Dread Night

by The Casual Bro

A Burden To Share

If the room that Mayflower was just escorted out of was a nightmare for her, then the long walk through the hallways was less than forgiving. The hallways were dank and murky, lined with rows of reinforced steel doors along each wall, making the place feel more like an asylum than a mental institution. There were lights which lit up parts of the damp corridor throughout the hallway, but other than that the rest of the halls were obscured by dim shadows.

As she and the two security guards made their way through the corridor, she gave a cautious glance at every shadow they pass, praying to herself that nothing would jump out at her. She was still seeing those terrifying eyes, belonging to a grotesque abomination that would always stare at her.

Watching her every move. Preying on her.

And it seemed persistent, for she couldn't look at a single shadow without seeing the eyes glaring back at her. Even a simply small patch of dusk seemed to bore a twisted body that could pounce at her at any second. She became frantic, quickening her pace much to the two guards' disapproval, for she needed to get away from the shadowy figure. She had to escape, but there was just too much darkness beyond the halls. She began to panic, hyperventilating tremendously, And was about to scream....

Until one of the guards, an earth pony, caught her and slowed her to a stop. fidgeting and squirming from the guard's grip, Mayflower made every attempt to free herself from his grip, but to no avail. Frantic whining and moaning ensued as the earth pony kept his grip on the mare.

"Please, ma'am, calm down." the earth pony pleaded as he held onto the mare. "Please..."

Eventually, Mayflower had calmed down, relaxing her muscles ever so slowly, but not opening her eyes one bit to avoid seeing the monster. After a few more seconds, she slowly opened eyes, and her eyes met the reassuring gaze of the Stallions.

"Everything is going to be fine, Ma'am. Nopony is going to hurt you, and nopony is here to harm you. It is just you, me, and Mr. Brandy." he said, gesturing to the unicorn guard standing just a few feet away. The earth pony sat there with the frightened mare, comforting her to the best of his abilities. after a few moments, he sat the mare up to her haunches, comforting her even further. "Now, do you feel fine, hmm? Do you feel like you can press forward?

It took a few seconds for the mare to reply, but she nodded, and slowly got back on her hooves. The three ponies marched onward toward their destination.

The trip seemed to drag on for longer than she anticipated. The hallways were becoming longer and more tedious as the three continued to tread through the corridor. throughout their walk, Mayflower couldn't help herself with looking at the shadows, locating where the gloomy eyes were. Ironically, she didn't want to see those eyes, but that didn't stop her from looking at every crevice she came upon. Realizing that she was being hysterical again, she finally ignored the imaginary glare which lurked from the dark, in hopes of pushing away the nightmare that pursued her.

These thoughts never went away. They never go away.

She then distracted herself from these thoughts by making conversation, hopefully making time fly by in the process. she looked behind her, gazing at the earth pony guard that had soothed her during her episode. "So, um... Stryker..." she said, reading his name tag perched on his security vest. "You look like you're new here. How long have you been working here?"

"Me? Well, I'm not exactly new to this institution. On the contrary, I Worked here for well over six years, working security details for each floor, including yours."

Mayflower remembered when she was walking toward her bedroom on level three when there was a temporary power outage at the time.

"Man, for a mare of your stature, you sure did cause a lot of mayhem with those three ponies you beat up." Stryker said with an amused look on his face, which was quickly cleared when he was struck in the back of the head by Brandy. "Ow!"

" What nimrod was trying to say, was that whatever it was that you saw must have terrified you enough to cause harm to those ponies." the unicorn reassured.

Mayflower winced at that. She remembered when she flipped out at the bystanders, all because of the light going out. She though herself to be somewhat hysterical sometimes, not knowing whether it was truly the darkness that scared her the most, or the monster dwelling in it. when she took a quick look at one of many dark patches scattered along the hallway, she saw the bloody eyes once more. she began rubbing her eyes, and quickly opened them, revealing to be only a dark patch among the bunch. "I'd rather not talk about it." she concluded.

It took another few minutes, but the three finally made it to their destination. What stood before them was yet another steel door, though this time it wasn't reinforced like the rest of the cells on this level. the door did, however, posses a locking mechanism, accessible by a keypad. "Here, let me get that real quick." Brandy said as he trotted ahead. he walked leisurely toward the keypad, and punched in the code. Just like that, the mechanism emitted a beeping sound, indicating that access was granted. The unicorn opened the door, gesturing for the mare to come inside, which she did.

Mayflower had to shield her eyes, for the room she entered was unusually bright. She fluttered her eyes rapidly, trying to adjust to the bright lighting before she goes blind. after a few seconds, she opened her eyes fully. she was met with a rather plain room, covered in pearly white tiles with the occasional row of green tiles decorating each wall and the edges and corners of the room. It didn't seem any different from the rest of the Facility, save for its cleanliness. In the middle of the room was two chairs, one wooden chair with a few pillows placed on the seat, and a stool, currently occupied by an elderly stallion.

The two security guards ushered her toward the wooden chair, where she can make herself comfortable, and stood attention next to the stallion. Stryker was the one to speak. "Here is Ms. Mayflower as you requested, Dr. Zephyr. Is there anything else we can do for you two?" he asked.

"No thank you, young man. That'll be all." the doctor replied back with a gingerly tone. With that, both officers made their way toward their post, leaving Dr. Zephyr and Mayflower alone in the spotless room. Zephyr shifted his gaze from the departing guards back to Mayflower, and smiled. "Now, I do hope you can forgive the lighting in this room. It may have been too much lighting for this occasion, but I felt it was needed, regarding your current status."

"Oh no, it's no trouble at all, doctor." she replied back with a smile, glad to see the lengths that he went through to get rid of the dark for her.

He smiled back, and pulled out a notebook and quill from underneath his stool as he was getting ready to Analyze her. "Ok then, lets get started then, shall we. Now, i understand that you were transferred in level three containment as part of your treatment?"

"That is correct."

"But then why are you within level five containment now?"

Mayflower forced herself to remember what had happened on that floor. Then she answered, "It was bedtime, and all the patients were ordered to return to their cells. I made my way to my cell, along with a group of other ponies I have yet to recognize. That was when the power went out." She paused for a brief moment, not wanting to recall the illusion that she saw. "And then i saw that... that... thing..."

"What was it?"

"A corpse. A mangled, horrid, disgusting corpse. It had bloody eyes..." She bit her lip, trying not to cry. "... Very bloody eyes. and its muzzle was unnaturally split apart..."

"You mean as if the muzzle was... broken?"

"Yes, broken! Only, not broken. As soon as it went dark, I saw it galloping toward me. I tried to get away, I really did, but..."

"But what?"

"Well that was all i remember before i found myself locked on this floor, though some of the physicians kept telling me about that event." Mayflower concluded, rubbing both her front hooves to relax herself.

As Zephyr quickly jotted down his notes, he responded, "Yes, the three ponies you miraculously didn't kill during your panic attack: two Pegasi with broken wings, and an earth pony with a mild concussion."

Mayflower wasn't proud of what she did. She couldn't help it. She didn't want the trotting abomination to snag her away, and feast on her entrails. It was a sickening thought to have, especially when she was trying to pry her mind from re-experiencing that horrid nightmare. As she completely regained her composure, Zephyr had finished with what he needed to write down.

"Now if my understanding is correct, you were the one who scheduled this meeting so that you may have the opportunity to share your story, correct?"

That much was true. The only reason why she would have made this appointment was to hopefully gain some closure on the incident. At first, she was very hesitant to recount every detail that occurred on that night, for it already haunted her as is, but she needed to do this. She needed to get rid of these nightmares once and for all. She wanted to leave the past behind her, and to forget the monster that has followed her ever since she laid her eyes upon it. She wanted to forget it all. She wanted to forget.

But that won't be easy.

She had to do this, otherwise the whole meeting would have been pointless. Taking a deep, she responded, "Yes, Dr. Zephyr, that is correct."

Even with the straight face that she pulled off, Zephyr could easily tell that she was starting to doubt her decision. With gentle movement, he grasped onto one of her hooves and caressed it, lulling her with his soothing motion. "Mayflower, I know it is going to be tough having to share memories you have been trying so hard to leave behind, and I will not force you to do so, but if you believe that this will help get rid of the nightmares that haunt you, then I will be here with you every step of the way. Now, are you sure this is really what you want to do?" he asked.

It took Her awhile to answer that question, too long to be deemed necessary. But the stallion seemed to be patient. taking the time to recollect every single terrifying memory of that night, she finally gathered enough courage to give an answer. "Yes, Doctor..." She was hesitant, but resolute, for she had to do this. "... I'm ready."

"Excellent." Zephyr said with an encouraging smile. He reclaimed his notebook and quill back into his hooves, and flipped through the book to an open page, where he can start recording the information. "Now, lets start from the beginning, shall we?"

Mayflower took a deep breath, and began telling her story.

Comments

[Mist Shaker]

I don't know if I should up vote it or down vote it yet, I haven't been given the proper initiative to do either.

[The Casual Bro]

3548256
I truly am sorry for the long wait. i just have been so busy with upcoming exams that i had little time to develop the next chapter. I do promise, though, that it will be updated soon!