The station's hum died out completely as Alicia stepped into the corridor. The motion sensors blinked on, throwing shadows across the metal walls. It should've felt normal. It should've felt safe. It didn't.
She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, glancing over her shoulder at the empty hallway behind her. A cold feeling spread through her chest, unbidden. The lights above flickered once, twice, before stabilizing, but Alicia's heart didn't settle.
"Alright. Just another hour," she mumbled under her breath, pressing forward. "Just finish the rounds, get to the docking bay, and go home."
Her voice sounded strange in the silence. The hum of the station was gone, the usual background noise that kept her from thinking too much. Now, only the distant clank of a vent echoed faintly in the hall. She hesitated at the corner. A chill crept up her spine.
Something wasn't right.
The door to the observation deck was wide open. That wasn't how she'd left it. Alicia's stomach twisted as she approached. The small light above the door blinked erratically, casting an unsettling strobe effect.
She reached out and touched the panel. It opened without resistance.
Inside, the room was empty. Nothing was out of place. But there was something in the air—a presence. Something cold. She stood there, waiting for something, anything, to happen. The hairs on her neck stood up. The air felt wrong.
Then, a soft scraping sound.
She spun toward the corner of the room, but saw nothing. Her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes darted across the empty walls, half expecting the shape of a man or a creature to emerge from the shadows. But nothing. Only the empty space, the darkness creeping along the edges of the room.
"Just the vent," she muttered to herself. But the scraping sound continued, softer now, like the faintest scrape of bone against metal.
Then, it stopped.
Her pulse quickened. She felt like she was being watched. Alicia turned, taking a slow step backward, and that's when she saw it.
A skull, floating in the air, just above the ground. It hovered, motionless, its hollow eyes staring into hers.
Her heart skipped.
It was impossible.
The skull had no right to be there. Alicia's hand flew to her comm panel, but it was dead. She turned it off and on again, but the static filled her ears. No signal.
The skull hovered, unmoving, its empty sockets fixated on her. The air felt colder now, heavier, pressing in on her. Alicia's skin prickled, the silence suffocating. She felt an almost instinctual urge to run, but her feet were frozen.
And then it moved.
Just a little. The skull tilted slightly forward, and then, in a slow, deliberate motion, it drifted closer to her.
Alicia blinked, her mind struggling to catch up. The skull, its empty sockets filled with nothing, began to rotate, the hollow eyes following her every movement.
"Okay," she whispered to herself, trying to steady her breath. "It's not real. It can't be real."
But it was. The skull floated right in front of her face now, so close she could smell the sharp metallic tang in the air—the smell of old blood and decay. Her stomach churned. She reached out, unable to stop herself, her fingers brushing the skull's surface.
Nothing happened at first.
And then the lights flickered again, more violently this time. A burst of static filled the air. The skull's eyes gleamed—no, they glowed now, faintly, an unnatural light flickering within. And then the voice came.
"You can't run," it whispered. The voice didn't come from anywhere. It came from everywhere. It was everywhere.
Alicia stumbled back, her legs shaking. She hit the wall with a thud, but she couldn't look away. The skull swiveled, its eyes now impossibly wide. It was watching her. Watching her every move.
The voice came again.
"You're not leaving here alive."
Her breath hitched. The room was closing in. The temperature dropped even further, and the shadows seemed to stretch, curling around her like living things. The skull floated, the empty sockets piercing her soul. Her fingers trembled as she touched the walls, trying to find something, anything to hold onto. But nothing made sense. The lights flickered faster, erratic.
The skull tilted, its gaze fixed on her. It drifted closer, until its cold, lifeless surface almost touched her skin.
"You'll never leave," the voice said again, its tone colder than any space station she'd ever been on. "It's already too late."
The world spun around her. She could hear her heart pounding in her chest, but the sound was drowned by a constant ringing in her ears. Her vision blurred, and she stumbled again, her legs weak beneath her.
"Please," she gasped, her voice barely audible.
The skull didn't respond. Instead, it floated silently, its eyes now burning with an unholy light.
Alicia couldn't breathe. The lights above her flickered again. The skull hovered before her, closer now. Its empty sockets locked on hers, and for the first time, she felt something in her chest—a sharp, cold stab, like ice sinking deep into her bones.
"No," she whispered, her voice cracking. "No, please, no."
The skull didn't blink. Didn't move.
And then it was gone.
Alicia didn't have time to react. One moment, the skull was there, and the next, it was simply gone. But the presence remained. The weight of it hung in the air like a shadow. A whisper.
She felt it behind her. A shift in the air. A coldness.
She turned just in time to see it. The skull.
It was standing in the doorway now. It hadn't just moved. It had appeared.
But it wasn't alone.
Behind the skull, the shape of a man—no, something far worse—was watching her.
Alicia screamed. She didn't know if it was the shape of the skull or the figure that stood behind it, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. She ran, her feet sliding on the cold metal floor. The scream still echoed in her head as she bolted through the hallway, praying to get away.
The sound of the skull's hollow gaze never left her. Even as she sprinted down the corridor, its eyes were there, always behind her, following her every step. It wasn't real. It couldn't be real.
But the figure—the man—was closing in. She could hear its footsteps. Hear the breath of it, ragged and slow, creeping closer. She could hear it breathing. Just breathing.
And then the lights went out completely.
Darkness swallowed her whole.
Alicia's mind swirled. The weight of the cold pressing down on her, suffocating her. Her lungs burned, but she couldn't breathe. She could feel the skull's presence behind her, its eyes burning like hot coal. It was too close. It was always too close.
She fell to the ground. Her hands hit the cold metal, and everything became muffled, distant.
The skull was beside her now. She could hear its scraping sound, like bone on metal.
"You're not leaving," it said again, its voice a cruel mockery of everything she had ever known.
And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the station was silent.