NoEnd House (part 3)

As I made my way deeper into the room I began to hear what one would hear if they were in a forest, chirping bugs and the occasional flap of birds seemed to be my only company in this room. That was the thing that bothered me the most. I heard the bugs and other animals, but I didn’t see any of them. I began to wonder how big this house was. From the outside when I first walked up to it, it looked like a regular house. It was definitely on the bigger side, but this was almost a full forest in here. The canopy covered my view of the ceiling, but I assumed it was still there, however high it was. I couldn’t see any walls though. The only way I knew I was still inside was the floor matched the other rooms, the standard dark wood paneling. I kept walking, hoping that the next tree I passed would reveal the door. After a few moments of walking, I felt a mosquito fly onto my arm. I shook it off and kept going. A second later, I felt about ten more land on my skin at different places. I felt them crawl up and down my arms and legs, and a few made their way across my face. I flailed wildly to get them all off but they just kept crawling. I looked down and let out a muffled scream, more of a whimper to be honest. I didn’t see a single bug. Not one bug was on me, but I could feel them crawl. I heard them fly by my face and sting my skin, but I couldn’t see a single one. I dropped to the ground and began to roll wildly. I was desperate. I hated bugs, especially ones I couldn’t see or touch. But these bugs could touch me, and they were everywhere.

I began to crawl. I had no idea where I was going, the entrance was nowhere in sight, and I still hadn’t even seen the exit. So I just crawled, my skin wriggling with the presence of those phantom bugs. After what seemed like hours I found the door. I grabbed the nearest tree and propped myself up, mindlessly slapping my arms and legs to no avail. I tried to run but I couldn’t, my body was exhausted from crawling and dealing with whatever it was that was on me. I took a few shaky steps to the door, grabbing each tree on the way for support. It was only a few feet away when I heard it. The low hum from before. It was coming from the next room, and it was deeper. I could almost feel it inside my body, like when you stand next to an amp at a concert. The feeling of the bugs on me lessened as the hum grew louder. As I placed my hand on the doorknob, the bugs were completely gone, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn the knob. I knew that if I let go, the bug would return, and there was no way I would make it back to room 4. I just stood there, my head pressed against the door marked 6 and my hand shakily grasping the knob. The hum was so loud I couldn’t even hear myself pretend to think. There was nothing I could do but move on. Room 6 was next, and room 6 was hell.

I closed the door behind me, my eyes held shut and my ears ringing. The hum was surrounding me. As the door clicked into place the hum was gone. I opened my eyes in surprise, and the door I had shut was gone. It was just a wall now. I looked around in shock. The room was identical to room 3, the same chair and lamp but with the correct amount of shadows this time. The only real difference was that there was no exit door, and the one I came in through was now gone. As I said before, I had no previous issues in terms of mental instability, but at that moment I fell into what I now know was insanity. I didn’t scream. I didn’t make a sound. At first I scratched softly. The wall was tough, but I knew the door was there somewhere. I just knew it was. I scratched at where the doorknob was. I clawed at the wall frantically with both hands, my nails being filed down to the skin against the wood. I fell silently to my knees, the only sound in the room was the incessant scratching against the wall. I knew it was there. The door was there I knew it was just there I knew if I could just get past this wall-

“Are you alright?”

I jumped off the ground and spun in one motion. I leaned against the wall behind me and I saw what it was that spoke to me, and to this day I regret ever turning around.