THE HAUNTING BEGINS
1157 Words
CHAPTER 2
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THE HAUNTING BEGINS
Elias’s POV
Was this some kind of hallucination?
His lips had moved, but the words… I hadn’t heard them with my ears. They had echoed inside my head. How was that possible? Was I losing my mind? Was this some elaborate trick—some cruel, twisted prank? I tried to shake it off, to convince myself it was nothing more than my brain misfiring under the stress.
But then it hit me.
A wave of dizziness crashed over me with such force that I staggered, my knees nearly buckling. My vision blurred, the room around me spinning like I was being dragged into a void. I fought to steady myself, to regain my balance, but my body refused to cooperate.
Then came the voices—distant, distorted.
Malcolm’s voice was among them, but it was drowned out by something else.
A plague of visions.
Flashes of a crumbling world, burning cities reduced to rubble. Blood—so much blood—painting the ground in rivers of red. Shadows slithered through the chaos, monstrous beings with glowing eyes and jagged fangs, their howls merging with the cries of the dying. I saw them—beasts, aliens, creatures that defied reality itself, tearing through flesh as if humanity were nothing more than cattle to be slaughtered.
Rage. Destruction. Madness.
It wasn’t just a vision—it felt like I was there, as if I were standing amidst the ruins of civilization, watching everything I knew collapse.
Beads of sweat formed on my forehead as I tried—desperately—to block it out. But it was too much. Too heavy. The images burned into my mind like they belonged to me, like I had lived through them, like they were happening to me at that very moment.
The weight of it all crushed me, suffocating, unrelenting.
And then, everything blurred further.
I tried to hold onto something—anything—to anchor myself, but my hands met nothing but empty air. My knees finally gave out.
I collapsed.
The cold floor greeted me, but instead of steadying me, it only made things worse. The room tilted. My eyelids—stubbornly resisting my will—started to droop. I fought against the darkness, tried to keep my eyes open, but it was no use.
The blackness swallowed me whole.
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The first thing I noticed was the sound.
A slow, rhythmic beeping.
Then, the sensation of cold air filling my lungs as I took a shaky breath.
I forced my eyes open. The familiar white ceiling greeted me, followed by the sterile scent of antiseptics. The air in the room felt different—cleaner, controlled—so unlike the oppressive atmosphere from before. It took me a moment to register where I was.
The infirmary. I inhaled deeply, the crisp air rushing into my nostrils, grounding me.
I was no longer in that room. No longer facing that thing.
But then… what exactly had happened?
“What happened?” I asked, my voice hoarse. The moment I spoke, I realized I wasn’t alone.
A pair of piercing eyes bore into me, scrutinizing, questioning.
Dr. Malcolm.
The moment our gazes met, something inside me twisted.
The last thing I remembered was darkness overtaking me after I had charged that demon—no, that experiment. And now, I am here.
“We should be asking you that instead,” Malcolm’s voice carried a weight that sent a shiver down my spine.
As soon as he spoke, a strange, cold sweat broke out across my skin.
"I… I don’t understand," I stammered. My mind felt sluggish, disconnected from my body. I could still feel the remnants of those visions clawing at the edges of my thoughts, like ghosts refusing to be forgotten.
Malcolm’s expression was unreadable. But his next words sent ice through my veins.
"The volt charge—it was affecting you all along. Not that monster."
My breath hitched. No. That couldn’t be right.
I had watched it happen—I had seen the electricity surging into the containment glass, targeting Experiment 534. The voltage should have incapacitated him. It should have sent him writhing in pain, breaking him the way it was designed to.
And yet…
I thought back to his expression.
Unmoved. Unbothered. His piercing red eyes locked onto mine, even as the voltage climbed. He hadn’t screamed. He hadn’t flinched.
But I had.
A sharp pang ran through my skull..If the electricity had been affecting me instead of him, then… what the hell had happened to me in that room?
"That’s impossible," I muttered, more to myself than to Malcolm.
His gaze didn’t waver. "I suggest you rethink that, Elias."
I swallowed hard, my throat dry.
I had spent years studying supernatural anomalies, dissecting the science behind what should have been impossible. But for the first time, I found myself at a loss.
A horrifying possibility crept into my mind.
What if… I had connected with him?
What if, in that moment—when our eyes met, when I heard his voice inside my head, when those visions tore through my mind—I had formed some kind of link with him?
And if that were true…
What did that make me? I clenched my fists, trying to push the thought away.
"How long was I out?" I asked, my voice quieter this time.
"Four hours," Malcolm responded. "Longer than any of us expected."
Four hours. Four hours since my body had collapsed under a force I still didn’t understand.
I exhaled shakily, shifting to sit up, but a sharp pain shot through my skull. I winced.
"Careful," Malcolm warned. "Your vitals were erratic when you were brought in. You might still be experiencing side effects."
Side effects. Like I had been the one under experimentation.
A bitter chuckle escaped me, though there was no humor in it. "Side effects from what, exactly?"
Malcolm hesitated. Just for a second.
It was enough.
"You already know, don’t you?" I whispered, my pulse quickening.
His jaw tightened, and for the first time, something flickered in his eyes. Uncertainty.
"We don’t have enough data yet," he admitted. "But whatever happened in that room… it wasn’t normal. And you felt it, didn’t you?"
I didn’t answer—because I knew the truth.
"And it has to do with the monster. Everything has to do with him," he said, pausing.
At that moment, I didn’t respond. I just watched him, my mind swirling with a hundred different thoughts.
"So, what do we do now?" I asked, attempting to stand.
"Just be careful of that monster."
"What do you mean, ‘be careful’?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes.
"Oh, regardless of what happens, you’ll be the one working on the experiment. So you need to
be cautious in the future. Otherwise…" He hesitated before finishing, "I fear the worst might happen."
That was it.
I stood there, speechless.
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