35 New face

The lights flickered above her head, and they did so again and again. Rosalie sat up on her bed, transfixed, watching the lamps go on and off for what felt like an eternity.

She used her right arm to push herself to stand up, she grimaced as her entire bodyweight rested on nothing more than her still weak legs. Slowly trudging towards the door, she gripped the knob and cautiously twisted it, sneakily peaking at the hallway. It was suspiciously quiet, sure it was indeed a very late hour, but still, she expected to see some staff members at the very least.

She noticed, to her dismay that, the flickering was not a malfunction exclusive to the lights in her room. She felt the knot in her stomach grow larger and her mouth go dryer, as she realized that her fears were funded. She groped the walls to help herself move along, her destination clear in her mind, she made progress at a steady pace, and she almost reached the elevator when...

When she remarked a buzzing sound, coming from the light straight above her, it was significantly louder than the one emanating from the others. She carefully lifted her head to investigate the source, but immediately and upon sight she regretted her decision to do so. Her eyes widened, all her facial traits mobilized together in the efforts of displaying one single expression, that of sheer terror.

When her view landed on the horde of flies, almost clumped together, fluttering at only a few feet above, they had even managed to cloak the light behind their broad numbers alone.

Rosalie refused to waste another second on the spot, her breath quickening, she advanced forth as fast as her body state allowed her to. Upon finally reaching the elevator doors, she impatiently and repeatedly pushed the button to call the steel cage to her level, desperate to leave that floor.

"Going somewhere?"

She paused, finger grazing the dial, she held her breath and remained petrified, on the closed grey metal doors Infront of her, she could vaguely distinguish a human silhouette, standing at a mild distance away behind her, from the look of it.

"You know who I am, don't you Rosalie?" he spoke again. His low gravelly voice extended to her ears, the blare of it was blasphemous, wickedness and vileness oozing through his teeth. With that, he perfectly conveyed the feeling of threat he intended to, "I know we haven't met before, but I heard a lot about you. You know, I really am a big fan of your little team," he kept on talking, taunting and mocking her all the way through.

When the elevator failed her and refused to obey, she accepted that she had no other choice, but to resort to face him. And so, she did, she slowly turned his way; once her eyeballs were on his figure, she quickly assessed his form and concluded that, she'd never seen him before, yet she knew quite well who he was or, what he was.

He appeared as nothing more than a young man, from Japanese descent by the look of him. Deep dark circles weighing his under eyes down, his exaggeratedly pale skin faintly broke due to the torturous smile he insisted on squeezing out.

"They set you free again," her shaky voice cracked as she uttered those words.

"Well, yeah... It's nice to walk the earth again,"

"Why are you here?" she asked in the same tone, though somewhat louder than before.

"Ow, I have some unfinished business to tend to under this roof, don't worry, I am not here for you though," he paused for a while, then spoke again, "Not yet," his smile grew somehow wider at the end of that sentence, it sent a chill down her spine.

Fortunately for her soul, she heard the elevator sing and the doors behind her open, she regained a sliver of hope and shoved her body inside. As they closed however, she could swear she caught a glimpse of multiple dark shadow figures, appearing out of thin air. She didn't catch any more details about them, as her focus fell back on him. He stood in place, unmoved, the only part of his body that did so, was his arm that he lifted up in a slow motion, in order to wave a creepy and unsettling goodbye to her, his face frozen in time.