This short story has been reposted from another site with the full permission of the author Smirkin. All the credit for it should go to her.

Another Night

The room is dark. So, dark that it’s black, I could barely tell if my eyes were truly open without reaching towards my face and feeling the flutter of my lashes against my fingertips. Where I am being unknown, just as well as why I’m here.

The only thing I do know is that I’m not alone. I can feel the presence of someone else in the room or space with me. No matter how hard I strain or squint I can’t see anyone though, not even my own hand. The room appears limitless in its own existence. Could there be more than one person? Could they somehow be able to see me without me seeing them?

Brushing my hands over my face, head and other portions of my body I search and try to feel if there is anything that would give me any clues to anything, or if I had anything on my body that I could find some use of ... but there is nothing. I discovered I don’t even have clothing on which is more frightening.

I can feel the panic rising in my chest and my sight attempts to tear down the room for any signs of movements or differences that would tell me which way to go, where to avoid or where someone is. To my growing frustration there is nothing. I feel like this is something from a movie where the person finds themselves in the white void room. The only difference is the light is off.

“Ahem...”

My head spins like it’s on a swivel while the sound echoes. I can’t tell which direction it’s coming from, just that it’s surrounding me and somewhere in the space with me ... I think. My fingers fidget closer to my mouth as I frantically look around. Scared to move and wanting to huddle myself into a corner and hide, if only I knew where the boundaries of the room lay. I want to speak, and ask who made the sound ... but if they can’t see me, I would be giving away my location. I don’t know what to do. I know what I want to do, yet that seems impossible or at the very least as though it wouldn’t turn out to be in my favor. I want to scream and escape this void. I want to run free.

Sadly, I don’t know where to run.

A slight shuffle and footsteps.

I scramble backwards, losing the traction of my feet against the flooring. Fumbling over myself in the attempt to get away in fright. This time the sound didn’t surround me, I could hear it distinctly in front of me. Nearly as if it were only five feet away. Yet, I still see nothing.

A tightness in my chest becomes more intense as my breathing quickens. Even though I’m not able to see anything in the room or around me I still instinctively close my eyes tightly. The fear courses through me, replacing my oxygen and welling in my eyes. I try to keep them closed, not wanting a single tear to fall. Something tells me that if it were, it would be seen. If one fell to the ground that it would be heard.

The deafening silence other than the few sounds seems to cause my head to ache. The thoughts that flood my mind. The visions of the room being filled with people watching, observing ... being entertained by me. By my terror.

Flash after flash.

Image after image.

In my mind, I can see a man grinning at me, watching my frail form tremble in confusion. But when I open my eyes the only thing that greets me is empty darkness. I sort of feel like my own thoughts are fabricating the images though, due to being able to see myself in them as if through someone else’s eyes. Is this my mind trying to fill in the missing pieces that it can’t see? Trying to rationalize what is happening so that it knows how to respond?

The hardened footsteps move closer causing me to close my eyes quickly again. The images play of a man grabbing my hair and dragging me towards the center of the room. I can see my body flailing and hear myself screaming. I can hear the breathing and movements of multiple people just out of sight as if caught in a trance of what they see, and wanting more.

I open my eyes to make the visions stop and take a breath in. Trying to calm myself, I take in several breaths and try to tell myself none of this is real. That is until I felt the sharp burning sensation in my scalp as I felt the resistance of my weight against the pull. Something dragging me.

“NO, NO, NO, NO, STOP!!”

Just as in the flashes, I kicked, screamed, I tried to reach and free my hair. I felt a gloved hand, something like leather. I tried to claw and wriggle but nothing stopped it until I was shoved into the ground. Before I could pick myself up to scramble away, I felt the gloved hands grab my thighs and forcefully flip me over. I clawed against the floor, which got me nowhere fast. Nothing to grab a hold of, nothing to reach for and I still I saw nothing. The despair within was eating me alive.