Then, as suddenly as it came, the figure is gone. The passageway is empty, the whispers fading into an eerie silence. I lie there, gasping, every breath a struggle. My body is numb, but I force myself to move, to push up onto my elbows.My skin is slick with sweat, but there's no trace of blood where I hit my head, no cuts on my arms where they scraped the stone. Even the sting of my finger, from the cut earlier, is gone. My skin is smooth, unmarred.
The lack of any wounds is almost more terrifying than the encounter itself. What just happened? Was it real? My mind races, trying to make sense of what I just saw and felt. I scan the corridor, searching for any trace of the figure, but there’s nothing. No sign that anything was here at all. But I know. I know what I felt. The terror still grips me, a cold knot tightening in my gut.
And then I scream, the sound tearing from my throat, raw and desperate.
Chapter
Fifteen
“Why are you on the floor screaming?” Marissa snickers, startling me.
I whip around, my heart slamming against my ribs. “What?” My voice cracks with panic. “Where did you come from?” I scramble to my feet, eyes darting around, still searching for the cloaked figure. It was here. I know it was real. I felt it. Where the hell did it go?
Marissa leans casually against the wall, a cruel smile stretching across her face. “Oh, come on. Are you seriously scared?” Her voice oozes with amusement, each word sharp and mocking.Fuck, I hate her.
A soft, sinister giggle echoes down the passageway, sending a shiver racing up my spine. “Did you hear that?” I whisper, the sound prickling the hairs on the nape of my neck and spreading like icy claws across my shoulders.
Marissa rolls her eyes dramatically and curls her lips into a mocking pout. She leans in close and in a high-pitched, exaggerated baby voice, simpers, “Aww, did little baby Tori hear something spooky-wooky in the big scary escape room we’re allin?” Her eyes gleam with malicious delight. “What the hell iswrongwith you? It’s just a game.” Her voice drips with venom, each word a sharp, mocking lilt that feels like a physical slap.
I clutch at my chest, my heart pounding so violently it feels like it’s trying to escape through my throat. “No, really, something was just here with me,” I insist, panting.
Marissa leans closer, her smirk widening as she sniffs at me. “Oh, my God. You’re drunk, aren’t you?”
My heart feels as though it’s pounding at the base of my throat, uncomfortably hard.This is not just a game. I know it’s not. I know that was real. I need to get out of here. “Where did you just come from? There was no way out of here a minute ago.”
“There’s a door right there, moron.” Marissa points at the wall. I see nothing but a solid wall. Sweat drips down my back. Am I losing my mind?
“You really are pathetic, you know that?” She steps to the side and half her body vanishes. “See? It’s a hallway that blends into the stone.” She shakes her head. “You’d be able to see it if you weren’t drunk.”
“I’m not drunk.” Or not nearly enough as I should be. I push past her into the hidden hallway. Instantly I feel like a fool. Why didn’t I notice this before? Is this where that thing went?
I hurry through the recessed hallway and squeeze through a narrow archway into a blaringly bright space.
What the ever-loving fuck is this?
The room sprawled out before me is a grotesque parody of a high school science lab. A long, black lab counter is cluttered with beakers bubbling with iridescent neon-green liquid, perched precariously on a chaotic metal contraption that looks like it belongs in a mad scientist’s fever dream. Dozens of cabinets line the walls, their fronts a chaotic mix of clear and piss-colored frosted panels. Behind them, jars filled with grotesque mock body parts—limbs, organs, and other vomit-inducing specimens—are arranged like trophies. A twenty-first century perversion of Doctor Frankenstein’s laboratory.
I swipe my hands down the front of my pants, feeling the grit of dried sweat, and scan the room. “Did you see someone in a long, hooded robe come through here?” I ask.
“No,” she scoffs, picking up an envelope from the counter. “What, did you get a jump scare?”
“Where’s Tessa?” I ask, ignoring her jabs, becausefuck her. “I heard her talking in here.”
“She found a clue and left.” She plays with the envelope in her left hand, fanning it around so her engagement ring is at optimal envy-level height for me to see. She notices my eyes catching its shine and smirks.
“How do you get out of here?” I can’t see any doors.
“It’s. An. Escape. Room.” She says the words in staccato, each one dripping with condescension from the high fucking horse she’s sitting on.
My breath catches in my throat as I take in the lab’s eerie surroundings, the grotesque displays make my stomach churn faster. I grit my teeth, pushing the rising panic down. There’s no way that cloaked person could’ve just disappeared—unless it wasn’t a person at all. No, nope, nope, nope. I can’t think about that right now. I need to just focus on getting the hell out of here. “Fine, Marissa. It’s an escape room. So how do we escape?” My voice is tight, frustrated.
Marissa rolls her eyes again. “You figure it out. I’ve got my own clue.” She turns her back to me, dismissing me entirely.
Fucking fucker fuck!
Fine. Ignoring her, I move toward the nearest cabinet, its glass front displaying a horrifyingly realistic disembodied hand, its long, sharp fingernails painted blood-red. At the raw, severed end of the arm, shredded flesh hangs in ragged tatters, drifting and swaying as if caught in an invisible, nauseating current.
“You don’t even have a clue, do you?” Marissa’s mocking voice grates on my nerves.
