Adrift -1-

It was the apartment again, nothing but corridors, damp rooms, seemingly endless atriums and the smell of moist concrete. Rhian sighed and ran a hand over her face, she was stuck here, still. The redhead took stock of her surroundings. A sort of lobby, not that such a thing acted as an entrance, in fact she had seen several such rooms. A broken vending machine, it's innards scavenged like the husk of a animal in the desert, the light inside flickering to life every few moments before winking out once more. Dusty moth-eaten chairs in rows and a small help desk gave the lobby the feeling more of a hospital than an apartment. It wasn't like she knew the place was an apartment after all, but she saw room after room that suggested as such so she simply reffered to it as the apartments.

How long this time? A few hours? Minutes? Days? The dreams seemed to lost all semblance of reality and it only got worse the more she dreamt of the damned hellscape. Rhian collapsed into one of the chairs and avoided taking a deep breath lest she inhale too deeply of whatever she had kicked up with the motion.

She always showed up in the same place where she woke up the last time, dreams were never so consistent. She didn't exactly feel things, her whole body had an uncomfortable numbness and, save her breathing, she didn't seem to have any other needs. So was this some manner of alternate reality? A trick of her over-worked brain? She might have been able to convince herself of one of these theories if she hadn't met the others here.

Rhian was, unfortunately, not alone in these desolate halls. More often than not she would hear shuffling, muttering and creaking. She told herself the first few times that it was rats or maybe raccoons and for a while it worked. But deep down she knew that it wasn't after all rats didn't peer around corners, stalk you and almost seem to taunt you from just out of sight and out of reach.

Then there were the other people. Most of them seemed lost, in fact several hardly reacted to her presence at all, sat against a wall smiling to themselves or giggling at some unheard joke. They all seemed.... It was hard to think but somehow, they seemed familiar, like you can always tell another tourist apart from locals when you're traveling or that strange cameraderie people from the same school feel even if they've never spoken a word to one another, it shows strongest when they are out of their element. Here it felt the same, like this world wasn't meant for them or herself and that somehow put them into the same category.

So that was that then? Eventually this strange place would leave her a babbling mess, lost forever? Maybe... But not tonight.

Rhian stood back up and stretched, feeling the fabric of her shirt and pants, dulled though the sensation may be, they were warm and soft, everything here was damp, cold and alien but she was still herself. She recalled the hallway she had come down before, the one with the exit sign (Ha.) That left two options, the door by the vending machine, which seemed like a service corridor, or the hallway by the help desk, she could only see about 20 feet before the faded lights lost all strength, but the air felt a bit colder just peering into that seeming endless darkness.

Maybe the door would be a closet, she could get a mop or something to use as a weapon. Rhian knew it wouldn't do much but at least she might feel a bit safer with something to carry with her. Another deep breath, another promise of strength to oneself and off she went.

The door felt loose in the frame and as she pushed it she'd realize why, someone had kicked the door in and broken the frame partly. The wood had begun to rot in the damp air and lent a sickly smell to the room beyond. Steadying herself, Rhian opened the door inch by inch to peer inside.

Nothing, Nothing and no one. She wasn't sure if she should feel relieved or disappointed. Stepping in she found that the area beyond was a small room, a sort of supply closet, but it had another similar door at the opposite end. A few minutes searching produced a broken squeegee handle. It was light, but the jagged end where the bar had once been seemed sharp, sharp enough at least. She gazed at the door beyond, this one seemed untouched, who or whatever had broken in here had then returned back outside. Trying the other door revealed why, it was locked and also opened into this small storage room, making breaking it in that much more difficult. She tried the knob several more times just to be sure but nothing changed. As expected nothing did. Rhian closed her eyes for a long moment, how could one feel exhausted in a dream? That hardly made sense. But she felt like curling up into a ball and just resting.

Shaking her head, Rhian left the dreary little storage room and returned to the lobby area, only seeing the thing when she was already half a dozen steps out and it was just feet away.

It was... Smelling? The seat where she had been sitting, it's face, if it could be called that, was close to the seat and almost nuzzling it. The thing itself could be called humanoid, it had limbs, it had what appeared to be a head, but as it's neck twisted to bring its so called face toward her, she saw not a shred of humanity left in the cold, Grey gaze.