Hallucination

His breaths came ragged, each step heavier than the last. "I don't want to die here," he whispered, a solitary voice in the echoing hallways.

Spotting the bottle of anti-toxin on a nearby table, he snatched it up and downed its contents. He waited, hoping for clarity, but the dizziness remained. From below, the eerie hum of the girl's voice grew closer.

"Electricity... AED," he murmured to himself, recalling its potential utility. But when he searched, it was nowhere in sight. Frustration mounting, his gaze landed on a floor map. "This might help," he whispered, hoping against hope.

As he navigated the dim corridors, a flashlight emerged from the mess of a discarded drawer. Its beam, though weak, pierced the oppressive darkness. A broken shard of glass soon became his makeshift tool, and he started carving symbols on the walls, setting a trail.

"Focus," he muttered, feeling the weight of time bearing down on him. "I have to get out before she reaches this floor."

Flashlight in hand, he whispered to the cold silence, "Just keep moving." Every shadow seemed to dance, every creak of the floorboards sent a jolt of adrenaline. He held onto the shard tighter, its coldness grounding him to reality. "Survive," he muttered as a mantra.

Suddenly, he felt as though he was wading through a thick mire, every step a labor. He whispered, bewildered, "Why can't I move? It can't be her, she's below." The chilling sensation of being trapped gripped him.

Spotting the "Emergency Exit" sign, hope surged. He lunged, pressing the button. Nothing. His frustration bubbled over in a whispered shout, "Open!" But then, it wasn't a door anymore. Just an illusion. An eerie cry filled the air, intensifying his disorientation.

He collapsed beside the map, head throbbing. "Why is this happening?" he cried softly, the despair evident. Baffled by the vanishing door, he sank to the floor, scanning the map once again. "What is this place?" he whispered, tracing routes with a trembling finger. Every hallway, every room, seemed to be a riddle wrapped in a mystery.

A room on the third floor, depicted with multiple doors, piqued his interest. "Options... I need options," he muttered, trying to focus amidst the ever-growing dread. "If one doesn't open... the others might."

Pushing himself up, he whispered a vow to the cold, indifferent walls around him, "I'll get through this... whatever it takes." The map's twisted design reflected his fractured hopes, but he clung to the sliver of a chance it presented.

With a renewed sense of purpose, he advanced, holding the map close and the shard closer. The haunting atmosphere pressed in on all sides, but the whispered promise of escape drove him onward.

A cacophony of discordant notes reverberated around him, amplifying his disorientation in this cruel game of survival. With every step, the chilling music seemed to play in tandem with his heightened heartbeat, intertwining with his emotions.

Suddenly, a bone-chilling crash echoed through the void, and the weight of an unseen force rooted him in place. Panic surged as his limbs rebelled, refusing his brain's desperate commands to move.

"It's just a mind trick. Snap out of it!" he whispered to himself, trying to rally his shattered confidence. Yet, the grip on his body was unwavering.

The dank, musty scent in the air only intensified his disorientation. Flashbacks from the earlier venom encounter plagued his mind. "Is it back? Did the antidote fail?" he questioned aloud, his voice quivering with dread.

The encroaching darkness and the haunting symphony of the hospital threatened to swallow him whole. Taking a deep, trembling breath, he focused on the rhythm of his heartbeat, attempting to ground himself amidst the chaos.

As the numbing cold crept up his spine, he felt trapped, like a fly ensnared in a spider's web. Desperation in his voice, he muttered, "I can't... not now..." Pushing aside the paralyzing fear, he thrust the blade into his leg. The sharp bite of pain grounded him. Gritting his teeth, he muttered, "I have to keep moving." With that, he propelled himself forward, seeking the safety of the third floor.

But a haunting noise halted him in his tracks. The eerie creak of a door, and then a growl so chilling it seemed to reverberate from another world. Whipping his head around, he caught sight of the beast. A monstrous wolf, fur a nightmarish blend of black and grey, its eyes gleaming with malevolence.

"No... no, this can't be happening!" he gasped, his voice edged with disbelief and terror.

His instincts screamed at him to run, to find refuge. But as the wolf lunged with an unnatural ferocity, he found his path to the stairwell blocked by a gleaming glass door. He smacked his palms against the barrier, desperation evident in his voice. "Come on! Open up!"

The chilling crescendo of the wolf's growls filled the air, a constant reminder of the relentless pursuit. Trapped, the boy's eyes darted frantically, searching for an escape. He whispered, more to himself than anyone, "I can't die here, not like this."

His fight with the monstrous creature intensified as the spectral sound of a girl's voice filled the air. Her haunting cries echoed, distracting the wolf momentarily.

"Just a chance!" he whispered to himself, feeling his weapon connect, granting him a brief reprieve from the beast's fury.

Gasping for air, he made for the stairs. "Not now, not like this," he muttered, the eerie cries of his pursuers serving as a chilling reminder of the danger on his heels.

Upon reaching the third-floor door, the feeling of safety felt maddeningly close yet still out of reach. The relentless beast closed the distance, snapping at his heels. He grunted with exertion, wielding the knife-like object. "Stay back!" he yelled, managing to fend off the creature and break free from its deadly embrace.

With adrenaline pumping through his veins, he used the beast's momentum against it, sending it crashing into the glass obstruction. The door shattered, clearing the way forward.

"I'm almost there," he panted, racing up the stairs, every heartbeat echoing in his ears. When he reached the top, a massive black door loomed ahead, blocking his path. "Just one more barrier..." he whispered, gathering himself for the next challenge.

He approached the imposing door cautiously. Its massive presence was foreboding, emanating an aura of malevolence that was palpable even from a distance. Tentatively, he reached out to touch its cold surface, feeling a shiver down his spine as if the very material was warning him of the dangers that lay beyond.

He glanced behind, half expecting the wolf to emerge, but was met with only the echoing silence of the stairwell. With a determined grit, he muttered to himself, "No turning back now."

His hand searched the door's surface for a handle, latch, or any mechanism that might grant him passage. Finding a large ornate handle, he hesitated for a moment, gripping the knife-like object for comfort. With a deep breath, he pushed the handle down and slowly opened the door, bracing himself for whatever horrors awaited him on the other side.

He hesitated at the entrance, uncertainty holding him in its grip. Drawing a deep breath, he said, "Here goes nothing," before pushing open the door, stepping into a potential haven or a new nightmare.

Once inside, he felt a sudden chill despite the absence of any visible danger. The vast emptiness of the room ahead stretched out intimidatingly, only disrupted by the puzzling series of doors – a white one leading to a red one.

"This doesn't make any sense," he muttered, trying to make heads or tails of the space. Before he could come to any conclusion, more black doors manifested from seemingly nowhere, while the door to his left closed by itself, intensifying his sense of foreboding.

Suddenly, as he approached the door to his right, it slammed shut, its echo resonating in the expansive room. He jumped, feeling as if icy fingers had gripped his heart. "Okay, that's not normal," he said aloud, trying to steady his nerves.

The unsettling realization that the doors seemed to possess a life of their own settled heavily on him. "Is someone playing games with me?" he cried out, a tremor of panic in his voice. "Or is this place just...alive?" The latter thought brought no comfort, as he tried to figure out his next move in this unpredictable environment.

Staring wide-eyed, he watched as the door in front of him vanished, replaced by a large, eerie mirror. His reflection stared back, but there was something off about it, something he couldn't immediately pinpoint. He chuckled, the sound strained and tinged with madness. "Is this some kind of funhouse?" he whispered, the sound of his own voice breaking the oppressive silence.

Overwhelmed by the bizarre happenings, he clutched his head, feeling the weight of his desperate situation bearing down on him. "Is this just a nightmare?!" he yelled, hoping for an answer. "Or have I completely lost it?" But, as he had grown to expect, the room remained unmoved by his plea, revealing no secrets and offering no solace.

The sensation of his world spiraling out of control intensified. One by one, the doors vanished until only the red one and an eccentrically labeled door, "Refrigerator," remained. His curiosity overpowered his mounting trepidation, and he extended his hand towards the handle. As his fingers made contact, the door shattered suddenly, revealing a room bathed in dim reddish-pink light. The floor consisted of black tiles, and against this somber backdrop lay an eerie girl.

Her beauty was unsettling. Her ice-like dress starkly contrasted with her pallid skin. Strands of reddish-blond hair cascaded around her, forming a fiery halo that clashed with her cold appearance. She was relatively small, barely standing at 4'9", yet her golden-yellow eyes exuded an intensity that loomed over him. A devilish grin played on her lips as she observed him, triggering a surge of memory—the malicious intentions of the previous girl were still fresh in his mind.

"What do you want from me?" he managed to stammer out, attempting to mask the quiver in his voice with a facade of bravery.

A burst of deranged laughter ricocheted off the walls, a cacophony that seemed to dance around the room before reaching his ears. "You need to wake up; you're dreaming within a nightmare," she taunted, her words imbued with a chilling playfulness.

His mind swirled with confusion and terror. "Are you real? Or is this just another trick?" he questioned, his voice barely more than a whisper.

Her grin expanded, revealing a twisted pleasure in his torment. "You're going to die here. No one escapes this facility," she declared, her tone a chilling mixture of amusement and menace that sent shivers down his spine.

As fear surged through him, he pivoted on his heels and sprinted toward the beckoning red door, a desperate desire to escape both her presence and the suffocating dread that clung to it. But in his haste, he failed to anticipate her next move. With an unsettling calmness, she picked up the shards of the shattered door and flung them at him, the jagged fragments finding their mark and embedding themselves in his skin. Pain shot through him, but he pressed on, the sting of the wounds only intensifying his determination to flee.

Even amidst his panicked retreat, her confident warning echoed in his ears, "We will see each other again! Count on it!" The ominous promise was like a malevolent whisper, a haunting reminder that his escape might be only a temporary reprieve from the nightmarish forces that pursued him.

With a final surge of energy, he slammed the door shut behind him, hoping to sever the link to her malevolent presence. Shards of glass clung to his skin, his own blood staining his clothes. Heart pounding in his chest, he navigated the corridor. Suddenly, the ominous surroundings melted away, revealing a vibrant green oasis. The stark contrast between the grim interior of the facility and this vibrant sanctuary did little to ease his anxiety; his fear clung to him as tenaciously as ever.