Storage Room 6

__NOWYSIWYG__

I am perhaps the most naive, stubborn person I have ever come across. And I do regret it.

No, seriously, I regret the very day that I decided to check out the flooded storage room over at the company I worked. And I am also afraid I can't tell what company it is, due to copyright and trademark stuff, don't get me started about it.

Me? I'm Jason Montero, 24, and I work...Well, rather worked at this company where we stored stuff.

I know, my life is pretty sweet. And so was my job. Honestly, it was. But as I already said, I don't work there anymore. Why?

The Entity.

Yup, just that. That word. And it still scares me to this day. The Entity. Just writing about it right now makes me shiver and look around my living room.

Not that I didn't believe in it (Yes, I am a believer!), just never thought I'd actually come face to face with it. It's that kind of thing when you know it exists, yet you don't quite think it'll ever get to you.

Oh boy, was I wrong.

So, want to know how it started?

—

Well, it was Monday, early in the morning, and I was driving to the storage house. While driving, I was phoning my friend, Nikoloz. Nikoloz is this jolly type of person who always needs to talk to someone.

Seeing as we were good friends I figured I could call him on this cold morning. We were getting into a conversation about water pipes, for God knows why, until Nikoloz suddenly went quiet after I heard someone shout in the background.

And then, he spoke in a depressed tone.

"Jason man...I have to go."He said. I was quite confused. I tried to ask why but Nikoloz already ended the conversation. Assuming they were bullshitting me again, I turned on the radio in my car and started to sing along with Michael Jackson.

I arrived at my work about 20 minutes later. The air was cold, the building looked cold. Everything looked so cold. But that didn't matter because inside there were all of the nice guys. Nikoloz with his stories, Sebastian with his great sense of humor, and Tobiah with his funny faces and amazing acting.

I stepped inside of the building only to find the hallway to be completely empty. Odd, I thought. Usually Sebastian would be out here moving carts around. I shrugged it off and made my way to the wardrobe so I could put my jacket away. I returned to the hallway only to see Tobiah run past me. He appeared in a hurry. "Yo! What's up!?" I shouted at him, stopping him with my arm. He angrily pushed me away. "Jason man ain't a good time now! A plumber was found dead in storage room 6!".

Stupid as I am I started laughing. I laughed and gave Tobiah a manly hug before patting his shoulder. And to my surprise he frowned and pushed me away violently before walking off, through the doors. I blinked and just stood there. That was until Nikoloz snapped me out of my trance. "Jason, friend, we have a big problem.", he said in a depressed tone. I blinked again and I swear I stared at him for five minutes. "...What problem?", I finally said.

"We found the plumber, who was working in storage room 6, dead.", Nikoloz said. I was dumbfounded. "So Tobiah wasn't pulling my leg?", I somewhat whispered, after which Nikoloz shook his head. I scratched the back of my head. I was kind of dumbfounded, still. "Damn...That's some heavy shit," I brought out, my eyes drifting off to the storage hallway. That was a long hall with several doors on each side. 1, 2, 3, you get the point. Storage room 6 is an underground room. It has been flooded multiple times before, and we really didn't care that much about it because we rarely use room 6. However it would begin to stink really badly after some time, so we'd call a plumber.

I doubt they'll trust us after what happened now though.

The day went on pretty normally after this all. Well, we all spoke a lot less to each other but, that's understandable. I mean it doesn't happen every day that you walk into a room to check up on the plumber, only to find him dead.

Tuesday was pretty normal. Everyone got their attitude back. Lucky for us nothing got published about the dead plumber so far, so the customers would continue to come to us. However Wednesday...

Well we got a lot less customers. Fucking newspaper, radio, television, all the shit.

''"DEAD PLUMBER FOUND AT STORAGE FIRM!"

Yup. So it happened eventually. But boy, it only got worse...

''"AGENT (censored) MISSING."

''"RESEARCH AT (censored) HALTED."

''"(censored) STORAGE FIRM BANKRUPT."

And we can keep on going. But I won't. I want to keep this short so I can stop writing as soon as possible. It's getting dark.

Long story short, the company went bankrupt. Sebastian was taken into custody as he was a suspect. No one trusted us anymore. How many people went missing or found their end in storage room 6? I believe at least 7 went missing and the only death was that of the plumber. The only confirmed death, I realized at one point... I, along with Tobiah and Nikoloz, were getting extremely curious, yet...

Frightened.

About what was causing these disappearances. We all had our theories. Serial killer was the theory me and Nikoloz came up with. Tobiah didn't lose his jokester attitude and said something about Poltergeists. We laughed, and I laughed too, despite the fact I was nervous. So, on the day before the doors of the company would close for the last time, we decided to do a little research ourselves. I have no clue why, perhaps because of the fact this all happened 2 years ago? When I still had my 22 year old mindset? Or just because of our stupidity.

Either way, I still regret it. I regret that I went along and I pray to God, that he may protect me...

—

I usually never write about this, but I find it necessary to let the world know what went on, so they may as well think twice before doing such a thing as we did.

Thus, it was a week later, on a Tuesday. The whole company came together for one last time, we said our goodbyes, and what not. We all took our time to remember the people who went missing during any form of research in storage room 6. I swear I felt guilty. I don't know why, but I did.

Must be because I was related to that company. And for some awful reason I couldn't get the idea of something terrible and bestial hiding down there out of my head. These disappearances, and the corpse of the plumber. Those wounds, the way the bones were snapped, the odd position the body was found in...

That's not something a human would be capable of...

Of course that was stupid. Sure, the supernatural is easy to blame. But such a beings don't exist, I thought. I didn't want to believe at that time...

It is all logically explainable, I thought.

So the day passed, and it was afternoon. Most people left the building for now to go home and look for a new job. Me, Nikoloz and Tobiah remained, along with some other employees. My little group slowly drifted through the hallway. I looked to my sides.

Storage room 1, Storage room 2, Storage room 3...

Our footsteps were the only sound in that hallway...

Storage room 4, Storage room 5...

And we halted. There, above the double doors, was the sign. It was rusted and the lights on it didn't work. I shivered...

—

No one has entered that place other than the researchers since the plumber was found dead. The door was made of white metal, that was starting to show its age. At first the three of us just stared at the door. And we stared... Everything was so quiet. Not even the airconditioning would make any sound. I took the lead and reached out for the door latch and grabbed it. Slowly, really slowly, I pressed it down, and the door would open. It creaked, like that sound you'd hear in these horror movies. A shiver went down my spine and I'm pretty sure it went through Nikoloz's and Tobiah's as well.

All three of us were then overwhelmed by an incredible stench coming through that now opened door. The way we saw it there was no light at all down there. The stairs looked unstable and went in a downwards circle...Gave me the creeps. Tobiah brought three of these mini flashlights, and a crowbar. Each of us took one, switched it on, and we proceeded into the staircase, Tobiah kept the crowbar. I swear that the others could hear my heart race as we carefully proceeded into storage room 6.

Creak, with every step we took. In the distance, I could hear the ambient sloshing of water. We went deeper and deeper, any daylight from the entrance of the room now getting more and more dim. And then, after a good minute of walking these terrifying stairs, we arrived at the bottom. There was another door. Was. It had been knocked out of its joints. We passed through the doorway, we were all shaking and terrified. This room...

My God, this room was something out of a horror movie. And that this has been under our feet for so long.

The only light in this place came from our flashlights, the water in this place submerged our lower legs whole. This dirty water...This muddy water. I wondered where this came from. The pipes transporting the water here would most likely have clear water in them. It was just a sign to me something was wrong in here. On the wall we could see these waterlines, telling us that the water level was even higher beforehand. And in front of us: Racks. Towering racks full of cardboard boxes, and other stuff. Ironically those were possibly all empty. Heck, there was even mold growing around this place. The sloshing of the water made me nervous.

Tobiah finally broke this terrible silence. "We should split up. The faster we find out what the fuck is going on here, the faster we can get out.", he said before slowly progressing forward. There were a lot of rows of tall racks, and Tobiah started to walk through the path going through the middle racks.

I was amazed at how large storage room 6 actually was. Nikoloz gathered his courage and took to the left, to progress along the wall. In the mean time I was terrified out of my mind.

''What was I doing in this shithole?

Nevertheless I started to progress as well, gripping my flashlight tightly as I gulped a couple of times, humming a tune of Michael Jackson to keep myself from shitting my pants. I had the urge to look behind me with every step I took, but I didn't.

Slosh, slosh, slosh, did the water around my legs. Around Nikoloz's. Around Tobiah's. My brown pants got all soaked because of this damn dirty water.

I was carefully wading through the water, until I flinched when I saw Nikoloz looking at me through one of the old racks. "Jason, look here.", he said as he motioned to come over there. I didn't know how fast I wanted to get company again. I somewhat sprinted over there, the water halting my movement, but I got there nonetheless. What he showed me, terrified me.

There, on the wall Nikoloz pointed at, were deep and crude indentations going vertically. At first I didn't think much of it until I realized the wall was made of metal. It would be impossible for anyone to make indentations like that. For a human being that is. Nikoloz slowly stretched his arm and ran his fingers over the crude indentations. I decided to bend forward and take a look as well. The indentations...It were three, each positioned parallel of the other. The stench in the room continued to get stronger and stronger, my eyes were getting all watery because of it...

We couldn't hear Tobiah's wading anymore.

Me and Nikoloz decided to progress. The silence in the room, the indentations, the continuous stench, the darkness, it got on our nerves. Who or what caused these disappearances, we didn't want to find out anymore. All we cared for was getting our asses out of there.

As we waded through the water, I decided to take a look at the racks to my right. Boxes, boxes, the occasional crate. Nothing out of the ordinary. Here and there some oddly shaped packages. I couldn't make out what they were, because it was so dark. And perhaps I didn't want to know what they were. Tobiah's flashlight burned in the distance, so we headed for him.

We passed around the corner of one of the racks until we were in the upper left corner of the storage room, when viewed from above. "Tobiah!", Nikoloz suddenly exclaimed after which I punched him in the shoulder, perhaps a bit too hard. "Silence, idiot! What if someone hears us?", I whispered. "Yeah, Tobiah has to hear us. There is nothing down here.", Nikoloz said in that way too deep voice of his. Even that deep voice of his had hints of fright. I didn't believe him. In the meantime, Tobiah didn't respond.

"TOBIAH!", Nikoloz shouted again. We heard wading. We heard the water being pushed out of the way, we saw the light of the flashlight move. Then, the wading stopped, and the flashlight went off. I flinched and grabbed Nikoloz's shoulder as I pointed my flashlight into the direction where the wading came from. It became a lot darker.

Nikoloz suddenly laughed, a roaring sound that would fill the whole room. "Very funny Tobiah! Now get here, we know you're playing a trick on us!", he said as he laughed. I smirked. Of course, we were talking about freaking TOBIAH here. The jokester with his amazing acting skills. He once tricked Sebastian into believing he was knocked out by a box which fell on his head. Oh how we laughed at that time.

But it remained silent. No calming voice. No white shirt and black pants, a friendly face wearing small glasses. Only silence...

It was then we saw a figure emerge from behind the rack. It was too dark to make out what it was, even though we pointed our flashlights in that direction. "Ah Tobiah! There you are!", Nikoloz said as he smiled, and just by hearing that I was relieved. He was pulling on our leg, and I was happy. Really happy, even. My fright had faded into thin air. The figure, however, just stood there, unmoving, dead silent...

Nikoloz and I approached the figure, wading through the water as I was shaking, until we could make out what we were staring at. Black pants. A stained white shirt, and above that, a pale face, contorted into an expression full of agony, the glasses on the nose broken. A stream of blood, flowing down the nose and left eye of the figure.

Tobiah, was standing there. Nikoloz lost it and screamed in agony as he saw this, as I gripped him tightly. Poor Tobiah then spoke once more.

He said..."Fucking run...", before he fell forward, making a splash in the water after which I looked down only to see his back completely torn open, I could see his bones, his lungs. I vomited. The horrifying sight, in combination with the stench, made me lose it. Nikoloz screamed again as he pushed me away from himself, my legs were so weak that I fell over against one of the racks, the rack shaking as I bumped into it, a box falling down, Nikoloz bolting off. I remember hearing him scream all the way long, even when he ran up the stairs that led out of this hellish room. I tried to call out for him, but my voice was nothing more but a hoarse whisper. The fright devoured me.

There I was, alone, in this dark room only lit by my flashlight, the body of Tobiah floating in front of me as I leaned against the rack. I was shaking, terrified out of my mind, I could barely hold the flashlight and wept softly, my sobbing echoing through the room. After a short while, I pulled myself back together and slowly began to walk forwards, past Tobiah, seeking support from the racks. I kept telling myself not to look back. But I god damn knew I would. It's this kind of "red button" effect. The things you shouldn't do, you'll always do...

I turned my head to look over my shoulder, and pointed my flashlight backwards so that I could see the area behind myself. For God's sake, why didn't I just run. The light of my flashlight was reflected back by three large, circular objects, on a head tilted to the right in an impossible angle, arms way too long for human proportions, the quite feminine shaped body being supported by two pointy legs. I gasped for air, but my lungs refused. I didn't believe what I was seeing there, standing next to the rack which was the furthest away from me.

I ran. I screamed and I god damn ran. The water splashed and a hollow screech echoed through the room as I ran. I turned right once I reached the last rack, my flashlight helping me navigate through the darkness as I continued to run, the exit in sight, and I felt so relieved. I was going to make this!

I suddenly felt something bump into my chest, giving me a very painful sensation as I heard and felt something snap inside there. I screamed in agony and fell backwards into the murky water, but I didn't submerge as I fell onto my arms. My chest was feeling all funny as I found myself having a hard time to breathe. I looked up, and I stared straight into these three cold, white circles. They were its eyes.

The eyes of the Entity...

Suddenly I felt a large, cold hand wrap around my throat, the texture of the "skin" was somewhat leathery and wet. And then another hand, gripping tightly around my neck, until I was suddenly pushed downwards, my head quickly submerged below this murky water.

I thrashed around violently trying to kick and punch and whatever I could do to get the creature away, but nothing worked as I felt it positioned on my chest, pushing down my damaged ribcage and squeezing out any air left in my lungs. The only thing I could see, were its eyes, just staring at me. Never before had I seen something so empty...

I was dying, slowly, but certainly, it was draining my life from me. I saw black dots blocking my vision...They multiplied more and more, as I tried to breathe, but the creature continued to push me down, I could feel my ribcage crack under the pressure the creature applied...And to my surprise...Only the Entity's eyes remained once my vision went completely black. And there I was, all alone, in a dark room once more. I felt nothing. Not the pressure on my throat, not the Entity pushing on my chest. I was forced to look at those eyes. And...

This following part still haunts my dreams...

Below the eyes, a smile began to form. First, an innocent looking smile, but it got wider, and wider, the teeth got brown and stained with blood, they got longer, sharper, the smile was that of the Devil himself...

The creature opened its mouth and produced the most haunting shriek I have ever heard. A shrill, piercing sound that sliced through my flesh and bone.

Until its cold eyes closed and the twisted smile faded...

I was surrounded by the dark and the unknown...

—

From that moment on everything is a big damn gap in my memory. I only remember waking up in some kind of random hospital, hoses and tubes coming from my body as if I were some kind of experiment. Well, technically I was. The doctors were speechless because of the amount of injuries I had. A shattered ribcage, damaged trachea, perforated lungs, brain damage, too much to list.

How'd I get in that hospital? Well, turns out Nikoloz eventually called the police, after he got over his little fear outbreak. By the time the officers arrived, the Entity was gone, and I was floating there in the murky water in storage room 6. I got told I was breathing, but weakly, and raspy. The water around me was completely red, they told me. I was pale, my chest looked deformed, and they didn't think I would make it.

Tobiah was dead. Poor guy. Nikoloz was traumatized, but hey, it was he who saved me after all.

My ribcage was repaired with a crapload of metal plates and bolts, but I'd need to go to see the doctor every month for a check up on this. Same goes for the lungs, which had been replaced by the lungs of a donor. The trachea was permanently damaged and they couldn't think of any possible solution at the time...

In short, I was incapacitated. And I still am to this day. I have to walk with crutches, I can't work, I live off benefits...

And you know?

I wish they let me die there. I wish the Entity just crushed my neck like it did to my ribcage. I now see its face...

Its horrible, smiling face...

In my dreams, haunting me. I sleep with a nightlight, because otherwise I won't sleep at all, I feel its presence when I'm in bed. Literally. Whenever I close my eyes, I feel it positioned on me as I lie there. And once I open my eyes it is gone. It has disabled me. I damn that thing. I damn it for everything it did to me.

And. Above all else...

I still fear that once, I have to wake up to see it smiling at me again, ever so silently.