Corpse

Micheal slowly stood up, his arms and feet trembling and his eyes widened. He leaned against the wall to catch his breath. "A monster... there are monsters in this world."

Micheal grasped his hand to stop it from trembling, he softly muttered to himself. "This world is a lot more dangerous than I've imagined. Is there only one monster in this prison?

The image of the monster's arm appeared within his mind, it looked strangely familiar to Micheal. " Wait... Could that be the person that dragged me into my cell?"Micheal shuddered at the thought.

Micheal quickly threw all his thoughts related to the monster at the back of his mind. "I shouldn't be scaring myself, the only thing that matters is that I escape this place alive"

Micheal scanned the room he was in. It was a small room with blue painted walls. It had a table in the left corner of the room. On the table was an antique-looking oil lamp with a brown liquid inside. Beside the lamp was a piece of paper stained with a red smudge.

Micheal furrowed his brows in suspicion. He looked around the room once again, there was only one door. It was the one he came from. "I can't believe that this place isn't a bloody exit."

He looked at the door behind him and studied at a small distance. Something was engraved at the door, it looked like it was carved out with nails.

Cautiously, Micheal walked towards the door. He was curious about the carving. Pieces of nails could be seen stuck inside the door with a faint smell of blood coming out of it. A carving of a cabinet with something leaking out from it.

Micheal pondered for a bit a found a resemblance with the cell beside his. "Does this imply that the exit is inside the cabinet?"

He widened his eyes in disbelief and cursed at his misfortune. "Fuck! I'm not going back in there. There must be something in this room, a hatch maybe?"

Micheal searched the room once more, looking for another exit but alas there were none. In his frustration, Micheal punched the walls. "This can't be f*ckin happening right now"

He breathed slowly trying to calm himself down. " I shouldn't get agitated, it could make me choose a rash decision. I must remain calm."

Micheal's gaze scanned the room once again, his eyes landing on the table at the corner of the room.

He walked towards the table and closely examined it. Countless small insects could be seen crawling into its cracks as he neared them. "These bugs seem to like living on wooden structures, termites perhaps?"

Micheal picked up the stained piece of paper on top of it. It was a crude childish drawing of a cabinet at the end of a long corridor, drawn over the cabinet was a human skull, strangely

enough it looked polished and realistic.

Micheal pondered at the drawing. "This should depict my cell, I wonder what the skull is for? A skull usually implies danger or could it refer to the previous owner? Could I have moved into a corpse?" Micheal shuddered at the thought?

Just to make sure Micheal slowly moved his head to his neck, he felt something pulsing from within. "That's a relief. I wouldn't imagine how I would live like a walking corpse"

He took out his glass weapon form his pocket. Micheal sighed in disappointment. "This won't do anything to the monster outside. I might as well be holding a stick."

Micheal then took out the lighter from his left pocket, it came from the dead guard. His eyes squinted like he was in deep thought. "Could it be injured by fire? Though I doubt a weak flame from a lighter would do anything"

As he said that his gaze landed onto the large Oil lamp. He grabbed the Oil lamp on the table and inspected it. It was as big as his arm from his elbow. A brown liquid filled the lamp up to a little more than halfway. "This should be enough, even if I fail I can just run back to here"

Micheal slowly walked towards the door, his legs trembling and his head sweating bullets. Holding the Lamp on his right and the lighter on his left. He breathed in a handful of air and muttered. 'Well... Here goes nothing"

He cautiously opened the door checking if the monster was waiting outside. Thankfully, it wasn't. Micheal didn't close the door in order to save some time if he needed to run back.

The corridor was eerily silent, like the monster from before didn't exist. He slowly walked back to the end of the corridor, his footsteps quieter than before. A minute has passed, he still couldn't see the end of the corridor even with his lamp shining the way. Two minutes them eventually three passed, still there was no sign of the monster. After four agonizing minutes, he could finally see the end.

He could see his cell, strangely though it was open. Next to his cell was the one depicted in the drawing.

Micheal's was about to run ahead but he was stopped by something dripping on his cheek. Subconsciously he turned his head upward. A face with its skin turned inside out was directly looking at him from above. Blood slowly dripping from its eyes, its mouth turning into a harrowing smile exposing the nails hammered onto its gums.

Micheal's body froze for a second before recovering from the shock. He ran as fast as he could, almost forgetting his plan. He turned his head to his back and saw it chasing after him, crawling on its four limbs. Its mouth was opened at an impossible degree, showing all of its "teeth".

Without hesitation, Michael threw the lamp inside the monster's mouth. Making it shatter into pieces and spill the oil inside its throat. Before the monster could react he lit his lighter and threw it in its mouth.

A trail of flames burned the monster's insides, making all of its organs turn into ash. In agony, the monster let out a high pitched scream.

Micheal ran as fast as he could, with his hands covering his ears. After the screaming stopped he looked behind him and saw the monster lifelessly falling to the cold hard floor. It's black feathers slowly turning to an ashy white and its skin turning into stone.

Micheal placed his hands on his lap, trying to catch his breath. He didn't dare get close to the corpse, afraid that it would suddenly come back to life and eat him. Michael weakly muttered. "Burn in hell you tall piece of sh*t"

Micheal walked tiredly towards the cell, still panting for air. "I should really work on my stamina once I get off here. I have a feeling that ill have to run a lot."

Out of curiosity Michael walked passed the exit and continued on tho his room. Cautiously Micheal leaned against the wall to take a peek inside. Littered on the floor were small black feathers that were slowly turning into dust. His bed was empty, stained with a puddle of blood. The corpse nowhere to be seen.

Micheal nervously gulped, wondering what could have happened to the corpse. "Did the monster eat him?"

He didn't dare enter the room, he quickly walked back to the exit. The cell was now next to him, he pushed the cabinet with all his might.  With one final push, the cabinet was pushed away.

The stench of blood suddenly invaded his nostrils. Micheal coughed once at the smell,

he quickly covered his nose with his hand and looked inside the room. Unknown to him the scene inside the room would remain in his mind for the rest of his natural life.

Five rotting bodies were hanging from chains inside the room like they were pigs ready to be butchered. Their skin looked as if it were flayed by a knife. Crawling out from every orifice were small black insects, Small black feathers were growing from their backs. At the very back of the room was a wooden door stained with blood. A large table was in the middle, on it was knives and other sharp utensils of various sizes. One of the corpses hanged was of small stature with short blonde hair and bushy beard.

Micheal looked away from the horrendous scene. His stomach suddenly had a revolting feeling, his throat felt like it was burning and his eyes turned watery. Vomit suddenly escaped from his mouth, staining his clean attire.

He slowly staggered away from the door and leaned against the wall. His eyes were dripping with tears and he loudly gasped for air. Micheal weakly moved his mouth, speaking with a trembling voice "What... kind... of the world have I... gone into?