Between light and shade
Evenings in June can be deceptive - the warmth of the day still hovers in the air, but night is already lurking. Lena has always been fascinated by abandoned places. On this day, she and Nicodemus were roaming around the grounds of an old brick factory on the outskirts of town. Most people avoided it by a wide margin, telling each other stories about the ghosts of an industrial past that never went to sleep.
But they were different. Lena admired the graffiti on the shabby walls, Nicodemus tried to find traces of a former life - a bent bucket, a piece of machinery still in places, a rusty bolt. They had stopped by the largest hangar when Lena noticed something strange: on one of the walls, behind a thick layer of ivy, were the outlines of an unusual door.
- Had you seen this before? - She asked, pushing back the leaves.
- 'Never,' replied Nicodemus, coming closer. They looked at the door: old, covered in patterns that could not be named in any known language. The handle seemed cool, although the day was hot.
Lena hesitated only for a moment. She pulled the handle. The door opened almost silently, revealing a dark corridor, from which an unfamiliar chill was emanating. They approached cautiously, Nicodemus sending her a brief glance - the kind of glance that says 'let's do it, but remember what we might encounter there'.
A deep silence surrounded them. After a few steps they could no longer see the light behind them, only a shadow in front of them. There was a strange smell in the air, like a streak of rain on heated asphalt, mixed with old dust. With every passing moment, the corridor seemed to get longer and longer, and the walls more and more distant, almost pulsating with life.
Suddenly, there was a sound from the distance - a rhythmic sound, as if someone was tapping something metal against the floor. Lena squeezed Nikodem's hand tighter. A figure emerged in front of them - tall, wrapped in a dark cloak, with his face hidden in shadow. Light from an unseen source flashed on her medallion, which bore the same symbol as on the door.
- Welcome. We have been waiting for you - a voice rang out, quiet, yet heard clearly in the darkness.
Lena felt her heart speed up and the words stuck in her throat. Nicodemus took a step forward, ready to ask a question, but then the silence was cut by another, different sound: the vast echo of someone's scream, somewhere very far away, as if from another dimension.
Before they had time to react, the darkness around them began to move....
Author of this ending:
English
polski
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