Read Forsaken for Free Online Page B

and floor became discernable; black scuffs along the floor and chips in the paint along the wall. The hallway darkened until a few yards ahead was pitch black.
    “Where are you going?” I asked and followed behind her, scared to be alone in the changing space.
    “I’m not going anywhere.” A dense, black shadow flittered across the hall in front of her. A scurrying sound followed quickly behind. “I never get to go anywhere.” She sighed like a whiny teenager.
    The scurrying sound echoed from above my head. I searched the murky ceiling for the culprit of the clicking and ticking which followed me. Nothing. “Do you hear that?” Watching above me, waiting for something to move, I took my eyes off Tatum for a long minute. “You’re not hearing this?” I asked and looked at her.
    A long line of deep, red blood streamed down her back. The black shadow scurried up the wall nearest her fingers and crouched along the ceiling above her head. The sound it made while it moved made my stomach turn. She never stopped moving forward or acknowledged the presence right above her.
    As she moved closer to the blackness ahead, I couldn’t help but wonder where the blood had come from and why she was so Hell-bent on walking away from me.
    “What’s down there?” Asking the only question my head could make my mouth form, I lifted my arm and pointed one finger ominously down the hall in the direction she was headed, noticing the matching plastic bracelet on my own wrist as I did. She didn’t turn to look at me right away, but stopped walking for a moment. Another thick strip of blood flowed down her back and over one plump cheek.
    She turned her head slowly to look over her shoulder at me. Every inch she moved pushed another ooze of blood down her back. When her eyes finally met mine, a thick fall of gloopy red stuff glugged over her shoulders like some kind of horrific cape. “ I’m down there.” Her fingers tapped the wall lightly while her pretty head slid slowly off her shoulders.
    In a slopping mess, Tatum’s head splattered to the now-linoleum floor. In an instant, the dim walls and floor flashed white and the self-illuminated space returned. In the center of the nearly glowing space, Tatum’s body collapsed. Her shoulders hit the floor, sending a thick spurt of blood from her stumped neck. My hands clamped over my mouth to cover a scream, which caught in my chest. The spray of blood splattered across my arms and stained the stark walls in a way eerily more terrifying than the aged scene we’d been in moments before.
    Blood glugged from her neck and pooled under her naked body. I stood in shock; unable to do anything but breathe, even that was a challenge. Thick, red goop flowed from her body toward me. I watched with wide eyes as the liquid reached the tips of my bare toes. The red of my polish nearly matched my best friend’s blood.
    I shook my head back and forth. “No,” I said and dropped my hands to my sides. The ticking scurry, which had followed the shadow moving about the space, crackled behind my head. I stopped breathing. The thing that had haunted Tatum moments before she lost her head was right behind me.
    Tatum’s warm blood slid under my feet. I swallowed back fear and spun around. A grinning, toothy, nearly-black figure dangled from the ceiling above; not completely human, and yet like no animal I’d ever seen. I couldn’t stop the scream that came next. It was long and loud, and brought a wider grin from the beast that hung above me.
    Without another thought, my feet made their move to run in the opposite direction. Only a few steps in, the slick, syrupy life force, which had made its way underfoot, caused my already-clumsy feet to lose traction and slip ass-first to the floor. Red splatters hit the white walls and seemed to be closing in on me, soaking through my pants to the skin. I’d slammed into the puddle of blood next to Tatum’s body, my head hitting last, thankfully. My eyes closed in