The Screaming Room (Part 1)

The Screaming Room:
A random thing I started thats now 3 parts long because why the fuck not?

"So Dash... Why're we here again?"
>She turned around with an excited grin. The face of someone uncovering a new artifact. "We're here because it's creepy and I've never been here before!"
"Yeah but like, what is this place?"
>She stopped and paced a few steps before clapping her hooves. "Oh right it used to be like a factory or something. But then it was an apartment building. Uh now it's this."
"So an abandoned apartment building?"
>"Yeah pretty much." She ran off, dragging me after her, deeper into this building.

>Why the hell did I say yes to this? I mean a vacation is one thing, but a tour exploring creepy abandoned buildings? A tour Dash set up herself in order to hopefully convince me that horror movies didn't creep her out. To postpone her having to show me her Daring Do action figure collection.
>There's overboard and then there's this.

>"So Anon, I heard that this place was haunted." Dash was still excited. Somehow.
"Really? I heard this place gave you tetanus."
>She rolled her eyes before stopping and looking at the hallway before us. Open doorways lined each side but not all of them bore doors. I guess this place was popular for vandalism. The air was thick with dust and the floor was covered in chipped ceiling plaster, muck from the rain, and rotted wood. Honestly I was surprised the building hadn't collapsed on us when we entered.
>"Ooh wanna check out the different rooms? Maybe some ponies left some stuff behind!"
"Or we can you know... not do that?"

Part 2:
>"Man you're a huge scaredy pony!" Dash snorted, walking into one of the rooms.
>The apartments themselves were disgusting, the beds rotten and falling apart, most of the sinks and mirrors had been smashed, even the chairs had collapsed under their own weight.
>Dash hopped onto the bed which let out a loud squelch and something spurted from the side, just missing me.
>"Ew!" Dash groaned and hopped back off the bed, looking at her forelegs which now dripped with this mysterious blackish liquid.
"You ok?"
>"Yeah... This stuff smells awful." She shook some of it off.
"Uh let's try to find you a towel or something then."
>"Good idea." She walked back out of the room with me in tow, her hooves making a wet slapping sound with each step.
...
>I darted in the empty room and pulled Rainbow Dash beside me, covering her mouth as me both pressed ourselves against the wall.
>Shit. It was getting closer.
>The buzzing sound began to rise in sync with Dash's pupils shrinking. I tried to hide my own frantic breathing.
>It was really close this time.
>We could hear it... walking if that's what you could call it down the hallway. More of a clicking slither sound.
BANG!
>The walls shook. It was trying to find us. Dash jumped and let out a muffled squeak.
>Hard to believe less than an hour earlier she was bragging about how she wasn't scared of anything.
BANG!
>The chair across from us buckled and collapsed in an explosion of splinters. Then the cabinet, then the bed.
>It was in the room now.
"Dash RUN!"
>I grabbed her and threw her into the hall as the floor began to crack and followed her. We ran farther, deeper into the building as the roar grew behind us.
...
"Alright is this ok?"
>I held the rotting towel in front of her. She shrugged and rolled onto her back, hooves splayed out and took the towel, wiping off her hind legs, then her forelegs before standing back up.
"You good now?"
>She nodded and held out a hoof. "Boom! No more nasty bed gunk!"
"Nice."

>"So Anon, wanna see what's upstairs?" Dash walked out of the room.
>Moments later we had left the hallway, walked up the grimy cement stairs, and were now facing a similar but grosser hallway.
"So now what?"
...
>We tiptoed through the cavernous room. Where the exit to the building was in relation to this place, we had no idea. But at least the thing had stopped pursuing us. Well for the time being at least.
>"Anon." Dash whispered into my ear. I stopped walking and knelt down beside her. We were hiding behind some old crates, choosing to avoid the open parts of the room.
"Yeah?"
>She stepped a bit closer. "I'm scared..."
>I put my arm around her affectionately. "Me too Dash. But I'm sure we can get out of here."
>"I'm gonna be honest, I'm juuust staring to regret coming here." She gave a weak chuckle.
"Oh hey! Now that you mention it, this is totally your fault!"
>"Hey!" She looked at me indignantly, her hooves on her hips. I messed up her mane before standing up.
"Just joking now lets get out of here."
RUMBLE!
>Oh god.
>Dash looked up at me, her eyes widening in fear as the windows exploded in a blinding light! Followed by that alien foghorn, both growing into a terrifying roar. Blinding and deafening us.
>We huddled together, my arms wrapped around her as she buries her head in my neck, both of us shaking uncontrollably, our eyes squeezed shut.
>The noise got louder, the light moved. We could no longer tell its source.
>The ground around us cracked and rippled, boxes and crates imploding with a sharp pop.
>It was all around us now.
...
>I peered into the various rooms as we walked down this new hallway, it was identical to the previous floor except with a ton more rotting stuff.
"Yo Dash."
>She turned around happily. She was really enjoying this place. "Yeah what's up Anon?"
"What's that room at the end of the hall?"
>I pointed at the metal door. The one that had been bolted into the wall, the hinges melted and scorched.

>She walked over and knocked on the door. The clangs echoed through the hall around us.
>We were alone.
>Suddenly I felt a chill, as if something was behind me, watching us.
"Hey Dash? Mind not slamming on that door any longer?"
>She stopped her hoof an inch away from the burned metal. "Oh okay. Sorry got a bit carried away there."
>I nodded and walked over beside her. We stared at the door. "Any idea what's in there?" She asked. I shook my head and she stood up on her hind legs, using the door for balance and trying to peer through one of the cracks.
"See anything?"
>She shook her head and dropped back on all fours. "Nah it's too dark." She shivered a bit and I placed my hand on her back.
"You ok?"
>She nodded and fluffed her wings. "Yeah sorry... the door's just kinda creepy."
"I think it's the scorch marks."
>She nodded and turned to the left, "Let's got down this hall and uh... maybe leave this place after."
"Alright."
...
>I was running, blind and deaf with Rainbow Dash curled up in my arms. She might have been sobbing, or screaming. I couldn't tell. The light was following us as we ran out of that cavernous room. The floor cracking as the roar descended on us from all directions.
>I didn't know where I was going.
>I just ran.
>Left, Right, Right, Up, Straight. I finally dropped on all fours with a gasp. Rainbow Dash tumbling out of my arms with a whimper, holding her ears and shaking.
"Haaf... Fuck."
>I groaned and rolled onto my back, panting. My eyes were still burning and my ears were still ringing. Dash mumbled something and crawled over to me, resting her head on my shoulder.
>I wrapped my arm around her and massaged my eyes.
>What the hell was that back there?
"Dash... Uh..."
>She shook her head a few times and groaned. "Yeah I know, we gotta get out of here."
...
>Hey Anon, what's the screaming room?" Dash asked me. We were walking way from the burned door and she had just pulled her head out from a doorway.
"Huh?"

>She pointed inside the room. "There's something written on the wall."
>I walked into the room and sure enough she was right. Burned into the wall was the message, "STay ouT of the scReaminG room."
>Some letters were capitalized, and others were dotted with strange symbols. Below the message was a single streaked scorch mark, as if they had been dragged away.
>"Anon... Is that the door?" She pointed at the opposite wall, showing a crude scorched representation of the steel door from earlier.
"Uh yeah..."
>"Think that's the screaming room?" She gave the scorch mark a soft poke.
"No idea let's get out of here!"
>I grabbed her by the hoof and dragged her back into the hall.
RUMBLE!
>"W-what was that?" Dash whirled around.
...
>We ran down the hallway, towards another staircase. Behind us the light and foghorn sound had returned. It was pursuing us. Tearing apart the floor and smashing the doors. We were both getting tired again. My lungs were burning and it was clear that Dash was starting to get exhausted as well.
"Dash! Duck under that stairway up ahead!"
>She yelled something in return but dived under the stairs. I slid into place beside her. Which would have been impressive if not for the fact that something was chasing us.
>She panted, huddled under the cement stairway.
"Shh..." I held a finger over her lips. She nodded and slowed her breathing, as did I.
BWARRR!
>The entrance to the stairway exploded in light and sound.
>Aw for fu-
>I was thrown out from under the stairs! Hitting the cement wall with a sickening crack.
"Augh!"
>I groaned and pulled myself to my feet before being flung back down the hall from whence we came! Dash screamed something faintly in the background.
"Ow..."
>I looked up at the light which had shifted. Becoming dimmer and and gaining a definite shape. It was human, the thing that approached me. Well kind of human. More humanoid, it has arm and leg like protrusions. But no discernible features.

>It reached out for me, its fingers contrasting with the hall behind it. It was somewhat transparent.
>I inched away, Dash was screaming something in the background. The creature flickered.
>Then slammed its hand forwards, palm against my chest and lifted me. Holding me with an outstretched arm.
>It roared.
>And its hand began to burn.
>Burning through my jacket, my shirt, until it reached my bare skin which also began to burn.
>I screamed and the ground around it began to crack. The smell of burning flesh filling my nostrils.
>The roaring grew louder as I began to black out from the pain.
>"HEY ASSHOLE!" Dash screamed at the end of the hall. The creature stopped, flickered, and dropped me. Turning to face her, it strode down the hall.
>I got up with a pained gasp, trying to drown out the agony rocketing through my chest.
>Don't look at it.
>Dash stood triumphantly at the creature which approached her. "I got ya bud!"
"Dash no!"
>I croaked and ran for her, ducking past the creature which let out a roar. Grabbing her, we ran down the adjacent hall and found ourselves somewhere familiar.
>The screaming room.
>Except the door was now open and pitch black inside.
>We stopped infront of the door. Dash and I looking around terrified.
>"Sh-should we go in?" She asked, "Oh my god Anon, your chest..."
"It's umph... Nothing. Let's not go in."
>"B-but..." Dash pointed at the creature now approaching us, the walls around it burning. "It's..."
"Yeah..."
>I slumped to the ground, my chest was utter agony, my vision was growing dimmer every second.
>I could faintly hear Dash calling out my name.
>Something was tugging at my sleeve. Something frantically calling my name.
"D-dash... jus'"
>I protested weakly, but she kept tugging at me.
>Finally, I opened my eyes. Looking around. Dash was slumped against my stomach. The room was mostly dark but there was a faint light coming in from a window.
"Dash?"

>She sat up and looked at me, her face broke in a huge smile. "Anon!"
"W-what the... where are we?"
>"I uh... I'm not sure. The thing charged at us but ran into the screaming room and exploded in light! Th-then we were in here.." She looked around puzzled. "There's a door but I don't want to open it."
"Well... Let's do that and try to get out of here."
>She stood up and helped me to my feet. We walked over to the door and opened it. Showing...
>Outside.
>The door led outside.
>We walked out and looked behind us, where the building once stood was now a pile of rubble and the one room. With the burned metal door which we had just left from.
>The screaming room.
"I...uh...."
>Dash was equally confused, standing beside me as sirens pulled up behind us. Police, ambulances, everything.
>"Oh my god Anon... Your chest..." Dash was pointing at me. I looked down, the burn was still there but the pain had dropped to a numb. No longer stinging. But she was pointing at how it had left a burn in the shape of its hand on my chest.
"...Jesus..."

...

>A few days later we were back in Ponyville. Neither of us had slept much since that incident, our nights filled with nightmares of that creature. The wound on my chest still burned and they said it would scar.
>Dash was snuggled up against me, as we lay on the couch together. She hadn't spoken much about what happened. Other than a non committal yeah or I don't know when I tried to talk about it.
>She had clearly been traumatized as she woke up most nights yelling, or crying.
>But tonight had been different. She was more talkative.
>We had talked about what happened. Both of us agreed that it was terrifying.
>That we would never explore abandoned building again.
>Not long after that, she fell asleep in my arms. Making soft snores.
>Me, I just waited. I'm not sure what for.
>Maybe for its return.

The End