Estimated reading time — 53 minutes

1

I don’t know if anyone will end up reading this. Fuck I don’t even know if theres anyone left outside this damn building. The last time I looked out the window everything was dark but not in the usual way one would expect the early hours of the morning to be. It was oppressive…. It was unnatural. No matter how much I strained my eyes and begged a god, that would shun me as a heretic, for mercy. It was as if I was floating in the deepest reaches of a space devoid of stars and here I stood, nothing but a vacuous pit of questions.

Completely and utterly alone.

I’m writing this solely because I don’t know what else to do. I’m Hoping someone is still out there, no… needing there to be someone out there to tell me this is some kind of fucked up joke or that maybe I’m in the midst of some kind of breakdown. Anything to help me understand.

Let me explain from the beginning, maybe recounting the last two days will help me get a better grasp on the reality I’m facing. The funny thing is, it started exactly the same as every other day. Same monotonous routine; wake up at 5:10 each morning, adorn my high vis and steel toe boots, catch the 6:10 train only to find myself at the locked gates of my place of work not even forty minutes after rolling out of bed.

Same route, same times and even the same faces passed me by on my commute. It had been dark out, a little cold and a little damp but everything was… normal…

I was the first to arrive at work most days which granted me access to a set of the building’s keys shortly after my employment. So it wasn’t unusual to be the only one squinting under the dim flicker of an overhead lamp post with the cold biting at my fingertips, as I struggled to pry the stubborn metal of the gates open as quickly as possible in hopes of finding reprieve from the winter air. I didn’t even have an inkling anything was wrong until a good thirty minutes after I had arrived.

I work in a fairly small warehouse for an independent enterprise in a small non descript town. Just your average location for any average joe. The building has a small office space above the warehouse and the day to day workload was never that intense. In fact most days were a slow slog to 3:30, but the small team of people I grew to know helped the time pass.

Normally within ten to twenty minutes of my arrival other members of staff would start to trickle in, accompanied by the general groan of sleepiness and resentment for being stuck in what was essentially a fucking ice box all day instead of wrapped up in bed with a warm cup of coffee.

The one shitty heater the company provided us smelt as though it was ready to catch fire at any moment and yet we would all huddle round it desperately whenever we got the chance. So even the temperature hadn’t seemed strange at the time. I can feel it now though… how it’s slowly creeping under my skin and nesting in my bones.

It’s unnatural and I’m concerned about how much colder it’s going to get the longer I’m trapped here.

After I had deactivated the alarm and made my first cup of coffee for the day I made my way toward the door, the large windows overseeing the warehouse loomed in my peripheral, which always did a great job at freaking me the fuck out. You see, the lights for the warehouse itself are automated and will only come on when it senses movement, so whenever I make my way toward the door in the mornings I refuse to look through those damn windows. Call it an overactive imagination or watching too many horror films in my spare time but I didn’t like looking into a pit of darkness especially when no one else was in the building. An irrational part of my mind would always supply that someone could be watching me on the other side of the glass. Stupid right? Now I kind of wish there was. I haven’t seen a single soul in 42 hours which is fucking insane.

This whole situation is making me feel insane.

I remember the confusion that I had felt when no one had shown up after I had assumed a good thirty minutes had passed. I had glanced around the space for a while, pacing around the staff room and warehouse office wondering if I could see any signs of a new arrival and when I had finally begun to drive myself a little crazy doing so I fished my phone from my pocket and stared down in a detached kind of shock when my phone flashed the numbers 6:30am back at me. The time I had first arrived at work. There was no way. I had been here for at least twenty to thirty minutes. So the time staring back at me must have been wrong. Now as much as this had sent a tiny shiver of unease through my spine It wasn’t unexplainable and so I didn’t ponder on it much, still too perplexed as to why no one else was here yet.

It wasn’t a bank holiday, it was the middle of the week and there was no indication as to why no one else had shown up. Perhaps there had been an accident and people were stuck in traffic?.

So I waited for roughly another thirty minutes. Idly staring at my phone screen in mild fascination. Time unchanging. It was at this point I really started to feel antsy, fingers dancing along the sides of my phone, unable to refrain from fidgeting where I sat. Maybe I should just leave? No one was answering their phones and the longer I sat there, the more on edge I had become. I felt silly for feeling so spooked at the time, telling myself that if anything it was a day off from work and that I had probably missed an email about the place being shut for the day.

The low melody of changes by Black Sabbath danced in the otherwise still space between the walls of this place, offering a small salvation from the eerie feeling that accompanied me as I logged into my work email on the laptop at my makeshift desk, that sat in the corner of the warehouse. The red laser of the scanner hummed quietly as it projected its dim light across the white walls opposite the computer.

There had been no email. The calls I had tried to make had gone from ringing out to not going through at all from my end. It was as if the entire place became a deadzone. No signal and no wifi connection.

The open space that sat oppressively against my back felt almost suffocating the longer I swivelled nervously in the desk chair. Fuck this right? Something didn’t feel right and the longer I stewed in that feeling the heavier it got. So with a shaky exhale I pushed myself back abruptly from the laptop and gathered my bag and headphones from under the desk. If no one was coming then what was I doing here? I knew the address of my work friend Natalie, I could swing by and see what was going on at a more reasonable hour of the day. There must have been some kind of announcement I missed and whilst everyone else was at home I was here like a complete fucking idiot waiting around.

There was still a part of me that hesitated at the prospect of leaving. What if I got in trouble? What if after I leave people do start to show up and then I’m the one that gets questioned about my impromptu absence?

Well it turns out that none of that mattered because when my eyes landed on the glass door of the entrance all I could see was a thick blanket of obsidian. I stood there for a good few minutes wondering if this was all just a stupidly vivid dream and I was about to wake up drenched in sweat. Nothing felt grounded in the realms of reality anymore. There was no light from the dim lamp post outside, nor the car I had walked past to get into the building. I couldn’t even see the fucking pavement!

There was something niggling at the back of my mind, telling me not to open that door. But that wasn’t rational, none of this was. All I wanted to do was go home. Go back to a place where things felt normal.

So against my better judgement I strode forward, hand reaching out and curling round the handle, a buzz of anticipation thrumming under my clammy palm. I yanked once, twice and then erratically until it left me breathless.

The door wouldn’t budge and the longer I stood opposite the cavernous pit of absence, gazing into the darkness the more concerned I grew that something was staring back. Repressing a shudder I took a few steps back, breath rattling in my chest, the thump of primal fear cracking against my ribcage rhythmically.

I was at a loss. And when my brain couldn’t land on any reasonable conclusion I made the decision to run up the stairs and look through a window in the office. Perhaps someone had put a black sheet over the doorframe, maybe someone was in the building with me. Either to fuck with me for some stupid joke or maybe more sinister purposes. I didn’t know. But if that was the case then I would be able to see the car park from one of the upstairs windows.

I honestly can’t put into words the feeling I got when I was met with the same sight. I remember going extremely cold, yet despite that a fevered sweat perspirated my upper brow. My heart sinking like stone into my gut.

In a rushed panic I had fled back down the stairs, a frenzy unlike I had ever known overtaking my movements and I pulled hard on the glass door again. I even thought about trying to smash the window pane in my desperation to get out of whatever situation I had found myself in but a small and more rational part of my brain whispered soft reassurances. That I was overacting and would most definitely get sacked if I broke company property on purpose with no real justifiable excuse other than that I was scared? Yeah… no.

Forcing myself to take a steadying breath I evaluated my options. This situation was weird and I was potentially in danger. The most logically explanation is that someone is fucking with me right? And potentially in a very malicious way. So upon second thought smashing the door open was not a bad idea… it would alert whoever was here to where I was but that wouldn’t matter if I was quick enough. Ultimately this job wasn’t worth my life. Never before had I changed my mind so quickly.

As you can probably guess… it didn’t work…

The glass refused to shatter, the upstairs office space was locked when I made a dash up there to hide. Worry pulling taut at my muscles at the prospect of someone hearing my failed attempts at escape. I huddled by that door for a while. Chest heaving painfully the entire time.

Fast forward a lot of painful time spent staring at the top of the stairs, waiting for someone brandishing a knife or something akin to one to slowly encroach upon my safety. It never did happen.

Most of the first day was spent inspecting all of the windows and exits to the building and after much internal encouragement I found myself back in the vast and mostly empty space, bar the racking, of the warehouse. I had frantically and repeatedly pushed the button to the shutter in hope of it opening it in another fruitless attempt at escape.

I’m lucky that I have access to food and water.

This was a thought that rattled around my brain as more and more hours passed me by. It turned out that the only clock in this whole place that didn’t stop at 6:30 this morning is the one on the laptop i’m using to write this on. The first day of being stuck here was coming to an end and I was still no closer to understanding what was going on.

When the weight of sleep began to pull at my eyelids a good many hours after my arrival. I was reluctant to succumb to the feeling. On edge and paranoid about my safety had me sat upright, rigid in my chair.

I knew that I would have to sleep eventually but the thought of being in such a vulnerable state sent a painfully sharp sensation of anxiety through my veins.

Little did I know that when the dredges of sleep finally took me, I would be waking up to a new nightmare entirely.

It was a sound that woke me.

The speaker I had used to keep me feeling somewhat sane must have died when I was asleep and instead of waking to the comforting lull of music I instead awoke in a blanket of darkness and a harrowing silence. I was still for a moment, head buried amongst my folded arms. Pupils rolling in their sockets as I struggled to pull myself from the tendrils of sleep that beckoned me to stay. The first thing I noticed was how my hands ached, fingers stiff and curled inwards almost as if the moisture from my body had been sucked dry, leaving me nothing more than a shrivelled flesh sack. In an attempt to get the blood flowing into my extremities I tried to pry myself from the desk. But to my growing concern, I was unable to. It felt like there was a pressure on my neck, pushing down on the bone and pinning me there. The tiny hairs that littered my skin rising to meet a gentle exhale that danced across my flesh momentarily. It was soft, but deliberate. Almost as if someone had been standing over me. As the thought entered my sleep-addled mind my muscles seized. I bolted upright in my seat, joints popping and grinding at the sudden movement that I forced upon them. My head cracked to the side, gaze sliding across the space behind me and when my eyes landed on nothing more than emptiness my shoulders sagged at the notion that there was nothing there.

I must have sat ramrod straight in my chair for at least five minutes before the adrenaline began to seep from my pours, leaving me a boneless heap. With a clearer head I could reason that what I had just experienced was probably just an unfortunately timed bout of sleep paralysis. I sighed at the thought, clenching and uncleanching my fingers in an attempt to get ahold of my frayed nerves. I had experienced sleep paralysis far too regularly as a child and was unfortunately no stranger to it. Didn’t make it any less stressful, especially under the circumstances I find myself currently in. There was only a slight reprieve until something new caught my attention.

I didn’t register it at first. The gentle tap… tap… tapping echoing quietly from one of the aisles somewhere to the left of me. Instead I had realised in abject horror that the lights were still off which had me jumping from my seat in panic, arms waving above my head in an attempt to trip the motion sensors.

I always did hate the dark.

To my dismay not even a flicker of light shone down from the many decrepit bulbs littering the ceiling, and when I finally ceased my flailing. Heavy breaths pushing between parted lips. I heard it again. The noise that had stirred me from a restless sleep. A noise I had believed to have come from a dream but was now making itself known in space I couldn’t deny.

There was a sickening churn of dread that twisted my insides at the thought that I could be dead. What else explains this level of fucking bat shit insane? So what, my life comes to an end one random Wednesday on my way to work? Just splat and I’m gone? Did I fall on the tracks? Get shanked on my way in? If so why can’t I remember it and why please god why am I left here? Haunting my own workplace? What kind of fucked up joke is this?

And how cliche is that?

But what if I wasn’t dead… What then… I’m not equipped to deal with this shit. All I wanted was a nice easy life, get my paycheck at the end of every month and rot in front of my TV. Was that too much to ask?

Tap…. Tap…..Tap….

It was coming from the furthest reaches of the warehouse, louder this time as if purposefully trying to steal my attention away from my ever spiralling thoughts. It wasn’t mice. It was too loud, too forceful and way too slow. So now I was left posed with two options. Either ignore the creepy sound, sit back at my desk and pretend it didn’t exist or walk towards whatever it was with my crappy phone torch and investigate.

As much as I loved sitting here in my own misery, I couldn’t do that forever, and ultimately I was either going to

A) find out that I am actually dead
or
B) eventually die here anyway.

So I gathered what little courage I had left floating around inside of me and pulled my phone off charge. Like I had previously stated, the warehouse itself wasn’t all that big, especially in comparison to large corporations like Amazon. I liked it on any normal day but as I proceeded down the longest aisle of the building to reach the back end of the space it began to feel as though I was getting nowhere. The weak shine of my phone’s torch only aiding in illuminating just a few feet in front of me.

I’ve worked here a little over a year and I can tell you with utmost certainty that it takes only about two minutes to walk the length of the building at a brisk pace. Sure, I had been trepidatious to find the source of the sound so I may have been moving slower than I usually would but it was getting ridiculous.

I pushed on even when every fibre of my being told me to stop.

Time moved weirdly now, every movement I made felt slow and muted like wading through a thick marsh and no matter how long I walked, I never seemed to grow any closer to the back of the warehouse. In fact the space ahead of me felt distorted and elongated, thinning almost to a point in the far distance. It continued on like this for what felt like a lifetime. Each footfall bouncing off the walls adding to the pressure I could feel clutching at my skull. I began to regret my decision and when I had all but convinced myself it was no longer worth it to keep going, a green hue sputtered and buzzed to life, beams splaying out across a wall that was not there moments ago. I glanced up, eyes fixating on a fire exit sign hanging atop a freshly materialised back door. The light coming from the sign felt unnaturally bright in contrast to the rest of the room. The glow hummed in an almost nauseating way, twisting my stomach up in knots every time the electricity pulsed.

It felt like I was being taunted. In some weird fucked up way but at least now I could see the back wall. Which meant I was surely closer to the final aisle that branched off to the right of me.

The scratching had been a persistent cacophony that grated on my eardrums but now there was yet another noise.

It sounded like someone was snivelling. As if they were desperately trying to hold back tears. I stopped dead in my tracks, muscles seizing in alarm at the very human sound emanating from somewhere above me. Isn’t this what I had wanted? Some proof that I wasn’t the only fucker left on the planet? but in that moment I felt no relief. My skin grew clammy, a cold sweat building upon petrified skin. The grip I had on my phone tightened until I could feel the edges digging red divots in vulnerable skin and with the best will in the world I could not keep the stream of light from bouncing in trepidation as I lifted the torch higher.

Above me was an endless tower of twisted metal. What was once an aligned and sturdy pallet rack was now looming over me, a mass of concave shelving that folded over itself again and again, reaching impossible heights as though no ceiling existed anymore to prevent its growth as it stretched into the abyss.

It groaned under its own weight, unstable and twitching as the crying grew louder. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. My jaw swung open from the absurdity I was bearing witness to. Unsure I reached a tentative hand out, fingers dancing along the rusted metal. Its orange rot flaked off gently at my touch, dancing momentarily in the air before descending slowly onto the ground in front of me. So different from when I had last locked eyes on the shelves, how new they had looked then and how old they were now.

Any stock that had been placed on the shelving was seemingly gone and I watched on in disbelief as the tower in front of me swayed dangerously the further my gaze wandered up and somewhere up there was a lone box, a large one that would typically be used to store large quantities of items. It was the only thing left on the racking and the longer I stared the quicker I realised that the low moans and watery breath were coming from inside of it. Whatever was in there moved slightly, its body dragging against the thin material that confined it.

The box was too high up for even the reach truck. There was also a very real chance that the vehicle wouldn’t even work in the crazy ass pocket dimension I found myself in. If I wanted to know what was up there, I was going to have to climb…

Fuck that.

No, I refused then and I refuse now as I sit here writing this. Climbing up that contorted pile of metal was exactly how I was going to die here if I tried and who knows what fucking monstrosity is up there?. So I ran. I had run as fast as my legs would carry me away from the sound and obtrusive mass that bent unnaturally bnhjmhigher and higher into what was now just a stretch of nothingness above me. This place was unravelling. Each passing hour seemed to distort different parts of the warehouse and on my mad dash back toward the only place I felt any sort of comfort, my desk, it had taken me twice as long to clear the winding pathway back.

…and yet the wailing only grew louder.

And my already dwindling sense of safety was slipping through my fingers yet again.

So now here we are. 42 hours in and I have no idea what to do. The wifi keeps dipping in and out. So I don’t know if this will upload at all.

…. I don’t even know if there is anyone out there.

2

Let me start off by expressing how fucking relieved I am that somewhere outside of this hellhole the world is still spinning. Sure, I’m still stuck here wondering how I’m going to get out but at least I know that there’s a place I can escape to as opposed to the alternative.

I think it’s been a few days since I first tried to reach out to people. I can’t be certain though. The flow of time has felt distorted and slow ever since the appearance of the fire exit and… well…

Natalie.

But I’ll get to that soon.

Even as I sit here under the dim hue of the computer screen, I can still see the sickly green glow of that sign creeping ever closer and spilling across the floor.

I’ve spent the majority of my time having an internal battle on what my next moves are. I’m tired, hungry and quickly approaching my wits end. Yet the fear paralyses me all the same. The complete lack of understanding is throwing me through a loop and I can’t seem to get a handle on anything.

One minute I’m stewing in my own pity, asking the empty space around me what I had done to deserve this. The next, I’m creating a game plan, scribbling messily on a stack of old envelopes I found wedged between two boxes at my feet.

The problem is, there was a stubbornness in me that fought very hard to keep my feet pinned to the only place left that gave me any sort of comfort. After my trip down what felt like the rabbit hole Alice stumbled into, I was reluctant to venture anywhere outside of the vicinity of the low light emanating from my laptop screen. I didn’t want to be in wonderland anymore.

There was nothing wonderful about it.

Eventually the twist of unforgiving hunger had begun to gnaw at my insides like a ravenous animal that had been cornered for far too long. I had reached a point of no longer being able to ignore it.

Glancing at the disarray that was my desk. Empty cereal boxes and crushed water bottles splayed out across the table. I knew that I had no choice in the matter, I couldn’t grovel in my own shit anymore.

I looked toward the speaker, now laying on the floor by my feet. It had died and in a fit of rage and panic I had flung the item off the desk. The only charger that fit into the port was upstairs in the now locked office. I knew it was irrational to get so wound up but the music brought me some form of comfort, especially considering I had nothing else to drown out the sound of sorrowful moaning that still emanated down the aisle.

My eyes bounced around the small space I had carved out for myself. Wondering what else around me would be useful. In my search I had stumbled upon our old radio that as a collective workforce agreed to retire when for some unknown reason the damn thing would only play a repeat of three songs. No matter the station we attuned it to. It was a freaky little detail about this place I had long since forgotten and had never put all that much stock into. It was weird, sure and it had done well to entertain us on occasion. Hazing the new employee with our spooky radio was always fun. But in time it lost its charm and the constant repeat of songs had us putting that little old radio to rest.

In my peripheral I noticed that the light to the staffroom kitchen had flickered on. I squinted at the new development suspiciously. It was like this place knew I needed to get more supplies and in its own way it was fucking with me.

Looking down at the dusty contraption in my hand I wasn’t really sure how radio frequencies would work here as my trembling fingers fiddled with a slightly bent antenna. To be fair I didn’t even know if it even worked at all anymore but my phone was no longer charging and the laptop in front of me refused to open any new tabs other than the one I am currently sitting on.

I could feel my frustration rise when all that met my ears was the sound of biting static. I shook the radio defiantly for a few seconds before a tired sigh left my lips. All I was asking for was a little distraction from the constant barrage of crying that had stolen any form of restful sleep from me. Thrusting the contraption down onto the desk harshly I ran a shaky hand through my hair. What good was this stupid radio anyway. It wouldn’t protect me.

I found myself gazing between the door to the staff room and my desk periodically. I needed to grow a pair and get myself some kind of food and water. What if this place abstracts any further and I no longer have a kitchen to go to? I was being ridiculous and putting myself more at risk than I already was.

So I stepped tentatively away from the soft glow of the screen, throwing a poisonous glare in the direction of the radio as I pressed closer to the door. Happy with the fact it hadn’t taken what felt like an eternity to get there unlike my previous adventure. When I approached the glass slat in the doorframe something glinted under the fluorescent lights from the room on the other side. I paused, hand hovering just a few inches from the wooden frame.

The glass was wet, droplets of condensation lazily slid from a spot just about eye level. There was a quickly dissipating fog pressed to the glass. The kind of mark that gets left when hot breath meets a cold surface.

I cringed at the thought that something could have been there only moments before and I had somehow missed it. The only thing that moved me forward was the throbbing deep within my stomach. Pushing the door open slowly I poked my head through the small gap, eyes tracing over the room, trying to decipher if there was anything noticeably different.

The room was small and claustrophobic, walls pressing closer than before. There was a thick shroud of umbra creeping from the corners of the room. It told me in no uncertain terms that this room was disappearing.

With this newfound knowledge I rushed into the space and made a beeline for the kitchen. Now was the time to grab any essentials I needed before I no longer had the chance.

My frantic haul bore little fruit in the end but it would have to do. I spared not even a second glance as I pushed my way back into the open space of the warehouse.

It was then that static filled my senses. I stopped dead in my tracks. Loose packets of crisps and other snacks from the cupboard pouring from my bloated pockets. The Radio was now upright on the desk, the tiny screen flickering in disarray as it bounced between frequencies.

The cadence of a few different voices strung together a sentence. Words coming out in awkward stutters as the stations jumped from place to place but there was no denying what I had heard.

“I like your skin”

And just like that I had lost my appetite.

Something was definitely toying with me.

I think deep down I knew that from the start, as much as I had tried to convince myself otherwise. Ultimately it was the push I needed to steel my nerves and make the decision to investigate the back door.

There was a fire lit under my ass now, I wanted out.

Pulling the bag from under my desk I emptied the sparse contents and began to stuff it with food and bottled water. The goal was to not end up back here, if I could manage it. If it was even possible.

With the strap of the bag hiked on trembling shoulders I found myself staring at one of the forklifts. Maybe I could drive down the aisle considering it took me what felt like days to walk to the exit before.

I pulled myself up onto the forklift. The fabric of the seat was cold against my jeans and a small cloud of my own breath floated about my face with every nervous exhale as I got my bearings. Stashing the bag behind me I swivelled back to the controls, fingers fumbling in the dark as I tried to find the key that usually sat in a small compartment to the left of the steering wheel. Movements growing ever impatient I glided my hands across random bits of crap that had accumulated there over the years of use and when I finally felt the bumpy ridges of metal buried under some old paperwork a small smile crept its way onto my face.

The drive down was a slow slog of anticipation and unease. I was right in my assumption that it would be quicker. Though I have no idea how much of that is pure luck or due to the fact this place was a temperamental nightmare and wholly unpredictable.

The outer cage of the vehicle provided me with some comfort nonetheless as I traveled down the impossibly long stretch of space.

To my surprise the previously towering heap of metal that had defied all reason was no longer a contorted mess. Instead a very ordinary looking build stood back in its place. Lone box still perched on the highest rung.

Either way it had made no difference in my mind, opting to forgo my curiosity I ended up face to face with a large door that was so familiar and so alien all at once. I had been through it so many times and yet now I stood before it with anxiety thrumming under my skin. Usually just behind it would sit an old crooked bench that bowed and hissed whenever anyone sat on it. The floor often littered in old cigarette butts and snails that would lazily travel towards the overgrown tufts of grass and brambles. Who knows what lay past it now.

To my utter dismay the damn thing wouldn’t budge and I tried, oh boy did I try. At first with my shoulders, pushing all my weight against an unyielding force and when that didn’t work I wound my leg back and with all the force I could muster I kicked the door. I don’t really know what I had expected to happen but when a loud clang of my steel toe caps met the thick metal of the door a sharp pang zapped through my ankle bone.

I’m a fucking idiot but I had to give myself some grace. This whole situation was screwing with my head and at this point I was so wound up and desperate that I was just about ready to try anything to get the fuck out of here. Swivelling on my heel I marched back over to the truck. I flung myself atop the seat and wasted no time in putting my foot down hard against the pedal in a rash decision to ram into the fucker.

And yet… unsurprisingly all it had amounted to was a mild case of whiplash as the truck’s forks collided with the heavy door. The sound of metal on metal ricochetted around my skull momentarily as the truck all but jolted to a complete stop, nearly flinging me from my seat.

Great. That had done sweet fuck all.

It took me a few moments to register the fact the crying I had grown semi used to at this point had stopped. Which in a strange way unnerved me more. I sat there in a silence that had evaded me for days. Ears straining for any kind of movement.

Nothing.

I glanced back towards the racking, neck twisting uncomfortably as I weighed up my options. I didn’t want to die here… but an intense sense of needing to know what was up there pushed against a more logical mind. If the forklift still worked after my crash course directly into the door I could use the forks to bring the pallet down. If I didn’t like what I saw I could always drive the box into the racking and hopefully that will be enough to kill whatever it is.

It didn’t take long to reverse the now dented vehicle and align it with the box that was currently still and quiet. The suspense only growing as the mast of the reach slowly crept higher and higher. My free foot tapped against the floor in rapid succession in an attempt to calm my fraying nerves. My mind was reeling with the possibilities of what I was about to find and no matter how many times my thoughts spiralled I had no idea what I was about to find.

The forks were mere inches from the underside of the pallet now. Hovering just in front of the box. I allowed the mast of the truck to extend until it was sitting atop the metal slates.

I sat there for a lot longer than I would like to admit, eyes fixated on the top of the cardboard. The dim light coming from the truck was barely bright enough for me to see much of anything but I didn’t need to move from my seat to be able to see dark splotches of moisture soaking in the thin layers of the box. It wasn’t blood. No, it looked more like grease or something akin to it. When the pallet was safely on the ground I slid reluctantly from my seat. Coming to a stiff stand still only a few feet from the one object in this place that had been a consistency and an enigma all wrapped up into one.

I had nowhere else to go, no obvious signs of escape and the only thing that was left unchecked sat before me. So I took a few steps towards it, until my palm rested on one of the flaps. I allowed for another moment to collect myself before peeling back the veil slowly.

There were a lot of things my mind had supplied to me during this whole ordeal, that there would be some deformed monster ready to pounce and eat my soul or some form of demon? Maybe even the devil himself. Far be it from a religious man, I had been questioning my reality and what lay beyond a lot more than I ever have before since being stuck here… slowly rotting away. What else was there to do? Except ponder one of life’s greatest mysteries?. So when my gaze flicked anxiously down to meet a thick head of brown hair I recoiled from the shock. It had been so far from what I had prepared myself to see.

When whoever was inside made no effort to stand or acknowledge me, I found myself peering over the top of the box yet again, brows drawn in concern. It was a girl, hunched in the corner, folded uncomfortably within herself. Her thick tangled hair covered the majority of her slender face.

The sound of me moving must have finally roused her because in a matter of seconds her eyes met mine and all sense of dread melted from me in an instant. It was Natalie. I don’t know how or why but here she was, looking up at me with a blank expression, pupils dilated and milky in their sockets.

“What the fuck” I mumbled to myself before leaning further into the box “N-Natalie?”

I think hearing her own name is what ultimately pulled her from whatever dissociative state she had been in. Her head jerked slightly in surprise before squinting up at me for a second time. Only this time, she could see me. There was a small part of my brain that was screaming at me to stay cautious. What if it wasn’t actually her? What if this was a trap?

“Was that you?… crying all that time?” I tried in a hushed tone.

Natalie seemed to ponder this a moment, a look of confusion glazing over her taut features “…. Crying?” she asked, one hand coming up to rub and her forearm. Something about this particular action sent a wave of relief flooding through me. It was a habit I noticed Natalie had pretty early on in our friendship. When the girl was anxious she would often rub at her arms to keep herself present in the moment and that simple act humanised her before me. This wasn’t some fucking demon. This was my friend.

She blinked a few more times before speaking again. Her voice sounding strained as it crackled deep in her throat “… I don’t like it here Tyler”

A moment of silence drifted between us before a crazed look flashed in her eyes, her slender hand coming to grab at my arm that was now dangling just slightly over the lip of the box. Her hands were ice cold as they curled around my exposed flesh “I want this to be over!” she wailed, her grip tightening as she did so “I’ve been here for fucking ages! I want it to stop.. Please god make it stop…”

Her unsteady hold had me almost teething over the edge of the unstable cardboard, the shock of what she had just said sent jolts of burning hot terror down to my very core “I saw you at work yesterday” I muttered.

We both stewed in the silence that followed for an indescribable amount of time, both staring into each other’s eyes in some kind of unspoken horror that we now shared. I lightly tugged on her arm in a silent question to see if she wanted to get out of the box she had been stuck in for however fucking long it had been.

She nodded her head and pulled her shaky legs underneath herself, coming to an unsteady stance. Using the knife I had stashed away in my pocket in case things had gotten hairy, I cut away the side of the box and gently hoisted Natalie away from the pallet until she was situated next to me.

“How long have you been here? And how the fuck did you end up in that?”

She shook her head, dislodging a few stray tears “I don’t know… I showed up to work one day and then I never left. No one ever came. Until you”

“And the box?” I gently probed.

“I don’t want to talk about it”

And that was it. I didn’t want to push her, she was frozen to the bone and barely standing upright on her own. None of this made any kind of sense. How had she survived up there without even a drop of water for god knows how long?

I think the confusion had been evident on my face as we drove back towards the other end of the warehouse, she shrugged beside me, shoulder lightly brushing mine “…. I thought I was going to die up there…. But…. you get used to the hunger pains eventually and then it just stops… hurting. It’s not natural but nothing about this place is”

We didn’t speak much after that, so I pulled up the other chair and sat her close to the heater. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep and now here we are. Day whatever the fuck in this shithole.

At least I’m not alone anymore.

3

There’s something wrong with Natalie.

I think she’s been here too long. Isolated and devoid of all hope. It scares me to see her this way. We both started around the same time. Both the youngest employees coupled with the fact we learnt the ins and outs of this place together, it was no surprise that we hit it off so well. She was witty and kind, had an open mind and we often found ourselves putting the world to rights. She helped make those long and boring days go by in an instant.

Many of the older members of staff often joked about us ending up together but that wasn’t the nature of our relationship. Besides, I wasn’t interested in the opposite sex. I think that’s why she felt comfortable getting close to me. There were no ulterior motives on either end. We had only known each other for two years, barely any time at all but she was one of the first people I had met that made me feel truly seen. Have you ever had a friendship like that?

It made my gut churn at the thought that someone so kind had ended up in a place like this.

I care about her more than I thought I would ever care about a person I had met through work, and seeing someone who would often light up the room she was in reduced to a quiet, nervous wreck clenched at my heart like a vice. It made this all feel so much more real. Knowing that, sooner or later this is how I was going to end up… and if we both lose hope… we won’t ever leave.

I could never admit this to her face but she frightened me now. With the way she would drift off into her own mind, would mutter things to me that sometimes didn’t make any sense. Just like the walls that confined us, she had become unpredictable.

A few hours into our first night together, the tendrils of sleep had wrapped themselves around me and pulled me into probably one of the deeper sleeps that I had managed to have here. My original goal was to stay up and keep watch over Natalie but even with her strange behaviour, I must have found some comfort subconsciously because it hadn’t taken me long to pass out in my chair.

I was roused when something brushed against my cheek. It was light and it tickled as it danced across my skin. Behind closed lids I could see a dark mass hanging close to my face. It rocked ever so slightly. I shifted in my seat slowly ebbing and flowing into consciousness. Confusion fogging my mind. A small part of me knew something was different. That something was wrong.

I hadn’t quite come too when the sound of heavy breathing filtered into my ears, musty puffs of hot air blowing directly into my own mouth and then something began to drip from above me, falling onto my chin and when warm liquid hit the back of my throat my eyes sprung open, pulse beating against my chest in quick succession as I gagged and retched. Head nearly colliding with a hard mass directly above me.

It was Natalie, only a few centimeters from my face, pupils the size of pinpricks, as they rolled around in the sockets. Mouth agape, head bobbing slowly forward and backward as if her neck couldn’t bear the weight of it. She had drool seeping down her chin and dripping into unkempt hair.

And then her lips started to move, frantically spewing discombobulated words

“It took my face, it took my face, it took my face”

I was so taken aback, I didn’t know what to do. Her hair dangled over me, sweat dripping from her brow, as she whispered the same thing over and over and over again. In a panic I reached out to grab her shoulders, shaking her harsher than I had intended “Stop!”

She gasped. Body flinging backwards, stumbling over drunken legs until falling flat against the floor. She stared at me, fear pooling in her eyes, shoulders hiked up at her neck “What the fuck!?”

Instantly feeling bad I shot from my seat, hands outstretched.

“Shit Nat, I’m sorry. You were freaki-”

“Don’t touch me!” she yelled. There was a wild air about Nat now, her lips curled back past clenched teeth and her fingers… they were buried deep in her thighs, the jagged point of those nails sinking into the flesh that sat underneath dirtied fabric.

I nodded my head, opting to sit back in my seat. I think had I continued to tower over her she would have only continued to get more upset “okay, I’ll sit right here alright? Just please… youre hurting yourself nat”

We sat like that for a while. Natalie quietly rocking on the floor with her knees drawn up under her chin. I didn’t know what to do to make this better. Promising anything to her felt like a lie. Instead I let a small smile play upon my lips, a light chuckle shortly following.

“Do you remember… when we first got to know each other and thought it would be a great idea to hang out after work? Ended up chatting shit all night. We were dog tired the next day for that shift…” my voice petered off as she flicked her gaze up toward me.

“It was worth it though,” I added finally.

The quiet rocking came to a halt as she continued to stare. I didn’t think I was going to get a response until a light scoff fell from her lips “It was your fault you know? Wouldn’t shut up even after I told you to go to bed”

I laughed at that, leaning back in my chair as the tension began to dissipate.

“But yeah… it was worth it”

It felt weird to think about that, how different our lives were now. As we sat shrouded in darkness and mystery. The frigid air dancing around us, nipping at our skin and encompassing our bones…. Leaving us hollow.

I wanted her to know that despite all of this, I was still there for her. I wanted her to know… that even if this is where we die. I was thankful I got to spend it with someone I loved instead of alone in our own special corner of hell.

“I’m sorry” she whispered, a dainty hand coming up to flick away the tears that fell. I shook my head in quiet rebuttal.

“You don’t need to apologise to me… but Nat?”

“Hnm?”

“What’s going on with you? What’s happened in the time you’ve spent here…. You must notice it. Something is…. Different. About you”

Natalie flinched at the words, gaze flicking to the floor in an instant but she nodded.

“Something happened. I can’t… I can’t remember what but for a time I wasn’t alone here. There was something watching… observing” she groaned in frustration “I can’t get my stupid brain to work properly. I know something happened to me in that fucking cardboard box but I just… I just don’t remember what”

I could see the way she started to wind herself up at the notion, so ready to belittle and demean. As if any of this was her fault.

“It’s okay, we’ve got each other now, yeah? Going forward we try and figure this shit out together”

Natalie sighed, unfurling her tense shoulder to gaze down to the green smudge of light flickering in the distance “You actually think we’re getting out of this?”

I wanted to tell her yes, that I did think we stood some chance of getting back to a place that made sense but the words remained stuck in my throat. So I said nothing. Which Natalie took as answer enough.

She had been right, you know, how excruciating the pangs of hunger were, how I had begged for reprieve. Nat had sat through it with me as I writhed on the floor. A few days after we had run out of supplies.

She reminded me that it wouldn’t last forever, and that for whatever reason. We wouldn’t die. It did little to comfort me but I appreciated it when I was able to comprehend the words.

It’s been what feels like a few days now and the more I sit here driving myself insane the more I believe that we aren’t dead but…. we’re not ‘alive’ either. Somehow, someway we’re stuck in the inbetween.

Wherever we are though, it clearly doesn’t operate under the same logic or science as we have come to understand it. Which makes it incredibly hard to do almost anything without taking a huge risk in seeing what the outcome is.

When I checked how long ago the last message I sent out was posted, it told me only two days. yet it feels like it’s been at least a handful for me.

Me and Natalie have been trying to get into the security system for the building on this laptop, now that it’s finally working semi normally, if a bit slow and janky. There had been a day or two of getting frustratingly nowhere but today was the day we finally got into it.

I had jumped slightly from my seat when one of many attempts at the password finally granted us access. Natalie chuckled breathlessly behind me “fuckin finally” she muttered as the screen loaded onto six mini POV’s, each depicting a camera in the building, I glanced toward Nat pointing at the option to look back on old footage.

“You said, when I found you that you felt like you had been here for weeks but I remember you picking me up for work the day before I ended up here. So why don’t we look at the cameras? It might give us ans-”

“Wait shhh look! The fucking cameras arent recording us, the lights are on for one and I can see Brandon!”

I swivelled my head round in disbelief, only to find that she was right. Not only was she right but the feed was live.

There was a nervous energy radiating from Natalie, gripping my shoulder as she leaned in closer to the screen.

I watched as her eyes tracked the movement of our colleagues as they carried on about their day as if nothing was even wrong. Natalie’s face twisted in ire suddenly and I flicked my gaze back to the grainy footage in front of me.

It was undeniable. Right there, in the middle of the bottom left screen was a familiar mop of brown hair, straightened and neat, so unlike the state we were both in.

I narrowed my eyes, focusing on the back of her head.

Next to me Natalie shuddered and in a watery voice she whispered “It… it stole my face”

So brazen in its movements the thing adorning my friend’s skin came to a dead stop in the middle of the last aisle. We watched on with bated breath as its head craned to the side slowly.

Natalie pushed back from the screen in shock the moment its face twisted to stare directly into the camera with a contorted smile stretched across its features and waved. Bolts of icy fear shot down my spin.

I closed the system immediately, air evading my lungs.

In her panic Natalie had retreated a few feet from me.
She stood there, body wrought with tremors, her words punctured by stuttered gasps “No this c-can’t be happening… Why are we here Tyler!? What did we do!?” she shouted, motioning one shaky hand out to space around us “What did we do that was so bad we deserved this!?”

I didn’t have the answers she wanted and she knew that.

“It fucking replaced me! Took my face! And it’ll take yours too. Fuck!”

The pain in her voice echoed across the room, bouncing from the walls and puncturing my soul. I found myself standing from my chair unsteadily, the sound of my own breath ringing in my ears.

I didn’t know what to say, couldn’t bring myself to speak. The rising panic set deep within my lungs and squeezed until I could taste iron on my tongue.
She was right, we were put here to be forgotten. To be replaced.

We hadn’t seen my doppelganger but that didn’t mean he didn’t exist. Maybe whatever it was had to learn about the people it took. Maybe that’s why I was never able to shake the feeling of being watched. We had been reduced to lab rats scurrying around the dark in a maze of distortion. Tormented as we watched everyone move on with their lives.

The dull ache of my fingers pressing crescent moon indents into flesh drew me back from the dark corners of my mind, I stared at Natalie. Unable to offer any kind of comfort as she paced the floor in front of me.

“So that’s it!?” She spat, venom lacing her tone

“whatever that thing is traps us here in some fucked up
hellscape, takes over our lives and what? We just watch it happen until we go fucking insane?”

I tried to formulate words, desperate to say something, anything! That would put Natalie at ease but I could feel myself choking on the devastation, it climbed up from the pit of my stomach and wound round my throat until I was choking on it.

I don’t really remember much of what happened next, fear had overwrought my senses. I know, as I sit here recounting the event, that I was sure I was dying at that moment. So unbelievably sure, and if it weren’t for Natalie snapping out of her frenzy when she noticed, I would have cracked my head on the desk when my legs gave out from under me.

She had caught me though, like she always did and I came too with gentle fingers combing through my hair.

She hummed quietly as I lay there, head in her lap. Her kind eyes gazed down at me as I came too.

“I’m so sorry… I keep forgetting that you’re just as scared as I am. Just as lost”

She spoke softly, never ceasing her movements.

“I told you already, you don’t owe me an apology Nat”

Unlike my usual cadence, my voice came out strained and hoarse

“Rest now” she had said.

And I did.

What little hope I had left has been snuffed from me. I just want this to fucking end.

4

The space around us is changing again. To be honest it doesn’t even really look like a warehouse anymore. The walls have been consumed by thick black nothingness and the racking that’s left has bowed and bent under an invisible force.

The air is thick with rust and decay.

And the floor beneath us is falling away little by little.

So there we sat, under the weak glow of a screen. I tried looking over the edge of the large hole that opened up where the kitchen used to be.

I wish I hadn’t.

Piles upon piles of rotten flesh met my gaze. When I had finally managed to hold the laptop low enough for the light to reach a little ways down. Discarded remains, some bloated; splashes of yellow and deep purple littering stretched skin, others merely a pile of bones, met my horrified stare.

The shock of it all nearly cost us our only light source. I had retched over the side of the pit for at least twenty minutes. But there was nothing left to expel.

The worst part about it all was that the pit was a deep cavernous hole. Yet, despite this, the sorrowful gaze of lifeless eyes were but a few metres below the lip of the gaping abyss. A grotesque display of loss, mounted atop each other in heaps.

Their arms outstretched, stiff and contorted in different directions, as if they had tried to claw their way out from under a grave made of flesh and bone.

One face in particular sent a harrowing coldness through my body. Awash with grief I begged Natalie not to look when she shuffled weakly over to me, attempting to pry me from the side of the pit.

A child, no older than ten was strewn between the bodies, her decaying features staring up directly into my very soul. How fucking terrifed she must have been. Her flesh in places was still almost fresh, hanging onto young bones, cursed to never age.

She had been stuck here, most likely alone, recently.

I cried for hours. for us, for the little girl with green eyes and the bodies that lay beneath her.

Natalie had been growing weaker by the minute.

Often forgetting things and growing confused.

Her skin was like ice to touch, yet sweat dripped profusely from her. I should have known it was a bad omen for the horror that was to come.

We had sat mostly in silence. Nat had been too weak to keep up much conversation as we laid beside each other on the cold unforgiving floor, hoping to find some comfort.

“Will you tell me something?” She whispered “anything at all. I hate the silence”

I had obliged, recounting some of our own fond memories and when I ran out of those I pressed on. Telling her about my childhood, reminiscing times that brought me joy. The family that I missed and would likely never see again. A gentle hand had come to press softly on my cheek as I did so “You’re crying” she said, all matter of fact, a small smile on her lips “You speak of things that hurt you, to bring me comfort. Your a good person Tyler, you didn’t deserve this”

“Neither did you” I mumbled back.

Natalie had fallen into a restless sleep after that, pain tugging at her brow until it sat creased on her forehead.

A few days ago, to my utmost horror, I noticed something bulging from cold skin. When Natalie had shifted in her sleep and her top rode up enough to expose her stomach, there was something growing from within her. A putrid sack sprouting from the left side of Natalie’s abdomen.

It started off quite small but as time continued to pass us by it had only grown in size.

It didn’t take long until it hung from her, bulbous and straining against delicate flesh. So large in its form, she quickly lost the ability to move as it pulsed and unjellated, pinning her to the floor. Writhing in pain.

I held Natalie’s hand as tears silently cascaded down her cheeks. A confused look had passed over her face, hand coming to shakily rest on her lower abdomen just beside the sack that rippled periodically. I watched on with baited breath.

My whole body began to shake then, knees feeling weak as they struggled to keep me upright in my kneeling position beside her. Every instinct in me told me to run at that moment but the love I had for Natalie kept me glued to the spot, my eyes trained on her beside me, fingers interlocked.

We both gasped when something began to swell and push against the thin layer of skin that kept the sack in place. She clutched at it in disbelief.

The slow and groggy demeanour Natalie had adopted the longer that thing had syphoned the life from her was replaced by a weak but frantic energy. Fear exuded from her in waves.

I squeezed at her hand as she called out to me through clenched teeth.

“Please, help me. Get it out!”

Desperate fingers clawed at the floor as the mass expanded even more. A puddle of blood pooling around us as the skin began to tear.

“Fuck! It-it’ll be okay… I-”

It was all lies, and the words burned on my tongue as it spewed between my lips, forcing me to choke on my own words.

I couldn’t breathe, my heart beating frantically against my rib cage as I shirked off my top and pressed it uselessly against the gargantuan tear that only continued to spread.

I watched hopelessly as the girl before me writhed in pain, her back arching against the cold unforgiving floor. She wailed as the skin stretched and contorted around the foreign mass, the outline of hands pushing up against the sack had me recoiling, eyes the size of saucers as I gazed at my friend unwillingly giving birth to the things that steals faces.

My hands hovered uselessly in the space between us, body trembling. The stench of death caught in my throat.

A continuous soundscape of pain and terror permeated the air around us. I could hear the strain of Natalie’s vocal cords, as the thing within her pushed against flesh once again, with more ferocity. I didn’t want to look but my eyes were transfixed on her bloated form as she squirmed on the wet ground.

“I don’t want to die! Please! Tyler help me”

She begged for me to save her, and yet, there was nothing I could do.

My heart shattered into fine dust, blowing away leaving me just an empty pit of despair. Not unlike the space we had been left to rot in.

I am ashamed to admit that the grotesque display before me had frozen me in place.

Her anguish reaching a desperate crescendo that reverberated around my skull.

And then Natalie’s pleas began to peter off, the last of her energy used. form now slumped bonelessly against the blood sodden ground. My vision blurred with unshed tears.

I called out to her, hand reaching forward until the sack all but burst open.

Long and thin fingers curled around the flayed flaps of skin. I watched it begin to pull itself free, its stiff and aborted movements pushing yellowish puss from deep within the growth. Landing with a sickening slap against the ground, Now merely just discarded offal. It seemed to almost unfold itself from within her, shoulders popping out into place, its slender and malnourished form curling its spine as it dragged itself free. The thing was completely drenched in her blood, its thin dark hair flattened against its misshapen head.

It stared at me for a few moments before clambering over itself and scuttling away into the darkness.

And I was left alone. The corpse of my friend staring back at me through unseeing eyes.

I didn’t move for a long time, bulging eyes transfixed on Natalie who was swimming in her own blood. She died with terror painted across her features and even in death she did not look at peace.

I didn’t cry.

I don’t really know if that’s because I was in shock or because I had nothing left to give.

Even when the warm red ocean beneath her seeped into the fabric of my jeans and grew cold in the frigid air. I continued to sit there. She had begun to forget herself towards the end and then that thing grew out of her like a sickness. Like she was just part of some fucked up reproductive system for these things to infest the real world and now that Natalies body had produced a new one. I’m sure it will watch me, will do whatever it did to Natalie up in that box and the same fate will meet me.

I keep going over the days leading up to being stuck here. If the thing that wore Natalie’s skin did anything strange to me that ended up becoming the catalyst to ending up here.

Is it just this building? Are there more places out there that have been infected by whatever these things are and how do they have the power to manipulate an entire area? I wish I had a way of answering these questions. It kills me to know that nothing I say or do will prevent this shit from happening again.

I don’t wish this fate on anyone. I hope everyone out there reading this will continue to have a normal life and will never be exposed to whatever the fuck this is.

I thought long and hard about pushing Natalie’s body into the pit, I couldn’t look at her like that anymore… But in the end I wasn’t able to bring myself to do that to her, she deserved a proper burial, but that wasn’t something I could provide her here. So instead I laid my discarded top over her face and I said a few words to a person who would never get to hear them.

Now I sit here, waiting for death.

There’s nothing more to do.

5

That thing took the top I had laid over Natalie’s face.

Not only that, it had forced her head at an awkward angle so that she was staring at me. Her skin swollen and pale under the dim light. Eyes wide open, jaw unhinged and contorted awkwardly on her face from the mere aggressiveness of its hold when it had forced her bones to grind against riga mortis, until she was gazing at me from the ground. It was horrifying enough knowing that there had been heaps of dead bodies below my feet but having to stare at a face I had seen alive only a day prior was far worse. It was someone that I knew, someone that I cared about. It twisted my stomach in a way that I can’t describe.

The puss and weird greasy liquid that had spilled from her had hardened against stony flesh and begun to smell even more pungent as time passed me by. Her limbs rigid and heavy. I know this because I tried to move her so that I didn’t have to gaze into the milky whites of her eyes anymore. It didn’t work, she was too hard to shift, my knees sliding across the stained floor until I landed harshly on top of her chest. It was only then that the tears finally came.

Grief ran freely down my cheeks as I gently brushed my fingertips over her eyes until the lids closed. The otherwise silent space broken by the desperate repetition of broken apologies tumbling from my lips.
When I looked down at her face, ignoring the mess of flesh that hung in ribbons around a still form, I could almost convince myself that she was sleeping. .

It was the only solace I was ever going to get, the only kind of closure.

I hate the fact that I left her there, but I managed to get out.

You’re probably wondering how.

It was no easy task and I was fully prepared to die trying when the opportunity arose.

After the wretched thing had scuttled into the darkest corners of this place, I had sat motionless for an indiscernible amount of time. Thinking myself in circles until I tried to distract my addled mind by writing.

Something caught my eye however when I noticed a familiar light emanating from somewhere deep within the pit that sat now only feet from my hunched position at the desk. It was a sickly green hue that I had only seen when the fire exit still existed. It had bore no importance at the time but something compelled me to peer over the edge.

Now that there was a light shining up towards me, instead of the meek display of the laptop. I could see a door under the faint glow. It illuminated the dead in a new way, adding an almost spectral radiance to the mass of bodies just below me. Nothing about it looked inviting but what else was I going to do at this point. The door looked open and that was enough for me. I needed to get out of here, and if that meant I was going to have to climb down a mountain of decay to do it, then that’s exactly what I was going to fucking do.

Before I had a chance to steel my nerves and jump headlong into the hole at my feet a strange, almost animalistic cry echoed through the air. I glanced out at the open space, unsure of where it was coming from. Wherever it was though, it was getting closer. In a frantic attempt to hide I nearly fell over my own feet as I squished myself under the desk, pulling the chair flush against the gap. Hoping that the darkness would be enough to shroud me from view. No sooner than I had ceased all movement a figure emerged. I nearly choked on my own tongue when the face that greeted me was none other than Natalie herself. Only the expression she wore was wrong. Eyes devoid of kindness, darkened and primal as it skulked closer to the real body of my friend. It spared only a fleeting glance toward her before scanning the area I was usually hauled up in.

And then, in a voice that sounded uncannily like Natalie’s, it spoke.

“Tyler?”

A pregnant pause permeated the air, both waiting in anticipation for the other to react and when no such thing happened in a soft tone it uttered “It’s me”

When I refused to yield to its attempts at misdirection its face twisted in irritation and in a harsher and almost deeper tone it growled.

“Tyler”

I watched as it tilted its head, listening for any kind of noise. A blank expression stretched across stolen skin. Until it flicked its gaze back toward Natalie. Forgoing its search for me to straddle her, crouching down low enough that the frayed ends of its hair dragged over frozen features, a low chittering from the back of its throat buzzed through the drums of my ears as it gawked at its prey.

A twinge of discomfort pinched at the muscles in my back as I tried desperately to stay as still as possible. I was surprised that it hadn’t noticed me, considering this thing lived and breathed the darkness before it took a new form. But who was I to question it, currently I was safe and that was all that mattered.

I could feel anger flare deep within my gut when it trailed its painted nails down Natalie’s face. The tips digging harshly into her features.

And then its slow movements stilled, head snapping to the right when the sound of a rapidly approaching shuffling stole both of our attention. It was difficult to see at first but crawling up on all fours was the second one. I hadn’t really taken much time in observing the way it looked before but now, as I sat folded into the tiny space below the desk my eyes raked over its slender form.

Its skin had a greyish tint to it, almost reminiscent of a corpse, the thin layer stretched over emaciated bones, all sharp angles and pointy features. It moved unlike anything I had seen before. Almost too quick for its stature, limbs just that little bit too long as it scuttled across the ground. It had a humanesque physique, two legs and two arms but the limbs bent awkwardly at the joints, keeping itself low to the ground. Only lifting its head when it came to a stop beside the other. Its head twitched left and right a few times before echoing the chittering sound back at Natalie’s imposter.

And then the one on the ground sat itself at the feet of the other, jaw dislocating as it opened its maw to an impossibly large size, rows of tiny razor sharp teeth littering the inside of its throat. The tips glinting under the weak light.

I never did deal with the sight of puke well. But what came next assaulted almost every sense I had. Standing from its crouched position the thing wearing Natalie’s face began to heave. Not unlike a cat trying to dislodge a particularly stubborn hair ball, back arching up and down with every deep wretch and then, as if someone had turned on a tap a thick dark sludge poured from its mouth directly into the waiting gullet below it. The smell hit me like a fret train. It burned the inside of my nostrils and coated my throat with the stench of rotten meat as the reminisce of dead animals, fingers and conjelled and matted balls of hair tangled in its teeth. I could still see parts of the scalp it had been torn from dangling from the strands.

I watched on through squinted eyes, a grimace pulling at the corners of my mouth as every last drop was swallowed down.

One thing was for certain though, these things could come and go freely from this place, this new revelation reaffirmed the eagerness I felt to flee it thrummed under my skin but I had to wait until they left.

I don’t think the one that fed the other is all that fussed about where I am. It knows I’m close and thinks I can’t leave this place. That’s probably why it hasn’t tried all that hard to find me.

I’ll give them credit, they aren’t stupid.

They stayed longer than I thought they would. My body shaking from the strain of staying hidden for so long. At one point I was sure they were simply not going to leave but I was fortunately proven wrong. In the end, the one walking Natalie’s skin around made its way into the hole. Confirming my theory, the other found its way toward the wracking, using far too much agility to climb the twisted metal. During its ministrations however, it had grabbed at a loose beam, accidently pulling it free, it tumbled with a hash clang down onto the ground.

I could use that for protection.

I waited at least another ten minutes before I finally slid out from under the desk. I wanted to be sure that they weren’t coming back. They had never openly called for me before, never walked directly into the only part of the warehouse that felt semi safe. Which meant that the intention had changed and I certainly didn’t need to be followed when I went for the door.

If it was still even open that is.

That thought stunted my enthusiasm in one fell swoop. If I jumped down onto the heap of bodies, I was not getting back up. So if I wasn’t able to get through the door I would be stuck indefinitely marinating in the smell of death.

Squaring my shoulders, I curled my fingers around the jagged piece of metal. The weight of it heavy in my hand. I had to do this.

I knew that if this failed, there was only one other way to get this nightmare to end.

And if it came to it? I wouldn’t even think twice.

I wasn’t going to allow them to use me as some sort of fucked up womb to bring more of those abominations into the world.

I had been lucky in finding an old ratty fleece stuffed inside the boxes I had flattened when I clambered under the desk. It was thin and dirty but I didn’t care, it was enough to take the biting edge off the cold. I had grown semi used to it anyway at this point.

I wasn’t sure of what was waiting for me on the other side of that door, this place had somehow kept me alive without food or water so I really could be dead or only alive because I’m here. I could end up back in reality and simply drop on the spot because due to the laws of life I was used to, that’s what should have happened days ago.

I pulled my arms through old material and did my best to steel my nerves, my hands shook all the same. I was about to face a mountain of bodies and from what I could see, all of their eyes were open. Well all those that still had eyes.

It sent an unpleasant shudder down my spine.

Walking over to the drop I crouched down and tried to determine if the fall would, under normal circumstances, kill me but it didn’t seem too far down. My scrutinizing stare instinctively skittered off to the side when I accidentally gazed into the green eyes of the little girl.

It really was now or never.

My shoulders slumped, I could feel the burn of guilt against my back where Natalie lay. I didn’t want to leave her in a place like this. She should be coming with me, not lying motionless on the floor but this was the harsh reality of it all. An unsaid promise floated between us before I dangled my feet over the pit. I would find a way to kill the thing that stole her from life. Regardless of the repercussions I may face.

In a strange way, falling through the air felt kind of freeing, it was terrifying and exhilarating all at once. The adrenaline in my veins pumping the blood through my system at a rapid pace as I landed harshly against stiff bone.

I had slightly misjudged where I would land and upon impact I felt myself careening to the side, hands shooting out desperately to find purchase. As I dug my hold into the mass of flesh below me, I felt my fingers press against something that felt alarmingly like jelly, there was a pop and they sunk in deeper. To my horror I realised that I had just sunk my index finger into the eye socket of one of their victims. I cringed, pulling myself upright as quickly as possible to relinquish my hold.

Rubbing the slimy consistency across dirty jeans, I took stock of my position, head tipping back to look at the edge I had only moments ago been staring over. There really was no going back now.

It was much darker than I had expected and it took me a few minutes to locate the metal beam I had dropped down before I followed suit, trying my hardest to ignore what I was standing atop. I sighed with relief when my fingers brushed a cold surface. Bringing the object close to my chest I began my unsteady descent further into the pit. The dim glow of green lighting my way just barely.

The smell was rancid. It hung in the air like a thick blanket. Dense and hard to push through but after what felt like an eternity I stumbled over the last limb, still instinctively trying to mind my step. Not that it would have mattered but It felt disrespectful clambering over these poor people.

I thought I was home free, the door was open and to my utmost shock I could see my own living room staring back at me across the threshold. It didn’t make any kind of sense and alarm bells were sounding somewhere at the back of my mind but the fundamental instinct to stay alive shot me forward. I felt the air shift when my left foot breached the doorway. I was almost there, almost home! But in an instant I felt something grab at the back of the fleece and just like that I was ripped from the doorway and thrown backwards.

I cried out in surprise and pain as I crashed against the floor. Breath well and truly knocked from my lungs. My eyes trailed across the dark space, the ice cold maw of impending doom chewed at the nerve endings under my skin.

And then there was a shift in the darkness.

Feeling my adrenaline spike tenfold. I gripped the floor beneath me and pushed myself to my feet. The hairs across my skin rising.

I waited, and listened.

The sound of laboured breathing and low chittering floated in the space. My heart cracking against a tight chest.

The odd breathing permeating from the darkness began to pick up in what seemed like excitement and anticipation, as if on the precipice of a giggle. I had to do something, I couldn’t just stand here and wait for it to do whatever it wanted to do with me, not when I was this close to getting out.

My hands shakily tightened on the metal beam in my grasp.

“Tyler”

The words came out in a mixture of low and high tones, as if it was trying to find the right pitch. The serrated edge of fear cut brutally down my spine. Sweat began to bead on the back of my neck but I was not going to give this thing the satisfaction.

“Come on then! You fucking asshole” I goaded, waving the beam slightly.

Apparently that had been all it needed. It was so quick. Too quick.

It was on me in an instant, pinning me to the floor with its entire weight. It peered down at me, features set in a monotone stare.

I swung the piece of metal with as much force as I could muster, cracking it across the side of the head. I felt the disjointed bones in its face crack under the force. Neck snapping to the left. It didn’t so much as move an inch from on top of me, its elongated fingers digging further into supple flesh.

We stayed like that for a minute, as I glared up it its fucked up face. All the fear, all the anger that had been building up over the weeks I had been stuck in this shitshow leaking out of me in ragged breaths and clenched teeth. I wound my arm back “You fucking!” Metal hit flesh “Piece of motherfucking-” my arm burned from the repetitive motion “shit!” With one final blow I screamed in frustration, spittle flying across uncaring features.

It was bleeding, some kind of yellowish ooze. Still seemingly unphased. I watched its lips twitch, eyes focussing on my own face before it spoke back to me “You motherfucking piece of shit”

And there it was, my voice mirrored back to me, the only difference being the pure lack of emotion as it parretted my words.

I watched as it tried to copy my expression, its sunken eyes gazing down at me with a fear that I knew it did not feel. Its front teeth bared in an awkward attempt to copy my own grimace.

Discarding the beam I bucked and writhed under its weight, my overgrown nails embedding into its face, I clawed at its skin in anguish. I could feel how it peeled and clung to the underside of my fingernails but I did not stop, not even when my stomach started doing flips as its weird bodily fluids dripped across my skin.

And then the strangest thing happened. It wailed in pain and flung itself from me. Blindsided by confusion I faltered, movements stilling momentarily before instincts kicked in and I was scrambling across the floor toward the doorway. I spared a glance backward.

It was clutching at what looked scarily like a human umbilical cord, it hung from its abdomen, slender hands cupping the area protectively. I must have pulled on it when I was wriggling about underneath it.

Good.

I slammed the door shut.

It never followed me through.

I had no idea how or why that damn exit led to my house but any and all logic was overwrought with an intense relief that washed over. It brung me to my knees on the soft carpet. My fingers cascading repetitively through fuzz. I sat there for a good hour, before gorging myself on food and nearly drowning myself in fresh water. All of the small comforts of everyday life felt like a blessing in those moments. I would never take any of it for granted again.

It took me a while to investigate the door, worried that I would open it to find the uninviting dark staring back at me, but instead the outside world had greeted me and I had tears streaming down my face again. I must have looked fucking mental when I had run out into the garden and laid in the grass until the winter sun set.

I only wish that sense of euphoria had lasted longer than it had. Thoughts of Natalie floated about my head. I felt guilty for being where I stood. Free of that place. Whilst she rotted in the dark, alone.

Tomorrow I start doing some research.

But for now. I’m going to sleep. In an actual fucking bed.

6

This is the last time I am going to be writing to you all.

I realise now that there never was an escape.

It’s waiting for me in the kitchen. There is nowhere left to go, the faces of people I know stare at me through familiar glass. Breath hot against the window.

When I woke up I was greeted by the sight of my colleagues standing around my house. They haven’t done anything yet, I don’t suppose they will unless I try to leave.

Turns out me and Natalie were the last ones to be replaced. I don’t even know if the people I grew to know were even the real versions of themselves or not. My trust in everyone around me has shattered and there’s nothing left to do except face the music.

I didn’t see any of their bodies in that place, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t there. Buried amongst the copious loss. They are here to make sure I do my part in their fucked up cycle. How naive I was to think that there was any other option.

There’s a box, sitting atop a crooked pallet in my kitchen. It’s soaked in grease and blood and I know exactly why it’s there. I know because if I look long enough I can see it for what it truly is. It’s a nest, there’s little white eggs that cling to the edges of what I once assumed was cardboard. It isn’t. It’s fleshy and wet with tiny veins pulsating below a thin layer of stretched skin.

I’m surprised it’s trying to keep up the illusion, maybe it only looks the way it does to mess with me, break down my mental state enough to make it easier. I know I’m marked for death but I refuse to go out the way it wants me to.

I spent some time watching the familiar faces at my window. Their eyes tracking my every movement. They started smiling about an hour ago.

Whispered reassurances float through my walls at random intervals now.

“It’s okay Tyler”

“we’ll look after you”

These are the main two things I hear them say. There’s been a few outliers here and there. Natalie stands behind my front door. A gentle knock…knock… knocking of stolen knuckles against a wooden frame as she tells me Natalie is one with her now.

“Join us” it says in an encouraging and friendly tone, so matter of fact in what it speaks, as if it is gospel. As if I should believe it.

This isn’t my home, I just wanted it so desperately that I fooled myself into blind faith. Didn’t stop to question the convenience of it all. I don’t know why they play with me like this. To break down their prey? Or maybe it’s because they simply enjoy it.

I don’t know anymore.

How long have I truly been stuck here? Maybe myself and Nat were sucked into this warped reality the moment we started working for the warehouse.

Maybe It’s why only three songs played on that little old radio.

Or Maybe these things aren’t that powerful and it really has been a few weeks but when I try to think back on the people I had seen, the life I had lived for the past year. I can’t seem to recall spending any time with my family, or any other friends.

All I remember is Natalie.

All I did was work.

Same route, same times, same faces.

When did I stop noticing that nothing had changed in the past year?

I had known Natalie for two, we had never been all that close before we started working together but then we started our new jobs and she was the only one that ever felt real and now I know why.

It’s because she was.

I think the warehouse is some kind of breeding ground for these things. And I don’t think it’s the only one that exists.

So I’m urging you to look back on recent events in your life. Were you stagnant? Does it feel like you’re trapped in a monotonous routine? Who have you seen recently? And are you living your life? Or are you simply existing within one.

I don’t think it’ll make a difference now if some of you out there are stuck in a similar place but aren’t aware yet but maybe if you know sooner than me and Nat did, you can find a way to actually get out.

I can hear it now, tapping against the box’s edge. It’s waiting for me to join it there. There’s a strange yet intoxicating smell coming from the pallet now. It’s sweet, reminds me of the perfume my mum likes to wear.

I feel, floaty? Yeah… relaxed now. I know that it’s a trap, I still have half a brain left somewhere amongst the thick fog.

I just simply don’t care anymore.

A part of me feels welcomed, like going into that box will solve all of my problems. I wonder if that’s how Natalie felt.

I know that isn’t how she felt when I found her, it’s enough of a deterrent for now. Though I don’t know how much longer I can fight against its will.

So I think it’s probably about time.

I’ve barricaded myself in my room upstairs. I have something with me that will help get it done.

I feel calm but I know deep down that I’m scared.

Can feel it the way my fingers shake.

It glints under the fake light above me.

If anyone out there cares enough, can you pass on a message for me? To my mum. Can you tell her that I love her and that I really have missed her.

Tell her that it wasn’t her fault.

Julia Wilkins, that’s her name.

I hope Natalie found peace. I hope that I do too. That if there really is a God he will forgive me for what I am about to do.

If there is a God, I have questions for you.

And if there isn’t and this is well and truly the end. I hope it’s a restful sleep. I can’t even explain how tired I am.

This is Tyler Wilkins and I bid you all farewell.

Credit: Megan Micallef

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