Lost in Nothingness

“Mommy, where are you?”

I almost jumped out of my chair the second I was awakened by those words. Was it a dream? It felt too real, too close. The scrolls I had been deciphering were scattered both on the desk and on the ground. Perhaps I had knocked them over when I woke up.

I got off my chair and approached my office door. The halls were empty, and there was no other sound around me. Looking at the time, I noticed that I had slept for two hours. I decided to resume my work, but moments later, the voice returned.

“Mommy, I’m here.” It was a little girl’s voice, and it seemed to echo through both the halls and my office. I felt a sudden chill pervade the air as the voice dissolved in the distance. I stepped out of the office and looked around, but there was no child to be seen. I told the security guards about what I heard; as they searched for the girl, I put on my earphones on and got back to work. However, it was not long before things became stranger.

“Mommy! Stop ignoring me!” the voice yelled, making me leap out of my seat. The voice was inside the earphones this time. I threw my earphones away and leaned against the wall, not knowing where the voice would come from next. My heart pounded in my chest, almost as if it were ready to rip through it. I tried to run to the door, but it closed before I could take a step. I was trapped.

“Wh-who are you? What do you want?” I had no choice but to talk my way through this.

“My name is Zana. I have been trapped beneath this museum for centuries, and I need you to release me.”

“How do I do that?”

“Those scrolls you’re deciphering…burn the originals once you’re done.”

“But—”

“Burn them!”

A horrific gust of wind encircled me, forcing me back to the corner of the room.

“Alright, alright! I’ll do it.”

Her choice of words made me wonder… “Burn the originals.” Could it be that my deciphering the texts was the cause behind her emergence? There was no guaranteeing my safety once I had done what she commanded, so I had to try. I spent the next hour deciphering the remaining text and asked her how I was to burn the scrolls.

“Here,” she said, and suddenly, there was a lighter on my desk. I grabbed it without warning and set the deciphered texts ablaze. Zana screamed almost instantly, but those echoes of agony soon twisted into sinister cackles. Had I assumed wrong?

“Your fate was sealed the second you deciphered those scrolls.”

She had been toying with me all along. “Damn you!” I cursed her as her grim laughter grew louder and louder. Suddenly, I felt my body twist and turn as if it were weightless; and soon after, I woke up in a dark, endless pit. There, I could neither hear nor see a thing—I didn’t even have a physical form. I was lost in nothingness.