ShiftA Story by nolaftw ~2000 word horror/suspense story. Make sure to read to the very end!
"Hey! Are you alright?"
"Is he alive?" "How's he still in one piece?" "Hey....Hey!" The muffled voices were becoming clearer as I regained consciousness. Someone was shaking me, trying to wake me. I was fully conscious for a minute before I opened my eyes. I tried to figure out my situation before I decided to let these strangers know I was aware. What happened? Where am I? Who are these people? Who...am I? My mind was completely devoid of even the most basic information about myself. The strangers I heard talking around me likely had some answers for me. I opened my eyes. "Thank God!" said the man shaking me, a very fat man with glasses that didn't quite seem to fit his enormous cranium. "I thought you were a f*****g gonner!" There were three other onlookers that, despite being close by, almost seemed to be keeping their distance, as if they were afraid of something. They all had a similar countenance upon them, a mixture of joy for my well being and incredulous terror. Why they had such a conflicting look on their face was beyond my comprehension, and only added on to my bewilderment. Surveying my surroundings, I saw that I was laying on the floor of a men's bathroom. The single working light was very dim and constantly flickering on and off. One of the mirrors was broken, and all the stalls were open and empty. One of the stall doors had been ripped off its hinges and the stall's toilet was clogged and overflowing. The five of us were at the far end of the room, farthest from the door. I stood up, and the fat man backed slightly away as he rose with me. I only now noticed how cold it was. It was freezing. Well, I was freezing. The others, dressed somewhat warmly, seemed to be unaffected by this unbearable temperature. It didn't help that I was dripping in a cold, sticky sweat. My clothes were completely drenched in my perspiration, effectively adding what seemed like 10 pounds onto me. As I was shivering in my own sweat, the others' expressions remained unchanged. I began to ask what was wrong before I caught a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror...and understood completely. ~ I was completely drenched in blood. I was in no pain, other than a slight headache, and had no wounds to speak of. It isn't my blood. A crimson coating of the somehow fresh, yet somehow cold, fluid transformed me into a sight that would make even Dexter Morgan a bit squeamish. How the hell can I remember the name of a fictional TV character and not know who the f**k I am?! Something on my shirt caught my eye. I wiped the red blood stain from a rectangular piece of plastic pinned to my shirt pocket. Frank. Was that my name tag? Am I Frank? I then spoke for the first time since waking, and for all I knew, the first time in my life. "Is this me? Am I Frank?" I demanded. "And who are you people? Where are we? What happened? Why the f**k am I soaked in b-" "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down, Frank," said a tall, wiry man that looked about 30. "It's us. You don't remember anything?" "Nothing. Not you, not me, not anything..." I trailed off, waiting for some answers. My sudden amnesia seemed to bewilder them as much as it did me. After a brief silence, the fat man adjusted his glasses and introduced himself to me. "Gordon. I'm your boss." The others followed suit. There was Tony, the tall, wiry man from accounting. He said I worked next to him. I have never seen that man in my life. Aaron and Jessica were new interns at the office, still in college. They were close together, his arm around her, suggesting the two were a couple. Nothing rang a bell or triggered any flashbacks, any memories at all. After all were introduced, Gordon began to give his best narration of what happened. ~ "Ok, I'll start from the beginning. Tonight is Christmas Eve. Most everyone in the building decided to take a vacation, 'sides the five of us, two more on this floor, Nate and John (a solemn expression washed over his face as he mentioned these two co-workers), a couple custodians, and a few guys on the third floor. If not for the quadruple overtime bonus, this place would be dead silent...well, even more so than now," he chuckled nervously. "Well," he continued, "we were getting near closing when...when it happened." He paused, struggling to continue, as if he couldn't figure out how to explain what happened. "You, Nate, and John were taking off a couple minutes early for some drinks. As you got on the elevator, I saw...I saw...I can't describe it. I don't know," he trailed off. "Well?!" I was getting exasperated at his vagueness. "What did you see?" "I saw a thing, a monster, an animal, a person, a ghost, I don't f*****g know what it was," his eyes were wide with fear. "I saw something shapeless, dark, and with no face. It grabbed the three of you while the elevator doors closed." He paused, as if waiting for me to remember. ~ "And then...we," he motioned to himself and the others with us, "could hear screaming and shouting coming from inside the elevator. There was banging and scraping and more screaming...and then silence." "As soon as the noise stopped, the power went out. Like somehow one caused the other..." He went on, "There was a terrible stench coming from the elevator doors. It was a horrible, completely overpowering stench that you can't imagine. It was more than just the smell of a few dead bodies. It was like a rotting corpse, amplified a thousand times." Gordon appeared nauseous just talking about it. "The stench was almost like a wall that forced us away. While Tony looked for the custodians to help get the elevator out, the rest of us went to the break room to get away from the smell." "Did anyone call the cops?" I asked. Aaron spoke up this time. "Yeah, I tried 'em but they said it'll be hours before they get anywhere in this blizzard." Jessica held him tight. "And we can't go anywhere," Tony added angrily. "The custodians left in a hurry and locked the parking lot gate behind them. I caught them as they were locking up. They said...they 'saw it' and they wouldn't open the gate. They said it wasn't worth our safety if it meant that thing could get back out. F*****g b******s!" Tony punched the stall door nearest us. The sound reverberated throughout the bathroom. "The guys on the third floor left early too, I think. Their cars weren't in the parking lot. So, we're the only ones here." After a short silence, Gordon continued. "We waited in the break room for probably 2 hours before the power came back on. Probably a minute after that, the elevator doors opened, and you, Frank, stumbled to the bathroom. We heard some loud crashes coming from the bathroom," Gordon was looking in my direction, again pausing as if waiting for me to remember. "The elevator was a mess, and you brought a trail of blood all the way here." I noticed a trail of bloody footprints from the door to myself. "Are Nate and John..." I began to ask, but couldn't finish. Gordon just shook his head sullenly. "When we saw you staggering to the bathroom, we came to check on you," Gordon said. "You were passed out on the floor, drenched in blood. Which brings us to the present." ~ We sat in silence as I took in everything I just heard. I was shivering again, but not because of the temperature. Whatever that...thing was, it was able to brutally murder two grown men. Why I was untouched was a mystery. "So this thing you saw, the thing that grabbed us, can you describe it better? Did you see it get off the elevator?" After a long, discouraging silence, Jessica spoke for the first time. "No one saw it get off the elevator. But, I also saw it when it grabbed you, Frank," she said weakly. "It was sorta tall, it was dark, like a shadow, and it had a head but no face and no shape." Her description was as creepy as it was cryptic. "And it smelled terrible. I smelled it as soon as I saw it, even before...before it killed Nate and John." "So it could be anywhere in this building right now?" I asked anxiously. "Yeah. We locked the bathroom door, but I'm not sure it'll do much good." Gordon's eyes were shining with fear. "But the cops should be here soon," Aaron added quickly, as much to reassure himself as us. The others nodded in agreement, but our attitudes were unchanged. We were still stuck in a bathroom in an office building in the middle of a blizzard, with a homicidal creature on the loose. ~ The odor was faint at first. But it gradually grew stronger and stronger until it was almost overpowering. "Do you guys smell that?" someone anxiously voiced. We all nodded slowly with tense anticipation. Everyone else was grimacing and covering their nose. But something was wrong. The others described the stench as terrible, worse than anyone can imagine. But the odor that filled my nostrils was different; it was...peculiar. It was...Delicious. The smell grew and grew in strength. My memories came flooding back at the point where the scent became irresistible. I remembered everything. I knew how Nate and John died. And I knew how Frank died. ~ Due the increasing odor, the others now had their eyes tightly shut. They were covering their noses to no avail. Tears were streaming down Gordon's face. His glasses were removed and on the floor. They couldn't bear the stench. My stench. Similarly though, I could no longer resist the delicious scent now overpowering my senses. Their scent. I was no longer disgusted at the blood covering my body. This crimson candy could not be any more wonderful! I could feel my skin begin to crawl. My features were slowly fading away. My body darkened. I began to lose my shape. By the time anyone else opened their eyes and saw my true form, it was too late. That wonderful scent. The odor overpowered my senses. I did not hear their pleas for mercy as I, savoring every second, approached them. That delicious scent. I did not hear their agonizing shrieks as I sadistically ripped them to shreds, one by one. That irresistible scent. I did not see the crimson massacre as it took place, before my fading eyes, by my disappearing hands. Nothing, not the noise nor the deafening silence that followed, could break this trance, this hypnotic state, caused by this unimaginably overwhelming scent. Except the taste. Only the taste of the blood and flesh of this glorious, gory meal would be enough to break my odor-induced stupor. But I knew, from my recently recovered memory, that eating from more than one human at once could prove fatal. I couldn't risk death for foolish gluttony, no matter how irresistible the smell or taste. So, I chose the one person that would satisfy my hunger the most, and voraciously began my feast. ~ "Hey! Are you alright?" "Is he alive?" "How's he still in one piece?" "Honey? Come on, wake up. Please!" The muffled voices were becoming clearer as I regained consciousness. Someone was shaking me, trying to wake me. It was a woman, and she was sobbing. I could feel her tears splashing upon my face. I opened my eyes, and could barely make out the outline of the sobbing woman before me, and several men in blue uniforms. "Thank Goodness, Honey!" the woman joyfully exclaimed as I blinked up at her, bewildered. "I thought you were...were...dead." Her voice was shaking. "Oh! You can't see a thing, can you, dear?" The woman reached for something on the stained tile floor, a few feet to her right. "Here are your glasses, Gordon." © 2011 nolaftwFeatured Review
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4 Reviews  Last Updated on July 2, 2011 Tags: shift scary suspenseful horror s |
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