Entity #444

14: Panic!rooms

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Playlist songs for this chapter:
Panic Room- Au/Ra

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Marzena

Vibrations wracked my skull as, for the first time in weeks, I manifested my astral body into the Backrooms once again. This time I landed in what appeared to be a long, white hospital hallway. I shook various body parts to ground myself completely into the new reality.

Armchairs were scattered here and there. Various doors that remained locked spanned the walls, and each of the windows held black voids within them. The hallway continued on for as far as my eyes could see. I traveled on, trying to shake the fear building in the back of my mind.

My mind raced. Here I was... where was Nazarius? Would I ever see him again? Did he get hurt, or was he in some sort of trouble?

My heart ached and I entered slight dissociation as I walked, pondering the question of if I should stay or leave the Backrooms entirely. If Nazarius wasn't to be found, there was no point in me being here, and I should just wake myself up...

Right?

Slipping further into a type of dissociative fog, I guarded my eyes against the bright fluorescent lights with one hand. They almost seemed to be growing brighter.

As I noticed this, the anxiety slowly seeped from the back of my mind into the core of my conscious attention, and eventually into my chest. As I walked, I kept trying to open every door I saw. The echoes of jiggling metal handles filled the hallway.

By now I had lost count of how many were locked, and I had to squint my eyes as the overhead lights grew to be blinding. Urgency began to overtake me. Soon, I wouldn't be able to see any doors.

I rushed about, scrambling from door to door as tears formed in my eyes and panic rose in my throat, because now the hallway seemed as though it was closing in on me. Soon enough, the overhead lights flashed and turned a deep red, filling the hallway with crimson lighting.

A simply blood-curdling screech echoed from one end, and a myriad of pounding footsteps met my ears. My heart lurched. These were no hooves. 

Oh shit.

A siren began blaring from an unknown corner of the premises, and more screeches sounded. One last futile attempt to open the door in front of me, and then I started running. Running like my life depended on it, because, well... it really did.

The way the chairs were situated began to become anomalous, now sitting in the center of the pathway to where I had to jump and dodge them. One by one, I passed skewed chairs, tables, and now even hospital beds. My fear of hospitals compounded with my fear of whatever was chasing me.

Nazarius isn't here to fight them off...

As the wails and screeches began getting closer, my life flashed before my eyes. I was not going to make this, I had never been athletic in any way, and I could not outrun whatever these creatures were. As I planned my sure demise, the red continued to flash in front of me and the siren clouded my judgement.

This is a fucking nightmare-!

As the many footsteps neared closer still, my lungs felt as though they were about to explode, along with my hope. I didn't dare look behind me. Coming to another hospital bed strewn across the pathway, I prepared to use it as a trampoline. Something made me half-halt before I made the jump. A carved wooden walking stick was leaning against the headrest, and I snatched it up as I leapt onto the bed, then used it to stabilize my landing as I launched myself off and away. As I hit the ground to keep running, I felt a swipe of air behind me. I gave a brief glance, and made a nearly fatal mistake at that.

A long arm and claws were reaching out to swipe at me, connected to a writhing humanoid body, several other entities following close behind. Some things with red eyes and sharp bloody teeth, screeching a horrible tune. Having slowed down just enough, the lead creature swiped at my shoulder with its claws and caught me, drawing out of me a shrill scream with it. Before I could think, I swung the walking stick backward with all I had, and it cracked as it came into swift contact with the entity's temple. I didn't take the time to see what happened, as I turned and kept running. Through the foggy red of the hallway, a green exit sign glowed above the final door. I hit the door's bar with my arm and busted through to the other side. To my half relief, a lowly-lit hallway opened up to three staircases; two on either side going up, and one in the center going down. It would be easy to ditch the creatures here.

As they began clawing at and slamming on the doors, the screeching entities were temporarily dissuaded.

Surely they don't know how a door works-! I checked behind me again, rolling the walking stick between both hands anxiously and glancing at my shoulder. My heart was in my throat, and rose even higher as I hurridly descended down the center flight of stairs. After a few feet, they started to spiral. The musk of mold returned to my nose demanding space within my senses. Lungs heaving, I stopped in the stairway for a brief second. I looked around, noticing cobwebs here and there.

This- this is a fucking NIGHTMARE. I don't want to do this anymore...

I tried the best I could to catch my breath. "Fuck... this... I'm done. I am so fucking done..." I panted, on the verge of tears.

I leaned back against the wall, wiping sweat from my forehead, trying to keep from crying. Then, I took a minute to contemplate how I would get out of here and go back to my normal dreamstate if I was never lucky enough to find Nazarius. It broke my heart to even entertain the thought, but it was unfortunately possible.

Nazarius. I might never find him...  the tears started to flow, and just like that, a dam had burst.

As I tried to clear my eyes, I kept walking. I had to.

Eventually the staircase stopped descending and I emerged at the mouth of a tunnel which seemed to lead to a room full of tile flooring and water. What appeared to be moonlight filtered through a gap in the wall way above my head. My heart slowed as the sound and smell of the water overtook me. I stayed vigilant, not getting too comfortable just in case. I stuck a foot into a shallow pool in front of me.

The tears had stopped flowing, but my cheeks were still wet and salty.

Surprisingly, the water was warm. As I looked around a bit more, I found myself sinking down to the ground and resting both feet in the water. Then I figured I should at least rinse some of the blood off from my injury. The claw marks stung from whatever it was that was in the water; I assumed chlorine. When I was done I rinsed my face off and held it in my hands for a few moments, closing my eyes. A whole new wave of fatigue had overtaken me, mixed with the gutted sensations of fear and loss. I felt as though my sanity was leaving me too.