So often it is said that it is darkest when you cannot recall the exact moment that change took you though we don't really know anything about darkness or being taken anywhere by it, now do we? When the light leaves us and we are only left with the dark, or in the dark, there is only one place that any of us will go ... where would darkness take you?... Rather, would you go freely?

***

Stepping into a large, darkened room with small star shaped low wattage white lights dotted sparingly on each of the four walls fills her with a sinking feeling. The lighting on the furthest wall is unseen with how far away that wall is and with the dimness of those lights. She had no idea of what to expect from this moment on. One thing which is for sure is the fact that how she feels will worsen before long.

These lights are so weak and are spread so far apart that they hardly illuminate anything at all. The room is so large that it is far too difficult to estimate just how away the furthest wall from her is, all she knows is that the darkness is such that she can only assume that a fourth wall is out there ... somewhere.

This is not good, no, definitely not good.

So many emotions coursing through her veins as she moves on through into this room, trepidation, anticipation, fear, what the hell is about to happen? Nerves are the worst, so very difficult to calm the nerves, so very difficult to calm the shakes. She knew this would come with fear, but she could not have anticipated the level to which it has come. The darkness itself, it may as well go on infinitely.

It is only a room, nothing really to fear, like how bad can it get? Ten hours in this place, nothing more than a simple room, how difficult can that be? Come out in the morning; collect a large sum of money, simple. It is only a room, there is nothing to fear, surely nothing untoward will occur here, there is nothing to fear. Try telling that to the hands.

How odd this room initially appears to be, but isn't that the point? It is supposed to be odd; it is set up to frighten. A challenge has been issued and accepted, spend a night within a room of a building with somewhat of a disturbing reputation. A reputation, however, is just that ... a reputation. Maybe a reputation is nothing more than just a reputation ... stories must come from someone ... somewhere ... or something. They must have some kind of origin.

Perhaps there is truth in the stories which are out there in the world, truth that seems to be anything but believable. It can't be as bad as they say it is, exaggeration can be a powerful in place fear within those who may step forward in acceptance of a challenge, then again, there may be no exaggeration in any of it.

If the challenge is to spend a night within a room, then shouldn't there be a bed within said room or at least some sort of furniture? No, that would defeat the purpose. A loo perhaps. Ten hours is a long time especially when one is experiencing some level of fear or other. This room which has been entered into, it has no bed, it has no furniture, there is no loo, there are no windows, none of these are at least visible, how odd a room it is.

There are no comforts, none at all. The room is a cavern of darkness and all that can really be gathered from a first glance is that it is big, so big it could possibly go on forever ... such is the void that is darkness, a void which virtually could be an unending rabbit's hole and who the hell knows what is down that hole?

There is no carpeting, no décor at all, well ... indeed none that can be seen. And the damp metallic stench that strengthens if and when you manage to calm yourself offers further cause to distract from finding said calm. Nothing can do anything to prepare anyone for the likes of what this place is.

A challenge is a challenge after all. It wouldn't be worthy of a potential big cash payout if it were all fine and dandy, now ... would it? Things exist here and things are gonna happen, she can be sure of that, what things? She is sure to find out. She has her safe word ... speak it and it all ends, ends without that cash payout. Hell ... how bad can it get?

Ask the Devil a question and he will surely give you an answer ...

The floor within this room is hard but not concrete. The walls are just like the floor with the exception of those dotted lights, none of which are an actual part of the wall nor does the lighting extend from the ceiling. They are nothing more than battery powered plastic stick ons. That means the lighting, what little there is of it, can fail at any given moment, right?

The door closes behind her the instant she has entered her room of choice as apparently there is a choice of rooms, and you can only choose a number and not the contents of any said room. Little more than a second or two passes when she already regrets coming here. Almost right away she regresses on the decision to do this ... she wants out. Getting to this room from an entrance into the building in itself was a frightening experience. What the hell has she got herself into?

'Don't say it ...' she tells herself, heck, she is only seconds into what is supposed to be an all-nighter. 'See it through and take the money ...'

She turns back to that door, a heavy-set metal door, to find that it is locked ... of course it is ... and with metallic bolts, padlocks, and all on the opposite side of the door. With all that is, they hardly were gonna leave the door open, were they? She tries to open it and fails, 'let me out ...' she calls out helplessly. It is futile, completely unless of course. Seriously, as serious as it gets, she feels the need to speak that safe word, let me out will not suffice; she is here for the night at least.

Her let me out echoes out and indeed goes unanswered.

Would her safe word actually work if she were to use it? Has she got caught in something quite different to what she assumed it would be? Before she properly can assess how futile any plea she might offer would actually be, her voice is interrupted by something else.

No, it can't be ... that sound ... it can't be ... there is a sound somewhere within this room that shouldn't really be there ... oh but it is ... she turns and sees it ... something that wasn't there only a moment or so ago ... well not lit up anyhow ... it could have been there ... hidden in darkness ... this can't be happening. There may be an endless darkness, but the weak plastic lighting allows only an inkling of sight, and now this added lighting like a spotlight with purpose ... shining upon what it is that should not be there ...

Oh my. Maybe all those stories she has heard are true, if so then she can only believe that she is rightly screwed. It may begin with something as harmless as what she can see and hear but then what? What happens next? And how did it get in here to begin with, in the first place. She possibly isn't alone in here ... definitely not alone with the existence of what she sees.

A small square area indeed has lit up. There is a baby's crib mounted on a stone centerpiece in a position that appears to be in the center of the room, or what would be a center of a typical room but the darkness of this room as a whole ensures that an exact center cannot be judged for sure if it could be judged at all, and of course, there is nothing typical about this room.

The crib is up upon a stone stand, a stand which has crib about waist height and the baby within, yet to be seen, is crying. The cry echoes out with the room being what it is, that cry bounces off the walls giving it somewhat of an echoing surround sound.

With there indeed appearing to be no way out of the room from what she knows of it, what else can she do other than move towards that crib. Her footsteps, the sound of her shoes, her steps as she walks also echoes out as loudly as the cry is. There definitely is something, someone inside that crib. By the sounds of the cry, it must be an infant, an infant swaddled in a blanket. She lifts then holds the infant in one arm and uses her free hand to get in to be able to see the face of the child.

She throws quick glances all around as if to ask why ... why is this happening? There is no answer to a why ... there simply just ... is.

The face of what she holds ... is not one which belongs to a child. Oh, good hell. Its flesh is shriveled and distorted, stinking and putrid. She shrieks and almost drops it right back into the crib right away for she indeed saw not the face of an infant but the face of something decrepit and frightening, almost monster like ... something ... unnatural.

What lays back in that crib though, it is not a child, not an infant, it is not even human. Now even that changes. There no longer is a child in that crib, be it human or monster like. She had looked away for a moment, there is a snake there now instead, python like, instantly transformed from whatever the hell it had been previously. If this were another place at another time it could be said she is crazy, lost her mind.

Perhaps that's it. This must be a hallucination, a drug induced hallucination, she must have been slipped something before coming in here. Perhaps there is nothing to fear in any of these rooms and fear itself is already settled upon before entry. There is so much more to all this, possibly to a degree with which she may never be aware.

It ... the snake ... a python ... whatever it is ... leaves the crib, slithering out and onto the ground. On hitting that floor, it is clear that the one python has been joined by other snakes, black eel like snakes. What the hell? She quickly returns to the door. Her footsteps sound out, echo out again, louder, and quicker than before. Her pleading returns, futility remains just that.

She wants out, she wants out badly. No amount of money is worth this kind of torture, this kind of fear and she is only at the beginning, such a long time to go yet. There is something else in the room, something else in the darkness other than the snakes ... and it is coming, coming towards her ... coming for her.

'No ...' she speaks quietly as she cowers down onto the floor. 'No' she repeats, a little louder than before then a third 'no' comes with a scream this time. Hours pass and the door is opened at the previously agreed upon time, stated upon the challenge invite she had received and had responded to. She is still cowered on the floor by the door, as dead as dead can be.

Indeed, no financial reward will not be of any use to her ... if anything ... challenge has been failed and she now is now nothing more than another one of those stories which emanate out of this place ... her safe word? Had she spoken it at any point? Would it have made a difference?