Escaping the Liminal

I knew I took a wrong turn somewhere. I knew I should have listened to my gut instincts and gone the other direction of the hall instead. I walked past room after room glancing in. An empty office with blinding white walls and ceiling and then another room. Another empty office with the same blinding white walls and ceiling.

I sighed frustrated. Where was the exit to get off this floor and back to the convention? Where was everyone that was at the event that I was trying to get back to? Where was anyone at all?

Was the layout of this building as confusing as I was making it? I was just trying to get back to the convention of which I knew full well was in this building. I just needed to find the elevator or the stairs, which ever I came to first, and make my way back down to the convention.

I had no idea where I was and was sure I had already passed through this room. Or did I? While room after room looked familiar, an uncertain chill fell over me.

Finally reaching a dead end, I turned around and proceeded down the opposite end of the hall — what I should have done in the first place. As I turned around and proceeded down the hall, I was filled with reassurance. I would turn the corner of this hall and find myself back at the convention laughing at myself for getting lost. However, the reassurance that I had was very short lived.

The end of this hall led me to a brightly lit room with yellowing aged wall paper that peeled in various places. A florescent light flickered as the room was filled with the constant sound of the buzzing florescent lights. The room had a musty smell and the atmosphere cast an eerie shadow over the room. A feeling that this room hadn’t been occupied for years or even more.

I turned around again until I found myself in a wide and empty room where I saw the same yellowing peeled wall paper and the constant buzzing of lights that were now testing my sanity.

Panic of ever finding my way out escalated. Where was the exit?

I stopped at the cross roads where the empty halls met and listened for even the slightest sound of life, the fainting sound of voices. Nothing. Just the constant unnerving buzzing of the florescent lights above me and my own breathing.

I continued on through the halls running into one dead end after another getting lost even further in this maddening maze of musty yellow rooms and buzzing florescent lights.

The longer I desperately tried to find my way out, the more my fear of never getting out grew.

As I walked through a large open space as more florescent lights flickered haphazardly above me, a new horror over shadowed me. Not daring one second to stop, I took a quick glance out of my peripheral, fearing to even turn around for the slightest look. I swore I saw a glimpse of a shadow shifting the corner I had just come from. I picked up my pace. I wasn’t alone and I was being followed.

Without even a chance to make a decision, I took the first hall I instinctively felt drawn towards.

Don’t look behind you. Keep going. Hurry! I tell myself. The need to know and settle my suspicions escalated until I gave in and glanced behind me.

Nothing. Nothing but the yellow peeling walls and the flickering buzzing florescent lights above me. It was just me alone in these halls and that was equally relieving as it was terrifying.

Not seeing anything did nothing to relieve my fear that something was in these halls with me.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves before heading on determined more than ever to get the hell out of here!

Right before I turned the corner of the hall I saw a glimpse of a dark shadowy figure passing in a swift motion past the hall — the very figure I was sure that had been following me. I froze being as still and quiet as I could and hoped that it didn’t see me.

***

This short horror story was inspired by the urban legend circling the internet — the back rooms! The concept is especially popular in video game lore. I have even heard of a few that dreamt of being lost in the back rooms unable to find their way out.

I recommend doing an internet search and looking “the back rooms” up on YouTube.

What’s so terrifying about an empty room?

Imagine finding yourself in a maze of empty rooms with nothing but the constant humming of the florescent lights above you and the dingy yellowing walls. Now, imagine the unnerving realization that you’re not alone.