(An excerpt from Chapter 9, Lost in the Backrooms: The Phoenix Files vol. 1)
“There’s nothing out of the ordinary here, just an old,
abandoned house,” Jane said. They went downstairs and saw a door in the kitchen
that they hadn’t seen before. Jane opened it.
“It looks like a basement,” MK noted. They
hesitated and she took out a flashlight before they descended. The basement is
filled with cobwebs and dust everywhere; the walls are made of old bricks which
are decaying and breaking apart, the room smells like death. “Ugh, this place
smells so bad,” said MK, covering her nose with her hand. Jane did the same.
“No telling if there’s black mold here or anything thing
else that can kill us by inhaling the air,” said Jane. The basement had one small window, covered with soot and
cobwebs. MK noticed a white door on the other side of the room.
“Well, what do you think?”
“I guess we should go in,” Jane carefully opened the door
and walked through. They were back in the yellow maze of the Backrooms once
again.
“Oh no,” MK said, feeling disheartened but
there is a hint of hope in her, “Jane, I believe that we will find our way out
this time, I’m certain,” she said, optimistically but Jane is losing hope. MK’s abilities have
increased, and now she will be able to guide them through. They continued their
journey, their hair disheveled, cascading loosely down their shoulders, no
longer in a ponytail; rips on their clothes with blood stains from the creatures
they had slain, and a strange cough suddenly started to plague them. They both
drank some almond water, and it temporarily tamed their cough.
“Why are we coughing?” MK wondered aloud. “We didn’t have
this issue when we first entered the Backrooms. It feels like it kicked in
after we left that last area we were in,” MK continued, trying to piece
together what might have triggered it.
“I think it’s the exposure to this other
dimension, or maybe the basement of that house.” MK took a deep breath and
coughed.
“Maybe we should’ve been wearing masks all the time,” Jane
remarked.
MK stopped, “I sense something
coming.” They brandished their weapons, Jane aimed her pistol, ready for
anything that might attack them, while MK raised her sword.
Around the corner emerged a creature with insect-like
limbs, its torso had four arms with two fingered claws. “What the Hell is that?” Jane exclaimed. The head of the creature has
two almond shaped eyes on each side, white in color with a red
rim around the iris, its mouth has sharp jagged teeth, but as it screeched,
strange foot long tentacles emerged from the mouth. “It started out
human,” said MK, staring at the eldritch abomination.
“Can you communicate
with it?” MK tried but the creature was unreachable. She can see darkness and
pain. It desires flesh, human flesh. MK gulped, “We are food,” she said. As it
approached, it lunged at them. Jane shot several rounds into its head, bringing
it down. MK took her sword and sliced the legs off. “Give it mercy, may it rest in peace,” said
Jane, delivering the final blow, blood gushed around the body. As it died, MK
saw flashes of who he once was. She gasped, “He was a Hunter, one of us.”
“Oh no,” said Jane, a dismal look shadowed her face as she
stared at the creature.
She sighed, “I wonder who he was?”
“I think his name was Micah?”
“I’ll inform Father Patrick when we get back, if we get
back.” Her faith is faltering; her patience is wearing thin. The maddening buzz
of the fluorescent lights lingers above them. They no longer have their
earplugs, because they lost them. They both said a silent prayer for their
fallen comrade.
“Let’s keep moving,”
said Jane, with a sigh. They came across a hallway, with many doors on each
side. They tried to open several doors but to no avail. The last door at the
end is white with gold hinges and a doorknob. They looked at each other, MK
gave Jane a nod. Jane cautiously opened the door. They found themselves in an
abandoned house with graffiti all around the walls, the sound of birds chirping
signaled that their ordeal was over. They smiled and hugged each other,
overwhelmed by the feeling of triumph and elation. Tears of joy ran down their
cheeks. Jane kissed MK on her lips, she blushed.
“Oh my God, we’re
home,” Jane said, overjoyed. As they emerged out of the front door of the
abandoned house, they stood looking down at the neighborhood street and noticed
overgrown weeds and cracked asphalt. Several homes were incomplete; the others
are in disarray and decaying from abandonment and neglect. “I wonder if this
was one of those communities that were abandoned and never completed because of the housing crisis,” said MK. Jane
nodded and looked around, “I think it’s noon. I don’t know where we are.”
(Images are for the readers entertainment, enjoy)
