I CAN FEEL YOU

Chapter 1

Darkness and dampness.

The stairwell that seemingly never ends.

No one knows whether there is a bottom at the end of it or not. No one has ever dared to go into the depths of the unknown that was the stairwell dubbed as an object SCP-087. But it wasn't totally uninhabited. It served as a home for an unknown entity with a code number SCP-087-1 that had never had a name, but one day the scientists of the SCP Foundation decided to give him some kind of a name to make things easier. It look them a while to come up with a final version until they finally called him Virgil.

The creature of the stairwell had no idea how long he had lived in this place. Time was of no importance to him, it just didn't exist in this location. He never understood why people were so obsessed with the feeling of time. It only made things harder, or so he thought. Virgil slid from floor to floor, not knowing what to occupy himself with. He hated to admit it but the monster of the dark stairwell felt bored. This was probably the only thing he could understand about people so far. Boredom was his eternal companion. Not like he complained about it too much, but sometimes it would be only nice to get himself busy with something. Virgil was completely alone in this place, not knowing whether there are any other creatures out there beside humans. All he could remember during his existence is darkness and endless stairs that lead into the depths of the unknown. Actually, he didn't even know why he was here.

He just… was.

Virgil wondered whether the creatures called humans understood why they exist in this world. What is their purpose? Do they know it? He wished to find out more but there was never an opportunity to do it. Speaking of which… The humans. There had been a few attempts to let one human being into the stairwell, three times so far. Two of them were male and one female. Virgil could hear the voices coming from the highest floor where the heavy steel door was, and each test subject was told to descend slowly and carefully. It became clear to Virgil that those people were test subject that were let into the stairwell to test his behavior with them. Well, he was only glad to get the possibility to know a human being better. But all his hopes soon broke like thin, fragile glass. As soon as they saw his ghostly pale face with empty, lifeless eyes, they stopped right where they were, unable to move forward. Virgil knew what they felt at that moment, he felt it.

They were afraid. He could feel their fear.

No wonder. As soon as the metal door slammed shut after them, they were on their own, surrounded by sinister darkness. Only a small flashlight provided faint illumination of a meter or two in front of them. Neither of them knew where they were going and what awaited them. In the moment they stepped into the dark stairwell, they were isolated from the human world.

They stepped into HIS world.

Virgil listened carefully what they were talking about through the walkie-talkie with the doctors. Each test subject reported his or her every step, and if the coast was clear, the doctors told them to proceed. Also, each of them claimed to hear some weird sound coming from somewhere down; according to the test subjects, they heard voice of a female or a child crying for help. But the more they descended, the farther the source of the sound was from them. It's like the one who was crying made one step down together with the test subject. And if they encountered Virgil, all said that he wasn't the source of the cries.

And they were right at this point.

Virgil has never made such sounds. But he knew well that there was no one else in the stairwell but him. This place itself almost lives its own life, if you could call it like that. It created illusions of someone crying and calling for help, and it served as a good bait to lure the unsuspecting victims here. Sometimes it seemed to Virgil that the entire stairwell worked together with him, helped to lead the test subjects towards him. But in fact, he didn't need help, considering how fast he was able to move.

And that's what he did when he encountered a guest. When test subjects spotted him in the dark, they froze in their spot like they have seen a ghost. Well, maybe that's what he looked like after all. A ghost, an ominous specter that waited for its victims in this overwhelming darkness. Virgil heard the doctors trying to persuade the test subject to move forward, but they refused to move a muscle. Well, if the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must come to the mountain. If Virgil had known this phrase, he definitely would have used it for himself in such situations. The he will come to people if they don't want to come closer. In a split second he approached the human for a meter, and the reaction was always the same: the test subject turned around and ran upstairs with a piercing scream that echoed throughout the stairwell. Virgil never knew what happened to them afterwards when they reached the top and returned to the doctors. All he knew was how strong their fear and shock was, his hearing was sharp enough to hear their frantic heartbeat. It was fun to give them a small chase. At least it provided some sort of an entertainment. Virgil was curious himself about what would happen if he meets a human being face to face and touches it. It had never happened, and he wished to know what it would result in.

And then there was silence again. Silence and emptiness. Just as he was used to. Virgil now was a bit confused. Are all humans that cowardly? He hasn't done anything to those test subjects, at least not yet. The scientists upstairs sure were studying him, but doesn't he have the rights to study humans as well? But they just ran from him. Does his appearance really seem that scary to them? It pretty much looked that way. They just ran away right when they saw him without giving him a chance to get closer. Virgil realized that each test subject was somehow sure that he would kill them if they allowed him to come closer. But his first reaction was far from that when he saw a human being. Sure, if he gets annoyed, he will kill without hesitation. But the test subjects were so consumed by fear that no one had any idea in mind that the monster doesn't always think only about murder. Whether people are aware of it or not, monsters also know what curiosity is.

And so the time passed - hour after hour, day after day. Virgil's life in the dark stairwell had returned to its usual course. All that was left to do was sliding silently from floor to floor, descending so deep that no one would dare to descend; and then rising back to the upper floors to check whether something new may be happening upstairs. But nothing happened, nothing changed. If Virgil could, he would make a deep and sad sigh.

He was bored once again. And in that very moment he realized a new feeling rising inside him beside the boredom.

He was lonely.

Thus he would most likely never find out what loneliness truly means and how to deal with it when suddenly a loud banging noise broke the silence. It was the metal door again, and it has just slammed shut. Virgil tensed and listened carefully. His hearing has never betrayed him. He could clearly hear the light sound of footsteps.

If the monster could, he would have grinned at this moment. All that was happening now had only one meaning.

The new plaything is finally here.