The Backrooms

The Backrooms are dangerous, they run deep INSIDE our own reality, meaning there is no physical way to enter it. Rather, a person enters the Backrooms when in a state of deep despair, or during deep sleep. To most it is a fictional realm in which someone finds themselves trapped but some say they have actually been there, physically. Well, lets explore that. Below is a fictional short story I have written specifically for my blog. It is written as a first person narrative. The character is telling her story of the experiences she had in the Backrooms. Do leave your comment if you wish. TY

My name Reyna Salano and I'm 19. I attend the local community college while working part-time as a Target associate. One day, my roommates and I went out for our usual Friday hang out at Buffalo Wild Wings to chat about anything that came to mind, most of the time it was about men. 

After we were there for two hours, Teresa's boyfriend walked into the restaurant. Teresa waved him over and he came and sat down with us. "Hey babe, what are you guys talking about? I hope not about me." He said and gave her a kiss.  

"Really? You think every conversation is about you?" said Teresa, with a Latin accent. Teresa loved his cockiness and bravado, but I was never fond of his personality. I often wonder what attracted her to him. After a while, I looked at the time on my phone and I made an excuse to leave early. "Hey guys, I'm gonna head home. I have a class tomorrow morning, and I have work after." Teresa looked at the time on her phone.  "It’s only 9:30, I thought you were gonna stay till midnight? This place doesn’t close until one in the morning. Stay," she insisted. I pressed my lips together and smiled, "Um, no. I need my sleep, sorry guys." 

"Oh, okay, drive carefully," said Teresa. She turned her attention back to her boyfriend.

 "We'll see you at home," said Mary. I gathered my belongings.

  "See you guys later," I said. Teresa, Mary, and I are roommates and we’ve been renting the two-bedroom condo for about two years. Mary works at an Amazon facility, she is satisfied with where she works and chooses not to attend college, she says she really doesn’t have the time, and Teresa works at a dental office as a receptionist. At the time, I was the only one attending college and I was the youngest of the three. Teresa was 23, Mary 22 and I was 18. Our sleeping arrangements were as follows: Mary slept on the sleeper couch in the living room, while I took one room and Teresa took the other. I drove home and got ready for bed. However, I lay in bed staring up at the ceiling; time went by. Teresa and Mary got home around two in the morning.

 “2am?" I said to myself and sighed. I rolled over and listened as they talked for a bit, then they quieted down and turned in for the night. A breeze was blowing outside, and I could hear a branch from a tree lightly tapping at my window. I soon drifted off to sleep. Around four in the morning, I awoke with a start. I had a weird vivid dream which jolted me out of sleep, leaving me with a feeling of uneasiness and trepidation. I rubbed my eyes as I lay in bed and stretched my arms over my head. I let out a heavy sigh and sat up.”

I could hear Teresa snoring in the next room. Mary doesn't snore, thank God. I decided to go downstairs to get a cup of water. The only light in the room was the dimly lit cabinet lights. I drank some water and placed the cup by the sink on the counter, then tiptoed upstairs.

  As I walked into my room, I suddenly tripped. A sudden dizziness came over me as well. “Damn it,” I said to myself. I was afraid that I would wake them up. As I stood up, I found myself not in my room! I caught my breath and looked around.

 “What the Hell,” I said to myself, my mouth dropped. I took a few steps forward. I was faced with randomly generated rooms interconnected with one another. The wallpaper, ceiling and carpet were a dull dirty yellow color. There were fluorescent lights hanging over my head, like the ones found in many buildings from the 70’s or 80’s. I was flabbergasted, and I stood there paralyzed. My heart raced.

 “Am I dreaming? Where am I?” I mused. There was a muggy smell in the air and the sound of the florescent lights buzzing overhead was annoying. I realized that this place looked like something from my dream. I was shocked, I didn’t know what to do and I was barefooted too since I just got out of bed and didn’t put on my slippers beforehand.

 The carpet felt moist and gross. I curiously walked forward, not knowing how I got there and afraid that I would bump into something or someone that would harm me. I did not have a weapon, not even my hand taser that I usually have in my purse and my feet were bare. I cautiously walked around the maze of endless rooms, and hallways, while all the while the noise of the fluorescent lights sounded above me like a hoard of bees buzzing around. The place appeared desolate; no other person was around. After a while of wandering, which felt like eternity, panic set in and I realized that I would never find a way out. I had the sunken feeling that I wasn’t going to leave at all. I was becoming hungry, thirsty, and weary. I sat down with my back against one of the walls, pondering, reevaluating what happened. I facepalmed, took a deep breath and stood up.

  I began to run, well more of a jog, then stopped when I heard a sound coming from afar. I caught my breath and listened. There are many strange rooms and hallways but it seems as though I am the only one in here but what was that sound? I thought to myself. I dare not call out for help. I don’t know what was coming toward me, but I turned on my heels and ran back the way I came; however the walls seemed to have changed, I was confused and frustrated. The florescent lights buzzed above, confusing me. One of the walls looked a little different from the others, a little darker in color but I didn't pay attention to it at the time. “Am I dreaming? I must be because this can’t be happening,” I mused, and I heard the sound again, something strange, scrapping along the walls, but the sound was still too far away to be of any concern. The florescent lights above sounded louder and flickered, sometimes the sound was deafening.

I decided to continue my journey through the yellow crazy maze and perhaps I will find my way out eventually. My heart pounded in my chest, and I felt like a mouse trapped, trying to find the exit. A part of me wanted to believe that this was a dream, a nightmare but instinct told me that it wasn’t. As I turned a corner, I came across a Nike tee shirt and Nike Air Max shoes. I picked it up and inspected the shoe, I saw some dried blood on it. I gasped and dropped it. I took a step back and looked around, wide eyed. I was worried that whatever killed the person who owned those shoes might still be around. I was dizzy with fear, my heart pounded, and I took a deep breath; continued through the ominous yellow labyrinth.

“There’s a killer in this place, something killing people. I must be careful, or I will end up like that person.” I stopped and listened. My ears strained as I could hear a low growl, but it was still far from me, not a cause for alarm. However, I remained vigilant. I breathed a sigh of relief. The musky smell lingered in the air; the moist carpet squish at every step my bare feet took. Lucky that in some areas, the carpet was somewhat dry.

 “I will find a way out,” I kept telling myself. I have faith. I would find a way out but as I continued to journey through the maze, I turned a corner and stopped. “What is this?” I said to myself. I found a mini camcorder next to the case. I picked it up and looked at it. It was an older model of a Panasonic mini camcorder. “I wonder where this came from?” I walked to a secluded corner where I felt safe. It had a tape inside, and I played it. I quickly turned down the volume. I held my breath, and looked around, my heart pounding. I waited a few minutes then exhaled. Whatever was out there, did not hear me so I took out the earplugs from the case, placed one into my ear and plugged it into the camera. The video consisted of these teens who were maybe two years younger than me. The date is April 26^th 2009, they were ghost hunting at an abandoned old house. As I looked through the video, the footage glitched and became blurry at times. The young men, joked around about meeting a ghoul or ghost or coming across something otherworldly.

 “Hey, we might slip into another dimension or something,” one of them joked.

“Very funny,” said the African/American boy who was holding the camera. He turned the camera around and introduced himself and his friends.

“I am Jet this is Mike and Victor, we are the Truth Seekers, we go to abandoned places and search for the paranormal,” he said. “They must have a YouTube channel,” I mused.

 “Yeah, so we upload a new video every Friday on our YouTube Channel, please give us a thumbs up on this video and subscribe to our channel,” said Mike. They proceeded to go inside the house and look around. Nothing special, just old furniture and a lot of dust everywhere. The curtains of the house were half hung by the rods, the rooms looked as if whoever lived there before, left abruptly many years ago. Jet had the camcorder and the other two had some ghost hunting gadgets. When Jet entered one of the rooms it was then that the camera glitched and he found himself in the Backrooms.

  “What the Hell is this!” he exclaimed as he slowly stood up. At that point the camera must have been facing down because I couldn’t see anything but the carpet. He lifted the camera to check if it was still recording.

  “Good, it is recording,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief. He moved ahead at a slow pace, similar to how I did when I first got here. He just kept walking, but eventually, he broke into a run down the hallways, glancing around and breathing hard with each step. I can tell he was afraid and frustrated because I heard it in his breathing, but he kept filming and pushing onward.

 “Wow, I can’t believe this place, it’s endless,” he said to himself. He called out to his friends but there was no response. He began to panic. He stopped for a moment as though he had heard something.

He slowly turned around. He heard scratching on the walls but couldn’t see anything. He started to run.

  On occasion he would turn the camera back to catch something but there was nothing. Then he stopped cold on his feet and was in a room with many columns. He saw something that frightened him.  He points the camera in that direction. The camera caught a grotesque looking creature, something out of Hell. It had the head of a Human but acted like a hound. It crawled on all fours much like one of them. I honestly thought it was a werewolf. The back legs were twisted like the hind legs of a dog, and the claws were sharp. It was as though someone cut the head off a person and sewed it onto the body. The most horrific part of the creature was its face. You couldn’t see it under the matted hair, but its eyes glowed as it glared at him. 

When it opened its wide maw, it had several rows of teeth. When I saw it on the video my mouth dropped; I was beside myself. “Is that real?” I asked myself. He continued running but I heard on the video the creature close behind. Jet couldn’t find a way out; it was then he dropped the camera and the case; he kept on running, as the camera caught footage of him running away. The creature lunged at him in a heartbeat and that was the end. After I watched it, I sprung up and put the camera securely into the case, hung the strap of the case diagonally around me and continued the trek through the Backrooms as quickly as possible. I came across a strange wooden crate, but I ignored it as I heard that familiar sound again, the same sound that was in the video and the same sound I heard earlier. I gulped and stopped. I held my breath, and I slowly turned around. The creature was a few yards away from me, so I ran, as if my life depended on it because it did. It was strong, fast and I could feel its breath on my heels. My heart raced and the only thing that ran through my mind was finding a way out. Then I remembered the strange wall, the weird looking wall. It was then when I heard something say, “Go through it.” Maybe it was my Guardian Angel, I don’t know. “Yes, that’s where I have to go,” I thought to myself. I can hear my own heart pounding, but I can hear that thing pouncing its feet on the moldy carpet as each step brought it closer to me. I was never very religious but at that moment, I recited the Lord’s Prayer in my head. The creature was hungry, and it was not going to stop until it caught me.

 “God, help me find the way out,” I shouted. As I continued, the creature was gaining on me, then I turned a corner and saw it, the wall. I ran right at it, hoping to make it through or that I would knock myself out, so I wouldn’t feel a thing when the creature’s teeth sink into me. I was thinking that death will be swift. I went right through the wall, but the creature managed to rip a piece of the hem from my bottom pajamas. I screamed as I flowed through emptiness, a void, then suddenly I was thrust into a small room. I hit hard against the door. I thought I was still in the Backrooms, but I looked around and it was a storage room under some stairs in a house. I breathed heavily, catching my breath. I slowly opened the door and crawled out, limping. I quickly looked at my ankle where the creature tore my pajamas, it scratched me, blood ran down my foot. I was trembling uncontrollably. I still had the camera with me and as I looked around the room, I noticed there was no furniture, it was an empty house but clean.

“It looks like no one lives here but it is well kept so someone comes to clean this place,” I pondered. By the way it was early evening. I found myself in an unknown house. Tears ran down my cheeks. “Hello,” I called out. Then I saw a camera erected on the corner of the wall.  “Yes,” I said, hoping that someone was watching the camera, I waved at it, saying, “Help me, please.” I passed out and it wasn’t until the next day when the housekeeper and two men dressed in security uniforms came in and found me. I escaped the Backrooms by a hair but others have not, and i pray for them everyday.

(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.)

My Website

NEW! I made a video relating this short story. Please visit link and comment. TY

The Backrooms

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 like me. TY

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First, Second or Third Person Narrative

 

Let’s talk about First person, second person and third person narrative.

First person narrative is a point of view (who is telling a story) where the story is narrated by one character at a time. This character may be speaking about him or herself or sharing events that he or she is experiencing—the use of first-person pronouns. Many stories and novels are written I the first-person point of view. In this kind of narrative, you are writing the character’s story by their perspective. You are writing their story through their eyes.

 

 Example: “I left my keys on the kitchen counter but now I can’t find them.”

Second Person Narrative:

  Second-person point of view belongs to the person (or people) being addressed.

The biggest indicator of the second person use is pronouns like: you, your, yours, yourself or yourselves.

Example: “If you eat these fruits you will find that your health is much better to combat illnesses.”

A self-help book is written in a second person narrative. There are a lot of self-help books out there and when you buy one, you’ll see the narration and how it’s written. These books are a dime in dozen and the writer is addressing the reader when they write.

 

Third Person Narrative:

The third-person point of view/narrative belongs to the person (or people) being talked about. The third-person pronouns include he, him, his, himself, she, her, hers, herself, it, its, itself, they, them, their, theirs, and themselves.

 Example: “Candy used her paycheck to buy herself a new dress.”

 Most popular books are written as a third person narrative but let’s talk more about first person narrative for a bit.

It is easy to write a book using first-person narrative/point of view. Take a look at Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey, all of those books were written as first-person narrative.

Easy? Yes, the author publishes his/her book quicker, and are capable of producing several books within 6 months. Most of my books are written as a third person narrative, only The Secret Diary of a Gypsy Heart and Saints and Sinners: Affairs of the Heart are written as first-person narrative. My book Chandra’s Quest Book 1, the 2002 version, was written as a first-person narrative but when I decided to re-write the book, I chose third person narrative instead.

 Author’s that write as a first-person narrative, usually use what they know about the subject they are writing. Sometimes they will use personal experiences in their life and will use fractions of those experiences in their books.

  One of my sons told me that someone they know wants to write a book using first-person narration and use actual names of people he/she knows. Well, you cannot copyright your own name, or titles, or ideas, names are not copyrighted. The person who wants to write a fiction book can make subtle changes to the characters, like hair color, eyes, the character’s place of employment, relationship with other people or where they live. Making subtle changes can help avoid confusion and grievance.

Again, I want to state that names are not copyrighted. You cannot sue an author for using your name in his/her book. It would be considered frivolous and will not hold up in court, not even small claims. Food for thought.

The link below will give more info.

My books:

Saints and Sinners: Affairs of the Heart

Secret Diary of a Gypsy Heart

MY Website

Please consider donating a small portion for struggling indie authors. TY

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Rate and Review

Quote from a post I read:

FYI AUTHORS/WRITERS:  Amazon now allows 1-star ratings without a review explaining why a book or a product is given the rating.  It is said that 99% of the time, the book is not even read.  One explanation, especially if it is a non-fiction book, that a competitor who has a book in that category will try to sabotage a book.  Amazon allows a rating to be given w/o reviews.  However, it is nearly impossible to get it removed if it has no review attached to the rating showing who gave it the rating.  THIS IS NOT FAIR for Amazon to allow this to happen to the writer or a vendor selling a product.  It leaves the author wide open for nefarious efforts by unscrupulous people.

I'm aware that some people cannot leave reviews for my books on Amazon unless you're a 'VERIFIED' purchaser.

 Here is my question: What about the people who received my books as gifts or maybe they read my book through a shared download like Kindle Unlimited?

 

Well, Amazon is restricting reviews on only Independent/self-published author's books, because as someone once said, "These so called authors have someone they know post reviews for them just to make them look good."

That statement is unproven since there are plenty of people who post their reviews on books that they have bought elsewhere or were given as a gift so, those people are not verified buyers, right? I'm one of those people. I've left quite a few reviews on books that I bought in a book store or on another website and I don't 'personally' know the author. So in light of the situation, I am posting links to where you can rate and review my books. 

Google Books: If you have the Google Books app, you may not find my books through the app but if you search for them through Google search you will find them. 

The Stranger Things: Paranormal, Supernatural and Unusual Phenomenon

Chandra's Quest Book 2: Twisted Embers

Chandra's Quest

Saints and Sinners: Affairs of the Heart

In the Company of Elves

GoodReads: This popular website has brought readers in touch with various books available to download or buy as paperback. Many post their reviews on this website.

The Stranger Things: Paranormal, Supernatural and Unusual Phenomenon

Chandra's Quest

Chandra's Quest Book 2: Twisted Embers

In the Company of Elves

Saints and Sinners: Affairs of the Heart

NOTE: Some of the books do not have updated book cover images. Chandra's Quest, on Good Reads, has the older 2013 book cover version and the pages of the book are not updated to the current version as the one on Amazon but you can still leave a review. Gypsy Heart has not been added yet to GoodReads or Google Books because it is not available as a paperback.

My Facebook

My Website

Where You Can Leave Reviews for my Books

If you're a Independent author (aka self-published) you should know by now that Amazon undermines the progress of Indie Author's books by removing reviews that average over a 3 star. They will remove reviews that are 5 stars of new Indie books because they assume that most Indie Authors have their 'relatives or friends' leave reviews for them! Well, I for one, know that anyone who has read books by any author, indie or not, don't always buy them on Amazon. Some people leave reviews on books that they didn't buy on Amazon. I call it BULL when they say, "Only verified buyers can leave a review." Why you ask? I've left plenty of reviews for books that I had bought years ago through other book stores and those reviews were never removed. So, in light of this revelation I will add here links to where you CAN put your review without it being removed. Please do visit them.

The Stranger Things

The Stranger Things

In the Company of Elves

In the Company of Elves

Chandra's Quest Book 2 : Twisted Embers

Chandra's Quest

Saints and Sinners: Affairs of the Heart

There are no reviews for:

Secret Diary of a Gypsy Heart yet. The book is in eBook form. When I publish it as a paperback people can post a review.

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Secret Diary of a Gypsy Heart

I am working on a new book called Secret Diary of a Gypsy Heart. This book was actually written back in the early 2000's as a novelette. The original title was Clarissa. I restored it and started writing more chapters in the book. I have old CD Rom disc where I saved various short stories before I went through my writer's block. There were only a few stories I was able to fish out that are workable. Secret Diary of a Gypsy Heart is adult fiction/drama and written as a first person narrative for the first few chapters. Categorized as contemporary, romantic fiction. The story revolves around Serena, a woman whose past relationships come back to haunt her family after her death.

NOTE:  I will post a link to the book when it is published. Similarities to people, places and things are purely coincidental. This book is not based on true accounts but written to seem like true accounts.

Update: this book will be published as an eBook in a few weeks. Please visit my Facebook page for updates. TY

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Secret Diary of a Gypsy Heart