Chapter 2 - Rooms with "Killing Intent" and becoming a Babysitter (You'll understand soon)

January 2, 2021

To the wind,

I'm back again.

The bread ended up tasting better this time around, well, that's a given since it wasn't turned into charcoal this time 'round, it was just slightly black all over. The bread was still visible though. Gotta love the improvement.

Sleeping on a proper bed was amazing too, especially after walking an entire day to try and get home after sleeping on the chairs of a restaurant. I basically melted into the bed and slept pretty well. Don't know how long I'll be able to keep that up.

(P.S.- Future Joseph here. Amazing how quickly my concerns were realized. You working against me up there man?)

So, my plan for today is to go around to see what I can find in my neighbor's houses. There's gotta be something there. There's also a restaurant nearby so there I should be able to survive for a while easily... I hope. All I need to do is make sure that none of the food goes bad.

It's odd, I can't remember any of the other people who lived here in this building either. I think they've already been taken away like everyone else.

I'll also try and contact some of my friends online. I don't know if they'll respond, but it's worth the shot. For all I know, they ended up as shadows as well.

Wait! I remember them! Could that mean that they're still out there?!

I'm forgetting everything about my family but I can still remember some of them. No way that would happen in normal circumstances! They must be out there, at least some of them! I'm not alone out here anymore. I just messaged them. Hope they reply soon. I'm tired of being alone.

Come to think of it, I'm glad that they found my Twitter account. Now they can still contact me.

Anyway, gotta go and explore this place. I need to take note of what we got here.

See ya later, or maybe I'll bring you with me. Who knows?

Joseph

-

At the first house of the apartment to have it's occupants disappear:

Frankly, this house was creepy last month and it's only gotten worse. Who would've thought that disrepair had that sort of effect on the atmosphere of a room? As for resources, most of the stuff in the fridge and freezer look fine. Might take some of the furniture as well. No one's gonna miss it, for now at least.

Some time has passed and I'm done with taking everything that'll probably end up spoiled soon. Don't know what I'm going to do with this but I'll manage something. I just noticed that there's a shadow in the corner. Looks like the same one I saw last time I was here. It's in the same room too. I'm just gonna leave that door closed.

I don't want to mess with one of those things. I don't know what they are but I'm not dumb enough to miss the fact that they are, from what I know at least, the reason for the disappearance of all these people and me slowly losing all memory of them.

I'm moving on to the next room now.

Joseph

-

So, I had to go to another level now if I wanted to go through more rooms, and somehow, I ended up on a level I had never seen before. It had a plaque too, like all the other floors but this one had Level - _ _ on it... I've never even heard of this.

Anyway, one of the two apartments on this floor is damaged beyond repair... well, more of the wall being caved in to the point where it's part of the lobby place thing on the floor instead of a separate apartment. The other apartment seems to be fine, just boarded up. Looking in, I don't see any people or shadows. Still, it's got electricity and water. Might have something worthwhile. Gonna take a minute for this. I'm leaving you and my phone out here. Be back in a minute.

Joseph

-

I could've sworn I was just inside for a minute. I made a beeline for the kitchen, found everything there to be rotten, went to the fridge but found that everything in there was rotten too, and got out again. Just being there was uncomfortable.

I just got out and I could've sworn that it was noon before I went in. Don't tell me I lost track of time when I went in there. That's not possible. I didn't stop at all. I'm leaving this room behind. No use staying here.

Joseph

(P.S.- Future Joseph back again. So I tried to find the room again. I was curious as to what about the room made me feel so uneasy. So I did everything I did to find it the first time, but nothing. I did it again but this time, trying my best to follow everything I did exactly as I did it but still came up with absolutely nothing.

It was like it wasn't there anymore.

No Level - _ _ or any rooms related to it.

Maybe it was just something in my breakfast that day or something that messed me up and made me see all of that stuff. Then again, maybe it isn't so crazy after all. You'll see. I'd really like to know if anyone else had seen it before. Maybe they might have answers. Who knows, I just gotta keep moving forward then. Nothing to gain from finding anything out about this room)

-

The sun had set a while back so I'm guessing 7-8 PM by now

So I was planning on going back home at first but then I decided that going through one more room won't hurt... excluding the last one. Pretty sure that the last room wanted to hurt me. Or kill me. Anyway, moving on from potentially killer rooms which most definitely gave off what a manga would call killing intent or something else along those lines, we got rooms to search.

Be back after that,

Joseph

-

Well, I went into that room hoping to find some food & expecting to find a shadow or two. Well, now I'm babysitting a little girl around 6 years old... Me, someone with no experience in taking care of kids, or of taking care of myself for that matter, has to take care of a child.

Did I mention that I hated the apocalypse?

Anyway, for now, she's just drawing on a piece of paper in her room so I have peace of mind for now. I gotta make something for dinner soon but I got some time to summarise what went down.

So, I opened the door, which wasn't locked by the way, after passing two shadows that were next to the door. I made a beeline for the kitchen, but along the way, I took a look around. That's when I noticed it. There was a family photo hanging on the wall. Two people were scratched out, one of them, the husband, still had a bit visible and not yet fully destroyed.

A little girl was still visible in the picture.

I thought to myself, "Does this mean that the kid is still here?" and continued onwards to the kitchen. I opened the fridge and while I was taking a look at the food there, I felt a tug on my shirt.

I jumped. I mean, of course I did. I've never been good with horror and living in an empty world like this one just makes you anticipate something. At least to me, it just doesn't feel possible that nothing would happen for so long. I guess that's just my curse. Even before all of this, I would turn every sound in my room into a monster after my life. I wish I could just stop that.

Back from my tangent, there was a little kid in front of me, looking up to me with sleepy eyes like she just woke up. She asked if I was the babysitter her parents sent. As you can expect, I said yes. What else could I have done? I mean, what would the kid do if I said I wasn't... now that I think about it, what would she have done? Probably think that I was a kidnapper or something... at least, that's what I'd expect if her parents taught her to be cautious about strangers. Then, the kid asks for dinner.

And so, here I am. In the home of a couple who is most probably dead, posing as her babysitter who is probably also gone and trying my best to make her something to eat when my cooking skills are sub-par at best. Still, up till now, I've always been doing other stuff while tryna make food so I might manage something edible if I focus properly. I'll write a bit on it after I whip up something.

Be back in a bit,

Joseph

-

And I'm back. It was... edible. She complained about it but still ate it. Thank god for that. The real trouble began when she started asking about when her parents were going to come back. I have no clue what to do for that in the long run.

For now, I just brushed it off with a, "They'll be home eventually. They didn't really tell me." I have no clue about how long I can keep that up though. She may be a kid, but she could probably sense that something is wrong in a day or two. What do I do when she asks?

And we get back to wishing for someone to get advice from. Maybe eventually. I can only hope that someone responds. Maybe I should ask someone... if I find anyone at all.

Jesus! What I would do to just get her somewhere where I won't have to worry about her anymore. And no, abandoning her is not an option. I'm not evil or anything. I just hope that her family is still alive. Maybe I'll ask her if she knows anything about her parents. Gotta make sure if they're still out there or not. I'm probably gonna have to do it as inconspicuously as possible though. Maybe I should just ask her what her parents are like? I'll sleep on it for now... pushing your problems for tomorrow as usual, me. Anyway, she's asleep for now so it doesn't really matter.

As much as I want to sleep in the master bedroom or something, that would probably raise some eyebrows from her on the off chance that she wakes up before me. As much of an insomniac as I am, once I fall asleep, I don't wake up. Usually takes loud music blaring outta my headphones and a cup of coffee to get me going. God bless whoever's the reason the internet still exists! I can still get my music!

Anyway, gotta go get some shut eye now. Probably gonna sleep on the sofa, at least for today. I really hope that someone related to her can come to pick her up. I don't wanna have to take care of a little girl at my age. Goodbye for now,

Joseph

Oh, yeah. Almost forgot to mention, the girl's name is May. Damn, my eyes are getting heavy right now.