Cosmic

Chapter 9: A World of Crimson

[James]

The steel door rolled open as I pulled the keycard away from the scanner, sliding between the walls and revealing an entrance into the Admin Room.

Nervously, I felt my hands fidget as my mind tried its hardest to not replay what I had seen the last time I had entered the room.

It was terrifying.

It was shocking.

"Be prepared, guys. It's dis-"

My voice caught in my throat just as I began to warn Mia and Finn about the unspeakable horror that was laid ahead.

It wasn't by accident; the reason I had stopped talking was simple-I had peered into the vast darkness of the room, and instead of seeing what I saw last time, there was nothing.

"No....No way..." I stammered in disbelief. "I...I saw it. I saw it right in front of me. It was as clear as day...So where? Where could it have gone?!"

However, even though everything was gone...

The stench...

It was still there.

When my nostrils caught the smallest whiff of the smell, my stomach immediately collapsed on me.

It was the smell of rotting flesh and blood-the smell of Heytch's victims.

I felt my chest constrict as the contents of last night's dinner were expunged from my gut and onto the floor directly in front of me.

My lungs gasped for air, both from the vomiting and also to try and calm me down.

The bodies had been moved to somewhere else.

And that was why I had panicked as I had done, vomiting from the revolting smell that brought back sick, dark memories...

The last time, when the door had opened, I was greeted with the sight of Heytch standing near the doorway.

Raising the huge sword that he carried, I heard a squelch, followed by a thud as he brought it down, the hard object rolling along the ground.

It was somebody's head.

There were bodies piled on top of one another in stacks, stuffed into the same room like sacks of rice. Vast quantities of blood pooled around the floor, the smell of iron mixing in with the revolting stench of the bodies.

However, I couldn't do anything to stop the man as before long, he had noticed my presence.

Heytch dashed towards me; my death was already certain in his eyes, and I knew that I was about to join the corpses-

But I didn't die.

-It was at that moment when Finn appeared, pushing me out of the way just before I was about to die and taking a cut in the leg as a result.

"Um...James? There's nothing in there. Are you sure you are okay in the head?" Mia asked rather insensitively.

"OF COURSE I AM! I SAW IT WITH MY EYES!"

"Hey! I'm just asking-"

"Hurry up. Let's go and turn the power on already." Finn cut in to prevent the situation from escalating.

Carefully, we stepped over my barf and entered the room.

Finn, pulling out a flashlight from his pocket, pointed it around the room, a spot of white light dancing around the place.

Surely enough, there was not a drop of blood anywhere, nor was there a body. There just wasn't any indication of a struggle anywhere inside.

"Things like that...they don't just vanish like that..." I muttered, my usual calm composure completely shattered.