Chapter 26.

Tap. Tap.

Tap. Tap.

Tap. Tap.

Tap. Tap… Tap.

Tap. Tap… Tap.

As we continued our journey down the long hall, I listened closely to the sounds of our footsteps; distinct crisp taps against the glossy ceramic tiles echoed out loud with each step we took. However, after some time had passed, what was once the sound of two footsteps suddenly grew to three. Ours were in sync, but the third was a half a beat off from ours.

I had my eyes on the receptionist in front of me the entire time, but it appeared they hadn't noticed the sound of the phantom third footsteps behind us. Someone who I initially didn't notice had stepped out of their office, that was how I rationalized it in my head. I've been a bit jumpy over the last few days; but perhaps to the receptionist, the additional set of footsteps probably wasn't something of major significance.

I took a deep breath in and resolved myself to not look back. If you look you lose. Looking back would be a sure fire bad end screen in a horror game. There's no way I'll be stupid enough to look. Must resist the temptation. Curiosity killed the cat.

While such wishful thoughts of escapism flew through my mind, from behind, I felt the sensation of a gentle finger as it brushed across, starting from the middle of my back, all the way down my spine. The suddenness of it all had me jumping slightly like I'd been electrocuted and without a second thought, I turned around only to find nobody was there.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah... Nothing... Sorry, I thought someone was behind me just now and I got a bit startled."

"Are you getting haunted by a ghost now instead of your exes?"

"Ha. Maybe."

"Anyway, we're here now, just wait inside here for a moment. Investigator Zenos should arrive shortly."

"Alright."

The receptionist unlocked the door, then turned on the lights in the room before she left me to wait in an eerie boardroom all by my lonesome. Similar to the hallway, it was a completely white room with a long white table at the center and black cushioned chairs surrounding it. There was a black chalkboard on the long wall in the room as well as a projector screen mounted along the shorter dimension of the room.

In total there were two doors in the room along the wall opposite to the chalkboard. Honesty, the room felt very peculiar to me.

If I had to point out what made me feel so unsettled, it was likely related to the out of place, old fashioned shaded antique lamp at the very center of the table that provided additional illumination to the room. The lamp, despite its antiquated appearance, looked to be battery powered as there was no cord. I suppose the reason for it being there was in the unlikely event the ceiling lights malfunctioned for some reason.

Shit. That's not foreshadowing. No freaking way is it foreshadowing anything. I really wanted to just leave and go home, but it really wouldn't look good if I did that after coming so far. Even if I knew it was coming or expected it was coming it still had me on edge.

Quick, make some other reason for it being there so I can cancel the foreshadowing. It was surely also there for meetings to provide small amounts of light when the main lights were off so people could take notes during presentations when the projector was in use. Safe! Yeah… that should work and cancel out all godforsaken acts of foreshadowing.

I pulled out a seat with my back facing the chalkboard so I could keep an eye on the door. If anything messed up was going to happen, it would surely come in through the door. If I had my back to the door I'd definitely be boned.

I waited patiently on high alert like an eagle eyeing his prey. For a solid five minutes I glared at the door like my life depended on it, but it didn't take long before I got bored. Just as I was about to let my guard down when I realized nothing freaky was happening, I heard the sound of a glass crack to the left. One of the fluorescent bulbs in the overhead lighting panels had gone out. Since there was still a significant amount of lights on, I didn't pay it much attention and just treated it as a one off. I still had delusions that my secret technique of the quick play magic card, foreshadowing cancellation, was somehow miraculously in play.

Several minutes passed by in silence where nothing else occurred. In my boredom, I took my phone out with the intention to play some games to pass the time, only to find that the battery was at two percent. Reflexively, I pulled out my charging cable and plugged it into the power outlet at the center of the table without much thought, but the moment I plugged it in the lights momentarily flickered on and off.

Due to the unexpected sequence of... well, in reality I knew it was coming when I realized I'd made an inadvertent horror oopsie with my careless actions, but I was still caught off guard and instinctively unplugged the power cord from the outlet. The moment I did so, the lights immediately shut off. The only illumination in the room that remained came from the gap beneath the two doors along the wall opposite to me.

To any other person put in my situation, with all the freaky stuff that has happened recently, the common sense thing to think of would be that it was the work of ghosts. It would also be common sense for me to try to turn on the battery powered lamp that just so happened to conveniently be in the room; however, I am not a man of common sense who will fall for such obvious ploys. It's like blatant clickbait, someone clearly wanted me to turn on that wretched and despicable lamp at the center of the table. With that being the case, I did the only rational thing I could do. I closed my eyes with the intent to take a nap.

If god gives you lemons, you make lemonade, right? Well, if god gives me darkness, wouldn't the natural reaction be to sleep? It was a sign sent down to me from the heavens to sleep and act like everything was perfectly normal. If I turn on the lamp, there will surely be some sort of jumpscare waiting for me, but if I do nothing and don't see it, then it's as if it never existed to begin with. It was the same concept as crouching backwards through a horror game to avoid every jumpscare scare. Right now all I had to do was patiently wait for my savior to enter the room and I would be safe.

Coincidentally, as if my savior had responded to my train of thought, it was almost as if everything was coordinated beforehand; I heard the sound of the door handle as it was slowly turned until a small click resounded amidst the darkness. It seemed my savior, the man of the hour, Investigator Zenos was finally here. I reopened my eyes and looked directly at the door closest to me only to realize the light that entered the room through the small gap under the door was much unlike before I closed my eyes; it was presently flickering on and off.

The door slowly creaked open as a low, long and drawn out squeak reverberated throughout the room. My eyes were locked directly onto the door waiting for Investigator Zenos to step in. In a small interval between when the light flickered on and off, two shadows appeared cutting into the continuous stream of light that entered the room through the gap beneath the door. I let out a sigh of relief as I was certain it had to be Investigator Zenos.

Without any warning the light suddenly stopped flickering and remained shut off and the squeaking noise from the door simultaneously ceased. I immediately noticed that another click sounded out from the other door leading into the room on the far side. When the door was fully opened, a man entered the room and looked directly at me and asked, "Mr. Genovese, correct?"

Seeing the man call me by name, the tension in my body from moments before vanished as I slumped backwards into my chair. I glanced towards the door close to me for a moment without answering him, only to find the door was fully shut and the light was shining through the gap beneath the door like when I first entered the room.

I was now left with several unanswered questions, but there was no one who could answer them. Was I just hallucinating due to the stress? Was everything that just transpired in my head? Unfortunately, I would likely never be privy to the truth.