Lost in Isolation - Part 3
It shouldn't have been there
Start with Part 1 of this story if you haven’t read it yet.
The following morning, he finished the remaining pages of the chapter that had been plaguing him for so long. Done! Finally done. The rest of the book would be easy compared to this painful push.
He closed the laptop and tucked it under his arm. Grabbing his empty coffee mug, he gave the room one last look as he stepped out and shut the door behind him. It was time to go home.
However, as he packed his suitcases and shoved dirty clothes into a black garbage bag, an itching, unfinished feeling crawled across his brain. That damn building. He had to try one last time before leaving. He’d give it a half hour… that’s all. So, he set the timer on his phone to force himself to give up when it was time to drive home.
The now-familiar white glint teased him as he slid through the dark trees. It was never directly in front of him but always to the side. Struck with a sudden strange impulse, he started walking backward, clumsily trying not to trip and fall. Glancing over his shoulder, he caught a glimpse of the structure to correct his course occasionally.
It was working!
More of it was revealed slowly but surely through the thick branches and dense brush. Closer and closer, he stepped back and back until he eventually stood before the door of a white shed.
Curious, he twisted an ornate brass handle, and the crooked old door creaked open slowly, revealing a pitch-black interior. He cautiously stepped inside and pulled his phone out to turn the light on. But it didn’t penetrate enough into the space to reach the farthest dark corners. Silently, he cursed himself for not bringing a real flashlight.
He could see the plain wooden floor and framed walls, devoid of paneling or drywall. There was no furniture, visible tools, boxes, or anything else he could see inside. What was this place? Why would his father leave an empty shed back in the woods? It made no sense.
However, as his eyes adjusted, he noticed it was bigger inside than expected, and the interior stretched back and away from the entrance. Some rough stairs appeared to lead up to a second floor that shouldn't have been there. How strange…
The air smelled musty and a bit fetid. It reminded him of the scent of the dead rat he’d found in the bedroom, but worse. Something larger had died in here a long time ago.
As he stepped farther inside to get a better look around, the door slammed shut behind him. He was now in total darkness, except for his phone’s tiny light. Panicking, he spun around and reached for the door. But his hands found… nothing. Stumbling forward, arms outstretched, he flailed wildly in the air and found only emptiness.
Nothing.
The door, the wall… all gone. Impossible. He stumbled forward, carefully reaching out in the dark. Finally, splintered boards met his grasp. But he still couldn’t find the entrance even after tracing the wall as far as he could.
There had to be another door or window or something. He moved slowly across the room using the small light and found a black hallway in one corner. A shiver ran down his spine, but he had no choice but to continue exploring and find another way out.
The hallway opened into another small dark room. He noticed an old stained mattress on the floor in one corner. Fuck… Someone had been sleeping in here.
Moving to the other side of the room to avoid it, he caught his toe on a pile of refuse scattered across the floor. It made a dry rattling and scraping sound that echoed off the walls. Damn it! He angled the light down and saw that it was small white bones mingled with dark fur.
Oh god, what the hell was living in here?
Panicking, he stumbled across the room to a doorway on the other side. It led to yet another dark hallway. But, as he walked farther, he noticed a dull gleam of light coming through a window in one wall.
Finally! A way out.
He rushed to the window and peered through it into… evening. Where was the sun? He glanced at his phone and saw it was around 1:30 P.M. Looking through the dusty glass again, his eyes adjusted to the scene. A blaze of strange stars swirled through the dark sky above. The forest had thinned to a few scattered trees, giving him a view of a dark mountain range far away in the distance.
His heart pounded while his mind struggled to comprehend what he saw. Where in the hell was he? There were no mountains within a hundred miles of the cabin. None of this should be here.
Before he could gather his thoughts, a face pressed against the glass from the outside—a face like nothing he’d ever seen before in his worst nightmares. Screaming, he stumbled back from the window and fell to the floor behind him. His phone slipped from his grasp and spun away into the darkness.
Now, something was coming down the hallway from the other side. Its form was briefly revealed in the spinning light, but he saw enough to ignite an adrenaline rush to flee.
He scrambled to his feet and ran through the darkness back toward the entrance. He had to find that door this time. He had to escape!
Something behind him clutched at his shirt, trying to pull him backward. He tore free and kept running, bloodying his hands on the walls as he clawed his way blindly to freedom.
A crushing impact against a wall painfully informed him that he was back in the first room. He slid his hands back and forth, up and down, scratching and scrabbling for a hint of the door’s frame or handle.
Suddenly, a primal crawling feeling in his brain told him he was no longer alone in the room. He knew something was watching him in the darkness, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Slow, shuffling steps reached his ears, and he heard a strange dragging and scraping sound on the old wooden floor. He flattened himself against the wall, trying to avoid the touch of whatever it was.
Boots? Hooves… or maybe claws? He couldn't tell. Then, the same odd snuffling and grunting sound started that he'd heard in the forest days ago. His stomach twisted in terror.
Whatever it was, it was now here. In here, in the darkness with him.
He sensed movement—air shifting and brushing against his face. It was much closer than before. He twisted around and pressed his face hard into the wall, but there was no escape.
What a shame, he thought. He'd never finish the book now. He wondered what would become of the chapters he’d already written and posted online…
A hot breath grazed the back of his neck. Something wrapped around him, tightly squeezing and pulling him into a crushing, intimate embrace.
A foul stench puffed into the air, and a soft, dusty voice whispered into his ear, "I'm… sorry."
The screaming began. It climbed to impossible octaves before fading into pleading wet whimpers. But, of course, no one was there to hear… or care.
Quiet.
So quiet.
As evening settled over the forest, no sound disturbed the dusky twilight. The white shack faded behind twisted trunks, black branches, and gently falling leaves, disappearing into the darkness again.
THE END