Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-28963682-20160711021212

Hi, I'm new here. I was wondering if you guys could give me your opinion on my creepypasta and if you could tell me whether or not it's okay to post it to the creepypasta wiki. Also, I've read most of the rules and guides, but is there a place where it tells you how to properly format your pages, in terms of how to use buttons, make indents, etc? If so, can someone tell me where to find this info?

Anyway, here is my story:

I feel like in order to properly understand what happened, I should mention a few things about myself. I am a take-charge type of person. If I am with a group of friends and no one seems to be able to decide what to do, I make the final decision and everyone else goes along with it. I am not bossy; I just don't like indecision. Life is easier with a simple "Yes" or "No" instead of "Maybe" and hesitation. I like order; I like structure. Keep this fact in mind when you read the rest of this post about my... well, I don't even know what it was; let's just call it an "experience."

A few months ago, I had surgery. My appendix was ready to burst and the doctors thought that it would be best to remove it as soon as possible. At the time, I had never had any serious procedures done before. I was terrified that the anesthesia wouldn't work and I'd feel everything that the surgeon was doing. It was one of the first times where I felt like I had no control; my life was in someone else's hands and there was absolutely nothing that I could do about it. Nothing like waking up in the middle of surgery happened. Instead, something much worse happened.

"Alright Lana, we're going to start the surgery now. Nurse Sanchez is going to administer the anesthesia and you're going to count down from ten," Doctor Srivastava said to me. Because of all of the lights in the operating room, she appeared to be enveloped in a bright halo. I nodded my head. I know that she was trying to make me feel better, but the sense of fear that I had been feeling for the past few hours did not lessen. "It's going to be fine." Doctor Srivastava squeezed my hand and smiled at me. I must have looked terrified for her to be so reassuring to me.

Nurse Sanchez then administered the anesthesia and I counted down from ten. When I got to five, I remember that I stopped counting; I soon lost consciousness.

I don't know how much time passed until I became conscious again. At first I thought that I had woken up and that the surgery was over. However, I noticed that everything was very dark. I turned my head in various directions, but all I saw was pitch blackness. Did something happen to my eyesight? I began to feel a sense of fear that was far worse than the one I had pre-surgery. Did I wake up in the middle of surgery? Thankfully, I couldn't feel any pain. I was going to attempt to get up from the hospital bed, but then I realized that I was already standing. Where was I? What was going on?!

"Hello?" I called out. My voice almost seemed to echo around me. Was I hallucinating? Were my sight and hearing suddenly gone? Were people answering me and I couldn't hear them? I breathed deeply. I reasoned with myself; of course my hearing wasn't gone because if I could hear myself, surely I would be able to hear anyone else in the room. Was I here alone? Where exactly even was I? I breathed deeply again, trying not to let the fear get the best of me.

I made one more attempt to make contact with anyone. "Hello?" I called out, a bit louder than before. I reached my hands out in front of me, trying to hold on to something, but there was nothing there. I eventually shuffled my feet along the floor, trying to make my way to some sort of wall. Surely this place couldn't be endless and I was bound to reach a boundary somewhere. I could tell that the floor was uneven; everything felt lumpy through the thin canvas of my shoes. I was scared that I'd trip and hurt myself.

I eventually heard the rhythmic sound of something pulsing. I made my way towards the sound. Surely I would eventually reach some sort of structure. Maybe then I could figure out where I was. My hands eventually made contact with some sort of... something. I had no idea at the time what it was. Technically, I still didn't know what it was. It felt organic in nature. It was wet and slightly sticky. I could feel it moving under my hands. I immediately retracted my hands from the wall, giving a loud gasp of surprise at how disgusting whatever I had just been touching was. Was it some sort of creature? How big was it? The thing made no movement other than the weird pulsing—at least I don't think it did; I still couldn't see. I reluctantly put my hands back onto whatever I had just touched. It continued to pulse under my hands. I did my best to ignore the pulsing.

I ran my hands along the flesh wall, hoping maybe I would find some sort of opening to escape through. I continued to walk along the wall. Eventually, I saw some sort of dim light. I quickly made my way towards it, almost tripping over the uneven ground.

When I finally reached the light, I saw that the walls were indeed made out of some sort of fleshy material that pulsed in certain areas. Some parts of the wall had red arteries and blue veins—no doubt keeping alive whatever this monstrosity was. Thick tendrils reached out of parts of the wall and headed upwards. I couldn't tell if there was a ceiling; there was nothing but a black void about twenty feet above my head. The floor, however, was made out of the same fleshy material as the walls, except that it was harder. There were veins and arteries in the floor as well, and I could see those pulsing as well. I felt disgusted.

I wasn't alone in the room. There were dozens of people there with me. None of them seemed to really notice me. Most of them were standing up while holding some sort of light source, like a lantern. I then noticed that some of the people were dressed strangely. A few seemed to be dressed in a fashion similar to me, but I also saw someone in a knight's suit, someone else in a Victorian dress, and another person in a geisha outfit.

"Hello?" I said, hoping to get some answers as to what was going on. Almost everyone's head quickly turned to look in my direction. The woman closest to me—she was old, wrinkled, and had sunken eyes—raised a finger to her lips and made a shushing gesture, but without the noise.

"I'm sorry, but what's going on?" I asked. I made sure to speak a bit more quietly. Most people continued to look at me. A few of them looked angry. I hoped that they weren't going to hurt me. The old woman who had communicated with me raised her finger to her lips again. Her eyes widened and she looked intensely into my eyes. There was a desperation to her actions, but I didn't understand what was happening.

"Please—I'm lost," I said. I was suddenly tackled by a guy my age. He clasped his hand over my mouth. "Be quiet," he mouth to me. I tried to fight back. I stopped fighting when I heard a strange metallic screech. It sent a shiver down my spine. It was the most unnerving sound that I had ever heard. I saw the man's eyes widen. He slowly raised one of his fingers to his lips to tell me to be quiet. His hand was trembling. I decided that for the time being I would listen to these people. There was a loud thudding sound as something made its way into the room. All the while, the man continued to be on me while clasping one hand over me. The finger on his other hand continued to be raised to his lips.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">Something made its way through the horde of people and reached where I and the man were. It was... I don't know what it was. The creature was about eight foot tall. It was white with a tinge of a yellowish or tan color to it; the color of bones. It was very thin; it had a slender waist no more then twenty inches in diameter. Its shoulders were broader than the average human. It's legs curved—almost like a scythe—with the front of its legs bowing outwards. Its arms were very long and did not appear to have joints or hands. Instead, beginning at where its forearms should be, the creature's arm became broader and flatter. However, it's arms never seemed to become thin enough to become blades. The creature's face was terrifying. Its face was smooth and oval in shape. It had two black eyes, no ears, no nose, and a thin, straight, black line where it's lips should be.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">The way the creature moved was strange too. It seemed to sway left and right—not in a jerky motion, but in a fluid, circular motion. It was almost graceful.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">The creature stopped near where I and the man were and seemingly observed the area. Its head moved in various directions, but it did not seem to see anything. Eventually, the creature started moving back towards where it had came from.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">"What was that?" I whispered to the man. I heard the metallic shriek again as the creature quickly made its way back to the man and I. The man turned around to see the creature. I could see the man tremble, but he made no sound. The creature was only inches away from the man's face. It seemed to be studying him and the area again. It seemed to stay there longer than before, but it eventually moved on again.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">This time, I did not move or say anything for what felt like at least twenty minutes. Eventually, the man moved off of me. He raised his finger to his lips again. I nodded my head in understanding. I raised my own finger to my own lips to make sure he knew that I understood what was going on now, even though it was redundant. I now noticed what clothing the man was wearing. He was wearing some sort of formal wear consisting of a buttoned shirt, a vest with a golden pattern on it, dress pants, and black shoes. He looked like he belonged at the end of the nineteenth century or the beginning of the twentieth. I wondered if he had been here since then.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">The man bent down to take a lantern from the ground. I looked around me. I again noticed that everyone seemed to have some sort of light source. Where did they get the light? I reached out my hand to the man's lantern and mouth the word "Where?" He very slowly mouthed out the words "You have to find it." It took him about eight tries before I understood what he was saying.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">I slowly started walking around the area. I made sure to not make much noise. I noticed that different people had different light sources. The man had a lantern. I saw the medieval knight with a torch. I saw a caveman near a campfire. I would have to find a flashlight, right?

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">It took me about half an hour, but I managed to find a flashlight. I turned it on, feeling some relief. I hoped that the flashlight was continuous.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">As I stood in place and wondered what to do next, a new thought dawned upon me; if there are people here who are cavemen and medieval knights, how long would I be stuck here? Was this a place outside of time, or would I be stuck here for all eternity?

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">I decided that I would find my way out; there was no way that I was going to be complacent staying here. I tried to ask people for the way out (obviously I only asked the people who looked like they would understand me—I left the caveman alone) but almost everyone refused to talk to me—even though I did not make noise and only mouthed the question. A lot of these people appeared to be disheveled, dirty, emaciated, pale, and defeated. I wondered if food or water was necessary here. Surely it couldn't be if there were people here for thousands of years.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">Eventually, I reached the end of the vast multitude of people. There was nothing but darkness. I shined my flashlight ahead of me, but I saw nothing but more of the same cavern. Either way, I decided to go in that direction; maybe eventually I would reach something else.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">I heard the sound of thudding footsteps. I stopped moving. I looked backwards. I was all alone now. I could barely see the dim light of everyone else. I saw the outline of the creature walk towards me as it walked forward. I kept the light on the creature; it didn't seem to react.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">The creature got very close to my face. It's breath reeked of some sort of metallic substance. I wondered if it was the smell of blood, or if it was somehow linked to whatever sound the creature made. It's thin mouth began to vibrate; parts of its mouth moved up and down like a visual representation of music—like a pattern of sound waves. I gasped, moving backwards. The creature's mouth opened and a long purple tongue slithered out, licking the side of my face. The creature retracted its tongue and then its mouth twisted into a smile. Its neck elongated and its face convulsed rapidly as its features changed. Suddenly, it had the face of someone I know; it had the face of my sister, or rather, a bastardization of my sister's face. The features were oddly proportioned and the skin was a strange sallow, gray color.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">"Lana!" the creature screeched metallically in a monotone voice. "Help me, Lana! I'm inside this abomination!" Every time it spoke, the head convulsed rapidly. "Will you help me? Don't leave me alone!" My sister's face came closer to me. All the while, the creature swayed from left to right with the swaying motion oscillating the head from side to side, like a lure on an angler fish. <span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">I couldn't stand the sight of the creature. I tried to run, but I tripped over the uneven surface of the ground.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">I saw the creature tower over me. This was the end, wasn't it? I was too afraid to cry or to scream—or to do anything. The creature's head convulsed as its normal face returned. The creature bent down towards me. It's mouth turned into a frown. It did not seem to sense me. It continued to stare back and forth between me and various other directions. The only thing that I heard was the pulsing of walls and the pulsing of my own heart. The creature walked away several minutes later. I waited a long while before I got up.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">The creature seemed to rely on sound. Even though it had eyes, it seemed unable to see. Did the pulsing of the floor mask any sounds I naturally made, such as breathing? What about everyone else who wasn't directly on an artery? Maybe the creature could only hear louder sounds, or maybe it thought all of the bodily sounds of everyone in the cavern were part of the organic wall and floor. Either way, I was happy to be alive.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">I continued to walk in the cavern. I made sure not to make much noise, which made my progress very slow. About an hour later, I reached some sort of doorway. The doorway was made out of stone. There was a passageway leading upstairs. The passageway was not covered in the fleshy material. Was this the way out?

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">I began to make my way up the stairs. The passageway was fairly narrow. Hopefully I didn't see the creature in here. I continued to slowly make my way up the stairs, supporting myself along the wall. About one hundred stairs later, I made my way to the top of the stairs and into another room. The walls in here were only partly fleshy, but the room was filled with dozens of those disturbing creatures. The creatures appeared to be inactive. They were swaying from side to side, but made no other movements.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">I walked as slowly and quietly as possible. I put the toe part of my foot down first, then in a smooth motion I put the heel down. The creatures did not seem to notice. I felt my heart beating very quickly. I hoped that they were unable to hear the fear in me.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">I noticed that there was some sort of door at the end of the room. There was a very bright light coming from behind the door. I walked towards it. The door was locked with one of those old fashioned latches that needed to be pulled on in order to open the door. I tried to move the latch, but it was locked. I felt a sense of desperation. I shined the light around the room; the key was on a chair right next to the door. I couldn't help but feel like this was too easy.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">Nevertheless, I took the key and slid it into the door latch. As I slid the door latch towards me, it clattered loudly. Suddenly, I heard the sound of quick movement behind me. Something grabbed onto my leg and began to drag me backwards. I could see all of the creatures eyeing me. Many of them appeared to be smiling, with their sound wave mouths vibrating up and down. Their heads began to convulse, their faces turning into those of people close to me. They began to talk as the people that they had turned into. Their voices were loud, metallic, screechy. All the while, the one creature continued to drag me backwards towards the staircase. I screamed. The creatures responded by giving out a loud, metallic shriek as their heads convulsed.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">The creature let go of me once we were back in the room that I had originally been in. I was crying. I felt like it would kill me at any moment. As the creature raised its arm in a motion that implied that it was probably going to hurt me, I suddenly woke up. I immediately sat up in my bed. I was screaming. <span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">"You're alright," Doctor Srivastava had her hands around my arms, trying to hold me in place. "Lana, listen to me: You're alright."

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">"I'm—I'm alright?" I stupidly asked.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">Doctor Srivastava laughed a bit at me. "Yes. We had some complications waking you up, but you're alright. It took you a bit longer than most people to wake up."

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">"I had the worst dream," I said. I felt clammy. I began to cry with relief.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">"You're alright," Doctor Srivastava said again. "Can you give her something to help her relax?" she asked the nurse in the room. The nurse soon brought over some sort of pills for me. They helped me relax, but I was not letting myself go to sleep again.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">Over the next few weeks, I tried to rationalize what had happened. Was it just a bad dream? It felt so real. Doctor Srivastava told me that some people who undergo surgery under anesthesia have bad nightmares for a week or so.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">I told my family and friends about my experience. They said that it was normal to feel stressed out and to have nightmares when undergoing surgery. I wasn't sure if my experience was typical of someone under anesthesia. I felt like something else had happened, except I didn't know what. I had so many theories, ranging from rational scientific reasoning to more metaphysical explanations. <span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">Was it really just a dream? Was I in some sort of limbo? Who were those other people? Did they not want to get out like I did—or had they tried and failed? Maybe the organic cavern was some sort of limbo for those who were unconscious yet not dreaming and not yet dead. Maybe it was a place outside of space and time, corrupted by something. What were those creatures? Were they some sort of guardians? They seemed to want to make sure that no one left the cavern, but they also seemed to like torturing people. What was through the door? Why was there so much light behind the door? <span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">Maybe all of the people in the cavern were different versions of me—other lives. Maybe they were waiting to be born of their fleshy womb into the world. Maybe the guardians watched them to make sure that everything goes to plan. Fear is a good way to control people. Maybe they never tried to escape because they knew that they were already dead. Maybe that cavern is where all my past lives go when they die. More specifically, maybe that's where all of the bad past lives go—why else would they be in such a horrible place? Did this mean that I was a bad person too? Either way, I did not want to go to that cavern again.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">I knew that I was really stretching things here, but I didn't know how to rationalize everything to myself. I laughed at myself. So many questions that I did not know the answer to. I was the last person to rationalize things as metaphysical, yet here I was.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">I decided that the place must have been some sort of purgatory or some sort of waiting area for people who were unconscious through unnatural means. Maybe it's where we go when we lose consciousness and all timelines meet as one. However, more than likely, it was just a very bad nightmare; that's what I hoped. It could easily stem from the fact that I was a take-charge type of person. I didn't like ambiguity, and that's exactly what the dream was. I didn't know the creatures' purpose or why the walls were covered in flesh or who the other people were, and that bothered me a lot. I had to know. Why couldn't I know? Was I somehow flawed? Was the quick, proactive thinking that I always praised myself for just a farce? Maybe it meant that I should stop being a take-charge type of person as much.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">I didn't think that I was ever going to find the answers. I almost didn't want to know the answers. I still don't want to know. Unfortunately, I have to have another surgery. I broke my toe, and they need to cut my flesh open to fix it because the bone is so fragmented.

<span style="color:rgb(204,204,204);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13.2px;font-weight:normal;line-height:18.48px;">There's a Bible in my hand; I am terrified. <ac_metadata title="No Control (unreviewed)"> </ac_metadata>