Near a shallow pool of water, was Carole staring back at a reflection.

The reflection was the same as her in almost every way, as it should be. Same face, same messy black hair, same scaring under her eye and near her mouth. Same ringed purple eyes. Just as it should be.

All except one thing.

Her lips and eyes rarely could do more than a tiny smile, and even then this took great effort for that smile to show. However, instead of her usual stoic expression, as she expected. What was upon these imposters lips was a smile.

A wide, hateful, malicious smile.

This was not her.

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in front of that door again.

Wait...

How did she even get there?

Wasn’t she just in her room, grading her students?

Snapping out of some sort of daze, her she was in front of that very door again.

The door this time it was wide opened

Did she… sleep-walked here?

She never had a history of it, and instinctively clutching her left hand, she found still had her cane.

How did that door even open?

Carole’s mind at this point screamed at her to leave this alone, to turn around and go back to bed. To ignore the door, pretend she saw nothing.

She wanted to, she would have, but that strange night still stuck in her mind, Hide’s odd necklace. They all added up together in a way that unsettled her.

Carole’s curiosity mixed with the now prominent feeling of rot within herself made her almost unable to tear her eyes away from the now opened door.

Even as the logical and almost instinctual part of her mind shouted at her, telling her to turn around and never look beyond that door, her cane tapped forward and followed her feet. Pushing herself forward into the strange red-tinted glow beyond that door.

An act she, along with her closest, concluded was the point she could not have returned from.

There was something inside that drew the little angel towards it. Something she had to understand...

Something was not right.

As her own eyes adjusted to the sudden onslaught of light, she found herself at what looked like stairs that led endlessly downwards.

She carefully and quietly as she could move down these steps, making as little noise as possible as she walked.

As she journeyed down these stairs, her thoughts were at the back of her mind, begging her to turn away now and close the door.

At some point, as she moved down those stairs, those thoughts did not seem like her own, despite how loud they were getting.

When she was about to relent those logical thoughts and turn back, she neared the bottom of the stairs and what she saw was……... ventis.

That smog leaked out of the pipes. These pipes covered every inch of the walls of the large room, pipes upon pipes, some of which leaked that awful smog, giving the room a hazy stuffy atmosphere in its red glow.

As she covered her mouth against this sudden onslaught of smog and the now familiar feeling of rot thud in her chest.

She then heard grumbling and the sounds of feet upon the stairs above her.

Carole immediately fast-walked out of the room and kept moving. Despite the sudden movement putting a strain on her body, she ignored all sensation and just kept moving and moving without a second thought to look back.

“This was an awful, stupid, stupid, stupid idea,” Was the thought that echoed as she moved.

Ducking into a side door, she quickly closed it shut and huddled into a nearby corner.

Now able to realize the pain she was in, she grits her teeth and held her face into her hands as she took shallow breaths. Anything to make the pain stop almost praying that no one comes into the room. Although her eyes had not adjusted to the darkness of the room her nose had caught up, making her also realize the room had an odd smell… it was…

Was that meat?

.....

What has she done?

She could get caught at any moment.

Many thoughts ran through her mind until she heard something approach her, which made her blood run cold. She felt their presence right next to her, just inches away.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she did not dare raise her head to see who it was. Carole waited for pain, for death, from something near her.

However, nothing came.

Staying as she was for several minutes, she slowly lifted her head, all for at least a single glimpse of her attacker.

What she saw gazed back at her was a pair of empty bulbous red eyes.

This startled her further into the corner, but as she now had a better look at the creature. Its pale features, its gnarled inhuman feet, putting all this together made her conclude that must have been the creature she saw that other night.

Shaggy, clumpy hair and such thin features made it being in a suit almost comical. However, as she looked around now with her eyes adjusted to the dark, she realized... the cause of that meaty smell.

Red meat, red flesh and bone were scattered throughout the room. On the floor piled high with some even touching the ceiling itself. All of which were together in grotesque clumps. Some were even dripping blood, others yellow pus that pooled onto the floor. Her eyes looked downwards at herself, seeing her bare feet being stained by these disgusting puddles.

Thank god she was sitting in one of the few clean areas, this would be a difficult mess to wash out of her pyjamas.

Was that inappropriate for the situation?

Ah, yes, of course, she should be more disgusted and fearful, right?

It was just meat.

Human meat probably, but not something to fear in and of itself. What can a corpse do to her, anyway? Except maybe, give her an illness if the body had some blood-based infection.

It was only gross, especially that smell.

She had to admit there was some beauty to it….

“Ew,” was all she had to say as she looked around and made another observation.

Many of these short creatures were in the room and unlike the one staring her down, not focused on her but the many furnaces near the end room.

They continuously shovelled some of this meat into one of the many furnaces within the room.

The creature that was focusing on her did not look threatening or particularly malicious, curious probably.

Carole gradually got herself off from the ground, still with her eyes on the creature staring her down, its eyes following her every movement.

She was having her fill for the night already and knew she had to get out of this place. Despite the gnawing curiosity that was eating her up, her survival instincts wanted her out. Thus she slowly made her way to the door of the room.

She looked both ways of the long hall before she, as quietly as she could, walked down said hall, keeping ears on alert to make sure no one was around.

Eventually, however, she heard the sounds of footsteps and then once again dashed into another side door and with little thought hid under the table. Though the pain made this agonizing, she was running on adrenaline so little else matters. At least it wasn’t a tight squeeze this time.

After a while, she saw expensive-looking pumps walk into her view as Carole held her breath and at this point hoped to stop her breathing entirely. She then heard a youthful voice out of her field of vision.

“I still don’t know why these smokes are wondering around right now”

“Minor issue there. Just shine some bright light and they scurry like roaches. We have to focus on more important matters”

“Well, we can increase the range of the ventis earlier than the expected, but that would lead us with an excess in power and-”

“Ilden’s can handle a little blackout, and it only increases by a small range. What I mean is, a large area increase and rapidly”

“B-but Madam tha-”

“Shush, I’ve already made my decision, and that’s final”

With that, the heels tapped away from the room, leaving Carole unnoticed and undetected once more.

To get the time to pass, she internally counted to 50 and then counted backwards from 50 three times. Then she waited.

Finally, she slowly crawled out and made her way back into the halls. She knew the exit was just around the corner. She kept moving until she came across that creature again. Maybe this was the smoke they were referring to. Maybe it was the same one staring at her earlier?

It stood there staring at her.

Her lips twisted into a scowl. If that thing was here, then even more of those nut jobs are around. She was tired and aching, her heart was beating like a drum, her muscles though still on adrenaline ached to the point she swore she was seeing stars and only her cane was preventing her from collapsing outright on the floor as it held her weight.

She did the only thing she could and hobbled to the cabinets and let her body collapse in the dark enclosed space.

Why was her body now struggling with the stress she placed upon it?

Like clockwork, she heard footsteps approach the room. A pair this time.

“Ugh, these things,” said a rather stiff, pompous voice, “OUT!’

She heard the footsteps draw near, “Why didn’t you do anything, boy? Standing there like some deer caught in headlights”

“Well, I’m still not used to seeing them, you know, little old me is more used to the mundane,” that voice was familiar.

“Well, time to get used to other things then,” the voice paused as the sound of someone sitting in a chair reverberated back to Carole’s closet.

“For a goat, you handle that that runaway, most excellently Hildmire”

“Aw, that’s so sweet, I’m happy to help,” He replied

This confused Carole. What was he even doing here? Does he not work in IT or something? Why is he chatting with mostly so casually to maybe one of the upper... ladies?… men? It was hard to tell with a voice like that.

Although she stopped herself on that thought, the tone this person spoke to Hide was more... condescending at best.

“Hmm? Where do you think you’re going?”

His laugh rang out, “Despite all your words, you find me irresistible, don’t you? Can’t spend one second away”

“Shut your mouth boy,” the tone was not of a playful request, more one of order.

“….... fine”

As Carole sat in the closet huddled up in a corner, she heard a gasp.

“Maybe you like my love bites a little harder,” Hildmire purred in a drastic change from his usual tone.

“What a naughty thing, it would have been so much better if you didn’t have to be one of those disgusting things, such a shame”

“.... I know…”

Carole noticed the door in her hiding spot had a crack she could peep through, so to see when they would leave and to confirm her suspicions, she approached the hole and looked at the scene before her.

It was Hide with that metallic collar around his neck fully exposed, nibbling and licking the neck and collar of the much older rail-thin woman in an expensive chair as his hands caressed her breasts with one hand under her shirt and the other over the rest of her body.

Carole felt like she should turn away from the scene before it turned to something else. However, what stopped her was the moment Hide took a break, and the person squirmed at his touch and looked down at them from behind. There was no affection.

No love, no teasing joy, just... disgust... disgust, and hatred…

It unsettled the hidden girl to the point; she wondered, if he hated them so much, why was he doing this?… unless... this was against his own will.

His other hand seemed to be less caressing and more searching for something.

Those hate-filled eyes then turned to where she was hidden, and she froze.

He could not see her, right?

His sullen lips seemed to pull back into his signature smile as he mimed his fingers into a gun and pointed at the woman’s head and mimed pulling the trigger. All without her noticing.

“Hey, Boy! Why did you stop?,” the indignant voice cried out, Hide put on a sickly sweet expression at her, “Weren’t you the one who-”

“I think saw someone come by,” he lied, “I rather continue using my teeth and tongue in a less obvious place you know,”

He gave a naughty grin, “Like the closet in the next hall over”

The woman sighed as she got up, “This is a lot more effort than it's worth, goat”

The voices grew more distant.

“Don’t worry, I would make it worth your time”

The sound of the door shutting echoed through the empty room.

Carole stood her place within the closet, counting up to twenty, counting backwards from twenty, many times over and over in her head.

She then placed her foot out of those doors and ran.

It was more of a fast limping, but her eyes only focused on reaching the exit and nothing more. All her mind focused on finding those steps.

The stairs…

This was just cruelty.

Heart still beating vigorously and bracing herself with her cane, She used it as a lever to pull herself upwards. Eventually, she would reach the top, as difficult as the task was.

However, the stars of pain she felt made each step more difficult than the last. Every nerve in her body was firing for her to stop. Her vision grew hazy as the Ventis almost blinded her field of vision.

She did not know when it happened or how it happened, but she felt like someone knocked her down from the front. Like something was rushing directly at her.

As she lost he balance and fell down the flight of stairs, a voice spoke to her.

It was gentle and felt familiar as the ventis surrounded her, making it feel like she was floating rather than falling.

“You.... You name yourself Carole this time?... Don’t get…. Vincent... What have these fools done”

She was drowning again. It felt familiar. And she once again didn’t struggle, despite something inside her begging her to do so.

Carole’s eyes opened again, revealing that she was in the hallway near her bedroom.

She was gasping for air, clutching her chest.

What... just happened?

She was climbing up the stairs.

She might have tripped and…

Another blank... she couldn’t remember.

All she could do was to feel her muscles burn, the rot of unknown origin, and a known panic seizing her body. All she could do was quiver as a clear mucus from her nose dripped onto the ground, forming a small puddle.

Similar to the puddles of pus and blood.