3 - An expanse of shelves (1)

I gasped. The pain had faded as quickly as it had come and only the fleeting image of the thing cornering me remained. Whatever that thing was, it wasn't here anymore.

However, as soon as I had come to that realisation, I had noticed the lack of buzzing lights, yellow walls and moist carpet, replaced by a cold, concrete floor and an expanse of shelves.

They towered over me, reaching upwards toward a tall ceiling with giant lights scattered with no semblance of pattern. Yet the light they emitted reached every nook and cranny, not a single shadow or dark spot anywhere in sight.

I hurriedly scoured around for the monster that had attacked me, but instead found an assortment of furniture decorating the shelves.

Tables, chairs, desks, and everything of the sort randomly spread throughout the shelves in abundance. Where was I now?

So far, my only memories were the void of space and the endless yellow rooms, no matter how hard I focused, nothing else surfaced in my empty mind.

As I stood deep in thought, I didn't hear the figure that slowly approached me from behind before I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I shuddered as i turned around to see a man dressed in branded, yellow work uniform, but I shook once again as my gaze lay upon his face.

It was completely devoid of any features, except for a protrusion where there should be a nose and 2 empty holes where there should've been eyes. So human, yet so eerily not. Like a mannequin.

I heard a voice come from the mannequin,

"Do you require assistance, sir?"

"N-no I'm fine"

I managed to squeeze out a reply as I trembled in slight fear.

"Then I will be on my way, please be sure to leave before closing time!"

I watched it disappear into the distance as i fell to my knees, It didn't hurt me, but I couldn't be too sure. As kind as it had acted, I couldn't shake the thought that it could hurt me, so far I had been getting myself into all kinds of dangerous situations, and scuffling with a mannequin was not something I was anticipating.

Also, closing time? What did it mean? Curiosity built up within me. Closing time means there is a world outside this place. What did it look like? What was outside of these short-lived nightmares? I felt a desire towards this illusionary world, a desire that had risen from the depths of my mind.

I wanted to go outside.