What Is This Place? by Ruth Rivas
The students were tasked to consider HALLWAYS. Ruth takes us through some that might even give the horror/fantasy writer Stephen King the chills.
I open my eyes. It’s not my room. Why am I not in my room? The room I’m in is the complete opposite of my room. The wallpaper is cream color. There’s nothing but a toilet and a bed. Not a mirror or a shower, how rude. Most importantly, my TV is not here!
I decide to get out of this uncomfortable bed and walk towards the door to open it. I assumed it would be locked, but it easily opened. I hesitated a bit before looking out of the door, but I ended up doing so a few moments later. It was a long hallway. No other doors, but mine. Both ends of the hallway were dark and really long. It seemed like there was no end to it. But I mean it’s a hallway, so it must have an end to it.
I make my way out of the room and start walking. As I take a few steps, I look back at the door I came from, but it’s gone. There is no door or room, just a wall. That’s really weird, but what other option do I have? I just have to continue walking.
After what seemed like I had been walking for an eternity, I heard something behind me. I instantly turn around and I see a ball? The ball was bouncing up and down in my direction and I looked toward the way the ball came from. The end of the hallway was pitch black and I couldn’t make anything out. The ball had stopped bouncing at this point and it was slowly rolling towards me and hit my foot.
I look down and pick it up before looking at where the ball came from. This time, there was a little girl who looked almost five, and she had no emotion in her face or eyes. She’s in a big white sleeping gown and her hair is silky and straight. She looked at me and her eyes went wide and seemed like they were about to pop out of her face. “WHY ARE YOU TOUCHING MY BALL?!” She screams in a high-pitched voice, which makes me flinch and drop the ball to the ground as I use my hands to cover my ears.
As I look up at her, she’s running towards me and her whole look has changed. Her face changed, her long straight hair was now long, messy, and curly. I instantly turn around and run in the other direction to get away from her. She’s screaming my name as she’s running and I don’t even dare to look back at her.
As I’m running, I see the end of the hallway. The door is metal, rusty, and dented. I tried looking for the doorknob, but there was no doorknob. I can only try and open it by force. I start to push and the little girl is still running towards me and getting closer and closer by the millisecond.
I try one last time to push the door open, and it works. I instantly run into a pitch-black room and look back to the little girl stopping and having no emotion in her face while holding the red ball she never picked up. The metal door slowly closes and, as it’s about to fully close, I see black.
I open my eyes and I wake up in the same exact room I was in in the beginning.
Ruth Rivas
November 10, 2023