Dark Halls, Stone Walls

Chapter Two

I was thankful that I still had my shoe to grip in my free hand.

The darkness was overwhelming, the silence even moreso. The only thing that forced me to acknowledge reality as I stumbled down the hallway, was how the cool, rough stone walls felt beneath my fingertips. My long fingernails bumped up and down on every crevice, every pore of each brick, which gave a distinct gritty, almost gnawing sound.

I breathed easier each time I scratched the wall, but only just. The sound crawled in my skin and made me clench my teeth whenever the sensation went from my fingertips to my spine. Regardless, I felt calmer. It was enough to bring me back to the reality I faced.

A reality I must have tried to escape before I passed out in that room.

My eyes should have adjusted to the darkness ever since I left that place, but the candlelight faded awhile back and there were no torches or candles to speak of in the corridor. Not a speck of light anywhere.

I tried to not think about it.

As my hands searched the wall, I eventually came upon a large, framed hole big enough to fit me inside. I reached out to feel for the back end. I didn't want to leave the hallway incase something was dangerous in the wall's pocket, so I held onto the frame with one hand and reached with the other. I stretched out as far as I could, but there was nothing there.

Something grabbed my anchoring arm.

I whipped around. "Get off–"

It ripped my arm off the frame and roughly shoved me to the ground. A door slammed in front of me and clicked a moment after, shutting me inside yet another dark room.

Shoe still in hand, I shot up and rattled the door knob with the other, but to no avail. I opened my mouth to scream.

Wait, A calm part of me piped up. Don't shout. It won't do you any good to make a scene in a strange place like this.

I frowned but listened and stopped rattling the door as well.

A pair of light steps scurried away from the door.

Lovely, now I've lost my chance. Tears stung my eyes. I could've begged them to let me out.

It felt odd of me to speak to myself in this manner, but nothing about this situation felt normal. Rather than contemplate in front of the door, I searched around the dark room with my hands, with only my thoughts to entertain me otherwise.

To start, I couldn't remember my name, much less how I got here. If it was any comfort, it seemed like my existence didn't suddenly just occur when I woke up in that room. This body is most certainly mine, I've lived in it for quite some time, and if the evidence that I knocked myself out wasn't enough to convince myself, it was my knowledge of certain things, despite never hearing about them before.

Like how a hateful glare would burn into my skin from afar. I rubbed my neck.

"How would I know a wedding dress is supposed to be part of a wedding, if I didn't know about it before I lost my memories?" This was the question I silently kept asking myself when I was in that hallway for who knows how long. The only answer I could come up with was that my memories are simply forgotten, not purged. If something meant enough to me beforehand, then of course it would leave an impression on me after the fact.

I was knocked out, presumably in a wedding dress, so that must've been my last memory.

I found a chair to plop into. Afraid that I'd lose it in the darkness, I decided to sit down rather than continue to explore. Wood scraped against the stone floor when I pulled the chair out, but when I sat down, I noticed how the seat was plushier compared to the backing.