Shadow Author

Pushing open the door I was immediately enveloped in red.

Red, red, red.

Everywhere I looked I saw red.

Turning back to see if Evelyn was seeing the same thing I was, I realized that she vanished. There was no one behind me.

Before I could even react or try to make out what was happening the red started surrounding me.

At first, it started light as if the red was just passing by and attaching itself to me, however it quickly became more than that.

The red that was able to cover the whole room began rushing toward me till it felt like I was in the eye of a tornado.

I was trapped covered on all sides by the red which restricted all my senses.

Once I couldn't even make out the room I was in or where the door was to leave. I knew the red wasn't a good thing.

Yet there was nothing I could do to stop it as when I tried putting my hand through it I could feel anything of substance.

Therefore I retracted my arm but to my bewilderment, my hand was gone!

Whatever I put into the red, devoured and left nothing behind.

Bending my arm to take a look at the damage I saw blood, flesh, and bone.

The red had perfectly severed my hand to my arm.

I could make out both my radius and ulna, the blood vessels, and all the meat that made up my body.

It was a unique experience to see that part of yourself and I didn't particularly like it. I rather have my insides be inside.

What confused me the most though was that I didn't feel any pain when it removed my hand.

I didn't know if it was some medical reason where if it does it fast enough my pain receptors wouldn't be able to pick anything up.

But one thing was for sure, and that was that I didn't want it to happen again.

Unfortunately for me just as that belief crossed my mind the red collapsed.

Being devoured by it, I clenched my eyes closed and waited for my death as I knew I was incapable of defeating such a thing.

However, after a couple of seconds passed and I didn't feel dead I slowly opened my eyes.

But the moment I did so I wished I hadn't.

I had opened my eyes to come face to face with… a monster.

A monster that was currently feeding on me!

The red mist was penetrating my nose, mouth, and ears as the face of the entity looked directly at me while I felt my mind scramble.

Finally awake from the nightmare I moved the same hand I lost a second ago a centimeter and opened my eyes wide.

When the creature saw that my eyelids burst open it quickly retreated but that didn't make me feel any less safe.

Taking this as an opportunity I tried to gather as much information as I could by studying my surroundings.

A pounding headache made it extremely hard to focus on anything but I was at least able to deduce that I was back in the elevator.

I didn't know how or why but I wasn't really in a position to find out. I knew I had to deal with what I had if I wanted to survive.

The headache caused my vision to be blurry and unfocused as it felt like the whole room was spinning and distorted.

It also didn't help that only every few seconds would a flash of red light brighten up the room. The rest of the time I was left in the pitch-black dark.

Between these flashes, I could make out the bodies of the girls laying around me.

My sense of reality was truly messed up and I couldn't make out the real from the fake but I figured the easiest way to deal with it was to treat everything as if it was real and deal with the consequences later when… if I survived.

Between another flash, I realized that my time was up as the monster began moving again.

The abomination was a being made up of the same red mist that attacked me in the administration office.

I knew it wasn't a coincidence but the migraine was preventing me from being able to connect the dots.

In fact, it was incredibly difficult to make the smallest and least complex thoughts.

Had I ever been drunk I expected it to be something like what I was currently going through.

The monster didn't care for what I was going through as a dark red mist seeped into my vision through cracks in the walls and under the floor.

It swirled around and pulsated, growing thicker by the second.

An eerie presence suddenly made it self-evident as I could finally tell that I was in danger.

All this time I hadn't felt any form of killing intent or belief that my life was on the line but as if a dam was holding it back all those feelings exploded outward.

For the first time since my death, I felt true horror.

What made things worse was that a malevolent intelligence was lurking within the mist causing me to question everything I knew to be true.

My body completely froze up as the aura the monster was releasing was tens of not hundreds of times more potent than Miss Smith's.

In this case, I felt as if it was the end, against such a powerful force there was no chance of winning.

I knew I had to accept my fate and that I would die.

'Wait.'

'Fate? When have I ever accepted my fate? No, no, I refused to believe that something is controlling my every action. I define what will or will not happen to me.'

Using the last bit of mental energy I had before I surrendered myself into madness I called forth my ability.

'Third Person POV.'