Memories of My End

There was something nice about watching an old shonen.

They weren’t beholden to the tropes of the genre. They weren’t embarrassed by it. Even if they might end up a little predictable, it was a comfy watch. There was just something so nice about how earnest they were.

Anyways, that’s how I lost several hours of the night watching TV. By now, the shonens were going off the air and switching over to more adult oriented shows. That was annoying to me, but it was probably better that I go to bed.

I shuffled under the sheets to find the remote, my only light being the dim glow the TV provided. After a few seconds of searching, I found it nestled by my right leg. Thank god it didn’t fall off the bed.

Before I could reach out for it, my world was suddenly plunged into darkness. With a blink, I lowered the covers to look at the TV. It was turned off now, a black box that refused to shine its light. How did that happen?

I grabbed the remote and pointed it at the TV. One click of the power button and— nothing happened. What? I pressed the power button again. Nothing. What the hell was going on?

I suddenly realized…it was quiet. Not even Bill’s beeping filled the room. Looking at it, the machine’s lights were dead as well. I’ve never seen it turn off before. What was going on?

My heart suddenly jumped into my throat as the sudden sound of rattling filled the room. My eyes darted around, trying to find the source of the noise.

All I was greeted with was darkness and shadowy shapes. My eyes were slowly adjusting to the newfound darkness, but that was a small comfort.

The rattling grew louder and louder. A loud banging noise was now layered on, adding a disruptive drumbeat to the rattling. That gave away exactly where the noise was coming from.

My eyes darted to the door. I could see the door handle thrashing and the door shaking. For a moment, I forgot how to breathe.

Someone was trying to break into my room.

Louder and louder the noises became. The door shook as something struck it. Big, heavy blows like a sledgehammer. Its mere wooden frame was warping and bending under the pressure of staying closed.

A rapping noise suddenly came from my window, like someone was quickly knocking on it. Looking over, all I could see was darkness. It engulfed the neighboring buildings. I couldn’t see the stars, or even the moon. It was as if the world outside didn’t exist. Nothing but that knocking on my window existed outside.

A tapping came from the wall behind me, causing a shiver to go down my spine. It quickly matched the tempo and volume of my door and windows. Louder and louder, faster and faster!

It was like I was trapped inside a drum with three people trying to play a wild drum solo at once. The room seemed to dent, as if the pressure was crushing it. Smaller and smaller. Soon, it would crush me.

One final bang. One final dent. That’s all it would take.

And then, it stopped.

The room seemed to return to normal, like nothing ever happened. I finally was able to inhale, to breathe again.

And then the door handle began to turn. A slow turn full of intention. My throat went dry as I stared at it. To my horror, the door cracked open.

From that little slit of the open door flooded in an overwhelming smell. Rotten meat and birthday cake all mixed together, some perverse mixture of death and life. I held my breath again, partially from fear, partially from not wanting to fill my lungs with that tainted air.

The door creaked as it began to open wider. In just a fraction of a second, it’d be opened wide enough for me to see what the hell that thing was. Or even worse… for it to see me.

A man’s voice suddenly shouted out. It was muffled, so I couldn’t make out what he was saying. Whatever he said, it caused the door to freeze in place. A second of silence passed before the man spoke again, his voice quieter now.

The door clicked shut. The smell cleared away, returning to the mundane sterileness. I finally started to breathe again. My breath was slow and heavy, and I could feel sweat going down my back.

What the hell was that?

I slowly got out of bed, my breathing stabilizing. My legs were shaking, some of it fear, some of it just my own sickness. I had to do this though. I was not going to stay in this room without barricading the door. I did not have a death wish, no sir.

I looked around the room, trying to find something to use. Maybe Bill could be useful for once in my whole time here. Then again, I figured unplugging medical equipment, even ones turned off, might be a bad idea.

A sudden scream filled my ears.

So many things about that scream set off all sorts of panic in my body. Obviously, just the mere fact someone was screaming in this situation was more than enough for all sorts of alarms, but that wasn’t what stood out the most. That scream sounded like a young girl, like a child!

Was there a kid in danger?!

Before I realized it, my body had crossed my room, my hand grasping the door handle. I blinked, my rational mind only just catching up to my… instincts, I suppose? I really don’t have any clue what just happened.

The moment my mind caught up, it began to yell at me.

What are you doing?! Whatever that thing was is probably still out there! You’re gonna die if you go out there! Stay here where it’s safe!

The worst part was, I knew that my cowardly mind was lying to me. There was no way a place like this was safe, not after what just happened. If I was stuck inside this hell of a hospital, I would rather be out there helping some helpless child that needed someone than being cooped up in here.

At least that’s what I told myself.

But realistically, how could I help? Surely there were other people out there, right? They could do it. I was just a sick kid, there was no reason for me to go out there.

Except there was. If that… thing was roaming the hallways, then maybe… maybe it got everyone else. Maybe… I was the last one here…

No, that was my brain lying to me still. Now was not the time for thought. Now was the time for action!

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves one final time. With a quick twist of the door handle, I opened the door.

Usually during the night at a hospital, most of the lights were turned off. Only a sparse few were kept on at certain key points in the hallway. This kept the hallways dim, a good balance between letting medical personnel see without disturbing the sleep of the patients.

None of those lights were on.

I felt my jaw clench as I peered into the darkness. There were so many thoughts going through my mind, but all I could do was take a step forward. My footsteps echoed in the empty hallway.

And then more footsteps frantically filled the hallway. I froze, looking to my right. That’s when I saw her.

A young girl, no older than five, came running down towards me. She wore a matching hospital gown to me, and her short brown hair was messy. I could see the sheer fear on her face. She seemed to notice me, and some hope broke out on her face.

Why did she seem so trusting of me?

“Oy, get back here!” A voice yelled out. Looking further down the hall, I didn’t see anyone. However, I knew for a fact that the hallway was not a dead end, but a left turn. Whoever was chasing the girl must not have made the turn yet.

I motioned for the girl to come inside my room. Shockingly, and maybe worryingly, she ran in without a second thought. I quietly shut the door behind her, doing my best to not make any noise.

She went to speak, but I put my finger over my lips. The little girl nodded, although a soft whimper escaped her lips.

“Where the hell did she go?!” A male’s voice rang out. His booming voice rang out across the entire hallway.

“She probably ran into one of these rooms!” A woman’s voice spoke right before the sound of an opening door echoed through the empty hallway. “Nope, not here.”

“We don’t have time for this!” The male voice roared at the same time. “We have to sacrifice her now, before the worlds sync up again!”

The worlds syncing up? What the hell did that mean? Were we not on Earth? Actually, hang on. Sacrifice? People were trying to sacrifice this girl? To what? That thing that was roaming the hallway?

No wait, there was something more important in their statements. There was a time limit. If I could keep both myself and this girl out of whoever the hell was in the hallways’ grasps, then the world would ‘sync’. Then presumably we’d be safe.

Okay, I could work with that, right?

The sounds of doors opening came closer and closer with every second. I didn’t have time to debate with myself. I opened the door to the bathroom, looking for a towel of some sort. One quick glance told me that plan wasn’t going to work. The towel was too small to completely wrap around the girl.

There was something else I could use though…

A few seconds of messing around and I was ready to go. I held a bundle made of my hospital blankets close to my chest. My desperate plan finally came to fruition. I tensed up, ready to make a break for it once those doors opened.

The sounds of footsteps filled the air. I took a deep breath as the door knob turned once more. I managed not to flinch as the door was thrown wide open.

Two people, one as large as a barn and the other built like a twig burst into the room. They were dressed in matching black robes that covered their entire body. On their chest was some sort of symbol that resembled a reptilian eye grasped by a clawed hand.

But the part that threw me off about their appearances were the masks they wore over their faces. The soulless form of an old plague doctor’s mask stared at me. Black masks with avian beaks stained blood red. A red glow shone from where their eyes should be, bathing the room in its vile color.

“Who the hell are you?!” the burly one shouted, his voice tipping me off that he was the man.

“That’s my question, asshole!” I shouted as I suddenly rushed at them. Thanks to my sudden charge, I was able to slam past them and run down the hall.

“Don’t worry, I got you! We’ll make it out of here!” I shouted to make sure the two plague doctors could hear me. I didn’t look over my shoulder to check if they were following me. Their echoing footsteps chasing me down was all the confirmation I needed.

I made the first left at the hallway, doing my best to keep ahead of my pursers. However, no matter how hard and fast I forced myself to run, I could hear their footsteps getting closer and closer. It wouldn’t take long for them to overtake me.

I refused to give up though! There was an easy way for me to gain some distance. I knew that up ahead there was a stairwell that went from the top of the hospital all the way to the bottom. We were currently on the third floor, and there was a basement.

If I got to the basement, I would definitely have eaten up a lot of my remaining time. Even better, my body would have a small amount of rest, hopefully enough to make the final sprint to freedom. Heck, maybe if I was lucky, I’d run out the time while going down the stairs!

That was only if I managed to open the door without getting grabbed though. I could almost feel their outstretched hands reaching for me. I wasn’t going to outrun them. I had to outsmart them.

I ran past the stairwell door, not even sparing it a glance. The moment my pursuers passed the door, I sprung into action. I pivoted on my foot, turning around and dashing between them. They two were too shocked by my sudden shift to react in time.

Such a stunt ruined my stamina. My lungs were burning, my legs were screaming in pain. A cough was building up in my chest. I could feel every drop of sweat running down my face. If I kept trying to run, I’d probably pass out from exhaustion. Or I’d stop running thanks to a coughing fit. Both were worst case scenarios.

It was a good thing I didn’t plan to run any more.

I threw open the stairwell door, quickly running to the handrails. I hopped on the one closest to the center of the stairs, sliding down at higher speeds than possible by running down the stairs. It was definitely riskier, seeing as I could fall several stories if I messed up. It was a risk I had to take though, as the side closest to the wall would take too long to hop onto the next rail.

As I slid down the rail, I could hear the voices of my pursers getting further and further away. It seems they were far more wary. That was fine by me. At the bottom of the first set of stairs, I carefully hopped off and made a sharp turn, covering the least amount of distance to the next rail.

This process repeated several as I slid all the way to the basement. I was surprised by how well this plan was going. My pursers’ footsteps were a lot farther away now, and my lungs managed to recover.

If I could find the perfect hiding space in the basement, then we would be home free.

As I slid deeper into the hospital, I noticed it was getting darker and darker. The darkness did cause me to second guess my plan. I pushed forward despite this, knowing that the darkness would make a great cover for me as I looked for a hiding spot.

Self assured, I hopped off the final rail and ran to the door. I didn’t have a clear memory of what the basement looked like, but I was confident that I could find a good hiding spot down here. This is where they kept the labs and a lot of the bigger machines. There was no way I could be found down here.

My confidence was shattered the second I threw open the door. The complex maze of hallways, labs, and medical equipment was replaced with one gigantic room that spanned the entire length of the hospital.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, there were at least fifty people all scattered about the room. Each and everyone wore the same robes and masks as the two goons that were chasing me. I willingly ran head first into the lion’s den.

One hundred glowing red eyes all stared me down. I slowly took a step back, intimidated by the malice that permeated the air. I felt my legs going weak and a chill going up my spine. There was no way I was going to run away any more…

“Gotcha!”

I felt my body slam into the tile floor as my pursuers finally caught up with me. I did my best to wiggle out of the burly man’s grip. His powerful bear hug overpowered my weak body as easily as a kitten.

At this point, my weak body began to fall apart on me. I started to cough violently again, my strength draining every second. My chest ached with every cough, and a metallic taste began to flood my mouth. Globs of blood started to splatter on the floor as I continued to cough.

My coughing masked the sounds of the skinny goon walking up to me. The burly man pried opened my arms as the twiggy woman stole the bundle I held so dearly to my chest. That was it. I failed to keep the girl out of their grasp.

Or did I?

I could imagine the look of shock on the goon’s face as they opened the bundle only to see a pillow there. I managed to pull off a great trick. The girl never left my room. She was still hiding in my bathroom even now.

Despite my circumstances, I smirked at the goon. She knew it was too much of a waste of time to head back to the third floor. This was my victory, plain and simple.

This victory would come at a cost.

“We don’t have time! We’ll just make due with this… unusual interloper!” A voice from the center of the room called out. The robed figure had additional ornaments on his back, making it look as if he had wings. Maybe he is higher up on the chain of command?

I didn’t have the strength to fight back. Even if I did, I wasn’t strong enough to fight back. I could only weakly struggle as I was carried to the center of the room.

I could see an operating table set up in the center of the room. While that seemed perfectly ordinary for a hospital, the blood red circle filled with symbols I couldn’t understand right underneath the table certainly was not.

That was when the weight of the situation truly began to sink in. This was some sort of cult, a cult that wanted a sacrifice. And I was the sacrificial lamb they would have to use.

I felt my back hitting the cold steel of the table. The cultists were quick to get the straps around my wrists. They bit down on me, like serpents trying to eat my flesh. There was no way my weak body could escape.

I should have felt despair. I should have cried out, screamed how it was unfair. But I couldn’t do it. I was afraid, sure. I would be insane to not be, but that fear was suppressed. All I could feel about was the small amount of pride I felt managing to help that girl.

The cultists all surrounded the table. They got on their knees, praying in a language I didn’t understand. As they prayed, the blood red circle beneath me began to glow brightly, illuminating the world.

The supposedly higher ranked cult member walked over, a jagged knife clenched in his hands.

“Ye who are not meant to be here. Ye who have ruined our plans. May our god have mercy on thy soul,” He hissed at me as he raised his dagger over his head.

As he moved to stab me, the doors flung open once again, and a voice called out.

“Stop! Not him! What are you doing?!”

It was too late though. The cultist’s hand was already dropping, pointed right at my heart. He wouldn’t be able to pull back in time.

As I stared at my death in its masked face, only one thought crossed my mind. It wasn’t about the safety of the girl upstairs. It wasn’t about my mom. It wasn’t even me cursing about my end. No, strangely, my thoughts were about the cultist who just busted into the room.

“Why does that guy sound so much like my dad…?”

With that final thought, the knife pierced my heart, and my world went black.