PROLOGUE
It was 2017. August 16th.
Leo and I had met up at his apartment to have dinner and watch horror movies, we were always into spooky things.
Leo is my best friend. He has dark hair similar to Elvis style, and has the same colour eyes as me, but the other way around, his are blue with a bit of green, whereas mine are green with a tinge of blue, almost like the sea, only I found his to be darker than mine. He has a freckle on his right earlobe, that makes it seem like he once had a piercing there. He usually wears blue jeans and a black leather jacket, but he doesn't really have much sense of style, and I've told him this many times, but he refuses to listen to me.
The night before, I had looked up spiritual rituals and charms. I found one that interested me so much I recommended it to Leo.
When we finished watching the scary film and finished eating our bacon pizza, we opened up the laptop, and searched up the Sachiko Ever After charm, and instructions on how to do it.
We had a Ouija board and everything, it's not like we really believed in any of this stuff, we just found it amusing to research and try out.
-Thalia, this is the stupidest one yet. It's a piece of paper!
-I know, but no harm can be done from a bit of paper, right? So what's the problem? You scared?
I laughed like a psycho, trying to creep him out.
-No, I'm not "scared". I just think we're wasting our time.
-Well I think it will be fun, plus that way we'll be friends forever, in a silly spiritual way!
Leo sighed, and nodded in agreement as I cut out the Sachiko Charm.
-Ready? - I asked, smiling broadly.
-Do we have to do it right now? I feel like looking up some ghost stories or something! - He said with a joking tone.
-You want a ghost story? I'll give you a ghost story! - I replied, with a stern expression on my face.
I took the laptop and looked up anything strange related to the Sachiko Ever After, to see if I could spook him, and sure enough, I found Sachiko Shinozaki's story.
-Here, this is a story about Sachiko Shinozaki! - I told him, with wide eyes, concentrating to read the small letters on the bright screen of the laptop.
-Are you just making this up to get me to do the stupid charm? - He asked.
-Of course not! Here, take a look! - I showed him the laptop and we began reading the story together.
…
About 20 minutes or so past by the time we finished reading the story and telling jokes and spooking each other.
-Wow… If that really happened… How awful, those poor kids. - I sighed.
-Yeah, must suck to get your tongue cut out. - Leo shivered.
I stared at him with a cheesy smile on my face and held out the Sachiko Charm.
He looked back at me with a frown. –Do we have to? After reading that story…- He shivered again.
-Hey! You're the one that wanted a scary story!
-Fine... -Leo sighed. -How do we do this again?
-We both must say "Sachiko, we beg of you" in our heads, the exact amount of times for each person in the room… So twice, and then once more for Sachiko herself. Then we pull on the charm until we both have a piece each. Got it?
-Yeah, I got it.
We both grabbed tightly to the peace of paper.
…
-Did you say it 3 times? - I asked, concerned he might have messed up, then started to question myself too.
-I did, did you?
-Obviously I did! - Laughing, I gripped even tighter into the paper. –On the count of 3 we pull… 1…2…
Leo stared at me with a concerned look.
-3!
We both pulled and tore the charm in half.
I looked around and looked back at Leo.
-See? Nothing bad happened! Now let's put the paper somewhere safe but remember to always keep it with you! - I put mine in my pocket and he put his in his wallet.
-Yeah okay, you can stop tormenting me now! Let's do something else.
Suddenly, the entire floor and walls started to shake, and we both let out a scream as we fell through the ground.
…
-What? - I rub my eyes. –Where am I?
Looking around, I can see very small chairs and tables, a chalkboard, windows… It's a bit dark so it's hard to make out where I actually am. I stand up, shaky legs and a headache, I fall against the wall.
-Oh...! Ouch! Damn it, what happened?
As I found my bearings, I gasped.
-No. No way, this is not real, no!
I fell backwards again. Looking at the other side of the classroom, I saw a body. Covered in blood. Dead.
I slowly walked past the small chairs and tables, toward the rotting corpse.
-Oh, the smell…- I gagged and covered my mouth and nose with my hand.
As I studied the body, I saw it was, or at least used to be, a girl… looked around 16. She had her legs all cut, same as her arms, and…
-AHH! - I turned away screaming and vomited. On the floor next to the dead girl, lay her eyeballs, soaked in blood, with a pair of bloody scissors impaled in one of them.
I ran out of the classroom door as fast as I could.
CHAPTER 1: Hell On Earth
-Ah... My head. - I grabbed my head, rolling around on the floor in pain. Sitting up, dizzy as heck, I looked around in a haze. –What the fuck?
I slowly stood up, leaning on what felt wooden, some sort of seat, perhaps.
-Thalia?!- I yelled, calling for her to see if she was nearby, but got no such reply. –Thalia?!- I yelled again, making my headache far worse.
I dusted myself off, looked around the room and saw nothing but what looked to be a locker room at a school.
-What… is this place? - I squinted, as it was hard to see anything.
I saw showers, and lockers with nothing in them, a few benches, nothing interesting.
My curiosity got the better of me, so I wandered through the first door I saw, and I ended up outside. There was a swimming pool, it was raining, and I saw…
-Oh god…- There I saw it, the first dead body of thousands. Covered in blood, floating in the pool, drenched, disgusting. –No... Why am I here? Am I dreaming? No… This feels real enough to me. - I pinched myself on my left arm, leaving a slight scratch on accident. –It's real… Why? What is all this?
-Thalia!- I called out her name again, and as I expected, no reply. Nothing, just the sound of rain.
I ran back inside, and into the hallway past the locker room.
I continued down the hallway, to my right I see the entrance. I walk up to the doors and push and pull at them and nothing happens.
-Damn it! They don't even feel locked, it's like they aren't real or something! - I scream angrily at the doors and call out once more for my friend. –Thalia!- Still no reply.
I walk back to the hallway, and go straight forward down another hallway, to my left is class 4A and to my right is classroom 5A. I go left first as the right side had another dead body at the end of the hall.
I open the door to the classroom and check around, I find a note on the wall that looks more like a photocopy of a newspaper. It reads: "…found dead in the basement of the school with their tongues cut out... Girl went missing after her mother broke her neck falling down the school stairs…. Sachiko Shinozaki! ". I gasped.
-This is the girl we read about right before doing the charm ritual! Don't tell me this is Heavenly Host Elementary… That happened about 30 years ago, so why am I here now? And why are there so many dead bodies?
I walked back outside and the door slammed shut behind me, startling me.
-Fuck sake, I'm going to end up dying from a heart attack when everyone else here died in some kind of epic way.
I sighed and walked toward classroom 5A, avoiding the corpse.
-Ah… Locked. - I sighed once more, and tried again to call out to anyone that could be around. –Hello?! Anyone?! Thalia?!- No reply.
As I started walking to my next destination, I thought of Aimee. She always had different coloured hair, but now it was a faded brown/red, with mouse blonde roots. She was kind of into gothic, spiritual stuff, mostly wearing black clothes, but today she was wearing boots, black jeans and a band tee. She had so many piercings, a nose ring, belly bar, her right ear was covered, and she had 4 tattoos, one on each leg and one on each arm. She was pretty cool, and very short, it's what makes her cute. She's so friendly and energetic. I wondered if she was hurt somewhere in this place.
I went back past the entrance and past the locker room, up the stairs, and found myself outside of classroom 1A.
-What is with these doors not opening?
I left the door alone and carried on down the hallway, ahead of me was the next staircase to go to the 3rd floor, and to the right was classroom 2A, so I first checked out the classroom, inside was nothing but another dead body, but this one was a skeleton, it must have been here for a very long time.
-How long has this been going on for? - I shivered and walked out of the classroom, Next to me was classroom 3A but it was impossible to get to it, there was a huge hole in the floor.
-Hmm, going to have to go back down to get to the other side... or upstairs maybe, I'll check upstairs first.
Heading back toward the staircase I caught something shining in the corner of my eye. I looked around and couldn't see anything so I decided to ignore it.
Upstairs was a reference room, but of course, it was locked.
-Darn! Back to the 1st floor I go, I guess. - I was getting tired at this point. And hungry too, I didn't know how much time had passed to be this hungry, which reminded me, I took out my phone but it was out of battery.
-Typical.
Jogging back down the stairs to the 1st floor I ran to the other side of the building and up the stairs.
I found the infirmary. Opening the door, I felt cold, a sudden shiver went down my spine and made me feel on edge.
-Something's not right, this room feels dangerous. - I whispered to myself, cautiously.
Creeping into the infirmary, I saw beds, medical equipment all old and rusty, and a desk with a diary on it. I kept creeping closer to the diary, as I went to pick it up, suddenly the pages started turning on their own.
-Ah!- I jumped backwards and nearly fell over.
The pages stopped turning and I saw a drawing of a girl with black hair in a red dress.
-Is that…? - I stopped halfway and gulped. I could feel someone, or something, cold, breathing behind me, almost giggling in my ear.
I was too afraid to turn around, but there was not much else I could do. I saw a pencil on the desk and carefully grabbed it, just to be safe. As I turned around, I readied my weapon.
"I'm watching you."
There was nothing there, but the voice definitely was. It was the voice of a little girl, and it was the most frightening thing I'd ever heard. I darted toward the door and it was locked. When I turned back around the girl I saw in the diary was stood right in front of me. I clenched the pencil in my fist and tried to stab her with it in the arm, but she disappeared and the pencil fell out of my hand.
-What… She's gone? Was that my imagination? - I turned to the door again and it was open, so I ran outside and shut the doors behind me, reminding myself to never go back to the infirmary.
I walked down the hallway, head throbbing and exhausted, I stood outside the science lab, it was locked. I carried on my journey down the hall looking for anyone alive to even talk to before I went crazy.
All of a sudden, I felt myself fall to the ground, walls around me crumbling, the floor was shaking aggressively.
-What's going on now?!- I crawled backwards till I was leaning against a wall.
After a while the shaking stopped, I stood up and looked around. The hallway looked somehow different. I could have sworn there was a window there.
I decided it was just my imagination, and carried on.
-Classroom 3A, what I went through to get to you, you'll never know.
I opened the door, and of course, nothing interesting was inside, just small tables and chairs.
I let out a big sigh.
-Why am I here? Please let this be an annoying nightmare or something!
I went upstairs one last time. There was a boy's bathroom and a girl's bathroom.
-Thank the heavens! I really need to go… Wait, you're kidding me! - The boy's bathroom was locked.
-Well then, girls bathroom it is, I guess.
I went inside and did what I had to do, as I was in a hurry I had no time to look around. When I came out from the stall I noticed the sinks were all smashed to bits, there were no mirrors so I couldn't see how I looked, and everything was just… disgusting in general.
I continued on my journey into the unknown.
CHAPTER 2: School sucks
-Ahh…! What is happening?!- I scream as I turn around to see that I had just ran out of classroom 3A. Where was I, and why was I here?
I saw another classroom to my left, classroom 2A, and decided to avoid any more classrooms after that traumatic experience with the…
-Eye….balls….Uh…- I gagged and shook my head.
I decided to go right, and around the corner I found an infirmary.
-Thank god, maybe there will be something in there to help me! - I let out a sigh of relief, but it didn't last very long, when I tried to open the doors, they were shut tight.
-Is it locked? It almost doesn't feel real…Weird.
I took a step back and decided to look around the hallway. I saw a staircase leading only down, so I gathered I was on at least the second floor of this building. I decided to go down, considering if I wanted to leave, up would not be the answer.
I carefully walked down the stairs, avoiding all the holes in the floor. When I got to the end of the stairs, there were two ways to go, left was a long hallway, and to the right were some doors that seemed like they may have led outside.
-An exit, maybe? - I asked the air, as there was nobody around to ask.
I walked toward the doors, pushed, pulled, shook them and they just wouldn't budge.
-Hmm. Okay, so that's a no. Now what do I do?
I turned around and walked down the hallway, to the left, past the staircase, I found more doors, they seemed like the entrance doors.
-Yes! Maybe these will open?
I walked up to them and pulled and pushed again and still nothing happened. I turned around again, worried, and called out.
-Hello?!- I took a deep breath, waiting for an answer. –Leo? Where are you?! Well… Where am I?... –I questioned myself, my surroundings, even the smell of the air was different.
Opposite the entrance way was another long hallway, so I let my feet drive my body into the unknown. To the right, classroom 5A, and past that was another door, reading Custodians Closet. To my left, classroom 4A, and past that, was a door with Basement written on it.
-None of these doors seem like a good idea, but I'm all alone and can't get out, I haven't got much choice.
I chose to go to the classroom on the left first, holding my breath as I walked in, nervous about finding another body.
-Oh.
I looked around and began breathing normally again. There was nothing but tables and chairs. I left the room, feeling better about what was going on. My next door was classroom 5A, and as I walked in, I couldn't go any further than 3 feet, there was a massive hole in the ground. Beyond the hole, there was an item of some sort laying on the ground, I couldn't make out what it was, but it looked like it could be a key. I decided it would be impossible for me to jump over, so I decided to leave and come back later.
I walked over to the Custodians Closet, but it was locked.
-Maybe that was a key in the other room? If only I had a way of getting to it… Maybe I could use the key to open this door?
My feet took me toward the Basement door, even though my brain said no. -This is the worst decision I've ever made. - I told myself quietly, knees shaking.
Luckily for me, the door was frozen in place and wouldn't move.
…
-I need a map or something, this place is huge! - I said to myself, wandering around the halls like a lost child in a supermarket.
Finally, I found somewhere I hadn't been before. Up the stairs on the West hall, I ended up on the second floor again, but it was the side that I hadn't yet explored.
I walked down the hallway only to see 2 corpses, as if they were holding onto each other.
-Wow… How long has this been going on for?
Further down the hallway was classroom 1A. I went inside, and at the end of the classroom was some kind of contraption with a lever. Should I pull the lever? Should I leave it alone?
I had nothing better to do than walking around aimlessly, so I pulled the lever, and somewhere in the distance, I heard a strange scraping-like noise.
-What did I do now? - I whimpered as I walked out of the classroom.
Deciding to explore some more, I went up the west hall stairs to the 3rd floor.
On the 3rd floor was a reference room. I figured that up the east side staircase there must have been another side to the 3rd floor, as this was far too small to be connected to the rest of the school.
I went into the reference room. There were lots of shelves with books in, none of them were of any use to me, although, wedged behind one of the books, I found a small bag covered in blood. I picked it up and dropped it straight away, it felt squishy.
-What the fuck is in this thing?!- I squealed.
I picked up the bag again and opened it up.
-Ugh! - I gagged and closed the bag again. If my eyes weren't mistaken, that was a tongue.
-Who would do something so wretched?!
I put the bag in my pocket, god knows why, for safe keeping.
I left and went down to the second floor, and took the other stairs back up to the 3rd floor, and found the bathrooms!
I walked into the girl's bathroom.
-Ew.- I looked around and everything I saw was old and manky, covered in dust and broken.
I decided I could hold on for a little longer, so I went back down to the 1st floor.
Walking down the stairs, just before arriving to the first floor, the ground started to shake, and I fell backwards onto my back.
-Ahh! What the fuck?!- I screamed in agony and shock. Putting my head between my knees and leaning against the wall, I waited for the shaking to stop.
About what seemed like 10 minutes later, it stopped, and I slowly stood back up and brushed the dirt off of my clothes and out of my hair.
-Was that an earthquake? I've never experienced one before… That was insane!
I carried on down the stairs, and decided now would be a good time to check out the classroom 5A one last time. As I walked in to the classroom, the hole in the floor had disappeared and I could walk around in the room.
-What? There was a hole here, I'm sure of it… Was it that earthquake that did this? That's not normal at all…- I shuddered and began questioning my very existence.
I walked up to the item I had seen before and picked it up, and sure enough, it was a key.
-Yes! Now I can try to use this on that other room!- I was so excited, though I had no reason to be, I was stuck here, in a place I didn't know, where there were dead bodies everywhere.
I went up to the Custodians Closet door and put the key in the keyhole. I managed to unlock the door, and I couldn't even believe myself.
As I walked in, I found a television, but a very old one, and a closet shut tight. I tried turning on the TV and nothing happened.
-Well that was a waste of my time! - I sighed and left the room.
I decided there was nothing left for me to do so I started to make my way back toward the entrance when…
-Oh!
-Umff!
I looked in front of me and saw that I had bumped into Leo.
-Leo! - I screamed and hugged him as tight as I possibly could.
-Thalia! Ow, ouch… Enough jumping on me, please. - He giggled and hugged me back.
-Where on Earth are we? - I asked him, letting him go.
-Somewhere that seems not like Earth at all. I swear I saw a ghost or something.
-Shut up.
-I'm serious, I think it was Sachiko Shinozaki! - He proclaimed.
-Shut up! - I yelled back at him, not wanting to believe what he was telling me.
As soon as I stopped yelling, there was another earthquake, and we both flew backwards in opposite directions.
-Thalia! - Leo called out to me trying not to lose me again.
Just before I got the chance to call back to him, the floor collapsed.
Chapter 3: Bite my tongue
-God damn it! Where am I now?!- I yelled out, knowing that I wouldn't get an answer.
Looking around I could see I was clearly in a different building than I was before. Similar, but different.
-Just as I find her, I lose her. Typical.- I sighed heavily, stressed out of my mind.
I found myself by the entrance way. I tried the doors, knowing that they probably wouldn't open for me, no matter how much I tried. So I gave up and went down the scary, dark hallway.
-Music room? That's not creepy at all.
I opened the door and went inside.
-It'll be alright. There's nothing scary about a piano.
At that very second, a soulful sound was heard. I looked left and right and back at the piano only to see that the keys were moving by themselves.
-Ah well that's just great! What's next? Spiders?!
Luckily for me, no spiders appeared, but in the corner of the room lay another lost soul, decaying like the rest and covered in maggots, so I'd say it was more or less the same thing.
I walked up to the piano playing, repeating the same tune over and over. I tried to touch the keys but when I did, no sound came out, it was just the same constant tune.
I examined the piano further, looking for any signs of damage or any possible explanation for it to be playing all on its own.
Deep inside I could see something, and as I stuck my hand inside, I couldn't reach far enough.
Getting annoyed with myself, I tried lifting the piano to tilt it and get the item out.
-Fuck this is heavy.- I said with a whimper, realising I was trying to lift an actual piano. Giving up, I left the room and head up the stairs.
I came across an art room, as I tried to open the door I noticed it had a padlock with 5 digits.
Realising that making up the code would do no good and would be a waste of time, I went up the stairs again.
Opposite the stairs, on the 3rd and final floor, was a door that read "Directors Office", and to my surprise, the door was open, as if waiting for me to enter.
-Shit. Where is Thalia? I usually complain about her yelling at me, but I wouldn't mind it right about now.- I spoke to myself out loud, to drown out the silence that was deafening me.
…
The pressure was unbearable. The air was thick and humid. The stench was fowl, giving me a migraine.
Walking up to the directors desk, I tripped over something and landed face first on the hard floor.
Standing back up, I brushed myself off and looked at the floor to see what had made me fall. To my surprise, there was nothing to be seen.
Confused. Upset. Angry. Tired. Hungry. I felt so many things, I wanted to go home. I needed to find Thalia, and get the hell out of here!
I stood behind the directors desk, searching through papers with doodles and scribbles on them, nothing important.
-Aha!
I picked up what seemed to be a birthday card, I flipped it over and saw that it had 5 numbers written on it.
-This must be the code for that other door…
Searching the birthday card, I started to remember something that happened a long time ago at school on my birthday.
…
Everyone congratulated me as they saw me, and those who overheard what was going on later followed in doing so, the same that happened every other year, but that wasn't the case with Thalia. She went to the extra mile like always, and during our break, I walked outside to go and find my friends for lunch, Thalia sneaked up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder.
-Happy birthday!- She yelled, giving me a hug.
-Thanks!- I chuckled, as I hugged her back.
-I got ya something.- A massive grin on her face, she handed me a letter and a wrapped present.
-Aw, you didn't have to!- Not sure how to react, I accepted the gift and letter attached.
Sitting down on the stairs next to my best friend, I opened the letter, although I don't recall what was in it. It wasn't enough for her to just congratulate me, like everybody else. She showed me how much I meant to her as a friend, with the kindest gestures, like this gift.
As I opened it, another grin appeared on Thalia's face. She looked like she was going to yell at me again.
It was a picture frame, but it was like a box. Each side had a photo of Thalia and myself and the times we had spent together as friends.
-Do you like it?!- Thalia yelled at me, smiling, like I had expected.
-I love it! Thank you FGA, this is really sweet of you.- I smiled and hugged her tightly. FGA and CGA were our nicknames we came up with, I was always called "chubby", and she was always "flabby". So we ended up becoming each others guardian angel, and from that came the Flabby Guardian Angel, and Chubby Guardian Angel. It's stupid really, but I enjoy it.
...
I shook my head trying to come back to reality. I really miss her. I took the birthday card with me so I could remember the code to the door.
Checking the rest of the room to make sure I hadn't missed anything, I heard Thalia's voice, or at least I thought I did.
-Leo?! GOD DAMN IT!
-Thalia?! Is that you?!- I yelled, in fact, I almost screamed. Suddenly it was silent again.
-Am I hearing things? No way, that was her voice, it sounded exactly like her…
I slowly started to realise I was standing there, alone, talking to myself out loud, about hearing voices, and so I began to question my sanity.
…
As I arrived at the Art Room door, I looked at the numbers on the card and put them in the lock. The door slowly opened, making a loud creaking sound.
Entering the room, there were what looked like easels covered in white sheets. I walked up to the one closest to me and removed the sheet.
-Damn…
Under the sheet was a canvas of a young girl in a red dress, dark hair and with tears in her eyes. While studying the painting, I could have sworn I recognised this girl.
As I put the sheet back over the painting, a shiver was sent down my spine, and suddenly everything was dark.
-Hello?! Anyone?! FUCK! –I screamed, hoping Thalia would reply.
It was so dark. Black. I felt like I suddenly understood what it felt like to be blind. I couldn't see where to go, I didn't want to trip up over anything. Scared, I fell to the floor, crawling around, searching for the closest wall to hug up against it and wait for this nightmare to end.
Chapter 4: Light At The End Of The Tunnel
-WHAT?! WHERE AM I NOW?! I SWEAR I KNOW KARATE, COME AT ME! –Yelling at the top of my lungs, crying and wheezing, scared and alone, I saw nothing, everything was black, I was lost.
You see, not many people know this about me, but I have a phobia of the dark. Well not exactly the dark itself, more of the things that could be in it that I can't see, so basically I was screwed.
Walking around with my eyes closed, because I was scared I would see something I didn't want to, I reached out my arms looking to grab onto something.
-Whoa… waah! –The ground shook and I fell on my knees on the floor, spraining my wrist trying to keep myself up.
After about 10 seconds of shaking, I felt the strength from my body leave me, and the rest of my limbs fell to the ground to join my knees.
Laying there in agony, waiting for the slow, horrible end to arrive, I saw white.
Everything was white, I still couldn't see anything, but at least it wasn't dark. Slowly the white started to fade little by little as I heard a faint calling of my name.
-Tha…lia.. –I heard Leo's voice, and I think I managed a small smile, although painful.
-Leo? –I whispered, trying to lift myself up, I fell straight back down, remembering that I'd sprained my wrist.
Lifting my head up to look around, I saw paintings of children crying, it was…. Unpleasant.
Then, I saw Leo, on the floor against the wall across the room. He crawled up to me slowly, covered in dust and avoiding the paintings around us.
-Thalia. –He grabbed my hand and I wimpered.
-Ow! Sorry. –I explained. –I think I sprained my wrist when I fell over.
-Don't you ever leave me again! –He layed down next to me and hugged me tightly. I could feel his cold skin touching my arms, not that it was any colder than the floor.
-Leo?.. –I whispered his name, scared that he would disappear again.
-Just promise me! Promise me you're not going to leave me alone again!
-I.. promise.. –I tried to turn around so I could look at his face, but I hurt my wrist once again and hit my head on the floor. –Fuck.
-Are you alright?
-No… -A tear fell down my cheek onto the cold, dusty floor as my voice broke. I gripped my arm with my good hand, and pinched my skin to stop myself.
-Thalia, come here. –Hugging me tighter, he grabbed the hand that I was using to hurt myself, and laced his fingers between my own.
-Leo, what are you..? –I turned slowly, moaning in pain, forcing myself to look him in the eyes.
He stared back at me, and I began to blush. As I went to speak, I was interrupted, my eyes suddenly closed, my breath was taken away, and my whole body was pulled closer to him.
…
I opened my eyes and only looked at his mouth, afraid to look him in the eyes again.
-Did you just.. What.. Leo, why?
I felt the soft touch of his fingers on my cheek, pushing a strand of hair behind my ear. His breath on my neck as he lent in closer to me, and he whispered.
-I love you.
I felt his hand grip on tight to my clothes, his arms where trembling. He must have been terrified.
-I.. –I ran the fingers from my good hand through his hair and pressed my forehead against his. –I love you. –Another tear fell from my eye.
…
The floor suddenly started to rumble and the lights flickered on and off. After about 2 minutes of crying and holding onto each other, curled up on the floor, I heard a little girl giggling all around me, it felt like she was inside my head. When I looked around the room, searching for the source of the giggling, all the walls were covered in long black hair.
I stood up, holding on to Leo's shoulder with my one good hand.
-Great. Now we're trapped for real. –I said, and sighed deeply.
-Hey, it's okay. We'll do one step at a time, yeah? First, we get out of this room. –He gave me a slight nudge and a smile to keep away my worries.
Walking together over to the door covered in hair, I tried to use my good hand to rip the hair off but it wouldn't budge.
-Are there any scissors or something sharp laying around somewhere? –I asked, looking around behind Leo.
While he went to search for something to remove the long black hair tangled up on the door, I decided to examine a cupboard on the other side of the room with glass doors. Luckily there was no hair shutting it closed, so I was able to open the doors and carefully look inside, with one hand, mind you.
All I really found were paint brushes, paint pots, artsy fartsy stuff really. I looked a little closer at the back of the cupboard and noticed a small square shaped button, and so, being the dumb person I am, I pushed it.
The wall next to the cupboard started to move and open into a doorway, but beyond that whole was nothing but darkness.
I turned to look at Leo and ask him if we should go in or stay trapped in the creepy art room forever. His grin gave me an answer. We held hands and carefully walked into the darkness.
Chapter 5: It's dark again.
Once we entered the darkness, the passageway behind us closed rapidly.
It was pitch black, I was scared and so was she. We had nothing but each other.
We held hands, taking slow, small steps forward, trying to feel our way around.
-What should we do? We're literally blind right now. –Thalia pointed out.
-That's a very good question! Um.. –I thought to myself, what if we were stuck in the darkness forever? What if there was no possible way of getting back home?
We walked around a bit more, holding each other close. To the left of me I saw a very faint light, I told Thalia and decided it was better than nothing, so we tried to get closer to it.
Slowly and carefully walking toward the light, Thalia squeezed my hand harder than she was before.
-What's wrong? –I stopped walking and asked her.
-I have a bad feeling…
-Well there's nothing else we can do. –I pulled her to my chest and wrapped my arms around her. -Come here, we'll be fine, I'll do my best to protect you. –I didn't know if we were going to be fine, but I damn well was going to protect her.
-Okay… -She hugged me tightly. Grabbing my hand again, Thalia and I walked towards the light.
As we approached the source of the light, we found a tunnel. I turned my head to look at Thalia, I could just about make out the silhouette of her face. She turned to look at me and nodded. I nodded back, and we ventured off into the mysterious tunnel.
Through the tunnel was basically just a load of bugs and long black wet hair all over the floor.
Once we reached the end, right before our eyes, was one singular chair, with a noose hanging from above it. I turned and looked at Thalia, and could see her staring straight at the noose, hands and legs shivering.
-Well if you've got nowhere else to go… hehehe –I heard a little girl whisper in my ear, and then giggle creepily. I jumped back and accidentally let go of Thalia's hand, making her flinch.
However, Thalia didn't move, she just stood there, staring at the hanging noose.
-If you've got nowhere else to go, nothing else to do, what else is there for you here? –I heard the whisper again.
Before I could even say a word, before I could grab Thalia's hand and make sure she was okay, before I could do anything, I was no longer myself.
I could think, and feel. I could hear everything normally, but I wasn't in control of my movements, or my voice. I couldn't speak, yet I was speaking.
I was scared. I wanted Thalia to run away, to get out.
Chapter 6: The end of us.
Why? Why can't I stop looking at the noose? Why does it look so…. Encouraging?
Leo grabbed hold of my arm, tightly, almost too tightly, it was hurting, he was hurting me.
-Leo! Let go, I'm fine now.
He didn't let go. Instead, he dragged me forwards, toward the chair and noose.
-Leo..?
With a push, I was thrown onto the chair. Leo picked me up and stood me on the chair.
-What are you doing, you idiot?! Get me down from here! Leo! –I yelled at him, trying to get him to stop. –What.. are you.. –I started to realise what was going on. Leo wasn't Leo anymore, and I was in trouble.
After he put the noose around my neck, I struggled hard to get it back off, but it was too late for that. Leo, or whoever was possessing him, kicked the chair from beneath my feet. I couldn't breathe. All I could hear was my own gasps for air, and the chuckle coming from in front of me.
Blue… Purple…. Brown… Black….. White…..
My vision started going through the motion of colours, still trying to hold on to reality, or what was left of it.
This was it. The end. I couldn't see, my body was numb and fell limp.
I heard a last *thump* as if something had fallen, before I could no longer hear a thing. I was in pain before, but strangely, somehow, I felt peaceful.
-THALIA! –Leo screamed. –Oh god, oh no. What have I done? Who… WHO ARE YOU?! –He started to cry, hyperventilating. A chuckle could be heard echoing all around.
-Maybe, just maybe, the "who" you are looking for… Is yourself… hehe…
-NO! I didn't do this! How dare you! Thalia… I'm sorry. I don't know how to make this right, but I'm going to try.
As Leo turned around, the tunnel behind him had disappeared. He was trapped. Scared to turn around and have to look at Thalia again, he simply fell to the ground, where he found a knife laying beside him.
-Is this what you want?! Will this make it right, Thalia? Because I'll do it! I WILL!- Leo started yelling like a maniac, grabbed the knife and laughed hysterically, hands shaking uncontrollably.
He spun around on the floor, and crawled over to Thalia's hanging corpse. Sitting down right infront of her, he took the knife and pulled down the collar of his shirt. Slowly and gently caressing his neck with the blade, giggling, gone insane. *SLICE*
-Oh what a shame… hehehehe…. HAHAHAHAHA! –The girl appeared and stood before them both. Leo collapsed to the ground completely, blood spewing from his neck, gurgling and grunting. Yet he was still giggling. He looked up at the girl standing over his body and smiled.
-You'll lose… this game… one day…
-Yeah well, looks like I won it this time though, doesn't it? Hahahaha!
-Hahahahaha! Hahaha… Haha..ha…
Leo finally stopped laughing, eyes wide open, a smile still on his face. Dead.
The girl picked up the knife that had fallen on the floor beside the dead boy.
-This thing never seems to fail me! Haha! –She giggled to herself, and disappeared.
End.