Room no. 666

During the day, the weather is beautiful. But at night, it’s different.

It’s like a monster that was hiding in the blue skies, is activated by the moonlight unleashing rains, lightning strikes, thunder as loud as a lion’s roar. It gave me an ominous feeling, as if trying to warn me of something sinister. As I heard the wind howling, the trees swaying, the rain pattering, all a sort of eerie melody, that encouraged me to run back to my car. 

Even so, I took small steps towards the seemingly haunted building, and although there was a light illuminating my path, I could feel an impending darkness overwhelming me each step I took. 

I snapped out of stupor, and craned my neck to ogle the building in front of me.

The dishevelled building, with a decaying, steel gate towering over me like a mountain, stood opposite to me. It was a gloomy sight. I reached for the keys in my pocket, and exerted all my force into pushing open the rusted gate. Once inside, I could take notice of the wall detailing; almost satanic decor. 

Stained glass windows depicted brutal slaughterings, filled with mystic characters, surrounded by a fiery landscape.

Altitudinous, spiky turrets that led as far as the clouds, carvings of demons engraved deep into the walls.

My coworkers always laugh about the asylum being haunted, but they don’t have the night shift like me.

I hauled my mop and bucket, and the light breaths of my uneasiness started to sink into me. 

In the cells, I could distinctly see all the inmates, sitting up, head down, looking away.

I had a new job as a janitor. All the workers here always warn me about one prisoner… in cell 666.

They said he was a demonic creature, hardly human, with such pale skin, that you could see his veins, arteries, everything underneath. They said his eyes were bloodshot, dirt building up on his face. They said his face was battered with bruises all over, red, purple, and the infected wounds turning a sickly yellow. Agonising to look at him… there was a rumour that he had a craving for blood.

I erased my footprints, again. I guess I was paranoid. I didn’t want anyone to follow me. I was being cautious, my head forever spinning.

Maybe I should just leave now.

All that stopped when I finally saw him. I let out a soft gasp when I set my eyes on the… little boy?

He had smooth waves of hair, like honey, silky soft skin, with a red flush lining his skin. As he stood up, I managed to glimpse his eyes, and they were blue as a summer sky.

I was mesmerised. But… this wasn’t the monster that my coworkers had described?

My head jerked up, as I saw a battered sign:

          CELL 666: PROCEED WITH CAUTION  

What could it mean? Caution? Why ? The kid inside this room looked fragile, and the sweetest person I had ever seen.. I needn’t be afraid of him.

Even so, I didn’t really want to attract his attention, and so I continued on my rounds, again, swishing my mop , dragging my bucket. But I might’ve been too loud, for I heard someone’s cracking voice:

“I w-want water! Please!”. I realised it was coming from the cell I had just passed, the angelic looking boy kneeling by the hole in the door.

He looked so pathetic I could hardly say no, let alone ignore him.

Before I could react, my body led me to his cell, opened the door, and took him by the hand to lead him out.

I heard him murmur a thank you, so faint, it felt like his voice had been ripped out. He sounded parched. 

I sat him down, and went to the bathroom to fetch a cup of water for him.

Are you still there?”, I shouted. I almost jumped at the volume of my voice, because it contrasted with my silent surroundings. 

After I filled the cup, I paced back to where I seated him, and slowly checked the other inmates, so as not to disturb them.

But what I saw absolutely shook me to my core.

They were all lying face down, as if sleeping, but a small pool of blood had emerged from their heads, slowly expanding, like when an ink pen stayed on the page for too long.

Maybe I had stayed here for too long…

I frantically looked around, desperate for any sign telling me that this was all a dream, a figment of my imagination. 

The boy had disappeared, along with my keys, which I’d kept next to him.

I slowly turned around, and saw a trail of blood, which I decided to follow. This led me to something horrifying…

My breathing was already hypersensitive, panicked. I tried to cover it with my hands, but in futility. 

And when I caught sight of the thing, it really shocked me to my core. It was exactly the monster my coworkers had described. 

From… cell 666.

I tried to breathe silently, but it caught up to me.

So I ran, sprinted, straining my breath even more, until I started to hyperventilate, choke on my own terror-stricken thoughts.

I kept running and running, speeding up when I heard: 

THUD. 

THUD.

I ran around a corner, and stopped to catch my breath.

Stopping might have been my biggest mistake, because, even though I was sprinting away, the brute took a mere few strides and caught up to me. Before I knew it, he was right there, towering above me as I quivered in fear, shock and disgust.

From what I had heard, there was so much more to this devil. He had eyes made of fire, swallowing you whole. 

The creature’s face, with bruises all over, turning red, blue, black, purple, the boils on its skin bleeding out a sickly yellow liquid.

“I have been waiting for this to happen for months”, said his raspy voice.

I jerked my head up.

“W-what?”, I questioned, a feeling of sickness in my stomach.

“I have been waiting. This particular day. When I could be freed from prison, this hellhole, and quench my thirst for blood.”

I stared at the monster in horror, feeling like puking.

“I have just been waiting for the right time to attack, for an unsuspecting, naive person to show up, succumb to my antics, and set me free…”. I noticed that as it kept talking, the creature was slowly approaching me, gliding, as if it was an angel, devil. Either way I knew it was welcoming me to death.

I began to shuffle backwards, my breath hitched, waiting, for something, anything, to save me.

“ Of course, I can never be free without killing every human in this building. And the last one… is…. you”, he menacingly whispered.

I kept on shuffling backwards, until I felt a thump, and realised I had hit a wall. Devil and a stone-wall. There was no way out of this situation. I closed my eyes and pretended it just wasn’t real… maybe it is still possible that this is still a dream?

“This won’t hurt one bit”, he said.

As soon as I opened my eyes, he had his claw-like hands, wrapped around my neck, squeezing, making me choke, begging him to release me.

The creature suddenly removed his hand from my throat, but started to cut me all over, bringing back the suffering.

The pain became too intense, and all I could do was lay there, limp, against the wall, while he continued to send me to my doom.

“Your screams are like music to my ears, human. You really thought there was a boy in an asylum? And you were idiotic enough to let me out…”.

I was helpless, and I could feel myself fading away. 

I passed out, not knowing what was happening, and I came to the ground with a bang.

~~~

I was being shaken awake. A policeman, dragging me upright, bandaging me up. Red, blue lights flashing. Everything a blur. 

I woke up in a hospital bed. Apparently patient 666 wasn’t a little boy. Apparently he went crazy, got out and murdered everyone, including himself. Almost like me too. 

Nobody believed me, and nobody listened either. 

That’s why I’m telling you this. 

I should’ve left earlier.