The Portal at Hill House Final
The ending no one has been waiting for.
Well, that ended quicker than I expected. I’m not mad about it though. Better for it to end quickly than to test my patience. I may have some thoughts on the game at some point in the near future. In the mean time, here is the finale. And here is the game.
Room ??? - ???
The ladder seems to go on forever. I should have crossed into the crawlspace under the trailer and into the earth, but all I know is ladder and oppressive darkness. The light of my hand only manages to keep it at bay.
The ladder seems to go on forever. The temperature plummets. The chill is as oppressive as the darkness, but the flame of my hand does nothing to chase it away. I shiver. My teeth chatter. A bitter wind blows from somewhere below.
The ladder seems to go on forever. How long have I been climbing down, down, down? Hours, at least. Days, possibly. Time means nothing here. There is only the rungs of the ladder, infinite aluminum steps, and the flickering light that beats back the dark. I fear that the chill is numbing me. I imagine myself falling for eons and shattering into pieces whenever I land.
The ladder. The ladder never fucking ends. Ice must flow sluggish through my veins. I can’t feel my hands. The rest of me aches. Exhaustion took root miles ago. My eyelids grow heavier by the moment. All I want to do is sleep.
The ladder ends. I come to at the foot of it with a gasp and I panic because I’m not on the ladder and if I am not on the ladder, that means that I am falling. Right? No. No, I am safe. Maybe. My racing heart calms gradually. I stop fixating on the rungs of the ladder, stop trying to block out the darkness.
I needn’t do so.
Whatever this place is, wherever I have turned up, the place is suffused with the same purple glow as the portal that opened above the hill. The bitter wind from before blew from here. It roars in my ears, louder than even the flame. I turn toward its source.
A stone altar sits below the swirling purple torment of the portal’s source, wind whipping out from it. Between myself and the altar, and everywhere else besides, is a mirrored expanse. I take a step and ripples flow from footfall. I am certain this is not water, but I don’t know what it is. It reflects not only the portal above, but what exists beyond the portal.
Stars. Planets. Galaxies. The reflection suggests they hang there, as tiny as pinpricks in some case and looming large and monstrous in others. I look up and see nothing at all.
The altar seems so far away. Every step I take toward it seems as though it takes me further away from it. It is the ladder all over again.
Maybe it is.
I stopped climbing down the ladder and found the bottom. What if I stop trying to get to the altar?
I stop. Refuse to take another step forward, turn back toward the latter—
To find the altar in front of me. It is solid, carved from stone. Ancient, I’m sure. Time has weathered its faces, leaving behind only traces of what once was displayed there. My brain itches. I have the pieces of the puzzle. This is where I will assemble it.
I draw the candles from my pack and place them without hesitation, somehow knowing exactly where they need to be. Then, the saltpeter. I pour lines of it around and between the candles. A sigil? I don’t know. My mind and body is in autopilot, setting up a ritual that I have no knowledge of.
The wind picks up. The portal pulses, its purple glow intensifying.
The sigil and candles are set. I swipe my hand along the candle wicks and watch them burst alight.
This is it. It is time. Only one thing let to do.
I lower my hand onto the center of the sigil and the saltpeter flashes and burns, the sigil etching itself into the altar.
I feel the heat. I see and feel my skin blister beneath the flame burning away at my hand.
I scream as it spreads. Engulfs me. Burning me to ash.
My eyes open to the light of the setting sun and the flames of a burning trailer, but not the purple hue of the portal. It is done. I have been deposited on the slope of the hill, laying back on grass that feels more comfortable than any mattress. I want to settle there. Sleep. Sleep forever, even. I am running out of sunlight though and the woods are lovely, dark and deep and I have miles to go before I sleep.
Yes, I did half-ass quote Robert Frost. I also just realized that I paired some fire and ice in there. Unintentional, but I dig it. In any case, if you’ve read this far, I’m sorry. Hopefully you enjoyed the read. If not, well at least you didn’t have to pay for it.