Somebody opened a door they weren't supposed to. Now, it won't shut.
Those words echoed through my mind as my friend, Jacob, and I were headed to the factory. This was an old, abandoned shoe factory from the 80's. Apparently there was this fire that broke out in one of the machines. The flames overtook one side of the factory before they even realized there was a fire to begin with. They say everyone made it out alive. But then again, they didn't exactly have a head count of the workers there. And they never found out why the fire started either.
As we arrived at the front doors, we noticed they were charred, the green paint peeling away to reveal a rusted silver just behind it. I grabbed the handle and, with a gentle tug, the door squeaked open. On the other side of the door was pitch darkness. It was surreal, like we were peering straight into the void.
Jacob turned on the flashlight on his phone and shone it inside. Everything was still. The rusted machinery, the busted conveyers, the random materials strewn about the concrete floors. It was creepy, like we were in the middle of one of those found footage horror movies where you're begging the characters not to bring you inside with them, to turn around and run the other direction. But we couldn't.
You see, there was this local legend. Some say that the fire that broke out actually spawned from a portal that had opened up from another world. The rumor started when others began exploring the building back in the 90's, shortly after the fire. They said that one of the rooms in the back of the factory looked rather unusual. There were markings all over the walls in black chalk, all in varying numbers and letters. And tally marks. Or they could have been claw marks. Whose to say?
As me and Jacob explored, we reached the room where the fire started. I could tell by the melted rubber on the conveyer. Like it had just randomly sparked from thin air and spontaneously melted this particular area. Nothing else.
As we looked, we heard a noise behind us, the creaking of metal. We quickly turned around, Jacob's light landing on a door that looked like a black box against a pale, nearly white, wall. We walked closer and peered inside, calling out for anyone, or anything, else that might be in here with us. But there was just an uncomfortable silence that greeted us.
We walked into the room and gazed around. The walls were a sickly blue color, stained in spots with water damage. On the walls were markings carved into the wall. They might have used black chalk or something. I didn't care much about the material. But the markings were just of random numbers and letters, as if they were some kind of code repeating over and over again.
And against the far wall was a door. Did we dare open it?
Of course we did. That's why we were here, after all.
Jacob held the light and I pried at the door, tugging it, struggling to get it open. Finally, after putting my full body weight into it, the door burst open. And a long, slender hand immediately escaped the door. It made a quick swipe for the flashlight in Jacob's hands. It slammed it to the ground, the light immediately dropping, drowning us in the pitch black void of darkness.
I heard an inhuman screeching that may have also been some kind of distorted roaring.
Jacob and I turned and ran. Aimlessly. No way to know where we were going. Only back. Back to the factory. Back outside. Back to when there was any source of light at all.
We heard the booming sounds of running footsteps behind us as the horrifying shriek behind us grew closer. We ran and ran until our lung hurt. Ran until our feet grew tired. Ran... for way longer than we should have. I felt like we had been running for miles. But we never even reached a point outside of this massive room. We never reached a doorway...
Then, as suddenly as the horrific sounds started, there was immediate silence. Deafening silence. Uncomfortable silence.
Sunlight poured into the room through the window beside us. Through the blinds. But looking around, we weren't in the building at all. At least, I didn't believe so. It looked like my bedroom. How were we back here? And why was there a face staring back at me from the opened closet door?
Those words echoed through my mind as my friend, Jacob, and I were headed to the factory. This was an old, abandoned shoe factory from the 80's. Apparently there was this fire that broke out in one of the machines. The flames overtook one side of the factory before they even realized there was a fire to begin with. They say everyone made it out alive. But then again, they didn't exactly have a head count of the workers there. And they never found out why the fire started either.
As we arrived at the front doors, we noticed they were charred, the green paint peeling away to reveal a rusted silver just behind it. I grabbed the handle and, with a gentle tug, the door squeaked open. On the other side of the door was pitch darkness. It was surreal, like we were peering straight into the void.
Jacob turned on the flashlight on his phone and shone it inside. Everything was still. The rusted machinery, the busted conveyers, the random materials strewn about the concrete floors. It was creepy, like we were in the middle of one of those found footage horror movies where you're begging the characters not to bring you inside with them, to turn around and run the other direction. But we couldn't.
You see, there was this local legend. Some say that the fire that broke out actually spawned from a portal that had opened up from another world. The rumor started when others began exploring the building back in the 90's, shortly after the fire. They said that one of the rooms in the back of the factory looked rather unusual. There were markings all over the walls in black chalk, all in varying numbers and letters. And tally marks. Or they could have been claw marks. Whose to say?
As me and Jacob explored, we reached the room where the fire started. I could tell by the melted rubber on the conveyer. Like it had just randomly sparked from thin air and spontaneously melted this particular area. Nothing else.
As we looked, we heard a noise behind us, the creaking of metal. We quickly turned around, Jacob's light landing on a door that looked like a black box against a pale, nearly white, wall. We walked closer and peered inside, calling out for anyone, or anything, else that might be in here with us. But there was just an uncomfortable silence that greeted us.
We walked into the room and gazed around. The walls were a sickly blue color, stained in spots with water damage. On the walls were markings carved into the wall. They might have used black chalk or something. I didn't care much about the material. But the markings were just of random numbers and letters, as if they were some kind of code repeating over and over again.
And against the far wall was a door. Did we dare open it?
Of course we did. That's why we were here, after all.
Jacob held the light and I pried at the door, tugging it, struggling to get it open. Finally, after putting my full body weight into it, the door burst open. And a long, slender hand immediately escaped the door. It made a quick swipe for the flashlight in Jacob's hands. It slammed it to the ground, the light immediately dropping, drowning us in the pitch black void of darkness.
I heard an inhuman screeching that may have also been some kind of distorted roaring.
Jacob and I turned and ran. Aimlessly. No way to know where we were going. Only back. Back to the factory. Back outside. Back to when there was any source of light at all.
We heard the booming sounds of running footsteps behind us as the horrifying shriek behind us grew closer. We ran and ran until our lung hurt. Ran until our feet grew tired. Ran... for way longer than we should have. I felt like we had been running for miles. But we never even reached a point outside of this massive room. We never reached a doorway...
Then, as suddenly as the horrific sounds started, there was immediate silence. Deafening silence. Uncomfortable silence.
Sunlight poured into the room through the window beside us. Through the blinds. But looking around, we weren't in the building at all. At least, I didn't believe so. It looked like my bedroom. How were we back here? And why was there a face staring back at me from the opened closet door?
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