Disclaimer: I don't own Vocaloid or the characters: Just the story only. Some of the scenes in this story are from movies I've seen before, so I give those movies credit for those scenes. I know Halloween was like a long time ago, but this is my Christmas gift to readers who might come across this story. Anyway, I've said everything that I wanted to say. Enjoy and thanks for reading! ^.^ Story dedicated to a new friend, thanks for letting me hear your horror story! I've had a friend once tell me that this story reminded her of Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe.

The Edge

Pitter! Patter! The rain had really begun to fall on the never-ending road. Taito clicked his tongue as he squint his eye—the other one was covered with bandages.

"Are we there yet?" groaned Akaito as he played monopoly on his phone.

Knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel, Taito snapped,

"No!" Akaito sighed in frustration as he banged his head against the side window. Frowning, he glanced over at his little brother, Nigaito, whose face was pinkish as his raspy breathing got worse. Like a caring mother, Kaito wrapped his blue scarf around him before hugging and whispering in his ear,

"N, why didn't you tell us you were sick?" Loosening his green scarf, Nigaito wheezed, "I didn't want to be a bother" before coughing down some tea Kaito made for him earlier.

"If you had told us you had a fever long time ago, you wouldn't be a bother like you are now," commented Rinto, eyes closed as he listened to his music through one ear bud, the other one in his brother's, Len's, ear. Dell nudged Rinto in the rib before muttering something about being insensitive. Gakupo, who sat up front, turned to look at Rinto before shaking his head.

Meito, who was in the trunk of the van, chuckled before screaming, "Ow", when a suitcase banged against his head as Taito did a sharp turn. Rubbing his head as he sat up, he hollered,

"Why do I have to be in the trunk?"

"There's no room up here for you, so shut up!" Taito barked, giving an evil eye at the rear-view mirror.

Half an hour of silence passed before Taito drove and parked the van in front of the creepiest motel the gang had ever seen. Then, as if they were in a horror movie, a flash of lightning cracked the dark sky above it.

Turning the engine off, Taito said,

"We're bunking here today." As soon as the words left his lips, the rest of Vocaloids protested. He turned around and glared at them all with a restless eye. "I've been driving for twelve hours straight, and I'm not going any more than I have to. Y'all either sleep in there or sleep in the van," he added before clicking the van door open. Reluctantly, everyone else did the same.

Once Meito got out of the trunk, the boys ran up the worn path and into the slanted western-looking motel as the lightning flashed above them.

At the front desk was the shortest and oldest man they've ever seen, and he was fast asleep, snoring.

"Alright, G and I will get the room keys. Until then, y'all just wait around here," Taito yawned at the others before ringing the bell to wake the old man up. His eyes flashed open like a puppet's just before Taito's finger touched the bell. Fishing a pair of dirty glasses, the old man gave the gang a crooked smile before speaking to Gakupo and Taito.

Exchanging weird glances with each other, the rest of guys sat on the small couches and chairs that made up the motel's waiting room. Glancing away from the cracked motel sign, Len and Rinto scanned the room as the others yawned, talked, or stretched to their heart's content.

The dull paint on the walls were peelings, vases of dried up flowers and strange paintings served as the décor, and a blue-capped janitor was sweeping the floor, badly, with a witch-like broom. Seeing that the twin boys were looking at him, the janitor gave a merry wave before shuffling past the desk, giving them a strange smile.

"What you guys eyeing?"

Rinto and Len jumped before turning around and seeing Meito right at their backs, his brown eyes looking at them both with interest.

"The janitor, what's wrong with that?" Rinto blurted. Meito cocked his head to the side before shrugging.

"Just curious," he breathed before looking outside the window. Rinto rolled his eyes before picking another song to listen as Len took the ear bud off his ear. Closing his eyes, he brought his hands together as if to pray.

As if jolt came straight down on him, he opened his eyes before scanning around the room like mad man.

He couldn't see the others anymore. They were gone, and he was alone in the peeling waiting room. The paintings on the wall were staring at him with blank expressionless eyes, the old man's head, like a puppet, spun 360 and he cackled madly like in those horror movies. Wide eyed and raspy in breathing, Len covered his eyes with his hands to block everything. That's when he heard it.

"You're alright," a smooth voice told him. "You're safe now." Like a desperate idiot, Len slid his hands off his eyes and met teal colored ones. They weren't blank like the pictures', but something about them made Len's insides go on edge. "That's better. There's nothing to be afraid of—", then the eyes appeared on the janitor as the smooth voice crept out his mouth. Bringing a hand to Len's face, he finished with, "—as long as I'm here."

Len's body screamed in fight-or-flight when he saw blood on the janitor's pale hands. Len screamed before pushing him away. His hands trembled uncontrollably when he saw blood fall on his hands. They were leaking from his eyes! The janitor licked his lips hungrily before closing in on Len, pinning him to where he was with his sharp nails.

"You're not as easy as the others, but that's what makes you more interesting," he chuckled as one of his hands crept to Len's eyes. "It would be a waste to let you die with those beautiful eyes." Laughing madly, Len screamed at the top of his lungs as shearing pain came over him.

"Len, it's me!" cried a familiar voice. Len stopped screaming almost immediately before turning his head to his left, eyes shining with tears. It was Rinto. "Bro, what came over you?" he asked weakly.

"More like what happened?" Len asked in a hoarse voice when he noticed that his fingers were trying to dig his right eye out. Moving them away, he heard Gakupo's voice behind him.

"It was all quiet, and then you started yelling your head off and looking around like a crazy person."

"Rinto, Dell, and Kaito tried to calm you down, but you pushed them away," Taito added. "In the end, Rinto pulled you into a hug and cried as he screamed into your ear to get you to shut up as he tried to move your hand away from your eyes."

"What came over you?" Dell asked, raised eyebrow. Len shrugged as he wiped his eyes. The pain in his right one was unbearable. At least it was still in his head.

"A nightmare, I guess." Nigaito shook his head before cuddling into Kaito's jacket. There was a moment of silence before Taito sighed,

"Gakupo and I have the keys to the rooms. Um-Since it's been a long day, we should just skip dinner and get some sleep. We'll split to two in a room. Nigaito gets to bunk solo because he's sick." There was some grumbling at that as some of the guys got a room key and stood by their roommate. Before shuffling to bed, Gakupo shouted,

"Hold it! It's not right to sleep with empty tummies."

"But, we've got no food," Akaito muttered. Gakupo shook his head before racing out the motel to the van. Slipping back a minute later, Gakupo brought a large steamy soup pot, plastic spoons, and bowls.

"Dinner time," he announced, handing Akaito the heavy pot and ladling the contents into the small plastic bowls.

Bed time

Flopping onto the creaky bed, Rinto rolled on his side and slept, stomach gurgling unpleasantly. Len shook his head as he pulled his shoes off, his stomach gurgling as well. In his sleep, Rinto groaned and Len nodded to that as he shuffled towards the bed.

Gakupo didn't tell them what was in the soup, but a few sniffs and pokes told them all they needed to know. But, they were hungry, so they gagged it down with some peppers from Akaito. The peppers helped relief their taste buds, but not by much. Pulling the blanket up to his neck, Len whispered goodnight to his brother before rolling on his side as well. Sleep was out of the question.

Len heard his brother creak onto his other side and whisper,

"What set you off earlier?"

"The janitor," Len blurted without thinking. Opening his eyes a little, Rinto asked, "Why?"

"It was just a nightmare, R. Get some sleep. We have another twelve hours to go tomorrow." Rinto nodded before snoring. Len glanced at his brother wondering: How can he sleep so soundly? Wiping his forehead, a strong smell came to his nose, watering his eyes. Why couldn't Nigaito's medicine smell like flowers or something? Tossing and turning, Len got into a comfortable position.

Pinching his nose, he closed his eyes—not to sleep, of course.

Four hour later

The pouring rain had died a little and the lightning stopped for the most part, but Len could still hear bits of it every now and then. The shower he had earlier—which he hoped he never had to go through again—wasn't what you would call comfortable, but it eased his mind off a bit, and it really helped him stay awake. That was when he little scratches creep up and down the room door. Then, the scratching started on the doorknob. He saw the doorknob turn, but whoever was out there wouldn't be able to get in. It was locked.

Smiling like an idiot, Len got out of bed and leaned by the door—yeah, even though some weirdo or whatever was on the other side, which would really explain how tired and how out of it he was at the moment.

But, that's when everything changed.

Now the doorknob was turning and shaking like mad as furious banging drummed through the door. Len jumped and saw Rinto stumble off the bed, arms flailing.

"Zombies!" he yelled before grabbing Len away from the door, holding him in a tight hug. "They're out to get us," he chanted under his breath. "THEY'RE OUT TO GET US!" he screamed as he sobbed on his brother's shoulder.

Len didn't know what was worse. A mad man trying to get into their room or his brother's gone bananas. That was when a sick image of the janitor crept to his mind. His vision was true! The janitor was out to take their—his—lives!

"Get a hold of yourself!" Len snapped. SLAP! Falling off the bed, Rinto murmured something about having a dream with zombies. Wincing from the erupt wakeup call, the color in his face paled as the banging got worse and his brother's eyes dilated in fear.

"What's going on?" he muttered.

"The janitor—out to get us—my eyes," was all Len could say before his voice cracked. Rinto sighed. Len saw him get to his feet and walk towards one of the room's cabinets, a weird glint in his blue eyes. Opening one of the drawers, Rinto pulled out a silver gun.

"Dell was right," Len heard him say as he inserted some bullets in. "I would find a use for this one day." Looking at Len, he gave him the "Be Quiet" signal as he inched towards the door, firearm close to him like in those spy movies. The banging stopped, and an eerie silence took its place.

Slowly, Rinto lifted his gun towards the door handle as Len quietly went to his side. It was a few seconds before they heard anything. The doorknob began to shake a little, but this time, they saw the small lock above the knob began to turn. Cocking the gun, Rinto took aim at the door handle as the doorknob began to turn 360. The door creaked open as a dead-looking hand slid in.

"HECK!" Rinto yelled before letting a bullet fly, narrowly missing the hand. The hand quickly drew back and the door began to close, but Rinto grabbed it before pulling it open. A tall red-headed figure stumbled before falling on top of Rinto. The fall almost made Rinto touch the trigger again; nearly shooting them both. "Get off of me!" Rinto kneed the person in the stomach before scooting back, gun ready to shoot again.

"Don't shoot," the person said before looking at the twin boys.

"Akaito," Len and Rinto said at the same time. "What the heck were you doing?" Sitting up, he chuckled dryly before responding.

"I was around, so I decided to play a funny joke."

"You could've died!" Rinto roared as he got up and paced around, hands on his hips. "I could've shot your hand off. And, what's so funny about scaring your friends?"

"Just to see your expressions," Akaito answered, uncertain. Rinto looked like he was tempted to shoot Akaito again, so Len quickly pulled the weapon out of his twin's iron grip. As Rinto interrogated Akaito for his stupidity, Len sat on the bed, gun by his side. He brought his hands together as if in prayer before closing his eyes, trying to block the voices of his brother and friend.

That's when it happened again.

He opened his eyes, and he was alone. Slight creaking circled him and he heard the janitor's voice in his ear.

"It's too bad, really. The party of nine is going down to eight." Len turned his head and looked around, trying to find the janitor, but he wasn't there. "It's sad, really," his voice echoed. "He wasn't ready to go, but oh well. I'm sure you'll remember him." The voice then disappeared.

The voices of Akaito and Rinto suddenly came back to him.

"It can't be," he whispered, eyes wide.

"What?" the two asked, looking at Len. When Len looked down at his trembling hands, that's when the fear jolt struck down on him. Racing out the room, Akaito and Rinto followed him, confused.

That's when they met the rest of the gang, with the exception of one.

"What exactly are you three doing this early in the morning?" Dell asked as Gakupo and Kaito lectured them. That's when he, Len, heard it. It was slight, but he heard the sound of a knife slit.

"Nigaito," was the name that slipped out of his and Taito's lips before they both ran to his room.

"Where are you two going?" Meito hollered, sleepily. Pulling a scalpel out from his jacket sleeve, Taito ran to the door and tackled it open, like in those action movies.

The air was saturated with the scent of tea, and a hot tea pot was cooling on the room's cabinet. Through the cloud of tea, Taito and Len could smell something else, and it wasn't Nigaito's funky medicine. From Nigaito's bed was raspy breathing, and from the lamplight, his green hair was soaked with sweat. All they could see was the back of his head for the rest of his body was cocooned around a blanket.

"N, you okay?" Len asked as the others came in. It was slight, but they all saw Nigaito nod.

"Are you sure? You want me to stay here with you?" Nigaito shook his head in response to Taito's question.

"I'll be fine," he answered slowly and carefully, gasping.

"You want the light off?" Dell asked; red eyes narrowed as he tasted the air.

Nigaito shook his head. "I sleep better with it on."

"Okay," Dell said before motioning Taito and Len to leave before closing the door.

After Len's explanation

"Are you sure that it'll happen?" questioned Gakupo, hand running through his long purple ponytail. Len nodded.

"Like, none of us are dead yet, so we still have some time to find the guy," Meito observed. Obviously, he didn't smell that room clearly enough, thought Len, surprised at the large vocab word he used. But, it wasn't right for him to think that, yet.

"So the question is: Where's that janitor now?" Dell whispered in his scratchy voice, loosening his tie. Stroking the hand gun in his holster, which was strapped around his thigh, he whispered to the gang, "We'll go in groups of two. Two of us will guard Nigaito's room while the rest of us hunt down that janitor." Pulling the gun and holding it James Bond style, he added, "The party's not fun when the weird kid isn't on the game." Nodding, he told them to have their phones with them at all times before going down the hallway with Taito, who had an array of sharp objects up his sleeve.

"We'll standby and guard N," said Meito as he pulled Gakupo over. Before the rest of the "hunters" could go "hunt", Akaito gave the two old Vocaloids some homemade pepper bombs.

"Just pull the pin out and throw, but be careful. Your eyes will sting," he warned.

"Got it, A," Meito told him, pocketing the little cherry shaped bombs as he gave him and Kaito a salute as they (Akaito and Kaito) went down another hallway.

"Good luck you two," Gakupo told Len and Rinto. The twin boys nodded before going down their path, gun in Rinto's hands and a steak knife in Len's (the knife was from Taito, king of all sharp objects, of course).

As the two brothers shuffled away from the warmth of their friends and into the quiet nerve-wrecking hallway, their bodies were poised for fight-or-flight. Bringing the silver gun close to his face as he glanced around, Rinto signaled Len to tiptoe as they passed by some open windows. Lightning flashed as they crossed, but the two never shifted their gaze to look at it. They had a murderer to hunt down. It was several minutes later before the two brothers recognized where they were, back at the waiting room.

"Dang, this place is creepy when it's dark," Len heard his brother mutter as he cocked the gun with shaking hands. Len silently agreed as he turned his head left and right with each creaky step he did. The brothers stayed close as they tiptoed their way across the waiting room. It was all going too well. That's when it happened.

Both brothers automatically brought their hands to their mouths so they wouldn't scream. Edging their heads to the right, they could see a short dark figure snoring behind the front desk. Rinto blew out steam from his mouth before muttering something under his breath.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he-um-died in his sleep." Like a child that was going to do night mischief, Rinto waved a hand over the old man's eyes, or where he thought they were. Slowly, Len screwed the lamp on, and they saw the man's milky eyes stare at them, blankly. Len saw his brother give a look of disgust as he poked the old man's arm, making sure he was asleep. "I hate when people sleep eyes open." After a few more pokes, Rinto muttered, "Let's go" before turning the lights out.

That's when they saw and heard the old man fall to his side. A crack later, they heard something roll past their feet as the sound of cackling surrounded them.

"HECK!" Rinto yelled before grabbing Len's hand and running. Their heartbeats were ringing in their ears as the cackling echoed around them. Their legs grew numb as they ran for who-knows-how-long. Their grips on each other's hand never loosened, but remained strong like a well-tended chain. Four hours probably passed before they slowed down to catch their breaths.

The cackling was long gone, but now, they had no idea where they were. Muttering under his breath, Rinto pulled his yellow phone out from his pocket before dialing in Dell's number. One ring, two rings, three rings later, Rinto banged his phone against the gun.

"No signal," he said with grit teeth, moving his phone around to find the bars. "This ain't a horror movie, so give me the bars!" Tucking the phone away, Rinto ran his hand through his messy hair. "Len, what are we going to do now?"

"We're going to go find that janitor. We got to stop him before he commits the murder. The others are counting on us!"

"Yeah," Rinto sighed. "Keep that knife close, little bro." Cocking the gun, he added, "We're not alone." Straining his ears, Len listened for any noises that the rain and lightning couldn't cloak. Was it his imagination or was he hearing raspy breathing coming towards them? In fact, he heard the creak of footsteps edging closer and closer to where they were. "Run," Rinto whispered as he took a step back before bursting into another sprint, leaving Len alone.

It took him a second before dashing down the darkness as well. He had no idea where his brother or the janitor was, but all of that was on the back of his mind. Reaching a dead end, Len elbowed a room door open before slamming it shut as he got in. Breathing a mile a minute, Len bumped his head on the door before breathing,

"Safe."

"Not quite," said a familiar smooth voice as pale hand covered Len's mouth and pulled him back. He felt something bite down painfully on his hand as someone pulled the steak knife out of it. The blade at his neck, he heard the janitor say, "Who knew getting you to fall for the trap would be this easy. At least now, I can get those eyes before I kill you."

Those Eyes, That Smile

If you could describe someone with one word, then life would be easy as anyone would know it. But for Len, describing his killer needed more than just one.

His teal hair matched his eyes and the bangs were quite long—no wonder he wore a cap, but he wasn't wearing it now. His fingers were long and agile looking as he messed with the knife. His eyes were full of insanity and his smile was the same one from earlier at the waiting room. He still wore the same clothes as earlier, but Len could feel something wet on his sleeves.

Licking his lips, the janitor closed his eyes before placing his other hand on Len's shivering cheek. Len tried to push him away, but he, the janitor, had him pinned down to the floor with a good grip.

"Can't let you fly away to alert the flock, little birdie," he whispered as he ran the knife gently over Len's neck. Licking the blood off the blade, he added, "Don't want the lead hawk to fly in. This poor weasel just wants something to dine on." As the janitor leaned in, Len could feel his warm breath on his face as a hand came to one of his eyes. Len quickly shut it, but he felt the janitor's fingers pry it open. "Open up, little birdie. I don't want to damage them more than I've already have."

CRASH! The janitor flinched before looking over his shoulder, releasing his grip on Len. Len stretched his neck up and saw two tall blurry figures, Taito and Dell!

"Drop the steak knife, janitor," Taito growled, a katana in his hands.

"Or, should we call you, Mikuo Hatsune," Dell added, gun cocked and ready to shoot. Hanging from his front pocket were handcuffs and hanging from the other was a police badge. The janitor—no, Mikuo—smiled before standing up, back towards Len.

"You've finally caught me at last, Voyakiloid. And, you've brought along the Yandere, how fitting of you." Taito's hands tensed and he looked like he was going to attack, but Dell gave him a look that said: Not yet. Hold your ground and ignore it. Clicking his tongue, Taito lowered his katana, but only by an inch. Smiling, Dell looked back at Mikuo.

"Thanks for using the generic term, but that's not my name, Hatsune. It's Honne, Dell Honne." Dell chuckled a bit before turning his face stone serious. "You're under arrest, Hatsune, for attempted murder of my friend and murder of that old guy from the front desk. We found the body, you selfish sicko."

Mikuo tucked his free hand in his back pocket and cackled.

"It doesn't matter how many people I kill, you'll never bring me to justice." Hatsune licked his lips before pulling something from his back pocket, a gun. Seeing that, Len did something that was both brave and stupid. He grabbed Mikuo's hand and pulled it back hard before yelling,

"He's armed!" Mikuo screeched before kicking Len hard in the stomach, causing him to cough blood as he slumped against the wall.

"You knew I had to do that, little birdie," he muttered, pulling the gun at the duo. Cocking it, he told them, "This ends here." With that, he shot an array of bullets. Taito and Dell jumped away, action movie slow-mo style. Dell aimed his gun and began to fire back as Taito came in close and went into a sword duel with Mikuo. Mikuo tried to hold them back, but fighting two people (one in close combat and the other from far away) at the same time wasn't as easy as Hollywood showed it.

In the end, Taito got behind Mikuo and held his hands back as he removed his, Mikuo's, weapons and dropped them.

As he walked close, Dell tossed Taito the handcuffs before whacking Mikuo with his, Dell's, gun's handle.

"You knew it was coming," he whistled through his teeth before tucking the gun back into his holster as Taito dropped the janitor on the wooden floor. "Hey Taito, make sure Len's alright." Taito nodded before checking on Len's life signs. Looking up, Taito asked,

"What are you going to do with the psycho?" Dell shrugged.

"Turn him in I guess. It's funny how easy it was to take him down, though." Narrowed eyes, Dell kneeled down and touched Mikuo's face. Curious, he grabbed the fallen steak knife and slid it over Mikuo's wrist. No blood.

"What's the verdict, Honne?"

"The mad man's still out there." Taito thought that Dell would've been disappointed at the news, but he wasn't. Just a closed-mouth grin was on his face as his red eyes twinkled. "The fox thinks he's so clever. Before he knows it, I'll be the one calling 'checkmate' on this game." Looking at Taito, he said, "Let's go."

Taito nodded before picking Len up bridal style.

That morning

"Ow! Rinto, be gentler. I'm hurt you know," complained Len as his brother carried him to the van, bridal style. The rain had finally let up, but it was still gray and cloudy. Rinto rolled his eyes as he set his brother down on the van seat. Seeing the pout on his brother's face, Rinto told him,

"Look, I'm sorry for ditching you. It was instinct. You know the saying, 'every man for themselves.'"

"Well, this man almost died last night."

"Are you still made over that? Dell and Taito saved you."

"And where were you hiding while real men were saving me?"

"It's none of your business, Len! Just get some sleep or something okay. We're meeting Neru, Luka, and Luki in twelve hours. Just try to heal up until then. Don't want them asking too many questions." With that, Rinto left to help the others get the van ready. Len sighed and shrugged as he pulled his seatbelt on, mind deep in thought. The experience from last night—this morning, whatever—still shook him. He was so close to death that he just shut down. If Dell and Taito weren't there, I wouldn't have been arguing with Rinto just now or even still be in the van. The old front desk man dead: that shook him badly when he heard it. The fact that the mad janitor, Mikuo Hatsune, was still walking free: that shook him even worse. At least, he didn't fulfill his goal to kill someone from the group. (His hypothesis was proven false when he saw Nigaito alive that morning at breakfast)

"Len, you okay?" asked a soft voice. Len broke from his train of thought and looked to his right. It was Nigaito, all fit and healthy. How he got into the van without him, Len, not noticing, he'll probably never know.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he blurted, wincing as pain burst over his stomach. Wiping his tears, Len asked him, "How's your fever?"

"It's gone," Nigaito chirped, sipping hot green tea from a Japanese-style cup. Nigaito adjusted his green scarf before going on about a funny dream that he had last night. Len laughed as he heard it before he saw something strange over Nigaito's neck. A thin cut was over it. Seeing it, Len instinctively brought his hands to his bandaged neck before a jolt of realization came over him.

The saturated tea smell, the hints of that weird smell in the air, the raspy breathing, and why they only saw the back of Nigaito's head last night/morning. His prediction tumbled back to him, but how could he ask the question? Did Nigaito even know that he was dead?

"Why are you staring at me like that?" asked a worried/slightly scared Nigaito.

"Um-It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Oh, okay," the green haired Vocaloid peeped before taking another sip of tea, but the cup wasn't in his hands. Cracked, it laid on the floor of the van. Its contents spilled over like blood.

Well, that's a wrap. Thanks for reading my "horror story". Yeah, looking back, I made Len a damsel in distress, and Mikuo the criminal. But hey, I forgot to add him to the group, so I decided to do a twist and make him the bad guy. It's not every day you see someone popular be the bad guy. A good change for once, I say. Overall, I had a lot of fun writing this story, and I got to use a lot of scenes from movies I've seen before: scary or action. Though it was rumbly and sort of confusing in the middle and end, I still think I did a good job. Not the best horror story out there, but a great in my book. Again, tanks for reading! Sorry for the short ending, it's 11 pages so I didn't want to ramble on more than I had to. ^.^