When everyone else saw that Nigel was feeling a lot better, they bid goodbye to him as they left his hospital room. The only ones left were his mother and the nurse who was cleaning up his meal tray. The nurse was able to quickly finish it as Nigel tends to arrange his eating utensils in a very orderly manner after eating.
Shortly afterward, confirming that he is now beginning to show signs of recovery, his mother left the hospital and went back to her workplace while promising him that she will be back thirty minutes before his discharge time. The doctor, after finally concluding that he was now out of danger, confirmed that he was to be discharged at three in the afternoon.
With a lot of free time in his hand, while having nothing else better to do, he began contemplating the weird ability that he got. Right now, the only thing that he can confirm is that it is real. He can still see an arrow pointing outside his door, which means he can eliminate any possibility of it caused by some mental stress or disorder.
Also, whenever he concentrate and willed it inside his mind, a popup message will appear containing how many total points he currently has for "Hints".
"I wonder if this is all it has. I should try experimenting a bit more to understand all of its capabilities."
While trying out different things, he discovered a new popup that displays `10 Hint XP needed to Upgrade' inside his mind.
"Hint XP…what is that? And the hint system is upgradeable?"
He mulled over the new information that he got. However, only after following the arrow will he truly know if upgrading the system is a worthy endeavor of his time. For now, he decided to toss away all of his hypothesis regarding the system at the back of his head.
Afterward, he stood up from his bed, stretched for a bit, and then walked outside his room while following the hovering arrow. He was allowed by his doctor to climb out of his bed as he has already completely recovered. He was asked to stay for a few more hours for monitoring, but he can walk around the facility in the meantime if he feels like it.
Following the arrow, it led him to a dark hallway in the left wing of the hospital. This area is mainly used for storing medical materials, noted by the doors having corresponding item names. The hallway was eerily quiet, with the only noticeable sound coming from the dripping water from the faucet on one of the closed rooms.
Plop… Plop … Plop …
Suddenly, a cool breeze passed by him causing him to shiver for a moment. He kept having this nagging feeling that someone or something is observing him from the shadows of this long and dark hallway, causing him to have goosebumps in his right arm.
Nigel grew up submerge on watching scientific shows. Because of his upbringing, he never believe on things that are not explainable by science such as ghosts or anything paranormal. However, the experiences that he had today has definitely shaken up this belief of his. After all, if he denies the existence of those mystical events, then how will he be able to explain this uncanny ability that he has.
The arrow seems to be pointing to the end of the hallway, which is shrouded by darkness as the lights seemed to be malfunctioning in this hallway. The only source of light is from the smart phone in Nigel's hand. He is using its flash light function to navigate through the hallway.
Little by little, Nigel can somewhat make out what the arrow is pointing to. It was actually an elevator, which seems to still be working as he can vaguely see the faint light being emitted by the elevator's floor button.
"Is it telling me to ride the elevator?"
Nigel didn't immediately go inside the elevator as he doesn't know what will happen once he figured out what the arrow is pointing to. It might become dangerous, so as a precaution he sent what at first might seem to be an innocent text message to his friend and mother about discovering this antiquated elevator, telling them his precise location.
'At the minimum, if something would ever happen to me the first area that they are going to investigate will be right here.'
Not yet satisfied with just that, he looked for around to see if there was something that he can use. In the right corner he found a mop made out of aluminum steel. Grabbing it by the body, he started lifting it up and moving it around like a sword. Seemingly satisfied with the weight or the hardness of the pole of the mop, he removed the head of the mop and placed it in the corner where he originally found it.
Taking a deep breath, he calmed his frantically beating heart and started to push the button for requesting the elevator in this floor. In the first few seconds, nothing happened. Then, after a minute or two, the elevator door suddenly opened. Surprisingly, the interior was well maintained with signs of it newly furbished. The light was bright and the floor was clear of dirt. The left and ride side was covered by wallpaper however the back and front of the elevator was in pure metal.
He went inside after observing it quickly. Checking out the available floor buttons, he felt odd that there were extra floor buttons in the panel. The hospital only has five floors however in the panel there were a total of seven buttons. While it does strike him as odd, he thought nothing of it because there were some cases of elevators having extra buttons. It was either the elevator installing company ordered the wrong panel or something else, but those extra buttons virtual do nothing.
Now that he was inside the elevator, the arrow suddenly disappeared from his vision. Not knowing what to do next, he was about to go out of the elevator when suddenly the door began to close quickly.
Modern elevators are all installed with automatic doors that closed itself when the elevator is idle. While it does strike him unusual for the door to close earlier than most of the elevators that he has ridden before, it was still not enough for him to display any immediate reaction.
Letting his idle thoughts slipped by, he raised his arm towards the elevator panel and lightly pushed the button for opening the elevator door. However, he soon discovered that the door did not open in the slightest. Frowning, he started to forcefully push the button repeatedly but the door did not budge at all.
Panic began to emerge inside his heart as he began to feel the unnaturalness of the situation. He kept on trying to open the door via pressing the door opening button but with no success. Realizing that the button was not working, he tried using raw strength in opening the doors but it did not yield any result. Next, he tried it with his metal pole however there were no area that he can use to leverage the pole as a fulcrum.
Exhausted, he held out his phone and tried calling anyone but for some mysterious reason, there was no reception inside this elevator. With most of his options exhausted, he was contemplating on using another hint point but ultimately decided against it.
'I don't even know what effect it will bring in my situation. I also don't know if the usage is refreshable so I better save it. My mother will fetch me later in three. By that time, they should have noticed my disappearance.'
With nothing else to do, he went to a corner of the elevator and sat on the floor. He had expended a lot of energy trying to push the doors wide open and he had just recently recovered from blood lose. It is not shocking to see signs of fatigue from his face.
With his eyes close, he began to silently recover his strength. His rough breathing has slowly calmed down and his state was much better compared from before. This allowed him to think with clarity compared to his previous panic-stricken state.
'In the first place, why did the hint lead me here? Is there any significance with this location and the stone carving in the university?'
He pondered, trying to sort out all the information that he has from the moment that he receive the hint system. As he continued on dwelling on his thoughts, the light inside the elevator began to flicker. At first, it flickered once quickly. However, the flickering continued on as the bulb began to die out.
The elevator was now completely covered in darkness. Nigel's senses heightened as a rush of adrenaline spurt out of his body. Still completely sitting in the floor, Nigel began to feel cold sweat dripping from his face.
Without any prior notice, the bulb shined its light again in the elevator. Nigel should have been happy since the light was back, however, he just can't.
No, it was simply impossible for him to become happy. Rather than happiness, it was overwhelming fear that he was currently feeling.
Fear that was coming from the corner of his eyes. Fear from the blurry reflection displayed by the aluminum doors. Fear from the figure that was clearly not with him when he entered the elevator yet it was now in the other corner adjacent from where he is.
His heart began to palpitate rapidly as he tried his best not to move, less he disturbs or attracts the attention of the figure of what looks like a child. The silent tension was slowly driving him insane as he does not know what he should do in this situation.
He was just hoping that it was just his imagination or an illusion created by the sudden flickering of the lights earlier. However, the universe did not listen to him at all as the lights went out again.
This time, the bulb was struggling to keep itself shining as it kept on flickering on and on and on. Finally, like a light at the end of the tunnel, the bulb was finally able to provide stable light. The flickering stopped, and when Nigel opened his eyes he noticed that the figure in the other corner of the elevator vanished, like it was just a huge lie.
Relief completely filled his face as he was able to free the tension building up in his body. Feeling curious, he directly turned his head to the corner where the figure was previously. Finally confirming that in fact, the figure was not there anymore, he let out a huge sigh.
However, when he turned his head back to where it was facing previously, his heart jump out of his rib cage from the shock and fear as right now he was looking face to face with the figure earlier!
The distance between his face and the figure's face was a short one inch. He can even feel the freezing ominous breathing the child-shaped figure was emitting. He can clearly see the face of the creature.
It has no pupil, and its skin is pure pale. Its nose bone is exposed and the side of its mouth is clearly torn off. A part of its scalp was missing and one can see the innards of his head. Grey rotting matter is spilling out from the opening of its skull. It was emitting an atrociously foul smell that will make anyone vomit whatever they ate earlier.
Nigel was shocked to the core that he was not able to process what he was seeing right now. Maybe because of the extreme shocked that he experienced, Nigel's mind began to blank out as he fell unconscious inside the elevator.
However before Nigel's mind was consumed by darkness, he can distinctly see the mouth of the figure slowly opening and closing.
"Help me… please… please…"