Chester was walking slowly through the dark facility, just like he did every day – if time even existed in this place, that is. The halls were empty, dismal and sterile, there was nothing natural about them. The noise of Chester's lone steps was amplified by nothingness within these white walls, making them sound like a march of a huge sinister figure instead of just an average man. But even though he was walking alone through the many twists and turns of the facility, he didn't feel like he was alone, because he could hear faint whispers all around him. They were angry, amused, terrified and remorseful, but why, Chester had no concrete explanation. Something bad had happened here, he could feel the grudge and insanity in the air, but he wasn't sure what horrible deeds exactly had taken place in this facility. He had woken up in one of the rooms here some time ago, all of his memories erased; the only thing he remembered was his name. He didn't know who he was, what was this place and what was his purpose. But he had come to his senses wearing a white coat, so he had assumed that he was some kind of doctor or something else of that sort. It had made him feel a little guilty, because whatever horrible things had happened within these walls, he probably had contributed to it in some way.

He had tried to search for clues from other rooms – like from an office and storage – but he couldn't find documents about what this place was used for, all the records were missing, which only deepened the mystery and increased Chester's confusion. It seemed like somebody had entirely covered their tracks, but why? He just couldn't understand what kind of twisted play had occurred on this dark and forsaken stage. Finding no information had greatly frustrated him and that hadn't changed during his time here.

Chester walked past rows of doors and he hadn't found any secrets behind them. There were no windows anywhere, so he had no idea of his location. The only source of light was the dim lights on the ceiling, but they had a little unreliable nature as Chester had learned during his time in this place; sometimes they worked impeccably, but sometimes they would just go out, only to start working again after some time. They also had the tendency to flicker sometimes, which had been a little eerie at first – it had been like from a horror movie where the lights would flicker before a ghost or a monster would appear – but Chester had got accustomed to it after a while. It seemed like that today they wanted to flicker a lot, making a faint crackle as their unsteady light tried to illuminate Chester's way.

There had been only one piece of document Chester had found from the whole facility. It was a short record of something called "Specimen 0004288". It was apparently something that had been researched in this facility, in very questionable ways. There had been mentions of giving it electric shocks and cutting its flesh in order to study its regenerative abilities, all of this sounding so cruel. Chester had felt pity towards the poor creature, even more after he had discovered that he wasn't alone in this place.

Eventually Chester managed to get to the door of the room he tended to visit as the first thing after waking up. The door could be accessed from a very long corridor and there were multiple other doors that could grant an entry to similar rooms like the one where Chester was going. He took a firm grasp of the handle and the door opened with a slight creak; it was annoying to him, but he hadn't been able to fix that. He entered the room that was waiting beyond the door and complete darkness shrouded him for a few seconds. By flipping the light switch he managed to fill the room with the lifeless artificial light that haunted all the hallways of the facility. Right in front of him was a console with many different buttons and a few levers and also a microphone. And behind that console was a huge window that gave a view to another room.

It was a padded cell. There was a sturdy iron door that could give access to the room. In one corner, near the ceiling, was a speaker. But the most disturbing part of the room was the various strange instruments that were hanging from the ceiling, such as circular saw, a rod that could give electric shocks and a thin metal sting, sharp enough to pierce skin and flesh. There were also dried blood stains all over the cell.

And in the middle of this little room of horror was a fleshy lump that had taken a fetal position, trying to be as small as possible and hoping that nobody would notice its existence.

This was the "Specimen 0004288". But Chester had started to call him Kai; it just sounded like a name of a friend, although he wasn't sure why. Besides, it felt degrading calling him "Specimen 0004288", this being was still a living organism, a creature that had feelings and consciousness just like any human being. Chester was sure that Kai used to be a regular human once, but his body had been mutilated so badly that now he looked like a monster. But in Chester's opinion, true monsters were those who had done this to Kai.

Chester walked to the console and pressed a button that was close to the microphone; it lit up and was glowing in red, indicating that he could now speak to the entity in the padded cell.

“Morning, Kai! It's me, Chester!” Chester had learned that he had to make Kai aware that it was him speaking, because he could easily get frightened; all strangers had caused him just pain, after all. “Are you awake?”

The lump of flesh began to move. With sluggish movements Kai stood up and looked at the window with his glazed eyes that looked almost completely white; he had the height of an average man, but his posture was a little hunched. His skin had a sickly color to it, looking grey. All around his body were stitches, none of them too old and they were made by Chester himself. There were a few black rods stuck in his flesh as well. He had no hair and his nails had grown long and strong. Chester admitted that he had been shocked and disgusted by Kai's appearance the first time he had seen him, but had soon learned that beneath that hideous exterior was a heart of gold, if you just put a little effort in getting to know him. Kai was by no means a dangerous individual, except to himself.

Chester put a smile on his face as he faced Kai's gaze; poor Kai had probably been tormented by nightmares again, so he wanted to soothe him as well as he could. “What would you like to eat?”

Kai tilted his head a little bit, pondering something. “Just some toast, thank you.”

His voice was raspy and gurgling, it had taken some time for Chester to understand his speech. He truly sounded like a monster, but yet again, he definitely didn't bear a heart of such.

Chester nodded and said: “Alright, I'll be right back.”

He turned off the microphone and turned around in order to leave the room. He would gladly take Kai with him, but most of the time he was terrified of leaving his padded cell. It was likely that he had been tortured about that too, it had been struck to his subconsciousness, because just like Chester, Kai had lost his memories as well. But he had mentioned to Chester that in his dreams he could see glimpses of what he considered as something that had actually happened to him, cruel visions of how people in white had tormented him. He had also mentioned that sometimes his body seems to remember things, it was like the pain was rooted so deep that even his flesh could recall what had been done to him. Chester could never understand how some people could be so cruel towards each other.

Chester was once again roaming the eerily empty halls. Luckily he had found a kitchen of some sort along with a storage room filled with food, so he and Kai could have something to eat. There was plenty of food still remaining, but the inevitable question still lingered in his mind: what would happen when they would run out of food? It was one of Chester's biggest worries, because he hadn't found an exit from the facility. And if he and Kai were dead, but stuck in a limbo, would they just become eternally starved ghosts, condemned to stay trapped in this place and suffer from perpetual hunger? Would they go completely insane when that occurs? Chester didn't like their options and he had feverishly tried to find a way out of here, but so far, no luck. They didn't have to worry, for now, but it felt like he had a timer set and he had to make an escape with Kai before the countdown would reach zero.

The annoying crackle of the flickering lights accompanied his travel through the facility as Chester headed to the kitchen. He went through a labyrinth of corridors before he finally reached the door that told him with big letters that it was the room he had been searching for. He opened the door and found himself in a spacious room with various machines that were used to prepare food and drinks, pretty much everything you could think of, ranging from stove to blender, from toaster to coffee maker. Everything was here. And of course there was also all the dishes and all the necessary cooking utensils. It had taken Chester a while to learn where everything was, but nowadays, thanks to the habit of keeping everything neatly organized, he could quickly find whatever he needed.

Soon Chester was done preparing some toast for Kai – and for himself too – and had a glass of orange juice ready for Kai as well. He had placed the simple meal on a tray and had then started to head back to Kai's room. Now that he was going back there, all the lights decided to work just fine, and Chester could hear very, very faint snickering coming from them. It was like there were small mischievous spirits, it wasn't the first time he had heard them, but they tended to be a little more rare to encounter than most of the eerie sounds he could hear around the facility. But he didn't really pay much attention to it and just continued to walk.

Once he was by the door to Kai's room, he used his foot to open the door since he had left it slightly ajar so he could get easily inside while holding the tray. He slipped into the room and from there, he headed to another door on the right that led to a short corridor which was used to get to Kai's padded cell. Chester had left it a little open as well and soon enough he was walking through the final hallway to reach Kai. Only the sturdy metal door separated them. For a brief moment Chester placed the tray on the floor and then he forcefully opened the heavy door, its hinges screeching horribly. But shortly it was out of the way and Chester could bring Kai breakfast.

“Here you go”, Chester said as he put down the tray on the floor. Then he sat down so he could enjoy the meal together with Kai.

“Thank you”, Kai simply said and he took a seat on the floor as well and began to eat leisurely.

A moment of silence fell between them as they ate their breakfast. But such a simple meal was soon finished and Chester looked at Kai.

“How are you feeling today?” he asked.

Kai's eyes were fixed at the ceiling where all the horrible devices were reminding him of the torture his body had endured.

“I feel fine”, Kai answered after a while had passed.

Chester nodded. “That's good to hear. Well, I'll take the dishes now. I'll come check on you soon, okay?”

“Okay”, Kai muttered as a reply, but it seemed that he had already drifted to his own worlds.

Chester stood up and took the tray, walking out of the room. He pushed the metal door shut – Kai preferred it that way – and the hinges screamed their complaints once again. Soon Chester was on his way back to the kitchen.

This is what Chester's days were like: taking care of Kai and desperately wandering around the halls, trying to find an escape or at least some sort of truth about why they were trapped in a place like this. And why only the two of them? Chester was often frustrated because of the lack of information and because he had no memories that could shed some light into their situation. Everything was just so bizarre. If he didn't have Kai with him, he would have probably gone crazy a good while ago, because he couldn't stand the loneliness.

When he wasn't looking for a way out or inspecting the rooms for the millionth time in order to find clues, he spent time with Kai. They would piece together puzzles, play with cards, Chester would read stories from books and sometimes they would just talk. Chester had learned that Kai's mind was unstable, so he tried his best to keep it occupied so he wouldn't spiral down to anxiety and fear that easily. And most of the time, he was successful with that and he and Kai had formed a bond between each other. It hadn't been easy, of course, since Kai was so frightened about everything and naturally, he had feared Chester too at first. But little by little Chester had gently torn down his walls and now they were friends.

But since Kai's mind was so volatile, even though Chester tried to keep him calm and focused on other things, sometimes his anxiety was just too much for him to bear and he would take it out on himself. And when he does that, it's not a pretty sight.

It can happen so suddenly, without warning, even if Kai had appeared to be fine. One evening, Chester had spent some time trying to figure out the secrets of the facility, but like usual, he had found nothing. It was very discouraging and left him with a foul mood; sometimes he felt like he should give up. But there was nothing else he could do, so he would be back roaming the hallways again. After this yet another failed attempt to find a way out, Chester had decided to visit Kai. But as soon as he opened the door to his room, he was greeted by a horrific sight.

There was blood everywhere. Kai had torn open his stitches, pieces of skin and flesh now hanging by threads, some of the wounds were so deep that even his bones were exposed. Chester had hurried to him immediately; this wasn't the first time he had witnessed this to happen. Kai was wailing horribly, scratching his head with his long nails as if that would help him to tear off the bad thoughts in his mind. Once Chester managed to get past the metal door, he dashed to the padded cell and kneeled down before Kai. He searched for a syringe from his pockets, found it and quickly struck the needle to Kai's arm and injected the sedatives. It took a short moment before the substance took effect, but gradually Kai seemed to calm down. He went quiet and stopped hurting himself more. A sigh of relief left Chester's mouth.

“It's okay”, he tried to soothe Kai. “Everything is okay, no one will hurt you.”

Chester searched his pockets again. For situations like this, he had a special needle and thread ready, so he can fix Kai's damages. He pulled out the needed objects from his pockets and prepared to mend Kai's injuries.

“Can you sit up?” Chester asked.

Blood gushed from the torn wounds as Kai moved, slowly managing to get into a sitting position. His glazed eyes were fixed at something in the distance, at something Chester couldn't see. With care he started to sew the wounds shut, blood staining his fingers.

He worked in silence for a little while, but then Kai opened his mouth: “I wish I could cry.”

He was muttering it with a low voice and Chester could barely understand him. “Why is that?”

“There is poison inside of me”, Kai responded. “So much poison… I wish I could cry so the poison would get out of me, in the form of tears. But I can't shed a single tear… No matter how much it hurts.”

Chester was at a loss of words, but he still tried to console his friend: “Well, I'm sure we can find a different method to get the poison out of your system.”

“Can you teach me to cry?” Kai asked with a feeble voice.

“I'm afraid that's beyond my capability”, Chester responded.

“Something is happening to me, Chester… Something bad. I can feel it in my flesh, in my bones… In my mind. There is a great shadow that patrols these hallways, Chester. It wants my blood. It wants my sanity. It will come.”

If an outsider heard him talking like this, they would most likely think that all his words were just nonsense. But Chester knew that Kai was truly aware of something and it worried him. Kai could sense things he couldn't, but that's where the problem was: he had no idea how to help. He could only try to be there for Kai, but little did he know, this was the moment when things would begin to spiral downwards.

Kai had always been a nervous wreck, but now he started to be even more of it. Little by little it became more difficult to keep his mind occupied with something else than the swarm of bad thoughts. He lost his appetite and barely ate anything. He was often absent-mindedly staring into something; he was seeing a world Chester couldn't. He was getting increasingly worried about Kai and tried to be there with him more often, reducing the time he would spend trying to find a way out. But no matter how much he tried to be there for Kai, something inside his mind was rotting his brain.

Kai was scratching himself because something was stressing him so badly. Often when Chester was entering his room, he saw how his lips were moving, as if he was chanting something. But he would stop doing that once he would notice Chester's presence. He refused to talk about it and as time passed on, the same refusal started to concern a lot of things. Chester felt like he was slowly losing Kai, that something was trying to alienate him from Kai. And everything was only getting worse.

It unfortunately didn't come as a surprise to Chester that Kai would start to tear open his wounds more often. He was constantly bloody and Chester had to stitch him up time and time again. It was getting so bad and out of control that Chester tried to administer more sedatives to him, but that was just a temporary solution. It did help at first, but then the substance started to lose effect on Kai and he continued to tear open his stitches whenever he became too anxious. Chester didn't know what to do, he could only watch how his friend's condition became worse day by day.

At some point even Chester could sense that something in the facility's atmosphere had changed. All the whispers and snickering he had heard before seemed to get louder. Sometimes he could hear disembodied voices talking to him, although he couldn't really understand what they were saying. And eventually he started to even see things; he had started to notice a figure of a large shadow walking in the hallways. It had been barely noticeable at first, but as time passed, its form was getting darker. It was an eerie sight as it was, but remembering Kai's words about a great shadow made Chester feel terrified. Something had entered this place and it seemed it wasn't friendly, even though it hadn't yet acted hostile. But Chester knew that it wanted Kai. And he had no idea how to protect him from this thing.

As the shadow's presence was growing stronger, Kai's mind was becoming weaker. Chester started to hear the shadow's cries, but he guessed that Kai had heard them a lot sooner and it was tormenting his fragile mind. He was often scratching the skin of his head as if wanting to get the voice out of there. Chester's heart was getting filled with despair as he couldn't really do anything except watch. He realized that he had to find a way out of the facility before it would be too late for Kai. That was the only thing he could do in order to save his friend from madness. He was aware that it would put Kai at risk when he would leave him alone, but that was the risk he had to take.

Something sinister was lingering in the air of every hall and corner of the facility, Chester could feel it. This place was no longer safe. Anxiously Chester had wandered around the halls, afraid of meeting the great shadow, desperately trying to find the portal or door or whatever the shadow had used to get in this place. And that day the atmosphere of the facility felt so oppressive; he was running out of time, Chester knew it in his heart that was heavy with worry. He tried his best to search every nook and twist of the facility, but had no luck. There had to be a way out, there had to be…

He was running through one of the corridors that were near Kai's room when he heard a horrible screech. It filled every hallway of the facility and it struck fear into Chester's heart. He realized that the shadow was at Kai's room and without thinking about it twice, Chester started to hurry there, hoping that he could make it in time.

The door to the room was wide open. Fear was controlling every muscle of Chester's body as he made it to the room and he dashed inside. He saw Kai rolling uncontrollably on the floor as if he was engulfed by flames and he was wailing horribly.

“If only I could cry, if only I could cry!” He kept repeating this in between his moans and it seemed like he was in great pain.

Chester rushed towards the entrance to the padded cell. The metal door was already open, so he got to Kai quickly and he kneeled down next to him – however at this point he wasn't sure what he could do to help his friend.

“Kai! Kai, can you hear me?” Chester was yelling, trying to outshout Kai's cries.

He wasn't sure if he had believed it himself that he could reach Kai, but he suddenly calmed down and went quiet. Chester's heart was pounding against his chest as he fearfully observed Kai's condition. It was ominous how he unexpectedly had just stopped moving and become silent. His glazed eyes once again seemed to look somewhere in the distance, somewhere Chester couldn't see.

A little bit cautiously, Chester placed his hand on Kai's arm and asked quietly, with a trembling voice: “Kai, are you alright?”

Kai's eyes were suddenly fixed right at him and there was an unexplainable look in them. Then he raised his body from the floor and stood up slowly and he eyed his own body for a moment. It was strange.

Chester, who was still kneeling on the floor, decided to repeat his question: “Kai, are you alright?”

Kai looked at him again. Then he gurgled: “Kai is not here.”

Chester had no time to react when Kai had struck his sharp nails at his throat and with a swift and strong movement he tore it open. Blood started to stream down abundantly and Chester instinctively tried to keep it in with his hands, but it was no use. He collapsed on the floor and his blood kept flowing, forming a red puddle beneath him. All the while Kai was watching him die, having no emotion in his eyes.

Chester's consciousness faded. But even in death he couldn't escape the facility. He would become one of the ghostly voices in the halls, stuck in this realm, haunting the labyrinth of corridors – and no one would remember his existence.