Only three lectures in and I was already on the verge of knocking out cold. Overthinking instead of sleeping, the previous day was finally getting to me and to make matters worse it was (least favourite subject) lecture.

The teacher's voice felt oddly soothing than usual , lulling me to sleep. I tried my best not to doze off, going as far as digging my nails hard enough to draw blood but to no avail.

My brain which was in a war with my heart desires to sleep finally lost and I ended up succumbing to sound sleep.

It was pitchblack.

I couldn't even see myself let alone other things. I was in the classroom just few minutes ago, so what am I suddenly doing here ? Is this some kind of dream ? But then why does this feel so real. I tried to walk in the dark but stopped when I heard a voice.

'Irina'

'Irina'

It was the same voice which I had heard when I first arrived here. But what bothered me the most was how the voice was so familiar to me like I have heard it before but I don't remember where and when.

I carefully listened to it, hoping to find some clues regarding this body but it only kept repeating the same word over and over again.

'Irina'

'Irina'

Frustrated I decided to communicate with the voice, in hopes of either getting some kind of reply or atleast find the source of it.

"Hello ! Can you hear me ?? Please tell me who are you ?!" I waited for a while but instead of getting any sort of response or indication, I only got silence, even the chanting of name had stopped. I thought that I wouldn't hear the voice again but as usual I spoke too soon.

Suddenly the name chanting started again and it was much much louder than before, to the point where I thought my eardrums would pop out.

Covering my ears I kneeled down to lessen the impact of the noise but it was of no use. No matter how much I covered my ears I could still hear it loud and clear as if the shouting was inside my head.

That's when it happened, the ground beneath me suddenly disappeared in thin air and I started falling. Screaming, I tried to grab something to stop or soften my fall but there was nothing. I tightly closed my eyes, waiting for the impact of whatever was down there.

Splash!

I opened my eyes to find myself in some kind of wet surface. I have no idea how but miraculously I had survived that fall without any injuries expect for a sore butt.

Looking around, I tried to figure out where I was but due to the darkness I was not able to see anything. The only thing I knew that I was sitting in some kind of watery surface.

I started crawling around in the shallow water, in hopes of finding the ground, but no matter how much I crawled I only kept getting a dead end. I was trapped in a place with shallow water and enclosed walls on all sides. Tired, I sat back down and decided to organize my thoughts instead.

From experiencing one thing to another, I have reached the conclusion that this is no dream. Everything here is too real to be regarded as a mere hallucination, I can feel each and everything clearly but the question is how did I get here in the first place and how do I get out of here.

I started rummaging through my clothes, in hopes of finding something useful but instantly stopped when I felt something in my pocket.

'My phone !'

I quickly opened it but my happiness disappeared in an instant when I saw that it had no signal. I am dumb for thinking that I could find signal in a place like this.

Although I cannot use it for calling help, I can still use it as a torch. Turning on the flashlight, I stood up and started moving my phone around to see through the darkness but as soon as the light fell on my surrounding, I regretted my decision with everything in my bones.

Red

From the walls to the water I was standing in, everything was covered in red. Calming myself down, I decided to flash the light over the walls for some kind of hole, door or any other escape route but what I say made me almost the drop my phone and puke all my breakfast right then and there.

The walls had dismembered human bodies hung over with shackles and chains and some even had blood dripping from them, indicating that they had been hung only some time ago. This explains why the walls and water were red in colour, it was all due to the blood of these people.

Averting my eyes, I continued my search as I wanted to quickly get out of this rotten place, while trying my best to erase that gruesome image from my mind.

Finally, I found some kind of escape door in the corner of the place. I started budging the door to open it but stopped when I heard the sound of water splashing.

I quickly turned around and flashed the light in that direction to find the source of the sound but the water was completely still as if nothing happened to it.

Thinking that it was just my imagination, I continued to try pushing the door open which was difficult because the only light I had was from my phone. but immediately stopped when I heard the splashing sound again but this time it was multiple and much closer than before.

"Splash"

"Splash"

"Splash"

I once again turned around, only to find the same still water. This time I knew something was wrong so without wasting any time on the source of the noise, I decided to focus on opening the door and escaping.

But my actions came to a halt when I heard one more splash sound but this time from right behind me. I slowly turned around but was met with the same sight from before.

I flashed my light all over the area but found nothing. Signing in relief, I decided to go back to the door once again but suddenly a person emerged from the water, making me scream at the top of my lungs.

The sight before me was beyond horrific. The person in front of me was not normal at all, I don't know if it could be even called one. Half of its face had fallen off while the other half was rotten, its eyes were blood red and its mouth had some kind of black liquid dripping from.

It had only one arm and leg and was wearing some kind of black suit which was torn in places and covered in blood. This thing right in front of me was enough to make me faint but of course that was not enough.

Soon after hands started emerging from the water and more disfigured humans started coming out and started making their ways towards me. I started budging the door forcefully while shouting for help but it was of no use, the door did not open and no one came for my rescue.

"Somebody please help !!!" I started shouting desperately, scratching and banging on the door to open.

The dead kept on getting closer and closer, but my prayers were finally answered as the door finally opened a little. I pushed on it more to make space in order to escape but I was too late.

As soon as I stepped one foot out, a hand grabbed me by my shoulder and pulled me back inside. I fell down in the water and the dead people started hovering over me while shouting things that I didn't even understand.

"Why did you leave us ?!!"

"Because of you we died !!"

"Why didn't you save us ?!!"

"It was you who killed us !!"

'Save ? Die ? Kill ? What are they talking about ? I don't even know them !!' I tried to kick them and break free from their strong grips but it was of no use on those already dead people.

One of the hands made way to my neck and it started choking me. I trashed around hoping to loosen the grip and escape but it only got tighter and I was starting to run out of air.

"N-No pl-please no-o" I chocked out with tears flowing out, I did not want to die again. But my pleas remained unanswered as I struggled to keep my eyes open and I kept on scratching the hand to release me.

This continued on for few more seconds when eventually I lost all my strength and remaining breath.

With eyes closed and body limp, Irina / (Y/n) (L/n) had died once again.