Test and Sacrifices

Sacrifice

Owen saw what she meant. “The voice message, the long dark hallway, and now this door were all meant to mess with us.” Owen said in realization. Julia only nodded. There was nothing else to do but head on further.

The had already begun was mostly likely to get worse but they swallowed their fear, for it would nowhere. Slowly they opened the door and stepped into the next room and what they saw next was even more unexpected and in its own way was terrifying. “Julia, I think this is a trap.” Owen said slowly as the door closed behind them. Julia nodded her head in agreement.

They were very careful as they entered the strange horror that laid before them. A feeling of uneasiness filled the air within the room. Both of them were puzzled and shocked by all that they had seen throughout their journey. This was one of the most shocking sights so far due to its misplaced look.Normal. It was just too normal. The room wasn’t glowing like the light they saw showing through the door. It was just a living room. There was a couch in the center of the room with numerous cozy looking throw pillows on it.

A Lamp inhabited the corner behind and to the left of the couch. Overhead was an average ceiling fan. A soft light gray carpet covered the floor. The only comforting thing was that the carpet gave them a break from the feeling of their bare feet against the cold floor of the halls and the other rooms. The walls were a baby blue and had a white trim.

It was terrifying because it felt like the calm before the storm. Nothing in this place was this “normal”. It felt like at any second they were going to be ambushed. Owen and Julia looked around. They were searching for any hints of a monstrosity but found none.

The room had that kind of plain yet cozy look to it. Nothing about it was outright scary and that’s what made it terrifying. Sometimes normality is the most haunting thing.

They slowly edged their way around the room. Checking everywhere for anything that could mean something. Out of the corner of her eye Juila spotted a match box with a candle next to it. “Owen, I found something.” She said, They both walked over to the two objects. “I think we're supposed to light the candle.” Owen chimed in.

“Well duh why else do you think it would be here, you fool .” Julia said jokingly. Owen picked up the match box and the lights went out. Now it was pitch black. They couldn’t see anything but they heard a door creak open. Owen fumbled around trying to light the match. Once he did he lit the candle.

The candle began to burn quickly so Julia picked it up and led herself and Owen to the door. They quickly went out the door and down another long hallway. This one was completely dark and the only light was the soft glow of the candle. Without it they'd be blind.

The candle wax began to melt directly on Julia’s hand. It burned badly but she clutched the candle and kept going. “Strength of body and mind.” she thought. The burning wax was the beginning level of the pain tolerance challenge. Her hands were reddenning from the wax as it coated her skin. Owen didn’t seem to notice.

They reached a fork in the path after a couple minutes. The paths looked identical and there were no clues to guide them, unlike all the other rooms. Though the normality of the living room freaked them out nothing too bad has happened yet.

Unfortunately the candle was close to burning out and there wasn't another source of light to be found. Multiple small whispers began to say “Choose, Choose, Choose……” as a high pitch screech could be heard only slightly quieter. The sound made by the mixes of these noises was oddly overwhelming and irritating. “Ahh!” Owen yelped while he held his hands over his ears. The sound was ringing in his head.

Julia just grabbed Owen’s hand and pulled him into the left tunnel. She Didn’t have any specific reason for picking that tunnel. She was just trying to escape the terrible noise.

As soon as they were full in the tunnel an guillotine door came down, blocking off the opening. It hit the ground with a loud bang and the noise from outside it was no longer heard. Instead a loud siren began to sound. The siren was accompanied by bright red lights that flashed at a rapid pace. They continued down the hall hoping to escape the madness or sound and light. After walking for a while the feet something stab the bottom of their feet. Julias bent down and touched the ground to see what was there.

Nails and broken glass , it was nails and broken glass that covered the floor. They couldn’t go back, so walking through it was the only way out of this place. Without light they couldn’t see where to step , so being careful was useless.

Upon this realization Juila took a deep breath and said “We should run through this.” “ Ok, on three.” Owen said hesitantly. They both counted slowly “ one…two…three” Then ran down the hall. Pushing through the pain was hard but trying not to fall was harder. They fell multiple times but managed to somehow help each other through it. After what felt like hours of mile after mile they reached a clearing.

Blood leaked from cuts all over their bodies. They both sunk to the ground to rest and pulled nails and glass shards out of their skin. Luckily none of them had gone in deep or gotten stuck in Owen’s or Julia’s eyes. “ What do you think is next?” Owen asked. “Maybe a creature of some sort.” Julia responded. “ How are we still alive?” Owen asked . “because we are a team.” Julia responded. She smiled so sweetly as she said this.

Her smile always warmed Owens heart and created a sense of nostalgia that he couldn’t quite place. Something about it reminded him of something he lost memory of.

After resting for a bit they got up to head to their next test. There was a door on the other side on the clearing that they walked over to. “You ready.” Owen said “Hell yeah.” responded Julia. Owen then carefully opened the door as they both took a deep breath.

The door swung open and all they could smell was blood. Just straight up blood. They stepped inside slowly and saw what looked like a death trap. That was fenced in with big chain locked fences that were topped with barbed wire.

It consisted of a tall cage with needles that were attached to a tube. The tube led to a bucket that was placed on a scale. The wall behind it had the word sacrifice written on it, in what looked like blood.

A small safe It was a passcode safe. Owen and Julia looked around in confusion. They noticed four podiums against one wall. Each podium had a word written above it. The words were hair,skin,nail, and tooth. They found a radio and switched it on to hear what was the test of this room.

The radio started with a static sound and then the message began : “You made it here but the question is will you go further? Each podium has a body part above it hair, skin, nail, and tooth. On each podium you will find a screen and a tool that will be used to place whatever the word says on the podium . A number will appear on the screen after you do so. The numbers will give you the code to the safe. In the safe is the key to the fence surrounding the trap along with an object that you shall place inside of the trap . After you do this the exit door will open.”

Julia and Owen made their way over to the first podium. On it was a pair of scissors. “We should take turns,so it’s not too much on just one of us.” Julia said. “Since I’m very used to pain, you do hair and nail and i’ll do skin and teeth.” “Are you sure?” Owen asked.

“Yes” Julia said. She quickly took the scissors and cut part of Owen’s hair , then placed it on the podium. The number 3 appeared on the screen. The second podium had a knife and bandages. Juila took the knife and sliced off a strip of skin that was the length of her forearm. She gasped and winced in pain. After placing it, the number 7 appeared on the screen. She then bandaged her arm.

The third podium had thin pliers on it. “Owen here”. Julia said while handing him the pliers. He tugged at his nail but couldn’t do it. So Julia took the pliers and quickly ripped off his nail. He cried out a bit but then pulled it together. Upon placing the nail on the podium they got the number 5.

Lastly, it was tooth and on the tooth podium was a pair of medium sized pliers. Julia took a deep breath and quickly pulled out on of her back upper teeth. She stifled a cry as she did so. The number 9 appeared on the screen after the tooth was placed.

Owen was horrified by how calm she was now. They quickly made their way over to the safe and entered the code that came at the cost of pain. 3,7,5,9. The safe made a buzzing sound then creaked open. Inside it was a burlap sack that appeared to be squirming. What was inside shocked and disgusted Julia and Owen.

Inside the bag was a key. The key was small and silver. The key wasn't what shocked them, but the other thing that was in the bag did. In the bag was also the "sacrifice"