Apartment 13A

Chapter 8

Mitch walked down the hallway, hoping he was going towards the light he had earlier seen, but he couldn't be one hundred percent certain, everything was too jumbled and mixed up; his sanity was more or less gone; and his body was beaten, as was his mind. Yet he held on to that ray of hope, that Light shines into the darkness. But the light wasn't shining at all, and it wasn't in this place, here it was void of any good, and entirely in darkness and evil.

As he was walking there was a faint laugh echoing through the hallway coming from behind him. Mitch didn't turn to look over his shoulder, or even think about what he should do; he just took off running, as fast as he could, hoping that he was heading towards the Light, towards freedom from the darkness. Suddenly there was the Light at the end of the hallway, it flicked and shimmered with strength that was unwavering. And the darkness was to Mitch's back, the laughter from the apartment swelled all around him, and Mitch could feel it hacking away at whatever was left of his sanity, like a mine working going to town with a pick axe. The shadows flickered around his heels as he ran, causing pain to shoot through his body and mind as he ran for the light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. And for a moment, Mitch didn't' think he would make it, he could see himself collapsing just afoot from the end and being pulled back into the darkness to meet his end, which he knew would be horrifyingly violent and painful.

But then just when all hope seemed to fade and disappear, Mitch ran out of the darkness into the light of the living room, curtsy of the big bay windows. The first thing Mitch realized was that the living room and kitchen were back to the way they were in his version of apartment 13A. Everything was back to normal. Or so it seemed. Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, movement in the darkness of the hallway. He turned fast on his heels, instinctively backing away from the hallway entrance, not wanting to be within arms reach, or any reach for that matter, of the hallway, or the evils contained therein.

He looked around, seeking a weapon, though he knew any weapon would be extremely futile. Yet there was some comfort in knowing that one was armed. Mitch quickly made his way to the kitchen and quickly pulled open the drawer and removed a decent sized knife, one of the many he had seen floating in the air and then watch as they killed the man earlier. He shivered but continued to hold on to the knife tightly, not wanting to let go, and then he saw the lighter in the drawer and suddenly felt a strong urge to take it, though he knew not why.

Mitch reached into the drawer, the image of the knives floating then flying through the sky briefly came to his mind, as if it was a warning from his subconscious, but he ignored it and took hold of the lighter, then pulled it out of the drawer slowly. The lighter felt heavy, it felt...powerful, which was the only word that came to mind to full describe the embodiment of the lighter. It was powerful, there was something weighty not in it's physical nature but rather in its purpose.

As Mitch held the lighter a single sentence echoed inside his mind, which he could not ever remember hearing or reading: Fire purifies. The voice was soft, gentle even, but it was firm and unwavering...and powerful. Mitch didn't know how he knew that the voice was powerful, or even good; but he just knew. It was more like instinct than logic. And instinct sometimes is more on the spot than logic, and also more human. But what did that mean? What did "Fire purifies" mean? And how could it help him in his current situation? Mitch didn't know, but he stuffed the lighter into his pocket regardless.

When he did there came a loud scream, which was oddly distorted and sounded like a scream of pain, the apartment's pain; for it knew that Mitch had the thing which would expose it's weakness.

A large river of blood suddenly flowed from the hallway, knocking Mitch against the wall roughly. It covered the entire floor, causing the kitchen and living room to become a room of red horror instantly.