The Thing: Part 1

         It all started one night when I was having a most strange dream. It was something random about a ghost hiding in my sock drawer, or some such nonsense. Little idea had I that this night would be one I'd remember for the rest of my life. It doesn't seem strange to be having a bizarre dream most of the time. No matter how many strange dreams I've had, they all seemed pretty normal to me at the time I was experiencing them. Of course, this dream was totally different. I was peacefully enjoying my random dream about sock drawer ghosts when something far more terrifying then them wrenched me out of that dream and into... Well, I can't say exactly. I still don't really know to this day what exactly happened then. Believe me, it's not from want of trying. So, here I was standing in some dark room. It was (as far as I could tell) a perfect square. It was very dark, but some dim lighting trickled in, from where I don't know. I looked around, and nearly fainted when I noticed I wasn't alone. Standing not too far from me to my left was a girl. She didn't look familiar, and I wondered how she came to be in my dream. Now I know that wasn't really accurate. I should have been wondering how I came to be in her nightmare. Then she turned toward me. The shock of seeing her face was one that I will never forget, it is akin to the experience of being wrenched from your dream and deposited elsewhere. Although now I can think of her face without wincing, the first sight of it was terrifying. It was pale and gaunt, bony and rigid. In addition to that, it looked like a face that had never had peace. Even now, as I watched, her eyes darted restlessly about the room. Although I didn't know it then, she was searching for the Thing. Then she saw me. Her eyes widened, and I expected her to ask “Who are you?”. However, she did not, seemingly either expecting my arrival or not noticing me. She turned away from me, and looked fearfully at a step. That's when I noticed that this square room had a short stairway on one wall that likely lead up somewhere. The place was dark, and I could hear some noises that could have been rats. The light was probably coming from above, as I saw no way for the little light to be coming from anywhere else. Although I still thought it was a dream, I figured anything was better than hanging around here. That's when she started moving. It was a surprisingly jerky movement, and she stared fixedly ahead, as though not wanting to look anywhere else. I don't mean to sound like a wimp, but that room scared me, as did that girl. Despite that, I didn't want to stay in this room by myself. Although I didn't know what was going on, I figured it would be better to have some human companionship in this dismal place. I'll never know what would have happened if I hadn't decided to follow her. Yet, there's no use dwelling on what might have been. I followed her.

         

         The next room looked pretty much the same as the first, only the staircase was on a different wall. The girl walked toward the center of the room as soon as she entered it. I stood near her, uncertain of what was going on. As in the first room, she quickly looked around, paying particular attention to the corners. I didn't know what to expect. Figuring that knowledge was power, I decided to ask her what she was looking for.

         “The Thing”, she replied, and with that reply an expression of pure terror manifested itself upon her face. The terror was so stark that it made my heart skip a beat and I broke into a cold sweat. She quickly turned and rushed toward the next staircase. I followed her, resolving not to say another thing, as it was my foolish questioning that apparantly caused her such fear. I hurried after her. Although I knew not what this “Thing” was, the mere sound of the word left me numb with terror, possibly from seeing her reaction at merely thinking of it. Looking back, I suppose this room was really what made me commit to following her. Not knowing what this “Thing” was, and being with someone who clearly knew, I wasn't about to be left alone in this creepy structure with It. I sprinted after her as she stepped up the stairway to the third room.



         The third room is where the atmosphere changed, slightly, barely perceptively. I noticed that it appeared slightly dimmer. At the time, I couldn't believe such a ridiculous proposal that the light was diminishing as we seemingly approached its source. Additionally, the noise that I thought might be rats had increased in volume, and now sounded more like footsteps. They appeared to be growing distant at times, growing closer at others. The girl stopped in the exact center of the room, and she looked around at the four corners again. This time, I noticed that in one corner the wall appeared slightly damp. Wondering what it was, I began to step closer. The walls were old and rough stone, and I questioned how they could be damper at higher levels then they were at lower ones. This, along with the freakish behavior of the light, was beginning to make me more scared than curious. That's when the girl saved me. She looked toward the corner I was slowly approaching, and she gave a shrill scream of absolute terror. I am ashamed although glad to not have looked at her face at that moment. I never saw her face upon her sighting the Thing, but if the noise she made and her face when she thought of it were anything to go by, I'd rather not. As soon as I heard her, I turned. She had already turned, and was running up toward the fourth room. I followed, wondering what could have scared her, although I knew in my heart it had something to do with that corner. Why was it alone wet? Why did she spook when she looked at it? Why was I so nervous about approaching it in the first place? I am thankful that my first encounter with the Thing was as mild as this.



         Again, in the fourth room as in all others previous, I noticed that the girl had moved straight to the center. Although not quite of genious intellect, I was capable of making connections between what I had witnessed so far. It was clear that there was some Thing for which she held an extreme fear of, and that there was something in or about corners that scared her. She must have stood in the center of the rooms each time in order to remain farthest from all the corners while she inspected them for this Thing. Although standing in the center means that you are also easiest prey if attacked from a random corner, it was not until many rooms later that this would be exploited to get her. The light was still almost as light as the first room, but it had dimmed significantly enough that even I, who was in denial of the strange events manifesting themselves, noticed that there was certainly a change. The footsteps were louder, and were starting to scare me. Added to them was a strange snuffling grunting noise, that combined with the footsteps made me certain something was out there. Worsening this was the fact that the sound appeared to come from the level directly below. It sounded as if some sort of dog or bear was moving around the third level, trying to figure out which way we came. Although this scared me far more than the Thing that she seemed to be in mortal terror of, it left her unfazed. Following her procedure, she checked the corners. Apparently detecting no signs of the Thing she had seen in the third room, she turned, starting toward the staircase. This was where I felt compelled to try to figure out what was going on. I already felt I had some sort of a grasp on what was going on, but why was I here? What was this Thing? And, most importantly (for me at the moment), where were we going? Although I got here through a dream, this felt unlike a dream to such a magnitude I was certain it was a reality. Unforunately, I was right.

         “What happened back there?”, I ventured to ask, hoping this would pave the path to more questions regarding the Thing.

         “The Thing,” she replied unhelpfully, “It was there. It must be in here. We must escape.”

         Though I had hoped dearly for answers, all she gave me where the perfect recipes for more anxiety. Now I knew the Thing was in here with us (apparently for sure, as she seemed quite the expert on it), and that it seemed to pose enough of a threat to justify our immediate departure. I was starting to get very scared myself, especially as the footsteps appeared to find their way up the stairs to the fourth room, where we were now.

         “We must hurry, ” she spoke suddenly, turning and walking fixedly toward the stairwell, “If we don't, the Thing will get us.”

         We had spent the most time in this room of all others, and although I questioned how the Thing could have taken so long to find the one possible route we could have gone up, and since she had been most verbal in this room of all others and I had more I wished to ask her, the footsteps were concrete enough evidence for the Thing to scare me, and I followed her as she rushed up the stairs.



         The fifth room was the first experience I had with her past. It was a sad one, and to this day makes me question why that tower existed. It could have existed for me, to show me the Thing and the effect it has. However, it could have been for her. To show her her past and what the Thing had done to it. Or quite possibly it was a torturehouse for her. The Thing may have had a cruel and sick enough mind to place her here, where she would see it in every corner, feel it in every room, and never have peace. This room was the start of an answer, but it was the barest of starts and by far not enough for me to make anything of. The girl walked toward the center of the room, as was her custom. Before she got there, though, an image slowly materialized in the center of the room. The image gradually expanded, and took up the whole room, giving it the appearance of another room from another time and place. It was her bedroom. In the image, the girl was present, sitting on a simple twin bed. With her were several other people, possibly her friends. They appeared to be happily discussing something, and her face appeared much brighter and less careworn than it did now. Slowly, the scene came to life. It showed the girl and her friends talking, then suddenly the girl chanced to look into one of the corners. Instantly, she screamed in terror, the same shrill scream I had heard only two levels before. The girl watched this image slowly, with an expression of horror on her face.

         “I was... beautiful then, free from...” she trailed off, staring at her in the scene, staring at the corner. Slowly, she turned and faced the corner. I looked, too. The corner was wet, as in the third level. This time, I could easily see with what it was wet. It was wet with thick, red blood, slowly dripping down the wall. The girl stood, paralyzed, staring at the corner. Her eyes widened and her body began to trembly violently. Her scream began anew, much more real and terrifying than the one in the illusion. However, adding to the already frightful noise, was an etheral echo of the scream. I could almost swear I heard a ghostly chorus screaming along with her, and the footsteps began to approach again. This time, terrifyingly, the footsteps seemed to be coming straight from the bloody corner. I could perceive something advancing on me from the corner, and I knew it must be the Thing. The girl must have seen it much more clearly than I, and she turned and dashed off for the staircase. I stood, frozen to the spot, only with great difficulty finally rousing my mind to take action. At last, I realized it was doing me no good to stand here as the Thing advanced menacingly, and I turned and sprinted after her, hearing the footsteps give chase...



End Of Part I (Rooms 1 – 5)