Chapter 100. Trying To Break In

Chapter 100: Chapter 100. Trying To Break In

Chapter 100. Trying To Break In

The wide-open door in front of her looked like a death sentence. It felt like the absolute end of the world. Rosa stared at it, her breath hitching as tears instantly welled in her eyes, burning with pure terror. Her body trembled uncontrollably. She took a cautious step back, and then another.

She was scared shitless, her gaze darting between the dark doorway and the vibrating window. The low rumbles and rattling all around her refused to stop. The glass shook in its frame. The bed vibrated against the tiles. The nightstand trembled. Everything around her made it feel as though she had been pulled into another dimension where nothing existed but pure, overwhelming chaos.

Her teeth chattering violently, she closed her eyes and forced a ragged breath out, unable to tear her gaze away from the open doorway. The darkness beyond seemed to loom, heavy and suffocating. Down the hallway, the light flickered once, twice, and then finally died out with a dull click, plunging the corridor outside into complete and total blackness.

Oh my God, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me, she thought.

She blinked rapidly, raking her trembling fingers through her hair. Her heart pounded against her ribs like a trapped bird. She clenched her hands into tight fists, the skin of her knuckles turning white. The violent vibrations and deep rumbles continued to reverberate through the floorboards. Nothing felt right. She swallowed down the lump of panic in her throat. Why the hell did the door open? she wondered, her mind racing. Is this some kind of twisted trick?

She hesitated, weighing whether it was smarter to stay put or try to run. She stared hard at the dark threshold, scrutinizing the shadow-drenched doorway for any sign of movement. Backing away slowly, she stopped at the center of her room, unable to look away. The silence lingering right beyond her doorway was thick and terrifying, an immense, suffocating quiet that threatened to drive her out of her mind. Then came the roar from further down the hall, deeper and even louder than before.

"Now that there’s no obstruction, I can’t leave," she thought, her breath catching in her throat, her entire body shaking. "I seriously cannot leave."

She forced herself to take a cautious step toward the door, then another. Her teeth chattered continuously in the freezing air of panic. Her hands hovered inches away from the metal handle, trembling violently. She blinked once, twice, staring blankly at the dark void ahead, feeling as if she were completely losing her mind.

Driven by a surge of pure panic, she grabbed the edge of the door and pulled it closed as fast as she could. Every limb, every fiber of her soul was vibrating with fear. Gasping for air, she slammed it shut and threw her weight into engaging the lock, but the mechanism failed. An overwhelming force shoved back against the wood, swinging the door wide open with a sharp, deafening bang. The sudden impact knocked her off balance, forcing her to stagger backward as the door hit the wall again. She flinched, shielding her face.

It was as if an invisible, powerful entity was standing in the doorway, stubbornly preventing it from staying shut.

Her teeth continued to chatter. "You’ve got to be fucking kidding me," she whispered under her breath, panic lacing every word.

She stumbled forward again, driven by a wild mix of desperation and raw frustration. Grabbing the edge of the door, she yanked it shut as hard as she could. Her arms trembled as she twisted the knob, pressing the heavy wood flush against the frame. She tried to release her grip slowly, hoping the latch would catch, but the lock did nothing. The second she let go, the door swung open once more. This time, she reacted instantly, snatching the edge before the force could fling it wide and send her staggering back.

She stared at the wood in a complete daze. Okay, what the fuck is going on here? she thought.

Another roar echoed down the passage, closer this time. It felt as if the predator were actively stalking her down the hall, narrowing the distance, preparing to tear her to pieces. Her heart hammered against her chest at a terrifying speed. Involuntary tremors wracked her entire body, making every muscle ache, while her breathing came in shallow, panicked hitches.

She grabbed the door again and shoved it shut. Tears slipped down her cheeks. "Come on, fucking close!" she sobbed out loud.

Slamming it into the frame, she tried forcing the manual latch, but it gave way again—completely broken. She stared at the handle in sheer disbelief. She pulled the door shut once more and turned to the digital keypad mounted beside it. Her fingers shook as she quickly punched in her usual passcode and hit enter. The pad beeped once, beeped twice, and then flashed a solid red error light. The internal mechanism rattled uselessly; the electronic lock had been damaged, rendering it completely dead.

Rosa gasped in disbelief. Seriously? Right at the most dangerous moment of my life?

Furious, she threw her entire body weight against the door, slamming it shut and leaning hard against the wood to hold it in place. Fucking close, will you? she raged inwardly.

With her back pressed firmly against the door, her eyes darted wildly around the room, searching for anything to brace against the handle. Leaving the door unguarded was suicide; everything in this room felt like a matter of life or death. Her heart hammered violently against her ribs. Digging her heels into the floor, she scanned the shadows until her gaze landed on an old, unused mop standing in the corner. The wooden handle might be enough to jam beneath the knob and prop it shut. She took a breath and lunged across the floor to grab it.

The moment she let go, the pressure from the hallway shoved the door back open, swinging wide until it hit the wall with a loud bang. The violent shaking of the entire building intensified. Now, the light fixture overhead joined the chaos, stuttering violently alongside the flickering corridor lights. The room strobed rapidly—dim, bright, dim, bright—in a frantic rhythm accompanied by high-pitched, erratic chirps from the electronic wiring. It felt as though the bulb itself were on the verge of shattering.

Suddenly, the flickering stopped. The bulb locked on, flaring into a harsh, blinding glare that burned with unnatural intensity. The overwhelming light seared Rosa’s vision. She threw her hands up over her eyes, gasping as pain shot through her sight. Then, just as abruptly, the light dimmed back to a faint, feeble glow before dying completely—plunging the entire room into absolute, pitch-black darkness.

Her breath caught in her throat. Shaking uncontrollably in the dark, she rushed toward her bed, her hands scrambling across the mattress until her fingers found her phone. She clicked on the flashlight beam, swinging the thin ray of light across the bedroom. Darting back toward the corner, she snatched the mop and charged back to the door, determined to wedge it shut.

A horrifying sound down the hallway stopped her dead in her tracks.

It was a deep, guttural grumble, mixed with the splintering of wood and the agonizing screech of twisting metal. Rosa froze, holding the door slightly ajar, her eyes wide with terror, her breathing suspended.

A heavy, suffocating silence descended on the corridor—a stillness so thick it felt like the breath before an explosion.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the sound of splintering wood tore through the hall. It was a sickening, explosive crack, as if a bomb had detonated right through one of the adjacent doors. Rosa jumped in total shock, her eyes wide as she stared into the dark opening. Her knees went weak; all motor control vanished from her limbs. The mop slipped from her numb fingers, clattering uselessly to the floor. She staggered back in a daze as her bedroom door slammed wide open once again.

Oh no, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me, she thought, panic surging through her veins.

The destruction didn’t stop. The roaring intensified into a brutal, heavy grunt—the sound of an enormous, feral beast. It sounded like a massive lion gone mad, something impossibly giant and powerful enough to crush her skull with a single blow. She heard the heavy thumping and sharp scraping of giant claws tearing against the hallway walls. The entire structure beat and vibrated with every movement. Cracks crisscrossed frantically across her ceiling as the plaster groaned overhead.

"Oh my God!" she gasped, trembling from head to toe in absolute horror.

Her gaze drifted down to the wide-open doorway. A sudden wave of adrenaline flooded her system, overriding her paralysis. She sprang forward, lunged for the door, and tried with all her remaining strength to shove it shut.

Just as the sharp scraping of claws rasped right outside her room, she slammed the door shut. Immediately, a violent force slammed against the opposite side, jerking the wood violently as if something massive were trying to pry it open. Rosa screamed, putting every ounce of her body weight into pressing the door closed.

Her hand flew to the lock, scrambling to engage it even though she knew it was broken. Pure, blinding fear had obliterated all reason. She fumbled wildly with the manual knob and the deadbolt, but nothing moved, nothing clicked into place. She slammed her back against the door, gasping for air, her entire body shuddering with every violent hit against the wood as whatever was on the other side threw its immense weight against the door to break in.