Beneath Our World

Most scary stories feature some kind of dramatic event or a monstrous encounter. Some may feature an encounter with a violent criminal or a heart seizing near-death experience. Mine is different from all of those. My scary story is entirely comprised of nothing but a mundane trip to the catacombs located underneath my home town. The scariest thing that has ever happened to me was not life-threatening or even dangerous. I'm pretty sure that the things that keeps me up at night aren’t some inhuman creature or a traumatic event, no. The things that drives haunts my nightmares are the emptiness beyond the vacuum of space and an awful vision of something people shouldn't witness. What terrifies me the most in this life has no explanation, it has no reason or rhyme, it has no point to it.

My story begins with me descending to the aforementioned catacombs for a typical walk. I’ve roamed around these underground streets for dozens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of times. For as long as I can remember, I’ve around some part of the city under my town. These catacombs are mostly concrete walls with some sewage pipes running through them. There is nothing inherently scary about those halls. The concrete walls do not produce monsters that attempt to tear the skin out of the unfortunate fool that veers into their subterranean lairs. While the catacombs are fairly dark, a typical flashlight is usually enough to illuminate a safe path for those who wish to traverse the chthonic passages.

That’s how my evening started; I’ve descended into the nether realm that serves as the foundation upon which my hometown stands. I aimlessly walked around the endless halls. Unbothered by anything external. My flashlight acting as my guide across the vast space ahead of me. I guess I took a turn I’ve never taken before at some point. That's how I managed to get myself into a part of the catacombs I’ve never seen before.

The halls looked the same as they did everywhere else. There was something about them, however, something different. There was a soft humming sound coming from somewhere in that part of the catacombs. The sound was pleasant, and I felt a little compelled to follow its trail deeper into the underground city. My curiosity was piqued, somewhat, since the whole place was usually deathly quiet. I was intrigued to find the source of the humming sound. Thus, I made my way towards what I felt was the source of the noise. I walked for a bit before being stopped in my tracks by a drop of cold water hitting the top of my head. I remember looking up and seeing a leaking tube.

I paid it no mind and pressed on, deeper into the unknown. The longer I went, the louder the humming had become. In no time the humming seemed fairly close. I thought I had figured out where the humming came from. I decided to press on to find the sources of the sound.

I picked up my pace before stopping dead in my tracks once more, once a drop of water landed on my head. Looking up I’ve noticed another leaking pipe above me. Nothing of this one much I pressed on. I walked for what must’ve been a few minutes, and while the humming had gotten closer and definitely louder – I couldn’t locate the source. By that point, the humming had turned almost unbearable. It was hurting my ears. I’ve given up on finding the source of the hum and decided to head back home.

I took what must’ve been three steps before feeling a drop of water land on my head. I looked up, and I saw a leaking tube. Something felt wrong, I mused the possibility of walking in circles but quickly gave up on that thought. It couldn’t have been the case. I was walking in a straight line the whole time. The pipes around this part of town must’ve been in a dire need of repair. I decided to keep on walking back home, then another drop of water landed on top of me.

Shivers ran down my spine. I looked up and there was no leakage. I felt it, however, the drop of water land on my head. I ignored it and decided to pick up my pace, reasoning I was getting tired. It was night time after all. Not a minute later, another drop of water fell on me. Shivers ran across my skin again, my heartbeat started rising. I was getting worried; I didn’t even know why. Instinctively, I picked up my pace to a jog.

I ran for a bit and then another drop of water, and another, and another, and another landed on my body. Every few meters a drop of water would land on top of my head, sending searing shivers through my skin. I don’t even know why. With each time, my heartbeat grew faster, and my breathing became more labored. The longer I ran, the more frequent the drops of water had become. Eventually, I felt like I was running in the rain. My heartbeat had skyrocketed by that point, and my vision had become narrowed to a point where I could barely notice what’s ahead of me.

The room seemed to grow hot with each passing moment, I felt the sweat make its way across my body. Each breath I took in felt like I was inhaling acidic fumes that would surely corrode my lungs in no time. The sound of water tapping was everywhere. I think I had gotten myself soaked by that point. I didn’t care, though, I wanted to get out and go home. I don’t know why I didn’t scream or call anyone or anything. I guess I was too caught up in the weirdness of it all.

The space all around me started spinning soon enough, and I felt as if I was starting to get tired. My movements became sluggish and hard. My legs turned heavy, like I was becoming slowly encased in concrete. The thought of getting stuck in some unknown substance in these catacombs drove sent my mind reeling I focused on pushing through whatever was holding me back mindlessly.

Thankfully, a dry, pained moan shook me awake out of my self-induced trance.

I felt like I was electrocuted when I felt it, my body jolted and everything shook, twisting and turning for a second before turning still. A cold, wet substance caressed my body, the heat wore off and the heaviness of my body started dissipating. My head felt light and the light of my flashlight turned a little dim. I didn’t have a care in the world for a second. I was floating in the vast cosmos and letting myself drown in a sea of dopamine that was flooding my nervous system.

My chest felt heavy and everything started spinning beautifully all around me, the light of my flashlight bursting into a beautiful circular dance above my head. I was losing the feeling of my limbs, my body felt so light for a moment like it wasn’t even there. The feeling of weightlessness felt delightful.

I was losing myself in some sort of unearthly pleasure.

That is until something violently shook me, forcing me to open my eyes. Something was a pale girl, paler than any human has the right to be. She was so pale I could trace all of her veins as they ran beneath her skin. She was screaming at me while shaking my body as hard as she could. We were underwater… I was…

The girl’s eyes. They caught my attention, sapping all of that pleasure away and turning it into fear. Her eyes… Her eyes, they were so misted. A thick veil of cataract material covered the blue shade of her eyeballs…

I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears as my blood raced through my arteries. Pins and needles ran across my body, and she pushed me above the surface of the water. I heaved and thrashed once I realized I nearly drowned. I took the deepest breaths I have ever had. I didn’t care about the air smelt and tasted like sewage waste. My body screamed at me to breathe.

I just floated there, taking up as much air as I could, I was confused and disorientated. I had no clue how I got into that water. On top of that, the insides of my skull were starting to pound like I was struck with a hammer. Thirty seconds, a minute, a minute and a half… Two minutes… No one came up. The girl didn’t come up. Not thinking, I dove under the water again, looking around there was nothing there. Nothing, only muddy water.

My heart sank, and I pulled myself back up above the surface of the sea of waste. There was no girl. I was alone. I heard that dry pained moan again coming from behind me. Shivers running down my soaked back, I turned around shining my flashlight at whatever was behind me.

The light… it went nowhere… it just got sucked up into nothing. A form of pure pitch blackness. A complete nothing. A black hole stood in front of me. Every cell within my body started as the dread slowly built its way up my nervous system. I simply floated there, frozen in space as that thing. That absolute darkness floated in front of me. I couldn’t do anything other than simply stare.

The black hole seemed to have the water curved around it into the form of a hooded figure. The sight was ingrained into my brain. I think the black hole was moving towards me as the light ray seemed to grow shorter with the passing moments. I didn’t stare at it for too long, but I definitely saw it getting closer. Once it was about a couple of inches away from me. Something tugged at my back. Startling me even more, causing me to lose my balance and sink underwater. Once I resurfaced, gasping for air once more and shaking like crazy, I looked around but there was nothing there. I was alone again. The black hole had vanished. The light seemed to travel across the hall as I shone the flashlight all over the space.

As I was finally gathering myself, something screeched in my ear. I didn’t even have to turn. I just swam as fast as I could. I needed to get out. The further I went, the louder the screeching had turned. I couldn’t stop, and I couldn’t turn away. Whatever was behind was awful. I knew it. I knew it deep down. I knew that if I’d slow down, I’d be done for. So, I swam and then I ran, and I didn’t stop until I got home. I nearly concussed myself on my porch when I got home. I was so relieved the awful experience had ended I neglect to notice my footing had gone awry.

I couldn’t sleep that night. All I could think about was the catacombs; I can’t wrap my head around that experience to this day. I have no idea what happened and how it all turned out. I don’t even know what I’ve seen there. I’m still clueless about how I lost my way or how I ended up in a pool of watery waste and what I’ve seen. I don’t even know what the girl was. Thinking about her makes my skin crawl. As for the black hole thing, I couldn’t get the visual of that all-consuming black mass out of my head. It kept plaguing my mind over and over. It ended up driving me to a point where I had to get wasted to be able to shake it out of my mind. Get it out of my mind for a short time, that is.

I ended up drawing the body of pure darkness as I witnessed it. An empty mass covered in a peculiarly shaped liquid waste stream floating around it. That certainly helped. Even though some nights I still dream of walking down a dark hall and into a murky pool where I end up being attacked by a girl’s corpse. Every time I have this nightmare. Her cold touch feels so real and her blue clouded eyes force cold sweat to run down my skin.

One thing is for sure, while I don’t know what happened in those catacombs. I will admit this much, I am afraid of the arcane darkness that dwells just beneath our world.