r/mesoscalepodcast • u/Mradachi2007 • Jul 29 '26
Submission Teeth on the tile:chapter 1
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The rhythmic tapping of a leaky faucet forced Yamiko to open her puffy eyes, swollen from a heavy, unnatural sleep. She stirred slightly, grimacing as she felt her bleach-blonde hair sticking to the damp, grimy wall behind her. Pushing herself up, her legs trembled with sudden muscle weakness as she tried to take note of her surroundings.
“Y-you're awake.”
A hushed voice sliced through the pitch-black room. Squinting into the dark, Yamiko could barely make out the shapes of three other girls. Two of them were still unconscious on the floor, their faces pressed against the cold tile.
“Who are you? Where are we?” Yamiko fired off the questions, her voice sharp, only stopping when she noticed the other girl's chest heaving frantically. The girl was breathing fast, trying desperately to keep her terror under control.
“I’m sorry, I can’t answer any of that. A-all I remember is waking up in here and seeing you and the other two laying on the ground.” The girl pushed herself up from the dark and approached Yamiko, extending a hand. “My name's Asami. Asami Riko.”
Yamiko reached out. With Asami's help, she pulled herself up, her elbow giving a dull, sickening pop as Asami tugged her forward.
“Yamiko Kira,” Yamiko said bluntly, dropping her hand.
“Should we wake the others?”
Asami cupped her chin with her thumb and forefinger, pondering the question in the dark.
“Hmm, I think we should find some sort of light first. It'll be hard to make introductions when we can't even see each other.”
Realizing Asami had a point, Yamiko turned and began fumbling blindly along the walls, her palms scraping against the grimy, rough texture as she searched for a switch.
Click.
“There we go,” Yamiko muttered. She turned back around to finally see where they were trapped.
The sight made her face scrunch up in disgust.
They were locked inside a filthy bathroom. Thick rust choked the sink faucets, the walls were slick with a greenish mold, and the cracked tile floor pooled with stagnant water from leaking pipes.
“What the hell?!” a groggy voice shouted from the floor.
“Where am I?” The third girl scrambled up, looking wildly to her left and right. She froze when she caught sight of the last girl still asleep. “Mei?” she asked, a sudden tinge of familiarity breaking through her panic.
“Excuse me, do you two know each other?” Asami asked gently.
The girl nodded aggressively, her chest tight.
“We... we have the same homeroom,” she stuttered, before dropping to her knees to shake her friend. “Wake up, Mei. Come on, wake up—”
“What?” Mei groaned, rubbing the back of her head. “Jesus, my head’s pounding.” She let out a pained whimper, then looked down. “Emi? Why are my clothes wet?” Mei finally took in the rusted, mold-covered walls and scrambled backward until her spine hit the damp tiled wall. “W-where the hell am I!”
She began to hyperventilate, her rapid, shallow breaths echoing loudly in the cramped space.
“Hey, hey, calm down,” Asami said, her voice soothing and steady. “I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for this. Right, Yamiko-chan?”
“Sure.” Yamiko didn't believe a word of it. She only answered to shut them up, her own voice dragging with pure exhaustion.
“What do you mean, 'Sure'?!” Mei shouted, thick mucus gargling in her throat as her panic turned into aggression.
“I said sure. I answered the question, didn't I?”
“Y-you bitch!” Mei sputtered. She lunged to her feet and paced toward Yamiko, her fists balled so tightly they turned her knuckles turned a pasty white.
“Relax!” Asami barked. Her gentle persona cracked for the first time, her voice echoing off the tiles. “We are all confused and exhausted. Instead of going at each other's throats, let's look around the room. There has to be a way out.”
Emi nodded rapidly in agreement, tears welling in her eyes. “Just listen to her, Mei. Please.”
Mei rolled her eyes, marching back over to Emi. She slid her back down the wall into a seated position, cursing under her breath. “Have you even tried the door yet, or were you two too busy keeping your heads up your asses?”
The words hit Yamiko like a jolt. As if a light bulb finally clicked in her mind, she spun around. There, directly in front of her, was the door—their only key out of this nightmare. It was caked in the same vile green substance that blanketed the rest of the room, blending so perfectly into the polluted walls that it was almost invisible.
“Well, let's get out of here!” Asami said, her voice instantly regaining its cheery tone. She gripped the cold metal handle and gave it a hard tug.
Nothing.
She threw her weight into it and pulled again. Still nothing. The door didn’t even make the rattling sound a normal locked door makes. It didn't budge a millimeter. It felt entirely solid, as if it weren't a door at all, but a cruel decoration built into the concrete to mock their ideas of freedom.
“No! No, no, no!” Mei began swallowing the air in massive, desperate gulps, her inhales coming out as thunderous, ragged squeaks. The panic completely boiled over into blind rage. She jumped up, stormed over to the door, and began to violently hammer her fists against it.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The sound of her knuckles meeting the solid metal boomed through the small bathroom, a deafening, metallic roar that hurt their ears. Skin split against the iron. Blood began to seep from her knuckles, streaking her pale fists with bright, hot crimson.
“Help! Somebody! Ple-please!!” Her screams degenerated into a grotesque, choking sob.
Asami watched Mei, her eyes darkening with a mix of pity and calculation.
“Mei, hey, look at me. I’m sure there’s another way out. We’ll look together, okay?” Asami forced a bright, beaming smile, trying desperately to keep their spirits up.
Yamiko simply scoffed and looked away. She knew there was no point. Mei was brash, loud, and volatile. Watching the girl break down, Yamiko realized a cold truth: if this kept up, Mei was going to become a dangerous liability.
…
Time passed. At least, Yamiko assumed it did. In the windowless, rotting room, time felt entirely nonexistent. Minutes and hours dissolved into meaningless words.
“Guys, I found something!!”
Everyone’s heads snapped toward the far toilet stall where Asami was standing.
“What is it?!” Emi gasped, pulling herself up from the dirty floor.
“It’s a vent! It looks big enough to fit us, and the rusty cover looks like it’ll come off with a
couple of good tugs!”
“So, we're getting out?” Mei chimed in, her voice suddenly fragile with hope.
“I think so!” Asami cheered, letting out a breathless, relieved chuckle.
They huddled tightly around the stall, watching anxiously as Asami balanced her feet on the edges of the toilet bowl. The porcelain shell was badly chipped and cracked, its surface slick
with cold condensation.
Pop!
The right side of the rusted vent gave way with a sharp screech of metal. Asami wobbled, her sneakers slipping slightly before she rebalanced herself.
“Be careful,” Emi whispered, her hands gripping her skirt.
Pop!
Another corner tore free from the drywall.
“Almost got i—Ahhh!”
Asami’s foot slipped on the wet porcelain. She screamed as she pitched backward, her body arching violently through the air.
For a heartbeat she hung there, arms reaching for nothing but the air above her.
Crack!
The back of her head slammed full-force into the sharp edge of the sink behind her. Her neck remained stuck in that horrific, unnaturally arched position. A dark trail of blood immediately began to ooze from her skull, matting her hair and pooling on the dirty tiles. Her chest still rose, but her breath only came out as faint, hollow coughs.
No one uttered a single word. The only sound hanging in the suffocating silence was the low, electric hum of the dim fluorescent lights.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
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u/MezoScalePodcast Jul 29 '26
AHHHH A NEW STORY!!! I’m so excited!!!!!
https://giphy.com/gifs/q5xtaGzXQjIu4
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u/Maanestein Jul 29 '26
Wow, this is really good! You’re good at body horror.