| abstract | - A normal Tuesday like always. Got home from school, got my chores done, everything an average teenager would do after school. Then I logged onto my desktop, and re-sent a document to my parents. But before I sent the e-mail, I noticed something. It was a video file that I hadn’t noticed before. Or, possibly I hadn’t viewed in a while. So I double clicked it, and my media player popped up. The file’s name was theredhallway.wmv, which was how my video clips saved. Red letters slowly faded in, revealing the video’s name, ‘The Red Hallway’. I lifted my eyebrow as a short summary began. I typed it up so you could see. After the words faded out, part of a video clip began to play. A red exit sign glowed in the midst of what seemed to be a dark room. There was an outline of a door window, a long and skinny rectangle where you could see the moon through some glass. Then, without warning, the video cut to black, and a deep, growling voice said, “Your final hour has come, my child.” Then, the rest of the movie started. I will type up the dialogue and what else I see. MALE VOICE: We have entered the Red Hallway! (Camera zooms on the exit sign) The only source of light, is that exit sign. ANOTHER VOICE: It’s locked. (Possibly referring to the door, which a male figure was seen at) MALE VOICE: Are you serious? (Sighs) You can’t see anything past the red light. We’re going in deeper. It’s kinda getting colder… OTHER VOICE: (In a barely audible whisper) Yeah. MALE VOICE: You can barely see past the screen, I’m blind! This is providing…not much light. As you can see, it’s getting really eerie in here, you can hear the echoes. I think…. (Pauses, turns back to the light, and back into the darkness to whatever he was facing)Either that’s a giant mirror… (Another pause) Do you hear that noise? Who’s beside me? I just saw a shadow… (There is a high pitched shriek, which I have never heard in my life) MALE VOICE: (Screaming) AHHHHHHHHHHH! (There are loud footsteps before the footage cuts. There is more writing.) My only guess is that Nate and Max were the two voices heard in the first piece of footage. MALE VOICE: So, me and Tommy are here in the Red Hallway, (Shaky and heavy breaths are heard) and, Tommy here is freaking out, it’s his first time here. Isn’t it cold here? TOMMY: Uhhh…. (Laughter from the first voice) Very much so…. MALE VOICE: Yeah, the flashlight ain’t working that much. (Tommy takes more shaky breaths) We’re going deeper. (Tommy begins to whimper) Yeah, yeah. Dude, do you see that exit sign? (Pans right to the exit sign) It’s pretty much the only source of light. TOMMY: Yeah, I know. It’s… (The first voice interrupts) MALE VOICE: Dude… (There is a brief word interjection) (There is a growl and you see Tommy fall to the ground, as if something pulled his legs out from underneath him.) TOMMY: AHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHH! (Tommy’s body is dragged back as Tommy claws at the ground. Then, you cannot see Tommy, for he was dragged into darkness.) MALE VOICE: Uh... Tommy? Tommy? (There is a growling and munching sound as if someone was eating a big, juicy steak) I’m getting out of here (It sounded as if this person was going to be sick) AHHHHHHHHH! (The person bursts through the door, almost running into a red headed kid with glasses and a black hoodie on. The footage ends.) There were more words after the second piece of footage. Nate returned to see if Tommy was still alive in the hallway. So I can guess that the male voice we have been hearing is Nate. NATE: Okay. It seems my flashlight is malfunctioning, my batteries are dying, and the lights (looks up. There are ceiling lights that are turning on an off by themselves) seem to be having a way of themselves. There’s the exit sign… (Footage freezes for about ten seconds. The lights are on, and you see a dark, shadowy figure blocking the door. By what I saw, it is about three feet tall, and has long arms.) As you can see, I am in the Red Hallway. I see Tommy’s jacket. I think he died… (There is a hiss, and a figure rushes out from a corner where Tommy’s jacket was. Before the clip ends at 3 minutes (I was at 2:54), the frame freezes, and the figure that rushed out is seen clearly. It is black (like the one at the door) and has an open mouth full of sharp, knife like teeth stained with blood. Then the clip continues, saying that Nate awoke outside of the hallway with no memory of what went on in the Red Hallway.) And that is the movie. Just before I could check up on when the movie was saved, my computer froze up, gave me the blue screen of death, and shut itself down. After a few minutes of swearing, and punching the computer, it turned back on. But when I checked back in the documents, the file was gone. I checked the recycle bin. Nothing. The clip had disappeared. Seriously freaked out, I shut my computer down. The next day at school, I told my findings to my closest friends. With grins on their faces, they told me about an abandoned hallway in our school that was used to reach the larger public library that had been connected to the school. The library had burned to the ground one summer. Everyone got out, except two little kids who found the hallway connecting to the school. Hoping to find an exit, they tried the door to the school, but it was locked. They ran back to the library door, but it had locked behind them somehow. Smoke had filled the hallway, and the poor kids died of smoke consumption. I told them that it was a sad story. The stared at me, and said that they could show it to me. “Dude, almost every guy who claims they are the bravest man goes in there for as long as they can,” one of them said. “The record is ten minutes. Do you think you can beat that?” I thought back to the movie, which was 3 minutes long, and a collection of videos not even a minute long. “Yeah, I can.” I said. They grinned, and they showed me the way. The hallway was in the oldest part of the building, hidden between lockers. They opened the door and let me in. I walked halfway down the cold room before I hear a faint scratching. “Who’s there?” I called out, my voice ringing out through the hallway with a spooky tone, sending chills down my spine. I turned and saw the exit sign. It freaked me out. Then, the lights began to flicker, just as it had in the last piece of footage. My heart began to pound. Sweat formed on my brow. I slowly turned to the door and began to walk towards the exit. Then, as I reached five feet away from the door, the lights remained off. “Holy mother of God…” I whispered. I whirled around and faced the other end. From the red glow the sign provided, I saw nothing. Then, two, small black figures emerged from the blackness. My eyes widened. The smaller one dragged the red Aeropostale jacket Tommy had worn in the second video. I shook my head, thinking I was imagining things. But no, I wasn’t. “HOLY GOD LET ME OUT!” I yelled, banging my fists on the wooden door. I heard laughter from the other side, and one of my “friends” yelled back, “NO, WE WON’T! It’s been eight and a half minutes! You can do this!” he said, trying to sound encouraging. I was stunned. Time moved faster than I had thought. I swore and turned back around. The creatures were still far away, but they had paused, as if observing me. My hands shook in fear. The larger one made a high pitched shrieking sound (like in the first video) and charged toward me. “HELL NO YOU DON’T!” I said shakily. I swung my foot out and caught it in the jaw. It flew back to the end of the hallway, and the smaller one ran to it. Then, using the last of my strength, I began to fling my shoulder into the door, hoping to break it down. I did this for what seemed like forever when the things began to walk towards me again. Panicking, I took three steps backward and charged at the door. Right as I was about to hit it, it opened, and I fell onto the sweet linoleum tile. I hit my friends, and went to class. I couldn’t get my mind off those things, when the teacher stared to call role. I listened. Then she called out “Nate Ewbank.” Everyone sat in silence, waiting for Nate to answer. Is that the Nate from the videos? He goes to our school? I thought. Then, the guy sitting next to me elbowed me in the arm. “Here” I spat out in disbelief. I’m the guy from the video? I was in there before? But why don’t I remember it? The day went by in a blur. When I got home, I got everything done. I went to bed at 8:30. I never had done that. I woke up at 1:20 in the morning. The cat on my bed meowed as I rolled over. I opened my eyes and was face to face with the larger thing. “OH MY GO...” I was cut off by the thing putting a charred hand on my mouth. “Don’t yell…Nate…” It hissed. My eyes widened as it put a finger to its lips. “We didn’t mean…to scare you…but…you have broken the rule…everyone who enters the hallway must meet a…unfortunate end…” I shook my head, but the clamp on my face grew tight. “Now…how do we do this?” Another pair of hands grabbed my face. They were smaller, but still charred. I screamed. Then, darkness.
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