Purple Finch Press

Grayce Wucik —

What happened? Where am I?

I looked around my surroundings, a library, I think. It made sense; there were hundreds of tall shelves, filled with books as far as the eye could see. I scratched my scalp as I brushed my hand through my hair. This didn’t make sense; how did I get here? I wasn’t even near the public library. I had been in the morgue all night, cleaning and prepping Miss. Johnson’s body for her ceremony in the morning. I had gone to take a break and use the bathroom, but the moment I crossed through the old wooden door…I found myself here.

I looked up past the tall shelves. There was no grand skylight windows like the public library had. In fact, I didn’t see any windows at all in this place. The only light had been from the little bulbs on the sides of the shelves. It illuminated the narrow paths that weaved between the masses of books. I couldn’t even tell where the ceiling was. Everything above the seven feet tall shelves, I estimated based on my own height, was pitch black.

I scratched my scalp again; this doesn’t make any sense, maybe dad was right. Maybe I had finally gone nuts and was hallucinating from being around all those dead bodies in that dingy cellar. However, I had felt that my dad always thought I was insane for using my medical science degree to dissect bodies instead of curing diseases. Maybe Gregory, our mortuary transporter, was onto something about one of the bodies being possessed. Nah, he was more nutty than me. Regardless of those ideas, it didn’t make sense why I had suddenly appeared in a library.

I turned my head around again and looked in each direction. Each narrow aisle led down to a hall of darkness. I turned to look down the last possible route and froze. It had been faint, but I had seen it. A shadowy figure had stood farther down the line. A person – maybe? Would it be stupid to call out to them? Yes. Yes it would.

I heard the sound of my stupid voice, even being as soft as possible, it echoed through the cavernous place. “Hello? Is someone there?”

The figure walked toward me. The dim lighting revealed a horrifying detail in its movement; it walked on all fours. As it came closer, I could see its face more clearly. A wave of sickening discomfort filled my chest. Black hollow eye sockets and a gaping mouth, equally as black and empty, stared back at me. I had taken a step back, heart pounding in my chest as I stared at it. It looked similar to that famous painting…what was it called again? The Scream? After I made that pointless connection and continued to watch this…thing as it still stalked toward me,. I came to one conclusion.

Yeah no. No, thank you. Goodbye.

I whipped around to my right and bolted down the narrow pathway between the shelves. I didn’t dare look behind me. The thing let out an ear-splitting scream, and I felt the vibrations of heavy footsteps behind me, it urged me to move faster.

How the fuck do I get out of here?

I ran and wove my way through the shelves, going in whatever direction my mind made in an instant. I didn’t hesitate or look behind me, because I had no interest in knowing how close that thing was to me. I already felt sick to my stomach from being chased. I didn’t need to look at its face again just to throw up and ruin my chance of surviving. Even as a burning sensation filled my lungs and although my body was screaming at me to stop and catch a breath, I still ran. I could worry about my legs aching later, right now I needed to keep fucking moving.

As I continued to run, My brain made another quick decision to turn left through the shelves. As I made the turn, I could see a wooden door casually placed between two random shelves. I didn’t need to think twice, I made a beeline for that door, trying to ignore the heavy footsteps behind me. Did that thing pick up pace too?! With one final push I slammed my body onto the door with extreme force – and gripped the knob. My shaky hands twisted it in a hurry, pleading for the door to open in time. That thing was coming towards me, I could hear my heart beating in my ears. I was ready to cry out to God when the knob finally twisted. I shrieked as the door finally opened and I fell through it. I lost my footing from the sudden opening and fell to the ground with a pained cry. Everything turned to black as the door slammed shut on that scream monster.

Who are you…where’s your face?

I pushed myself off the cold cement floor; my eyes took notice of the white bare walls. It’s so bright in here compared to the dimly lit library of horror I just escaped from. There was a person sitting on a chair at the end of this narrow hallway. I took a step back and realized out of my peripheral vision that the door I fell through…is gone. The person stared at me – or were they? They have no face. No eyes, nose, lips, not even a forehead wrinkle. Just pale, flat skin over their head. The being’s body faced directly toward me, arms folded over their lap in a proper, casual way.

The eerie silence of the brightly lit hall actually made my skin crawl. Which never happened before. When I worked on the deceased, I liked the silence of the morgue. I preferred it, because the last thing I wanted was unexpected noise when I was alone – in a room of dead bodies.

I felt apprehensive as I observed the faceless person. Maybe it wasn’t a person at all—just a very life-like doll. I turned my head for a moment to check the other end of the hall, it was long and I couldn’t see if it ends or not.

I turned back to Faceless and I felt my pulse thumping in my ears once again. Faceless now stood away from the chair, now a couple feet closer to me. I stumbled back but kept my widened eyes on Faceless. They didn’t move as I did. I continued to step back in a cautious pace down the hall; further and further away. Faceless didn’t move a muscle. I glanced to the other end of the hall once again, just to take a peek to see if I was getting closer to the other end. That’s when I heard the fast thumping of footsteps behind me. My head whipped so fast I felt the blood rush in my brain. Faceless was closer again. As I looked at them, they stood still as a statue. The situation became crystal clear to me.

Nope. Hell no. You stay right there. I ain’t playing some twisted game of red-light green-light. Fuck you.

I step back – a bit faster than before, not taking my eyes off Faceless once. Any urge I had to blink, I suppressed and forced my eyes wider. I was not about to take any chance, not until I got so far from them that Faceless is only a speck in my vision. I snapped my head around, fast enough to see the other end of the hall. The hall seemed like it would go on forever, but I saw a brown wooden door at the very end. On the split second that I turned my head, I heard the rapid patting of footsteps towards me. Yes, Faceless moved closer yet again. I can’t tell what was more unsettling in my mind; The whole no-faced appearance or just how fast this…thing was in a brief second.

Keep going, just don’t take your eyes off of them.

I continued to walk backwards; hands reached behind me to feel for anything I couldn’t see. Once again Faceless became nothing but a speck in my vision. But I hadn’t felt the door yet. How far away is it? I desperately wanted to check but I didn’t want Faceless to creep closer again. Not after I had made all this progress. I willed myself to continue walking backwards, slowly. I realized just how dangerous not looking behind me was. For all I knew, there could have been another freak that I was unknowingly walking towards. But I feared only the speck of a humanoid that I faced now; anything else would have to wait their turn to get me.

When my hands hit a rough wooden surface from behind me, I jolted at the sudden touch. Holy shit, the door. As much as I wanted to just turn and rush through, I had no idea if the door would even open, like last time. I glided my hand around the textured surface until my right hand hit a cold, round metal. The knob! I grasped it and started twisting—but it wouldn’t budge. I fought the knob; rattling it as my heartbeat elevated and I prayed to God to open the door. To get me out of this Hell. He must have been listening because in the next moment, the knob fully twisted and the door opened behind me.

Without delay, I turned and pushed through the door. I heard the fast patting of footsteps coming towards me. I slammed the door shut.

I think…I understand this now.

The wooden door, it gets me out of these Hell holes. I just needed to continue to find that door. I looked around my new surroundings, an office building. The room had many cubicles and from what I could tell, all were empty. It was eerily quiet again. I looked around and spotted a white door on the right wall. That’s new…maybe I was wrong about the wooden door? I walked to the door, took the handle in my hand, and slowly opened it. I peered to the other side; it was a hallway. There were many doors going down it, all of them plaster white. I stepped out into the hall, I glanced at each direction and expected there to be some abomination ready to chase me at any given moment. So far…nothing, just a dead office floor and many doors. I tip-toed to the door across the hall, then gripped the silver handle. I held my breath as I mustered the courage to open the door and peer inside. It was just like the room I had been in. Cubicles as far as the eye could see, dead silence, and no wooden door. I went up to each door, opened them gently, and peered in to find my wooden door.

Each time, it was just cubicles after cubicles. Silence after silence. No wooden door. As I stepped back into the hall, after having checked the twentieth door I walked to, I felt a chill go down my spine. It felt like something was different than before. I turned my head left – nothing but closed white doors down a long hallway. I turned my head right – my breath caught in my throat, my body froze.

From one of the doors I checked previously, peered a giant creature. Its body silhouette black; and a long, black claw held the door frame and wall. It had a massive human-like head, a wide Cheshire grin, and white bulging eyes. It stared at me for a moment before it retreated into the room, the door had shut behind it.

I am going to be sick.

I didn’t bother to check through the rest of the rooms. I ran down the hall and hoped the wooden door would pop out amongst the pasty white doors, so I could just run through it. I slipped and fell back with a gasp at the sudden slam of a door being opened a few feet away. The giant creature emerged once again, it peered its head and upper body out from the room. It directed its sickening, shit-eating grin at me. As if it was mocking my desperation and failure to find the wooden door. Once again, it slunk back into the room it appeared from.

Go, move, go, go, go, GO!

I scrambled to get up and bolted down the hall. I prayed to God not to let that creature appear from a door near me. I prayed to God to show me the wooden door. There was a wall at the end but the hall continued to the right. I almost lost my footing as I slid to make the turn and then picked up my pace once again. It was the same as the last hall; more white doors. Except, there was an open elevator at the end—and the wooden door! At the sight of my escape, I pushed myself further, lungs on fire and my legs ached for me to stop, even for a moment. But I ignored the pain; I couldn’t risk losing my freedom from this hell hole. As I run past the white doors, I hear the slam of one being opened, just as I pass it. Don’t look back! Don’t stop now!

I didn’t. I ran right into the open elevator doors. I didn’t think as I slammed myself into that wooden door on the back wall. My hands immediately grasped the metal knob, jiggling it as much as I could until the knob turned all the way and the door pushed open. I barged right through, slamming it behind me without looking back at that hellish office.

Find the door. Find the door!

I frantically spun around, my anxiety and adrenaline kicked in high gear as I looked for my one exit route. That brown, crooked wooden door. I had to find it before the next abomination appeared to kill me. Or maybe turn me into one of them? I didn’t know what these things would do to me, but I sure as Hell didn’t plan to stick around and find out. My mind flooded with a sense of fear and uncertainty when I didn’t see it right away. I looked around the cube-shaped room and studied it quickly to find my wooden savior. The walls were an ugly beige, chipped and stained. Even mold came from along the top edge where it had met the white, popcorn ceiling. There was no door, no crack in the walls, no hallway, and of course no windows. There was no noticeable bump in the floor where a potential hatch could be hidden under the charcoal, cut-pile carpet. I scratched at my scalp–This doesn’t make any sense…where is the door? There’s always been a door!

I examined one wall, I tried to see if there was a clue…or…or…I didn’t even know, just something to get me out! A hint, a button, a puzzle, anything! I ran my hands along one of the musty walls. Just the texture alone against my fingertips had left a sour taste in my mouth. I jerked forward at the sound of a sudden thud behind me. I felt my neck pop when I whipped my head around for the hundredth time. My mouth went dry, eyes widened as my heart pounded in my ears. Another one…another monster.

It was easily past 6 feet tall, even as it hunched over onto its lanky arms. Its face, deformed yet almost human-like. Wrinkly pale skin and it looked like it had no muscles to it. Yet even as thin as it looked, the prodding bones only added to its horrific appearance. It was hairless like a sphynx cat, with beady red eyes that stared right at me. Why does it look like Gregory…only contorted? It stared me down like a starved beast that finally was given a meal after so long. Its lower jaw hung open, farther than any normal human could. Thick, slimy drool dripped from its mouth. Where the hell did it come from? There’s no hole in the wall or ceiling! There’s no god damned door! It started to stalk closer, slowly as if it knew there was no need to rush. I, its prey, had nowhere to run. My back pressed against the wall, I once again started praying to God to save me from this fate. To just open the wall or let the floor open beneath me. Please God, Just get me out of this room! Away from the freak that was only a mere five feet away. Its lanky body casted a dark shadow over me, which hid the one lightbulb in the center of the ceiling. The dark shadow over the creature’s face illuminated its red orbs that hadn’t looked away from me.

No…no, no, no, NO, NO!

WHERE THE FUCK IS THE DOOR?