See No Evil

The hallway seemed to stretch on without an end. Sconces on the wall dimly lit the burgundy wallpaper and tiled floor. Sarah looked up and down the hallway, fear building in her stomach. Nothing here seemed right. This had to be a dream. One of those dreams when you know you are dreaming. Lucid dreaming, if she remembered right. Pinching herself on the arm only left her skin red and painful. She sighed as her stomach turned.

The ground began to shake. Looking around her, everything seemed normal. Suddenly, a bright light flashed, followed by a wave of heat and sound blast. She shut her eyes and covered her ears. Opening her eyes, all she could see was red. The walls, floor, or ceiling of the hallway were gone. Nothing but the red color greeted her. Panic rose quickly within her. Feeling her face and eyes, she was glad to note that everything was still there, but she could not see. She cried out and was unable to hear her own voice.

Sarah stumbled towards the wall she knew was there somewhere. Her footsteps made no sound that she could hear. She felt the wall with her hands and started pounding. She heard nothing. A gust of wind blew down the hallway choking her. Dropping down to her knees, she covered her face with her hands. The cold of the tile shocked her knees and did little to comfort. What is going on? Another wave of heat blasted through the hallway, choking her.

Silent tears streamed down her face. She tried to call out but the heat had stolen her voice. Pulling herself up the wall, she noticed that the wallpaper felt textured, almost like velvet. With one hand on the wall, she stumbled down the hallway. There had to be a turn in the hallway that she simply hadn’t seen before. Besides, walking was better than sitting on the cold floor unable to see and hear.

The hallway suddenly grew cold. Panic bubbled up higher and she broke out into a stumbling run. The ground began to shake again. It was different this time, less like a locomotive and more like heavy boot steps. She got the sensation that someone was following her. Her feet weren’t agreeing with her and she kept tripping over them. The shaking was rhythmic and was increasing. Each rumble felt louder and closer. Straining her eyes did nothing.

Tripping, she picked herself up again and took off running. Her hand trailed on the wall behind her so that she wouldn’t bump into the wall on either side. Suddenly the hallway ended. She ran into the wall and fell backwards. Arms stretched out, her hands felt the walls. There had only been two walls; now there were three. She had reached a dead end.

The rhythmic rumble of steps increased as the air grew colder. Smacking her head in her hands, tears ran down her cheeks. Backed into a corner, there was no escape. The smell hit her like a brick wall. It was repugnant and smelled of death. The air was rank and made it difficult to breathe. Curled up in the corner, she pulled her shirt over her mouth and nose.

The rumbling stopped, and Sarah noticed that she was shivering. It was so cold that she was sure that, had she been able to see, she could see her breath hanging in the air. The smell was worse than ever now. It seemed to permeate the cold air. It was noxious and made her feel sick. Bile rose in her throat as she resisted the urge to vomit.

Something grabbed her arm. It was cold and leathery. She tried to scream but nothing came out. Kicking out, her legs met with the wall. Flailing, the floor faded away and she rose in the air. Whatever it was held both her arms and was pulling her up. Its breath was rancid. The hands that held her arms shook. She got the odd feeling that the thing was laughing at her. Anger rose above fear.

She kicked out towards her captor. It must have been tall as her feet were swinging freely. Her kicks landed without aim. The thing shook her and threw her over its shoulder. Her fists beat its leathery back as her feet continued their offensive. Then, she was flying through the air. The wall knocked her breath away, and red turned to black.

***
Word Count: 743
Created for

ID: 1475441   (Rated: 13+) Title: See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil  Description: A Halloween Horror Contest for Short Stories. OPEN for 2009! By: Vikki~NaNo'ing

Prompt: Your character has to be missing one of their sense, he/she is either deaf, blind, or mute, if you are very creative, all three. That means that your character cannot see the 'bad' thing coming, or hear it coming, or scream for help. Their missing 'sense' is up to you, but they have to be missing at least one of the three.