Bogleech.com's 2017 Horror Write-off:
Just Imagine
Submitted by MisterJulius
[The picture that spurred on this vivid mental image: https://78.media.tumblr.com/971777bcf9df7569e57e3500e6d4b159/tumblr_ozd0qtoz8o1wsbn2ao1_540.jpg]
Just imagine waking up in a windowless room of grey concrete with a single light. There's a single doorway visible, just beyond it you can see more grey concrete.
Imagine seeing three people staring at you. Masks with large eyes and simple mouths perpetually smiling at you. Why are they wearing such uncanny masks? Wait. Did that one just blink?
Imagine that you can't move. Not sleep paralysis, they drugged you. You can see the syringe in the hand of the red-haired one. You can look around, you can breathe, you can feel the sheets against your skin as they start to drag you off the bed, but you just. can't. move.
Imagine hearing them occasionally giggle while you're being carried down an impossibly long concrete hallway. It's dark. For quite a while it stays that way, until they stop and you hear a click.
Imagine your eyes adjusting to the sudden bright light. You're in another windowless room, but these walls are darker than the ones before. Still grey, but out of place.
There's cracks everywhere, looks like someone was in a rush to finish it up.
One is binding up your arms and legs now, keeping them straight and tight. The other two are setting a metal frame upright against the far wall. Looks like there's some sheet of rubber stretched across it. You still can't move.
They pick you up again, placing you in that frame. They're spreading another sheet of rubber across it again. You still can't move.
A click and a mechanical roar. The rubber closes in on you. Sound is muffled. You can't breathe.
Imagine the panic welling up inside of you. Your body screaming for you to run away, your lungs begging for air. You're starting to panic. You're starting to fade.
Something slender scrapes the back of each nostril. Two holes left in the rubber. Imagine the relief.
The panic fades. What now? Where are they? It's dark.
You still can't move.
***
How long has it been now? Stomach growls. Mouth is dry.
***
What's that thudding? Wait, no. Just the mind playing tricks. Right?
But it's getting louder...
***
The thudding is gone, but... what's that smell?
***
It drags across your arm.
Imagine.