The Hallway

It was an unassuming place, or thing depending on your point of view. Jennifer or Jen for short and Will, siblings, stood puzzling at the oddity before them. Unsure of its significance or how it could possibly earn such a reputation as the most terrifying place or thing, on earth.

A title it was well known for on YouTube. They applied as contestants almost as a joke. However, the network whom brought them, was very selective. Ten rounds of interviewing ranging from topics as benign as what is your favorite color to the personnel and uncomfortable. Such as when was your last period? Are you a virgin? And do you believe in evil?

A process which Jen would have quit early, if little brother Will hadn’t badgered her, since there had to be two contestants. Not to mention the sales pitch Will repeated every time she had expressed doubt.

“They pay for your hotel, your flight, and if we win, we get 10 million dollars! All we have to do is walk through a hallway!”

There was no short of reasons, as to why anyone could use such an amount of money. And on the surface it sounded so simple. To walk through a hallway. Jen had watched the videos, several, and they showed a distinct pattern. The Host, strangely a different person each time; welcomes the audience with an exciting new episode, before cutting to a stage in which the Host stands next to the pair of contestants, with the famous Hallway right behind them. Two people always with a firm connection, usually a young couple who can’t stop giggling, but there had been siblings like them in some videos. An older married couple here and there.

The Host explains the challenge vibrantly with smiles and added noises from a soundboard. Saying that the Hallway is the most terrifying experience on earth. The main rule:

“Don’t turn around”

If the pair can walk through it all the way to other side, they will get 10 million dollars and become aware of the mind of God. What the last part means is heavily debated in the comments. The general consensus is that you’ll become fearless and have a better outlook on things. Many call it the poor man’s fear hole.

The contestants enter through red space, and you see them round into a yellow curving corner before they’re completely gone. And then you wait for them to come out of the other side, identical to the entrance. The entire structure is built into a horseshoe shape. It appears it can be walked through in less than 10 seconds.

There are no cameras inside, nor microphones or anyway, at least privy to the viewers, to determine what happens inside the Hallway. It’s not a maze or some, ninja warrior obstacle course with people there to scare you like in a haunted house. It’s just not big enough. There’s no room to put anything significant. And only two rules. Do not turn around once inside, and you have to make it through the other end to get your money. There’s no telling what they do to you in there, but the effects are very visible when or if a contestant makes it through.

There have never been two winners at the same time. Only one comes out about ¾ of the time, Will did the math. When these people come out there are two types. The first, which is the majority, appear horribly haggard. Mostly crawling on their hands and knees or stumbling out, muttering nonsense, looking extremely perturbed, as if they’d spent the last year in a serial killer’s captivity. Visibly changed by the experience.

During the post interview, some were able to speak. Clenching their arms, terrified of the studio lights and looking at the Host as if they were an alien species. Repeating one quiet phrase, the first rule.

“Don’t turn around”

They occasionally look back at the Hallway as well, as if whatever is inside will try to drag them back.

The second type of winners are the White Hairs, as the comments dubbed them for their hair having turned white while inside the Hallway. These people, again always alone, run or walk out on their own two feet looking better than they entered, glowing even. The Host congratulates them with much more enthusiasm than the other kind and asks them to tell about their experience. They all say the same thing.

“There’s nothing else to say,” then they take a bow and leave. Not visibly concerned for the partner they left.

Will is committed to the idea that they can come out as the first pair of winners. Even as they were about to walk out. Watching those doors open, seeing blinding lights, like walking into heaven. Jen wasn’t so sure.

#

“Welcome, welcome, welcome everybody! I’m the Host and today I’d like to introduce you all to Jennifer and Will!” The Host was a young man wearing a sparkled suit, like something out of a gameshow from the 70s. His outstretched arm waved to the invisible crowd of an empty auditorium, while stock audio of clapping roared across the room. Will appeared to be right in his element. Playing it up for the camera. Throwing gang signs and whooping as there were a crowd, and not a single solitary iPhone sitting on a tripod. Jen stood awkwardly, unsure whether she should play into the act or try to keep herself composed.

In the slow moments of the fake roars and cheering. Jen glanced towards the Hallway. Noticing someone crouched; peeking from the bend of the corner. They were small with dirty skin and long fuzzy hair on their body like a layer of matured black mold. As quickly as she saw them, they ducted back, gone.

“Alrighty, I’m sure you two are familiar with the rules but here’s a once over! Go into the Hallway, come out the other side if you want your money! And most importantly.” The Host pointed into the black emptiness for a signal.

“DON’T TURN AROUND!” He shouted, an audio of a crowd shouted the same words and even Will joined as well. Cupping his hands to make himself louder. The Host laughed.

“My god I love your energy, I love it!” He laughed.

“Yea! Me and my sister are going to be the first pair of winners! Yea!” Will stuck his tongue out and started to dance.

“God Bless you!” The Host laughed, weirding Jen.

“You two are free to enter as soon as you’re ready!” The Host stepped to the side of the Hallway entrance, grinning, laughing, still as if he were surrounded by people and was the star of the show.

“Alright Jen! Let’s hold hands and gun it! Get that money fast!”

Will took her hand and pulled hard, Jen had to jump to get in stride with him. Bolting through the entrance straight around the bend. Jen saw no sign of the little person from before, only the yellow hallway which had swallowed them. Will pulled and she ran, eager to get through and almost disappointed there would be no twist. Until they found themselves sprinting for longer than expected.

At first it was almost unnoticeable, however the feeling quickly grew, sprouting like a bamboo forest overnight, but in a minute.

“Jesus… it’s longer than it looks!” Will Laughed. Jen laughed with him, nervously. Watching the yellow bend go on and on. As if they were in a closed circle.

#

Hours

“Man, damn! Hey! Hey what’s going on are we close?” Will shouted cupping his hands, trying to echo his message as far as he could. Jen and him had reduced themselves to walking in order to save energy. Lopping the yellow bend which seemed endless. Walking into oblivion or space would’ve been preferable, at least you could see that there was no end. Not like this, where the curve hinted to an exit only to keep going on and on.

“Hey!” Will stopped and began smacking the walls. Kicking, then gritting his teeth and slamming a shoulder as hard as he could. Nothing happened. The wall felt and sounded like typical plaster but wouldn’t budge.

“Fuck this! Jen lets go home,” Will almost turned but Jen stopped him by grabbing his arm harshly.

“Hey what the fuck?” Will look to her, Jen was facing forward, looking petrified with fear. He had been walking ahead and had not noticed.

“Don’t look at it, don’t turn around,” she spoke quietly, afraid.

Will did as asked, but glanced slightly. Seeing a little person covered in fuzzy black hair watching with bulging bloodshot eyes. Something about it, with only a glance filled him with a primal terror; something to be afraid of with no discernable reason. The kind of fear only reserved for the unknown of the dark.

“Eyes forward,” Jen said, walking with him now. What was behind didn’t make any noise yet its stare may as well have been a scream.

“What the hell is that?” Will asked, quietly.

“I don’t know… it’s been following us for the last hour. Just watching,” Jen said, terrified to look back.

“What do we do? Do we fight it?”

“I have a feeling… if we turn around for any reason. We’ll die in here… I don’t know how to explain it, I just know.”

Will listened and felt exactly the same way, though he couldn’t put his finger on why. Whatever followed them inspired the same exact feeling between him and Jen. Only death would come from any interaction. The two swallowed spit and walked on, faintly sure a way out would present itself.

#

A Day

“I’m tired”

“I know… just keep going,” Jen held his hand, his grip was limp, she was pulling him now, in tune with her stride.

“I’m thirsty”

“I’m sorry bub, just swallow your spit, we’ll be out of here soon,” Jen’s mouth had never felt so dry. She’d gone awhile without drinking water before, maybe half a day but now that water wasn’t an option. Thirst circled over them like a flock of sinister vultures.

“I’m hungry,” Will said.

“Are you sure you can’t wait? We don’t have many left and we need to ration,” Jen licked her lips, they were cracked and dry.

“Please,” Will begged.

“Fine just a few to keep you going,” Jen shook out some tick tics which rattled louder than she wanted them to. Handing a few to Will she took the chance to aim the reflection of the clear plastic box behind them, checking on what followed. It was still back there. Peeking from the bend, watching with those bulging, unblinking bloodshot eyes. When the siblings took a curve, it would disappear, then peek again. Always following, never too far away.

Jen wouldn’t have risked looking if it weren’t for the noises it started making. Deep dry wheezing, like an old man with black lung. She wasn’t sure when it started making those sounds, but now it was impossible to ignore.

“I wanna go home,” Will asked, as the wheezing brought out a tear from his eye.

“I know, we’re on our way bub”

#

Day two

Day and night did not exist here. It was only the yellow Hallway. Plenty enough to see with ironically nothing to look at. No details other than the curved walls, it drove their brains mad with the lack of visuals. They were out of tic tac’s now. Afraid to stop and therefore afraid to sleep.

“I… I can’t, I have to stop Jen,” Will was crying, whimpering. There were no tears, because there was no water to fuel them.

“We can’t…” she tried to force it, but Will’s feet planted firmly. He was too big to pull with no help. Still she tried.

“Will! Damn it come on! It’s following us!”

“No it’s not,” Will whimpered, and in the moment before fear could pluck the instinct Jen carefully peeked and sure it was gone. There were no eyes around the bend, so she stopped. And it felt so good. Her feet felt raw, sore, the sheer pleasure of just standing still was comparable to great sex. She leaned against the wall, and Will joined her.

“Are we going to die here?” Will asked, genuinely.

Jen had thought about that for the last two days. She should’ve known 10 million dollars wouldn’t come easy. And those people who came out weren’t the same. Was this what they went through? She didn’t know why this channel was so popular or entertaining. The videos are only about a few minutes. It makes it seem like contestants just go in and out. Jen didn’t like those videos but people like Will, teens, 16 going on 18, they loved it. Will thought it was hilarious when those winners would come crawling out and his eyes would turn into saucers when a rare White Hair appeared.

Something was happening inside this Hallway. Something very unnatural and Jen hadn’t the foggiest idea how they would survive. But Will couldn’t be allowed to know that.

“We’ll get out… we just have to stay hopeful”

“Jen” Will spoke with some terror hanging in his throat.

“Yea bub?”

“It’s here”

Sure enough, Jen glanced and it was there, looking at them from the corner ahead of them. Those bulging bloodshot eyes missing no details.

“I… I can’t do it, Jen we have to go back!”

Jen grabbed his arms as hard she could to stop him.

“I can’t do it! I can’t!”

“You have too!” Jen gritted yanking him back to her. She looked at what watched, and the rules echoed inside of her mind. Don’t turn around.

“We have to keep going Will”

Will looked at Jen as if she were crazy, insanity incarnate, that was the only explanation he could think of.

“But… but it’s right there,” he stuttered, whimpering like a little boy afraid of the monster in the closet. Begging mommy and daddy not to leave him and to let him please sleep in their bed tonight.

“Don’t turn around,” Jen spoke and pulled. Practically dragging Will.

As the two came to the bend it ducted and left. Jen felt safe for just a moment, knowing it left, marching on with her brother. A safety she cherished and lost just as quickly.

“Give him to me”

Jen never broke her stride. A devilish whisper. Something she could have easily dismissed as insanity for dehydration, a lack of food and sleep. A trick of the mind. A dirty thought even. If only it weren’t for the hot wet breath against her ear. The moistness growing cold instantly on the end of the statement. The offer stood and could not be taken… could it?

#

Day three

Hunger and thirst, with fear of what lurked made the walk painfully slow. Both had blisters on their feet which had burst. Their mouths dry as sunbathed cotton. Jen held Wills hand, just barely. Her grip as weak as the light in her eyes.

“I’m… so tired, can we stop?” Will faintly asked.

Jen didn’t respond, she only dragged him. The further they went, the more she considered the offer. She wanted to beg God for the strength to say no, but what would be the point in asking? She was sure that God was not here and had no input on the inside of the Hallway. Only that which followed them did. Jen pulled and something snagged hard.

She slowly looked back, and it held Will by the shoulders. In those long dirty hands, fingernails the color of yellow teeth. Too exhausted to scream. He whimpered incomprehensibly in place. Unable to cry or resist.

“I want him”

Jen heard it, a voice of omniscient devilry. Of power that could be felt, reverbed in the very foundation of the Hallway.

“What will you give me?” She spoke.

In a time of the purest, deepest despair, hunger, thirst, exhaustion and dread of future suffering. Many talk big of heroics. Few drown with dignity. Not becoming of who they really are.

“The mind of God”

Jen was the only one who could know what that meant. A chance of eternity when life was so fragile is a perspective only reserved for the dying and those beyond death.

“And you let me out,” Jen added.

“Don’t turn around”

Jen felt as if a bolt of lighting struck her. Collapsing, her eyes closed and opened with understanding. Her hair was now white and she sat up, feeling refreshed, better than before. Fed, watered, well rested. Her senses heightened, especially her hearing, which detected screams.

“No more! No more! Don’t touch me! Don’t make me swallow it!”

It was Will, somewhere far ahead. Jen glanced and saw his clothes in a pile as if he vanished out of them.

“No! No! No more please! Get away no!”

Jen stood and ran. Hearing nothing but tormented agony she couldn’t believe what she just did. Running as fast as she could. She knew it no longer followed, it had what it wanted. She knew its game, knew many things she wasn’t privy too prior. It wanted what was afraid, what was soft and giving. She was stronger than Will. Inside she could handle dying, not him. It relished pain and lapped at his torture like a wolf gnawing a bloody bone.

“No! No! Jen! Help me please!”

Jen ran as fast as she could. Not even slowing when the final bend came to a straight. Light at the end of the Hallway. Will’s voice beckoning. Even as the walls constricted and twisted, warping like waves on an ocean, she leapt and ran with the groves of the floor, the ceiling. Gravity turning around right to left. Forward to backward. Light at the end of the tunnel where Will screamed. She was coming and climbed through a small square filled with light.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner!”

Jen was blinded by lights and rounds of applause from nowhere. The Host took her hand to shake it, she looked at him with horror. Before turning around, she tired to run back inside but he stopped her.

“Sorry it doesn’t work like that… what’s wrong?” He asked, noticing real tears running down her cheeks. White hair reflecting the light as if she were standing in heaven instead of hell.

“I…”

“You got everything you asked for, own it, you deserve to live for your perseverance. Can’t change what happened. You worked hard for this young lady. Don’t turn around, there’s nothing for you back there. Keeping going forward, always.”

The Host raised her hand high in the air. Confetti rained from above. There was no going back, only forward. She went through the Hallway and came out the other side.

“So how was your experience?” The Host asked.

“There’s nothing else to say,” Jen said, then she took a bow and left.

Credit: Bryan Holly