A Surreptitiously Obtained Roll of Film (Part 2)

Part 1

Marty plunged onward into the all-consuming dark of the warehouse, his phone’s flashlight doing little but draining battery. Minute after minute passed as Marty crept foreward cautiously, hands and arms extended, careful not to trip over something or bump his head into something. In this fashion, he lost all sense of distance, direction, and progress. Panic began to set it and he spun around searching. Had he come from that way or this? In doing so, his eyes clung onto the only hope in this desolate void: the thinnest of reds away in the distance. Anything is better than this black, he thought, heading as quickly yet as cautiously as he could manage.

Steadily the light grew thicker, yet its thinness revealed itself as sickly paleness. The color turned his stomach, enough so to make him look around for any alternative. Seeing none, he took a deep breath and let himself be swallowed by the pale red. The silhouette of a single thin door become apparent, behind which the pale red seemed to pulse. Marty tapped off the light and nearly doubled over in fear as the pale red relished, flourished, and invaded in the absense of the competing light. The pale red seemed to worm its way not only into Marty’s mouth and nose, but his eyes and ears as well.

Regaining as much composure as he could manage, Marty laid a trembling hand on the doorknob, turned it, and slowly creaked open the door. As he did so, the pale red rushed out to greet him, but still he opened the door and recognition struck him: a darkroom. Inummerable photographs hung strung up all over the long room, too many to fathom, to process. His eyes whirred, eager to be once more collecting information, but arguing with the foreboding feeling tormenting his stomach. And then Marty knew why.

He approached a photograph and instantly gagged, keeling over with his hands falling to his knees. Rising again, but with bated breath, he let his eyes meet the photos. Unmentionable horrors filled his vision: mangled body parts in unholy positions, motionless people bound and blindfolded: blood and death everywhere in every photo Marty could see. He fainted.