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I sat with my legs curled up in my arms embrace, rocking. Trying to rock this nightmare away. That is what this had to be. A nightmare. I had many of these nightmares on my road to recovery. Shaking so hard while my body craved drugs and alcohol, seeing demons in every corner. I was sober now though, had been for awhile so if this wasn't a drug induced dream, then what the heck was it?

The sounds were the worst. True if it wasn't bad enough that it was pitch black in here, the moaning and whispering was enough to drive a guy insane. Moaning that started far off in the distance but would escalate to equal that of a Banshee's scream. Making every hair on my body stand up in strict attention. A barrage of whispers would follow, spoken by body less voices, crying out for help. Sounds of desperation then silence. It happened enough to set my watch by, if there was a sense of time in this place. There was none though. No time. No light. Nothing.

Maybe I was dead? I tried my hardest to think back to the last thing I remembered before entering this hell. Was I at a hospital? Was I hurt? Or was it someone else? Come on AJ think! We were all at the hospital. Sad and...desperate. I paused to listen to the moaning once again. I tried to cover my ears but it still managed to echo right through the gaps in my fingers. Then the voices, jumbled together, crying out for help. One voice stuck out though. A voice that felt like Christmas, familiar and exhilarating to hear.

NICK!

I stood up, and turned around looking for him, wanting to grab him in an embrace but he wasn't there.

"Nick!" Still silence I ran forward a little careful not to trip over any unforeseen monsters along the way. I cupped my hands to my mouth once again, "NICK CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

I felt the wall and pulled my hand back. It was so cold to the touch. Was I in a freezer? That's how cold it was, the only problem was my body didn't feel the chill. I was actually quite comfortable, as comfortable as someone trapped in hell could be I guess. I shook the thought out of my mind. What was I going to do again? I felt myself so easily distracted in this place. No focus at all, just a world where tangents reigned. "This would be perfect for Nick. He is the king of the two-second attention span" I said aloud smiling to myself despite my grim situation.

Nick..then I remembered. I heard Nick, he was among the voices crying out for help. There was no more crying though. Only the sound of my knees knocking. Funny I hadn't even realized they were knocking at all. I went to my original perch and sat back down on the floor holding my knees. That's why I held them in the first place. To keep them from shaking. I knew why I wasn't cold. Because fear had numbed me.

FOOTSTEPS...

My head shot up at the sound of someone...or something approaching me. It was an odd feeling, do I try to run away or run towards it and give it a hug for keeping me company? Steps getting louder now, making my heart vibrate in my chest with every footfall. My eyes bulging. I squint, trying to make out a form in the darkness. But it isn't that dark anymore. The shadow of the person or thing approaching me, is bathed in a warm glow. Like a flashlight being held under a cloth. Friendly, not menacing in the least.

As it grows ever closer, I see that it is a man. He approaches slowly at first and then stops. He is short and by his posture, I can see he is trying to figure out if I am a monster. I want to yell out to him, but I am still a little scared. So I sit and wait for him to approach. He stands still for quite awhile before continuing his trek closer and closer to me. It seems like it is taking him a year and a day to reach me. He stops as the moaning begins. I see him cover his ears, "It doesn't work!" I try to yell to him over the screams. I'm not sure if he heard me or not. That is how loud the moaning gets, a crescendo of pain coming from some invisible source. I myself, place my hands to my ears again, hoping that maybe it would work this time. Maybe..

"AJ?" Once again a voice of familiarity coming to my ears. It is not Nick's voice this time. It is coming from the figure who is approaching. Calm and inquisitive.

I stand no longer afraid as it gets closer and closer. I find myself running towards him, and see that he does the same, he says my name again just before we embrace. I can tell there is just a hint of hesitation in his voice. "AJ? Is that really you?" I let out a sigh, maybe this nightmare will end afterall. "Yes, Howie it is me!"

Then we hug. I have never been one to enjoy a hug but if that boy had permitted me too, I would have never let go. "Howie where are we? What is this place?" He pulled away and tried to look around. His glow, cast eerie shadows on the wall, "D, do you have a flashlight?" I asked him looking at his hands. There didn't seem to be anything in his grasp. "No, I don't have a flashlight"

"Mind telling me why you are glowing?" He looked down at himself, seeming surprised like he hadn't noticed before. "I have no idea, AJ what the hell is this place?" I shrugged. I was so happy that Howie was here, but at the same time I took it as a bad sign. "And what was all that moaning?"

"D, I wish I knew, but it never goes away. Get used to it, as long as we're stuck here it happens all the time" Now that there was a small source of light, I was able to see the room that I had called home. It was empty. No sign of life anywhere, like the waiting room for hell. The walls seemed translucent but cold to the touch. Almost transparent but there all the same.

"How did we get here?" He asked me, like I would know. I looked at him feeling defeated, "No clue" I said before sitting back down. He joined me on the floor. "Well, I vaguely remember being at the hospital, I think we were there visiting somebody. Something bad happened."

"Yeah D, I remember that too"

"It was strange J, I remember going to the hospital, riding in an elevator and then suddenly I was terrified. I didn't want to get off that thing, not for any amount of money in the world. It was this feeling, this strange sensation like I was being pulled."

"I felt that way too" I did but I don't remember how or why. "Right before I ended up here, I felt like I was being pulled, almost like an invisible wind picked me up and brought me here."

"The last thing I remember was being at the hospital" Howie took a deep breath before continuing, "I was on that elevator, we all were. I didn't want to go see him."

"See who?"

He looked up at me, pain in his eyes as he tried to remember, "I don't know. Whoever it was, I cared about him"

"Was it Nick?"

"Nick?" He said the word like he never heard it uttered before. Then I saw the look of recognition on his face. "Yes, it was Nick!" That's when I remembered too. "Nick was hurt. We were going to see him at the hospital" He tried to interrupt but I wouldn't let him, I wanted my memories to come back and they did in a flood. "I ran ahead of all of you, he was lying in the bed, he looked so bad D, He was pale and beaten up. I remember being mad. Mad at whoever did that to him" I stopped, closing my eyes trying to will away the rest of the story, It was too painful to recall but yet, I did. "I approached him to get a better look. I grabbed his hand and then.."

"And then what? What happened next?" Howie had moved up closer to me. I turned to look his way, "He grabbed me D, He grabbed me and sat up, his grip was strong, and his smile menacing. He scared me. I screamed." I felt my heart racing in my chest as I recounted what exactly led me to be here in this place. "He pulled me off of my feet and said I've got you now boy!" I screamed again but this time I stopped because when I looked down I saw myself still lying on the ground" I paused and laughed at the ridiculousness that was coming from my mouth. How could that be possible? Was I insane? I decided that I would stop right there just In case Howie thought I was crazy
until...

"That's what happened to me too" I looked at him feeling better instantly. Once he saw me gaze in his direction he continued, "The force I felt in the elevator, it kept me there. Once I decided not to be the first to go see Nick, I felt a pull. As everyone walked out of the elevator, I found I couldn't move at all. I heard a voice, soft but menacing. It said I've got you now boy!" His look becoming more and more panicked, all I could do was listen. There was no room for consoling in this place. He seemed to tense up as he continued, the glow irradiating from his body seemed natural, like it was always there. "I couldn't talk or move. I felt like I was glued to the wall of the elevator. Then I saw ME. I was walking out with Kevin and Brian. I was watching just like a movie. They heard you scream and they took off down the hall. The whole time the elevator door never closed, while I watched. Then the weirdest thing happened AJ"

"Are you serious D? You mean it gets weirder than this? pffft!" He ignored my mini rant and continued, "The Howie I was watching, turned to me and smiled. Then he threw his head back and laughed." He looked over at me for confirmation, hoping I would laugh at what he was saying, but yet, no laughter came. Instead the revving of those constant moans in the distance. It seemed to be getting louder if possible. Louder and more sinister sounding. A chill ran down my spine, as Howie clutched onto me for the duration of the howling. Then the voices came again, this time more like an explosion then a whisper. He was there again, coming in loud and much clearer now, "J. HELP!!"

Howie and I both jumped up when we heard Nick's pleas for help. "Nick, where are you? Can you hear me?" Howie screamed while spinning slowly in a circle hoping his light would lead us to him. "Oh my God" Howie said slowly accenting every word as if it were his last. I felt his tap but I didn't want to turn around, I was too afraid of what I might find. When I resisted, he physically moved me to face the wall, that's where I saw him. It was Nick, looking scared and confused, just like a child. He was standing on the other side of the wall and banging. His mouth was moving but we heard nothing. He was banging with the palm of his hands as he kept looking behind him. A look of complete terror on his face.

Howie moved right next to the wall placing his hand up to bang. Nick seemed to hear it because as soon as Howie knocked, Nick jumped back. He banged harder this time. "Why can't we hear his banging?" I asked moving right next to Howie."I have no idea AJ"

Nick turned away from us for a minute looking like he was talking to someone or something, "Maybe he has company" I looked at D, "Howie, for some reason that isn't making me feel better about us being on one side of this wall and him being on the other." Almost on cue we saw Nick being elevated and then thrown down on the floor, we both immediately started to pound on the wall with all our might. I was hitting the wall so hard my knuckles began to bleed. Nick just laid on the floor not moving, "Come on Nick get up, come on Nicky you can do this get up GET UP!!!" I found myself screaming at the wall. He stayed totally motionless though, then we heard the moaning again, it was very close now and it was coming again, for Nick. There was no mistaking it, that thing that had been moaning into a near deafening howl was standing inches away from Nick and kept moving closer and closer. Howie and I could only watch as it moved into the dim glow of the light. I looked at it's eyes and was thrown by the evil staring back at me, evil to the core. But that was nothing, once we got a full view of what was staring us in the face, I took a step back, we both did.

Neither of us made a sound. We just looked as he picked up Nick's still form and moved away from us. Howie looked over at me and spoke as a man who was barely clinging to his sanity, "Was that Kevin?" I couldn't answer, I could only look at the wall as the sound of desperate voices called out for help, Nick's no longer heard amongst the crowd...