The more I stared, the more it seemed to stare back at me, and unbeknownst to me my feet had started to walk me closer.
I felt hypnotised, controlled, not realising any of my own actions,
it was unnerving yet also fascinating.
The loud sound of the cat screeching brought my attention back to the present and I panicked dropping the candle on the floor.
I felt dizzy and confused as I looked around, groaning in frustration while trying to move my feet.
The cat seemed to try grabbing my attention as she scratched at the stairs.
"Coming" I mumbled, trying to reassure both of us "I'm coming, wait".
Somehow I managed to get myself to the stairs in one piece, losing track of how many times I bumped into something, worsening my panic.
Everything was shrouded in complete darkness except that faint source of light coming from upstairs and brightening the stairs.
I decided to close my eyes as I pushed forward because the more, I checked my surrounding, the wilder my imagination seemed to get, conjuring illusions.
I could swear I even saw a dark silhouette in the corner at one point, but it was gone when I looked again.
Crawling my way up and after multiple failed attempts I managed to close the heavy metal door.
I felt like I was having a mental breakdown,
my whole body shook before I collapsed onto the floor.
"What was that?" I managed to voice out in between heavy breaths.
"Did you see that too?" I asked the cat as if she could answer me.
She stood there a few feet away, very stoic, it was unnatural.
I carefully crawled towards her and tried petting her to get her attention "Are you okay?"
Before my hand made contact with her, she ran out of the room, a little too fast.
The room was in complete silence again except the occasional sounds of my heavy breathing.
"Breathe in" I closed my eyes "Breathe out" I mumbled.
After a few minutes I finally felt like I could stand up again, though my legs felt wobbly while doing so,
I wanted to be out of this room as soon as possible.
At last, with great effort I made it out the door and shut the door behind me.
The contrast to the level of brightness down there and up here was more than striking and at this point I had already convinced myself into believing that half the things I witnessed were the product of an overimaginative mind and nothing else.
I was already both mentally and physically exhausted at this point, my mind was definitely playing some sick twisted tricks on me and I couldn't properly rely on my eyes for judgement.
I still felt strange every time I thought back to….'that'.
I was deep in thought when I arrived at the door to my bedroom and finally decided all these thoughts and feelings could wait for tomorrow to be processed.
before I rushed to my room and collapsed on my bed.