Do Not Enter, Part 4
Her head spun and she felt the world tip in at an insane angle beneath her. She panted for breath and a fine sheath of sweat broke over her skin. She teetered and crashed against the cold concrete wall, the rough texture jabbed her tender scalp. She slid down onto the bottom tread in horrible slow motion, like sinking in molasses, unable to stop herself, no strength in her legs.
Her head fell back as her butt hit with a heavy thud on the step. Rose faded, the edges of her eyesight graying and fading. She shut her eyes and tried to breathe, tried to will herself to recover muscular movement but she toppled back against the other treads. She couldn’t hold her head up. The back of her head jarred against another step and a whizzing scattershot of sparks left contrails over her field of vision.
She panted, gasped, gulped for air. She shut her eyes, willed herself to not be at the bottom of the shaft, she imaged it, it had to be her imagination, she didn’t go down the stairs ….
Her heart throbbed. The pulses sent squishy, ringing sounds through her ears. She tried to calm herself, breathed in through her nose, out through her mouth, focused on slowing her heart rate. A moment later, she felt strong enough to sit up. The shaft opening seemed far, far above her.
The door leered at her with the cold menace of an abusive boyfriend.
Rose shrieked when her phone rang and shattered the silence.
She sobbed in relief, bent and with a weak, shaky hand, picked up the phone. She collected herself while it rang a second time, a third. She opened the clam shell, gulped and held it to her ear.
“H-he-hello?” She steadied herself.
Every hair on her body stood on end.
A moan, distant, faint, drifted through the speaker.
She swallowed hard, but her bone-dry mouth provided nothing to swallow.
“H-hello?” The moans became wails, cries, voices rising and falling in torment, screams in the background and shrill banshee screeches wafting, blending. A cacophony of horror, terror, anguish.
Her eyes stung with tears, her lips trembling.
“W-who is this?” Her voice broke as the tears fell. “Who’s there?”
The screams grew in strength. The sounds became louder, more numerous. She heard the distinct sound of each voice, yet they melded into a wall of noise. Despair. Total despair, pain.
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