Terrors

       I recall the incident, the summer of 2013 that follows my soul’s sudden re-awakening and thrill. It is one of the most unforgettable moments in my life. I did nothing but to occasionally reminisce what occurrence that happened in that very moment. Every time I thought myself being in that situation again makes me shiver and it sends chills down my spine. I imagine myself shaking violently, if that thing supposedly happened.

      It was in the middle of the afternoon, where me and  my friends went downstairs by using an elevator from the penthouse (8^th floor of the building – where my church was located) to take a lunch downstairs after volunteering for DVBS (Daily Vacation Bible School) in our church (GCF north at the Jocfer Building along Commonwealth Ave.) when my vast and playful mind is trying to persuade my actions to go to the other staircase where it was dark, cold, creepy and full of unexplained dusts to take a shortcut. I opened the elevator at the 7^th floor where, in the rumors, was really haunted. As I was walking and wandering through the bleak corridors and staircases in the building where my church was, I found myself longing for the pathway where the shortcut was. I cross the distance with long strides. I couldn’t fathom how many heartbeats were thumping when I reached the end zone. All I see is a blank hued wall on the sides and a door in my front. Then my mind turned loose in that moment.

       One or two steps, I took. Then the third one I stopped. My hands unintentionally were shaking as I reach for the doorknob. I twisted it forcefully even if there was a side of me that is telling me to stop opening the door. It seemed that all remaining warmth in my body was captured into clenched fist of my other hand burrowing in my pants’ pockets. As the dry air was stinging and irritating my nostrils when I breathe, I decided to go inside the door, where I found the narrow staircase that was built and architecturally purposed for emergency exit. It circles spirally going up and down, but with the rectangular perimeter. I found there a deafening silence, where there were no windows at all. Just one step after I entered the door, at the back of  me, I heard a loud bang, a noise that change the whole scenario – the realization that the door shut close.

        All I hear is my own breathing, teaching myself to become less panicky. Swiftly I formulated an action – to open the door again and run away from that creepy place. The reaching for the doorknob was faster than a lightning bolt and as was the twisting. One thing I conclude, it won’t work. The door automatically was locked after it had been shut closed. The appearance of the whole setting surprisingly adds horror in my head – dark, silent, narrow, old, empty and vast.

        The realization that I was locked in the emergency exit was abominable. Then there came a brilliant idea. Why don’t I try the other floors? Obviously my next move was to run, jump and think quickly among the stairs. I try the 6^th floor’s door. I pushed so hard that I think that the noise was heard outside. It is unfortunately locked too. I checked my phone and I found zero balance to call my whoever-someone-who-can-save-me. Further, I tried the rest of the floors, doing the same method as the 6^th. But all the floors that I’ve tried, seemed unluckily were all closed too.

        The feeling of being in tears aroused as I recalled the awful emptiness of realizing that I was lost, trapped and alone. All of my years existence, I hate being trapped in a thrilling way. Hunger strikes painfully as I implied in my mind that I will be lost forever and soon, will die from starvation and dehydration from that creepy place. That nobody knows where I was, or where will I die. I began to feel that I wouldn’t be found that afternoon or even at night – much worse even for days. The formulation simply held my mind to think alternatively a way to get out of that fury or somewhat wrath of occurrences. Voila! Never give up!

         It was about a quarter an hour when I decided to try again all the floors and hopefully found an open door. I tried, I ran as fast as I could, jump from multiple steps in the stairs, cutting my breath every now and then and finally! I found an open door. The running is worth the effort because it brought an intense feeling of being freed. Somewhat there is a thought that was spasmodically circling on my mind – “Yes Lord! I’m saved!”

       I sprang completely over my hasty horror place through the narrow corridors when I hear a familiar voice – a voice of my friend. “Where have you been?” says he. “I had just experienced a complete terror. Anyways, I’m hungry.” I blurted out. “I will tell you the whole story, just let me eat.”

       Cramps gone, the terror vanished, the horror forgotten, I sat in complete conscious mind full of cottony cloud. I found myself laughing with tears after that moment.