Flipped

The hallway was dark as Devon moved down it. There were fluorescent lights above in pairs running parallel down the long hallway, but he could only count 5 bulbs that were lit down the entire stretch.
 
Devon knew he shouldn’t be there. His mother would kill him if she found out he was back exploring in the woods. Probably not literally; but it might push her over the top if she knew about the secret door hidden in a rockpile, and the ladder, and the hallway he had followed after. Everything in his body screamed for him to turn and run in the other direction. Only his curiosity kept him putting one foot in front of the other, but he remembered what his mother warned about curiosity.
 
He stepped lightly, but every few steps, the footfall splashed slightly. He was only four foot nine and a size 7 shoe, completely average for most 13-year-olds, but the splash and echo made each step sound like a stomp. The entire hall it seemed was wet. There were puddles in the floor, the walls had a sheen of moisture, and even the ceiling seemed to bead and sweat. The humidity was high, he could feel that, but even so he had a chill run down his spine as he moved forward.
 
Nothing; the darkness, the wetness, the electricity in the air; none of it was worse than the smell. It was an overwhelming earthy, wet smell; under that, the smell of rot and decay; and at its base, a chemical odor just lingered. It was like a bog. Or maybe a swamp that had formed in an unkept swimming pool.
 
Devon turned and looked back over his shoulder. He could barely make out the ladder he descended to reach this hall. The narrow shaft of light from the surface fell vertically down the ladder and onto the floor but did nothing to illuminate the hall itself. Satisfied his escape was still available, Devon continued moving forward. 
 
As he reached the end of the long hall, with no doors or windows, Devon realized the hall turned right. He peeked around the corner and saw a shorter hallway that was a dead-end at a double set of doors. He cautiously moved around the corner. 
 
Once he had entered the side hall, and left the fluorescent lights behind him, did he realize that this hallway was not illuminated by bulbs. Rather, the walls themselves glowed. No, not the walls. The windows.
 
Devon reached out and touched the wall. He felt the warm, smooth, glass surface; running his hand out in each direction as far as he could without moving his feet. Only with his full focus could he make out the swirling murkiness beyond the glass. It was a water tank. These weren’t windows, but the viewing ports of a giant aquarium.
 
Well, he thought, that explains the smell.
 
His curiosity was almost satiated. It was a weird secret door down to a giant secret aquarium. Some billionaire's pet project, long forgotten. But the doors - the doors begged to be opened. Cautiously, but with more purpose, he stepped towards the doors.
 
Ten feet, then five, then he was right up on them. As he closed in he realized that the doors looked like blank metal from afar, but up close there were rivets holding pieces together. Moreover, there was a cavity behind the bar that crossed the middle of the door. Not a bar, a handle. It was large, but he could get his hand around it. 
 
He steadied his feet, preparing to give the handle everything he could. He counted himself down.
 
Three, two, one…
 
“Heeeeeh,” a noise crackled out from both nowhere and anywhere. It was high-pitched and squeaky.
 
Devon stopped in his tracks and looked around.
 
“Heeeeeh-rroooooow” the noise crackled out again.
 
Was that? Was someone talking to him?
 
“Uh…” Devon stammered, “Hello?”
 
“Heeehroooow,” the noise squeaked out again, more succinctly this time.
 
Devon looked around but he was alone. He checked, as best as he could in the low light, the ceilings and corners for a speaker or anything that could produce sound.
 
“Ffffffffwehhhh,” the noise echoed again.
 
Devon could feel his heartbeat in his ears now. He was taking big, gasping breaths.
 
“Hello?” he said to no one again.
 
“Hehrow,” the noise squeaked out, seemingly louder this time, “Hehrow, fwehnnnd.”
 
Devon took his hand off the handle. He started moving quickly but quietly back the way he came.
 
“No,” the voice echoed loudly, “no fwehned. Stayeah fwehned.”
 
Devon froze again. He had been looking straight ahead, eyeing the corner and an escape from whatever this was. Back to the ladder, back to the light, and back to his house - most importantly, away from this place.
 
“I shouldn’t be here,” Devon stammered, “I’m sorry.”
 
“Stayeah,” the voice squeaked out again, “fwehned.”
 
Devon saw motion from the corner of his eye. He slowed turned towards the walls of the hallway. 
 
The murky water was swirling. Shadows of what must be plants, not visible exactly but darker than the water itself, waved around in the water. 
 
“Friend?” Devon asked towards the glass.
 
“Yeahhas,” the voice squeaked, “fwehned.”
 
Devon’s eyes searched the darkness for something, anything. The water was swirling but he couldn’t identify anything.
 
“Noooo-ah,” the voice squeaked, “hee-wah.”
 
Devon’s eyes darted back and forth, searching the mire, but he couldn’t see anything.
 
“Where?” Devon asked.
 
“Heeeeeewah,” the voice croaked.
 
“I can’t…” Devon started.
 
**BANG**
 
Devon jumped and turned towards the opposite wall. It was also glass, also the wall of an aquarium. There, barely visible in the dark water was a gray body, scarred down the sides, with a large blue eye which was staring at him.
 
“Heewah,” the voice spoke not from the glass but from the ceiling above him, “fwehned.”
 
The eye blinked and the body moved and rotated in the water next to the glass.