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The sudden, cheery tone of my alarm wakes me up. I open my eyes and blink a few times as my vision adjusts. The hard, damp floor greets me as I stumble to my feet.
"Lucky?" I call out for my dog.
My alarm is still ringing, so I turn it off. My back and neck are sore, as if I slept on a hard floor all night.
"Ugh " I groan as I stretch out my arms.
My head hurts. My eyes hurt. It's too bright and I can hardly tell what I'm looking at.
A small creature rolls around on the floor a couple meters away.
"Lucky, is that you?"
Lucky barks in reply. I'm relieved that I'm not alone, but I still don't know where I am.
The walls are yellow, and the shade is almost comforting. The floors are brown and look far worse for wear, and on top of that, they're filthy. The fluorescent lights are buzzing at a volume almost louder than my thoughts.
The twists and turns in the distance make no sense. It's like the Winchester Mystery House, except there's less rhyme or reason.
I start walking.
Jeez, what is this place? There are seriously no exit doors in sight.
Thump.
"Lucky? Was that-"
Then I saw it: a monster so distorted it would make a grown man scream in fear.
Moving quickly, I tried to place my hand over my mouth so I didn't alert it to my presence, but it was too late. Lucky had knocked over an empty trash bin and it noticed us. I quickly ran over to scoop up the small, white dog and quietly sprint around the corner.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.
The sound grew louder. I let out a soft cry and looked around for somewhere, anywhere, to hide. That's when I noticed that there was a small vent in the wall.
Convenient, I thought to myself.
Without thinking, I shoved Lucky in the vent and went in after him. The vent was tight, but easy enough to crawl through.
The creature slowed its pace and turned around.
Jeez, what the hell was that thing? I wondered.
As I gathered my thoughts, I grabbed Lucky, who was pacing in the vent noisily. I give him a back-of-the-ear scratch and a strong squeeze. Then I took a moment to unwind.
Come on, come on, think of a way outta here.
Without realizing it, I drifted off to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I crawl out of the vent opposite the way I came from. I don't know what I was hoping for but it wasn't more of the maze.
Speaking with a bit of false optimism, I say, "Come on Lucky, let's go!"
I walk cautiously around trying to find an exit. I knew that if I wanted to get out of here, I'd have to survive until I found one.
Surviving would be tricky now that I'm not alone. How did I even get here in the first place?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've been walking around for at least an hour and still no sign of an exit. At least there's also no sign of that… thing.
Grumble, my stomach complained.
I stop walking.
"Dang, I guess I haven't eaten since last night. Lucky, are you hungry?"
I look over to see Lucky gnawing at the corner of the wall.
"Lucky!" I scolded. "I'll take that as a no."
I pick up Lucky and all of sudden I smell something sweet.
"Wow, how convenient, again."
I had no reason to trust this place, but my dog was hungry and I couldn't let him eat the wall.
I try my best to follow the scent. As I get closer, I realize it smells a lot like cinnamon and sugar. I turn the corner and, lo and behold, there's a churro stand.
"Okay, that's really suspicious."
I'm hesitant to feed my dog these churros, so I did what any rational person would do and decided to try one first. I take one of the churros and stare at it.
"I will admit, this looks super tasty."
I probably should have tested it somehow, but I was hungry. I bit into it, and when I pulled it away from my mouth, it was dripping with black ooze.
"Ugh! Gross!" I complained as I spit it out.
Suddenly, I get really dizzy and fall over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I woke up in a chair of some sort. I wasn't restrained or anything: It was more like a dentist chair. It took about a minute for me to fully wake up.
I jolted upright and my hands frantically felt my body, trying to make sure it was still there.
"I'm still alive!? What the hell was in that churro?"
I shiver in disgust just thinking about it.
When I leaned back in the chair, I realized I was in a confined room of some sort. I hadn't even noticed that Lucky wasn't with me.
I start frantically looking around. The walls were still yellow and the floors were still stale, but there were still no visible exits.
I looked around some more and still didn't see Lucky. Where did he go? Where did I go? How did I get in this chair anyways?
I sit on the floor and start imagining the worst.
"Maybe if I think about Lucky hard enough he'll just appear in my arms," I said aloud. It didn't work.
I figured I have nothing to fight for now, so I just lay on the floor and trace the patterns on the wall with my finger.
I never noticed the pattern before. It kind of reminds me of the wallpaper in my grandma's house. I think it just reminds me of old people in general.
I wish I was at work right now. I'd do anything to get out of here. For all I know, Lucky's dead. For all I know, I'm dead and this is some kind of hell. There's no way this place is Earth. I mean, what even was that thing?
I traced the patterns on the wallpaper until my finger started to feel numb from all the rubbing.
After that, I laid there in silence, hoping that I'd just melt into the floor and stop existing. This place is so scary. I just wanna go home.
I roll over and put my back to the wall.
"What?" I stare downwards. Has that been there this whole time..? No way. I know it wasn't there before."
There's a vent in the wall. It's the same as the other vent. I start crawling toward it. Stopping in front of the vent I look through it.
Seems safe… Fuck it.
I start crawling through the vent.
Tip, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap.
I stop, scared of what that noise could be, but it stops too. Did I imagine it? I keep crawling.
Tip, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap.
I gather all my courage and slowly turn around.
"Lucky? What the fuck?"
Was I purposely separated from him? I don't know where he came from, but he's here.
"You scared the crap out of me!"
As I continue crawling I remember something.
"My phone! How could I forget!? I'm so dumb. I'll just call for help!"
I reach in my pocket and feel around.
"No no no no. Why me?"
Had I dropped it? I know I had it.
"This is so unfair."
I crawl out of the vent and sigh.
"If only I'd thought of this sooner."
Does this place even have service? I mean there's cameras. Do those need service to work?
I keep walking.
Thump, thump, thump.
Is it that thing again?
Panicking, I grab lucky and crawl back into the vent. This time I keep watch. I stare into the empty lobby until suddenly it appears again.
Shaking and breathing heavily, I cup my face in my hands.
I think it heard me. Without thinking, I start running. It definitely noticed me.
Looking around desperately for a way out of this awful predicament, My eyes land on a door about 30 feet away from where I'm standing.
"Exit! Yes!" I exclaimed.
I ran toward the door, Lucky in my arms, and opened it.
"No way." I breathe in disbelief.
On the other side of the door there's just more of the fucking maze. Who built this place? This is totally pointless.
"ARGH!" I start screaming and stomping my feet in a fit of rage.
Lucky barks at me.
"Sorry, love, mommy's a little angry right now."
What on Earth am I supposed to do now? I hate false hope. I hate this stupid maze. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
I start crying and grab Lucky. I step to the other side of the door and slam it behind me.
I am so done with this place. I think to myself.
I look through the tiny window in the door and see absolutely nothing. Everything is black. When I try and open the door again, it doesn't budge.
"Well, no going back there I guess." I sigh.
I put Lucky down on the carpet and slide down against the wall for a break.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Days seem sometimes as if they'll never end
Sun digs its heels to taunt you
But after sunlit days, one thing stays the same
Rises the moon"
Sometimes singing makes me feel better but this time it just adds to the loneliness. With no hope of escaping, I stand up to keep walking. After all this shit going on, I really need someone to talk to.
"Grape, strawberry, blueberry, peach…" A voice mumbles from behind the wall.
"Who said that?" I yell out.
"Huh? N-No one!" The voice trembles
"What the hell? Are you stupid?"
"Are you real?"
"Of course I am! Are you real?"
"I think so."
I walk around the corner to see a short woman categorizing popsicles in the corner next to a giant freezer.
"Yo, uh… Can I have one?" I ask nervously.
Without hesitation, or lifting her head up, she throws a popsicle in my direction.
"Ow, uh… Thanks?"
I cautiously open and bite the popsicle. This doesn't taste poisonous, it should be fine.
"Can I ask why you're here?" she says while looking at my shoes.
"I don't know, I just woke up here." I shrug.
"Better than falling here." she says and points to her ankle.
"Holy Jesus!"
"That bad, eh?"
"No. Of course not. Well… Did you fall here, or..?"
"No." she says while pointing toward the door I came from.
I follow her finger to a blood trail leading to where she's sitting. How did I not notice that much blood?
Oh… Well, do you… Want to use me as a crutch?"
"Yes, please." She looks me in the eye.
I pull her up without a struggle and we start walking. There's not much furniture here, which is weird because this building is huge.
After walking in silence for a while, we come across a door that looks like it could belong to the entrance of a convenience store. The windows are blacked out, and covered in missing posters, so there's really no way of knowing what's on the other side.
Letting go of the woman, I approached the door cautiously, a little worried it's automatic. Right in front of the door, I realize it's not gonna open by itself.
Placing my fingers between the doors, I begin to pry open the doors. It opens to a dimly lit convenience store. I help the woman get up to walk into the store.
"Hey, would you tell me your name?" I request awkwardly.
"Oh, uhm… My name is Aria, Aria Vesper." She whispered timidly, looking down at the floor.
"That's a pretty name! I'm Millie Quinn!"
She continues looking at the floor.
"Ah well, uhm… Well, the change of scenery is nice, right?" I suggest nervously.
"Mhm…" She mumbles as she limps over to the checkout counter.
Walking closely behind, I see a phone behind the counter. When I go to pick it up, Aria slaps my hand, and points to a very sticky looking substance smeared across the keypad.
"Oh yuck. Bleh!" I exclaim in disgust.
Shuddering, I turn to look at what's in stock. There are tons of tactical items stacked on the shelves. I pick up a flashlight and start clicking the button.
"Of course, it's dead." Rolling my eyes, I set the flashlight back.
"What use is any of this stuff if it doesn't work?"
Click, creak.
The door behind the counter opens up. I grab Aria and start heading toward it.
"Welp, here goes."