THE PASSAGE BELOW
382 Words
Aria's breath caught s the door creaked open, revealing long spiraling staircase descending into darkness. The observatory's stillness behind her felt almost too quiet now - as if it never existed. she hesitated only briefly before stepping inside, the door groaning shut behind her with an omnious thud.
Each step felt colder than the last.The walls were lined with crumbling stone, lit only by faint flickers of blue light embedded in the walls - too uniform to be natural. Her footsteps echoed unnaturally, as if air distorted the sound.
Her phone buzzed.
Notification: Welcome to level one. Follow the lights. Do not look back.
She stared at the message. No signal. No apps open. And yet .... the notification had found her.
"Level one?" she whispered.
She kept moving, drawn toward a distance hum. As she rounded a bend, the passage opened to a vast underground chamber. Pipes lines the walls like veins, and deem screens flickered sporadically. A digital map glitched into existence on one of them, showing her a distorted layout - multiple floors, red dots moving slowly, one blinking fast.
A whisper reached her.
"Aria,"
She spun, heart thundering. No one.
"Who's there?" She called out, her eye gleaming with fear and desperation all the same time.
Silence.
The blinking red dot on the screen moved.
And then a sound: dragging footsteps.
She backed away, but the chamber shifted. Literally shifted. The screen flickered again, now showing: Corridor resetting.
She ran.
Doors emerged from the walls. Some slammed shut as she passed; others opened just slightly, revealing shapes - figures? Machines? - lurking shadows. One whispered her name again, but this time the voice sounded familiar.... like Lina's.
Another corridor branches out, leading to what looked like a glowing terminal.
"Access granted," a robotic voice intoned. A door hissed open. She stepped through - and was met with a sight that made her skin crawl.
A mural stretched along the walls. Drawings - etched in bloodlike ink - of girls. Girl who looked like her. In the center was a figure standing over them, head obscured by static scribbles.
Warning: Subject 11 has entered active phase.
The words flashes on a nearby panel.
"Subject 11?" She whispered.
Then the lights shut off.
And something began to move behind her.
- Writer
