Well I just moved out of my parents place to start my life and I got an apartment in a nice neighborhood. It came with minimal furniture so I wanted to get some more. I’ve never done furniture shopping on my own before so I didn’t really know where to go. I decided to just go with Ikea since it was cheap and simple. If you’ve been to an Ikea store before then you already know how huge they are. Most have 2 floors or more and are so large they actually have projectors that project arrows on the ground to lead you through the store so you don’t get lost. I remember going with my parents when I was younger and thinking it was so much fun seeing everything, but it’s so much different going by myself now.
It was raining and around 8 in the evening when I came by. There were still tons of people in the store looking around. So I just followed the first arrow and made my way around the store looking for a coffee table and some wardrobes I could get. While making my way around the store I saw some attendants helping people find what they were looking for. I wanted to get one of them to help me but they were all busy. I just kept walking, following the arrows and before I knew it, it was already 8:30. While browsing I came across a door on the side of one of the isles that looked liked it lead to another part of the store. When I went to open it an attendant finally came over to me. It was a lady with shoulder length dark hair.
“Hello, sir. Please don’t go through that door, the merchandise back there is too expensive.”
“Oh…uh I’m sorry”
“It’s alright, How can I help you today?”
“I was just looking for a coffee table and some wardrobes for my apartment.”
“Oh I can take you to them, follow me.”
I’m not even sure what she meant by that first comment. Did I look poor or something? Regardless I followed her around the store until we came to the coffee tables.
“Here you are, and our wardrobes are right around the corner. I’ll leave you to take a look, if you need any help just come get me.”
“Okay thanks.” I replied.
As I checked out my options I just kept thinking about the door and what she meant with that comment. How can you have items that are too expensive? After looking for a while I found the table and wardrobe I was happy with but before I decided to get them I wanted to go back and see what was up with that door. I walked my way back to where I was, going the opposite direction of the arrows and eventually came to the same door. The clock on the wall read 8:40, I didn’t see her around so I just decided to check it out. I opened the door and sure enough it lead to another part of the store. Arrows marked the path just like the rest of the halls. I walked in and took a look around the isles, everything here was definitely a lot fancier and looked to be made with better quality. It didn’t even really look like an Ikea store anymore. Maybe the weirdest thing was that there was actually no one back here. No customers or attendants.
After about 5 minutes of looking I decided to just leave and go grab the items I wanted. I went the opposite direction of the arrows going back to the door, but when I rounded the corner of the isle that led back to it, the door was gone. Now there was a concrete wall that the arrows came from. I was so confused, I know the door was here a second ago. I grabbed my phone to check what time it was and it wouldn’t turn on.
“Great, now my phone is dead” I thought to myself.
I didn’t remember it being so close to dying. Whatever, I just decided to follow the arrows, they would lead me to an exit somewhere. I followed the markings on the ground, glancing at the different fancy furniture that lined the halls. As I walked further and further I noticed the color scheme of the store began changing little by little. Before long the normal blue and yellow scheme turned to black and white on the walls and furniture. It was a little odd, and I didn’t understand why they would just change the look of everything half way through the store. As that thought crossed my mind, I realized that the whole store was dead silent. I hadn’t noticed until just now that there was no conversations of customers or any ambient store music playing at all. My footsteps were the only noise I could hear coming from the whole store.
I honestly started to get freaked out, this isn’t normal at all. Where the hell am I? I started walking a little faster following the arrows, just hoping to see an exit sign or hear voices of other customers, anything that meant I was getting out of there. Suddenly I heard a metallic clack of what sounded like an item falling on the floor to my right. It sounded like someone dropped something but it was far away. I stopped moving, just listening if I could hear anything else. After a few seconds of standing in silence, all the lights in the store went out. It went pitch black, so dark I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face. At this point I was terrified.
I stood there in the darkness not really sure what to do. Before long though the projected arrows shined down on the floor again, but none of the other lights turned on. I couldn’t see anything around me but the arrows on the ground. I didn’t know what else to do so I just followed them in complete darkness, I was shaking, terrified as I walked. I kept going for a few minutes, still hearing nothing but the noise of my footsteps. Suddenly I heard what sounded like a loud wet plop to my left, almost like someone just put a wet mop on the ground. I stopped again to listen and I could hear the sound of water droplets hitting the floor in the same area.
I had no idea what it could be so I just slowly started to follow the arrows again and when I did I heard another loud wet plop. I took another few steps and it was followed by another plop sound. It seemed to be getting closer. I stopped again, listening to the sound of faint water droplets hitting the floor. I decided to call out to see if it was someone.
“Hello, is someone there? Can you please tell me how to get out of here?”
There was no response but I could hear the plop sounds getting closer. I didn’t like it so I took off running, following the arrows on the ground. As I sped up and ran off so did the loud wet sounds behind me, they became more frequent and got closer and closer to me. Soon enough they sounded like they were just 20 feet away from me. I stopped dead in my tracks and so did whatever was following me. I could still hear water drops hitting the floor behind me. I stood there for a while this time, after what seemed like forever, I heard the loud wet plopping footsteps slowly getting closer to me. I didn’t move and didn’t make a sound, just hoping it would go away.
Eventually It got so close I could feel water droplets hitting the back of my neck. I was totally frozen in fear, it took every bit of will power I had to not run or scream. Soon I finally heard it take one loud wet footstep away from me. I listened as it slowly got farther and farther from me. I started to very slowly and carefully walk forward. Trying so hard not to make a sound as I made my way down the arrows. My heart stopped as my shoe squeaked on the floor. Immediately I heard the wet footsteps stop and turn around, coming closer to me again. I took off running as fast as I could following the arrows. My heart was beating so hard I thought I would pass out. I rounded a corner and way in the distance I saw a light and below it…a metal door. Finally a way out, I ran as fast as I could toward it. The sound of loud wet plops speeding up and getting closer behind me. They sounded like they were right on my back when I ran into the door bursting it open and slamming it shut behind me. I stood there with my back against the door, breathing so hard, shaking in fear.
“What in the world was that thing?” I thought to myself.
Finally however the lights in the store were back, the color scheme had returned to it’s normal blue and yellow, but…it was still dead silent. After catching my breath, I took a look around. This part of the store seemed normal, but there was still no one. I continued to follow the arrows, still thinking about what the hell was chasing me back there. I walked for about 10 minutes before the arrows took me through an isle full of drinking glasses and plates. While walking through the isle I heard something rustling from behind the glasses, it sounded like a rodent or something. I got a little closer and a human hand came crawling out of the shelf. I screamed and ran out of the isle, looking over my shoulder, I could see it crawling after me. I kept running on the arrows when I heard more rustling noises coming from the shelves around me. More and more hands came crawling out and started chasing me.
Some of them severely disfigured with long lanky fingers and sharp pointy nails. Some of them looked all bent out of shape like the fingers were broken or dislocated. Soon there were countless hands following me as I sprinted down the path. The arrows went on and on for what seemed like forever. Finally I could see another door in the distance, I raced to it as fast as I could. There seemed to be hundreds of disgusting hands chasing me at this point. As I got closer to the door the isles became thinner and thinner until eventually I had to squeeze through them. More rustling came from the shelves as long lanky arms protruded from them. Whatever these arms were, they definitely weren’t human. The skin had a blue tint and the fingers were elongated. I squeezed through them all, desperately trying to reach the door. I could feel them clawing and grabbing at my arms and back. They were grabbing parts of my clothing and ripping it off.
I shook them off me violently as I pushed my way through the mass of disgusting disfigured blue arms until I finally reached the door and burst it open. I ran through and slammed the door shut. I could hear the sound of hundreds of fingers clawing and scraping at the door on the other side. I was exhausted trying to catch my breath, holding the door closed with all my strength until the clawing subsided.
“Please someone help me! Get me the hell out of here!” I screamed out.
I stood there hoping for a response from someone, anyone at all, but it never came. This new part of the store had changed it’s color scheme yet again. Now brandishing everything it red and black. However the thing that I found the most surprising was that I could finally…hear something besides my footsteps.
A loud ticking, almost like a grandfather clock counting the seconds. The arrows on the ground went in the direction of the sound. Of course I followed the path hoping that the sound I was hearing meant I was getting closer to an exit. I just kept walking and walking for what seemed like an hour.
“How big is this store god damn it!” I thought to myself.
The sound was slowly and slowly getting louder so I know I was getting closer to whatever it was. Eventually though the arrows did something I’d never seen them do before…they forked. They went in two different directions.
“What the hell is this? Which way do I go?” I thought.
I stood there and listened closer, after a while I could tell the ticking sound was coming from the left side of the path. So I went to make my way to left when I froze. Wait a second, every noise that I’ve heard in this place so far has lead to something terrifying. Do I really wanna go this way? I thought about it and decided maybe it was actually best to go away from the sound. So I turned around and went down the right side of the path. I was walking for a while when I saw that the arrows split again. I stood there and listened. I could hear the ticking coming from the left again. I decided to stick to my gut and just go on the right side of the path, away from the ticking sound. As I walked and the ticking sound got farther and farther away, it started to speed up. Like the seconds were going by faster.
I didn’t pay it any mind though and just kept following the arrows. Before long I stopped hearing the ticking sound all together. I started to second guess my decision, maybe I should have followed the sound. Hopefully I didn’t make a huge mistake. Just as that thought crossed my mind I came around a corner and saw a blue and yellow door with the word “Exit” on it. I ran toward it and all the lights in the store went out again. One light shined on the door, illuminating it in the distance. At this point I didn’t care that I couldn’t see, I just ran toward the exit door with everything I had. I could heard plates, glasses, lamps falling all over the ground around me as I got closer and closer to the exit.
When I finally made it I ran through the door and it led to the outside of the store, straight to the empty parking lot. I slipped on the rain covered pavement and fell down face first. Laying there completely soaked I took a deep breath. I had some scrapes but nothing too bad. I turned over and looked back at the door…and it was gone. I took a look around the parking lot and there was no cars at all. I finally stood up and collected myself. Walking back to my car and opened the door. I was soaked but I didn’t care I just got in the car anyway. I turned on my car and looked at the dash, the time read 8:45. What? I was in there for way longer than just 5 minutes. How is that even possible?
It’s been about a week now. I decided to just order some furniture online, I don’t ever wanna step foot in another furniture store ever again. To this day though I still wonder what was that ticking sound I heard in there. What would I have found if I followed it? Did that lady attendant know what was behind that door? I guess I’ll never know and to be honest I’m not sure I ever want to know. I’m just glad to make it out of there alive but the next time you guys have to go to Ikea, just make sure you never go through that door.