was finally one corner ahead of the wave when he halted. He had halted because there was no floor ahead of him. In the growing red he saw the dangling wires, broken waterpipes, and torn concrete leading to darkness.

Beside him, there was a hole in the wall. The wave flooded in the corner. His eyes reflecting the shining red tide.

He dashed in the room. Peculiarly, he found comfort in the smell and as the wave came closer, the glow became brighter. He saw the beds and knowing no better, hid behind the last bed.

The metal barring on the window behind him gleamed as the wave appeared in the frame of hole. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck...." he was thinking.

What an asshole is he to hide here. They are gonna get him. Now he's dead...

And the wave kept going, raining down the floor, into the darkness.

He couldn't believe it. But fuck!

The wave turned and entered the hole. "But how..." he didn't get a chance to think. They ran in, on the walls, on the beds, under the beds. They were everywhere. James stepped back and the corner of a table pinned in his side. His hand went mechanically to cup it, and the creatures jumped on him, from the walls and the bed, sticking to him like a magnet. In a few seconds they were all over him. He was covered like a mummy. They kept piling on him, more and more.

Suddenly, the walls trembled. He felt it under his feet. He heard the vibrating beds and then he knew what he was smelling. He had no time to think. For all he knew, he was to die, if he wasn't already dead yet. And frankly, amongst that sour fire of fear and pain, he didn't care. He jumped ahead, his arm reaching for something in the air, but he didn't touch anything. And then his hand clapped on the thigh of a vibrating body, and the creatures shot out from his body like red sparks, all over the room, with incredible magnetic repulsion, and blasted on the walls. Two seconds after the contact current ceased and James flew out with incredible magnetic repulsion, and hit the wall. And fell down, already unconscious.

15.

Evil was the hospital's atmosphere. Evil was the night.

Inside the hospital, James was dreaming. In his dream he is on the dining table with his mom. The only light source here is an overhead lamp right above the table. Mom is angry, she's not talking to him. She's just looking at her empty bowl. Suddenly, there is a knock on their door. Who could be on their door so late at night? Mom didn't hear it. A water-drop falls in the sink, and everything quietens. "Mom?" he says. She didn't reply. She kept looking at her bowl. James hears footsteps on the stairs. "Mom? Mom??" She just kept looking at her bowl, quietly. Another knock on his door. "Mom? Mom?" She's not listening. The knocking is getting louder. "Mom??MOM!!" Still nothing. He tries to stand but he can't move. HE CAN'T MOVE! He's struggling, the chair is shaking, but he can't move. The door is banging. The sound of footsteps from their hall. "MOM!!!!!!" Suddenly, she looks up, her mouth opens, and floods out small red bulbs.

James can't move and suddenly he opens his eyes. The lights hurt his eyes. There's something different here. Something is on him. Mechanically, he pushes it and—he's in the air, falling, and he falls on something and rolls down. His adrenaline jumped up; his head is buzzing. He manages to stand, becoming aware of the situation. Then he starts running, on the zig-zag thin path between the things, and he saw green walls. Oh, that's a corridor, and he kept running without looking back even once.

16.

"Why am I running?" he asks himself, and stops. Maybe some Strynphenzein has got in him. Well, it shouldn't have happened, it was just a handful and he even held his breath for a minute. Well, he hopes, those detectives don't start hallucinating when they—but didn't that train fell off the tracks...What is happening?

James found himself standing on a green corridor. He saw his reflection in the black windows of a room. He raised his hand to make sure it was him. Yeah, it's him, but why is his coat shredded and torn? What's this on his face? Coal?

In the reflection, he sees a broken wall behind him. He goes inside it. There's a door flat on the floor on the foot of this hole. Shelves and refrigerators were inside.

His recent experiences were revolving in his mind, but he doesn't know what they are? Nothing has happened. He was just going to his home but somehow, he has come in a hospital. Oh! Now he remembers. He's here for Dad's medicines. But oh, his nurse brings them. So, he forgot that, no biggie. Let's head back home.

James walked with his hands in his pockets, and couldn't stop chuckling at his stupidity.

In some rooms and on the corridor, he saw clothes lying. Then, as he was walking down the corridor, he saw a brown door, slightly open. The darkness inside that little opening was inviting him in. He peered in the darkness as if enchanted by it. Slowly, the door creaked open. He felt drawn inside. The windows on either side threw stretching boxes on the room's floor.

James stopped before the boxes and looked more closely at the far wall. His eyes were still adjusting to darkness. He took another step, and that made a sound. In his eyes, the dark of the room saturated, then faded, and as it faded, his heart beat rose and his nerves tightened.

James stood still. In the bottom of the right box, a head appeared from the corner and moved. James heard a growl. The head was moving slowly...

Sweat perspired on James's temples. The head appeared in another box and disappeared. James realized he was holding his breath.

Why had he entered this room?

No, there's been some big mistake. Everything is all right. He can leave if he wants to, and then he'll be back home, and he'll tell Dad about this strange night, and about all that happened, and then he'll have something special for dinner tonight. He's tired so he'll definitely have a great sleep tonight, and maybe he can take a leave from work tomorrow. Yeah, he'll take a leave.

Then, he was back in the room.

He left the room and walked down the corridor. He saw that some rooms on the right side have big holes while some have doors, and inside those rooms there are holes on the walls, connecting all those rooms. Then, the corridor came to an end and he turned. There were stairs and elevator and waiting chairs ahead, and just beside him was a vending machine. His favorite King's Cookies were on the top shelf. When he was a kid, he used to have one when he saw one. He smiled at that orange packet and, mechanically, pressed the "9" button, expecting the machine to gift him. But nothing happened, then suddenly the machine started clanking. James panicked at the catastrophic destruction of the former silence, and sprang to a hole across the corridor behind and hid beside the broken wall, with his back against it. He was breathing hard so he cupped his mouth.

Why was he running? Why did he enter that room? Why is he hiding here?

Beside him the corridor lights threw a cracked rectangle on the floor. A shadow passed in it. The vending machine smashed and he heard glass shattering. James knew that growl. He, very slowly, turned his head. His cupped hand loosened mechanically. What he saw wasn't human. It was a bald, alien-red naked kid whose veins were popping out of his skin and shining bright red. Then it disappeared.

Now his back was against the wall and he had no choice but to open his eyes and accept the reality. Why was he running? Why did he enter that room? Why is he hiding here?

Because he is here, and they are after him.

17.

Half an hour later, the corridors and the hollow rooms boomed with the explosion. The kid ran towards the source.

In the end, where the corridor turned, the floor and the wall were painted black except for a small circle in middle.

The kid was looking at the blast stain when a sound came from the hole on the right. A sound that was increasing.

On walking in, the kid saw, a bottle erupting milky fluid. A movement and sound on yet another hole on the right. A glass bottle rolled in.

Then, a shadow appeared in the rectangle on the floor. The kid perceived the presence, and, instantly turned. At that instant, a glass bottle came flying and busted on the kid's skull. The kid jerked ahead; the glass shattered in pieces.

The kid got a hold of himself, and ran out the hole, and looked at the empty and silent corridors. It heard the cutting air and another glass bottle busted on its skull, throwing it on its face.

A Shadow was running between the holes in the rooms. The kid jumped to its small feet and ran like a dog, in the room, in the hole, after the shadow...

When the kid saw James, they were four rooms apart. When James crossed one more room, the kid was just one room behind. Then, the kid leaped in air like a wolf, and James slammed the door shut on its face.

The kid collapsed on the floor. Liquid dripped from the kid's forearms and calves in the pool it was in. from the bottom of the door, a flame rushed in.

The steroids were working incredibly for James. He ran back three rooms and pinned the cans of the stretcher with a needle, and then pushed the stretcher, through the hole, to the great bonfire. Then he ran out in the corridor and jumped flat down on the floor by the wall between two holes.

After two seconds, a great explosion—Clouds of orange fire gushed out the holes in the corridor.

Everything seems quiet after an explosion as big as this.

The clouds of fire twisted inside, turning black.

James felt joy beating in his chest. Maybe it was the alcohol, but still he rose with a smile. He walked down the corridor, and turned. He could see the vending machine on the floor. Then, from behind him, came a loud inhuman sound. A cold chill ran down his spine. He saw the vending machine and thought of something. Something that might kill him. Death was scary, but this place was scarier than death.

18.

He wasn't sure that this will work, but this was all he had.

His hand was firm. The scalpel was back in his pocket.

His flesh broke into goosebumps. The sound was torturing his mind. It seemed to be getting louder or closer.

"Fuck it!" he said, and pulled the fire alarm. Then he ran, to the stairs.

The sprinklers shot out water. The wire of the vending machine was cut and its mouth was touching the floor.

James was running up the stairs. He was climbing the 3rd floor when he heard a monstrous roar. If it weren't for the steroids, he'd have fainted. It was unbelievable that a sound so terrific came from such small a creature. But what was even more unbelievable was that the roars didn't ceased. They kept coming.

He had done all he could, but that monster was still alive.

"It's getting angrier. It's getting angrier. It's getting—" A cold skeleton hand of hysteria seized his brain, and squeezed it. The cords on his neck stuck out, and, on the stairs, he fell on his palms and knees. He couldn't breathe. That kid is going to tear his body. That kid is going to eat his flesh and drink his blood. His throat choked, and he vomited. He beat his chest to get it all out.

The flesh on his face was burning. He felt completely hollow inside. Tears were streaming down his cheeks, and slowly, he felt a grip on himself.

"Get the fuck outta here," a voice in his head said. "Get the fuck outta here," it said again. James rose on his feet, wiping his face. "GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!" James started to run up the stairs, deeper and deeper in the darkness.

He stopped when there were no more stairs to climb. He was on the top floor. The only light was the small box between the stairs, from the ground floor. He had no idea what he was doing. "GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!" James clenched his fists. "YOU'RE WEAK!" another voice said. James jerked his head.

"Now what? Now what?" James asked himself. "You wanna fight?" the voice said. James closed his eyes tight and opened. He flicked open the lighter, and saw swinging doors far ahead. He decided to go there.

"SUCK IT!" a voice said. James shook his head.

Our mind is mysterious and powerful. It can elude us from the present to the thought of future or it can make us relive the past. This is what is happening with James now. some old memories were creeping back up when he was again feeling extremely scared and vulnerable.

And remember, the wounds of the past do ache in the present.

The memory of gym class flashed in his mind. He was fourteen, and was walking out the gym class when he stepped on Gary's new shoes. James said a dozen sorry, but Gary looked down at the brown shoe print on his black shoe, and said "Clean it." James's eyes widened. Gary's guys had circled around. And it would be no surprise if Gary kicked the living shit out of a junior, James knew very well. "I SAID CLEAN IT!!" Gary shouted and James wiped his shoe by his hands. They went away, but James kept standing there with his head down.

Walking towards the swinging doors, his body shuddered at the thought of it.

What came next hurt him even more. He told his then-best-friend Simon Cunningham about it and Simon's reply was unforgettable. "You did right," he said. "Just do what they say and they'll leave you alone. Never resist, if you resist that only makes them angrier and then, bone breaking beating."

He wanted to hear something hopeful, but this was the exact opposite of it. He had felt a lot ashamed, but he was skinny and a scared little boy at the core of his soul, so he considered Simon's advice. And also, Simon's elder brother went to I.C.U. because of fighting back.

Now walking to the swinging doors, shame has filled his chest with pins and needles.

Few days later, when he was sitting in the gym, Gary and his guys entered. James tried to look away but they gathered around him. He rose but a hand on his shoulder pushed him back down. Gary came, bended to his face, and said "What are you doing here?"

James, looking down, said "I—"

"GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!!" Gary thundered, and James ran away.

"You're weak, he's strong. He'll break you like a stick," Simon said. "Just do what he says and he'll leave you."

James felt like going back in that moment and smashing Simon's face against a car's windshield, but he can't do that any more than he can change his past. The only thing he can do is accept. Accept that Gary ganged up on him outside school and pushed him like a ball. Accept that Gary said "You wanna fight? I will fuck you up! You can't fight, cause you're a cunt," and the others laughed and then Gary said "Say it." Accept that he was so scared that he said he's a cunt. Accept that tears came in his eyes when Simon said "You did good, he could've killed you." Accept that when Gary said "Suck it!" he—

James had reached the swinging doors, but he was overwhelmed so he closed his lighter and sat against the walls beside the swinging doors, holding his head above his knees, crying.

He had locked his past in a box and, from the shore of mind, threw it in the ocean of darkness. But somehow the box has returned and sprang open. The dark things inside are furious now.

"Suck it!" is echoing in his mind. "Stop. Stop! STOP!!" he doesn't even know he's shouting. He's straining all the muscles in his mind to stop what's coming. The past is flowing like a river around him and he's struggling the waves, stretching his limbs as far as he can, in hopes that that will stop the river.

But there he was on that sunny day running on the path between the grass grounds, and behind him music was booming from Gary's Ford Shelby. The bet was if James could reach the intersection before Gary's car (that won't cross 15mph mark), Gary won't pet on James anymore.

The intersection was 30 yards from James and it seemed he would make it. Then Gary crossed over, stopped his car and got out. "Okay this is boring," he said. James kept on running and when he passed by Gary, Gary grabbed him. James, infuriated, punched Gary on his cheek. The rush of chemicals in his brain when his fist hit Gary's bone was heavenly. But that was it. Gary slapped him right across the mouth, twice and kicked him on his chest. He fell. Then Gary put his knees on his chest and punched James once and stopped. "JOHN!" he shouted.

John stepped out of the car. His long, black hair falling down his eye, his T-shirt saying "Naughty Boy", and his tight jeans and white shoes breathing luxury. "Hmm Gary..." John said, and stood by Gary. "You'll blow my friend," Gary said to James.

James was Pulling his hair now. His tears falling, and the empty floor watched him in gloomy silence.

When Gary said that, ground slipped beneath James's feet. "No, this can't be, he didn't say that," James thought.

"I don't think this is a good idea," John said.

"Get your thing out," Gary said, looking fiercely at john. Then John didn't care.

"Eh, you're cute," John said to James, and brought his thing out. James was frozen, denying this was happening.

"Just do what he says," Simon's words ringed in his ear. "He'll kill you. You can't fight him. He'll break you like a stick."

"No. please stop," James in now begging the darkness around.

Then he pushed on his palm, starting to get up and run, but saw Gary shaking his head and pulling out a gun.

On seeing the tin, James's blood ran cold.

When James didn't move, Gary shouted on top of his voice "SUCK IT!!!" And then as if his body wasn't his body anymore, but somebody else's, he got on his knees and his hand rose up...

There was no one there, for distances unseen, to put an end to this monstrous act.

... and cupped john's Thing.

"Ehh!" James, now, jumped to his feet, put his forehead the wall, and knocked it with his fists. Tears rolled down his cheeks to the wall.

The cruelest of monsters wear human skin.

In his fit of misery, he had forgot about his present-reality. Well, what good is reality when you are but waiting for sleep?

19.

A dim yellow light was rising on the staircase. It was coming. James looked at it, and knew this is the end of the line. He had done everything he could, and if he can't kill it with that then there's nothing left. He accepted his fate.

It rose up the stairs and the whole floor lit up. James's eyes widened at its sight. The creature that was earlier looking like a kid was now looking what it really was: a monster. Its whole body was crusted black and its whole body had cracks in it from which a yellow aura let out of it. Its whole eyes were yellow as if a fire is literally burning inside it.

The monster walked towards James. The windows, the chairs, the clothes on the floor, the plants, James's front, and the swinging doors beside him luminated. James grabbed the door-handle, pushed the door, and looked inside. "Run, just run or you'll die!!" he heard Simon's voice. "Cunts don't fight!" Gary said.

James, fists locked against thighs, eyes closed, head down, was thinking. He had run a lot in his life...from bullies, from Mary, from Mom's death, from his weaknesses, from his past, from the darkness of the world, from the darkness inside him, and now he was running from it. He had run a lot in his life, but running had only led him from one monster to another. It had never led him to freedom. That sunny day, he was running. Running for freedom, from Gary. But then Gary held him back, and he punched Gary. He fought the monster. But monsters always make things worse. And it got the worst it could.

And there he was, kneeling in front of John and his Thing. Gary had pulled out a gun, and was laughing. The guys in his car were laughing. There was only the sound of their laughter. James had never felt so low, had never thought a thing like this could ever happen to a human being. But it was happening. He did what he was ever told to do, what he always heard and saw others doing: run from the troubles and fears. And that created a void in his heart that was never to be filled. And then...he accepted his fate, accepted the darkness he was in. then something unexpected happened: he wasn't afraid anymore. Yes, he was scared, but not from the darkness. He was scared from the bad it will do him, and that wasn't terrifying.

He felt that now he could do something about it. And yes, he was scared of death, but this other feeling, this knowing that now he can do something about what he was going through, was far more powerful than fear. So, he lifted his band of fingers and dug his crescent shaped nails deep inside John's Thing so hard that those sons of bitches will never forget how he screamed.

James had never felt so strong before.

Gary, who couldn't process for seconds what happened, stood there, mind blown. When he came to himself, he lifted his gun to James's forehead. James looked at the muzzle and closed his eyes.

Then Gary looked at his friends. Their terrified faces whispered in his ear the truth of all that'll happen if he pulled the trigger.

They all remained in their places for what felt like a very long time. Then Gary put his gun back, collected his friend, and went away in his car.

And never picked on James again. For he has seen the look on James's face when James. closed his eyes.

20.

He won't run anymore, he'll fight.

He opened his eyes, took out the scalpel, and ran towards the creature. The creature took two fast steps and jumped in the air towards James. James raised his head as the kid got higher and higher in the air. It seemed as it would fly, but it came down on James's chest. James fell flat on the floor, the kid on him. The kid snatched on James chest, as if digging, and his coat and shirt tore out. It snatched again and James swung his fist, holding the scalpel, on its skull, and it fell off. James marveled that he was able to do it. That kid was literally trying to rip out his heart. James jumped on his feet and ran towards the swinging doors.

The kid saw James running and ran behind him. James was two yards from the door when he perceived what was behind him. The creature had leaped in the air again. James leaped, stretching both his arms towards the handle of the door. The door swung open with the momentum. The creature was in the air above James when James swung in with the door, and in mid-swing, its hands were on the last of James's coat, and as the swing completed, the coat teared. And the creature with the momentum from its high leap went down and kept going down, luminating concrete, iron wires, broken waterpipes, from floor to floor, as it went down the giant dark hole in the floors. It smashed on the ground floor and this time its glow turned to darkness. Hanging there at the door, he heard the smash, then waited for its monstrous roar or groan or any sound. But none came. He pulled himself, with his both arms, and pushed the wall with his leg. The door swung in and James, very carefully, got on the ground. He looked down the hole, just to be sure, and when he saw darkness, he knew.

He thought something, then instantly decided against it. If someone up there really liked him then he wouldn't be here in the first place.