Monster

The outline of a door could be made out amidst the thick static.

“Is this thing on?” Dr. Edgar's exhausted voice sounded. “...Good, it's finally working. I don't know if there's a way out of this place. I found stairs that lead up, but the more I search for an exit, the deeper into this labyrinth I get. It’s almost like this space doesn't end.”

Dr. Edgar flipped the camera around and gave the camera a weak smile, distorted by the static that held the camera in an iron grip. “I hope this footage makes it to the surface. This place… I think I've figured out how it works.”

A sound, like a chair leg scraping against the floor, echoed through the hall. Dr. Edgar snapped his head toward the direction of the sound. He pointed the camera down the dark hallway. Darkness as thick as ash cloaked the end of the hallway.

Every few seconds, the camera screen would black out, and then fizzle back on. Each time the screen flickered, it left the afterimage of a figure cloaked in shadow emerging from the darkness.

The camera shook violently as Dr. Edgar jumped to his feet. It steadied out as he took one step back at a time, keeping an eye on the darkness.

“Each room here,” Dr. Edgar swallowed, “represents each of the victims. I believe the monster everyone keeps seeing at the end of their dreams is responsible for the mental disorder they are afflicted with.”

One lanky limb after another escaped the blackness until the monster stepped into the open. It looked almost like a human girl in shape, with arms reaching for the floor and nothing but a grinning mouth on its ghastly pale face. Wiry black hair covered its bony shoulders.

It limped forward with a hunch in its upper back. Though it didn't have eyes, it seemed to be staring at the doctor.

Dr. Edgar carefully lowered the camera he was holding to the ground. A moment later a flash of light accompanied a loud bang as a bullet whizzed through the monster's flesh until it struck the wall through the darkness.

The monster continued its path undeterred by the attack. A few more rounds of bullets shot through its body to no avail.

“What the–” Dr. Edgar scooped the camera back into his hand and ran as fast as he could. As he ran through the halls, a dark mist exuded from the walls to chase after him.

Static shook the camera in unison with the chaos of sprinting up the stairs. Dr. Edgar kept running, passing through multiple stories faster than a rabbit fleeing from a vicious predator. In his haste, there were a few times he almost dropped the camera, fumbling with it to recover from his folly.

Eventually the darkness disappeared, and no sound but his own heavy breathing could be heard. “There's got to be a way out of here,” he said between breaths.

The hallway he was currently in was straightforward–stairs leading up at the end of the hall, and a few doors to the left and the right. Overhead, the lights had an occasional seizure that darkened the room for a brief moment.

After taking a minute to calm his racing heart, Dr. Edgar continued toward the flight of stairs. If he hadn't lost his main camera, he would check the footage of the cameras he had mounted on previous floors to see if he could pinpoint the monster's location.

Each step he took echoed off the cement stairs with a foreboding sound. At the top of the staircase, he let out a long, tense breath.

A glitch messed with the camera's feed, but cleared a moment later. In front of the camera was a small room with an old wooden door on the end that was slightly ajar. To the left was a staircase that led up to another floor.

Dr. Edgar inched forward and stuck out a hand to push the door open with a gentle caution.

On the other side was a familiar room, anime and video game posters plastered on the sky blue walls. “How did I end up back here?” He mumbled to himself, barely loud enough for the recording to pick up.

To the side, the computer monitor flashed on. Upon closer inspection, the monitor displayed the footage of the second floor hallway, through the camera Dr. Edgar had placed earlier. All four doors were open, and hidden in the darkness where the elevator used to be was the outline of a humanoid figure.

As soon as Dr. Edgar noticed it, static overwhelmed the camera. It was gone by the time the feed returned to its normal condition.

His finger tapped a button on the keyboard to switch to the next camera.

A similar view to the first, except there was no sign of the apparition. There was, however, a constant flash from the motion detector next to the camera.

The next camera's sight was normal. No monster in sight, no strange phenomena. Same with the next camera.

He tapped the keyboard to swap to the next camera. An eye filled the screen, seemingly staring directly into his soul. Dr. Edgar jumped back with a curse on his lips, almost dropping the camera on his person.

As soon as it had appeared, the eye was gone, leaving the sight of an empty hall in its place.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Dr. Edgar froze. The sound was coming from outside the room. It was the noise his motion detectors made when they spotted movement, but he didn't set one up on this floor.

Beep. Beep. Beep. He slowly reached out to the keyboard and swapped to the camera pointed at the stairwell on the other side of the door.

A dark, lanky figure stood in front of the door, barely in the frame of the camera. Darkness radiated from the twisted creature, bathing the area around it in black.

Knock. Knock. Knock. The creature looked up at the camera. Behind its long, scraggly black hair was a face with no features except a wide, creepy grin that used up the whole area. Its mouth opened slightly, revealing a multitude of sharp, spiny teeth.

From the computer came a slow, haunting tune–Ring around the Rosie, pockets full of posies. Ashes, ashes, we all… fall… down

The monitor started to flash with the speed of a hummingbird's wings. Meanwhile, the door to the stairwell creaked open like a turtle.

With the flight of a terrified rabbit, Dr. Edgar sprinted toward the other door and shoved it closed behind him.

Suddenly, silence replaced the terrifying chaos. He took a moment to catch his breath, sliding down the door to a sitting position.

In the room with him were many dolls and stuffed animals in the same positions they were in the last time he came through. Except… they were all facing him.

The camera glitched, losing its feed for a second. When it came back on, the toys had all shifted closer. Dr. Edgar pushed himself to his feet and scanned the multitude of toys.

Again, the camera lost its feed temporarily. When it came on, the toys were even closer, some only inches away from the doctor.

Not having any of it, Dr. Edgar launched himself toward the other side of the room and opened the door to the next space.

“What?!” Instead of the room that was there before, on the other side of the door was a wall of red brick. The toys were closing in on him, spilling out of their piles like hornets.

He ran back to the other door and cracked it open to check if the monster was still there.

The room was as quiet as a silent night, with no demon in sight. Dr. Edgar slipped through the door and shut it just as the toys reached it.

“Gah!” Dr. Edgar dropped the camera due to the surprise pain. It crashed onto its side, pointed at the doctor. A black-haired doll in a plaid dress hugged Dr. Edgar's leg and was biting into his calf. Blood spat from the wound as it ripped off a piece of flesh with the blood-soaked piece of fabric from his jeans.

As he fought to rip the doll away from him, a dark figure emerged silently from underneath the computer desk. Its legs were long, but its arms were longer.

Dr. Edgar finally managed to detach the doll from himself and he threw it at the wall. His eyes locked onto the emerging creature of darkness. As he stepped back, his body trembled with horror.

The lanky creature fixed its eyeless sight on the doctor and lowered itself into a position to pounce. Its massive mouth gaped open, thousands of thorns ready to feast. It looked as if a girl was subject to horrific experiments that turned her into a monster with nothing but hunger fueling her actions.

Static interrupted the feed, blocking out the monster from the recording as it lunged for its next victim.

Dr. Edgar jumped back, attempting to flee to the nightmare version of a child's bedroom.

Finally, the video died. Nothing but black remained as a scream louder than the screech of a hawk echoed off the walls.