Black Castle

I was 23 years old. I was backpacking across Europe and visiting friends and sight seeing. My final destination was in Romania. I quickly got sidetracked in the thick forests of Romania. I was lost and scared and hungry. I hadn't eaten in days. I traveled through the forest for hours. Dusk was coming. I could see a castle, massive. I thought to myself. "Anything is better than freezing to death in these woods," so I ventured upward to towards the castle. I got to the black gates. The castle was monstrous and it looked abandoned, as if nobody had been in it for ages.
I opened the gates with all my strength, and I proceeded towards the main castle. There was a courtyard. Filled with gargoyles and tombs and underpasses. The castle was very large and complex. I walked up the stairs and opened the castle door. The castle was dark and quiet. A staircase led up to the top chambers, and there were many halls and other rooms. The halls were aligned with paintings. Paintings from centuries ago. The floors were carpeted with red velvet. The paintings portrayed a woman, who looked in her 30's, wearing a blood red dress. I examined the painting and the painting stared back. I jumped back for a moment, as it looked like the painting was staring at me. I quickly walked away. I got back to the main room, and I walked up the spiral stairs leading up to the top chambers. I went up into a room and decided to get some rest. I quickly fell asleep.
I woke up during the night to a loud noise. I could hear it echoing from down the corridor. I slowly got up and then peaked my head out the door. I saw a woman in a blood red dress, black hair and black eyes. Staring at me, she began to smile and laugh before she vanished. It was the woman from the painting. I quickly grabbed my things and ran down the stairs, I tripped in my hesitancy and fell and sprained my ankle. I got up and ran over to the door, the door wouldn't open. I slammed on the door. but it just wouldn't budge. I looked back to the top of the stairs and saw the woman staring down at me. I ran down one of the other corridors. It was a dead end. I could see her following me down the corridor. There were black shadows following her. The shadows were moaning loudly, as if they were in extreme pain. The moaning got louder, I continued to run faster down the corridor, the corridor was never ending, it seemed. I ran as fast as I could. I felt my feet plunge into the ground. I was soon having the sensation of falling. I was falling through a trap door. I was screaming for help, no one could hear my cries this far off in the woods, especially in this castle.
I fell into a well, I was in complete blackness. I was in water. I couldn't see anything. I grabbed a lighter from my pocket and pulled it out and ignited it. I was in a well, and the trap door was shut hundreds of feet above me. I was trapped down here. I was scared. I kept getting the sensation that I was drowning because I barely knew how to swim. I felt something pulling me under. I was soon pulled under the dark water. I could see a white, long figure pulling me under. It was a faceless creature. I kicked it in the face as hard as I could. I kept gasping for breath. I pulled a pocket knife out of my pocket and began to stab it in the head. I could feel the blade piercing into the creature's head. The creature let out a loud screech and then dove down into the abyss. I swam back up to the surface. Gasping for air. I flashed my lighter towards the wall and noticed a vent. I climbed into the vent. I was soaked from the water, the vent was very small and it was dark and I couldn't see at all. I was about half way through, and then I saw a small light at the end. I kept crawling, and I finally got out.
I fell into a small room. There was a mirror in the room. I got up and made my way to the mirror. The mirror was massive and was outlined in gold. I could see myself in the mirror, I was covered in black mud and my hands were covered in blood. I gazed at myself in the mirror. The room began to darken, and I could see my skin peeling. My skin was turning red, and my eyelids were peeling off, and my eyes popped out of my skull. Blood ran from my nose, my ears, and my eye sockets. My skin fell from my bones, and my bones fell to the ground and shattered. I jumped back from the mirror.
“What just happened!?" I screamed to myself. I got up and ran as fast I could. I opened the door and jumped out of the room. I was in a hallway. I could not see the ends of the hallway. It was dark at each end. I decided to go left. I started walking down the corridor. The corridor was very long. I could hear a distant voice behind me. I looked behind me, and in the darkness a woman in a long, red dress appeared. I began to run. I ran as fast as 
I could, but the hallway didn't seem to end. I kept running, and the woman's voice grew louder.
I finally stopped and ran into a room, I locked the door and ran into the corner. I could see the doorknob moving as if someone was trying to open it. It stopped after a few minutes. I sat there for a moment, shaking. I was trying to take it all in. I got up and tried to figure out where I was. In the wall was a small elevator that was most likely used to bring things from the basements to the higher floors of the castle. I crawled into it, and I pulled the lever. I began to descend. It took me about 5 minutes to arrive at the bottom. I crawled out of the elevator and I was in a hallway. It was lit by torches. It was quiet.
I crept my way to one of the rooms at the end of the hallway. I peeked my head in, and what I saw almost made me vomit. I saw hundreds of bodies hanging from the ceiling. Mangled corpses drippling blood. There was something particularly odd about these corpses, though. They were all skinned, as if their blood was meant to be collected. I took a step into the room and walked towards one of the bodies that were on the floor. I walked over to it almost as if I couldn’t help myself. It was as if I was being controlled. I made my way to the body. The body was in a white robe, covered in blood. The smell was intoxicating. The body turned upward, looked me straight in the eyes, and moaned. I finally broke free and ran out of the room as fast as I could. I ran out into the cold torchlit hallway.
I could smell blood, all I could smell was blood. I began to vomit. I quickly recuperated, then ran up the hallway and busted open the door. I was outside. It was cold and windy outside. The sky was a dark grey. I was in a courtyard. I needed to get out of here. I ran back to the entrance, and the gate was sealed shut. I tried climbing, but I just couldn’t get out of this damned place. I looked at one of the castle towers, and there was a light coming from the top floor. I decided to go investigate. I ran towards the cemetery, the tower being on the other side, I walked into the cemetery, and I felt as if there was something moving beneath me. I began to sprint, and I finally got to the tower. I ran into the tower.
I was welcomed by a woman’s laugh. I ran up the stairs to finally confront the woman I had kept seeing. I ran up to the room. I saw a woman in red, in a bathtub filled with blood. She got up and stared into my eyes. Her eyes were pitch black, and blood dripped from her body. Her eyes were so seducing that I could not stop staring into them. I broke free of the spell and began to run towards her with a pocket knife, she vanished. I looked behind me and she was there. I quickly looked around the room and looked for something that I could fight her with. I saw the mirrors on the wall, they were all turned away from her, almost as if she didn’t want to see herself. I ran over to the mirror and pointed it at her, she began to scream, and the scream was loud and painful. I began to cry, it was so loud and agonizing. I kept doing it, and she started burning. She vanished into dust. 
I ran out of the tower and quickly ran out of the gate.
The gate was opened, as if a magical seal broke off. I ran out of the gate and down the mountain side. I never felt so relieved. I was still covered in blood and mud. I heard a helicopter off in the distance. I lit a fire with my lighter and I drew the attention of the helicopter. The helicopter came down.
“What happened to you?” the pilot asked.
“Just please get me out of here,” I said.
I got into the helicopter, and we took off. I looked back at the castle as we flew away. I took a deep breath and relaxed. I closed my eyes. I looked to my right, and the woman in red was sitting there, her black eyes gazing into mine.
Category:Places