Category : Stories

Sub Category : Horror

You're body wakes with a sudden awareness. You don't know where you are, the room is dark, but you can make out shadowy figures. The kind that seem to morph and move every time you open your eyes. Cold washes over you, as panic ebbs it's way into your bones. You're body begins to tremble, shaking violently, as the cold becomes more of a physical presence than mental reaction. You hug your knees to your chest, rocking and shaking, willing the cold to stop. It denies you, dropping instead degree by degree. With every inhale, the air stabs at your throat, your lungs. You try to hide from it, sinking further into yourself, begging your brain to shut down, to free you from the cold.


 To your surprise: it stops.

 Everything.


 The cold, your fear, the anger you weren't aware was building. Your body relaxes, the muscles releasing all at once, you feel at peace. Then the lights turn on. 


 You're in a ballroom.


 

Intricate chandeliers hang from high ceilings. The walls, painted gold with dandelion colored patterns scrawled from floor to ceiling. White lights shine from small wall lights near the ceiling. 

You hear footsteps and look down to see ten gorgeous women, wearing what could pass for wedding dresses, enter the room. The stop about five feet from where you sit and start spinning, dancing in a circle around you. You turn as you hear another set of footsteps approaching from behind you. This new woman walks up to you and unhooks you from a chain you didn't know existed. She takes your arm and pulls you to your feet.


When you look around the ballroom now, you see thousands of women dancing in large circles, forming rings around where you stand. The woman who helped you up gently pushes you off to the side and begins dancing herself. 

You turn in circles trying to take in the room again, to find an exit. You see four doors, one on each wall. Your only ways out. Taking a deep breath to ready yourself, you take a step forward. The ten women who first entered, jump out at your movement. They grab at your arms, screaming. The tranquility that rested on their features now covered by masks of anger. You freeze, unsure of how to react or what to do. The eleventh woman, the one who helped you up, gently rests her hands on your shoulders. The other release you from their grip and resume dancing. The eleventh woman's nails dig into your skin, you flinch, again, as her breath caresses your ear.


 "You can't interrupt our dancing, the girls and I have been practicing for a long time now," she releases you, spinning you to look her in the eye as she speaks, "but please, would you care to join us?" 


 She holds her hand out to you. You stand dumbfounded and terrified at the same time until you see the look in her eye. Your apparent fear of her overwhelmingly wins out and you take her hand. The second you take her hand the classical music, a background noise you weren't aware of until that moment, tenfold. You try to let go of her hand, to shield yourself from the noise, but her grip tightens. 


"Isn't this music lovely?" You don't respond, your to preoccupied with wishing it would stop, or at the very least quiet down.

    "Isn't this music lovely?" She asks again, this time you can hear the anger seeping into her voice. 


You manage a shaky nod after discovering you forgot how to get words out of your throat. You force a  nervous, fear-endured smile to your lips, hoping it'll save you from her anger.  The woman's face light's up at your response. 

 "I'm glad you think so," she starts, spinning you around in a fashion that still manages to look graceful even as all your doing is trying to keep on your feet, "the girls and I've spent weeks trying to pick the best song."


 You don't know how much longer you can dance with this woman, you figure you're best chance of leaving is to start with getting away from her. Luckily for you, fate decides to work in your favor, as one of the other women decide to step out of line and reach for your hand. The eleventh woman releases you to this new woman, who pulls you into line with her. That's when the idea occurs to you. If you can switch partners, you can eventually make it to the outer most ring of dancers and grab one of the doors as you pass. 


And, eventually, you manage just that. 

You're only five feet from the door now. 


Four... Three... Two... 


 You manage to grab the door as you pass by. The woman you were dancing with offers no restraint and easily lets you go. You quickly open the door and close yourself on the other side, silently thanking your brain and fate for working with you. You look around and find yourself in an alley way. Up ahead you see street lights and cars as they pass by. You take a step forward and push off of the door, looking down the other end of the alley. You see what you believe to be the outline of a dumpster, becoming uncertain as it's shadow seems to bend and sway with the wind. 


 Cold washes over, first in pulses with the wind, then continuous, bringing with it an all-too-familiar sense of dread as your body begins shaking. Once again you will it to stop, as the shadows continue to dance around you, taunting you. When you think you can't take it anymore, it stops. The lights come on. 

You're in a ballroom. The same ballroom you were just in. Once again the ten women enter in their wedding dresses and begin dancing around you. Once again the eleventh woman comes and unhooks you from the chain binding you to the floor. She helps you up, and in your mind numbing confusion you don't hesitate when she offers her hand. 


 You move numbly from woman to woman, almost forgetting your purpose until you see the doors. You manage to grab onto it just before you pass by, this woman also letting you go with ease.


 On the other side you find yourself in s cream colored hallway with a thick gold stripe running along the middle of the wall. Fancy lights sit near the top of the walls just as those in the ballroom. A red carpet runs the length of the hallway and benches rest between every door on both sides. With no other option present you start walking. Once you reach the end of the hallway you look around. You find yourself in a lobby. The first thing you spot is a dark oak counter that contrasts greatly with the cream walls. Small chandeliers hang every now and then casting a white glow over everything its light touches. Plush chairs sit at angles around the wide room making it feel less spacious but all the more empty. 


 Without wasting anymore time you start toward the doors. You push them open and stand in the doorway, letting the light spill onto the sidewalk. You step out onto the sidewalk, letting the light spill around you and breathe in the night air. You close your eyes as a sense of relief claims you. You take another breath, finding the air slightly more stale this time. A chill overtakes you. 

You open your eyes.

 The ballroom.


 The eleventh woman unhooks you from the chain and helps you up.

You're scream, trapped in the ballroom with thousands of white wedding dresses twirling around you. None of them seem to notice. None of them seem to care. You feel a hand on your shoulder.


 "Please, would you care to join us?"

 ~~~


 This was a short  story I wrote on this app under my old account. I decided to post it again after revising it a little, so if it seems familiar that would be why.