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The Hallway-Story 13 of 31

By Ta'kom Ironhoof

Chad knew he was dreaming. Ever since college, Chad had been having almost the same dream most night. It always started with him waking up in the middle of the night, feeling like he had to go to the bathroom. As his hooves hit the floor, something would clue him in that something wasn't right and that things weren't as they appeared. Then he'd get up from the bed and begin making his way to the bathroom down the hallway.

Sometimes, the walls were covered with wood paneling. Other times, the walls were unpainted drywall. And one time, the walls were even made of cherry-flavored jello. The floors, however, were always the same; planked wood flooring that had a repeating panel.

As Chad would make his way down the hallway, he'd see the doorframe of the door to the bathroom, just before the staircase that lead downstairs to the foyer. A few times over the years, Chad would briefly consider going downstairs instead of turning into the bathroom but, because he his bladder felt like it was going to rupture, he had always turned to go into the bathroom.

However, instead of arriving in the bathroom, as he imagined he would, he would be greeted with yet another hallway, identical to the one he'd just walked down. In his surprise, the donkey would turn around only to see that he was exiting his bedroom. This cycle would repeat until, eventually, he'd soil himself in his sleep.

This horrible dream cycle usually only came around him. Chad was experiencing periods of heavy stress in his life; graduating college, breaking up with his ex-girlfriend, getting fired from his last job, starting a new job, etc. To Chad's detriment, he had just started his newest job as a helpdesk technician for a small construction company.

“Hey Chad!" a voice called out to Chad

With a startle, Chad jolted awake, scrambling to sit upright.

With a laugh, the older goat continued. “Hey, hey, calm down. Gonna have to get more sleep at home, though. Can't have you falling asleep in the office."

Chad was embarrassed. He had been caught so plainly, but was glad that it was a coworker and not his boss. “I know, Richard. Maybe I'll start taking a shot of something before laying down."

Richard stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a little plastic bag, handing it over to Chad. “Listen man. I've got issues sleeping at night as well, but these seem to work for me. Though, you might want to cut it in half, or maybe a quarter."

Chad turned his head and lowered his long ears, confused. “Richard, why do you even have these at work?"

Chad could see Richard's face twist into mild embarrassment, and the goat began fidgeting with his hands. “Well, ya see…my dealer…"

“Dealer?!" Chad asked quickly.

“Hey, hey, not so loud." Richard made a hushing motion toward Chad. “They're not 'illegal' per se, but they're stronger than what the store sells around here. It's why I said you should cut it up."

Chad felt suddenly relieved. He had wanted to believe that Richard wouldn't be doing anything illicit. “That makes sense. One of those gummy things people are talking about?"

“Yeah. Find it helps me get to sleep at night after having to listen to upset clients all day." Richard said. “I gotta get back to my desk. Let me know tomorrow if it works out for you."

After Richard left, Chad fought off sleep for the rest of the day, the little plastic bag sitting mostly forgotten in his pocket. For Tuesday in the middle of the month, it was fairly normal. However, normal was incredibly boring with not much happening at all. All the company's systems were running perfectly and he hadn't yet been assigned any additional tasks. Though the day dragged on and on, 5pm finally rolled around and Chad was able to clock out and go home.

Later that evening, as Chad was cooking dinner, he looked over at the small plastic bag that Richard had handed to him.

“I'm sure it can't be as bad as Richard said it was. I'll gulp it down now, eat dinner, then head to bed." Chad thought to himself.

Opening the little bag, he threw it into his mouth and swallowed before giving it no more thought. He went about his way, making himself a small dinner, ate, then headed upstairs to get ready for bed. Chad spent the next hour doing all the things he normally did before bed, but just before he got under his blanket, he remembered one last thing.

“I'd better go try to use the bathroom, just in case…" The last thing Chad wanted was to soil himself in the middle of the night again. It worried him that the “gummy" that Richard had given him would trigger one of those bad dreams again.

Chad put his hooves back on the floor, stood up, and began making his way to the door. The donkey was certainly starting to feel the effects of the edible he had ingested a little while ago. He was feeling very relaxed right now. He almost stumbled through the doorway to his bedroom as he crossed the threshold into the hallway. Catching himself on the opposite wall, he looked down the now impossibly long corridor. The frame to the bathroom seems as it was a mile away even though the rational side of Chad's brain reminded him it was only fifteen feet.

For a moment, Chad was able to stand up straight. In his mind, he was determined to not walk down the hallway, stumbling around like a drunk. With only a few shaky, awkward steps, Chad made it to the frame of the bathroom. However, as he turned the corner, he found he was back in the same hallway that he thought he'd just left.

“I know I'm not dreaming. I never went to bed!"

Chad then turned around. Just like in his nightmares, he was standing in the doorway to his bedroom. Fear began to well up within him and the donkey quickly stumbled toward what should be the bathroom. Again, just as he arrived to turn the corner, he was again greeted by another hallway. And, just as before, behind him was his bedroom.

Chad shouted, “I'm not dreaming!"

His voice carried throughout the house. He indeed knew now that he wasn't dreaming. In his dreams, whenever he had tried to yell, his voice never echoed, instead sounding like his face was pressed against a pillow.

The donkey tried again to make it to the bathroom.

And again.

And again.

And again.

It didn't matter how many times he tried, Chad seemed to be stuck in an infinite loop. He tried kicking the wall. He tried hitting the floor. Chad tried everything he could think of until…

“I'll go downstairs!"

The idea occurred to him like a lightning bolt striking him. He ran as fast as he could, turning right as the wall gave way to the banister and stairs leading downstairs. Chad raced down them with as much vigor as he could muster, but just as he made it to the bottom, he noticed he was no longer going downstairs but up the stairs instead.

“What the fuck?"

Not wasting any time, he turned to the right and tried running further down the hallway toward the other two bedrooms. At the end of the hallway, he turned left and grabbed the doorknob. But the door wouldn't budge. Then he turned around to face the third bedrooms doorway but it was no use. This door was also stuck.

Chad turned to make his way to go back toward the bathroom, but when he did, he was greeted with a familiar yet terrifying sight; he was once again facing down the hallway as if he had just left his bedroom, just like in his dreams. He was feeling weak, like he had been running in circles for hours at this point.

Chad felt a pain in his legs and back. Looking down at himself, he looked…older. Turning to reenter his bedroom, he made his way over to his mirror and was shocked to find that was the actual truth. His face was indeed older than he remembered it being. His body was much more thin and gaunt than he had remembered it being yesterday.

In a moment of panic, he ran out of his bedroom, down the hallway, and into what should have been the bathroom. Again, he was in his bedroom's entrance. He then hurried as quickly as he could back to his mirror to have another look.

“It…it can't be!"

His body was near skeletal in appearance and this matched exactly how weak he was feeling.

“I…I can't…escape…"

Chad never arrived at work the following day, nor was he ever heard from again.