Archive of Our Own

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CHAPTER 1
THE INTRODUCTION
Daily BoredomI was sitting in my house with my TV playing random stuff to try and eliminate my daily boredom.I decided to call my friends to see how they were, just, so I wasn’t sitting around with nothing to do.I waited for a few minutes to see if anyone would pick up and no one answered, so I texted them, and no one answered after an hour.Finally, they all answered my text, and we called each other to eliminate the boredom.“Hey guys, how’s it going?” I ask. “It’s not going too bad. What about you?” Beau asked. “I’m bored, incredibly bored, bored to the point where I watched paint dry for 30 minutes,” I answered. “That seems fun,” Koltn said. “No, it was not fun. I literally had nothing to do. How can that be fun?” I exaggerated.“So, what’d you want from us Fido?” Carson asked. “Well, the only reason I called is to stay in touch with you guys, and also I was just bored and needed someone to talk to because my whole family is at the store and they asked if I wanted to stay at home alone, so I did just that,” I replied.“Wow, so you only talk to us when you’re bored?” Tristan said sarcastically. “You being sarcastic?” I ask. “Yes, I’m being sarcastic,” he replied. “Tristan probably doesn’t even know what sarcastic means,” Brayden said. “I know what it means!” Tristan said. “Ok, then tell me the definition of it,” Brayden said.Tristan tries to think about what the word was and eventually he googled the word up and we knew it because we had already pulled up the exact definition of it on google and he said the exact thing we saw on google.“Ok, so the definition of it is marked by or given to using irony in order to mock or convey prompt,” Tristan said.“Yeah, you googled that,” Carson intervened. “How did I google it? It was just the first thing that came to my head. Also, you’re not supposed to tell anyone that Carson,” Tristan said. “We know you googled it because that’s the exact definition google uses,” I said. “How do you know I used google? What if I used the encyclopedia or Wikipedia?” Tristan countered. “Ok, we can’t prove that, but you get our point,” Koltn said.We sat there and talked for a while, and we all decided to end the call and watch some TV. They all watched their shows that I never knew existed. I didn’t know what they were watching, because I’m not a psycho that watches their every move like the serial killers in movies.I saw the news for a minute just to see what juicy stuff was going on around us and then I saw this…“Breaking News! We have reported that several pedestrians have gone missing in the fields of Uchitca, Oihoi. It is also said that two unidentified kids have gone missing here and haven’t been seen. We have pictures of the children but no further evidence of their personal record. No one really knows what happened to them, but several others have claimed to see people hearing strange noises inside of tall grass,” News reporter 1 says.“Correct, and other people also claimed that when the people went in this tall grass (that is about 7 feet tall) they claimed they walked in and never returned out,” News reporter 2 said.“We advise others to stay clear of this…” What happened there was me accidentally changing the channels, and I missed out on some important news that could save us from a terrifying experience.“Wait, no, no, NO!” I panic as I change the channel back.“And now for the weather forecast,” News reporter 1 says.“DANGIT! I MISSED IT!” I screamed. “Now I won’t be able to see what happened. I feel like I should tell the gang about this.”I end up texting them. I told them I just saw a weird news report about missing people and even the two kids and asked them if we should meet up and talk about this.And that’s exactly what we did. We met up by a local store in town to talk about it.“So, what’s this thing about missing people?” Brayden asked. “Well, I saw a news report that said people have gone missing in a random field of like 7-foot-tall grass, then it said people claimed to hear a weird noise coming from the grass that gets certain people's attention then they never return out of the field,” I explain.“Maybe we should check it out,” Tristan said. “Ok, I’m down. What about you guys?” I asked. “I don’t see why not.” Koltn said. “Ok fine,” Brayden groaned.So, we went to check out the crime scene, and what we found threw us through a loop.We ended up approaching a field with short grass that was about 3 feet long but had strange noises in it.We heard the noise, and it sounded like a cat was trapped or something.We didn’t think it was like the thing it said on the news, so we went inside. Then out of nowhere, it goes dark and we all black out.CHAPTER 2
THE BEGINNING OF THE BACKROOMS…
Hell starts now… (1 second in)We woke up after the blackout and we found ourselves in a weird labyrinth with dampened walls colored yellow, with weird buzzing coming from the lights above, and damp yellow carpet.No one really knows where they were, but I did…“Where are we at?” Brayden asked. I stuttered a lot because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. “What’s wrong Fido?” Beau asked. “I-I-I… Why… But… How…” I stutter. “JUST SAY IT ALREADY!” Koltn yelled.“I never thought we would get transported to The Backrooms,” I said. “What’s The Backrooms?” Carson asks. “It’s an urban legend that the internet talks about all the time, and it’s not supposed to be real no matter what, but apparently it is real,” I explain.“Oh, well, isn’t that nice, but another thing is, what even is it?” Tristan asked. “What do you mean?” I asked. “I’m saying like how it is designed, and what stuff we have to do to escape.”“Oh, ok. Every level of this place is supposed to be infinite according to the wiki, and it says that each level can have various difficulties, challenges, and entities that WILL KILL YOU! Also, there are about up to 9 quintillion levels of The Backrooms, each having challenges to face. Occasionally, you would find a safe level that has no entities and no challenges, just a straightforward level that you can relax in,” I explained.“So, it’s a death trap for all humans?” Koltn said. “Pretty much, Koltn.”“So, how do we escape this level?” Beau asked. “All we have to do is walk around long enough until we find a vent to go inside of, then after that it sends us to a completely random level,” I reply.“Shall we move then?” Brayden asked. “Why wouldn’t we?” Carson said. “You got a good point.”We walked around getting used to the layout of the first level, but there was one thing that we would never get used to, and it is the INSANELY ANNOYING BUZZING SOUND!Otherwise, we would get used to the place fast.There seemed to be no sight of any entities at all, which was good, but we still had to be aware of our surroundings, just in case.Time passes by, and we saw nothing helpful except this…“What’s this? ALMOND WATER!?” Tristan complained. “Who would drink that stuff? Disgusting,” Beau said.“Yeah, you might not know this, but almond water can actually help you regain sanity and energy, which is a key thing to help you survive in The Backrooms,” I say.“Really?” Huh, didn’t know that. I always thought almond water was for people on diets,” Carson said. “Nope, that’s not all.” “Huh, well, that’s good to know. Maybe we can use this to our advantage, even though it’ll probably taste bad at first,” Koltn said. “If you find any almond water, grab it and store it somewhere with us,” I say. “Ok,” everyone replies.We continue our little journey, and so far, we have gotten nowhere. It just feels like we were going in circles, but hell, we couldn’t tell because all the walls look the same. Every turn we take looks the same as the one we took 2 minutes ago, because if the place is infinite, most places will look the same as everything else.We ended up walking for over an hour, and we still have found nothing yet. But then, we hear something mortifying!“Hey, do you guys hear anything?” Beau asks. “No, why?” “Because I swear, I heard footsteps behind us,” Beau said. “Are you over-exaggerating again?” Koltn asked. “Koltn, I’m not exaggerating, I am being dead on serious.” “Oh, wait, wrong word. I meant to say going insane.” “Dude, why don’t you believe me? And before you say anything, listen around for a few minutes. Maybe you’ll believe me then.”So Koltn and the rest of us stood there and listened to any sounds. After a few minutes, we thought he was just trying to make us scared until we heard footsteps shuffling around.“See, you were lying to us,” Koltn said. “Oh, was I?” Beau said, as footsteps started shuffling around.“Ok, maybe you weren’t lying,” I said. “Now that you believe me, we should run,” Beau said, as we started sprinting.The footsteps turned into sprints, and we looked behind us to see a weird miniature Camera Head looking creature that was black and didn’t have a siren for a head, but a more camera type head.We just ran for our lives, and we saw a vent and we quickly rushed inside of it, and barely escaped with our butts still attached to us. And now the next level awaits us…CHAPTER 3
THE DARK PRESENCE OF A FIGURE
Strange voices lurk in our heads. (2 months in)We found ourselves in a weird gray hallway with a bunch of faulty sewer pipes everywhere. Some even had steam/mist/smoke that came out of it.It didn’t damage our lungs, but we didn’t want to breathe too much in just in case, because for all we know, it could be carbon monoxide or a deadly toxin that when consumed directly would kill you on the spot.We started walking through the level, which was just a very long hallway with some lit up areas and some dark areas.I also heard rumors on the internet that if you heard water flowing rapidly in the pipes to run as fast as you could, but I didn’t know because I wasn’t sure if it was for this level or not.All I knew was I didn’t want to be on this level much longer because of the entity on this level.“Hey Fido, are there any entities on this level?” Carson asked. “There is only one entity on this level, and it’s called the Figure,” I reply.“What does it do?” Beau asked. “I don’t quite remember, but the only thing I remember is it will chase you through this level at whatever speed you run at, but it’s only 2% faster than you. So, it’s just pure luck that he spawns far enough away to survive him. "And that’s about it,” I said.“Oh, so now it’s Russian Roulette at this point?” Brayden asked. “I guess you could say that” Koltn answered.The speed walking we were doing slowly turned into a light sprint, but then this happened.“Psst, start running,” a strange voice said. “Did you guys hear that?” Beau mumbled. “Hear what? I heard nothing stinky,” I said.“I swear on the Bible and Jesus Christ that I heard something,” Beau said. “You’re going crazy. Here, has some almond water to slow your anxiety levels down,” Carson mocked.“Hardy, har, har, hilarious Carson,” Beau grunted. “But sure, I’ll have some.”Beau takes a sip of almond water, but still hears the voices, and now Tristan and Brayden are hearing things now.“Hey, hey you, why aren’t you running? You’re not very good listeners,” the voice says again.“Now I’m hearing it too,” Tristan said. “Me too,” Brayden added.“Have you all lost your minds?” Carson asked. “Maybe we have. Maybe it’s a sign you wouldn’t know because you haven’t heard it yet,” Brayden countered.Suddenly, me and Carson hear the voices, and we freak the hell out.“Holy crap, holy crap, I heard a voice, and now we’re going to run FAST!” I scream.And that’s exactly what we did. We were bolting for the exit, and that’s when the entity spawned in the level, and we got lucky.The figure spawned at the beginning of the level, so it would take an eternity for it to catch up to us.We still ran for our lives, though. We would not chance it catching up to us.We were terrified. All we could think about was not dying whilst trying to escape at the same time.“When are we going to reach the end?” Koltn asked. “Just be patient. It’ll take time, but I can barely make out a door just down the hallway,” I reply. “Then let’s get a move on, then.”We ended up going from a light sprint to a full throttle sprint to the end.Some areas got dark, so we used my phone’s flashlight and kept hearing more voices.“Come on, don’t run away. You’ll love it here, spending eternity in eternal HELL!” the voices say.“Nah, I ain’t falling for that,” Brayden said. “Then continue running and don’t look back,” I say. “I SEE THE EXIT! IT’S JUST UP AHEAD!” Carson hollers in excitement.We ran towards the exit, and we walked through the door, not realizing we had made a huge mistake that would come back to eat us sooner or later.CHAPTER 4
RUNNING FOR OUR LIVES!
The 6-mile sprint of a nightmare. (5 months in)We escaped the Figure, and now we were going to have some fun at this specific level.The level started us in a hospital type level with red lights and wailing sirens. So, we started running, because I told everyone to do so, because the level was a run for your life level, and it was a good thing we did so, because behind us was a giant horde of entities moving faster than we could imagine. They were easy to outrun, but that didn’t mean we could take it easy on them.“What are those behind us? Are they entities?” Beau asked. “Yeah, the ones that look like a big smiling creature, are called Smilers. I know shocking, right? The entities that look like a big clump of clay are called Skin Stealers. The black creatures are called Figures, kind of like the one from the last level. The big moths are called Deathmoths. And finally, the human type entities with blurred faces are called Facelings,” I explained.“Oh, so you’re saying this is straight up hell?” Brayden said. “I guess you can say that. Also, you’ll need to store up some energy for this 6-mile sprint,” I insisted. “6 MILES!?” Everyone screams. “Yep, you heard me right.”“This is going to be one hell of an experience, isn’t it?” Brayden said. “You got that right,” Beau replied.“Make sure if you find any almond water, grab it and store it so we can run, also find energy bars as well. They’ll help us,” I suggested. “Roger that,” Tristan said.It has been an hour, and we almost made it halfway through. The entities were far away from us, and we found a quote-on-quote exit. And by exit, I meant a fake one.“Hey, look at the exit! We’re saved!” Carson says in excitement. “I don’t think that’s an exit,” I interrupt. “What do you mean? It says exit right on that sign,” Koltn said. “I understand that. But the real exit is WAAAAAAAAAY down the hallway.”“Should we at least check it, just to be sure?” Koltn asked. “Fine, do whatever you like, but know I have warned you,” I warned Koltn.Koltn and the others opened the door, and behind it was a bunch of smilers. And we immediately shut the door and kept running, even though the entities were a long way away from us. But hey, it’s better to stay ahead than let them catch up or a better way to say it is, better safe than sorry.We kept running and running, and even though a lot of time seemed to pass by, we were only 2/3 of the way done even after what felt like 2 hours was like 20 minutes.Apparently, time moved slower here. Or maybe it was because we all were losing our sanity slowly from running for so long. Even with no energy bars or almond water, it was hard to maintain stamina, energy, and sanity.“Dude! I thought you said there were almond water and energy bars here!” Beau yelled. “I swear there was almond water and energy bars here!” I spoke. “Well, I think you’re lying,” Carson said. “I’M NOT LYING!” I screamed. “Well, obviously you were because I haven’t seen any almond water or energy bars this whole time,” Tristan pointed out. “Maybe I’ve just lost my mind. I just need to relax and go to my happy place.”I did not go to my happy place; I only said that to get my mind off the chase and trust me, it was hard because of the FREAKING SIRENS GOING WEEWOO-WEEWOO!Other than the annoying sirens, I could maintain focus and concentration, and since I could maintain all that focus, I grabbed everyone by their hands and started sprinting as fast as possible.They were all confused at first until they saw me going light speed, but then suddenly I came back to reality and realized that I daydreamed that, while running for my life! Strange, huh?I was concerned and confused about my imagination and what it can do to me.Time passes by, and we have made it to the final mile, and we were so tired that the entities slowly caught up to us, and it scared the living demons out of us.“YO HOLY HELL! THE ENTITIES ARE RIGHT BEHIND US!” Brayden screamed. “I think this is the perfect time to make a big run for it, so we don’t get our toes eaten alive,” I suggested. “Good call.”We bolt almost as fast as Usain Bolt (not really). The entities scared us half to death, so we had no choice but to just run!We could see the exit to the level, and we were so relieved. We reached our hands out for the exit, and we finally made it out.But little did we know, Brayden found us some almond water and energy bars at the end of the level, right at the exit. So, he grabbed it and as he reached for the door, it shuts in front of him, and he gets trapped, not knowing if he’s going to die.CHAPTER 5
HORRIFIC NEWS
One man short. (7 months in)We were finally free from that terrifying level and got sent to a cabin level that was claustrophobic.We immediately got the sense of being watched from the shadows. Which is the whole purpose of the level.So, I started talking to everyone about the last level, but I noticed something… off… Brayden was missing.“Hey guys? Where’s Brayden?” I asked. “I thought he was with you,” Beau replied. “He was with all of us, though, Beau,” Koltn said.“Ok Brayden, this isn’t funny anymore. Please come out and quit pranking us,” Tristan said. No one replies.“Did he get left in that running level!?” Carson hollered. “I hope not, cause then that would mean *gasp*” Beau gasped in fear. “What? What does what mean?” Tristan asked. “That means he’s gone… forever,” I replied in depression.“You’re kidding right? This must be a joke. You can’t be serious!” Carson spiraled. “I am being serious! He’s gone! We were too stupid and let him die! It’s over!” I cried.We had an emotional goodbye to our friend, and we continued with our lives and learned to accept his death. Or did we?“Hello? Can you guys hear me?” A random voice said. “Brayden? Is that you, my banana friend?” I asked. “Indeed, it is, so I have some good news and some bad news. Also, I can only talk for the next 2 minutes, so I have to be fast.”“So, the good news is I’m still alive but being held hostage in a random room. But the bad news is that the only way to free me is to make it through 4 more levels including this one, to set me free, and the worse news (that I never told you) is that if you fail a level and don’t find the correct exit, I will die!”“So, the levels you need to beat are this level, an arcade level, a cartoon type level, and the final one is a city level you will find me in. If you get sent to a different level order than what I said. Then I’ll die! So be on the lookout for the hints I give on each level. I wish you guys luck, be safe and do your best. Goodbye for now.”“Well, that was unexpected. I thought he would die,” Koltn said. “He might die if we don’t follow his instructions,” I said. “If we follow his instructions right, then we first have to start with this level,” Carson said. “Then let’s get cracking.”We walk around for a while to find any hints, but we find nothing. Then we all started getting hungry because no one’s eaten in what feels like days. Thankfully, there was food on the level that wasn’t expired or rotten, so I ended up making some Rotisserie Chicken with BBQ seasoning on it.The food looked like it would come from a Kroger's or Walmart, and it was cold packaged food, but it was still edible and didn’t have any mold.So, I threw it into an oven and cooked it while making veggies and baked potatoes.I know, I was making a 5-star meal for everyone in a freaking Backrooms level. Don’t see that every day now, do you?As the food was cooking, everyone sat down and started talking about ways to escape and of course I listened in and all I could hear was “Maybe we can… then… and finally… and that’s how your escape.” And I couldn’t make everything out because of me cooking everything, the music playing, and TV static. And not gonna lie, it was really annoying.“Does that TV static annoy you guys at all, or is it just me?” I asked. “Yeah, it’s kind of annoying, but the music here overlaps it, so it’s not that bad,” Koltn replied. “Yeah, it’s not that bad. You’ll get used to it,” Beau said.Suddenly, out of nowhere, there was a loud crash that happened in one room, and it scared the crap out of everyone.“HOLY… Christ bro, scared the socks off of me,” I said. “Me too. I might have to get new socks,” Koltn said. “Why do you need new socks?” Beau asked. “Because they got scared right off of me,” Koltn replied as he chuckled under his breath.I started laughing, and so did everyone else. And while we were laughing, the food had just finished cooking, so we sat down, and we ate.As everyone sat down to eat, I brought out butter for the potatoes, salt and pepper for everything, and even condiments for the chicken.I even grabbed napkins, silverware, and plates for everyone, and to top it off, I got everyone a glass of almond water, almond milk, or just water.Most said water, but I got some almond water to regain some sanity. And it worked.After I did, we dug in, and we devoured the food faster than it takes The Flash to travel around the multiverse.“Oh baby, it feels so good to have food after many days,” Tristan said with a full mouth. “Tell me about it, this is good, can’t get enough,” I said. “You did good making this Fido,” Carson congratulated. “Thanks, now zip it and dig in,” I said.We stayed quiet for a while since we were munching on food so much, so we just enjoyed the music and had a nice time.Once I finished my food, I threw my stuff away and cleaned my plate off, then I walked around a bit. The level wasn’t infinite, so I wouldn’t get lost easily. There was only one upstairs and downstairs and that’s it. Didn’t make it easier or harder to get lost.I found nothing helpful, but all I could think of was what Brayden was doing.Out of nowhere, a loud knocking sound started happening at a nearby window and it scared me, and I almost screamed. I looked down and realized I had no socks on because it scared the socks off of me LITERALLY! (See what I did there. Funny right? Yeah, not really).Anyway, I freaked out and ran to any window that I could find to investigate. I didn’t find anything, but then I heard the door behind me slam shut, and I nearly had a heart attack. And no, this is not a joke, I got scared terribly.I threw the door open and ran back down to everyone and they were all confused why I was in such panic and fear.“What’s wrong?” Beau asked. “I think this place is haunted,” I answer. “Why do you think that?” Carson asked. “Because I went upstairs to look for any hints from Brayden, and in the same room I was in, I heard knocking on the window, then when I looked to see what it was, the door slammed shut, and I nearly had a heart attack.” “Oh, should we help you look around?” Tristan asked. “Yeah, we’re all finished anyway,” Koltn said. “Ok, thank you guys.” “Anytime.”So they came with me to find hints, but we all got tired and decided to all take a nap, there was two beds in one room for all four of us, and if we didn’t want to sleep together (which would be weird) there was a couch for some of us, the only one who slept on it was Carson, Me and Koltn in one and Beau and Tristan in the other.As we got comfortable and started falling asleep Carson complained he felt light breathing on his neck, and I screamed at him saying to not turn around to see what it was. He asked me why he couldn’t do it, and I told him that I heard rumors about if you turn your head to see what it was, you will get kidnapped or die or something like that. He immediately listened and went to bed. Everyone else went to sleep, except me.I went and walked around for a bit, which was a massive mistake, because while I was walking around, I ended up hearing footsteps coming behind me and I thought it was one of the boys. I turned around and there was nothing, so I quietly ran back to the room to see that they were all asleep. Then I heard the footsteps again right behind me, and they weren’t just walking, it was a full sprint that was so quiet a deer would have a hard time hearing it.I quickly turned my head to see nothing, so all I did was slowly get back in bed while feeling breathing on my neck, which was so uncomfortable, and it was really hard to resist myself so that I didn’t look back.Thankfully, I made it to bed, and I finally got to get some sleep.*5 hours later*After our nap, we were all ready to finish the level up, after some breakfast made by yours truly.Out of nowhere, a random dozen of eggs appears in the fridge that weren’t originally there. I thought nothing of it, and I started cooking while making yolks and cracking the boys up. (I know I make the greatest jokes ever. Don’t laugh, they’re not that funny).“So, boys? Ready to get cracking?” I say as I crack an egg. “Nice one,” Koltn says sarcastically. “I know, thanks. I spent all my life coming up with that,” I also said sarcastically. “Hardy har har,” Beau laughs.“Anyway, how do you want your eggs? Fried? Over easy? Hard-boiled? Scrambled?” I asked. “I’ll have mine over easy if that’s fine,” Koltn said. “Same here,” Beau and Tristan said. “I’ll have mine hard boiled,” Carson said. “Ok, sounds good,” I say.I end up cooking everyone’s breakfast, getting no one’s order wrong.I started off with Koltn, Beau, and Tristan since they all had the same thing, and while I did, I boiled Carson’s egg for him. Once there’s were all done, I made my eggs, and I scrambled them.I finished cooking, and we all ate some nice food. They thanked me for taking care of them all by myself while we were literally surviving for our lives in half of these levels.After we finished eating, we went in search of an exit. We didn’t want to stay any longer, so it would have been best if we left.We ended up walking into a room, and on the wall, it said, “You should sit down and think of how to get out.” We didn’t know what it meant, but of course we sat down, and as we did that, I suddenly got transported to the next level, and so did everyone else.CHAPTER 6
ARCADE FREEDOM!
A safe level to soothe our minds. (1 year in)After living in literal Scopophobia and Claustrophobia, we finally got sent to an actual safe level with no entities or dangers.The level looked like an arcade that would be found in big cities, except almost infinite, with a bunch of things that most arcades couldn’t even afford to have.They had food courts, bars, a whole entire bowling alley, a massive prize room, laser tag, thousands of arcade machines, and one of the biggest trampoline parks ever to be seen. (Not really, it’s about the size of an average trampoline park, it just looks bigger on the inside than it does the outside.)When we entered, we were in awe of this reward for making it through two terrible levels (the last one and the running one), we first tried to open the doors to outside. Surprisingly, it looked like the real world with cars in the parking lot, but for some odd reason there were no citizens anywhere. We thought the parked cars were people inside the level, but we never saw anyone…We tried opening the doors, but they wouldn’t budge, we tried grabbing stuff to break down the door or the glass on the door. It was almost like the door and windows were made from solid obsidian or diamond, because they would never break no matter what we used. Heck we even used a freaking chair, table, fire extinguisher, and even an axe. Nothing worked.“Why won’t this door open!” Beau groaned. “It’s a prevention that happens in the Backrooms, where you can’t escape escape the level,” I answered. “What do you mean escape escape?” “I mean like you can’t go outside of the level, if there is an outside to it.” “So, you’re saying that we can escape this level, but not go outside of it?” “Yeah, cause that area outside is considered an “out of bounds” place that can’t be accessed.” “Ohhhhh now I understand.”While we wonder what is outside of this level, we stumble on a list of things to complete while being inside it. The list has our names on it indicating that it’s our card we need to escape. There is one specifically for me, and everyone else.“What are these cards for?” Beau asked. “Look at the card, it says Task Card on it. Are you blind?” I ask while laughing at the same time. “Well as you can tell, I am no smart man, I am blind man, but that don’t mean I can’t see you laughing without making noise,” Beau said acting like a caveman. “So, you can tell that I’m laughing but can’t read two words?” I asked.Beau starts giving me the look that says that he is swearing in the name of God and that he is going to punch me but as an inside empty threat joke.I hand everyone the cards with their tasks, and we all start reading ours off one by one. I started out first and named off my three tasks. The first one I had was to bowl three strikes in one bowling match. The second one was to get a high score on a Ski Ball machine with the highest record on it. The record was 55,000 which looked tough but wasn’t that bad once I did it. My final one was to make 5 consecutive basketball shots in Hoops.It was Beau’s turn and his were not all that bad. His first one was to get 1,000 tickets in 30 minutes. His next one was to get the 200-ticket prize in a claw machine with a bunch of tickets. And his last one was to buy a prize for at least 2,500 tickets. He was unfazed because it wasn’t that hard, he just said that it looked easy enough and would take him no time.Carson’s tasks were mediocre because the average person who goes to arcades can do these things in like an hour at the most, unless they’re delusional and incompetent. I doubt Carson would take very long considering it looked super easy. Anyways, he had to get a 3,000-ticket jackpot in one of the little coin machines where you must add coins to the pile for cards to drop, you know what I mean. His second one was to get a jackpot on the wheel of the fortune machine, and it could either be the 500 or 250. And finally, his last one was to get a jackpot or the monster ball in the ball drop machine. The last one was probably the more difficult one.Tristan’s tasks were probably the hardest ones out of everyone’s. His first one was an either or which means he has to choose which one he can do. His first option was to pick either 25,000 tickets in 2 hours or 5 jackpots in 1 hour. It was a hard choice, so he thought about it while saying his other two. His second one was to get a jackpot on any machine on the first try. And his last one was to get first place in laser tag without getting hit. He gets multiple attempts though, so there was nothing to fret about.Finally, Koltn was up. He literally had the easiest ones out of everyone. It is literally as simple as eating food with utensils. He had to get at least 100 tickets from playing Hoops, getting a score of 10 on a machine where you must time when you drop the balls into little cups, and finally get a total of 500 tickets from a claw machine. We were so jealous, especially Tristan.We got to work and separated for a while, but before we left, we noticed something confusing on all the cards. There was a small note there that said, “you get 24 hours to complete your tasks, good luck…” It didn’t really scare us until we realized the pressure that was inflicted on us. Because apparently if you don’t finish your tasks within the time limit, you are foreboded to leave. There will be no escape if you fail. That’s when the pressure started.I went over to bowl for a while and finished fast after just 5 frames of bowling I got 3 strikes. Then I did the Hoops and finished in just 10 minutes. Then I did the Ski Ball, and I managed to complete it in around half an hour which was convenient cause getting that kind of score takes a while, guess I just got lucky. But then I caught a whiff of some delicious food cooking for us and well, you know what I probably did afterwards.Beau was having an easy time because he just stayed at the same claw machine to finish his tasks faster than ever. He started by grabbing a few 50’s 20’s and 10’s he only managed to get a singular 100 but then a crazy thing happened. He was around 500 tickets short of getting the 1,000 tickets and out of nowhere he picked up two 200 ticket bundles that were conveniently placed next to each other. He thought he just got lucky, which he did. What happened was he was at a rigged arcade game with a rare chance of spawning.It’s called the Lucky Machine. It gets this name because of the conveniently placed tickets that spawn close to each other, so close to each other, it’s almost impossible to miss one. It’s almost a guaranteed chance to get these two bundles even if you didn’t try, that’s how lucky this is.As Beau wrapped up his tasks, Carson wasn’t stressing out a whole bunch. He sat there and just pressed one freaking button to get 3,000 free tickets. It took this man 10 minutes to finish the first one surprisingly. He even went to the ball drop and on his 5th attempt he dropped the ball and the “wheel” on the bottom put the jackpot right over the ball, almost like the feeling when you swish a ball in basketball and it never hits the rim, that’s what it felt like when the ball fell down straight into the jackpot hole. Carson of course lost his mind, and he felt so confident that he went to the wheel of fortune games and spun all 6 of them at once and 2 of them landed straight on the 250 jackpot and he got a total of 625 TICKETS!I got jealous, so I went over to the food court area and got me some nice perch and cod with fresh cut fries to calm my jealousness down… and my sanity…Tristan was up, and we didn’t talk about him. The anger, the pain, the mental pain, the challenges, and the agony of his tasks were the literal definition of hell. He did choose his second option to get 5 jackpots in one hour since it could help him get a jackpot on the first try. The jackpot that he got on the first was a type of ball drop with a bunch of fish bowls with the jackpots at the very bottom of the game and he got lucky and got it on the first try. Then he got his four other jackpots with 10 seconds left in his time and he crushed us in laser tag and got first then finished.I was surprised because I figured he would’ve lost his mind after just 20 minutes. But he managed to stay strong and push through, cause to be honest, I would’ve lost my mind after just 15 minutes.Finally, Koltn was up, he had the easiest freaking tasks ever and he finished in just 10 MINUTES!!! *Sigh* Ok, I understand it was an easy task, but come on, it was so easy even a 5-year-old could finish in less than an hour. Maybe not but you get the point.After we all finished, I took everyone over to the food court to get some nice food and drinks before exiting the level and getting one step closer to saving Brayden.CHAPTER 7
Part I. BACK TO THE 70’S?Cartoony houses of confusion? (1.3 years in)We feel upset that we had to leave such a safe and fun level, but we had no choice. It was either we had a fun time, or Brayden suffering because we didn’t save him. Kind of a selfish thing to do (if we did stay back).This next level seemed a bit… off, because of the way it looked like something straight from a 70’s TV show or something that you see from like The Simpson’s. The houses looked like they were 100 years old, and for some reason it had the weirdest music playing from a big speaker that plays through the whole level.“What is this place?” Koltn asks. “Heck, I don’t even know,” I said. “I thought you knew everything about the Backrooms,” Beau said. “Well… I know a lot about it, but I don’t know EVERYTHING!” “Do you at least know if it’s safe or not?” Carson asked. “The only thing that I really know about this level is that it’s a bit dangerous but only at night.” “Well, we just got here so it shouldn’t be close to night… right?” Tristan asked. Those were his famous last words before disaster struck.We all decided to go and search the houses for anything useful or dangerous just to be on the safe side. We split up to cover more ground, and while we do that, we find walkie talkies to stay in contact with each other for some weird reason and we realized that once we entered the houses that we have just messed up big time. The doors slam behind us, and we all start beating on the doors, but they won’t budge no matter what we do. We try using our full force, nothing. We try to use objects in the house to break the windows or doors, nothing. Determined to escape I grab a whole table and run full force towards the door and the only result I get is a broken table with scrap wood everywhere. I leave the mess there and pick up a piece of the scrap wood while using a steak knife to sharpen the stick in case any entities tried to attack me.Just then I heard my walkie talkie go off and I heard Tristan over the phone asking what that noise was. I told him I tried ramming a table into the door to escape and he just sat there in silence. Of course, since all the walkie talkies are connected to the same channel everyone heard me and tried that idea out too, did it work…? Of course, it didn’t, but everyone followed the same idea and sharpened any decent piece of scrap wood with a steak knife or kitchen knife.Nighttime falls in seconds and we all start hyperventilating. I tell everyone to get their sharpened sticks and go hide in a room, closet, under a bed, or anywhere safe if any entities wanted to have their main course for the day. The only bad luck the entities would get is if they went into Carson’s house because all they would have been a side dish instead of a main course.I accidentally had my walkie talkie when I said that out loud and Carson started “yelling” at me in a comedic manner. While he was yelling at me for being funny, we hear our doors bust open and it goes silent… We all sit in a safe spot and thankfully the only entity right now is a smiler, so our weapons didn’t stand a chance. Thankfully they left the house fast, and once they did, we all gathered to get more resources to survive if we were gonna stay for a while, which we didn’t stay for long because of the treacherous nighttime.We walked up to each other with our sticks in hand still just in case we get flanked or outplayed by an entity, because it was still technically nighttime out. The nights here feel long because they are designed like the real world’s night schedule. But lord it felt like night was gonna last the next millennial. It might as well be considering it wasn’t gonna get any better from here on out.Night stretched on for hours and nothing had attacked us just yet. Sticks in hand, eyes on the look-out, pressure and anxiety increasing, God if night was any longer, we probably would’ve screamed.As we kept on searching through the house entities were roaming around the level, but we never realized it because they were so calm and quiet, kind of like how we were trying to be. It wasn’t easy finding stuff, but it was also hard to stay protected since we could be cornered so easily.Just then an entity that looked very similar to a Figure walked into our house and we all stood their silently hoping death would give us a second chance to stay alive. Thankfully the entity was known as a Whisperer so it could only hear things and not see anything, so thankfully all we had to do was silently crawl our way out of the house without making any sounds whatsoever. It slowly walked around trying its best to hear us, but we made it out and ran for dear life.“Fido, do you know what that thing was!?” Beau asked. “I think it’s some sort of Whisperer entity? I’m not exactly sure what it is, but I only know that we shouldn’t interact, talk, or get anywhere close to those things.” “I don’t blame you, but shouldn’t we keep running? Because there’s kind of a few dozen entities behind us about to touch us, if we don’t GET OUT OF HERE!” Carson hollered. “And we’re running now,” I say.The running continues, on and on until I trip and get left behind hoping to make it out alive right as I black out.Part II. THE ESCAPE.
Escaping the entities.I woke up inside one of the houses completely unconscious and unaware of what had happened. I started freaking out and wondering where the other guys were. I scream their names but get no response. I tried to stand up and move until I realized I was tied to a chair unable to move. I struggle, scream, try to escape but nothing works. I hear footsteps wandering through the house, but I see nothing anywhere around me. I start to stress out even more and even start sweating trying to figure out what the hell to do.I tried untying the rope, tried to suck in my body to squirm out of the rope, tried to cut my way out, but it was all hopeless. I looked around me for anything useful to get my hands on after some time, but all I found was my stick on the ground and a boarded/locked up door.I didn’t know what to do so all I did was try and tip the chair over to hopefully set myself free. I was having second guesses on if I should do that. Most TV shows or movies always fail when they try and do that. I did it anyways just to see if it was regretful or a blessing.The more I moved around the more it toppled back and forth. I keep moving and moving hoping to face-plant into the ground at any given moment. “Come on, just a little bit more,” I grunted. Suddenly the chair slowly falls to the ground and my face gets implanted into the flooring beneath me. I heard a small snap, and I hoped I didn’t break my nose. Thankfully it wasn’t terrible, but God did it hurt terribly.“Ugggggh, ahh my nose, Jesus the pain,” I cried out. “Holy crap, I didn’t expect my nose to crack and snap like that, hope it ain’t broken or dislocated.” I managed to get free of the chair and I quickly grabbed the stick and started finding useful things to break down the door.The only useful thing around other than my stick was a switchblade in a cabinet. I kept it in my pocket just in case, so I just used my stick to break the locks. I used the hard side of it as a sledgehammer. The locks broke and the wood crumpled. I felt saved at once, little did I know breaking down that door wasn’t the smartest because just outside of it was a hoard of the most dangerous Backrooms entities just waiting for me.“Uhhh, NOBODY’S HOME!” I said as I closed the door and ran for dear life. I ran so fast that I tripped on stairs and objects that were just sitting around. They chased me and cut me off at every turn I made. It was almost like they were just teleporting in front of me everywhere I went.I eventually found myself in a bedroom and I was cornered. The only thing I could do was pray and hope I would find a way out… until I realized one thing… I had a switchblade and a sharpened stick.I was so terrified of how close they were getting to me that I grabbed the stick and started brutally stabbing the entities and using the switchblade to slash and slice them causing all of them to fall to the ground.I knew I didn’t have much time to escape considering when entities die in the Backrooms, they are either dead for good, or they grow stronger and more hostile. I bolted out of the house and searched for the guys. I couldn’t find them no matter how hard I looked. And suddenly I heard a loud roaring sound coming from the house I had left. The entities had grown stronger…I quickly grabbed the walkie talkie from forever ago and I tried to contact the guys, and thankfully they answered. I found their exact location and as I ran to them the entities were moving incredibly fast so that I couldn’t outrun them much longer. I saw them, just up ahead. I sprinted as hard as I could and out of nowhere, they pulled out a book and all grouped in a circle and performed some sort of ritual?It almost sounded like they were speaking in tongues or Japanese because of the ritual. Out of nowhere all the entities get sucked into the ground as if they got banished. “What did you guys just do?” I asked confused. “We performed a ritual to banish the entities for good. Well, at least just for this level,” Koltn replied. “But but never mind. Thanks for saving me.” “Hey man no problem, I wouldn’t want you dying up in here.” Carson said. “Then explain why you left me when I got taken?” I snarled. “Uhhh…” “I’m just pulling your leg.” “Ok.”Once they removed the entities from existence a portal opened in front of us, and we made our way through it reaching the final level containing our friend.CHAPTER 8
SAVING BRAYDEN!
After so long he returned to us. (1.6 years in)We all got so excited once we stepped into the city level because we expected to see Brayden standing in front of us alive and intact. That didn’t happen though, we still had to find him ourselves which wasn’t going to be easy.Just then we heard a random voice appear out of nowhere and it was Brayden. “Hello? Can you guys hear me?” Brayden asked. “Yeah, we can, where are you?” Tristan asked. “Well, I can’t quite tell you my exact location, but I can give you guys small hints on where I am.” “Why not?” I asked. “I was only told to use hints and not exact locations because of strict rules. The entities that captured me said I could only use reference points and or riddles,” Brayden replied. “Ok. So, what’s the first hint?” I asked. “Ok, the first hint is…”People come here to rest if they are traveling, and there might be some things that become challenging. It has the worst room service of all, and they always think the rooms are too small.“I’ll let you guys think about that, then I’ll be back when you figure it out. Good luck guys.”The hint was useful, but it rang a bell to us in a matter of seconds once he said, “worst room service,” we all figured out it was a hotel, and we immediately started searching for one.As we searched for a hotel, I found something that dropped my heart, but no one else because I was the only one to see this monstrosity.“Uh, g-g-guys… Do you s-see that right there?” I stuttered. “See what? The road?” Beau said hilariously. “N-n-no, the pile of d-d-dead bodies.” “What pile? There’s nothing there but an empty road,” Koltn said. “Are you going crazy Fido?” Tristan asked. “DOES THIS LOOK LIKE I’M GOING CRAZY NOW!?” I scream as I walk on the pile.Everyone’s face went white when I started floating in the air. “How do we know that isn’t just a hill we can’t see?” Carson asks. I wipe my hand on a random guy with blood coming out from his mouth as if he got punched there repeatedly. “Does this check out?” I say as the blood drips down my hand. “Oh, that’s blood,” Beau says. “WELL, NO KIDDING IT’S BLOOD!” I scream. “Ey man calm down.” “Ok… I’m good now. Let’s just continue,” I say. “Ok.”We approach a huge building that says Hotel of Hell as the name. We walked inside and then Brayden gave us some more hints.“Congrats on making it to the hotel, now for your next hint…”After a long walk your legs must be tired so take something useful all the way up before you get fired?“Fired? Something useful? What is he talking about?” I asked as everyone shrugged. “I think I know what he’s trying to say, but the getting fired part is confusing me.” “I know what your friend meant,” A random voice said. “Who are you?” I asked defensively. “Oh, I apologize, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tyler, and I’ve been trapped here in the Backrooms for like 4 years now.” “Wait!? Aren’t you that kid that went missing with that other person a few months ago?” I asked. “A few months? That happened like 4 years ago.” “BUT WE LITERALLY JUST GOT HERE LIKE A MONTH AGO!!!” Beau screamed. “Do you realize that time moves by faster here? If you’ve been here for what feels like a month is almost 2 years…” “Oh… Well, that’s new…” Koltn said.“Oh, I forgot to introduce ourselves. My name is Fido, the tall one’s Carson, the reddish hair fella is Tristan, the bigger boy here is Beau, and the other one is Koltn.” “Nice to meet you guys. So, I heard you were searching for your friend, eh?” “Yes, he got separated from us in a weird run for your life level,” I explain. “Oh, that level. Me and my friend remember that level, but unfortunately, he’s not here anymore. Me and him got split up at a weird Scopophobia level like a month ago. Haven’t seen him since.”“Aww, I feel bad, we had to go through that level too, and boy its hell there,” I said. “Tell me about it, we couldn’t stand to stay any longer because it was getting so bad.” “Well, if you’d like, you could come along with us and help travel throughout the Backrooms,” Beau suggested. “I would be honored to help you guys, and to have some people to hang out with. It’s been lonely for the past few months.” “Well, now you have us, so there’s nothing to worry about anymore,” Koltn said. “Thanks for making me feel welcome.” “Anytime Tyler,” I said.We travel through the hotel after the hint we got and realize we must take an elevator to the top floor. It didn’t take as long as expected. Once the doors opened, we heard Brayden giving us our next and final hint.“So, you guys made it to the top floor, well done! Now, for your final hint…” Brayden clears his throat and starts reading.You’ve come all this way, so here’s your reward. Travel as far as you can before you get bored.We had no clue what he meant other than walking down the whole hallway until we found him.“I guarantee you we most likely need to venture down this hallway till we find which room he’s in,” Tyler said. “Ok, we’ll all split up to cover more ground, then we will all meet back up together if one of us finds him,” I said. “Gotcha partner,” Beau said.We all split up, half of us at the beginning of the hall and the other half at the end. Three and three, so it was even. Tyler, Beau, and I started at the beginning searching rooms 600 to 700 while Carson, Tristan, and Koltn were searching through rooms 800 to 700.An hour goes by after checking all the rooms until we enter room 690 where we find Brayden laying down on a bed watching some sort of Backrooms channel that is only exclusively found inside the Backrooms. Maybe it can help us by him giving us advice to survive and escape or if it’s just for entertainment, we’ll never know though unless he tells us.“OH MY GOD BRAYDEN! IT’S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN!” Tristan cried. “Yeah, it’s been a while. But hey, at least you guys saved me. Thanks a million.” “You can always count on us to be there for you. That’s what friends do, they stick together and always help each other out,” I said. “I don’t mean to burst the bubble on that sentence but, if you were to stick together with your friends, then we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Brayden said. I stuttered for a second and everyone just stared at me saying “He’s out of line, but he’s right.” “You know I’m not wrong, but it’s chill now. We’re back together and nothing can go wrong now,” Brayden said soon realizing that wasn’t going to be the case whatsoever.We quickly left the hotel to go find the exit to this level which took some time considering this city was freaking HUGE! It extended for miles without end. It was like New York City as a ghost town. Big towers, giant buildings, streets everywhere, but no people besides us. It felt eerie, deserted, almost like we weren’t alone.“You guys suddenly getting the feeling that something’s watching us?” I ask. “Yeah, it got too quiet too fast,” Brayden said as he was trembling. “I really hope we get out of here soon…” Beau said quietly. “Me too, the Backrooms give me the creeps,” Tristan said. “Tell me about it,” I said. “At least you guys haven’t been here for the past few years like me,” Tyler said checking his back. “It’s still creepy nonetheless,” Carson said shaking. “Just continue moving until we find our way out of here,” Koltn said. “Good idea.”We kept getting the sense of feeling that we were not alone, and that we were going in circles. Everything looked the same from each angle. Every tower and restaurant, all the signs and road, every twist and turn. It felt like we hadn’t made any progress. The time ticks by, the atmosphere gets dense, and the world falls quiet as we walk fearfully down the empty roads.“I’m starting to hallucinate. I keep seeing things that aren’t there. I keep thinking I see my family and entities, but they aren’t there. I don’t know what this level’s doing to my head,” Brayden said. “Well, it may be the fact that you were being held hostage by entities,” Koltn said. “That may be the case, but… I think the same might be happening to me,” I said. “I just really hope we find an exit soon.” “Speaking of the devil. The exit is right here!” Tristan pointed out. “Wait. The exit to this level is a gift shop?” Beau asked confused. “I really don’t care, let's just go through AND GET OUT OF HERE!” Carson says in excitement as we head through the exit to the next level.CHAPTER 9
WINTER HORROR-LAND
Woods, blizzards, and freezing cold temps… (2 years in)We headed out of the entry way and found ourselves in an icy cold tundra in the middle of nowhere. Snow falling, bodies freezing, our wits of surviving decreasing, and nothing but pure hell ahead of us.“Oh, my l-l-lord it’s c-c-cold out here,” I say freezing. “N-n-no kidding Sherlock,” Tristan said shivering. “Fido, do you know if there is any safe place for us here?” Carson asked. “I know they have a c-cabin somewhere in this level, but I don’t know where it is exactly.” “Well, that’s h-helpful,” Koltn said. “Just start walking, and we’ll eventually end up locating it,” Tyler said. “Ok.”We start walking through the snow and trees with barely any warmth. The only warmth we had was huddling in a group and sticking close together. It didn’t help us much so we all just started running in search of the cabin.“You guys see anything yet?” Carson asked. “It’s so hard to see through the trees and snow. All I’m trying to make out is a small glimpse of light in the distance,” I replied. “Yeah, no kidding, it feels like we are trying to look through tinted glass right now,” Tyler groaned. “Just wait until the blizzard event happens. The entire level drops like 15 degrees and it gets so dark that you can barely see 5 feet in front of you, and the snow covers up so much view distance that you’re pretty much doomed, that’s why we need to find this cabin AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!” I explained. “You’re serious right?” Koltn asked. “Of course, he’s being serious Koltn. I mean he’s like the Backrooms god. He knows so much about this place, nerd,” Beau chuckles. “I’m not a nerd! I only know so much about this because of all the rumors I’ve heard about this being real. I was just preparing in case it happened to us.” “Uh guys? Do you see a light up there?” Tristan asked.I squinted a bit to see what Tristan was talking about. “What are you talking about Tristan?” I asked. “Yeah, I don’t see anything,” Tyler said. “Look straight in front of you and lift your head up a bit.” I was still confused about what he was talking about. That was until I caught a glimpse of a log in the shape of a cabin.“Huh? What do you know? Tristan was right about something for once,” I said as we all started laughing our heads off. “TEACHER! I’M GETTING BULLIED HERE!” Tristan said as we all continued joking around and laughing. “We should probably head into the cabin now,” Carson said. “Nah really? I thought we were just going to freeze our butts off in the snow and stare at the cabin for eternity,” Brayden said smirking. Carson sighed. “Be quiet and go inside.” “And I will.”We step inside the cabin as someone welcomes us in. “Hello travelers. May I interest you in some winter clothing to survive the treacherous snowy hell out there?” The man asked. “Yes please, also who are you?” I asked. “The names Michael, I run this cabin/business here.” “Nice! So, what stuff do you sell here?” Tyler asked. “Coffee, clothes, snow gear, anything you want, it’s yours my friend, as long as you have enough money.” “What are you? Morshu? Also do we have to pay for this stuff?” Brayden asked in confusion. “No, you dingbat, this is the Backrooms, everything is free here.” “You had me at free,” Beau said. “Take as much as you need while I grab you travelers your snow gear.” “Thanks Michael,” Koltn said as we start taking a few things for the trip.I asked Michael if he had hot chocolate instead of coffee, because I’m not a coffee person unlike everyone else. He said he had some, so I took the liberties and grabbed me a cup of some hot refreshments. Everyone else was “fighting” over the coffee because of how cold they were. (Children these days).“Sheesh, didn’t think you guys were that excited about coffee,” I said holding back my laughter. “I just want to drink something that’s warm and doesn’t taste like almond water,” Tristan said. “You travelers do know that the coffee and cocoa here have almond water in it right?” Michael asked. “Are… you… serious…” Tristan groaned. “Yeah silly, almost every liquid in the Backrooms contain almond water in it, might as well get used to it while you can.” “I’ll still drink it Michael, but it just feels weird that about 90% of the liquids here are almond water based,” Tristan said. “Just as I said, get used to it.”
Everyone drinks their warm refreshments, and we start putting the snow gear on. “Oh, by the way guys, I got you some hot hands in case the blizzard hits you guys out there. And in case that don’t work I got some goggles to keep the snow out of your eyes, and gator necks to warm your faces up,” Michael told us. “Thanks for the stuff. But quick question first?” Beau asks. “Do you know exactly when the blizzard starts?” “I’ve been working here for quite some time, and all I know is that it happens randomly, so I can’t tell you anything else other than that. So, just be prepared at all times.” “Thanks a million Michael,” Brayden said. “Anytime travelers.”“Is it just me, or did he sound like an NPC from a video game?” Carson asked. “Definitely felt like it, but as long as we got what we needed, I really couldn’t care less,” I said as we walked out the door to continue.Time passes and the blizzard hasn’t started just yet. We stay aware by glancing at the sky for noticeable temperature change and sky change. Everything still looked the same, so we decided to pick up the pace a bit. It wasn’t like we started full throttle sprinting or anything. Just a slight jog to keep our breaths steady and controllable. We didn’t feel like passing out in the middle of the snowy tundra.
Just then we notice the sky starts to change a bit and we all look up to the sky so fast that we might as well have no spine because we jerked our heads so fast it probably could’ve snapped our necks. “Uh, guys, the sky is changing!” Brayden stuttered. “Is the blizzard about to start?” Beau asked trembling. “You’re all being overdramatic, it’s just a cloud covering up the so-called sun,” I corrected. “Scientifically speaking, those clouds in the distance over there, that’s the blizzard slowly approaching us,” Tyler said. “Oh, but it is, well that isn’t good,” Tristan said quietly. “We need to find some sort of shelter now,” Carson said. “What if we try going back to the cabin?” Beau asked.“Speaking of which. Where is the cabin at anyways?” I asked. “It should just be back the way we came,” Koltn says as we all turn around to see that the cabin has disappeared. “It seems we have to find an alternative path to find shelter,” Tyler said. “Maybe there’s like an igloo or something here. Maybe like an opening in a cave? Underground bunker? Or just anything to protect us,” Brayden said. “Speaking of caves. There’s one right there that we might be able to camp in for a while,” I point out. “Let’s get our things and head there before we get snowed out.” “Lead the way Fido,” Beau said as we made our way to the cave.It was moist in there and a bit claustrophobic. It wasn’t much to deal with though. “This seems like a good place to camp for a while. Minus the dense atmosphere and hard floor,” I said. “Wonder what all Michael gave us,” Tristan said. “Well let’s check then,” Koltn says while we start unloading the bags and resources.
Inside the bags were bottles of water, firewood, a lighter, gators, goggles, pickaxes, grapples, ropes, paper, hot hands and a gps. The water bottle was real water from the real world, not almond water. The firewood, paper, and lighters were for making campfires to keep us warm during the blizzard. The gators were for keeping our faces warm in case we needed it. The hot hands make our hands warm inside our gloves. The goggles were mainly for eye protection. The pickaxes were probably going to be used for hiking or something along with the grapple. And the gps would help us a bit with navigation throughout the level.“Man did we get a bunch of stuff,” Beau said. “This is probably the most minimal amount of supplies we need Beau,” Tyler said. “These resources are the only things we need to survive in something like this situation we’re in.” “Ok Einstein. But how is some of this stuff even useful? Like paper? What’s that going to do? Turn into a paper airplane? The grapple? What, are we going to do, turn into Spider Man and grapple to the ceiling of the cave?” Brayden asked, containing his laughter. “I really don’t know, but there are some useful things like the gators, hot hands, lighter, wood, and paper, to start a little fire for warmth,” I said. “Yeah, and there’s also a gps, water bottles, and goggles for survival,” Tristan said. “But what does the pickaxe and grapple have anything to do with this?” Carson asked. “Probably for hiking if we have to,” Koltn said. “But you have a point considering there are really no mountains located anywhere.” “I’d say we still bring them along just in case, but let's wait out this blizzard first before anything else,” I said.We started to make the fire carefully to prevent erupting flames, burns, and deaths. Afterwards I asked Brayden what it was like being captured for so long.“So, what was it like after being captured?” I asked. “It’s a long story, and I will try to say as much as I can.” Just then Brayden began his long story.“So, after you guys completely ditched me in the running level. I started grabbing the door and trying to bust it down. But nothing worked. I turned around to see the entities slowly corner me against the door as I braced myself for my death. Everything went black after I saw the entities probably about Carsons length away from me.” “You mean 500 feet away from you then?” Beau said as we all started dying in laughter.“Anyways, everything went black, and I woke up on the roads of a city. It almost felt like I was having sleep paralysis because I couldn’t move, talk, scream, or anything. All I could do was blink and move my eyes around. I was petrified. Then out of nowhere the entities from that same level slowly walked in front of me, picked me up, and dragged me all the way into a hotel and threw me down on a bed, locked the door, then I regained control.” “Wow, who knew sleep paralysis could happen when you’re not asleep,” Tristan said. “It can’t happen, but considering we’re in the Backrooms, anything can happen,” Tyler said. “Now let’s let Brayden continue.”“Thank you, Tyler. So, after I got locked in the room, I was told that I could get in contact with you guys 5 times, that’s why you guys would always hear me speaking to you in the levels. I used my first one right as you guys entered the cabin level a while back. I only used it four times though instead of the five that I had.” “Should’ve used the other one then,” Beau said. “For what? I had nothing to use it on really, I thought I would’ve had to give an extra hint at the end, but you guys figured them out so fast and even skipped one of my hints that I was going to tell you guys, you must have been like 5 parallel universes ahead of me then,” Brayden said as we all patted ourselves on the back.“So, while you guys were traveling through the levels, I was able to watch your guys’ every movement. You guys couldn’t see me, but I could see you. Sure, it’s creepy but I just wanted to make sure you guys weren’t doing stupid crap. Thankfully you guys did well, but I couldn’t be sure.” “You really thought we were going to mess up that badly?” Tristan asked. It went dead silent. “No offense to you guys, but yeah, I did kind of figure you would mess up a little bit, but I guess I doubted you all,” Brayden said. “At least we saved you and did the right thing, look on the bright side and not the downsides,” Beau said giving Brayden a funny look.“Back to the story, not much left but can’t leave things out. While I was “spying” on you guys I didn’t have much entertainment, that’s also why I was watching you all. I was bored. Pretty much what happened at the end was you guys made your way through the levels, I gave you the hints you needed, you found me, and then peace was restored.”“Very interesting story Brayden,” I said as we all gave pity claps to Brayden to mess with him. “I literally only talked about me being stuck in a room watching your guys’ every move. Not much to clap about.” “We were being comedic by giving you pity claps,” Tristan laughed. “What great friends I have…” Brayden said. “Come on, you probably wouldn’t be here without us,” Carson said staring at Brayden. “He’s right, at least give us some credit before being sarcastic,” Koltn said. “Ok fine, also, it feels like the blizzard might be over now,” Brayden said. “Because it seems more visible outside, and warmer out.”We looked outside to see what else was new. It was in fact clearer out and warmer than usual, but it wasn’t completely gone. We could travel through it just fine without getting permanent frostbite after being exposed to the snow for half a second.“I think it’s safe enough to go out in,” Tristan said. “Wait! Before we go back out, shouldn’t we get some of the snow stuff on?” Carson asked. “Obviously Sherlock, what do you think we were going to do? Walk out there bare naked with no clothes?” I mocked it. “Well, I was just reminding you guys.” “Sure bucko,” Beau said.We all suited up to go out into the snow in hopes of escaping this level. We got the hot hands warmed up, fire put out, goggles and gators put on, GPS turned on, and the hiking equipment stored in case we needed to use it for some odd reason.“Does anyone know how to link this GPS to the exit of the level?” Koltn asked as a joke. “Really Koltn? It literally shows us the entire level and where everything is located at,” Tyler said. “It was a joke you silly goober.” “Let’s save the jokes for later, and escaping for now,” I said. “Fido’s right, we can make jokes when we exit this level,” Brayden said.While watching the GPS we started thinking about any strategies to survive the horror lying ahead of us. It was mainly just a chat about the entities, what they do, and how to beat them.I gave out a bunch of important information with certain entities like, which ones like the dark, which ones stay only in the light, how to avoid an entity when encountered, what to do if you’re spotted, how certain entities act and react with humans and so on so forth.“So, even with all these entities you’ve told us about, what will we do with undocumented entities?” Tyler asked. “Well, the thing is, undocumented entities are really hard to talk about because of their odd actions and appearances, that’s why they’re undocumented because no one can describe them,” I explained. “You’re right but you didn’t really answer his question,” Beau said. “What do you mean?” I asked. “His question was what do we do if we see an undocumented entity.” “Oh, I understand. So, if we do encounter an undocumented entity, the best idea is to watch how they act and stuff, but if we wanted to keep ourselves alive it would be best to run for our lives.” “So, you’re saying that if we find something out of the blue, we book it for safety?” Tristan asked. “Nah, what I meant was, if we find any suspicious entities then we will obviously run up to it and befriend it.” “Ok, we will make sure to do that when we get the chance to,” Carson said. “Are you dumb or something you are crazy, I was being sarcastic, idiot,” I said mocking Carson. “And I was being funny too, I just wanted to see your reactions, that’s all,” Carson said starting to sweat and stutter. “Right, we understand Carson,” Koltn said with a smug look on his face.“Are you guys aware that during your whole chit chat, that we passed the exit to the level?” Brayden asked us. “You serious?” I asked as we all looked at the gps to realize that we had passed the exit. “Uhm, so about that,” I stuttered. “You guys are ridiculous sometimes it makes me laugh,” Brayden said resisting laughter. “We weren’t really paying much attention because we got too caught up in talking about the entities and survival tactics,” Beau said. “I’m not mad or anything, I just thought it was funny that you got so interested in a topic you lost all focus on the main reason we’re here. To escape. You’re lucky we’re not too far away from it.”We start heading back towards the exit after embarrassingly walking past it. I guess Brayden just wanted to see how long it took for us to notice that we had passed it. And honestly, I wasn’t mad at him for not telling us sooner, but lord, I thought it was funny.The exit was just a few yards ahead of us and we all started getting too excited because we got to leave this level safely without frostbite or anything else thanks to that Michael person providing us with stuff to survive. Granted, he was acting weird almost like he was part of a system or like an AI controlling him, because he wasn’t acting human.The level now reached the end, and we head through the door wondering what our next experience will be.CHAPTER 10
FOREVER DUSKSun never sets and never rises. (2.5 years in)We entered our next level of torture after freezing ourselves to death. This level took place in the middle of nowhere with forests surrounding us, roads leading to nowhere, and a small mainland.“Oh god, where are we now?” Beau asked. “I recognize this level but I’m not sure if I can lay a finger on it,” I said. “How is it already dusk here? Isn’t it supposed to either start on night or day?” Carson asked. “You do realize that we are in the Backrooms, and nothing makes sense here, right?” Tyler asked. “Well, I’m saying it normally starts on night or day in the more common Backrooms levels.” “Whatever you say Carson, but you’re wrong with this level, it’s perfectly dusk right now, and the sun does not exist here,” Brayden said. “Wait if the sun doesn’t exist here, then wouldn’t it just be night?” Tristan asked. “Because technically if the sun existed here, then it would be day, but the sun doesn’t exist here, so it would be night.” “Tristan, the Backrooms is a crazy place, but the last thing we need is a brain aneurysm from you saying stuff that doesn’t make any sense. Heck, if you keep saying more, we’re not even going to have brain aneurysms, we will all have permanent brain damage from you,” Koltn said. “Let’s just figure out what this level is all about.”We start wandering off into the level thinking about what danger lurks around the area.The bad thing about the level was that none of us knew that we were being followed.There were entities here that were unheard of. Like while we were there, we found entities that take the appearance of humanoid creatures and do anything in their willpower to hunt you down until you die. I’ll save you the rest for later. The other main entities we found here were ones like smilers, hounds, skin stealers, and an exclusive entity called rush. This entity usually attacks after every 20 or so minutes and will run all around the level at insane speeds. The only way you can survive it is by taking shelter outside of its F.O.V (Field of View).“I have a bad feeling about being in the open,” Beau said. “Why do you say so?” I asked. “I just feel like if we are in the open then we get ambushed easier. And plus, we can get attacked from every side.” “He has a good point, it’s probably best if we get to shelter as quick as possible,” Carson said. “I don’t see any buildings nearby though,” Brayden pointed out. “This might sound like a bad idea, but I think the most shelter we are going to get is hiding in the woods,” Tristan said as we all silently stared at him.“Are you stupid or something? You do realize that not only can we still get ambushed from every side, but it also gives us limited running space,” I said. “Fido let’s just try it, and the moment we hear some sort of noise we will leave as soon as we possibly can,” Koltn suggested. “Ok, but I swear to god the moment I hear something I am booking it out of there no questions asked or answered.”We started heading into the woods and I already felt like we were going to die in a matter of seconds. The woods get closer and closer to us, and I start trembling and hyperventilating. Tyler asked what was wrong and I just said that I had a bad feeling that stuff was going to escalate pretty darn fast.We finally entered the woods and already I was checking my back every two seconds, scavenging every twist and turn of the woods in search of entities. Just then we hear a distorted sound in the distance that almost sounds static but more audible. Out of nowhere we see a black circular creature fly past us with a weird white smile and almost no eyes. The circle around the entity had like mist or something coming out of it. It was too hard to describe because it moved so fast, we barely caught a glimpse of it.“What in Sam Hill was that!?” Carson shrieked. “Nope, nope, nope I’m out of here, I ain’t doing this again,” I said as I ignore everything around me and start jogging ahead of everyone. “Fido, wait!” Tyler said. I just ignored him. “Fido! You’re going to get yourself killed!” Beau screamed. The entity did another lap around the level.It went silent, I couldn’t hear the screams of everyone. The entity made no noise. Nothing was around me anymore. I looked behind me to find that everyone had disappeared. The entity was nowhere to be found.“Uh, guys? Where did you go?” I asked while looking behind my back. “This isn’t funny anymore, is this some sort of prank?” No one answered. “Ok, haha you guys are funny, now please be serious and come out.” Nothing. “HELLO? WHY IS NO ONE ANSWERING ME!?” I kept screaming and no one replied, I ran and ran but not a soul in sight. I even tried climbing trees to get a better view, but I never found anything.“PLEASE GUYS I BEG YOU! STOP PLAYING WITH ME!” I was on the brink of tears. I kept screaming, running, crying, and doing it all over again just to see if something would happen. But nothing was working out…Meanwhile the guys were questioning what just happened.“FIDO! STOP!” Beau screamed as I disappeared. “Where did he go? WHY DID HE JUST VANISH!?” Tristan shrieked. “I’m just as shocked as you are, it’s almost like he has the ability to teleport,” Koltn said. “Koltn, you do realize that teleportation is not possible unless you have high tech machinery.” Tyler was just telling Koltn how teleportation isn’t real and how I had probably died.“But if he died, wouldn’t we still be watching him getting mauled?” Brayden asked. “HE CAN’T BE DEAD! FIDO CAN TAKE CARE OF HIMSELF!” Carson screamed. “Since when did you become his servant and him being your king?” Tristan asked. “I’m not, I just don’t want to think on the downside.” “Well, we kind of can’t think on the bright side, IF he’s dead, then we can’t do anything about it, he’s gone Carson, we can’t do anything about it,” Koltn said. “You guys are such Debby downers, I can’t believe you all don’t care about Fido,” Carson said on the brink of tears. “We care about him a bunch, it’s just that he’s gone, we can’t stay upset forever,” Brayden said. “It’s either we live the rest of our lives crying over our friend, or we move on and accept his fate.”Carson didn’t talk to anyone for a long time because he thought they all wished me dead and didn’t care. The entity was done attacking them for a while, but I was about to have one hell of a time.While I was walking around the woods trying to figure out what was going on, I heard the same noise as the entity before I got transported. It sounded like it was moving slowly and coming towards me at a very very slow rate.In the meantime, whilst I ignored the entity, I found a note that said something strange.If you are reading this note it means that you are probably dead.
However, if you want to see the light of day again.
You must complete these few tasks.There are notes scattered throughout the level and you must collect 7 of them to be set free.Once all 7 notes are collected you will be granted a weapon to deal with rush.
But be warned, rush will always be following you.
So, watch your back and stay safe out there.“Huh, so all I must do is find a few notes in here. Man, the Backrooms are just getting easier it feels like. I just have to beat a small mini game; how hard could it be?” I was getting cocky because, it was harder than it sounded. Not only was this rush character always following me. I have to find notes in seemingly endless woods. But now the flat area of land has disappeared and the only places I can run are in between trees. I was just hoping “it” couldn’t phase through objects like a ghost.I started searching for any pieces of paper I could find while I could still hear the entity following me creepily. I turned around a tree and I found my first note, all it said on it was “Rush is deadly but easy.” I was at a loss for words because I didn’t quite understand why that would be on a note. It wasn’t a big deal, so I continued.As I was scavenging for more of these notes, I stumbled across a flashlight that would be a tad bit helpful. At least now I could see stuff now. Just because it was always dusk on the level doesn’t mean that I’m going to get any light source when I’m surrounded by nothing but trees.The entity sound came closer, but it was still hard to see him even with the flashlight. Considering the entity is almost completely black, he blends in a bunch with the trees. I turned around a tree and braced myself because I thought the entity was behind the tree, but it wasn’t. Just then I look behind me and all I see in the distance is the entity charging towards me at mock 10. I ran out of the way, and he flew right past me as if it was on thin ice. It reminded me of a bunch of when you’re wearing socks, and you slide on slippery floors after they had been waxed.I instantly started running for dear life after seeing how close it was to me.My heart was racing,I was shaking,I couldn’t breathe normally.My life was at risk, and I couldn’t do anything about it.I didn’t feel safe anymore…I thought this was the end of me…Could this really be it?Was I really going to die like this?No one around…Nothing to protect me…Silence…Why am I suddenly feeling at ease?Everything feels normal now…It feels like nothing harmful is here…Just me and darkness…I thought I had already died…It was the end for me soon…But wait, there is another note!And yet another?I didn’t know what was happening.Was I still alive?Was this an illusion?Maybe I’m dreaming?But it feels so real.Is this all fake?What if I’m still with the guys…At home…Like nothing happened…Or was this just the beginning of a nightmare?I feel lonely…Scared…Depressed…And worthless…I wanted to accept my fate and end it all…But I couldn’t do it no matter how much I wanted to.I just kept going.Despite all efforts…And all odds...I kept going till the end.I kept finding notes.They were useless because they gave me no info.Hours after hours, I was struggling to get the notes.Barely avoiding the entity.I'm hardly able to stabilize myself.And trying not to think about death.There was nowhere to hide.And no way out.No matter how far I went it would still find me.Even if I was hidden behind a tree, it knew my every move.I had no choice but to stay in the open as much as possible.It couldn’t phase through walls, but it can maneuver through the forest easily.I was just lucky to be alive by now.I had just one more note left.The worst part was that the entity was nearby.Guarding it…I knew what I had to do but it would be close to impossible considering it can get me killed…But it had to be done…I lured the entity to me…It got closer, and closer, and closer.Slowly picking up speed.I waited for it to come face to face with me.Then at the last second, I jumped out of the way and sent the entity flying through the forest.I made a run for it…I was getting closer to the page.I eventually locked on to it.Out of nowhere a random crucifix thing appeared on the tree.I picked it up and as the entity was darting towards me.I held it up…Crucifying it for eternity…I appeared back with the guys, but they never realized.Until I got their attention…“Guys?” I asked with a smile on my face. “Is that really you guys?” “Fido? YOU’RE BACK!?” Tyler asked with a pale face. “I TOLD YOU HE WOULD BE ALIVE!” Carson said almost in tears. “Calm down, sheesh. I wasn’t gone that long.” “We thought you died though,” Beau said in utter disbelief. “Maybe the Backrooms just gives people chances before completely killing someone,” I said as a joke. “That would explain why I didn’t instantly die back then,” Brayden said. “Maybe it’s a coincidence, maybe we’re just lucky.” “I don’t know but, I would want to get out of here first,” Tristan said.We started thinking about possible ways to escape the level. Me and Beau came up with an idea to try and no-clip out of the level through a tree.I told the guys, and they said it was worth trying. So, we braced ourselves because we were about to ram ourselves into solid wood.We started running as fast as we all could, and it worked. We had been sent to the next level not knowing we had just made the biggest mistake of our lives.CHAPTER 11
HORRID FLASHBACKS…The 10-mile flashback of running for our lives. (3 years in)The sound of the sirens immediately started wailing again and we all started panicking.“No, no no no no no! This is not good, I don’t want to be here,” I said trembling in fear. “JUST START RUNNING!” Brayden screamed. “I AIN’T MAKING THE SAME MISTAKE AGAIN!” And so, we instantly started running.“How did we get back here?” Tristan asked. “We didn’t just come back to the same run for your lives level, this one is a whole different story,” I explained. “How is this any different than the other one?” Koltn asked. “So, remember how the other run for your life level was a 6-mile run?” I asked. “Yes? But what about it?” Beau asked. “Well, let’s just say that this level is a sub level to that level, which basically means that this is still the same level but harder.” “Get to the point,” Tyler groaned. “My point is, this level is no longer a 6-mile-long level, it’s now 10 miles long.”Everyone went silent.“So, you’re saying that we have to run 10 whole miles!?” Carson shrieked. “Better hope you find energy bars and almond water on the way, cause it’s gonna be one hell of a ride ahead of us,” I said. “Start running faster then, dummy,” Beau said. “Way ahead of you.”And so, our “journey” had started. The entities were already starting to chase after us moving at insane speeds that we could somehow still surpass. Guess the Backrooms really is weird in certain ways.<<<15 minutes later>>>“How long have we been running for?” Carson complained. “Pipe down, and also we’ve only ran a mile,” I said. “That means if we’ve already traveled a mile in 15 minutes then theoretically, we could finish in like 2 and a half hours if we move at the same pace,” Tyler said. “OR we could pick up the pace and finish faster,” I suggested.Everyone took my word and picked up the pace, the slightest bit, which could help a bunch with time. We were also starting to get further away from the entities which was great considering if we get tired at any point, we can take a breather without any worries.Tristan asked if we should use the same tactics as the first time, and I told him that it was worth a try. I mean they’re pretty much the same level, but with more entities, longer sprinting duration, and even more obstacles to maneuver through.Why are we being put through this torture?I just want to go back home.Back when everything was normal.Life has no meaning.I don’t feel like going through this anymore.I almost want to accept my fate before we bring ourselves down.I can’t let everyone down.I’m supposed to be their guidance.But now I just feel like…Nothing…I don’t think of myself as a worthy person.I feel, empty…Is this all for nothing?Is any of this even real?It feels real, but I can’t put a finger on it.I feel like breaking down in tears.I don’t believe I can do this much longer.But I have to keep going.Even if it means wanting to kill myself…I have to push through.“Fido? You, ok?” Beau asked. “Huh, oh yeah, I’m good. Just thinking about stuff, that’s all.” “Are you sure? Because you looked depressed and about ready to cry. You’re sure you’re fine?” “I’m good, I just hate having all of us to go through this stuff. It makes me feel bad to watch you guys suffer through this, and I have to deal with it too and it hurts a bit.” “You do realize that we probably won’t see our families again, and we may just die here,” Tyler said. “I’m aware of that, it’s just…” I went silent and didn’t speak for a while. If I said anything else, I would start crying hard.“Is he ok? He’s acting like a guy who’s on the verge of suicide right now,” Tristan said. “He’s just a little bit worked up right now. Give him a little while and he’ll warm back up again,” Brayden said. “Ok, I’m just getting a bit worried that he’s going to do bad stuff to himself, because he almost died earlier, and it was almost like he wanted it to happen. I mean, he didn’t hide when the entity was rushing around and instead just didn’t give a care about what was happening, I just feel like his safety and sanity is running out,” Tristan explained. “I see what you’re talking about, but I still just think he needs some alone time for a while, just let him be and everything will be fine,” Brayden said.I could barely hear what they were saying because of the wailing sirens, but all I could hear was, “give him alone time.” When I heard that tears started slowly making their way down my face. I tried so hard not to start bawling my eyes out.<7 miles left>Anyways, we continued to run through the level and after all that had happened, we were now 3 miles into the level. It didn’t feel like 3 miles, it feels like 300. Time felt like it was moving slower at the time.The entities still trailing behind us were starting to pick up speed as well. It was almost like it moved at the same pace as us, but like 5% faster. Yet somehow, we are still ahead of them? I’m not sure that’s how physics works, but then again this is the Backrooms, and nothing makes any sense.I picked up a thing of almond water and an energy bar along the way and decided to take a bite out of the bar and a sip of the almond water.I immediately regained my sanity and didn’t feel as depressed anymore. They kept quiet for a while, giving me my “alone time.” I didn’t blame them for staying quiet, but it also felt too quiet and awkward not hearing anyone talk, let alone groaning entities and wailing sirens.After some time, we reached the halfway point in the level. This part of the level had as a lot of energy bars and things of almond water you couldn’t imagine.It was our perfect opportunity to stock up on resources here while the entities were at least half a mile away from us. It didn’t feel like they were far, but they most certainly were.Everyone cracked the bottles open and took small sips, so they didn’t start choking and pass out. Pretty smart for them considering I may have chugged a whole bunch while running and almost started violently hacking.I turned to the guys to see how they were holding up, and they were doing surprisingly well. They weren’t panting, running slower, catching breaths, or even stopping entirely. They were just running like normal with no issues.“Hey Fido, you still good?” Beau asked. “I’m feeling a bit better now,” I replied. “Good, because it looked like you were on the brink of tears a while ago,” Koltn pointed out. “I just had a bunch of thoughts rolling through my head at once. It was overwhelming so, I couldn’t maintain myself, that’s why I went silent for a while. Because I didn’t feel like breaking down in tears in front of you guys,” I explained. “You don’t have to be embarrassed for crying. It’s ok to let it out, we ain’t gonna judge you,” Brayden said. “Brayden’s right. We get it; it can get stressful dealing with all of this. We are all trying our best to carry through these tough times. If we get emotional, then just let it out, you know you’ll have someone to look after you and comfort you,” Tyler said.“Thanks guys, I’m glad you guys' care,” I said. “Just don’t worry about it, and let’s finish this level soon,” Tristan said. “Uh, guys? I think the entities are getting faster,” Carson said quietly. “What are you talking about Carson? The entities aren’t getting… Oh…” Beau said in shock. “Yeah, I forgot to mention, after we get halfway in this level, the entities get a bit faster. So, now we really have to pick up the pace,” I said.We started moving faster despite the entities also increasing speed at the same time. But for some reason even though WE were moving slower than the entities they STILL fell behind! I don’t understand how these physics work here, but I’m starting to question them a bit…Anyways, the exit felt like it was light years away from us, but we could see the sign down the hallway.It was easy to see the bright green exit sign considering the entire level was blood red. Maybe that’s why people ran red lights. It’s because apparently green is so much easier to see, it almost just blinds the red light. I don’t know but what I do know is that we didn’t have much of the run left.<3 miles left>It would probably take us another like 30 minutes to travel the 3 miles, but it wouldn’t feel like 30 minutes. For some of us, time moved by too fast, and for others, it moved too slow. For me, it was really slow.“Isn’t it weird how we can see the exit to the level, yet we are still 3 miles away from it?” Carson asked. “Nothing here makes sense Carson, I’m still questioning stuff to this day,” I said. “And it’s not like it’ll get any better the further on we go.” “Yeah, you’re right. But I still think that we should run a tad bit faster just to beat this,” Beau said. “We’re way ahead of you Beau!” Brayden said excitedly.I decided to get everyone to eat an entire energy bar and take multiple sips of almond water to have enough energy to do full throttle sprints to the end.They took my advice and immediately started booking it for the exit.It was right in front of us, and the entities were moving as fast as they possibly could, and we opened the door finally escaping our nightmare without anyone being stolen.CHAPTER 12THE POOLROOMS.Soaking wet but safe for the time being. (3.4 years in)As we found ourselves on this next level, our legs immediately got soaked. All around us were white walls, hallways that lead so seemingly nowhere, and water. Straight up water…“Oh, you have got to be kidding me…” I groaned. “You’re telling me we’re going to be sopping wet for the rest of this level?” Tristan complained. “I’m already contemplating my choices of existing,” Brayden said. “Agreed, I hate being wet, especially with clothes on. It’s so unnerving and uncomfortable,” Koltn said. “Lucky for me, only my feet are wet,” Carson said. “IT’S NOT LIKE YOU’RE 10 FEET TALL OR ANYTHING!” Tyler said. “God…”“Guys, what if this water is drinkable?” Tristan asked. “It looks clear and non-contaminated.” “I would try it, but I don’t trust anything here. I feel like we’ll drink it and get every disease known to mankind,” I replied. “I’ll just try it to see if it’s edible,” Brayden offered.He took a sip and realized it was almond water. He told us in excitement, and we all started taking sips one by one.Apparently, there have been myths saying that above this level lies a store/market that was flooded with almond water due to some sort of malfunctions. The almond water just drips from the ceiling, that’s why throughout the entire time being here we could hear water droplets falling from the ceiling. It gives the level a weird vibe and it’s not as bad considering we would be splashing around in water for the next hour or so.As we made our way through the water, we started getting cold from being in the water for so long. Sure it was only up to below our kneecaps, but it was still cold, and more would just keep filling in the longer we stayed at this level.“What if we tried swimming through the water,” Brayden suggested as he panted. Walking through water is hard to do because of how tiring it can be. Same goes for the real world too if you couldn’t tell. “I don’t see why not. But… The problem with that is, our clothes will be soaked so badly,” I said. “Who cares?” Beau asked. “C’mon, it’s faster and better than losing all of our energy struggling to walk through the water,” Brayden said. “Ugh, fine,” I groaned. “But don’t come crying to me when all of your clothes get cold and wet.”Everyone starts paddling away getting their nice clothes soaked. I didn’t want to hear any complaints about cold and wet clothing. It was their idea to do it, not mine. I wasn’t responsible for Brayden’s idea therefore; I did not have to hear complaining.Although it was faster than walking, it still felt uncomfortable. You ever have that feeling when you’re wearing clothes and you spill water on them, then your clothes get soggy and wet. Well, this is what we’re dealing with, but with all our clothes. It’s like getting into a shower with every piece of clothing on. Uncomfortable.We did eventually find an area with walkways on it, so we didn’t have to go through the water.“Finally, something we can actually stand on,” Tristan said. “It was getting kind of cold in there.” “Nothing here can warm up the water because there is no source of heat in here. The only luck we’ll get is a pool heater somewhere. I doubt it though because this isn’t even a pool, it’s just endless corridors of almond water. Why would there be heating here?” I spoke. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and find an actual pool somewhere,” Carson said. “Yeah right,” Beau said.We turned a corner and God forbid we found a real pool with real steps and real heaters. I don’t know how this happened and why it happened. But my god we actually have heat now.“You were saying?” Carson told Beau with a smirk on his face. “Ok, this is rigged,” Beau said. “How is that rigged? I just got lucky.” “Say another word, I dare you, I DOUBLE DARE YOU!” “Ok.” “That’s it, you done picked the wrong house fool.”They went on and “argued” for a few minutes as the rest of us checked out the pool area.We saw a group of people chilling around the area. They seemed to have swimming equipment and drinks for wanderers.“Welcome travelers to the Poolrooms! My name is Karen. Need help traveling around the level? Well, we have the perfect equipment to travel easily. We also have refreshments if you guys get tired,” Karen said. “Thanks, but do you guys have swimming gear around here?” I asked. “As a matter of fact, we do! Take a look at our wide variety of swimming gear if you’d like!”“I’m getting NPC vibes again,” Tristan whispered to me. “Tell me about it. Have these people just spent so long here that they’ve gone crazy?” “I can’t answer that Fido, but I don’t like how they act. It gives me this eerie feeling when they start acting like an NPC…” “I completely agree with you.“Is there something I can help you two with?” Karen said giving us this creepy smile. “Umm, no, thank you…” I answered terrified. “Well, you enjoy your stay here, I also got the swimming gear here for you all.” “Thanks…” Tristan gulped.“This place is just getting weirder and weirder as the levels go on,” Koltn said. “I’m starting to get suspicious of these random people that keep talking to us,” Beau said. “Wow, really had to compare that with me, eh?” Tyler said. “At least we know we can trust you, and that you’re not some person that needs to be put into an insane asylum for eternity,” I said thinking of all the things I’ve done in my past. “You’re right though, I am starting to notice the people here acting weird since I arrived here.”We changed into swimming gear and took off into the water again. With the gear on, the water wasn’t as cold as it was before. Granted it was still frigid, but it wasn’t terrible.“Umm, Fido? I have a question,” Tristan said. “Why are there pitch-black parts here on the level?” “So, the dark parts on the level are the most dangerous parts of this level. It’s filled with entities, the water gets deep, and it isn’t like almond water anymore. It turns into this bacterial, contaminated water. If it gets consumed it can give you severe stomach pain, headaches, and even has a chance to kill you,” I explained. “Wouldn’t that mean that the contaminated water would reach the water we’re in and contaminate it?” Tyler asked. “Again, for the 28th time, we’re in the Backrooms. Nothing makes sense here,” I said.“Yeah, but just a heads up, there are Smilers and weird rainbow skeletons that are pretty close to the edge of the danger areas,” Beau said in fear. “And why are the skeletons not making any sounds?” “You see, those entities are called Glitchtons. They have these dampened clothes on that make it so that when they move around, it makes no noise. That’s why it is dangerous to go in the danger areas. Because not only can the Glitchtons make no noise, but they can kill you so fast you won’t even know it until it happens.” “Well, that’s not terrifying at all,” Koltn said.“Umm, they’re starting to come out of the dark!” Brayden said. “Ok, that is not normal. We need to run now!” I shrieked.We all started running as fast as we could to find an exit. As we started running, we ran into a dead end that was just an endless void with nothing below it.We thought it was over for us, but that’s when I told everyone to jump into the void to prevent dying.Everyone jumped in and I followed them behind. Before I jumped in, I looked behind me and the entities were seconds away from me. That’s when I jumped in the void and hoped that it was the next level…CHAPTER 13
ALWAYS WATCHING…The level is the one after you now… (4 years in)We found ourselves in a weird, dark mansion. It wasn’t pitch black, but it was still very dark inside.“It’s pretty dark in here,” Tristan said. “Thank you, Tristan, for the useless information that we didn’t realize the moment we stepped in here,” Koltn mocked. “I’m just saying. Shouldn’t we find a flashlight or something?” “Nah, we’ll just walk around the level blindly with absolutely no light. What do you think!?” I yelled. “Man, y’all are just after me, aren’t you?” “No one is after you Tristan, they are just being funny and making fun jokes,” Beau said.We started making our way through the mansion until after just 10 minutes, things started getting weird…It automatically felt like we were being followed and watched by something. It felt… unnerving. It reminded us of the Scopophobia level from before. Except there is a brand-new environment with new rules.“Is it just me, or are you guys also feeling the presence of something watching over us?” I asked. “I don’t feel it. Why do you ask?” Tristan said. “I’m suddenly getting the feeling that we are not alone.” “You’re probably just overreacting. I doubt this level is that bad. It’s not like the Scopophobia level from before,” Carson said. “You wouldn’t know. We could either be at the most dangerous level to exist, or the safest. No one would know,” Tyler said. “I might know some stuff about this level,” I interrupted. “Oh really? Please explain,” Beau said.“So, I believe this is one of the rarer levels that has stages of change after every few minutes or so. And if I’m right, then this is stage one of being here. The feeling of being watched by something.” “You’re saying it’s only gonna get worse from here on out?” Brayden asked. “I believe so,” I replied. I was right. It did get worse.We continued into the level being oblivious of what was about to happen in the next hour…Thirty minutes later, we started hearing voices whispering at us.“Ok, I know I’m not freaking out, but do you guys hear voices now?” I asked. It went silent. “Hello? Are you guys going to answer?” “I hear them… The voices…” Tristan said quietly. “I hear them too. It sounds like my family,” Carson said. “Are you guys, ok? You look like you’re all being controlled by something. You’re starting to freak me out,” I said with shivers down my spine. “The darkness, the voices… They’re catching up to us after so long…” They all said in unison. “WHAT ARE YOU GUYS? DEMONS?” I started freaking out. They were all just staring in one direction. Staring. “You should join us Fido… Join us…” Everyone said. “WHAT IS HAPPENING!?” I screamed with tears rolling down my face.They kept chanting and staring. I didn’t know what was happening. I kept screaming at them. Then that’s when I noticed bloodshot eyes on the walls whispering at everyone. It suddenly went quiet, and I looked up at everyone to see them lying on the floor dead with blood rolling down their face… Straight from their eyes. I looked at the eyes on the wall and blood was spewing from the sockets.I quickly turned my head away from the eyes. Then I woke up…“Fido? Fido, can you hear me?” Beau asked. I screamed at the top of my lungs. “WOAH! Calm down!” Koltn said. “Are you good? You look like you just had a nightmare,” Tyler said. “I… You guys… How… But…” I kept stuttering. “You’re hyperventilating and spiraling out of control. Calm down, breathe, and take a chill pill,” Tristan said. I took in large breaths of air to regain my sanity. “Ok, I think I’m good now,” I said shaking. “Tell us what happened,” Carson said. “N-n-no, I’m good thanks.” “Just give him some space guys,” Tyler said. “Ok.”I slowly lifted my head up.I felt dizzy.Petrified…I didn’t know what was real anymore…It felt like that actually happened.What if it does happen?Was this just a premonition?Was I foreshadowing reality?What if the same thing happens all over again?What if this time it’s real and not a dream?What if this isn’t real?What if this is a dream?What if we don’t exist?Why do I feel like we don’t exist?Everything feels real but I can’t picture it.I’m starting to lose trust in my friends.Maybe they aren’t my friends…Maybe none of this is reality and we’re just non-existent.I can’t tell if we’re on the barrier of reality or the Backrooms anymore.Some witchcraft is happening here, but I can’t understand.I don’t feel safe.I don’t feel alive.I don’t feel…Anything…Just then we reached the next stage of the level after being here for an hour. This stage was going to be the one reason why this level is one of the more dangerous ones.The bloodshot eyes from my premonition appeared. There weren’t very many to start off with, but they were still present.“GUYS! DON’T LOOK AT THE EYES!” I screamed. “What eyes…” Brayden said as everyone went silent. “NO! I KNEW IT WAS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!” I yelled as I pushed everyone to the ground to snap them back to reality. “What was that for!?” Tristan yelled. “It was for your own good! These eyes on the walls will possess you and kill you if you look at them for too long!” “Geez, ok,” Beau said. “Hey, I saved your guys’ lives, didn’t I?” “Well, I mean, you did, but how do you know?” Tyler asked. “Remember when I blacked out and had that nightmare? Well, it was a premonition of the present. You guys were all staring at the eyes. You all got possessed. Then after some time all of you fell to the ground… Dead…” “What if it was just a dream? Maybe the eyes are harmless,” Tristan said. “I wouldn’t want to chance it either way,” Koltn said.The eyes started getting really annoying. The way they were placed throughout the level is by far the easiest death sentence. Hell, you can turn a corner and there could be three sets of eyes sitting there waiting to say hi.I also started seeing random hallucinations of figures from my peripheral vision. I don’t know how no one has noticed any hallucinations yet. I feel like someone would’ve said something by now. I think most of this stuff is happening to me and no one else. Nobody has said much about the voices or the feeling of being watched. And now, no one is noticing the hallucinations much. I don’t understand why this was happening to me, but I didn’t really mind.Time goes on. We still don’t know how to escape. We walked into the basement to see what good lurked down there. Just then we see a dark figure staring at us and I tell everyone to look away as fast as they could.“What’s wrong?” Tristan asked. “Those entities are very dangerous. If you stare at them for too long, they will instantly kill you,” I replied. “Thanks for saving us at least,” Brayden said thanking me. “It’s the least I can do. I wouldn’t want any of you dying on me now.”We continued escaping, and I noticed more bloodshot eyes were appearing around the mansion.We were ready to start walking out of the basement when I felt something tap my shoulder. I slowly turned around to see that it was an outpost there.“Who are you guys?” I asked. “Why, us? We are none other but the Watchers Outpost here on this level.” “The Watchers? Kind of an odd name for an outpost, but it’s no deal,” Beau said. “If y’all would like to stick around here, we can help ye guys with these entities here if you’d like.” “Better than dying here,” I said. “Well then let’s get going!”The Outpost took the lead as we followed behind them. They had some weapons to protect us and themselves in case the entities try to kill us.I had faith in the outpost, but I also had my doubts about them deep down inside. I felt like they would betray us, or they were just entities pretending to be human. I gave them a chance though.We got out of the basement and started making out way to the second floor of the mansion. I didn’t know how many stories there were on this level. I hoped it wasn’t a huge number of floors.“How many floors is this level?” I asked. “Only two. Why do you ask?” “I was just curious. Just making sure we don’t have to travel through this level for 15 hours.” “We won’t be wandering around for THAT long right?” Tristan asked. “We’ll probably be here for the next like 45 minutes to an hour if that’s fine?” The leader of the outpost said. “I can try to last that long. Considering these eyes will be spread throughout the whole level by then, I’m sure it’s no big deal,” I said eating my words.We continued roaming around while staring at the floor to prevent looking at the eyes. They were literally everywhere on the walls, and some even started appearing on the floor.I told the outpost that some of them were starting to spawn on the floor. They thought I was going insane because they never saw any eyes on the floor. I said that I wasn’t going insane but none of the members believed me. Shocker…While I was staring at the floor, I started feeling dizzy and sleepy out of nowhere. I didn’t look at any eyes anywhere, so I was a bit confused. I fought to stay awake, but I started losing consciousness. Just then my eyes started falling asleep and I collapsed to the ground.“Fido? Fido, you ok?” Carson asked, terrified. “C’mon, wake up! This ain’t funny,” Beau said. I didn’t move a muscle. I could hear everything they said, but it was almost like I was in a coma. A coma that allows me to hear everything but never move. Kind of like sleep paralysis but different…“Why isn’t he waking up!?” Carson screamed. “He’s just knocked unconscious,” Tristan said. “THIS AIN’T FUNNY ANYMORE! PLEASE WAKE UP!” Carson screamed. I laid still.Just then, everything went quiet, and I was put into some sort of dream again.“Hello? Where am I?” I asked quietly. “Why, you’re trapped in your mind,” A random voice said. “Oh no, not you again. What do you want from me now?” I asked yet again. “I’ll get to my reasonings later. But for now, just sit back and keep silent. I just want to talk for a bit.” I didn’t say anything for a while.“So, I heard you wandered your friends into the Backrooms now? Good job. I must say you are good at luring people into traps.” “I DON’T WANT TO DO THIS!” I screamed. “Didn’t I just say to keep quiet, and does it look like you have a choice? I control you! I was the one who knocked you unconscious! I am the one who controls your thoughts! I AM THE KING HERE!” “Why? Why do you do this to me? You always want to find some way to hurt somebody. But my friends!? I have done bad things to others in the past, and it’s all because of you! I have committed crimes, grand theft, murder, and so much more! I don’t want to keep following your orders! By the way... Back on that city level we were on. What were those dead bodies in that pile?” I asked. “You don’t remember? Those were all the people you slaughtered.” “THAT MANY!? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!?” “I was a serial killer at one point, and I got shot by a police officer when I tried to attack someone. I turned into this ghost and chose to take over someone’s body. I chose you. You looked so defenseless, so I knew you were the perfect bait.” “I don’t even feel like listening to you anymore. You just always want me to commit crimes that you did. What if I don’t follow your rules?” I asked.He went silent and gave me a blank stare. “Well, if you don’t want to do as I say. Fine by me… But if you keep disobeying me! Bad stuff will happen… Just know you have been warned.” “I just don’t like deceiving people; it makes me feel unworthy. I trust my friends and they trust me. I can’t try and kill them now!” “You do realize that you pretty much killed Brayden a while back, right?” “YEAH! BUT I DIDN’T WANT TO! I WANT MY FRIENDS TO BE SAFE! EVEN IF IT MEANS WANTING TO KILL MYSELF BECAUSE OF THE CONSTANT TORTURE AND HELL WE’VE BEEN THROUGH!” I yelled. “And you really think you won’t be here for the rest of your lives?” “Well, I… We will escape someday. Whether it takes us a month or 15 years. I don’t care! I just want my friends to be safe.” He sighed. “Very well. Just know that if you don’t do as I say, I have the right to kill you on command…” I felt a lump in my throat. “What’s your name anyway? I need to know who you are.” “The names Jeffery, or Jeff for short. I will send you back to reality now.” “WAIT, BUT!” I got sent back to reality before I could say anything else.“What… What happened?” I asked. “You got knocked unconscious and hit your head pretty hard on the ground,” Brayden replied. “No wonder it feels like I have a minor concussion,” I groaned. “Can you even walk? You feel like you can stabilize yourself?” Tyler asked. “I think I’ll be fine for now. Let’s just move on,” I said breathlessly.“Psst, Fido,” Beau whispered. “What happened?” “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it when we’re alone. I don’t need everyone else to know what happened,” I replied. “I understand.” Beau went silent for a minute. “Tell you what, when we get to a safe level, you can tell me all about it. You can trust me.” “I know I can trust you. I just feel really uncomfortable telling people about it.” “Is it really that bad?” “It’s more than bad. I’ll just save you the rest for later.”Beau nodded his head and continued following the outpost alongside me. The outpost had killed a few of the Stare entities while I was oblivious to everything around me and talking with Beau. I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to it. But still. Pretty impressive for like 20 people. I wouldn’t have the determination to kill an entity. Even though I was controlled by someone to go on a genocide one day. That’s not important though.As we were walking, I stumbled upon a door that had the word “Sanctuary” on it. “Why does this door have the word Sanctuary on it?” I asked. “I’m not sure. Maybe you guys can try opening it to find out,” the leader said. “What could go wrong?” I asked regretting my decisions.We opened the door and a cool breeze hit us as we looked inside the door to see nice scenery with serene vibes.CHAPTER 14PART I: THE SANCTUARYSerene forests and meadowlands. (4.5 years in)The scenery looked amazing in this level. It’s like going into the country and seeing a meadow with flowers, trees, and fresh grass everywhere. It felt like we were in the real world because of how amazing it looked.“Are we in the real world?” Beau asked. “It looks like the real world, but unfortunately, it’s not. I only know like 3 exits out of the Backrooms entirely,” I answered. “What are those three exits exactly?” Koltn asked. “So, there is a level called Barrier Between Two Realities and it’s like this level but in the distant there is a giant hole deep in the forest and you have to travel for I think 10 hours or something to reach it. It’s like it goes away from you and you must chase it down. I’m not sure. The second exit is in a level called The True End and it takes place in a giant mall and supposedly if you find an exit sign colored in blue, it’s the real exit, but it only works 20% of the time. The last one is level 9223372036854775807. It pretty much is known to be the very last level of the Backrooms and supposedly you have to climb up exactly 50 flights of stairs and fall down the center of the staircase to escape. That’s all I know,” I explained. “Why can’t we just go to those levels then?” Tristan asked. “It’s not that easy. See, those levels are really rare and are super hard to get to,” I replied. “How hard exactly?” Tyler asked. “So, the 9-quintillion level I just said. It’s a one out of that number percent chance of happening.” “That’s not so bad, isn’t it?” Brayden asked jokingly. “We just have to be on the right level for it, right now we’re not on that kind of level. I’ll let you guys know when we get to one of those kinds of levels,” I said.So, this part of the level is the safest part of the actual level. This sanctuary we were in is a sub-version of the REAL level. The REAL level is highly dangerous and has almost a 100% chance of death.“What happens at night here Fido?” Tristan asked. “Nothing. It’s just like the normal world. Nothing bad happens here at night,” I said. “And when you mean nothing? You mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING?” Beau asked. “Absolutely nothing. It is completely safe and devoid of any entities,” I answered. “So, we’re safe for now?” Carson asked. “Oh my god,” I mumbled. “Yes, perfectly safe. All I know is that there is a sub-level to this one and it is dangerous. So, just be careful when we go there.” “That is if we went there,” Koltn said. “Well, yes, but… Let’s not worry about that just yet,” I told everyone.We started wandering into the forests there and it looked amazing. It was quiet and calming to walk through. Just hearing “birds” chirping and the wind blowing. It felt like heaven.This was heaven.I love it here.It’s the one place to not think about death.It felt like we were actually in heaven.Were we in heaven?Are we dead?Is this just a dream still?I can’t tell what’s real and fake.I don’t want to die yet.But I want to leave here.It feels amazing here.But…I want to leave…Not this level specifically.But the Backrooms in general…I just…Hate it here…These levels are blessings to us.These levels are places to calm us down from all the danger…It just…Sucks…The sub-level to this is way more dangerous than any level we’ve been to.And we’re going to be forced to go there soon…I’m scared for it…But I will protect everyone at all costs…Even if it means death…We continued in the forest while I was contemplating my life. In the forest, we found some animals from the real world roaming around.“Are those real animals?” I asked. “They look like… deer?” Tyler questioned. “Since when can the Backrooms contain real animals from the real world?” I asked again. “Maybe we’re in the real world!” Carson screamed. “You dummy, I doubt we are in the real world. Would you be able to find voids in the real world?” Brayden asked pointing at a small, deep, black hole. “Yeah, like that’s normal in the real world,” Beau said. “Hey! I was just saying what I thought!” Carson hollered. “Ok, just calm down Carson. We’ll get out soon,” Koltn said eating his words.We weren’t getting out any time soon.In fact, we would probably be here for the next few years if we were lucky enough.Ok, maybe I’m over exaggerating, but we would be here for a LONG time.Anyways, we exited the forest and started walking through a large meadow with the perfect amount of wind and temperature. It felt like summer. We were all enjoying our time here. Everyone said it felt amazing out here. It was just perfect here. We all sat down in the meadow to enjoy ourselves.“This is the life,” Beau sighed in joy. “You’re darn right it is. I could stay here forever,” I said. “You have one hour left before the you get sent to your ETERNAL DEMISE!” “What in the world? Is the level talking to us now?” Tyler asked. “I don’t know, and I really don’t wanna find out,” Tristan said. “Agreed, also, I doubt we have only an hour left in here,” I said. “Levels usually don’t have time limits to them, do they?” “I’m not sure Fido. I’ve been here for a long time, and I’ve never seen a level that talks to you, nor has a time limit to it,” Tyler said. “It must be this specific level that has these weird characteristics. First, we see real animals for Earth, random voids, and now it can talk to you? I’m starting to question reality.” “I don’t know about you guys but, there’s a deer coming towards us,” Brayden said. “Stay calm and quiet so that it doesn’t run away,” I said quietly.The deer slowly came towards us and sniffed us for a solid minute. It then came over to me and instantly ran away in fear.“What did you do!?” Beau said. “I didn’t do anything! It just came up to me and ran away!” I replied. “You’re sure you didn’t do anything?” Koltn asked. “I’m sure, I just looked at it, and it must’ve sensed something wrong about me?” I questioned. “Maybe, but I don’t think you’re a bad person,” Brayden said as I started sweating. “You know I would never do anything bad to you guys. I’m innocent and a good person.” “And that’s why we trust you Fido,” Carson said.After Carson said that I started feeling tired and blacked out for some odd reason. I couldn’t hear anything this time except for a familiar voice.“Greetings from the shadow realm Fido.” “What in the?” I gasped. “YOU AGAIN!? What do you want now!?” I screamed. “You can’t just tell them that you’re innocent. Shouldn’t you just tell them your backstory?” “Look Jeff, I don’t want to tell them anything, and I don’t have to.” “I thought I told you already, you have to listen to me at all costs.” “But you haven’t told me anything yet? So, I’m confused?” “Look, this section of the level you’re on is safe so, I can’t ask you for much. But on the other hand.” “Yeah yeah, you can ask me to torment them at any time because the real part of the level is dangerous, I know! But I still don’t want to do it.” “And how are you going to stop me from killing you if you don’t listen?” “Well… I… umm… I’ll find a way! JUST YOU WATCH!” “You really think you can overtake me? Heh, you really don’t know what you’re doing don’t you? I don’t think you’ve picked up on this yet, but… I CONTROL YOU! If you somehow kill me, how are you going to stay alive!?” “You don’t control me; you just live inside me. If I killed, you nothing bad will happen. The only thing that will happen though, is the fact that I will be devoid of a possessed freak that wants me to kill everyone in my path and go on a mass genocide.” He stared blankly at me then started laughing. “HAHAHAHA! YOU REALLY ARE STUPID! I DIDN’T THINK YOU WERE THAT MINDLESS! YOU CAN’T WIN! YOU’RE WORTHLESS, USELESS, AND A NOBODY! A NOBODY I SAY!!!” “I will find a way.” “Get out of here! I see no reason to continue on with this dialogue.”“Psst, Fido, wake up,” Beau said. “Did I black out again?” I replied. “No, you just fell asleep. I can see why. I’m starting to fall asleep myself,” Brayden yawned. “Oh, sorry. I was just feeling a bit tired, that’s all,” I said as I started sweating. “Why are you sweating?” Tyler asked. “It’s just a bit hot here that’s all.” “But it’s like 80º here,” Tristan said. “I know, but… I just get hot easily,” I stuttered. “I understand that, it happens to me sometimes too,” Beau said. “Let’s just continue moving forward.”As we continued walking through the fields, I noticed a dark part of the forest that I didn’t think looked safe. It looked like the trees and plants there were decaying and grayed out. Almost like it was a video from the mid 1900’s. It was all black and white as if it wasn’t real.Before we walked towards it, I told everyone to wait a second while I talked to Beau.“You guys, just wait a second, I have to talk to Beau for a minute,” I told everyone. “Why? What’s going on?” Tristan asked. “Are you hiding something from us?” Brayden asked. “I’m not hiding anything. I just have to have a small talk with him.” “Ok, but please make sure to not go too far,” Brayden said. “We’re just going to walk over here for a moment, we’ll be right back.”I started walking with Beau to tell him about my little secret that I couldn’t really tell anyone about just yet.“So, what happened back at that mansion?” “If I tell you, do you promise to keep quiet?” “Yes, just tell me already.” “Ok, so… I have someone possessing me on the inside.” “Possessing? What are you talking about Fido?” “So, there was a criminal back in the day that goes by the name of Jeff. He was skilled in murder, grand theft, and multiple crimes per day. He got shot by a police officer when he tried to attack someone. He had the ability to possess someone of his choice, and he chose me. He told me it was because I was innocent and defenseless. Now he has the right to knock me unconscious, kill me, and make me kill people on command.”Tears started rolling down my face.“I just… I don’t want to hurt you guys. Back when Brayden got kidnapped, Jeff made me leave him behind. There’s been times where I’ve fought back and prevented me from killing you guys. It’s just so hard to do it… He’s too powerful and I can’t do anything about it.” The tears turned into streams. “Fido… It’s ok… I can still trust you. But how do we kill him?” “I don’t know. The only thing I can think of is… is…” “Don’t tell me it’s…” “Killing myself…”We both went silent for a while.“No! You can’t! I won’t let you!” “What else can I do? I can’t just reset my brain and get rid of him.” “THAT’S IT! WE HAVE TO RESET YOUR BRAIN!” “But how? It’s impossible.” “If I’m being honest. You might have to get a huge concussion or serious brain damage to remove him.” “But that’s too risky. If I get a major concussion. I’ll be unconscious for months. And severe brain damage is even worse.” “We have to try it one way or another. Also, thanks for having this chat. I’ll keep it between us.” “Thanks Beau.”The tears stopped rolling down my face and I dried them off before going back with everyone.“Hey we’re back,” I said. “About time, it’s been 20 minutes,” Tyler said. “20 MINUTES!?” Beau yelled. “Sheesh, felt like 2 minutes.” “Yeah, can we just continue on?” Koltn asked. “Sure, I don’t see why not,” I said.We started making our way towards the forest and automatically I snapped back into reality and tried to stop everyone from going into the forest.I yelled but it was already too late… I had accidentally lured my friends into a dangerous trap…PART II: ETERNAL DEMISEEvery step can be lethal…Hazards… Everything deadly… I had just led us into the true death sentence of a level…“Where are we now?” Beau asked. “I messed up…” I said quietly. “What do you mean messed up?” Tristan asked. “We’re doomed… We might die here…” “What are you talking about?” Tyler asked. “This level is way too dangerous. Just make sure you guys watch your every step. Anything can kill you instantly here,” I warned everyone. “Why didn’t you stop us!?” Beau said. “I tried but it was too late. It came to my mind that the deadly sub level was those woods, but I couldn’t say it fast enough… I’m sorry.” “It’s fine, but how are we going to manage getting through this without dying?” Carson asked. “Just watch your every step and pay close attention to any unidentified things,” I replied.Everyone was watching their movement to not accidentally step on hazardous things. The level was classified as a Class Dead-zone because of how dangerous it is. Any step we took is a risk of death. So, we had to be careful.As we started slowly walking down the long hallway of torture, we started seeing little puddles of black ink scattered throughout the entire hall. It looked like a horror film. It was sloshy, bubbling, steaming, and extremely hot. I started sweating when I examined it too closely.“Fido! Stay away from that! You don’t know what it is!” Brayden said. “Relax… I’m not going to touch it. I just want to take a look at it.” “Hmm, looks like the perfect death trap.” “Oh, shut up Jeff,” I said quietly. “Who are you talking to?” Koltn asked. “No one, just talking to myself as per usual.” “Kinda forgot you do that on an average daily basis,” Carson said. “Yeah, but can we keep it down a bit? I know there are entities that live in here, and I ain’t feel like dying today,” I said to everyone.Everyone agreed to keep it down a bit. The hallways echoed so I hoped that nothing was starting to chase after us from the shadows.“You know you want to Fido… Come on… Just do it already. No harm involved.” “Jeff, I swear to god if you don’t shut your damn mouth.” “What did you say? Are you talking back to me?” “You’re not my parents, just shut up for a change.” “You better take back everything you said before I kill you right here right now.” “The hell you gonna do?” “If you keep running your mouth then you’ll find out.”I kept quiet for a while before continuing down the hallway. Beau asked me if I was alright, and I told him about Jeff tormenting me. He suggested that we reset my brain right now and I agreed.“Fido… What are you planning on doing???” Tyler asked. “Resetting my brain…” “What!? Why!? For what purpose does this serve?” Tristan asked. “I’ll let Beau tell you the story,” I said as I started repeatedly bashing my head against the concrete hallway. “OH MY GOD HAS HE GONE INSANE! HE’S GOING TO KILL HIMSELF!!!” Carson screamed. “Just wait, he’s doing this for a reason,” Beau said as he watched me in fear. Everyone started tearing up as they kept watching me brutally bash my skull into the wall. At that same moment, I collapsed to the ground and didn’t respond for a long time.“WHAT DID YOU DO!?” Jeff screamed. “I’m resetting you.” “Resetting? What are you talking about?” “I’m meaning that you will be no longer…” “You don’t know what setbacks this can cause don’t you?” “Oh, I know the setbacks… But does it look like I care right now?” “Well… no? But know you are making a big mistake.” “And I don’t care, give it about like 5 seconds and you should be deleted for good.”5 seconds pass by, and nothing happens.“Ha, nothing happened idiot.” “Wait for it… Give it a second…” “Why am I disintegrating?” “That’s you disappearing. Have fun in Hell why don’t you?” “I CAN’T GO BACK TO HELL! I WILL RETURN! JUST YOU WAIT FIDO!!! I’LL KILL YOU ONE WAY OR ANOTHER!!!” After that he disintegrated and was gone for good. Maybe he would return again but I didn’t want to think about it now. He was gone and that’s all that mattered. I woke up once more.“Fido! You’re awake!? But how?” Tyler asked. “I… uh… wha… how…” I stuttered then coughed violently. “Dude, are you ok?” Carson asked. “I don’t feel the greatest,” I groaned. “Can you stand up?” Koltn asked. “I don’t feel like moving… Just give me a few…” “But we can’t just stay here forever. Who knows what entities could be right down these hallways?” Beau said. “If you all haven’t just noticed… I literally just bashed my skull into the concrete walls right here… I… Want… To… Heal…” “Guys just give him a few minutes. You would understand if you were in his shoes,” Tristan said. “Besides if we don’t feel like dying, why not carry him?” “Because he weighs a lot?” Tyler asked. “Actually, I only weigh 100 lbs.,” I said. “100 lbs. isn’t that much. Two of us or maybe three could carry him. So… who wants to do it?” Beau asked. “I will,” Koltn and Brayden said. “Ok, so me, Koltn, and Brayden will carry you around for a while if you don’t mind,” Beau said. “Just don’t grab the wrong areas,” I chuckled. “We’ll try not to,” Koltn said winking at me.They started carrying me around as I will still suffering from crippling depression and while they were, we noticed a smiler in the distance just staring at us. I told everyone to start running. They replied and said to see what happened if we didn’t run away. I thought they were crazy.Turns out since we sat there and had the longest staring contest of our lives, the smiler just flew away, not giving us any problems to deal with.“See? "Maybe we don’t need to run away from all of our problems after all,” Beau said in heavy breaths. “Think again… The smiler has brought some friends with him,” Tyler said. My face went white, and I nearly screamed. Everyone started running, barely avoiding the black goop on the floor. I was honestly kind of surprised that no one had touched it. Yet… Just kidding I don’t think anyone will step on it. Hopefully…Anyways, we managed to escape from the smilers after like 2 minutes of running. Beau, Koltn, and Brayden were sweating and panting so they put me down. I felt better and was able to walk for a while. Was I still in pain? Yes. Was there still a massive concussion and migraine going on? Yes. I was not having fun. Imagine head butting somebody but running towards them at full force. That was the pain I was witnessing currently. Ok I’m done with the complaints now. Maybe…After I started walking for a bit Tristan asked me if it was a good idea to be walking after what I did. I told him it wasn’t that big of a deal. He suggested that I’d rest rather than use energy for pointless reasons. It wasn’t pointless because I was trying to survive for god’s sake.I was limping, breathing heavily, groaning and so much more. It helped me with my stabilization but not a lot with my movement.“Are you sure you should be doing this?” Tristan asked. “What’s better? Having them three carry me around like they’re my slaves and tire them? Or giving them a break?” I asked. “Well, I think you should take it easy on yourself for a while. Just saying.” “I will, but if I need to run, then I’m running like my life depends on it.” “I understand that Fido, but don’t you think it’s a bit risky? You know… running around while you’re still half crippled.” Tristan, no need to overreact. I’ll be fine, just trust me. If anything goes wrong, then you guys will have my back, right? Because in this case I can’t really save you guys, this time you’ll have to get my back,” I explained. “Ok, you can count on us,” Tristan winked.We continued walking for some time and considering I wasn’t crippled enough, but now we got to one part of the level where for me, it was nearly impossible to see. The guys could see fine, but I couldn’t see jack squat. That’s when I may or may not have stepped in the black ink.PART III: PAIN AND AGONYWhy must it always be me???I screamed and screamed. Everyone was asking me what had happened when they noticed the black ink covering the bottom of my foot. It was almost like it evaporated the bottom part of my shoe but not my skin. It seeped through the shoe but not my body. I was really confused on how logic works that way but who knows? Maybe I’m going crazy or maybe this isn’t real.The pain was unreal.I couldn’t help but shriek in agonizing pain.Tears were streaming down my face.The black ink just burns my skin like wildfire.It kept spreading and no one could touch it.I just had to sit there and wait for the ink to go away.What if it never does?Will this ink live on me forever?Would I become an ink monster?Will I die?Is this it?The end…I want to believe it’s fake but there’s no use.It’s over…My time has come…I won’t be here much longer.It’s about time my pain and suffering will end…I hate all of this.Goodbye cruel world…
It’s not over yet…“FIDO!” Carson screamed. “GOD, SOMEBODY HELP ME!!! THIS HURTS LIKE HELL!” “DON’T JUST SIT THERE! HELP HIM!” Carson screamed again. “What can we do!? If we touch it the same thing will happen to us!” Tyler said. “SOMEBODY KILL ME! I CAN’T TAKE THE AGONY ANYMORE!!!” I cried out.It felt like a horror movie to everyone else. Watching me sit there in pain with nothing they can do… Kind of reminded them of the SAW movies. Granted they’ve never watched them, but they said they’ve heard about what happens in the franchise.The ink was continuing to make its way up my legs and almost onto my stomach. I kept shrieking and begging for help, but they couldn’t do anything. All they could do was sit and watch.Some of the clothes on me started to disintegrate from the intense heat. I was glad it wasn’t liquid pain, otherwise I’d be dead. Liquid pain is basically this red liquid that looks like blood, and if any part of your body touches it, you instantly die. This on the other hand… This was something different.“This is a nightmare! Our friend is dying right in front of us!” Tristan said. “We can’t even do anything about Tristan,” Brayden said. “We just have to sit here and wait for something to happen.” “I wish my friend was here… He was an amazing person… He would know what to do here…” Tyler said. “WHY ISN’T HE HERE THEN! I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE HIS HELP RIGHT NOW!” I screamed and screamed.The tears kept streaming, but it was a good thing. The “chemicals” from the tears were holding the ink back. It was like a cure. The more tears on the ink, the faster it disappeared.“Wait a second,” I said. “I think the tears are getting rid of the ink!” “That’s ridiculous. No way tears can get rid of deadly ink from the Backrooms,” Koltn said. I kept letting the tears cover the ink until it almost disappeared. “You were saying Koltn?” He didn’t say anything for a moment. “How are you doing that Fido?” Carson asked. “I have no idea, but I don’t wanna ask about it. I’m just glad the pain is slowly disappearing,” I said in relief.After all the ink disappeared, I felt relieved to not be in agonizing pain. Granted it destroyed most of my skin and clothes but thank the gods I ain’t dead yet…We continued making our way down the hallway avoiding any more of the puddles on the ground. I didn’t feel like going through that again.I swore I heard footsteps that weren’t coming from us. I didn’t feel alone here. None of us did…“You guys hear those footsteps, right?” Beau asked. “Mhm, I know we’re not alone here…” Tristan said in fear. I looked behind me and saw another dark figure chasing after us quickly. “I suggest we get the hell out of here!” I said. “Good idea!”Everyone started jolting out of there as fast as they could. I followed along, but from behind. It’s like the safety measures that adults use with their kids in case someone got kidnapped, then they would go first. Not like I wanted it, but it’s better if they still stay alive. I’d take a bullet for them but in this case, I’d take a death sentence.We saw an odd door at the end of the hallway that had jumbled up letters in it. It looked like it was trying to say exit, but it was spelled x-E-t-i.“Is that supposed to say exit on it?” Tristan asked. “I don’t care what it’s trying to say! But I would rather not be entity bait!” I screamed as I opened the door. “Fido? What are you doing?” Beau asked. “Trying not to die!” I replied. “You don’t even know what’s behind that door,” Tyler said. “As long as I ain’t dead I’m going in!”I ran in through the door while everyone else was confused about my choices. They still followed behind considering they wouldn’t want to die either.Maybe I made the right decision, maybe I didn’t… I’d just have to find out one way or anotherCHAPTER 15
WATERPARK WONDERLAND?Is it me or do I have a Bad Feeling? (5.2 years in)Immediately off the bat I had the worst feeling about this level. It looked way too deceiving to be a safe level. It was a literal Waterpark but didn’t feel like it. Everything looked fine about it. The slides weren’t out of shape, decaying, or crumbling. It smelled just like chlorine and not some sort of acidic chemical. And it felt like an average Waterpark, except it probably wasn’t.“Is it just me or am I getting bad vibes about this place?” I asked. “Why do you always ask that?” Brayden said. “I just feel like this place isn’t safe.” “But it’s a Waterpark! What’s not safe about that!” Carson said. “The fact that we are in the Backrooms and how everything can be deceiving,” Beau interrupted. “That’s the exact reason why I don’t feel like we’re safe here,” I added under my breath.I started browsing the area while the others were messing around in the water.Trying to find information about the level, I came upon the “Managers Room” to find a bunch of paperwork about this Waterpark.The first paper just had a bunch of normal Waterpark rules such as “no running, diving, horseplay, waiting your turn, maximum weights for certain slides” etcetera.I found documents for job hiring staff meetings and administrations.After digging deeply into the papers, I saw one paper in red and black talking about the slides and entities…If you’re reading this, you’re in grave danger! This level is not safe! You must exit immediately!!! The slides are not safe. Each one of them has a special ability that can cause death if played out terribly.“Here we go again…” I sighed.
Here’s the list of all the slides
Blue Slides: They will always transport you to the Blue Channel.
(The Blue Channel is a very dangerous city level with a low survival rate)
Red Slides: Infested with Partygoers. It is not advised to enter this slide! No other effects take place at this slide.
White Slides: Instant Death!
Yellow Slides: Transports you to Level 0. This is one of the safest ways to escape this level!
Pitch Black Slides: Infested with Smilers. If you manage to survive the Smilers in the slide you will be taken to the Smiling room! No chance of survival…
Orange Slides: Has an exact 50% chance to teleport you to level 2.2 or the Hive! Just don’t go to this slide…
Pink Slides: Summons approximately 3-4 Partygoers in the level.
Grey Slides: Has multiple grues inside the holes in the slide. Whatever grues are meant to be. Just don’t take the chance…
Beige Slides: Sends you to Level 601. Don’t try it! This slide often glitches out and can take you to an even more dangerous level…
Green Slides: The safest slide to go down AND is the only safe exit to the level. It’s the hardest slide to find so good luck…
-Ryder S. 2024-“Well then.” I paused momentarily. “At least I have some form of information.” I went outside the manager's room, and as I walked out, I saw Brayden getting ready to go down a red slide. I screamed at him and told him not to go down the slide. He asked why he couldn’t, and I showed him the paper. He couldn’t read what it said but came down the stairs rather than the slide.“What are you talking about?” Brayden asked. “Real quick, I need all of you to come here for a minute!” I yelled for everyone to see this paper. “What’s up?” Beau asked. “Read this paper then you’ll understand.”“If you’re reading this, you’re in grave danger? How are we in danger?” Carson asked. “Just read it!” I spoke.They started reading what the note said and what all the slides do. I even watched Koltn’s jaw drop on the Pitch-Black slide and everyone else’s eyes widen when they read that.“You’re telling me that all of these slides are death sentences!?” Koltn asked. “Just keep reading, you’ll be shocked to see what some others are,” I said. “What can be worse than instant death?” Beau asked. “Just read it…”
They read the rest of the paper which barely phased them considering it wasn’t as bad as instant death…“Wait… Who’s Ryder S.?” Tristan asked. “Hold up! Did you just say Ryder?” Tyler asked. “Yeah? Why?” Tristan asked. “That… It can’t be… That’s my long-lost friend…Now I want to go down the white slide EVEN more now” Tyler gasped. “Wait a minute. So, you’re telling me that this is your lost friend?” I asked. “Yes… When did he write this?” Tyler asked. “It doesn’t give a date, it just gives us the year,” Beau said. “It couldn’t have been too long ago though. I mean February just began like a month ago,” Koltn said. “I wonder if he’s around here anywhere?” Carson asked. “My guess is that he probably already left here a while ago,” I said.“But what if he’s still here?” Tristan asked. “If he’s still here, we would’ve already found him,” Brayden answered. “How? This level could be as long as the Earth,” Beau said. “Because this level is just the size of a normal Waterpark,” I interrupted. “And how might you know that?” Koltn asked. “Just look around and it’s pretty obvious,” I said.They all looked around the level and they could see all four walls, a roof, and no extra rooms that make extensions to the level.After that was done, I told them that I was right, and we continued forth.We all split up to cover more ground and have a higher chance of finding the safe-green slide.I looked around in my little “section” of the level and all I saw was desaturated, grayed out, and warped slides.Why are all these slides warping?I never heard about warped slides before.And why are all the colors desaturated?How do I know which slides are dangerous?Why must this stuff always happen to me…It’s not like the other slides aren’t broken.It’s just this quadrant…Or is it?Maybe the paper left something important out?Or maybe I’m losing it?How is this happening?Why is this happening?I feel like the Backrooms are after me specifically.I haven’t done anything wrong…Have I?I don’t think so.If I did, then why do I get this kind of punishment?Maybe it’s just bad luck.Ok…Don’t freak out…You’re just having another one of your stress sessions again…Calm yourself…I took a deep breath and continued looking for the green slide. Depends on if I can tell the distinct shades of the slides. The desaturation makes it hard to distinguish all the slides apart from each other.Every slide looks grey, but I could only tell what the real color is by going up close. Not the greatest idea considering how dangerous some are. What if I got too close to a white slide and died? Or maybe too close to a pink slide and it somehow happened to spawn 4 Partygoers? Possibly even getting transported to a different level or room!That’s the least of my concerns now. I just had to focus on the tints of the slides.“Alright, let’s just start from the bottom and make my way up.” I inhaled with the last breath of air I had and started with a small slide. As I walked closer towards it, I saw a slight hint of yellow peeking out from the saturation.“Ah so this is a yellow slide. For some reason this reminds me of what color-blindness looks like.” Little did I know this area of the level was called the warped blindness part because of the desaturation, barely visible coloring, warped slides, and dead surroundings.The other parts had their own effects on them. We all went in groups aside from me. So, to put it clearly, Beau and Tristan went into the normal section, Koltn and Carson went into the darkness area, Tyler and Brayden went into the unknown area, and I went into the warped blindness area. What a fun time…“What’s the worst that could happen here? I mean, I’m already being put through this constant torture… What else can go wrong?” I might as well have already gone down that yellow slide… Probably one of the safest ways out. But I wouldn’t want to ditch my friends…I want to leave, but I can’t. And plus, I want the safest way out of here. Going back to the start isn’t going to help. I might as well continue on instead of restarting.“Wonder how the others are holding up?” I asked myself. “Surely they aren’t having a hell of a time as I am…” I looked around and kept wondering about the warped slides and what they did. It probably didn’t matter. The colors are all that mattered.Anyways, I finished looking around my area and couldn’t find the green slide anywhere.“Really? It’s not here?” I groaned and walked out of the area. Once I walked out of that area, I was glad to finally see colors again. “Any luck?” I asked Beau and Tristan. “Unfortunately, no… Even though our area was normal, it took us no time to figure out the green slide wasn’t in here,” Beau said. “So, what did you do in the meantime?” I asked. “Oh, we just walked around and investigated the place,” Tristan interrupted. “What was there to investigate? The water temperature?”I sat and laughed to myself.“No, we went into some of the rooms scattered throughout the level. Most of them were completely empty of threats, some contained a smiler or two, some partygoers, and some had barely any food for all of us. So, we couldn’t stay for a long period of time.”“But Beau, why wouldn’t the smilers and partygoers be chasing after us right now?” Tristan asked. “I think it might be because we don’t pose a threat to them, or because they are behind doors where they can’t see us. Because for some reason, most entities won’t chase a person unless they have visible sight of you, whether it be thermal radiation (for some reason), your whole body, or just a body part. I’m not the type of intellectual human, but I just know what I’ve heard,” I said. “So, you are the new Albert Einstein?” Beau mocked. “Nah, I’m far from his intelligence level. Tyler might as well be the new Einstein.” “But how would he be the new Einstein?” Tristan asked. “Well… It’s because… Maybe… Hell I don’t know! Let’s just walk around a bit more until the others are done,” I said. “Too late, Koltn and Carson are already back,” Beau pointed out.Carson and Koltn walked towards us, and they unfortunately didn’t find the slide anywhere. That meant it was in the area Brayden and Tyler were in… Right?Let me put it to you straight. It wasn’t…So, then, where would it be?I had no clue…“Wait a second! If you didn’t find the slide Fido, we didn’t find it, and they didn’t find it, shouldn’t we just go into Tyler and Brayden’s area?” Beau asked. “And what if it’s not in there?” I asked. “Well then…” Beau goes silent momentarily.“You know, I genuinely have no idea then…” “I mean we might as well just go in. We don’t have anything else to do, and we can’t really do anything else. So, I say we just go in,” Carson suggested. “You guys could do that but… We’re already done,” Tyler said in the distance.We all started talking about where the slide would be. None of us happened to find the slide. It was probably the hardest in my area and Carson and Koltn’s area, because our areas didn’t really have color in them.
It was just this black, white and gray environment with weird desaturation and confusion.So then, where was the slide?To answer the question about the slide we all started wandering around looking for anything green. We re-checked my area, Tyler and Brayden’s area, Koltn and Carson’s area, and finally Beau and Tristan’s area.We still couldn’t find it even after looking for a whopping 4 HOURS! I told everyone I was going to go look once more in the normal section and when I did, I looked in an unexpected part of the area and got a huge surprise…“Hey guys! I think I found the slide.” My voice echoed through the entire level. “How can you be so sure?” Brayden asked me. “There’s just something green in the corner of this section and it looks like a slide!”They all ran over to check what the damage was.“So, you guys did miss something,” Koltn said to Beau and Tristan. “Well… We didn’t think to check there because it’s in a weird spot…” Beau said. “You guys should’ve just checked EVERYWHERE!” Brayden said. “If you guys would’ve looked harder, we’d be out of here by now!” “Hey, can we all just calm down… It’s fine… We found the slide, we can exit freely, and there shall be nothing to worry about,” I said with an awkward smile on my face. “Why are you saying it like that?” Carson asked. “I’m just saying I think since this is the safest way out of here, I doubt anything dangerous can happen in the next level.”We all went down the green slide and took our safe way out of the level just to realize that we might be free to leave this wretched place.CHAPTER 16
The End???
Is it over??? (5.8 years in)As we entered this next level, we felt a calming sensation upon setting foot here. It felt like we had nothing to worry about, and all our problems would be solved.Or so we thought...“Where are we now?” Brayden asked. “(Is there anything else to say when entering a level?) Boys, I would like to introduce to you the exit to the Backrooms! Welcome, TO THE PROMISE LANDS!!!”And then a dramatic effect plays, and everyone is in awe! (Don’t know why I’m adding this here, but why the hell not?)“So, you’re telling me! That this is the exit to the Backrooms?” Tyler asked. “It is the supposed exit to the Backrooms in general, but who knows if it’s even real?” I replied. “Wait wait wait... What do you mean supposed exit?” Brayden said. “In short, people believe that this level is the exit to the Backrooms. Others believe it’s the Barrier level, even people who think that level 9223372036854775807 is the exit. But no one really knows.”Everyone went silent for a solid minute.“You know... I don’t believe this is the exit!” Koltn snapped. “But why? Fido’s always right!” Carson said. “Oh, shut up. He might be intelligent but that doesn’t mean he’s always right,” Tyler said. “I took that to offense but continue on...” I spoke. “I just don’t think this is the true exit to the Backrooms. I mean hell, we’ve gotten this far yet I still don’t believe it.”Tyler kept yapping on about the most random bs about how this “isn’t the true exit,” and this was starting to annoy me. A lot...“And I also don’t think that...” “HEY! Can you drop the subject for a damn second! God! I don’t understand what the big deal is here! Is there something I’m unaware of? Is there anything you wanna talk about? Feelings? Thoughts? Your friend?” “YOU WILL NOT MENTION HIM!!!” Tyler snapped. “But we’ve mentioned him before. Right?” Beau asked. “ALL OF YOU JUST SHUT UP!!!”Tyler ended up running away from us before we could stop him. It wasn’t even worth chasing after him because... he wouldn’t listen...We yelled his name repeatedly. He never responded. We tried persuading him back to us. He never budged. He just kept running until we couldn’t see him anymore...We had lost a member of the group...“So, we’re not gonna stop him? We’re just gonna let him run away?” Carson asked. “What are we supposed to do!? We’ve tried everything you dummy!” Tristan yelled. “Guys, it’s fine, at least we got some deadweight off our arms,” Koltn said while smirking. “Oh, so you think that’s funny!?” Beau said. “I wasn’t trying to make that funny...” “Then why the hell were you smirking then?”They all went on for a while and I slowly backed away. I tried giving them a bit of space, and surprise surprise... they didn’t know I had even left. Typical…God the arguing is insane nowadays...One day we’re all buddies, the next day we’re enemies...Why can’t they all just get along?I know it’s not hard, but the second a person says something offensive...Might as well just stay out of all of it.Cuz if you get involved, you’re never getting out...Won’t they eventually realize I’m gone?What if they don’t care about me?Or anyone for that matter?Koltn seemed fine at the fact Tyler left.The only one who really cared a bunch was Carson.But he doesn’t countWho am I kidding?Maybe it’s best I just forget about all of this and just continue exploring!Without them...Alone...Again...Maybe I'll just be aloneForever..................................I continued wandering around the area to see what kind of stuff was in store.There were a few fast-food restaurants, like ones from the real world, like McDonalds, Taco Bell, Burger King etc.Most of them weren’t open because... Well, who would want to be working in a place in the supposed Backrooms exit level?(I wouldn’t, I'll tell you that much)As I kept walking, I turned a corner and saw an exit sign over this bright blue door. I might as well have gone blind it was so bright… I ran towards the door until I stopped.“Why’d I stop?” I asked quietly. “Lemme try running at it again.” I ran at it, and it just felt like I was being taken back into time. Almost like I would run towards the door and teleport backwards to where I started running.So, in this case, why not just run back? Well, I tried. It didn’t work out…“Why can’t I leave here? I was able to get here, so why can’t I leave here. Y’know what they say, if you get into a situation, you can get out of it. In this case, I ain’t able to do that.”I started laughing to myself a bit while also panicking because I didn’t know what to do. Anywhere I went would just teleport me back to where I started. That was until, the noise started happening…“What is that noise? Almost sound like… ears ringing?” This was the last thing I would be able to get out of my mouth except for the sound of blood curdling screams.“AAAAAAAAAAAAH WHA- TH- HE-” I couldn’t get a single word out. “MA- I- ST-” It was no worth. I might as well just start screaming since it’s the only thing that works.All I did was scream, no one heard me… It was groan after moan after scream. Nothing worked… No one cared… No one heard… Why would it matter? I don’t deserve to live anymore… Not like anyone else cared for me… They just act like it, so I don’t feel alone… Well guess what? It sure as hell worked…That was until…“Guys… Where’d Fido go?” Beau asked. “First Tyler now Fido?” Carson cried. “Oh, quit being a baby, Fido is fine, he probably just went to the bathroom or something,” Brayden said. “Yeah, but knowing Fido, he would’ve told us. Not just leave,” Tristan said. “Well then why isn’t he here? Riddle me that Tristan” Koltn said. He paused for a moment. “I’m sorry, I just... I don’t know what got into me...” “Look, you’re fine for now, but we need to find Tyler and Fido if we can,” Brayden said. “Well Tyler is long gone, I’m guessing Fido left after Tyler did, while we were arguing,” Beau said. “Let’s just go down this way, we should be able to find him somewhere.”Meanwhile I was still screaming...I did end up hearing a voice though that sounded unfamiliar.“SIR, ARE YOU OK!?” The person asked. “i can’t feel-...”I ended up passing out. Again...“SIR PLEASE WAKE UP!!! ARE YOU OK!?” I didn’t respond.“SOMEBODY HELP, THIS GUY JUST PASSED OUT!!! ANYBODY!? PLEASE!”I could still hear his voice screaming out, but I wouldn’t wake up... It was like a coma, but I could still hear stuff. Or when mom and dad are arguing while I sleep at night. That’s when I heard some familiar voices...“What happened here!? WHAT DID YOU DO TO FIDO” “I don’t know he just passed out.” “Is he ok?” “I don’t know... I just found him, and he won’t wake up.” “Well, we gotta take him to a medical center or something. We can’t do this stuff on our own.”I felt them carry me and run all the way down hallways. Maybe they really did care after all.I still wasn’t able to open my eyes. It felt great to have a nap after so long. Well, it wasn’t really a nap, it was more like coma. Whatever…“Sit him down right here!” “Roger that chief!” It all sounded like a blur. Wait that didn’t make sense… But it all sounded muffled to me. Probably should’ve said it like, it was all a blur, or the voices sounded muffled, but I can say what I want!“Are you sure he’ll be alright?” “He’s in good hands, just leave it to us.” I couldn’t tell who was talking or what to do. I could hear the words but couldn’t decipher the speaker. All I could tell was that they had successfully found a doctor, or nurse of some sort.That’s when I woke up…Nothing felt real…Everything was black and gray…Nobody was there…Just me and my thoughts…That was until……………...He showed up……………
“Salutations, Fido…” “Don’t f****** tell me…” “Oh I’m telling you alright.” “What the hell do you want from me now?” “I just wanna have a little chat with you.” “You know, I really don’t care, I don’t even know how you’re back and alive!” “I told you I’d return, but you didn’t believe me! You assumed it was an elaborate prank, and an empty threat but look who’s laughing now!” “Again, I don’t really care.” “DO YOU WANT TO F****** DIE!?” “You won’t do anythi-”He pulled out a gun on me. Held me at gunpoint. I didn’t know what to do… He literally had my life on my line. One wrong move and it’s over.“Jeff please! Calm down!” “ALL THIS TIME YOU SIT THERE AND YOU NEVER LISTENED TO ME!!! I KEPT WARNING YOU, AND WARNING YOU! BUT YOU DON’T F****** CARE. ONE CHAT WAS ALL I WANTED AND YOU’RE DISRESPECTING ME!!! SO, IF YOU DON’T F****** LISTEN TO ME I WILL END YOUR PUNY LITTLE LIFE!!!” “Damn Jeff…” “WHAT WAS THAT!?!?” “NOTHING NOTHING!! I’m sorry. Please continue with what you want to say.”He stared at me for a second and started changing his form.“Jeff? What are you doing?” “Look, Fido… I’m sorry. This isn’t who I am, I’m not some big shot serial killer, who is going into people’s bodies. I’m just a hallucination… Everything here isn’t real!! I’m not real!!! I’m just a blur inside your mind. I wasn’t trying to hurt you, or anyone else, I just… I can’t make you do the stuff I have done…”“What do you mean?” “I’m not Jeff.” “Huh? But I thought you were the Jeff that is wanted in 52 states.” “There isn’t even 52 states you moron.” “Exactly…” “But anyways, I’m… You…”I sat there in silence and started having a little anxiety attack.“No, no, no, no, this can’t be!” “It is, and if you don’t get out of here now you will become what I used to be!!! You must get out!!! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET-!!!”I woke up…“AAAAH!” “Fido!!! What the hell happened!?” Brayden yelled. “I don’t know, I-I just w-witnessed him again!” “You mean the Man Behind the Slaughter?” Beau asked. “JUST SHUT UP!!! THIS IS NOT THE F****** TIME FOR JOKES!!! I AM GOING TO LOSE IT IF WE DON’T GET OUR ASSES OUT OF THIS DAMN PLACE!!!” Woah woah woah, calm down, tell us what happened,” Carson said. “NO!! YOU WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND! NONE OF YOU WOULD!!! I’M JUST ANOTHER SOUL INSIDE THIS SIMULATION!!! NOTHING IS REAL, NOTHING FEELS REAL!! HOW DO I EVEN KNOW IF YOU GUYS ARE REAL!!!”I broke down so badly, all I could do was cry, nothing but cry.“What do we do?” Beau asked. “Look, it’s ok… Just get up, and let's get out of this damn place,” Brayden said. “What’s the point? It’s not like we’re getting out of here anytime soon, and oh look there’s the exit…” At that point we just had to try to see if it would actually let us out.We walked through the door to see what was on the other side. You wouldn’t believe what we saw…CHAPTER 17Home at Last?Did we make it? (6.4 years in)The second we stepped through that door; we felt a fresh breeze hit us right in the face. Almost as if it were real.We took a look around to make sure we weren’t losing our minds, and it felt like home… But it didn’t…“Is it over? Did it work?” Carson asked. “I don’t believe so…” “Why do you say that Fido?” Beau asked. “Because I’ve heard of this before… It’s a fake escape to make people think they are home, everyone from their lives exists here. Your houses are the same, family, friends, everybody. The thing about it, is that nobody can hear or see you. It’ll just be like a day without you existing. It’s almost like a world without you. Your family probably forgot you existed… We’ve been gone for so long that they’re just accepting our death…”“But we’re not dead!!” Carson screamed. “I’m aware, but in this case, we’re technically home, but we’re not… We can try to live here for the rest of eternity, but nobody will notice you… You can’t even make physical interactions here!!! Anything you touch, you just phase right through it… It’s just a side effect so you can’t do stupid and inappropriate things without consequences.”“That’s a wild statement,” Koltn said. “So, if you guys wanna stay here forever, be my guest, but I’m telling you, we can’t be here forever. Because if we do, we’ll be gone forever. The longer we stay here, the less time we have to still get back to the real world. So, I suggest we get moving and try to find our way out of here!” I explained.“But how do we even escape?” Tristan asked. “By going to the place, it all started,” I said. “You mean at Velvet?” Brayden asked. “Yep, if we can somehow get there while also setting up the corrupted chair, and without breaking the timeline, we should theoretically be able to escape!”“Now how in the hell do we make a corrupted chair?” Beau asked. “I’m just gonna casually search up a tutorial on how to literally corrupt objects on this Backrooms website, and this should work.”“… WAIT! HOW HAS YOUR PHONE NOT DIED!? IT’S BEEN LIKE A YEAR!” Then a mysterious voice answered back. “That’s because phones don’t die in the Backrooms.” “(How many more people are we gonna keep adding to this story…) Who might you be?” I asked. “The name’s Ryder.” “Wait a second… YOU’RE RYDER??? SO, YOU’RE THE PERSON WHO’S BEEN HELPING US THROUGHOUT THE BACKROOMS!!!” I screamed. “Yes, I am, and it’s about time I got to introduce myself.” “What do you mean ‘it’s about time?’”“Well, you see, I’ve been watching you guys throughout the entirety of the Backrooms, just sitting in the shadows trying to find ways to help you guys, because y’all don’t know what the hell you’re doing. Y’all just seem clueless and brain-dead, so I thought I would help you guys! Now don’t take anything I said seriously, it’s all just fun and games. Hehe… but seriously you guys don’t know what you’re doing and I’m here to help you with the corruption of the chair, where do I start?”We all stared at him for a sec…“Ok, first of all, that’s weird, second of all, thanks for the help, and third of all, I don’t even know if what I’m saying is true,” I said. “So, you don’t even know if the corruption of the chair is even gonna work?” Tristan asked. “Trust the process ok! I’m gonna search up the tutorial and hope this works.”I looked up “how to corrupt objects” in the Backrooms Wikipedia page and all it gave me was a step-by-step essay of how to corrupt objects instead of a video…I wanted it to be a video, but nope… it had to be something to physically read. BOOOOOOORRRRRIIIIING!!!!Step One: Find the object you wish to corrupt“I feel like that’s obvious…” I mumbled.Step Two: Do absolutely nothing…̷̠̤̓͛̽̒̈̇̚͝á̸̡̧̛̙̘̝̫͈̤̲̘͉̹̺͖̺̍̀͐̑̕ͅu̴̡̪̻̦̘͈͎̬͇̩̥͚͖̤͊̊̕͘ê̸̱̿̓̈́̿̽͛͑͆͋́͐̃͠g̷̻̙̦̯͕͇͛̊͛ͅŗ̶̛̝͈̠̯̹̎̔̐͑̿̒͒̆͌̔̓͐̈́͘g̶̢̢̢̣̞̬̖̫̗͔̤̰͚̗̘̀́̔̔̏̀̅̎͠͝f̴̛̼͈̝͌̉̃̏̄̊͋͛͛͑̕̚̕͝u̶͔̦̰̤̫̖͕̬͕͎͖͖̪͛ȋ̵̡̝̝͚̖̻̱͐̒̌̉͛̓̃̚̚͠ͅä̶̢͎̟̝̼̩͓͚͇̼̰̮̝͚̱́̇̄͘͠j̶̧̛̛͙̰̦͇̞̭͕̫̩̹̻̏͊͗̈́͘͝͝b̴͎̅͂̋̆͛̈́̇̽̚͠͠͝s̸̫͖̈̇̾̓̾́̾̒̌͛̐d̸̨̺͉̹̮̬̞̜͍͍̳̈̆̈́x̴̨̧̢̧̠̼̖̫̘̦̟̝̻̮̫̀́̃͐̓̒̈̓͆̀͑̕̚v̶̨̢̛͚͔̙͙̰͍̗̠́̀̂͗͆̑͊̈́́́ḇ̸̨̳̱̗̙̖̳̬̤̖͐͗̾́̉̕jkttCongratulations! You have now corrupted your object!“Ok, what the hell just happened?” Brayden asked. “I don’t know but I hated it…” Ryder said. “Oh, so all we gotta do is… whatever that was… and it should work!” I said. “But how exactly are we supposed to do that?” Koltn asked. “Well… Uh… We can… Y’know, I ain’t too sure…” I sat there and thought for a second.“Hold up, replay that part of the video again Fido,” Ryder demanded. “Ok…?” “Now go over to that chair over there.” “Where are you going with this Ryder?” Tristan asked. “Just play that part again!”̷̠̤̓͛̽̒̈̇̚͝á̸̡̧̛̙̘̝̫͈̤̲̘͉̹̺͖̺̍̀͐̑̕ͅu̴̡̪̻̦̘͈͎̬͇̩̥͚͖̤͊̊̕͘ê̸̱̿̓̈́̿̽͛͑͆͋́͐̃͠g̷̻̙̦̯͕͇͛̊͛ͅŗ̶̛̝͈̠̯̹̎̔̐͑̿̒͒̆͌̔̓͐̈́͘g̶̢̢̢̣̞̬̖̫̗͔̤̰͚̗̘̀́̔̔̏̀̅̎͠͝f̴̛̼͈̝͌̉̃̏̄̊͋͛͛͑̕̚̕͝u̶͔̦̰̤̫̖͕̬͕͎͖͖̪͛ȋ̵̡̝̝͚̖̻̱͐̒̌̉͛̓̃̚̚͠ͅä̶̢͎̟̝̼̩͓͚͇̼̰̮̝͚̱́̇̄͘͠j̶̧̛̛͙̰̦͇̞̭͕̫̩̹̻̏͊͗̈́͘͝͝b̴͎̅͂̋̆͛̈́̇̽̚͠͠͝s̸̫͖̈̇̾̓̾́̾̒̌͛̐d̸̨̺͉̹̮̬̞̜͍͍̳̈̆̈́x̴̨̧̢̧̠̼̖̫̘̦̟̝̻̮̫̀́̃͐̓̒̈̓͆̀͑̕̚v̶̨̢̛͚͔̙͙̰͍̗̠́̀̂͗͆̑͊̈́́́ḇ̸̨̳̱̗̙̖̳̬̤̖͐͗̾́̉̕jkttAnd lord and behold, the chair magically corrupted itself. Wait… NO! HOW THE HELL DOES THAT EVEN WORK!?!?!?!? Ehh, I’m not going to question it…“Ok, one, how the hell did that work? Two, why the hell did that work? Three, who the hell would think of that?” Beau asked. “I don’t know, it just clicked in my head all of a sudden!” “Ok, now we just have to do that again but in the exact spot we entered. So, does anyone remember the exact spot?” I asked and everyone just gave me a blank stare. None of them knew, and I could barely remember because it felt like such a long time ago.“Well shit… What do we do now?” Brayden asked. “I wouldn’t know because I didn’t enter this way…” Ryder said. “Okay here me out. What if for now, we just try staying here for a while. After all, it’s basically our world, so, why not just try and live inside of it before our timer runs out,” Tristan said. “You know, that is the most logical thing I have ever heard you say in my whole life,” Koltn said with a giant grin on his face. “Wow… Ok… Harsh Person Alert! Everybody! We got a Harsh Person Alert here!” Tristan alarmed. “Hey, it’s not being harsh, it’s called being honest. Course you wouldn’t know.” “Should we stop them?” Beau whispered. “Nah, let ‘em cook a bit,” I replied.They went on for another few minutes, while the others and I started wandering around for a bit. They followed behind us, but they still carried on and on, but we didn’t stop them. Why would we? It was entertaining enough to the point that popcorn would be needed.“So, what do we do first?” Carson asked. “I mean whatever we want right? You said we could do stuff without consequences right?” Beau asked. “Well, yes, I technically did say that, but you can’t make physical interactions. I’m pretty sure that there is a weird effect here called the Surrounding Effect, where if there are people around, your area, you can’t make physical interactions. But if there is absolutely nobody but us, we can make physical interactions which is super weird but I’m pretty sure it’s true,” I explained.“That makes literally no sense… Like actually that makes no sense. So, somehow this effect is conscious enough and KNOWS if there aren’t people around, you can make physical interactions. But it’s also conscious enough to know if people are around, you can’t… How stupid does that sound?” Brayden asked. “Yeah, it sounds weird, but trust me, I’m pretty sure it works.”They all believed that this would work. So, they let me do the honors and present why it made no sense but still worked.“Ok, so there’s no one around, right?” I asked. “If you’re not counting us then no,” Beau said. I immediately reached for a chair and picked it right up, but then the second someone turned around the corner, the chair immediately collapsed to the ground. I don’t know how in the hell no one heard it, but I ain’t gonna question it.“So, you weren’t kidding…” Tristan said. “I mean, at this point Tristan, there is no sense in joking around, I mean we’ve been here for way too long, and I think we’re all starting to get a bit annoyed here,” Carson said. “Yeah, you’re right… I was just wondering because of how stupid he sounded when he said that.” “Wow… It took you that long to figure it out…” Koltn said with a smirk on his face. “Y’all are tripping. I ain’t that stupid!” I froze for a sec while everyone was looking at me with a smile on there faces, looking at each other trying not to laugh. But… they did anyways.“Yep, just keep laughing, at least y’all can stay here while I escape this joint.” I walked away with a big smile on my face as everyone slowly followed me while still laughing.“What is y’all’s problem? It ain’t that funny now, isn’t it?” “I’m good, had to get a little laugh out of my system. Y’know? We all know you can be smart at times, but you lack common sense.” Beau couldn’t help but chuckle to himself a bit. “I DO NOT!!!” I yelled. “Remember the one time where you took an online test that was for college kids, and you finished the entire thing but forgot to submit it?” Carson said. “Ooh or like the time where you were taking a very important test for school, and you finished in 5 minutes but forgot there was a back page…” Brayden said. “HEY, I DIDN’T KNOW THERE WAS A BACK!!!” “That’s why when you take test you always gotta check every single page, even flipping it over is a smart thing to do…” Koltn said.“Don’t you think you guys are being a bit harsh?” Ryder asked. “Nah, we do this stuff all the time, it’s normal for them to do this. We all pick on each other and get on each other's nerves a ton. It’s just a thing the boys do together,” I explained. “That makes sense, me and my friends do that too sometimes.”“You have friends?” Tristan whispered. “What was that? Do speak again?” Ryder insisted. “It’s just a prank man, calm down killer!” “What did you think I was gonna do? Bash your skull in? I’m kidding, bad prank, bad time. Haha l-o-l, I’m so funny.”“Please just stop, you’re hurting my brain…” I said holding my head as if I had a migraine. I basically did, but I didn’t… (I don’t even know what to say anymore to be honest. I’m just saying stuff and hoping it sounds good…)Anyways, we started to walk around a bit and try and enjoy the small amount of time we had here. It felt so empty and lonely… Even though there were people around, it felt like we were the only ones there. Just us… It feels like with the snap of a finger, everything and everyone around us would just disappear. I doubt it but it’s a possibility.This place gives me the creepsI hate how silent it feels hereAll I can hear are me and my thoughts
The only other thing would be the boys…But even that doesn’t make things betterJust seeing this amazing worldBut you can’t even do anythingAll you can do is watchWatch as you think to yourselfYou’re nothing anymoreNobody remembers youIt’s been almost 7 years since we went missingTo the others it feels like about a yearBut I know the real thing7 years…People don’t even think about usI bet you if I went to my family’s house, they wouldn’t even mention usGuarantee it…I would bet a million bucks on it, and I’d winI would know becauseThis isn’t the first time I’ve felt alone…Alone with me and my feelings…“You good?” Beau asked. “Yeah… I’m just thinking about stuff again…” I said quietly. “Whatcha thinking about then?” Ryder asked. “Do you find it weird how nobody is mentioning us? I mean we are literally standing on the ground we went missing at. Don’t you feel like people would at least ask what happened to us? I mean hell, our families don’t even remember us! You guys may think we’ve only been here for about a year or so, but you wanna know how long it’s been?” I asked everyone. “2 years?” Carson asked. “7 god damn years!” I yelled. “7 YEARS!? IT’S BEEN THAT LONG!?” Tristan yelled. “Yep, almost 7 years. Our families don’t know we exist anymore. It’s been too long. We might as well just accept the fact that we’ll never be remembered again…” “NOW WHY IN THE HELL WOULD YOU THINK THAT WAY!!??” Brayden shouted. “You know why… YOU THINK AFTER THE MANY YEARS WE’VE BEEN IN HERE; PEOPLE STILL THINK WE’RE ALIVE!? NO!!! WE’RE GONERS!!! DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND!? EVEN IF WE MAGICALLY APPEARED OUT OF THIN AIR AFTER WE ESCAPE FROM HERE, PEOPLE WILL THINK WE’RE REAL!?” I screamed and screamed.“Look calm down. We’ll get through this together. Just like we’ve been doing this whole time,” Koltn said. I mumbled under my breath. “Yeah, and half the time we’ve been arguing and not getting along…” “Well, that may be true, but hey at least we’re all together!” Ryder exclaimed. “Minus one but that’s not important. For now…” I spoke. “Let’s just try and get out of here. I’m starting slowly go insane from being here…” Brayden whispered. “Agreed, I feel like my mentality is slowly becoming more and more corrupt. But that’s just my theory,” Tristan said.We all sat there and stared at Tristan for a second. “Where did you learn those words?” Beau asked. “What words?” Tristan asked. None of us knew how he knew that. I mean Tristan is not the person to know words like that. I mean if he even knew the word rectangle, I’d be surprised… But… MENTALITY? CORRUPT??? THEORY!?!?!?!? AND IT ALL ACTUALLY MAKES SENSE!?!? I feel like Tristan would just say a bunch of big words in a sentence, but they make no sense… But for him to use such big words and it make sense is a one in a million!!!“Everyone take a picture!!! This is a once in a lifetime event!!! Tristan finally said big boy words for once!!!!!” Koltn said laughing. “I don’t know what you guys are talking about… I barely know how to say rectangle properly.”It didn’t matter. We started heading back towards the chair and giving it the corruption so we can leave.“So, what now?” Ryder asked. “I think we should head back to Velvet and corrupt the chair and leave. I think we’re all about ready to leave,” I replied. “That sounds like a pretty good idea,” Beau said.As we approached Velvet, we saw a chair and noticed no one was around so, we did what we should’ve done a long time ago. Left this place.“Ok I’m playing the corruption sound again.” I told everyone to brace themselves because now that the chair is in its proper place, it could be safe but could also blow us up, I just wanted to make sure everyone was braced for impact.̷̠̤̓͛̽̒̈̇̚͝á̸̡̧̛̙̘̝̫͈̤̲̘͉̹̺͖̺̍̀͐̑̕ͅu̴̡̪̻̦̘͈͎̬͇̩̥͚͖̤͊̊̕͘ê̸̱̿̓̈́̿̽͛͑͆͋́͐̃͠g̷̻̙̦̯͕͇͛̊͛ͅŗ̶̛̝͈̠̯̹̎̔̐͑̿̒͒̆͌̔̓͐̈́͘g̶̢̢̢̣̞̬̖̫̗͔̤̰͚̗̘̀́̔̔̏̀̅̎͠͝f̴̛̼͈̝͌̉̃̏̄̊͋͛͛͑̕̚̕͝u̶͔̦̰̤̫̖͕̬͕͎͖͖̪͛ȋ̵̡̝̝͚̖̻̱͐̒̌̉͛̓̃̚̚͠ͅä̶̢͎̟̝̼̩͓͚͇̼̰̮̝͚̱́̇̄͘͠j̶̧̛̛͙̰̦͇̞̭͕̫̩̹̻̏͊͗̈́͘͝͝b̴͎̅͂̋̆͛̈́̇̽̚͠͠͝s̸̫͖̈̇̾̓̾́̾̒̌͛̐d̸̨̺͉̹̮̬̞̜͍͍̳̈̆̈́x̴̨̧̢̧̠̼̖̫̘̦̟̝̻̮̫̀́̃͐̓̒̈̓͆̀͑̕̚v̶̨̢̛͚͔̙͙̰͍̗̠́̀̂͗͆̑͊̈́́́ḇ̸̨̳̱̗̙̖̳̬̤̖͐͗̾́̉̕jkttThe chair corrupted and started to make a really loud ear-piercing noise that was so loud our ears would be ringing for the next 5 minutes at least.“God… damnit that was way louder than it should’ve been!” I groaned. “Do you think it could’ve been because it’s in the correct place and we can leave?” Carson asked. “Possibly, it’s best to try and touch it and see if we get sent to the next level or not,” I said.As I touched the chair, I heard a familiar voice call my name out.“FIDO!?” It was my mom. She was running towards me with tears running down her face. But it was already too late, we had already been transported to our new level…CHAPTER 18
Wait a Second…Could that have actually been the real world? (7 years in)“Umm Fido… Why are we back in level 0? And who was that?” Koltn asked. “No… It can’t be… Was that…” I started sobbing and punching every wall around me. Out of the pure frustration I couldn’t help but react the way I did… That could’ve actually been the real world… I mean, THAT WAS MY F***ING MOM!!! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.“Fido please calm down!!! Why are you so frustrated?” Brayden asked. “Wait… If that level looked like the real world… And we’re back in level 0 and that was possibly your mom… Doesn’t that mean… THAT WAS THE REAL WORLD AND YOU JUST PUT US BACK IN THE BACKROOMS!?!?!?!?” Carson screamed. “WHY THE F*** ARE YOU YELLING AT ME!!! YOU THINK AFTER ALL THE F***ING HELL WE’VE BEEN THROUGH THAT I WOULD PUT US BACK THROUGH IT ALL AGAIN!?” I shrieked. “WELL AFTER ALL THE SHIT YOU’VE PUT US THROUGH, I HAVE NO PROBLEM BELIEVING THAT!!!”For once, Carson was the one getting all mad. OF ALL PEOPLE CARSON!? I mean does he really think I would put us through all of this again after the 7 years that’s gone by.“OK BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP! IF YOU BOTH KEEP FIGHTING, WE’RE NOT GOING TO GET ANYWHERE!!! Look, Fido has tried everything he could to help us escape, I know we’re close! I mean we were just in the real world!!! At least that’s what we believe. But if we just do this a bit longer, we should make it back to the REAL world in no time,” Ryder explained.“I mean that couldn’t have been the real world, because how else did no one see us and the weird stuff with the objects. That’s not something normal in the real world! What if that person who you believe to be your mom was just another entity trying to confuse you?” Beau asked.“Well, that would make sense, but how does that explain us being back in level 0?” I asked. “That’s because this isn’t level 0…” “Oh my f***ing God when will the cycle ever end?” I asked to myself. “Who are you supposed to be?” Tristan asked. “I’ve met one person here before; I believe the name should sound familiar. Right Fido?” “Why are you here?” I asked. “Because I want to have a word with all of you. I’ve had many of these one on ones with you before Fido… But I thought it would be wonderful to meet your friends in person. How does that sound?” “Just tell us what you want to say and leave us be…” “Heh, a bit feisty isn’t he? I see where he gets it from.” Jeff laughed to himself a bit before telling us what he wanted.“So, what’s the big idea?” Beau asked. “First off, I would like to introduce myself to all of you. The name is Jeff, Fido already knows that.” “Wait… so, you’re the one Fido has been telling me about!?” Beau yelled. “Oh, is that so? Guess somebody doesn’t know how to shut his damn mouth huh?” “And what the hell are you gonna do about it!?” I hollered. “If you would let me finish… You see, this whole thing… The Backrooms, that real world level, everything here. It’s all fake. None of this is real! You’re all just stuck inside a simulation you cannot escape…”“SO, THIS WHOLE TIME NONE OF THIS HAS BEEN REAL!? WE’VE JUST BEEN INSIDE YOUR MIND GAMES THE WHOLE TIME!?!?” Brayden yelled. “Can you all just shut up and let me finish?”
Everyone stayed quiet for a second.“Thank you… Now… If you all would like to escape, you will have to go through us!” “Who’s us?” Ryder asked. “You see, I was watching you all from the shadows until I saw one of your little buddies wondering around. I believe you might all know him.”Tyler walked out of the shadows with glowing white eyes, and a giant blade in his right hand.“Tyler?” Ryder asked. “Why the hell are you holding that blade???” “He’s been upgraded to a more, how do I put it? Stronger person. Now he’s not just the average nerd, he now has the capability to wipe an entire population clean in just a few seconds.” “Are you insane???” I yelled. “I wouldn’t say insane, I’d say… Misunderstood. You know why and you can’t deny it.”“Please tell me we don’t have to fight these guys…” Carson trembled. “Congrats Carson, you know how to see the future! Bravo, bravo.”Jeff sat there clapping his hands with a giant smirk on his face. We all stared at each other with pale faces and lumps in our throats.This could be the end of it all…CHAPTER 19We’re so Screwed…This is gonna suck… (7.5 years in)“Shall we get started?” “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!?” I screamed. “Why? Because you guys don’t get to escape here! You all were supposed to die long ago BUT NOOOO! ALL YOU GUYS DO IS ZIGZAG AROUND EVERY DAMN OBSTACLE!!! WELL GUESS WHAT!? TRY GETTING PAST THIS OBSTACLE!”He’s lost it…“Guys… If we want to make this out alive. We need to work together here!” Koltn said. “Yeah! Let’s set aside our differences and Tristan fat head and let’s do this!!!” Brayden yelled. “Ok… That’s a bit hurtful…”
“You all are so childish; you won’t last very long…” “Ǐ̸͎t̶̬̍’̵̤͛s̴̯̀ ̴̖̏a̴̙͠ ̸͇͠s̷͙̔h̵̗̉a̸̱͘m̵̻̎e̸̼̔ ̸͈͒Ŕ̷̹y̵̛̠d̶̤̉ë̴̫́r̶̗̒,̶̺̏ ̴̻͘w̶͈̐ė̷̩ ̷̢́ǘ̶̯s̴̺͂e̷͓͝d̶̙̆ ̷̼̐t̷̩͗o̵͖̐ ̸͉͝b̵̰̂ĕ̵̥ ̷̥̐s̸̜̒u̴͙̅ĉ̶͉h̸̗̆ ̷̪̾g̶̤̏r̴͛ͅē̶̥a̴͍͠t̶͔̀ ̶̜͊f̴̜͛r̵͚̽i̸̢͒e̵̡͋ṉ̶̓ḍ̷͝s̶̡̆,̵̡̔ ̸̤̎b̶̤͂u̸̅͜t̸̖͑ ̶̮͐y̶͖͛o̵̞̽ù̴͉ ̵̠͝l̷̩̓e̵̢̎f̸͎̏t̷̰̍ ̶͎͠m̴̙̓ȩ̷̐,̸̮͆ ̵͎̃ṫ̸͙h̶̺͌i̷͔͐ś̸̟ ̶͍͛s̷̞͝h̷̳̕ö̷̹́ü̸̘l̵̤͂d̴̦̚ ̶̮̋b̸̻̊e̵͉͋ ̸̮̓p̵̼̏ă̴̺ỉ̴̘n̷̥͐l̴͇͌e̷̮̕s̶̗̽s̷̘̋ ̷̞̌i̸̖̕f̷̫̉ ̴͔͆ỹ̷ͅo̵̘͑u̶͖͂ ̴̗͝j̶̜̍u̵̹͒s̵̠͘t̵̹̋ ̸̘̓j̵͖͌ó̷̟i̸̭̎n̶̈ͅ ̷̝̒us” “DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU’VE BECOME!? THIS ISN’T YOU TYLER!?” Ryder screamed.
T̷̡̢̲̤̪̼̬̝̯̖͇̲̥̞͎̣̋̋̎̃̎͗͂̒̐͒͑H̵̨̟̼̝͔̦͕̠͓͎͊̓̒Ȩ̷̮̦̻̻̼͖̻͓̹̟͊ ̴͉̙͙͕̤͙̬̭̼̺̭̱̾́͂͜͝Ơ̵͙͆̿̓͒̐̍͐̔͂̚̚͝ͅṄ̶̨͎̯̜͉̻̙̫̟̲̼͈̯̪̌͒͋̉̉͂̈͒̂̓͘̚͠ͅͅȨ̴̯̫̘̰͉̣̳̠̜̻̦̩̭̰̼͈̊͐́̈̑̈́̇͗̏͘͠͠ ̷̨̛̛̼̗̺̳͙͉̙̹̝̮̯̹̋͒̀̄̈́͒͊̋̊͗̿̾͜͠ͅT̵̨̧̧̧̺̰̰͖̝͚̳̟̖̓̌̃͛̀Ḩ̴͈͔̼͎̰͇̬̫̀͜ͅA̸̺͍̜̩̜̼͖̝̻̭͐̅T̶̪̑͝’̷̢̢̢͎̫̝̟̲͎̮̠̃̔̌́͆̔̎̾͛̔̎͌̕͜͝͠Ŝ̸̥̘̱͚̱̲̗͇̲̺̀̇́ͅ ̵̨̟̤̦͔̬͓͇̱̹̹͔̩̩͖̀̿̓̔͐̇̈́̒̀̽̑̓͜͠G̵̼͙̤̪͎̙̙̺̲̫̎͛͊̊̈́̿̋͒͝͝Ò̶̡͇̗͓͚̗̹̣͕͓̙̒͒̅̈͗̾̿̿̆̏͆̓͋̕͘͠ͅN̶̡͙͈͙͇͕͂͑̎͆̓͛̽̚ͅN̷̗͚̫͍̱̣̲̻͊͋̑̚A̶̢̺͎͚͎̦̱̖̩͈̠̼̪̦͗͋̏̈́͋͘͝͝ͅͅ ̴̢͇̠̟̌̈́͛͒́̄͋́͊̚̚͘͝D̴̛̦̥͐̅̽͐͗̍̽̓̏͂̌̍̂̚̕Ï̷̧̢̢͉̘̜͓͇̹̩̲͖̊̊̈̉͝Ë̷̫̱̟̣̯͕͇̲́͒̓̎̈́̈́ ̸̘͉̩̦̩̹̞̖̞͎̫̰̱̪͎̗́͆́́͐̈̑̔̑́̂̈́̕ͅŃ̸̟̔̓̈́̈́̓̃͑̕̚͝Ọ̴̈̏͂̈́̾̚͝͝W̵̨̧̛͈͌̓̃̉̋̉̃͊̂̕͜!?!?”“ARE YOU CRAZY!? WE’RE YOUR FRIENDS!!!” Tristan yelled. Tyler stood there with a blank expression, before shouting at us saying he has no friends. His only friend was Jeff apparently…“Hehe, he doesn’t have any friends, and neither will you guys after this.” “Let’s do this, all for one, AND ONE FOR ALL!!!” I screamed and we all charged ahead at Jeff and Tyler.Tyler swung the huge blade towards us barely missing by an inch. I managed to duck under Jeff as we swiped his arm at me. The others were struggling a bit.What looked like Level 0 kept changing between all the levels we had been to. For a couple seconds it would look like the Arcade, the other second it would look like cabin, or Waterpark, or any of the levels we experienced.“YOU ALL WILL BURN IN HELL!!!” Jeff then gave Tyler a flamethrower after taking the blade and doubling its size, wielding it in his offhand.“FIDO HELP!!! JEFF HAS ME CORNERED!!!” Beau screamed. “HEY ASS!!! THEY’RE NOT THE TARGET!!! I AM!!!” I cried out. “TYLER!!! ATTACK FIDO! HE NEEDS TO SUFFER!” “Bring it on…”Me and Tyler both stood across the room from each other with determination filling us up. The others were waiting to help charge towards Tyler.Tyler pulled the trigger on his flamethrower. The others backed up a bit while I continued to charge forwards.“You really don’t learn, do you?” “Oh, I’ve learned. Learned that I have better reflexes than all of you!” I ran towards the fire with fire in my eyes. I leaped over the fire and started wrestling Tyler until he dropped the flamethrower.
“DON’T JUST STAND THERE!!! TAKE IT BACK FROM HIM!!!” Tyler and Jeff both struggled to take it back from me. The second they came in contact with the flamethrower, I turned it on the highest PSI it could control without it blowing up.They both got hit by it…Both of them laying on the ground burning.“Good shot Fido!!!” Carson shrieked with joy. “Any last words?” I asked. “Go… To… HELL!!!”Jeff stood up and they both stopped burning… They regenerated back to full health and were now stronger than ever.They were both given swords and guns twice the size of us!“FIDO WHAT DO WE DO!?” Brayden asked shaking. We were all shaking and out of breath… “I don’t know… We don’t stand a chance if they can regenerate like that…” I couldn’t stop panting from exhaustion.They both leaped at us and before I could do anything…They struck right at me…I couldn’t feel anything…Both of them looking at me with giant smiles on there faces…Ice in their veins…Blood in their eyes….I didn’t even feel the blade…It did so much damage it felt like nothing…I can feel the light fading away as I hear the cries of my friends…They were all screaming and crying…As I started to slowly fall down, and the world go dark…I noticed something…“FIDO!!!!” Koltn, Beau, Tristan, Ryder, Carson, Brayden… They were all in shock about what just happened… “YOU GUYS ARE SICK!!!” Ryder screamed.As I sit there in a puddle of blood and a blade engraving in my back, everyone watched in horror as the blade was removed from my body.Jeff and Tyler turned to the others and started attacking them… One by one they fell…They weren’t powerful enough to fend them off…Each and every one of them were killed…It was over…“You… Little… BASTARD!!!! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS SHIT!!! YOU NEED TO F***ING BURN IN HELL!!!!”I leaped towards them and grabbed their blades before plunging it into both of them. They both fell silent and to the ground.I had won…But then I woke up…CHAPTER 20I won…It’s over… (0 years)I noticed myself laying on the couch with the news on. “Breaking News! We have reported that several pedestrians have gone missing in the fields of Uchitca, Oihoi. It is also said that two unidentified kids have gone missing here and haven’t been seen. We have pictures of the children but no further evidence of their personal record. No one really knows what happened to them, but several others have claimed to see people hearing strange noises inside of tall grass,” News Reporter 1 said.“Wait a second…” I called everyone to see what the hell was going on.“Yo what’s up Fido!” Beau said. “Do you guys remember what just happened???” I asked. Everyone looked at me like I was insane. “What happened? Are you ok?” Koltn asked. “Yeah, you act like you just went through something…” Tristan said. “I’ll call you guys back!” I said. “Ok???”I was so confused… They didn’t know about what happened? Everything we just went through! They didn’t remember???I ended up calling Beau again.“Yes?” Beau questioned. “Do you know what the Backrooms are?” I asked. “No??? Why what’s up?” “I just had a crazy dream them…”I hung up the call and questioned everything.Until I looked down at my stomach and saw the same hole from the blade.I started freaking out and ran to the bathroom. But when I looked into the mirror there was no blood or anything.Was the Backrooms really real? Or was it all just a dream?The End…