The Stars Never Shine This Bright

Alice stared out of the window positioned above her bed, admiring the myriad of stars that blanketed the sky, her chin in her hand. Although her body was aching for sleep her mind was wide awake. The stars never shined this bright back home. Lost in a daze, she sipped her cup of tea, grimacing at how cold it had gone. Somewhere in the distance a clock rang out, signaling that it was just after three in the morning. A deep rumble filled the room, snapping Alice from her daze. Her eyes trailed to her roommate, sprawled out across her small bed, and she bit her inner cheek to keep from laughing at Katherine’s violent snoring. It was her third day away from the city in which she grew up, and her college campus, situated in basically the middle of nowhere, had become her new home away from home. It had taken Alice longer than she had thought to get used to the change from big city to the country. Katherine had become Alice’s new sister after they spent two nights together hopping from party to party and drinking as much liquor as they could. Alice grimaced again as she remembered how awful it was to wake up the past two mornings; pounding headaches and extreme nausea threatened to resurface with every move she made. But it was worth it. The alcohol, drugs, and sex gave her the opportunity to disappear from this world for a few hours; to lose herself in her emotions and pleasure and pretend for once that she belonged.

Alice sighed deeply before slipping out of her bed and sneaking into the attached bathroom, where she pulled out her sleeping medication and took a double dose of it. Katherine and she were lucky enough to be one of the few in the dorm room with their own bathroom. She laid back down, hoping to sleep, closing her eyes for just a moment before she stood once more. She snuck towards her closet grabbing a pair of shoes and a sweater which she pulled over her nearly see-through tank top and shorts so short that if she bent over wrong she would be completely exposed. She slipped out of the bedroom into the long, dark hallway, making sure to grab her room key, before making her way to the roof of the dorm.

Alice slipped into the elevator, too tired to hear the deep growling sound that had been plaguing her in her dreams ever since she arrived on campus; the sound she would faintly hear out of her bedroom window every morning as she lay in bed with some sound asleep and alcohol-reeking frat boy who had tried and failed to give her pleasure the night before; the sound she would subconsciously convince herself to ignore as she typed notes during her Astrophysics courses. The sound that had followed her everywhere she went for the past three days, even though she had not realized it herself.

The elevator stopped with a sudden jolt. Alice, half asleep in the elevator, frowned her eyebrows knit together, as she waited for the door to slide open. After a moment she went to press the emergency button. Her finger had just brushed the button before she hissed in pain and recoiled her hand. The button was ice cold. She looked down at her finger, a small boil forming at the tip, where she touched the painfully cold button. Suddenly, the temperature in the small box dropped by at least thirty degrees, so much so that she could see her breath forming in front of her. Panic started to rise in her chest as she began shivering violently.

This must be a dream, she thought to herself. A deep rumble filled the silent void of the elevator, almost as if to tell her this was real and she was in fact, not dreaming. The lights went out. A snap sounded. Before Alice could even begin to think what was going on, the elevator dropped

~

Falling. She was falling. Why was she falling again? Where was she? Elevator. She was in the elevator. The elevator plummeted. She should have hit the ground by now. They kept falling. They. There was someone else in here. She felt them; felt the weight of the elevator tipped to one side. She could have sworn she had been alone. Not anymore. Not for a while. She had not been alone for a while. Steaming tears formed in her eyes and spilled over her cheeks. The elevator stopped with a sudden jolt and Alice was thrown into the ceiling before slamming to the floor, ribs cracking beneath her weight. Breath left her and yelp of pain replaced it.

Silence. Utter and complete silence. The sound of her heart pounding against her broken ribs and her quivering breath were the only noises in this cursed elevator. A light ding sounded and the doors slid open, revealing an endless hallway, with countless doors on both sides. She braced herself and stood, biting her lip to keep from screaming in pain. The taste of iron filled her mouth as she stepped out of the elevator into the dark hallway, lined with flickering lights, clutching her ribs. Alice stumbled along the hallway, her shoulder resting against the walls. She had passed exactly twenty-six doors, before she collapsed to her knees. She gagged at the taste of blood and threw up onto the blood red carpet that covered the floor of the unceasing hallway. The rancid smell of bloody vomit caused her to throw up again, before she could choke on the blood rising up her throat. Weakly, Alice crawled away from the putrid puddle to the twenty-seventh door. She leaned against the dark wood as tears streamed down her face, blurring her vision. She sat there for hardly a minute before a piercing pain shot through her shoulder and arm. Her scream echoed down the hallway, and as she glanced down at the pain’s origin she saw a large bite mark encircling her shoulder, and blood so deeply red it looked almost black. She stood with another grimace of pain and ran. She ran and ran, pain shooting through her body. She heard footsteps chasing after her. She kept counting the doors; 31, 32, 33…63, 64, 65…She ran to the 66th door and opened it, running inside. She slammed the door shut and braced her bloodied body against it. She focused on her breathing: in, out, in, out. Once she found her center she turned to admire the room, but was barely given a moment before it pounced on her.

~

Alice awoke to a jolt, safe and sound in her bed. She tried to blink the tears away and ignore the lingering smell of blood.

Drip. Drip. Drip. She turned to look at her roommate and smiled slightly as she heard the sweat dripping off her body…her body that was half off the bed and twisted into a strange, uncomfortable position. Alice frowned when she saw the dark liquid coating her friend. Blood. She felt a painful pressure on her chest and jolted her head towards it. A horrendous creature hovered above her, feasting on her innards. Alice was not given the chance to scream.