blinked-out

[blinked-out]

Blinked Out.

When I closed my eyes to blink, I wasn't where I am now.

I was sitting in a patch of sunlight on a checked blue-and-white blanket, enjoying a picnic lunch with my friends. We were laughing, and birds were fluttering overhead. Their song added to our enjoyment of this moment.

But this place... it's lifeless, and it's lonely. More importantly, I don't know how I got here.

The walls are the yellow taken on by the home of a lifelong smoker. I can feel the coolness of the brown-tiled floor beneath my feet, but my footsteps don't echo when I walk around this room to investigate. On every wall is a corridor that leads to an identical room.

I've been here for but a few moments when some noise slams into the room. It sounds like a machine attempting to replicate the howl of a wolf in the natural world, and it echoes for a few moments, repeating its terrible call into my ears.

After this single, awful noise, silence returns in a suffocating blanket. I don't hear anything, but mainly because there's nothing to hear. There's no way I'm the only person here.

Call for help. Wait for help.

[blinked-out]

There is very possibly a reason this door is here, and I don't know that I want to miss out on it. I turn the handle all the way and shoulder it open.

And just like that, like I just blinked, I'm sitting on a checkered blanket in a field. There's a picnic basket and a few people, and real sunlight.

Maria has me by the shoulder and it shaking me, calling my name. I finally blink a few times and look at her, and the first thing I can bring myself to do is look her in the eye.

"Are you okay?" she asks, furrowing her brows. She glances to our other friends, and I notice that everyone else is quiet. All watching me, which I don't like at all.

It takes a moment to find my words. "Yeah," I chose out. "Yeah, I'm good. Why? Did I zone out again?"

Maria nods, throwing a smile my way. It's warm and comforting, the opposite of wherever the hell I just was. "You did, just for a few seconds. I just figured I would, you know, check in."

I let myself smile back. "Thanks. I really appreciate that."

We finish lunch under the light of the sun.

Ending 6 of 6: The True Ending.

Play again?

[blinked-out]

Nope. No. Whatever this is, whatever's happening here, I won't be caught up in it. Somehow I'll find a way out, or somehow I'll get to where I need to be.

I run through the closest doorway and keep running, now grateful for the muffled sound of my own footsteps. They conceal the directions I'm taking, and they keep me moving.

If I can't hear myself, that means maybe I can't hear whatever else is in here. That alone is enough to give me energy for days.

Every room is terribly, terribly similar. Each one is a mirror of the others, each wall having an open doorway. But the farther I go, the more I'm compelled to keep going.

Keep going.

Keep moving.

And finally, there's something different. With how fast I'm moving, I almost miss it. This room, this one right here, has a hidden door. One of the usual doorways have been replaced with a door the same color as the wallpaper.

When I walk up to it, it's not locked. The handle turns easily, but I hesitate to open it. Do I really want to do this?

Go through the door. Keep moving.

[blinked-out]

I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

And I walk.

The wall follows behind me. The doors keep coming.

And I walk.

Ending 5 of 6: Keep Walking.

Try again?

[blinked-out]

I turn and keep moving, and suddenly the next room is a long, long hallway. I can't see whatever's meant to come at its end.

Sprinkled along the walls are a few closed doors, all identical to the one I just moved past. Each of them have the same pristine knobs, the same drab color. Like they were made just to be copies of each other.

Maybe at the end of the hallway, there'll be another place to go. Maybe that's how I get out of here. That idea alone is enough to spark my walking again, and this time I speed it up to a jog.

The faster I can get to the end, the better. I jog and jog... and jog. And jog.

Still, the hallway extends past what I can see. In one straight line, it just keeps going, and I don't think it has any intention of ending soon.

I turn to go back, but the back wall is right behind me. Was I moving at all? The wall is right there, right where it would have been when I saw this hallway for the first time.

Keep walking. Pick a door.

[blinked-out]

I cup my hands to my mouth. "Someone help!" I call, as loudly as I can muster. In the few moments after my call, my voice echoes back to me.

I count five echoes. It grows a little quieters each time, as an echo does, but everything had seemed so muted just a few moments ago. The wallpaper still looks too old, the carpet just a tad too plush not to absorb that noise.

A few moments pass, and then there's one more echo. It's like my voice, just... off. I can't describe how, but I know in an instant that's not my voice.

"Who's mimicking me?" I growl, balling my hands into fists. In whatever place I'm stuck in right now, something has the audacity to toy with me. Like I'm a small animal and they're a child watching from the outside of my cage.

In this windowless place, with its stagnant air, the description seems a little too apt. I shake my head to try and clear the mental image.

And then there's a growl.

It's quiet enough at first, but it sounds like it's approaching way too quickly for comfort. It rushes at me from every wall, every hallway, inescapable and impossible to place.

Run away. Wait for it to get here.

[blinked-out]

My feet root themselves to the ground, and I force myself to stand motionless. I try to catch my breath and spread my shoulders. Maybe if I don't show the thing that I'm quaking in my own skin, it won't prey on me. Maybe it'll realize that I'm just as... predatorial?

And it'll leave me alone.

The growls fill my ears, like the thing is breathing down my neck, waiting to make the kill. I clench and unclench my fists, trying not to squeeze my eyes all the way shut. Keep them gently closed. I'm here and I'm fine.

I'm here and I'm fine.

I'm here and I'm fine.

Footsteps, like a person walking in circles around me. I still won't open my eyes, and I hope my face looks as placid as it does in my imagination. Deep breaths. I'm here and I'm fine.

Then, all at once, the footsteps fade. The person walks away, the noise stops completely. Actually, "fade" is the wrong word. It's far too abrupt for that.

I wait for a few more moments before I open my eyes. The wallpaper and carpets are the same, everything the same - except when I turn to my right.

That window wasn't there before. It wasn't a built-in fixture of that wall, showing an empty darkness beyond.

That could be something.

Ignore the window. Try to use the window.

[blinked-out]

The hallway, evidently, is a lost cause. I grab a door handle at random - if they're all the same, it really can't matter much. The handle is cold to the touch and it twists easily.

Just the slightest creak reaches my ears as I push the door open. There's another room, one identical to every other room I've had to run through by now.

At its other side stands a girl with curly-ish hair, wearing a white top and green shorts. She's not facing me, but that's exactly what she was wearing at the picnic.

"Maria?" I ask, approaching slowly.

She's not moving at all, and she still won't turn to face me. I'm getting a little worried around her. "Maria, are you okay? What are you doing here?"

I'm close enough now to reach out and put my hand on her shoulder, turn her around, ask if she's okay to her face. But is that...

That’s my friend. That’s not my friend.

[blinked-out]

That's Maria. There's no way there's something here in my head that knows me so well. I haven't even thought about her since I got here, so that's impossible. That couldn't be the case.

I grab her by the shoulder and spin her around, surprised to see that she has no face.

Maria is not okay.

"Did they get you?" I whisper, trying to see if I can make out any features. At a certain angle, I swear I see eyes.

Maria stands prone in front of me, her arms loose by her sides. She doesn't seem to mind that I'm searching for her face exactly where her face should be; she doesn't seem to have any thoughts at all.

I wonder at one point if she's just a dead girl standing, but that would be impossible. No, this is Maria. The strangest part of all this is how she got here in the first place; I don't even know how I did.

I swear I see eyes, but I see her teeth first.

They come out of nowhere, and they meet my face just as fast.

Ending 4 of 6: Maria.

Try again?

[blinked-out]

I take another breath. This could be my way out, maybe the only escape this place is going to offer me.

It happens too fast for me to think while I do it. I drop a shoulder and I run, and the second my shoulder touches that window... I don't crash through.

Instead, I pop out into the other side.

As advertised, there is nothing beyond the window. It's a darkness like night has fallen on a field, but the moon isn't out. I sit here surrounded by darkness. Nothing to touch or grab onto.

I'm floating away from the rooms, and suddenly there's nothing I want more than I go back there. But the more I struggle, the more I try to swim back through the air, the farther my momentum takes me away.

"Hello?" I try to call, but no sound comes out. My voice stays in my chest, or even just in my head. The word is just a thought.

I keep floating.

Slowly, my vision of the window shrinks. It shrinks until it's a white pinprick, and then it's nothing at all.

It doesn't make a difference anymore whether my eyes are open or closed. Either way, I don't see anything. It's just darkness.

But I swear, in this emptiness, I'm not alone anymore.

Ending 3 of 6: The Void.

Try again?

[blinked-out]

Nope, that's not Maria. There's no way that's Maria. I have a feeling that this isn't a place other people are supposed to be, not even me. I'm here somehow, but she can't be here, too.

This can't be one of those places.

I back away, wondering how I even got this close in the first place. The door is still open behind me, but I don't want to turn my back to "Maria."

As I walk away, I can't help but wonder what would have happened if I'd let myself believe that was her. Oh, I wanted to so badly. How nice it would have been to have a familiar face here.

I shake my head. That wasn't Maria, that was something that wanted to look like her on purpose.

Something that wanted my trust.

I turn to make sure the door is locked, but the wall follows me still. At least I don't have to worry about being chased from behind; this wall matches my pace well. Even when I stop.

There's nothing here except the doors and the hall.

Keep walking.

[blinked-out]

If they left a note, they knew I was going to be there. I've been found.

I don't even have to say it out loud, but I guess by this point that's par for the course. Naturally, I don't have to say it out loud. They already know.

I pick up the box and open it. Inside, there's a beating heart, still covered in wet blood.

The sight startles me enough that the box shakes out of my hands, and I turn to make my escape. The door is gone.

What?

I turn back to the box and the heart; they're still on the floor.

When I turn back, there's something like a wolf standing in the corner. It bares its teeth and at me, and I notice something like a barb on its tail. As I stare, it growls, eerily similar to the growl I heard earlier.

The barb is covered in blood. It growls louder.

A pain grows in my chest, something terrible and sharp. I look down and see first that my shirt is covered in blood. Somehow, I notice that before I notice the gaping hole in my chest, right where my heart should be.

I don't know why this didn't take me down earlier, why I'm only hitting my knees now.

They've found me.

Ending 2 of 6: Found.

Try again?

[blinked-out]

If I can't see anything beyond that window, I don't want to walk into it blindly. That could be an escape, but it could also be certain death.

I turn and walk the other direction, and there's that muffled muteness I seem to have remembered so well. My footsteps are soft and silent on the floor below me.

Right. Right. Left. Right. I try to keep track of the rooms I pass through, but they're all identical. I think I'm far from the windowed room, or else it's changed completely. Every room is the same: old wallpaper, soft carpet, low-quality lighting.

I keep walking.

I don't really think there's anywhere to go. The farther I go, the more pointless this seems. Should I have just stayed where I was before and waited for help?

Would I even be able to find my way back to that room?

As far as I know, I might be in that initial room right now. For how similar they all are, I wouldn't be surprised.

More walking, more rooms.

More walking, more rooms.

More walking, more rooms.

I'm sure I've travelled in a few different circles now, but I walk into another room. In the corner, a small red box sits alone. Its lid is closed, but it looks like there's a piece of paper hanging on the wall above it. I walk over to see. In scrawled writing:

Have they found you?

They’ve found me. They haven’t found me.

[blinked-out]

I don't... think they've found me yet. It seems there have been a couple of close calls, but I haven't directly seen anything.

Surely that means they haven't seen me, either.

No, they haven't found me.

I blink and the words on the paper are different. Don’t let them.

What the hell is that supposed to mean? I hold the paper in both hands and read it again and again, over and over. This note seems to not only be sentient, but to assume that I can navigate here well enough to stay hidden.

Don’t let them.

What do I do with that?

Wait to be found. Don’t let them.

[blinked-out]

"I don't want to be alone," I say. I'm not sure if that's because of the fear or whatever this place is, or this thing that's now somehow inside of me.

But whatever the reason, the word has been spoken. The thing inside of me leaks a feeling like satisfaction, or maybe anticipation, and my body moves to standing. With each jerky flex of each muscle, something else snaps, and the entity inside of me continually dulls the pain.

"What are you doing to me?" I manage. I'm still not sure who I'm speaking to.

"Finding company.”

And the prospective comfort that comes with the idea of not being alone anymore fills me with warmth. I'm not sure if it's a feeling I would have had if I was on my own.

We walk. We pass room after room, and despite the fact that each one looks the same, my limbs move with confidence and with purpose. Room after room after room, until we reach the intended one.

I know it's the intended one because it's the only thing so far that's had anything in it. Three people stand facing away from me, but they sound like they're chatting. Thank goodness, finally some other people.

Bit by bit, this thing leaves me, and somehow I'm still able to stand. I approach the people. "Hello?"

They're conversing in whispers, but as I grow nearer they grow louder. The volume doesn't affect the clarity, though; I've no idea what they're saying. All at once, they turn to face me, and the volume reaches its peak.

These people are almost-people. The only thing they lack is a face, yet somehow they still whisper. The sound goes from the air around me to directly inside my head, like they're whispering straight into my thoughts.

And the longer I listen, the more I think I understand. I let myself sink into the whispers, absorbing their sounds.

My nose goes first, then my mouth. Once my mouth is gone, I'm able to join in the whispering myself. Then my ears, and I understand what they're saying more clearly than ever. It's a repeated welcome.

Then my eyes, and my whole world is the whispers.

Just the whispers.

Ending 1 of 6: The Whispers.

Try again?

[blinked-out]

Whatever company this thing has to offer, I don't want it. I can't strangle out my refusal, but it takes the answer clearly enough.

We rise, and we walk. I don't know where we're going, but this thing seems to easily enough. It's a feeling I don't like at all, walking to nowhere with a confidence I don't have. Now that this... thing is well and truly in me, it can do whatever it wants.

I shouldn't have asked for help.

And just as that thought crosses my mind, the thing throws me on the floor. Slowly and terribly, like peeling away a days-old bandage, this thing tears itself away from me.

For the first time, I see what it was perhaps supposed to look like. A person with four spider-like legs and a human torso, made entirely of swirling darkness. Now that they're out of my body, the lights return to their flickering.

"I offered you help," it declares, advancing on me. I stand with a strength I'm probably not supposed to have; upon realization, my legs wobble. The thing disappears, but the lights continue flickering.

"And I'm coming for you. Choose your fate.”

Run away. Wait for it to reach you.

[blinked-out]

It's not going to go away on its own, and I'm terrified of what it could be capable of doing if I say no. So I take a deep breath and tear my hands away from my ears.

My head rises from between my knees and I look around, trying to find the source of the voice. It's nowhere to be seen, but already it seems to know that I've resigned; the flickering abates. Now it's just a gentle flutter in the light levels, but the complete darkness has stopped coming.

"Please help me," I say.

My permission is all it needs to enter. The flutter in the lights materializes as one solid shadow, one hovering right in front of me. In my next breath, it enters through my nose, through my mouth, invading every part of me.

"Thank you."

Instantly I regret my decision as a cold settles in my limbs. The goosebumps almost harden, like no amount of warmth could control them.

The cold seeps into my head and throughout every part of me. In a swift movement that I don't initiate, I throw my head from side to side. Several things in my neck release loud pops, and the pain of the cracks is swiftly dulled.

"Would you like company?"

Accept company. Stay alone.