The Backrooms (Part 8): Level 6, Lights Out

Continue down the stairs from the lowest floor of the Level 5 hotel, and the wall lamps grow dimmer one by one. Reach the final step, and the last lamp goes out. Then you can see nothing. Level 6 is named "Lights Out." There are no light sources on this floor: your flashlight won't turn on, your phone screen is just dead black, and you can't even see your own hand in front of your face. It's not "very dark"; light simply doesn't exist here. You can only feel your way around. The walls are cold metal, there's a grating on the floor, and your footsteps echo far away, making it sound like you're walking inside a giant metal pipe. Occasionally, you'll feel a doorknob, push it open, and find yourself in another stretch of identical darkness. There are only two pieces of advice from wanderers: Keep one hand on the wall at all times, or you'll walk in circles until you starve. Don't make a sound. The second is because you're not alone here. Other footsteps will come from the darkness, matching your pace—it stops when you stop, it walks when you walk. Records tell of someone who bravely asked, "Who's there?" and was answered with their own voice, coming from very close by. Level 6 is listed as one of the hardest levels to escape not because of physical entities, but because it strips away the sense humans rely on most, and what's left—imagination—fills the darkness for you. Many people aren't taken; they simply scare themselves to death, sit on the floor, and refuse to move. If you keep your hand on the wall, you will eventually touch a damp door. Beyond the door, there is light and the sound of water. Next: Level 7, Flooded Rooms