Mary was sound asleep, so after I took a drink of water, I set the cup on the counter and tiptoed upstairs. As I walked into my room, I suddenly tripped and fell. I found myself facing a dingy, dirty yellowish carpet. I jumped up onto my feet and looked around. I took a few steps backwards. My back touched the wall, I gasped.
“Where am I?” I thought to myself. There was a muggy, dingy smell in the air and the sound of the florescent lights buzzed overhead. The carpet felt gross and dirty under my bare feet.
"Am I dreaming?" I said to myself. My heart raced and I vigilantly walked forward through the maze of endless rooms, and hallways. After a while of wandering around, I began to panic. The realization that I will never find a way out sunk in. Every turn looked the same. I was exhausted, so I sat on the floor with my back against the wall, contemplating. My eyes scanned the strange surroundings. One of the walls looked a little different from the others, a little darker in color but I didn't pay attention.
"I feel as though I am in a maze, trapped like a mouse. Something nefarious lingers here,” I thought. As I continued onward, I came across a camcorder laying on the floor at a corner of one of the rooms. It was a Canon HV30 Camcorder and the case was on the floor next to it.
I saw some dried blood splattered on the wall across from me. I gulped. I picked up the camera and inspected it. A name was engraved at the bottom of the camera, Micah Watson. I wonder if this is the owner of the camcorder. I sat down on the other side of the blood stain wall and I re-winded the camera to where him and his friends entered an abandoned building. He did a selfie of himself with his friends. Micah introduced himself as one of the members of the Ghost Finders group, he is African/American. “Yo man, we’re here to investigate this abandoned building that was built over 15 years ago but for some reason, the company up and left. It is said that several workers at this warehouse died here under mysterious circumstances and another worker went missing.” One of his friends, interrupted. “We investigate haunted houses and abandoned builds in search of ghost or paranormal activity.” I decided to forward the tape. They walked through the building, exploring. Micah turned into a room, that separated himself from the others.
“I just entered one of the rooms where someone said they saw the Rake,” he said, with a hush. His breath was shaky. After looking around and found nothing, he decided to leave the room. “Okay guys can you hear me?” He talked into his walkie-talkie
“Yeah man, where are you?” One of the boys asked. “I’m at the far side and I’ll be heading back to you guys right now. I don’t see anything here,” he said. Then something happened. The video became distorted for a second or two. It looked like he missed a step or something because he fell.
“What the Fuck!” he said, as he regained his
step and stood up. He checked his camcorder. "Can you guys hear me?” No one answered. The camera was still working, and his
surroundings became clear. My mouth dropped and my heart sank.
“This can’t be. He is here, in this place where
I am,” I thought to myself. I took a deep breath. I looked around and not too
far from where I found the camera, a Nike shoe lay a few feet away. I gulped. I
quickly checked the date on the footage. “April 4th, 2014.” I gasped. I continued watching the footage. He frantically tried to find a way out,
just like me, running but getting nowhere.
I thought for a moment, then I remembered about
a wall that looked different than the rest of the walls. It was slightly darker
in shade, the design seemed to stand out as well.
“That’s it! That might be my way out." It was just a hunch, but
my gut feeling told me that it might be the way out, only if I can find that
wall again and that’s a BIG if. I sighed, stood up and swung the camcorder case over my shoulder placing it diagonally across my chest and secured the case so that the camera does not fall out. I walked onward. It seemed like forever, I stopped and took a
breath.
I wasn’t sure if running into the wall would take me anywhere or I would end up knocking myself out, but either way, I had to try. I screamed as I jumped at the wall and disappeared through it. The creature managed to tear a piece of my bottom leg pajamas as I went through. I stumbled onto the sidewalk. Tears rolled down my cheeks, I wiped them clean. Breathing heavily, I looked around. I heard cars at a distance, so I walked out toward that direction. I stopped when I saw a familiar street.
“Ivy Street. Oh my God! I’m not too far from home,” I said to
myself. The sun was rising. I looked at myself and noticed that I was still in
my pajamas and tank top. I sighed. “If a cop sees me,
he’ll think I’m a crackhead or a drunk.” I thought to myself. I walked all
the way home hoping that no one would try and offer me a ride. I knocked on the
door several times until someone opened.
“Oh my
God, Reyna! Where have you’ve been?” Mary said, giving me a hug. Teresa ran
down the stairs when she heard Mary. I nearly fainted out of exhaustion. Mary
caught me and helped me to the couch.
“Where have you’ve been?” Teresa asked, her face
ashen, showing signs of confusion and worry. She must have been losing some
sleep as well, both were.
“I don’t know where to begin,” I started.
“Well, start from the beginning.” She said. Teresa sat down on the chair across
from us. They looked at me, intently waiting for a big reveal. Their worried
eyes staring at me. I set the camcorder down at the side table next to me.
“Where
did you get that?” Mary asked. “I’ll explain in a bit. Can I get some water?”
Teresa nodded. My mouth was parched. She came back and gave me a water bottle
of Arrowhead. I drank it all down. “Before I start, please keep an open mind,
okay,” I said. They nodded. “But first, what day is it?” They looked at each
other.
“It’s April 23rd.” Mary said. It has been three days since I was missing but it has been 5 years since Micah went missing.
“We both know that if you were going to be gone
for more than a day, you would let us know and give us information on where
you’ll be,” Teresa said.
“Yeah but when we saw that your car was still
here and your phone was still in the charger, we panicked.” Mary chimed in.
“Did you call the cops?” I asked.
“Yes,” Mary responded. I sighed, and facepalmed.
“Okay, so
I am about to tell you something that is going to be unbelievable, but I have
proof.” I said. I told them everything that had happened and as expected, they
gave me a skeptical look but when I showed them the video footage that Micah
left behind, they were shocked. Teresa stood up and paced, nervously.
“Oh my God,
Reyna. This happened in your room? No one can ever go in there again.” She
said. I agreed.
“I can’t
believe that place is real,” Mary mumbled.
“What do you know about it?” I asked.
“Well,
it’s really not supposed to be an actual place. It's some kind of weird fictional game online but apparently with what you've just told us it’s real,” she
was in disbelief.
“Tell me
more,” I asked.
“They call it the backrooms and they are a series of
randomly generated rooms interconnected with one another. The wallpaper,
ceiling, and carpet are of dull yellow, and there are overhead
fluorescent lights, similar to the ones found in many buildings from the 70's or
80's. I’ll send you a link to
the info about it.” She said. I nodded. Teresa called the cops letting them
know I was home. I told her to tell them I was with a family member and had
forgotten to take my phone with me. I did not want her to tell them what I had experienced
because no one would believe me, plus they might think I was on drugs or
something.
“So, what are you going to do with the
camcorder?” Teresa asked.
I sighed. “I don’t know yet.” I left it at that. Six months later, Mary looked up a paranormal/private investigator, she said that the woman helps people with unusual, paranormal problems. Later that week I visited their office in Orange County. The woman told me that she’ll look into it and she also asked her assistant to take down my story of what happened to me so they can keep it on file. Before I left, the woman who is the owner of that business, said she will contact me and will pay me a visit within the next month.
“I would like to see that room for myself and maybe I can help you get
rid of the problem,” she said, reassuringly. I breathed a sigh of relief.
Even after all these months, my ordeal is not over, not by a long shot. I have been experiencing nightmares pertaining to what happened, and I've been sleep walking too. I don’t sleep in my room. I sleep downstairs with Mary. My door remains closed until the private paranormal investigator comes over to look at it. I went to the local church and said a prayer for Micah.
Without
Faith, I would never have made it out. I never knew that miracles could happen,
but it goes to show you that even in the darkest and most desolate places, there
is still hope. Someone truly does watch over you.
(Thank you for reading this short story. I will be using fragments from it for a book I'm contemplating on writing in the near future. Please do visit the link below to my website.)
NEW! I made a video relating this short story. Please visit link and comment. TY
UPDATE: I recently published a book based on the Backrooms. Please visit link to download the eBook or purchase the paperback.
Lost in the Backrooms: The Phoenix Files vol. 1
Please consider a small donation to support Indie authors. TY
