Day 2

As morning dawned, a gentle breeze caressed my face, coaxing me from my slumber. I opened my eyes to find Max's stern gaze fixed upon me, sending a jolt of adrenaline coursing through my veins. Quickly, I snapped to attention, offering a salute of respect as beads of sweat trickled down my brow. The events of the previous night flooded back to me with startling clarity, sending a shiver of horror down my spine. I remembered fainting in the corridor, yet somehow, I found myself awakening in the middle of the prison field—a considerable distance from where I had last been conscious. Had my unconscious wanderings incurred Max's wrath?

"...Leo!" Max's sharp voice snapped me from my reverie, and I met his gaze with trepidation, my eyes betraying my inner turmoil.

"Stop daydreaming! Do you realize the gravity of your actions!?" Max's frustration reverberated through his words, and I swallowed hard, my nerves tingling with apprehension.

"Sir, no sir!" I responded hastily, my voice tinged with anxiety.

Max sighed heavily, his exasperation palpable. "Because of you, prisoner 0879 escaped from his cell! If it weren't for the vigilance of another guard, we could have been in dire straits! Do you comprehend the potential consequences if that prisoner had accessed the forbidden corridor!?"

I listened to Max's reprimand with a sinking feeling in my chest. How could I have known about the escape of prisoner 0879 when I had been incapacitated? The unfairness of the situation gnawed at me, but I dared not voice my thoughts.

"Sir, I'm sorry, sir!" I offered in a meek attempt at contrition.

"Enough excuses! You'll be doing 100 squats in this scorching heat and undertaking night patrol again tonight—no slacking off this time!" Max's decree sent a shiver down my spine, the prospect of patrolling alone in the dead of night already sending waves of apprehension coursing through me.

...𖣎...

...𖣎...

...𖣎...

As darkness descended, a shiver ran down my spine, a premonition of the horrors to come. I reminded myself sternly not to fall prey to the night's sinister tricks, not after the punishment I endured that morning, the memory of which threatened to make me retch.

With trembling hands, I switched on my torchlight and embarked on my patrol. The prison was eerily quiet, its occupants presumably lost in the embrace of sleep. But for me, there was no rest, no respite from the torment of this place, not yet, not until I earned my meager pay.

Glancing at my watch, I recoiled in horror. It was only 12:15 a.m., and already I felt the weight of countless eternities pressing down on me. Confusion gripped me as I found myself in a corridor unfamiliar, a labyrinth of shadows that defied all logic and reason.

The air grew thick with foreboding as I pressed forward, every step echoing like a death knell in the silence of the night. Minutes dragged like hours, yet my watch betrayed me, revealing that only mere moments had passed. Was I trapped in some macabre dance, condemned to wander aimlessly in this maze of despair?

Suddenly, my torchlight began to flicker, casting grotesque shadows that danced mockingly along the walls. Panic clawed at my throat as I braced myself for the inevitable, for the horrors that lurked in the darkness just beyond the reach of my feeble light.

And then it happened—the flickering ceased, plunging me into a darkness so profound, so suffocating, that it seemed to consume me whole. I stood frozen, my senses overwhelmed by the oppressive weight of the unknown.

But then, like a beacon in the void, I saw it—a faint red glow beckoning me forward, promising answers to questions I dared not ask. With trembling resolve, I followed its siren call, each step bringing me closer to the heart of the abyss.

And there, in the crimson glow, I beheld a scene so grotesque, so horrifying, that it threatened to rend my sanity asunder. A figure, twisted and contorted, its very presence an affront to the laws of nature, stood over a fallen guard, its hands drenched in the blood of its victim.

I tried to scream, to flee from this nightmare made flesh, but my voice betrayed me, lost amidst the cacophony of terror that echoed within my mind. The creature turned its gaze upon me, its eyes burning with an unholy hunger that chilled me to the bone.

In that moment, I knew true fear, the kind that gnaws at the soul and leaves nothing but emptiness in its wake. I wanted to run, to escape the clutches of this abomination, but my body refused to obey, paralyzed by the sheer magnitude of the horror before me.

And so, as the creature drew closer, its intentions clear, I resigned myself to my fate, knowing that in the darkness of this accursed place, there was no escape, no salvation, only the endless void of oblivion.

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