If you are unaware of the Backrooms you can learn more at Wikipedia - however, this is more than a Creepypasta. Whereas there are no hidden entities ready to steal away an unwary explorer, there are considerable other 'challenges. One thing is for sure, if you enter this place, you aren't coming out unscathed.


I arrived at the address; however, I was confused. This was where Google Maps was telling me I should be, but it was a disused-looking industrial unit in one of the less affluent parts of town. I checked again, no, this was it. 221 Tremmel Street. I pulled up my car and stepped out. The air tasted metallic, no doubt fumes from the factory that was belching brown smoke from a tall stack at the other side of the river. Part of me wanted to walk away, maybe even run. I certainly didn't want to leave my car on this deserted street. But I had promised. Emma was my best friend and had been since school. Whereas I had been the academic one, she had been the 'pretty' one always in the midst of boys and naturally had become an influencer at the time when YouTube became popular.

That had been some years ago. I had just finished my master's and she was now a well-known name. I had seen her many times, her smiling face from the 'muk bang' videos, make-up tutorials and silly games. It seemed that, if there was a bandwagon to be leapt upon she would be there and whereas she wasn't a millionaire, it was clear that she was earning more than I did as an academic researcher. So, her email, out of the blue, to take part in a video project for which I could make some money was something I had grudgingly accepted. I needed the money. I had a tiny flat to pay for and my horse. I was an unsuccessful, weekend show rider, I had to do something to remain sane in my otherwise staid world. So, I was dressed as I had been at the show, I had just spent a fortune for to win a taupe-coloured rosette. The equine equivalent of 'well you tried hard but Tough'

My boot heels clicked on the broken concrete of the pavement as I approached the building. I was sure that my white breeches, once polished and now dusty black riding boots and my riding shirt would do for whatever I had to do on screen. I sighed and pressed the Ring doorbell.

"Yes?" Emma's voice was guarded, but she soon giggled. "Oh, it's you! Come in Wendy!"

There was a metallic buzz as the warehouse door opened and I stepped inside.

***

"So join me on Sunday night for the live stream Remember, it will be a one-off and everything will be in your hands!"

I sighed. It would do. I needed to post, if there was anything I had to live by it was my promise to publish new. No, not just new, 'fresh' content at least three times a week. It was exhausting, fighting against new upstarts trying to steal my views, so I had a new idea. Something different, this would be unique.

I had taken three months and considerable money to make It. The device, the machine. Call it what you will. It was a bizarre Rube Goldberg-style machine that would Well It would get me the millions of hits I needed. I just needed a patsy, someone who could be the one on screen and Wendy's name had popped immediately into my mind. The holier than thou, academic, 'perfect' Wendy with her perfect figure that the boys had always loved and yet she had seemed oblivious to their advances. We had been friends, but she had always made it clear she felt I was beneath her. To her, I was something she would get her groom to sweep out of the stable and fling on the muck heap. No Wendy would be perfect and she had lept at my offer of money. The chance to pay off her student loan for the cost of appearing in a video.

But, not just any video This would be unique. A masterpiece, my Magnum Opus! See, Wendy, I do know some big words! I had been bigging it up, teasing the project with months of videos all while ensuring her IP address had been blocked. I didn't want her tipped off. The device demanded fresh meat.

All this had come at a high cost. Hackers are not cheap. But, I wanted, no I needed her reactions to be pure. From the first images captured on the live-streamed doorbell to the other multiple angles. If I pulled this off, and I would, I would be internationally famous.

***

I walked into what looked like an office. There was a desk and coffee machine. I could hear sounds behind the walls. An ominous electrical buzzing, the sound of machinery, but ignored it as I hugged Emma. She smiled and sat me down.

"Wow, girl! You're still riding then? You are looking fit as fu" She giggled.

"I still ride" I smiled.

Oh, I knew she did. A film crew had been capturing footage earlier, background shots to add to the final cut after the live stream. I had invested heavily in this and intended to, at the least have a Netflix special as well as a viral hit.

"So, what is this about?"

"Well, have you ever heard of the backrooms?"

***

She hadn't heard of it. I knew she wouldn't have done so I explained it. What has started as an urban legend about a mysterious place filled with countless offices with yellow wallpaper, damp carpets and buzzing ceiling lamps had become an online phenomenon. A liminal horror that people would appear in and never be able to escape. But all the footage was CGI, created on a computer. What if there could be a live backrooms, somewhere an explorer could really go through. She had said it had sounded boring. I didn't want to tell her about the entities in the stories, my backers had said it sounded tedious also. An endless maze So, we had to rethink it a bit. This would be more challenging. There would be different areas, things to discover, and decisions to make. Do you turn left or right, or do you go down the slide? I told her that, if she got through my maze intact, I would give her half a million pounds. She had snorted as if I was mad before realising that I was being truthful. I hoped her reaction was being captured on the hidden cameras.

"Yes Wendy, go through the rooms. Make the right decisions and you will be very rich. Sound like a good idea?"

***

Backrooms? She said she had never heard of this nonsense. But she understood the concept, of a maze. How hard could it be she said? For half a million quid it was going to be no walk in the park, but I could see as her mind spun. With that sort of money, she could pay off my debts and more. Not that she would ever get close. I would see to that.

"You promise I won't get hurt?"

"Wendy. YouTube will demonetise me if I was to hurt you."

I mentally had my fingers crossed. YouTube wouldn't touch what I had in mind, but there were other streaming services that were, let's say, more open-minded. I assured her that she would be totally safe at all times. There would be forfeits, but for a fit, horsey girl they would be a walk in the park.

Come on girl, I'm losing viewers, nobody wants this descriptive shit. Say yes, sign the contract and walk through the door.

***

"Okay I'll do it!"

I squealed and hugged her tightly. It only took a few minutes to kit her up with her body-mounted cameras, we wanted POV shots after all and directed her to the door. It was time. I could hear the pings of views increasing in my earpiece.

I directed her to the door and wished her luck.

***

Yellow walls, the buzz of the flickering lighting and a squelching beneath my feet. There was something otherworldly about this place. It was only a warehouse, but it didn't seem like it. This was somewhere that seemed to impossibly stretch on forever. There were walls and passageways snaking off ahead of me. I turned around but the door I had stepped through was gone. I touched the wall which was unpleasantly damp, this was impossible. So even if I wanted to go back I couldn't. I walked on.

I don't know why I felt so uneasy. It was an empty space; this was supposedly a video. I prepared myself for a cat scare, somebody was bound to leap out in front of me at any moment, but still, I knew I was totally alone.

I wished I had changed before I had entered. My riding boots were tight and made my feet ache, my breeches were filthy after a day of riding in the heat of the midday sun. I ignored these thoughts and walked on.

***

"Where is she?" I looked across at the techs. "Come on, has she found the first trap! Look what the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Look for yourself." She spun the monitor around. There was the POV camera, I could see the feed but I didn't recognise the area.

"Where is she?" I asked more quietly this time as I studied the screen. I didn't recognise the location and I had spent almost all my waking hours with the teams building this maze. By now she should fallen through the false floor into the pool of slime. There were a number of UHD cameras to capture her shocked face and the video techs were ready to replay it on the stream. But I couldn't see that. I didn't see any of our subtle markers to indicate secretly where a player was. What the hell was happening?

The plan had been simple. Build a maze based on a meme but with messy traps. It was a winning formula, everyone had messy forfeits these days and the ones we had planned were amazing. There were amazing and bloody expensive, I didn't need her ploughing off in the wrong direction.

"I'm going in!"

I pushed out of the tech room and approached the door. I told the AD to watch me on the feeds I would subtly direct her to some of the traps. I stepped inside and slammed the door shut.

***

Miles behind me I heard a noise but kept on walking. I had been walking for what seemed like hours. There were just rooms and more rooms. Corridors and passages. It seemed to be impossibly big. I couldn't understand what the point was, how this was a video that people would watch. But also, I was feeling more and more scared. There was a creeping dread, something I couldn't place.

I looked up, there was a table. Sitting on it was a single cream pie. I walked towards it, dipping my finger into the deep cream. It was fresh and tasty. I hadn't eaten today and my stomach rumbled but didn't want to eat this. There was something

SPLAT

The damp mass hit the back of my head. I spun around, there was nothing there, it was empty space. As I stood open-mouthed there was another hit. The pie this time struck my face blinding me. I reached up, wiping my eyes.

"Oi!"

There was nobody there. I scraped the pie from my face and another slapped me on the arse hard! This carried enough force to knock me from my feet. I stumbled, falling to my knees. More pies started to fall on me, cream covering my back, pie tins falling to the ground around me. I gasped as a pie was flung into my crotch. I was alone, there was nobody here, yet there were pies. The last pie took my breath away and started a warmth in my loins. What the hell was happening to me?

I staggered to my feet, my chest thickly coated as more and more pies landed. The impact of cool cream and soft fillings seemed to be making my nipples involuntarily hard. I leaned on the wall, pies flying in all directions. Part of me was desperate to run but a growing, deep desire was growing within me.

I slid my hand into the front of my breeches, grasping handfuls of soft, pliant cream. I started to cram it into my panties fleetingly softly embracing my, now throbbing sex desperate and wanton.

I slid to the ground, my fingers cresting my slit, the cream mixing with my arousal. The pies kept falling. I just had to release myself, and allow myself to let go.

My brain screamed. I had a tiny, fleeting moment of clarity. I was about to drown in pie filling. My eyes snapped open; my hand dragged from my sex. This was a trap. I staggered to my knees, a machine-gun volley of cream and pie tins covering every inch of my body. I was no longer human, I was a mess of red and yellow, custard and cream.

I pushed myself around a corner, the pies finally stopping as I saw the cream dripping from my body.

"What in the name of holy fuck just happened?"
I spoke aloud to the empty room, the cream on my body already starting to smell rancid. This was not natural.