In the recent light of the passing of Robin Williams, I came to understand that it was possible suicide due to depression. I wrote this story based on the idea of depression and my understanding about it. It's a tribute to Robin Williams you could say. Here's what I wrote:
***
My name
is Johnny. Johnny Forester. That’s all I remember about me. I don’t know how
old I am, who my friends are and any other basic information I should know. All
I know is this: I’m stuck in a dark place. There are walls on every side.
There’s a door. I don’t know where it leads to. Looking out, the place is like
a labyrinth. I have no idea how I came here. I just came to and I found myself
here. Heck, I don’t even remember being unconscious. How did I come here?
The
freaky part is this: I woke in a room. Four walls and a door at the other end
of where I lie that leads into oblivion. It was empty save for a dried-out note
that states:” Beware! It does not stop! Eyes like ember and teeth like daggers.
IT DOES NOT STOP. KEEP RUNNING. YOU CAN’T HIDE”. If being in a place like this
and that doesn’t scare you, you’re one heck of a guy.
I
pushed myself up, thinking of what I should do. Should I just sit here or
should I move? What will happen? What dangers lie before me? I was just about
to finish another thought when I heard a distant growl, a low grumble from
beyond the walls. I have no idea what it was or what it sounds like. All I
remembered was the note and I knew instantly that I couldn’t stay here. It
wasn’t safe. I had to move and move fast. I stood up and crossed the room in a
heartbeat. I opened the door and ran out into the darkness of this prison of
mine.
The
place was dank. Dank and dark. Dank and dark indeed. Even though it was dark,
it wasn’t to the extent of being pitch dark. It was eerily lit up. How? I do
not know. It just was. The lighting was a soft yellow glow and it moved with
me. It did not go very far from me neither was it close to me that I could not
see where I was going. The noise was gone so I slowed my pace to a walk, taking
in my surroundings. It was just a straight walk but it was creepy. The walk
wasn’t creepy but the walls had scratches and dried blood all over. Some even
looked like messages written across the walls but it looks like time has played
its part and it was unreadable. I walked further down until I stumbled upon two
doors – one to either side of me – which I could enter or to continue walking.
The place looks like it will go on forever and I do not know if I’ll be able to
return here if I forgo this place and I have not the items to mark my journey.
I
turned to the room on my right, turned the handle and opened the door. A cold
gust of wind rushes out at me, forcing me to close my eyes as it struck me. It
smelled so musty as if it has not been opened for centuries. I finally
understood what it must be to be an archaeologist opening up a tomb of some
ancient Egyptian Pharaoh. I found a note attached to one of the walls. It told
me to never look behind. That didn’t make any sense. What could go wrong if I
looked behind? Thus, I left the room and I wanted to enter the opposite door.
Problem is the door is missing. The hallway has changed its shape entirely.
Where I was at a straight hallway with two doors, I stand now at a crossroad
with a door at my back.
The growling
began again. It was nearer this time. It was coming from my right. I looked to
the right, into the growing darkness of the labyrinth and I saw two orbs of
fire glaring at me. As I stared into it, it stared right back at me and it was
then that I realized that the orbs were becoming bigger and bigger and
increasing in speed. I found that I was not moving. Is this what it means to be
frozen in fear? No! I can’t let this happen to me right now. I drew on all my
willpower, turned myself and ran into the left hallway.
***
‘Is he
okay? He doesn’t seem to be that way ever since his wife left him’, said
Richard, Johnny’s best friend. He was on the phone conversing with another close
friend of theirs. Richard just sent Johnny home from the bar.
‘He’s
been drinking a lot lately. Never knew him to be a big drinker. He’s lost his
wife and his job. Never knew things could hit a person so hard so fast’.
‘Yeah,
sure, I’ll keep you in touch’. The conversation over the phone ends.
‘Hey
man’, said Richard. ‘I’ll have to leave you here. As much as I would like to
stay by your side through this time, I have my own family to look after as
well. Will be back to see you tomorrow. Sleep well. Goodnight’.
Richard
leaves Johnny’s bedroom to the sound of his groans. He walks into the messy
living room of Johnny’s. Everything was a mess. There was a table overturned in
the corner, shattered glass over the floor, photo frames hanging sideways on
the wall as well as the floor, torn pictures and food and bottles everywhere.
He would have to come back and help clean up one day. But for now, he left.
***
I
continued running, heeding the note and not looking back. I heard not any
footsteps behind me but there was that roar of a hungry, hungry monster. As I
sprinted down the hallway, I spotted that I was running into an empty room. No
doors, nothing. There was no turning anywhere. Is this it? I’m at a dead end
aren’t I? I took my chances and dashed into the room. If I had to die, at least
I gave my all trying to escape. As I entered the room, I spotted a red button
on the left wall. I hammered the button and to my surprise, there was the sound
of electrical whirring as the walls behind me closed just as the beast hit it.
The sound of a frustrated, hungry animal pounding at the walls that just closed
rang behind me. I believe that that is what relief sounds like. Another whirring came about and a room came
into existence ahead of me. I walked into it.
I never
knew that technology as advanced as this could exist in a godforsaken place
like this. Lights came on as I entered this newly created room. It wasn’t very
huge but it was empty save for a huge frame sitting on a pedestal. How it was
able to keep itself balanced, I had no idea. This place defies the laws of
physics. I approached the frame and attempted to touch it. However, as my
fingers drew close to the frame it flickered and turned on like a television
would. I kept my hand to myself and began to watch its display. It was... what
was it playing? Was it playing out my life? I can’t remember anything. But it
has to be me isn’t it? Yes, that man there looks like me. I was married? I don’t
even remember. And I stared into the flickering light of that magical frame-television;
all my memories came rushing back to me. I was married, yes. She left me for
another man. She took our child into her custody; our daughter which I loved
so, so much. She took her from me. I lost my job not long after just because I
was drinking my sorrows away. I never drank much, save for the occasional
social ones. I lost everything. I was a man without hope. I’m pathetic, I’m
miserable. Was there a way out of this? I doubt so. Then the screen said turned
dark and in huge white letters, displayed:
FIND THE EXIT
It exploded shortly after and the cracks of the walls were
running down with blood. I realized I was crying then. I didn’t move. I was
just waiting for my end. As the blood engulfed me, I was just waiting and
counting down to the moment I would die and my life would be taken away from
me. To my disappointment, I did not and when I opened my eyes, I found myself
in another room just like the one I woke up to in the beginning but with notes
all over the place.
The
notes varied in their messages. There were those that preached hopelessness and
death and there were those that said that there was hope. There was this
particular one which said that there was an exit. There was a way out of this
place, out of this hell I am now in. I don’t know which way I should follow.
Nothing matters to me now. If I live I live, if I die I die. Instructions were
giving as to where the exit would lie. The note ended in saying that I have the
chance to change what I become. The past is the past but I should make the most
of what I have in the future. It was a hope given, it sounded real and true.
How true, I did not know, but it sounded like a chance to take nonetheless. I
memorized the map drawn and as to where the exit would be. I dropped the note
and exited the room and into the labyrinth once again.
It was eerily
calm and quiet. The only sound there was, was the shuffling of my feet on the
floor. I took every turn I had to take and I found myself at the exit. It was
just there: a door with a huge exit sign above it. Somehow I felt like it was
mocking me. I took a deep breath and opened the door and what awaited me on the
other side scared the life out of me. Right before me stood – or floated – an apparition
with ember eyes and teeth like daggers. Its mouth smelled like a thousand
corpses – how I knew that, I do not know – and it was staring and grinning at
me – if anyone could know how a black apparition could grin – and I knew that I
was done for. I was ready anyway. I couldn’t turn and run. I did not have a
chance to react. It came up to me and devoured me.
My
whole vision went black and after a few seconds, I regained my vision only to
find myself free-falling into the streets below me. It was dark and there were
cars everywhere. The pavement came up to me in a flash. There was a sudden
thud. A bone cracking crunch. Then darkness.
***
The
morning news read this: Man found dead, falling off the 5th floor of
a condominium. Cause of death is suspected suicide. Investigations are being
carried out. Man identified as Johnny Forester.
___________________________________________________
Remember, depression kills.
