You wake up and somehow find yourself in Veil Haven. You are in the bowels of town hall, peeling yourself off the itchy dark gray carpet. The dim fluorescent lights flicker in this claustrophobic hallway as you begin to wander. In the corner of  the hall, you find a metal kiosk filled with old, waterlogged pamphlets. Take as many as you'd like, they'll help you on your journey:

 

Only You Can Prevent a Cryptid Attack

Encounters Happen, Make Them Safe

Ghost Infestation? Know Who To Call

Discovering the Deep Woods: Where Not to Go

If You See Something, Say Nothing

Simple Survival Field Manual

Understanding the Backrooms: Good Luck

Disregarding Omens Is the Leading Cause of Death: How You Can Be Smarter

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You walk through the maze of dark hallways slowly tracing a path you aren't confident you can retrace. You're on high alert for any noises, shifts in the temperature, other people, anything. 

You can't shake the heavy feeling that you're being watched. It's a distant feeling, like a ripple in a pond, but it's enough pressure to notice it. These 90s wallpapered halls aren't helping the claustrophobic feeling.

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You stand in a crossroads of hallways as the air seems to thicken. The hall to your right and the hall in front of you are dark. The hallway to your left is brighter, though not entirely inviting.

But before you can decide where to go, you hear something moist moving toward you with the pace of a quickened heartbeat. As your eyes adjust to the pitch black hall in front of you, you see something glowing.

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Before you can run, you catch a glimpse of a pinkish-white humanoid skittering across the ceiling. You realize that this thing has been degloved of its skin, and although almost human, it lacks any proper face. But still, you somehow make eye contact with it.

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Your instinct kick in and you sprint down the left hallway. But from the corner of your eyes, you realize that it shuffles away too, startled. 

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Its glow is consumed by the shadows of the hallway and you are even more lost than you were before. 

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You're running through a dizzying amount of hallways before you start to settle down and catch your breath. Nothing is following you. So why do you still feel like you're being watched? 

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As you steady yourself, you realize there's a short conjoining hallway mere feet from you. You stand at the threshold and find a ridiculously large wooden door at the end of it. This is first unique architecture you've seen, and your curiosity pulls you forward.

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The floor-to-ceiling door dwarfs you, but pushing them open is easy. 

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Inside, you're met by an ostentatious office twice the size of most living rooms. On the right side of the room there is a lounge area complete with couches and a wall of windows overlooking a pristine turquoise lake with mountains rolling toward the horizon. Is the lake glowing?

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To your left there is a mahogany desk and an office chair turned away from you as though someone is peering out the giant circular window overlooking downtown Veil Haven. The shops along the Black River look quaint and colorful, and, is that a clock tower at the end of the road? Whoa, how can you hear it chime so clearly from here?

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The room isn't inviting, despite the intention to make it seem that way. It's too stale and untouchable to ever feel welcoming. But it's a good change of pace from the maze of hallways and that horrifying skinless glowing thing.

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As you step inside and the doors close quietly behind you, the chair spins around revealing there is someone else here.

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Purple petunias bloom where her head should be, creeping across her shoulders and along her breast like a delicate shawl. As she sees you, her flowers stir like dozens of eyes shifting to attention.

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She's human, or not human, or can you be human if you don't have a head? As you're caught off guard, you see a plaque on her desk that simply reads: MAYOR. This seems to calm your nerves a little bit, but you're still on edge.

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Despite not having a mouth, you hear the mayor sigh and get the impression that she's rolling her eyes at you. When she leans back in the chair you see she's playing some game on her phone.

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"Let me guess: you're lost," she says, paying more attention to her phone than the stranger in her office. She sounds young, not like a child but maybe a college age student, and she definitely doesn't have the energy of someone who should be in charge. 

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"I have more important things to do than help you get out of town hall." She leans back and rests her feet on the desk, unbothered by the papers scattered across it. "Just leave my office, take a right, another right, the second left, go straight past five hallways, take another left, go straight again, two more rights, and you'll be back in the lobby." There's a natural pause in conversation, but you're trying to memorize her directions rather than join in. "It's not that hard."

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Whether you choose to linger or leave, the mayor doesn't say another word to you, hoping the cold shoulder will be enough to make you leave. Even so, as you follow her directions through the maze of dimly lit halls, you do find yourself in the lobby.

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You are relieved.

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Through the main doors you see what must be Main Street: the bustling downtown shops to your left, the Black River now hidden behind the buildings, and a lovely looking park to your right filled with trees and people enjoying the springtime weather. 

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Veil Haven seems like any small mountain town, but you can't forget that skinless glowing man... or the sheer terror of this hallway maze, or that the mayor has flowers for a head. And even now, even as you spy daylight and normal looking people, you still can't shake that vague, distant feeling of being watched.

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As you push through the double doors, you expect a rush of fresh air, but everything goes dark instead. 

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You wake up where you were before you found yourself in the bowels of Veil Haven's town hall, but something is different. That distant, uncomfortable pressure you couldn't shake... you still feel it. And you're certain now....

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You are being watched.