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Chapter #1

Part 1

Deep in the night I woke up startled by a strange noise. Where was I? Who am I? Do I recognise this place? What is over there in the shadows? Still sleepy and confused I found it hard to differentiate between dreams and reality. “Hello”, I said into the darkness. No answer. “Is anyone there?” After sitting for a few minutes in silence I decided to switch on the lights and go to the kitchen to get some water. Tired as I was, I made a mental note to take a glass of water through the next evening, and went back to bed after I placed the glass of water on the bedside table.

Once asleep I had a weird dream. There used to live a lady maybe in her early 50s in what seemed to be my house. She had at least four bunnies (maybe even more) that roamed the house freely. One day the bunnies equipped with teeth the strength only dreams can imagine, chewed through the water pipes and the lady stopped having running water. She had plenty of food but weirdly seemed to not have any liquids in the house, and for reasons only my dreamstate mind might know was not able to leave the house to get water or anything else to drink. After some time, which could be a day or an hour or even a month, you know how time is relative in dreams, she killed the first rabbit, started drinking its blood and drained it dry in an attempt to stay alive. Naturally it did not take long  before there were no more rabbits left and eventually the old lady died from dehydration. The alarm woke me before I got the answer as to why she never left the house to get water or call a plumber but I felt even more thirsty than the night before. However, when I wanted to take the glass of water from my bedside table it was gone.

So this is how my day started. I guess it’s just one of those days where no matter what I do I will never really feel in my right state of mind almost as if I am part of the world while I’m not at the same time … almost as if I dream my life rather than living it. You probably know that feeling, don’t you? Well I’m at work now and have to set up quite a few meeting rooms as we have a lot going on today. There will be the Induction Day, interviews with Exec Level candidates and the kitchens are a mess on both floors.  The room layout is still confusing to me so my colleague gave me room number which will help me to get from one room to the next fastest.

183863
294965
335471

To go from one room to another proceed to a room with at least one digit in common with the room you are currently in. And would you believe it? He told me he found something in the fifth room he believes to be mine since I have been the last one in there.

 However, which one is the 5th room?

Answer:

Wow, I made it all in time and wow look what I found, one of my comics I thought I had lost. I do love that series. It’s rather dark and twisted. I am a big fan of darker writing in general, I have to admit. You know what, to guess the comic let’s see how well you know your Horror:

Answer:

Part 2

There it was again, that noise. I’d love to describe it but I doubt I have the words for it. It’s somewhere between water dripping and flowing but at the same time it leaves a dry taste in my mouth. Since when do sounds taste like anything? I know if I go to the kitchen I’ll see her again, the old lady, and though I pinch my arm to see whether I am dreaming, the pain feels all too real. I close my eyes but I just cannot fall back asleep. Maybe reading will help. Finding it in the office the other day I re-started reading the whole Preacher series again.

Somehow Jesse being possessed by a spirit that is both pure good and pure evil really speaks to me. Still my thoughts keep returning to the kitchen and the old lady in there, waiting for me, not leaving before I pay her a visit. I get up and reluctantly make my way through the corridor. I have lived here for years but probably down to the state of my mind it seems so much longer than before. As I walk I notice a picture to my left. I don’t remember hanging it up but it’s clearly there. With arrows pointing in all main directions it seems to refer to something but I don’t understand what exactly.

Still wondering about the picture and it’s sudden appearance I turn towards the kitchen at the end of the corridor but the door is gone. Confused I turn around and back but apart from the open bedroom door and the picture on the wall the hallway is empty. And while my head is spinning trying to make sense of this I hear the noise again. Just once, then the corridor falls silent again. I think it came from the wall. I don’t know what good it will do but I start hitting the wall where the kitchen door would have been as if my punches would somehow make it reappear.  It doesn’t take long and I grow tired of hitting the wall so I turn to the bedroom and notice the picture has shifted. Maybe if I figure out what the picture wants to tell me I can get to the kitchen again

Looking at the picture up close I notice it’s not a picture at all but more like a lock. The lock has arrows in four directions and a mechanism in the middle you can move. I think I have seen one of those locks before. It’s a lock that only moves up, down, left, and right. I suppose there should be a pattern somewhere but all I can find is this sentence written underneath:

By the Aparctias I saw thee, 

Apeliotes, Apeliotes why are you three?

I know you never wanted Notos

Answer:

I shake my head and before I completely give up I hear a creaking sound to my right and when I turn my weary head towards the sound see the kitchen door opening. At this stage all I want to do is grab some water and a painkiller for the headache that slowly but steadily takes hold of the left hand side of my head.. When I get to the kitchen I involuntarily let out a small scream as I see the old lady sitting at the table. I completely forgot about her. She turns towards me and opens her mouth but rather than her voice I start to hear this song. I know this one I heard it before …

But where? It was a film I believe and I remember an explosion.

Answer:
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