John respawned mid-run, screaming in agony. His shoulder was healed. He was in complete shock, but he didn't stop running.

  This time, the nails were at a different stretch of the hall... Closer, more strategically placed to throw him off. He caught them in his peripheral just in time and clumsily jumped over them, rolling and dislocating his shoulder. He groaned in pain, but kept moving.

  The very walls whispered to him. Familiar names and voices in comforting tones. A friend from his childhood. A voice he forgot about until now.

  One hallway forked left all of a sudden, with a light and the smell of delicious food- His mom's cooking. He turned and moved toward it.

  The floor caved instantly. He slammed against jagged wood in yet another pit, his ribs shattering on impact. He couldn't even comprehend the pain before the monster was above him again. It dove in after him, silent this time. No voices, just murderous intent.

  It goes dark.

  Again. He's hiding in a bathroom- A very cramped one with tiles underfoot. No nails to step on. No pitfalls. He thought he found a loophole.

  The mirror above the sink began to fog up. John stupidly leaned in to see what was going on with it.

  "Why did you do it, John?" It's his son's voice, loud and clear.

  He yelped in terror and turned to run, but the monster was already half way out of the mirror like it was just waiting in the glass the entire time. It grabbed his head from behind and dragged him into the mirror.

  Next death.

  He's going insane. But he's also learning the tricks.

  He was running without hesitation now. Avoided the voices. Avoided the forked hallways. The monster was still hot on his tail, but losing ground. John is finally doing well.

  He saw a closet and slid inside, holding his breath.

  The doorknob melted in his hand. The doors melted together, keeping him inside as he thrashed around, trying to break out.

  The inner walls of the closet began to shriek with a chorus of people he'd either betrayed, or lied to.

  "WHY DID YOU LIE TO US?!"

  A hand burst through the wall, grabbing his throat. Then another, plunging its thumb through his eye socket.

  And finally, the head ripped through the melted wooden doors and sunk its teeth into him. Again.

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  Another time, he tried jumping a railing when a hallway looped in on itself. He landed hard, but lived- Until the carpet retracted itself, tripping him and making him land on an unfortunately-placed wooden spike in the floor.

  On it went.

  Death, after death, after death. Deception after deception. Traps set with psychopathic cruelty. Every voice, every sound, every smell a tool to be used for his demise. Every seem-to-be mercy, nothing but a manipulation.

  Slowly, John learned. He didn't speak or call for help. Didn't look when voice called out to him. He tested the floor with his foot before every single step. Used splinters and broken light fixtures to mark where he'd already been. The world constantly reshuffled though, making many of his marks pointless, and occasionally they mocked him by disappearing before his very eyes.

  He's surviving, but definitely not winning.

  Not yet, at least.

  After what felt like hundreds of deaths and failures, John staggered through a hallway hat hadn't shifted in at least thirty seconds. He could barely catch his breath. His breathing was shallow and desperate. Blood from older injuries dried on his clothes, crusted nearly black. His feet were brutalized from all the running- Skin torn and blistered, and packed with shards of wood and nail fragments.

  He's alive though. For now.

  He turned a corner and froze. The hallway ahead of him was blanketed in a thick, unnerving fog.

  From within the fog, there was no sound. No movement. No voices taunting or luring him.

  In that silence, a memory surfaced within John's mind.

  He was running... Hands covered in blood. Sara's blood.

  He didn't mean to hit her that hard. She wasn't supposed to hit her head on the counter. He just wanted her to shut up. just once. Just that one time.

  Damien, his son, saw it all happen too... Came out of his room at the worst possible second, and witnessed his mother's blood splatter across the floor.

  John remembered the scream that came out of Damien. The tears. The pain he'd caused that boy.

  John ran like a coward. Burst out the front door and ran like hell, until he reached the highway.

  He didn't make it halfway across the road before he saw the headlights. Screeching tires, and then a deafening impact.

  That's when it all went dark, for the first time.

  John clutched at the side of the wall as his stomach twisted.

  "Am I...?" he muttered to himself.

  He remembered it all clearly now. The way he lied to himself, saying it was an accident. That it wasn't his fault. That he was just scared.

  Those lies mean nothing now.

  He deserves this. Whatever this is.

  The hallway opened up into a wider chamber. The monster was stood there, waiting for him. No more tricks or illusions.

  It stepped forward slowly. It was patient, and purposeful. It knows John's will is broken.

  John didn't bother to move. He just watched.

  He thought about the tuxedo the monster had worn in the previous nightmare. The one he used to imagine waring on stages as he was applauded, and envied.

  But this monster isn't wearing pride or things John wanted.

  It's wearing his guilt. in some twisted way. Not even physical clothing. It's using his regrets to torture him as it killed him all those times.

  John took a trembly step back. "I didn't mean to..."

  The monster rushed him. Its claws dug into his ribs. Its jaws tore into his stomach, spraying blood across the walls.

  John screamed, but not in pain- From the memory of every lie he told his wife and son. Every time he brushed them off. Every time he said he was busy, when he wasn't. He could have had such a happy life if he wasn't such a dishonest piece of shit.

  The monster continued to rip into him. Voices wailed over its shoulder, overlapping- Sara, Damien, even his own voice.

  "WHY DID YOU DO IT?!"

  "WHY DID YOU LIE?!"

  "WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?!"

  His screams turned to sobs.

  His sobs into silence.

  And then, the world went dark.