Day 32:
- Ahh!!!
I woke up from a horrible nightmare that kept gnawing at me even while I was awake.
- What the hell did I just dream?
Even though I was back in reality, I could still feel the sensation of warm, thick liquid on my feet...
I need to stop having these nightmares, I can't keep living like this. Sooner or later, this will take a toll on my mental state...
Anyway, time to start the day with the usual routine...
…
…
- Same old taste...
The food was always the same, no different dishes.
I'm not complaining, but even so, I wish I could try something different—something full of emotion that would fill me with happiness, like they always show in romantic TV dramas.
Romance…
For as long as I can remember, I've never had any romance. I always focused on drawing when I was a kid, then on studying during adolescence, and now as an adult, I focus on work...
It's always been like that. I get interested in something, and then abandon it sometime later. I never finish anything.
To be honest, I would've preferred to prioritize my social relationships instead of those interests I ended up abandoning.
I wish I could go back in time to change my decisions and make the ones I would never regret. I'd probably have my own house now, lots of friends, a girlfriend, a pet, and above all, I'd be happy...
Why do people like me always have it rough in life?
Why can't I be happy for once?
Why do those bastards get to enjoy life and end up with a great future?
I wish I could be like them…
I want to be like them…
My mother always told me...
I'll never be anyone in life, I'm useless...
I'll probably die and no one will remember me—not even mom will remember me...
- She always hated me…
…
…
I was drowning in my thoughts, unable to escape them—just me and my desire to die…
Or at least that's what I thought.
Because when you're trapped with yourself, you always remember the bad moments, but deep down, you also know that something or someone will always be supporting you.
- Serena…
!!!
I'm sure I heard something…
I got up from the spot, wiped my tears because I couldn't cry all day—I had done it countless times before. It wasn't the time to repeat my mistakes.
I found it…
A book had fallen from my shelf; that was the noise that startled me.
"A Tragic Love Story"
It was a book I bought a year ago. I remember its ending shattered my soul. It was an immense story, impossible to summarize in a few words, beyond the fact that its main characters were Mary and James Sunderland.
For some reason, I felt strangely connected to James, but to this day, I still don't know why…
Even so, I still remember this beautiful work fondly...
Should I leave the apartment?
It's been a long time since I asked myself that. I don't know if the pandemic has ended or if the lockdown is over. Honestly, I'd like to know, although I don't have internet to check social media—but it doesn't matter whether I have internet or not.
- I don't have a phone…
Ha, ha, ha, ha
I'm still surprised I survived so long without a phone or internet.
Well, anyway, I do have a landline. It's rare to have one these days, but I have it.
At first everything was normal—the phone was ringing, so to speak—but when I answered, I only heard breathing…
It was faint, but I could tell that the person on the other end was struggling to breathe.
- Mom?
No one…
Just the same breathing as before… And then the line cut.
- What the hell is going on here?
I was sure I had called my mom, but that certainty crumbled instantly when I noticed something…
The landline cable… had been cut—it couldn't possibly be working…
- Shit, shit, shit
Something macabre is going on in this place, and I don't want to be a victim of it…
As soon as I had my "revelation," I immediately headed for my apartment door, but before I could even take a step, something stopped me.
A feeling—something was calling me. I had to go to the bathroom. I don't know why, but something was drawing me in...
When I entered, nothing seemed strange, just a normal bathroom.
I searched the room for a while—the toilet, the sink, the shower…
Everything was the same with no notable differences at first glance, but just as I was heading for the exit, a noise from the shower stopped me…
The sound seemed like falling, crumbling stones…
- Shit
That scared me…
But surely this crappy apartment was just falling apart.
When I went into the shower, I couldn't help but be shocked and scared by what I saw…
- This is not normal at all
A circular hole in one of the bathroom walls had appeared—it was unnaturally perfect. It seemed like an anomaly.
I got closer to see what was inside, but only increased my anxiety and surprise, as there was nothing there...
The hole stretched an enormous distance—meters... kilometers...
I wasn't sure, but the point was, I couldn't see the end of that tunnel, which terrifyingly had exactly the right dimensions for a human to fit through...
It was terrifying...
!!!
- A baby?
I heard a baby crying…
And to my misfortune, it wasn't coming from the tunnel in the wall. Instead, the baby's crying seemed to come from the sink in the bathroom—right in the room where I was now…
- Damn… I'm not liking this
I slowly got out of the shower and approached the sink. I wasn't sure if I had really heard a baby or if it was just a hallucination, but either way, I couldn't help being scared by it.
- Da… dd…y?
!!!
I quickly backed away and fell to the ground.
- Shit, what was that?
Definitely, what I saw in the sink was not a baby—it could be anything but a newborn…
I stood up, regained my composure, and approached the thing in the sink again…
I felt nauseous. Just seeing it was repulsive and terrifying…
I hadn't been mistaken—that thing cried like a baby.
It was grotesque. It had no skin, just a body made of raw, reddish flesh. Its limbs were small—appearing to be arms and legs—but underdeveloped…
Its head was horrible—two malformed eyes, a sort of mouth, a slit that seemed to be its nose, and two holes on the sides… those were its ears, or at least where they were supposed to be.
That wasn't a newborn—it was an unborn, a kind of underdeveloped fetus…
- Shit… it's moving…
It tried to move its malformed arms and hands, opening and closing them like a baby would…
The only thing I felt in that moment was fear—fear of that thing moving in my sink. A chill ran down my spine when that monstrous creature started moving its mouth…
- Da… dd…y…?
!!!
Shit, shit, shit!
I'm not staying in this room with that thing—I'm getting the hell out of this apartment.
…
- Damn…
The door wouldn't open—it was locked or blocked by something…
- Somebody help me!
Calm down…
Being scared won't help in this situation. The best thing is to try to find a way to get out of this place.
- Are… you… leaving…?
Is that thing talking to me?
Shit
- Mom… doesn't want… that…
!!!
I heard breathing…
I also heard dripping from the ceiling…
I didn't dare look up—I just knew there was something up there, something waiting impatiently for me.
- Open you damn door!
!!!
…
The door opened and I quickly ran out of the room.
- Rot in there, you damn monsters!
And as soon as I finished my sentence, I closed the bathroom door and locked it with every lock I could find…
- Shit…
- This place is not normal at all
Tears burst from my eyes the moment I felt safe.
- I'm alive…
I could only think one thing: "I'm alive." That was the only thought in my mind at that moment. But I also realized I wasn't safe in this apartment.
- I'm not spending another day in this hell
I went to the apartment door with the dream of escaping this nightmare, but…
- The door… it's… sealed with padlocks…
Several padlocks were blocking the door, and I tried to break them, but I couldn't do anything…
- I remember everything now…
Next to the door, several marks were carved into the wall—exactly 31 marks, each made on a previous day. And today was day 32 with mark number 32…
- I've been trapped in this apartment for 32 days with no way to escape…