The Archive

It started out as a normal day. I woke up feeling great and went out to watch some television. After a while, I went into the bathroom and showered. Then, I got dressed, brushed my teeth, and headed into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. As I walked towards the coffee machine, I heard a crack.

Before I had time to react, the kitchen floor gave way and I tumbled through the gaping hole that appeared. After falling for a couple seconds, I hit the ground. I felt my ribs crack as I landed on my chest. I lied there for a minute, trying to regain my breath and process what had just happened. I struggled to my feet and took my first look at where I had landed. The only light came from the hole in my kitchen floor, about 30 feet above me. I looked around and saw rock walls that gently sloped away from my kitchen floor sort of like the inside of a cone. I was in some sort of cavern that was underneath my house for who knows how long.

After a couple of seconds, my attention turned to getting out. I reached for my cell phone, but then realized that I had left it on my bedroom dresser. I cursed softly as I looked around for a way out, but the only exit I saw was the hole in my kitchen floor. The sloping walls combined with my aching ribs made climbing out impossible. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I realized that there was a sort of doorway in the side of the cavern. There was a faint blue light emanating from it. With no other options left, I decided to enter the doorway.

As I passed through the archway, I was greeted by a horrible stench. It smelled like body odor and waste. My eyes watered and I put my shirt over my nose to try and block out some of the odor. I dried my eyes and took in my new surroundings. The source of the blue light turned out to be a small television, with a VCR underneath. There was a rotted, ripped up recliner in front of the TV. I was shocked. I had no idea how any of this was down here. I checked the TV and VCR and there were no power cords, they were just on. For the first time since falling through the hole, I became a little frightened. Something must have put this furniture down here, and it sure as hell wasn't me.

Then, I was greeted with an even bigger shock. On the wall to my right, there were hundreds of slots cut into the wall. Inside each slot was a VCR tape, and every single one was dated. I looked over the dates and they started about 9 months before, and when I saw the last date, it was the very night before. I felt beads of sweat forming on my forehead. If a video from the night before was down here, that meant someone or something had also been down here, recently. I turned and ran for the door, but hit solid wall. I sat up, dazed. I scanned the walls and realized that there was no longer a door. There was only solid rock all around me. My eyes darted nervously back and forth. I had no idea what to do. I curled up on the floor and shut my eyes as tight as I could. I just wanted out of this place.

After a few minutes, my terror began to wear off. I figured that if something were coming to get me, it would've gotten me by now. I decided to watch one of the videos. I didn't want to see what was on them, but at the same time, I had to. I got up and walked up to the slots to take a closer look at them. I noticed that in the center of the wall above the slots, "The Archive" was carved into the wall. I walked to the first video and pulled it out. I walked over to the VCR and pushed the tape in. I took a deep breath, pushed play, and sat on the edge of the recliner.

It took me a little while to process. The video was in night vision. The hairs on the back of my neck raised once I saw where the video was located. It was my bedroom. It was a video of me sleeping in the middle of the night. I shivered. I could never have imagined something like this. It was terrifying, but I had to watch. Nothing seemed unusual about the video, except once in a while I thought I saw shadows flit across the doorway. The video lasted about ten minutes with nothing other than the shadows. I was somewhat relieved, but still frightened purely by the fact that I had been videotaped while I slept.

Curiosity got the best of me, so as I put the tape back in its slot, I grabbed the one with the date of the next night. I took it back to the VCR and pushed it in. I sat and watched as the same scene as before unfolded before me. Once again, the video was about ten minutes long and shadows flitted across the doorway. Except this time there seemed to be more of them and I'm pretty sure I saw one of them come into the room, just for a second. After this video was over (I think it was 10 minutes long again), I decided to skip a couple weeks of videos.

I once again put the video back in its proper slot and grabbed a video dated two weeks later. I put it in and sat back to watch. I was not prepared for what I saw. A little girl dragging a teddy bear walked in to my bedroom. At first she stood at the food of my bed, staring at me. Then, things got a little stranger. Her face contorted into a look of pure and intense hatred. She climbed onto my bed and crawled until we were face to face. She released an inhuman, demonic growl, while I just kept on sleeping. While she growled, she grew fangs and her fingernails grew into talons. She then proceeded to rip my eyes out with her claws and drag my body out of the room in her mouth.

I was petrified. I sat on the recliner in horror and shock. Tears ran down my cheeks. I had just watched myself die. That little gir- or whatever that thing in my room was, had killed me. I couldn't believe what I had seen. I curled up on that rotten recliner and tried to come to terms with what I had just seen. I tried to convince myself that it wasn't real, it was just a video someone had created to scare me, but I knew that wasn't true. This had happened, but I have no idea how I still woke up the next day.

I was terrified, but somehow my curiosity was still drawn to the archive and what the other videos must contain. I put the video back, grabbed one dated a couple months later. I gathered myself and shoved the video in to the VCR. It took everything I had not to look away from what I might see. My eyes were greeted with darkness. The screen was black. I was certain that I had pressed play, so I just waited. After probably around 8 minutes, the night vision flashed on just for a second. But that single second was enough to shatter my somewhat confident state of mind. What I saw was worse than anything I'd ever seen before, even worse than that little girl. What I saw in that second was only what I could describe as shadow figures wearing white masks with only eyeholes cut in them. They were average height but had extremely long arms with more fingers than normal. Around 10 of them were standing around my bed with their heads turned towards me. Another two were on my bed and were... dissecting my body. My guts were laid around me on the bed. One of the demons was holding my intestines, and... eating them. It was feasting on my intestines, my blood turned its white mask red, and it was looking directly at the camera.

I jumped in the recliner, and suddenly, those demons were in the room with me. They stood around the recliner staring right at me. I screamed and curled into the fetal position on the recliner, shutting my eyes as hard as humanly possible. I screamed my lungs out until I had nothing left to scream. My lungs and throat could no longer scream. I peeked out from under my arms and saw that the demons were gone. I was alone again. The TV screen was blue and the tape had been ejected from the VCR. I sat on the recliner, shaking more than I ever have before. I felt drained, the videos had taken everything out of me, all of my will. After what seemed like forever, I slowly stood up and took the tape back to its correct slot. I looked to where the door was and saw that it still was not present. I crawled to where it had been and began to sob. I sobbed so hard, that it was all I could do. I didn't even have the strength to think. I began feebly clawing at the rock where the door had been. Slowly, I had a realization. Whatever made these videos, whatever watched them, wanted me to finish. It wanted me to see the last video, and it wouldn't let me out until I did. I stood up, walked to the archive, and grabbed the video dated with the previous night. I put it in the VCR, mustered as much willpower as I could, and pressed play.

Immediately, a human-like creature crabwalked into the room and shot under my bed. And by crabwalked I mean, its joints were reversed, and its face was upside down, like it had just been rotated to face upside down. It was terrifying. Slowly I saw it crawl up the wall across from the camera then crawl across the ceiling towards the camera. Then, it jumped to the floor and disappeared from view. Suddenly, its face was directly in front of the camera. It... It was... my grandfather's face. My grandfather had been dead for 15 years. His eyes were completely black and when I shrank back in the recliner... he grinned. He then crawled away from the camera and onto my bed. He then pulled my arm out and bit into my wrist. Blood spurted out of one of my arteries and onto his face. He seemed to... enjoy it. He licked his lips and licked my wound. It was disgusting and horrifying. He then grinned at the camera again. Then, he covered his hand in blood and crawled onto the opposite wall. He... he drew a pentagram. He began to mutter incoherently and smiled as he did it. Then, every dead member of my immediate family came in. I saw my both my grandmothers, my father, and my young brother, except all their necks were contorted and their heads hung at impossible angles. And they were all glaring at my with looks of pure hatred. They quickly joined in with my grandfather's muttering. After a short while, a new figure slowly entered my room. He had goat legs and hooves and horns protruded from his head. It was the devil himself. He leaned over my sleeping form, tore my chest open, and pulled out my heart. He stared directly into the camera as he ate it piece by piece. After he was finished, he walked over to the camera. He seemed to reach past it and I felt a hand come down on my shoulder. Then I heard a whisper," Come back to bed."