The Phantom School

I"ve recently been talking to myself a bit too much. I don"t know if it was required to keep my sanity, or rethink about my desicions in the process; but it was certainly helping. Or... was it?

I closed the door again. If I got out into that newly revealed path, it was possible that I would never be able to even make it back to the music room. So instead, I kept sitting inside the room for a little longer.

"I am losing so much time..." I said. "Why did I come this way in the first place?" I was getting more impatient with every second. I got up again and opened the door. Nothing had changed.

"Fine." I said. Maybe there were more ways of getting into this facility. I stepped outside the music room, leaving the door open. This new hallway wasn"t going alongside the music room, but rather directly away from it.

After I walked for a while, I could no longer see the music room. I kept walking into the unknown, but it was feeling like I had to walk forever to reach something, somewhere...

Eventually, I decided that there was nothing of interest there and wanted to get back. If only I had the time, I would love to keep going further; but obviously, I had to find a way into the facility.

As soon as I turned around to walk back to the music room, I noticed that something had changed again. The hallway was different.

"Of course... Of course it only changes shape when I don"t actually want it to!" I yelled. Unfortunately, I had no choice. I kept walking, into the new path that was just opened. "Just let me find you..." I was repeating inside my head. "I have everything you need, just let me find you!"

On my way, I saw a dark humanoid silhouette ahead. I froze for a second, then slowly continued. When I got closer, I saw that it was a dead person. His right arm was cut lengthwise... This was a well-known suicide technique, but I wasn"t sure if this was suicide or not...

"So some people really died inside these labyrinths." I said. I was already going the wrong way, and if I wasn"t careful, I could share the same fate. I slowly walked away from the body, further into the hallway.

After walking a while, I saw a yellow-orange light ahead. I began walking faster. At the end of the hallway, there was a square room, and in the middle of the room, there was a big pit that was leading somewhere deep down... It was such a long pit that I couldn"t see where it was going at first.

"What is this, the trash bin of the facility or something?" I said.

"Finally!" someone shouted. I was startled. "Finally I am free to talk again."

I was relieved in a moment. It was Cansu; but I couldn"t understand what kind of device she was using to create her voice. There was nothing inside the room that I could see.

"Nice to hear your voice once again. How have you been?" I asked Cansu.

"It hurts not being able to talk to you, my teacher." she replied. "I yelled at you for being an idiot countless times, but you couldn"t hear me."

"I"m glad." I said. "Anyway, what do you think this is? A trash bin?" I asked her.

"Oh no, look up." she said, instead of answering my question. I leaned on to the pit further in a hope to see something down there. I suddenly froze in horror. Down in the pit, there were parts human bodies... Arms, legs, various organs and even heads...

"So, this is a trash bin indeed." I softly said. "Just not one of the kind I expected."

"Look up immediately, you imbecile!" Cansu yelled at me. I looked up. Above the pit, there were chains and ropes dangling down and moving around.

"Oh my..." I said in shock. "This is very unsettling..." That was, of course, a serious understatement.

"Not that, d.a.m.n it!" said Cansu. When I looked more carefully, between those chains, I could see something...

...Someone!

"Oh no." I let those two words out. Accompanied by the menacing sounds of chains. .h.i.tting each other, tied to those ropes and chains, Idil was slowly being lowered towards the pit. Her eyes were closed, and her body was covered in red-tinted marks of those chains. Some of her veins were clearly visible.

"You fool! Why did you return?" The Community was here too. What a welcome! "We let you go and search for your destiny somewhere else... You were supposed to forget about this place and never come back..." she said. "Why did you return!?"

"You really thought I would leave her down here, with you?" I said.

"Do NOT pity her." the voice said. "She brought this upon herself... And while you still have the chance, run away and never come back. Don"t end up like her."

"I have the information you need." I said. "This time, truly."

"Your compa.s.sion doesn"t help. You just want us to release her, and you are out of ideas." she said.

"This is not the right time to argue; just do what you need to do, and we will be done!" Cansu said to me. I began speaking.

"There is a ma.s.s grave at the enterance to the facility, closer to the side with the so-called "quarantine door"." The voice interrupted.

"We aren"t stupid." she said. "We took the risks and searched the perimeter before you did, and although I have admit that the place you are talking about felt differently, there was nothing in that labyrinth."

"Let me speak." I said. "The grave is buried deep into the walls of one of the hallways on the way there. Those bodies are hidden inside the walls! Don"t tell me... You couldn"t have missed that!"

The voice didn"t respond. The chains stopped moving. Idil was hanging above the large pit. Suddenly, the entire room shaked for a few seconds.

One of the chains snapped.