The Yellow

A warm yellow light flickered at the end of the hallway. That rusted lantern was the only thing I could make out from my desolate surroundings and as such it had become my sole beacon of hope, rapturously guiding me toward an exit from this barren world. My bare feet made a wet noise each time they hit the floor, their echoes loud and clear in the otherwise silent building. All around me, there was pitch black mist that scoured against my skin. I could hear my erratic heartbeat with the intensity of a thunderstorm, blood rushing through my veins and arteries like a blusterous waterfall.

It felt like the void itself was pushing me down; I was nearly at the brink of crumbling to pieces. I told myself that I was already too close to give up and that I was getting closer with each step, but that motivated me only about as much as it would have motivated a mouse to be told that it had almost solved its labyrinth; Even so, I kept walking. What else could I have done?

At last, I stepped into the glow and collapsed on my aching knees. The caged flame offered little comfort now that I could hold it in my arms. My fear and confusion were still the same as they were before, perhaps even greater as I now knew that there really was no escape from this dark corridor. I would starve to death and become forgotten as my body would decay to bone and then, with time, nothing but dust. Devastated, I leaned on the cold wall and raised my head to gaze into the abyss that I had endured for ultimately no reason other than a cheerful delusion, praying for a miracle.

Aimlessly shifting about in the darkness, countless naked children rubbed against each other and gnawed at one another's exposed flesh; They were all skinless, bathing in the steaming urine that fell from above, twitching back and forth as it sank between the folds of their tender muscles. Many of them were hideously bloated, covered in putrid scabs and smearing themselves with their own excrement.

On the other end of the hallway, there was a doorway to the most beautiful forest I had ever seen in my life. Spruces, firs and cypresses waved under the rising sun, cute furry animals of all shapes and sizes frolicking between their mossy trunks as small birds scuttled among the leaves, singing their sweet love songs. Rays of light scattered inside this obscene dead-end, illuminating the oppressive stretch that I had waded through.

Even as tired as I was, I knew I had to crawl through the visceral wall of little boys and little girls for a second time before I would drive myself insane over whether this new goal was reachable or not. It was obvious that this was a test of will – by whom or why I couldn't have begun to question, the only satisfactory answer being that it was the work of the Devil himself; the reality of this belief didn't matter in the slightest – and that if I wouldn't proceed as I felt in my gut was right, that very monstrosity would have me for all eternity. With this conclusion, my body surged up with newfound strength.

I looked up to see where the showerheads were, spotting seven of them from here to the gateway of freedom. Each was shaking due to the pressure at which the fluid shot out and there weren't many paths that I could take without soaking myself further; Even though I had already become drenched in it on my way, the idea of knowingly showering in piss all over again was utterly repulsive. I couldn't believe that I hadn't realised that the fetid murk all around me was alive.

Clutching to the lantern like I would if it was a shield, I took my first steps toward the crowd and noticed that some of them had fallen over and were either licking up the bodily fluids or biting at ankles, others yet fighting so as to not become trampled and trying to climb up on their feet. While they all appeared to be prepubescent, I could have sworn that I saw a handful performing crude sexual acts on those closest to them as I tread between their shivering figures. Many had had their eyes gouged out and their teeth had been dislodged or chipped off, tongues wrenched out of their mouths and their fingers broken, sticking out in crooked shaped that they reached out at me with.

Finally, I fell forward and detached myself from the mass like a worm from a spoilt apple. Yellow stains covered my chest and shoulders, my hair was soggy and I was dank with blood. Disgusted, I took a deep breath of the fresh air and stopped to stand at the edge, comforted by the sun and the peculiar sounds of untouched wilderness. Staggering ahead into the wounderful cradle built by mother nature, I fell asleep and dreamt of home.