The Cementry Apartment

James had pa

ent was paid in full. He just needed to leave. Whatever was happ

rely breathing. The building was quiet again - that same unnatural stillness that made the silen

wanted

short cement path to the front gate of the property. The heavy ste

hing felt

- keke horns, hawkers,

gs ba

torcy

t w

ty street where he'd first arrived, lined with shops and

d, he

av

dlessly in ev

ug. The ground was uneven, broken in patches, and a strange white

back to th

ree stories tall - but now surrounded by a ce

aggered

left. Right. No street. No si

gra

like wet soil an

ch underfoot. He looked down. His foot h

a name.

ace w

O. A

1999 - S

it like it

, no, n

he front gate closed again. The steel doors had sealed themselves. No hinges,

h both fists. "LET M

was a soft cl

tur

stood just outside t

g a ma

candle wax and tied around the handle with red and black thread. H

didn't you?

didn't

and now it knows

issed, voice trembling. "Wher

ing whether to lie or not. Then

ing was never

t on the me

existed before N

e mission

the gods w

im. "That doesn't

e to. It's alre

turned and walked b

e, trapped, clutching

nd him groaned

e shifting un

knew his

is door behind

e ti

his mattress. Anything to create a barrier between himself and whatever had tried to

, he knew it

t didn't foll

tricity. The bathroom mirror now showed a different version of him - one

ing him sane. If he stopped moving,

tearing th

awlspaces. A hatch in

rdrobe aside, pried at the tiles behind

ti

ree

t.

m behind t

fro

flat against it, it gave slightly, like drywall. He grabbed a knife

ll

nd shoved it with all his strength. The thing

ly tall enough for a child. No knob. Ju

s st

of it. This was the same wall he'd leaned against while t

breeze gr

ike salt and

rsed room and wait for nightfall - or go thro

ed as he reache

ed with

es groan

steps weren't concrete like the rest of the building - they were mad

for him to close the doo

as somethin

so

in

ica

a woman

m when he was six and sick with fever. But that was impossible. She

ame from th

ing

omin

ok the f

the s

e humming grew clearer - and more distorted. It bent and warped like a ta

at the tw

andles burned along the walls, casting long shadows. The floor was cov

llway, carved into

FORGOTTEN T

heart

osed to be three flo

den

at the far end

unt. Ups

him with wide, unblinking eyes and a mouth t

... or sta

egan to go ou

g the bone door shut behind him. He shoved the wardrobe back i

e look

w a crack in

the i

whispering his

aaaam

he crack in the ceiling seemed to have grown while he wasn't looking, and now th

aaaam

e voice, like a forgotten memory cla

o break the madness. The screen was dead, flickering one moment, then completely black

l. The walls felt like

in response, t

o

li

do

e door, but stopped just before turning the knob. His breath caught in h

alls. The ceiling. Every

n. You're alrea

ok only made the sensation grow stronger, like the floor

the door - J

e, replaced by the urgent flicker of someone who knew something James di

ace - her body stretched grotesquely, limbs bending in impossible angles as she glided into

ehind him, locking it with a

emanded, his voice shaking with fear. "I...

in sorrow. "You did

ispered. "I...

f the bed. The strange woman - no, creature - hovered

s them," Jonah said, his voice a low growl. "Once you enter, there's no es

id, taking a step back. "How

ad, either. It is a place that exists on the edge of everything - between the living and t

ng sound filling the room as its jaw stretched open, wider th

enters, it starts

bling in his chest. "No... no,

head slowly. "

o the creature. "And this? W

you - a newcomer, someone who thought they could leave,

sibly wide, as if to show James the horr

he building... calls. It takes one of us, consumes them, and adds them to its collect

ise in his throat

back to James. "Leaving isn't an option. The exit isn't where i

oaned as if

seventh night you stay, the cycle will continue, feed

ckled, and he sa

air growing colder, her br

the threshold now.