The phone rang and rang before going to voicemail. Adam hit the steering wheel. “Come on. Answer!” He hung up and called Cheryl again. She didn’t answer.
If she wouldn’t answer his phone calls, he’d make her talk to him in person. He did a U-turn and headed toward her apartment.
Adam tried calling her again after pulling up in front of her building. Still, no answer.
Leaving his car illegally parked, he got out and ran two flights up to her apartment. Before he got to the landing, he knew something was wrong. Cheryl’s door stood ajar, revealing thick darkness inside the apartment. Adam froze at the top of the stairs. The hair on his arms stood on end. He recognized this feeling, the way it settled somewhere deep inside him—heavy, weighing him down. He felt it every day when he was being haunted. He felt it now.
“Cheryl!” Adam crept up onto the landing and peered into her apartment.
He listened.
Silence.
He pushed the door open wide. Unnatural darkness streamed out, fighting to overtake the bright light in the hallway. “Cheryl?”
Silence.
He took a deep breath and stepped inside, plunging into a darkness more complete than anything he had experienced. Blackness encased him. No light bled through the open door. He felt like he had stepped into another world.
Adam’s sneakers sloshed through something wet. He hoped it was only water. Cold, it seeped in through his shoes.
“Cheryl! Are you in here?” Putting his hand out in front of him, he stepped forward. The damp air settled on his skin. The darkness seemed almost solid, pushing in on him from all directions.
“Cheryl,” he tried to call out again, but it came out as a croak. Panic settled in as he realized he didn’t know where he was or how to get out. Logic told him all he had to do was turn around and retrace his steps, but when he turned around, he saw nothing. Nothing in front of him. Nothing behind him. His heartbeat quickened. He gasped for air. His chest tightened. His lungs felt like they were compressing and collapsing. He leaned forward, his hands on his knees, trying to breathe, the damp air too thick to fill his lungs.
When he looked up, he saw something in front of him, a woman dressed in a yellow floral dress, glowing in the darkness. Was he hallucinating? He collapsed to his knees. The icy water rose around him, spreading up his legs. The woman floated above the water as she inched closer to him.
“Help,” Adam tried to say, but again he only let out a weak croak. He held his hand to his throat.
Now that the woman was closer, he saw that her face eggplant-colored bruises around her eyes. She reached her hand out, and it passed right through him.