By: Jessie Sha

I stood in front of three doors, all by myself. Silence filled the locked room. Next to the doors was a letter? Or a poem? It read 1 & 3 are filled with your fears. 2 is different, but you must get past. Go through one door and make it all the way, you will be set free of this world. I walked over to the first door and flung it open. There, winding into the distance was a narrow walkway with spiders all over dipping spiderwebs. I shuddered looking at them “Ugh, I hate this place.” I stepped into the hallway, ignoring the brush of webs against my leg.

At the end of the hallway, something moved. I took another step, peering closer. “Oh, of course, Arachne.” I wanted to squirm at the way the creepy lady with a ginormous spider body stared at me as if I was her next snack. I turned and hurried back out, hearing the sounds of her skittering giant legs and she started to come after me. I shut the door as fast as I could, sighing when I finally heard her skittering recede. “Spiders are bad enough, but a building sized spider with a creepy girl face on it, that’s even worse. No way I’m going to walk into door 3.” Without hesitating, I grasped the handle of door 2, and strode in.

At first, I saw nothing but blackness. “Hello?” I said, only for it to be echoed back. Suddenly, a dim light switched on. Now, the scene was clear. I was standing in a long hallway with tall stairs to my right and a door to my left. As I stepped forward, I caught a glimpse of a huge kitchen around the corner. “This looks like an abandoned mansion.” I walked around the kitchen until the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Someone was watching me. suddenly felt as if something was watching me. I turned around quickly, my hair whipping my face.

Standing a foot away was what could only be a demon. The creature had light pink horns, a sharp tail and a head taller than me. “This looks like one of my story creations.”

“H-h-hello,” I said, my voice shaking. We stared at eachother as I thought of ways to get around im. The demon didn’t say anything. I looked down, noticing his stance. “I can slide under his legs and run up as fast as I can.” Without waiting another second, I ran and slid on the tiles scorching my knees through my black pants. Before the demon knew what had happened, I’d started to run. Just as I reached the stairs, several demons popped up from the floor and started after me. I ran even faster, ducking into a room, with a-a creepy headless lady. That didn’t seem good. She rose and turned towards me as I raced through the bathroom into another room. “Phew, nothing here.” I sagged against the wall, struggling to catch my breath.

I only rested a second. The headless lady shuffled into view, followed by 6 demons. I threw open another door, and found myself in the longest hallway in the universe. I ran. Demons emerged from everywhere, even in front of me. “Shoot, I’m surrounded.” I slowed to a stop, then turned around at the sound of a small fierce bark. I looked down to see a pure white dog standing in front of the crowd of demons following the headless lady. I darted back, picking up the white dog and carrying it to where I was.

I stood still, looking for a loophole through the demons. There was a door to my right, so I just grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. Thankfully, this hallway wasn’t filled with demons and had lights all the way on. I quickly closed the door and ran as far as I could before the demons broke down the door and got to us. The dog barked quietly in my hands as if it could sense the demons still after us. I saw a door up ahead running faster just so I could get out of here.

Once I got to the door, the demons arrived just then. The door was stuck, so I yanked it open, and it led me down a hallway to a place so bright it shone of white light. I walked down the hallway, and once I finally made it through, I felt like I was floating while still holding the pure white dog in my hands. Then right after, I was yanked upward into reality?