My heart dropped.
I stilled myself and stopped moving completely. The next few seconds felt like hours as I argued in my head. Should I turn around now? Should I just runaway? Should I just look for the guard, whose flashlight could no longer be seen anywhere. Options one and two were looking the best.
"Hello" I called cautiously, hoping to at least hear something that let me know the guard was alive.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
The kind of quiet that usually proceeds a series of swift violent deaths.
"Fuck it". I said to myself. The suspense was killing me. I turned around sharply and tried to see through the murky fog caused by a complete absence of light in this wing. I walked back toward the end of the hallway; toward the cell I'd just left. The light thudding of my footsteps was the only sound, echoing and resonating with each step I took.
At this point I was practically sweating. I still hadn't caught sight of the mysteriously missing guard and there were only five doors left until I reached the end of the corridor.
I started to realize as I was passing, that most of the rooms offered light, that was being directed to the floor in front of me. I began to look inside of the lit up spaces, all of which were empty. I was at the end of the hall once again, and still no sight of the guard. I looked into the last room. The room he'd been in.
He was gone? But, how?
A single bulb struggled to illuminate the room as I pondered. My thinking was then cut short by the sound of nails scraping. No, not nails, claws. I looked around frantically. And then, I looked up.
On the ceiling were long gashes that ruined the perfect white paint. The marks cut below the cement foundation, almost through to the world, to freedom.
"Mi..ch..elle" a raspy voice choked out.
I felt a hair, no fur covered limb brush my leg.
And that's when I screamed.