The Devil's Favourite Obsession

Just as they were looking for a needle in a haystack, like a sudden ray of hope, Cixi spotted two large guards standing behind the DJ booth. They pushed open a door set seamlessly into the wall directly behind the stage. It looked exactly like part of the wall, like a complete secret door.

”There!” Cixi pointed sharply in that direction.

Without wasting a second, they sprinted toward it. The DJ and the sweaty crowd surrounding the stage were so violently intoxicated with substances that not a single person noticed the three ladies sneaking up the steps and slipping through the hidden door right behind the booth.

The heavy door clicked shut behind them, cutting off the music immediately.

As they walked further inside, the path was lit only by dim red lights, radiating everything in an eerie, sinister haze. Every step drew them further into a place that felt wrong and had settled there long before they arrived.

Yet turning back was no longer an option. Those men were far more immediate threats, and the fear of running into them sent them forward despite the dread curling in their stomachs.

So they moved as quickly as they dared with light steps, terrified that even the faintest sound might give some wrong person their location away.

The deeper they went down, the more unnatural the hallway looked. They encountered various left and right turns. And every single corner had doors painted in harsh, solid colours like black, dark grey, blood red, dark blue, or a dark, menacing purple.

”Do you think they have rooms behind these doors?” Marion couldn’t hold back her curiosity, despite the fact that her lips were visibly trembling from imagining the absolute worst about what lay beyond the painted wood.

”Of course, there are rooms behind these doors, and not for decoration on the walls,” Lily whisper-screamed, thoroughly annoyed at how quickly their night had spiralled out of control. ”I told you this place is not for beginners! The Trance floor is not a place we should have ever entered at all. But here we are.” Lily aggressively shook her head. She had only wanted to show Cixi a good time. And now they were running from large goons, sneaking inside what could probably be murderous rooms, or a mafia meeting place where they make illegal deals, or God knows what else. Everything in this hallway was silent, terrifyingly eerie.

”I think this is where the different tortures take place. I have seen the documents on the dark web,” Cixi whispered, her face looking as if she were about to start crying, yet deeply annoyed at the same time. ”They have different rooms with different colours, and they film live video... Do you think this is the place where it happens? One of the sources of the dark web?” Cixi nervously kept checking over her shoulder while walking fast, making absolutely sure no one was following them.

”Shhh!” Marion hissed back. ”We are already scared, Cixi, you don’t need to remind us! Oh, God! How will my kids live without me if anything happens to me today? I can’t trust Martin with the kids. My poor babies.”

”Marion,” Lily scolded in a harsh whisper, ”if we keep talking, I am absolutely sure someone will hear us, and we will soon be behind one of these doors. And how long is this path?” Lily kicked the carpeted floor in pure annoyance.

”There they are!” A booming voice echoed down the hall.

The three of them whipped around. The men in blazers hadn’t stopped looking for them—in fact, they had found three more massive men to join their search party.

And the girls ran for their lives.

They ran and ran.

The hallways felt like a maze with no end in sight.

”Damn it, where is the exit door?!” Cixi paused for a frantic second to look around the intersecting halls, then violently pushed off the wall to run directly behind her two friends.

”I hope we find it soon, or else let’s just keep running in this maze and never get caught by anyone,” Lily panted.

”Do you think if I go back and just say sorry, he will let us go?” Marion questioned with terrifying innocence as they sprinted.

”You want to take a chance? Be my guest!” Lily threw back a harsh, sarcastic comment mid-stride.

Marion shot Lily an incredibly dirty look but kept running.

Cixi looked back over her shoulder. The men were getting closer. ”Damn their long legs!” she cursed those men for being taller than them.

Taking the lead, Cixi sharply turned left down the next corridor, then took an immediate second left. Down this dead-end hall, Cixi saw exactly one door. It was painted a bright, solid green, completely different from the rest of the dark, ominous doors they had passed.

Taking her only chance, Cixi grabbed the handle. ”Girls, let’s get in here.”

She pressed the knob down. It gave a heavy click and opened. Lily and Marion threw their bodies inside with aggressive force. Cixi entered last, throwing her weight against the heavy wood to close the door behind them quickly, desperately hoping this green room would save them.

When she finally turned around to face the room, her two friends were standing completely still.

They were frozen. They weren’t moving a single muscle, both of them staring blankly straight ahead at the centre of the room.

In the middle of the floor, a man was on his knees. His head was completely covered by a thick black cloth bag. Both of his hands were pulled tightly behind his back and bound with thick plastic zip straps.

Cixi stumbled backwards in pure shock, her back slamming heavily against the green door, while her friends stood paralysed in absolute silence.

After witnessing so many deaths night after night, Cixi no longer reacted the way an ordinary person would when she saw someone dying or being tortured before death. The shock that once froze her had long been worn down by repetition, leaving behind a strange, controlled stillness.

The man kneeling on the floor was barely conscious. Bruises covered his face and arms; his shirt was soaked through with blood that had dried in dark patches and fresh stains alike.

Then a scream tore through the room.

All three women turned toward the sound at once.

A man staggered forward inside a sunken section of the room where broken glass had been deliberately spread across the floor. His hands were tied behind his back, his eyes covered with a blindfold, forcing him to step forward without knowing where the next cut would come from.

If he slowed even slightly, the man behind him swung a metal baseball bat into his back.

The crack of metal against bone made Lily gasp. Marion’s fingers dug into into her palms. Even Cixi felt her stomach tighten despite everything she had seen before.

This was a torture chamber.

They were convinced!

Without a word, all three dropped to their knees.

”We entered the wrong room,” Lily said quickly, the words tumbling out of her mouth before fear could silence her. ”We were assigned somewhere else.”

”Yes... yes,” Marion added, forcing her voice to stay steady. ”We were supposed to go to a room with two large teddy bears at the entrance. This isn’t the one.”

Cixi lowered her head slightly, forcing herself to appear small and harmless. ”We promise we won’t say anything about what we saw. Our lips are sealed.”

None of them dared lift their heads.

None of them noticed the man sitting casually on the sofa.

And none of them realised who truly controlled the room.