Take the stairs

With everything that was going on around her Leanne figured she could hide better if she changed floors. The strange impulse telling her to go up was more than a little off putting, but it was still preferable to staying where she was.

Leanne climbed the staircase with some trepidation, unaware what she might find up there. Reaching the next floor she found it in almost complete darkness. The other floors she’d seen had been in a similar state of gloom with a permanent dank smell to them. Yet this corridor was as though the lights had been forgotten completely. Only a few bulbs were illuminated and the light they emitted was minimal at best. More light flooded in from the window at the end of the corridor behind her as the large moon was now high in the sky, telling Leanne it was later than she realised.

Swallowing hard and taking a deep breath, the young woman pressed on. Her body was tense as she proceeded, listening closely for any sound in the eerily quiet evening. There was no sign of another living person and nothing coming from any of the rooms that lined the hallway. She was around halfway down the line of doors when a voice spoke to her from the blackness.

“Good evening, miss,” he grinned as he stepped forward, a set of bright white teeth gleaming in the gloom. Leanne leapt back against the wall and clutched her chest in fear. “Forgive me. I didn’t mean to startle you. I only wondered where you might be going.”

Leanne stared at him in silence. Her heavy breathing slowly subsiding as the stranger stood watching her in return. His gaze locked on her as his lips curled into a smirk that seemed to suggest he could see more than her long dress allowed him. He wore a long, dark cloak, while the off-white of his shirt stood in contrast with his otherwise black ensemble. His hair too was jet black and appeared to run as far down as his broad shoulders. In contrast his face was pale, almost white, with angular features. His nose and chin both sharp and jagged. There was a strange accent to his voice that Leanne couldn’t place, but as she gazed into his eyes she felt her initial fear slowly subsiding.

“I’m… I’m Leanne,” she declared eventually.

“Delighted to meet you, Leanne,” replied the stranger. His teeth showing once more as his mouth spread into a wide grin. There was such intensity in the way he stared at her that it made the young woman squirm awkwardly against the wall of the corridor. She knew he couldn’t see anything but still pressed her thighs together and pulled her arms across her chest in an attempt to help her feel less exposed. “Is there anything I can be of assistance with?”

“Um, n-n-no,” she answered nervously, hoping to end this encounter as quickly as possible. She began easing herself along the hallway with her back pressed tight to the wall. Despite the feeling that this mysterious figure was somehow comforting, she couldn’t help but sense a deeper fear that was being subdued.

“Are you afraid of me?” he asked. Moving nearer each time Leanne tried to slide away.

“Of… Of course not,” she responded with a **** smile. “I-I-I just have to…” Leanne looked along the corridor. It was almost pitch black and she had no idea what awaited her. But could it be worse than this stranger? With his intense gaze and the disturbing aura he was projecting.