AFTERDARK TEA TIME
My hopes have been lost, my heart beats so strong
I am not dreaming, true is the feeling
Counting the time - so alone, expecting the inevitable
Shredding my wishes scatter my feelings
Beyond the wall of truth I here myself crying
Searching for a exit on a foggy side of life
I need to find the line, I am forced to touch the sign
~Nightmare, by Rotting Christ
PART 2: BELOW, ABOVE, AND BEYOND
The stairs didn't just descend to a basement level like Mugi and Ritsu had expected. They went further and further down until the flashlight couldn't even hope to touch the ceiling above with its rays. Neither of them knew what was going on, where they were going, or how to get out of this. All they knew was that Azusa and Yui were gone, and that last room certainly wasn't safe. Ritsu was behind Mugi and Mio, and was using all her willpower not to cry. The original plan had been to run, but running down an endless flight of concrete stairs seemed like a recipe for a broken spine.
Ritsu couldn't get over it though, Azusa and Yui, her friends, were dead. She felt awful that she didn't feel worse. The two of them dying like that was just so surreal she had trouble accepting it had even happened. Now she was wondering why they even left the school. Getting randomly hugged by shadows seemed a lot better than watching your friend get eaten from the inside out by worms, in hindsight. That image of Yui dying set Ritsu's gag reflex off, and made her stomach do a flip. She began imaging happy things to block that picture out.
Eventually they made it to the bottom of the stairs, which lead to what looked like a service tunnel for somewhere like a mall. Rusty pipes were traced along the walls and ceiling, dripping everywhere and leaving sporadic murky puddles that varied in depth. There were more light bulbs overhead, providing enough light for Mugi to spare the flashlight.
"Is this… the basement?" Mugi asked, splashing through a puddle and getting her socks wet.
"Can't be, we're probably half a kilometer underground." Ritsu answered. "How're you holding up Mugi? I can take Mio if you want."
"It's okay, I think she fell asleep." Mugi pleasantly replied, more pleasantly than Ritsu would have liked. "She looks so cute right now."
"I guess you have to appreciate the little things." The drummer shrugged. They immediately ran into a problem, though. They ran into a four way intersection. "Well… this looks problematic."
"I know how these kinds of places work!" Mugi boasted, her voice echoing off the wall of the narrow tunnels. "You just keep going left and you find the exit."
Ritsu looked left, and saw a humanoid form pass through the darkness some five meters away in that direction. She gulped, "Actually, let's go right instead. I don't think we're alone down here."
"Should we run?" Mugi asked.
"Only if things start getting hectic." Ritsu replied. In the distance, down the left passage, they heard what sounded like an animal moaning. It sounded something like a pig or boar, but more unnatural. The cry echoed off the walls like Mugi's voice had, making the ground vibrate ever so slightly. "Yeah, be prepared to run if we hear anything moving towards us."
Mugi nodded and they began their exploration of the underground tunnels. The right passage didn't branch off into other directions like the left one appeared to. Instead, it occasionally twisted and turned, quickly making the two of them lose all sense of direction. Ritsu felt envious of Mio, who was apparently sleeping her way through all of this. They went a little further, and the passage descended some twenty centimeters into water. It went up to their shins, and was icy cold. Above, there were only a third as many lights guiding the way, and the water was nearly pitch black.
"Maybe we should try another way…" Ritsu frowned.
"We've been walking for almost ten minutes, is water so bad?" Mugi didn't seem to like the idea of backtracking.
"Yeah, I guess you're right…" Ritsu scratched her head. "Maybe this will actually lead somewhere."
The two of them sloshed through the water quite loudly. Mugi was considering using the flashlight again, being that they could only see a few meters ahead in the dark, but decided against it since it was hard to operate it while holding Mio. This branch of the journey just went in one direction instead of making all sorts of turns like before. While neither of them could be sure, chances were they were far beyond what constituted as school grounds.
"So, Mugi… I guess… I guess this is the end of the Light Music Club, huh? Being out two guitarist and all. We're right back at the beginning." Ritsu had no idea why she was saying this. She just felt like they needed to say something to drown out the plethora of horrible noises in the background.
"I guess so…" Mugi sighed, mournful yet strong. "Maybe this is all some sort of dream, or maybe if we make it out, everything will undo itself. That's what I'm hoping anyway."
"That'd be great, wouldn't it? Just… god damned it I'm so scared right now Mugi. I hate how we're sloshing off into the unknown and acting like we know where we're going. I hate not having a plan or direction."
"We weren't really presented with a lot of options." Mugi reminded her. "At least you're with me. That makes me feel a lot better."
"Thanks, I really appreciate it, kind of. Glad to see you're holding up well though. I'm still trying to figure out why this is even happening to us. Did one of us disturb some ancient temple nearby, or steal a relic? That's the kind of stuff that starts this in movies and video games."
"I've never stolen anything in my life, so it certainly wasn't me."
"Yeah, Yui and Azusa don't come off as thieves either. So it's probably not that, but, maybe we were just at the wrong place at the wrong time? Maybe this school is like this every year around this time, and we were just unlucky."
"When we get out, we'll have to make sure it never happens to anyone else."
Ritsu was going to say something, but noticed something rather disturbing. The two of them seemed to be making far too much noise in the water. She stopped moving, Mugi did the same, but the sloshing continued for a brief moment.
"Is something wrong?" Mugi looked back and asked her.
"I think… I think something's in the water with us." Ritsu whispered. "Keep walking for a moment, then stop.
Mugi did so, marching forward for a few second then stopping. Sure enough, the sound of someone moving through the water continued behind them. Ritsu slowly turned around, and saw water ripping outwards a few meters behind them. Nothing was there, but it sure looked like something had been tailing them, trying to match its footsteps with their own. Ritsu stared at that spot in the water for a moment longer, then saw the black liquid stir slightly, like something was trying to move forward slowly without moving its feet.
"M-Mugi…" She exhaled.
"Yes, Ricchan?" For the first time so far, Mugi sounded worried.
"Run."
Without a second though, the keyboardist held Mio tight and began running forward as fast as she could. Ritsu was right behind her, and the loud splashing of something behind followed. The drummer nearly wet herself when she heard heavy, animalistic breathing down her neck. Above, the lights began to burn out one by one as they passed underneath. It wasn't just some invisible monster chasing them through the water, but the very darkness itself. At their feet, the water turned from a dark brown, nearly black, to a rusty crimson color, like blood. Running some fifty meter with that thing hot on their tails, the water ended and they were running on concrete again. The passage looked more dilapidated, like the kitchen they had passed earlier. The walls were stained with mildew, mold, and the pipes were rusted to the point of complete uselessness.
Their sides burned and their legs hurt from sprinting such a long distance in such a short time. There was no time for rest though. Behind them, the sound of heavy hooves clicking against the concrete was following. With it was the occasional animalistic grunt or snort. The lights were fewer and further between, leaving the two in near pitch blackness. Any details of this passage were pretty much invisible in dim light. All Ritsu and Mugi could tell was that the walls were covered with that same brown canvas stuff from before.
But ahead was some sort of light of salvation, faint fluorescent lights lit up the wooden stairs of the school. The stairs looked exactly like the ones from Sakuragaoka, and this prompted the two girls to muster the last of their strength and energy into a headlong sprint to the stairs. Ritsu, still behind Mugi, began to feel a sense of hopelessness as she felt hot breath of some kind of unearthly animal breath against her back. She could smell it, and it positively reeked of carrion like sunbaked roadkill.
Just as they reached the stairs, Ritsu heard teeth snap right behind her, and that awful breath right on her neck. As soon as her feet hit the first wooden step, the sound of that animal chasing them ceased. The drummer had no more energy from running; she collapsed against the stairs and looked back in dread to see what w-
Behind her was the first floor of the school in the dark, like it had been before they reached the kitchen. Her eyes went wide with both relief and terror. It was if those agonizing minutes of running from spiritual monster had never happened. Every breath burned, her sides were on fire, and her legs ached.
"What... what…" She desperately tried to make sense of this while panting out that same word over and over.
Mugi sat at the top of the first set of stairs, laying Mio down next to her gently. She was covered in sweat, just like Ritsu, with her face red, and her breathing ragged. Mugi wiped some of the sweat off her brow, and then sighed, "L-Looks like we made it, huh, Ricchan?"
"New rule, let's stay in the school from now on. That was too close…"
"How will we get home then?" Mugi asked the obvious question.
"I don't know… let's just find a nice, safe place then stay there the rest of the night. No more exploring, nothing good comes out of it."
"Do you think the clubroom is safe?"
"I don't know, I'd rather try somewhere with fewer ways in, like the roof." Ritsu suggested. "Maybe someone could see us from up there too."
"That certainly would be good. Let's try that."
"Yeah, just… let me catch my breath for a little while."
Ritsu crawled up the stairs to sit with Mugi. The keyboardist immediately grabbed her and hugged her tight. "I'm not letting go of you, Ricchan." She said, "I'm not letting anything happen to you."
"T-Thanks, Mugi." Ritsu found herself blushing.
For the next half hour, the two of them sat there in silence. Even when they were ready to go within minutes, neither of them had the courage to stand up make the journey upstairs quite yet. The school was alive with sounds that kept the firmly afraid to go anywhere. Footsteps, the occasional moan or whimper from upstairs, faint clicking and creaking noises. Every noise, to them, was just another trap or attempt to lure them somewhere dangerous. But, just sitting there would get nothing accomplished. Ritsu stood up, and Mugi followed, picking up Mio again.
"Ready?" Ritsu asked.
"Mhm." Mugi nodded.
"Let me take the flashlight this time."
Mugi handed it over, and they began walking up the roof. They only got a few glimpses of the halls from the stairs, but saw how much they had changed. Desks and chairs lay strewn about in the hallways, with broken glass spread across the floor. Torn school uniforms were stuck to the walls with nails like banners celebrating unholy victory over all things natural and right in the world. Ritsu was even more jealous of Mio now for being asleep. From the classrooms they could hear faint whispers and voices, none of them in Japanese, or at least any dialect they knew. The voices sounded closer to Latin than anything else.
Despite the haunting atmosphere of the changed school, the trip up top was happily uneventful. The air outside was chilly, but not unnaturally chilly. The sky was solid black, no stars; the darkness limited visibility beyond the school entirely. From up there, the school looked like a standing island amidst a sea of total blackness.
"So much for anyone finding us…" Ritsu grumbled. "At least we should be safe, and… oh who am I kidding? We're probably as safe here as anywhere else."
Mugi set Mio down again, laying her gently onto the concrete below. She sat down next to her, cross legged. "Hmm, I can't hear all those noises from inside up here. That's a good thing."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Hmm, I wonder what time it is right now."
"Probably around seven or eight, but I don't think that matters here." Mugi answered. "Ricchan, are you afraid that we'll die?"
"Of course I am!" Ritsu snapped at her. "What kind of question is that?"
"I was just wondering… because…" Mugi began fidgeting slightly. "I've never been kissed on the lips, and we're going to die-"
"Oh shut up, you." Ritsu cut her off before sitting down with her. "Just because I'm afraid we could die doesn't mean I think it'll actually happen. What happened to Yui and Azusa… it was… I just can't see it happening to any of us if we just play it a lot safer from here on out. Don't worry, Mugi, we'll be okay. I think you're very sweet, but I don't really want to kiss you right now."
"Alright, uh, sorry I said anything…" Mugi blushed heavily.
"Don't worry about; we tend to say silly things when we're scared." Ritsu replied. "But hey, look on the bright side; you probably lost a bunch of weight from running earlier."
"You think so?" Mugi immediately smiled.
Ritsu nodded and found herself standing up, "You bet." She assured the keyboardist. It was a futile attempt to lift the deathly atmosphere upon them. The feeling that they were on an island amidst a sea of whirling darkness really did a lot too crush their hopes. The drummer felt strange, like she had this unexplainable urge to step to the edge of the roof. It wasn't just like a normal urge, it felt like a physical urge. Like the urge to eat, sleep, or masturbate. She found herself unable to resist it, and began walking towards the side of the building like she was hypnotized. An obscene thought entered her head:
Wouldn't the best way to escape this place be to just leap over the edge? Take your own life so you have some dignity in death. Don't give the forces here the satisfaction of taking you!
Something inside Ritsu made her actually consider this; something that was both malicious and unnatural. Terror filled her as she began to get closer and closer to the edge. Her body was moving on its own with a mind to leap off the edge headfirst. She was mere meters away when Mugi grabbed her from behind.
"Ricchan, what are you doing?" She frantically asked the drummer.
All of a sudden, Ritsu was herself again, with full of control over her actions. She was having trouble controlling her heartbeat after that. "Thank you, Mugi, thank you!" Ritsu quickly said, laughing once to herself. "We need to get off the roof though, something almost made me jump."
They turned around, and both gasped in unison at what stood at the other edge. Mio was awake now, standing with arms outstretched and facing them. She looked like she was about to lean back and plummet down.
"Mio-chan, get down from there!" Mugi shouted, letting go of Ritsu and running towards her.
Mio looked at her with blue eyes that belonged to someone else. Smiling, she said, "If you hurry, you two can make it out in time before things get worse. The front door is open now, the sacrifices have been made."
"Mio!" Ritsu screamed. Moments before Mugi could reach her, Mio gracefully leapt off the edge. The two of them crowded together at the edge. They heard Mio's body hit the ground, but couldn't see it in the darkness.
"No…" Ritsu shook her head. "No, no, no, no, no!"
"Mio-chan…" Mugi said beneath her breath. Both of them couldn't believe what had just happened. One moment Mio had been laying there napping, then the next she had been possessed and thrown over the edge.
"Mio… no… this can't be happening! Mugi, tell me that didn't just happen!"
"That… di-" Was all Mugi managed to say before she broke off into sobs. She lunged at Ritsu, holding her tight, practically wailing, "Don't leave me, Ricchan! Please, don't leave me like they did!"
"I'm not going anywhere, Mugi." Ritsu said through gritted teeth. Tears were running down her cheek; her hands were shaking; her throat was dry; and her head was pounding. Although it had been said before, this couldn't be real. This was just some awful nightmare, hallucination, something. Now again, Ritsu felt that urge to throw herself off the ledge after Mio. Holding onto Mugi, she slowly walked back to the stairs, step by step. "Something is pulling me, making me want to follow Mio. We have to get off this roof."
"But where do we go now?" Mugi asked, still in the middle of crying.
"She said the way out was open, let's go that way." The drummer replied.
"But what if it's another trap?"
"Do you have a better idea?" Ritsu was harsher than she meant to be towards Mugi. She hated to just move on, not saying a damned word about Mio's apparent death but… "I'm sorry Mugi, I'm sorry I'm not saying more about Mio, Yui, and Azusa. I know how I look like I didn't care about them, but we need to focus on our own survival first. We'll cry for them together later, okay?"
"O-Okay." Mugi wiped the rest of her tears away. "I'm so sorry about Mio, I know you two were-"
"I said later Mugi; we can't start breaking down now." Ritsu cut her off.
Without another word, they held each others' hands and entered the school again. It was even worse than before they had come up on the roof. The walls were covered in that same brown canvas, but this time is was torn and tattered, sometimes lying in messy piles on the floor. Rusty, broken desks cluttered the hallways of the first and second floor, making getting down to the ground floor more difficult than it should have been. The whispers had grown in cacophonic shouts of madness that forced the two girls to move as quickly as they could. After what felt like an eternity, they made it to the ground floor. Immediately, their hopes making it out unscathed plummeted.
The lights were on, but only cast a dim, red glow over the long hallway out. All the doors to the classrooms were boarded up with nails; many of which had fetish dolls nailed to their fronts as well. From the ceiling hung countless ropes of rusted chain that either ended in manacles or meat hooks. The ground was free of desks, but had tools of butchery scattered amongst bloody bones. The bones, thankfully, appeared to be from cattle and not humans. That didn't stop the whole hallway from stinking like death.
Mugi wretched once, and felt her eyes water. "R-Ricchan, this is…"
"I know, I know, but if what Mio… or whoever was in Mio was right, this is the last leg of our journey. Come on Mugi; be brave for a little while longer!" Ritsu did her best to encourage her last and now best friend.
"O-Okay…I'll do my best…" Mugi stammered. She placed her hands on Ritsu's shoulders and followed her that way. Ritsu held her breath as she pushed past the chains ending in hooks. Both of them kept expecting something to happen, like the chains animating and butchering them. It was difficult to walk while having to avoid chains from overhead, and the countless disturbing objects underneath. Ritsu knew that if she wasn't careful, she'd step on something that put a hole right through her shoe and give her some disease. There were shears, knives, hatches, hooks, and even a few shut bear traps mixed around the scattered bones.
Ritsu flinched as she heard knocking from behind some of the barricaded doors. Knocking and what sounded like someone desperately trying to claw their way out.
"It's just a trick right, those noises I mean?" Mugi whispered to her.
"Yeah, of course, don't fall for it." Ritsu answered her.
"I won't." The keyboardist assured her. "I have another question."
"Shoot."
"Will we still make music after this? I'd really like that, even if it was just the two of us…"
Ritsu put her hand over Mugi's. "Yeah, we'll do that. I promise, even if it's just you and I. We can be called Hairbands and Eyebrows, we'll be famous, and sell a million records. In fact, if we make it out of here, I'll even kiss you on the lips."
"That would be…" Mugi didn't really know what to say. Fluffy talk while walking through what looked like a slaughter house just didn't mix. "…let's just get out of here, Ricchan."
"Yeah, we-…oh my god…" The words were stolen from her mouth when she saw what awaited them ahead. Maybe five meters between them and the door, which was propped open with a normal looking chair, was one last obstacle.
Azusa. Once the group's cute little kouhai, now a spectacle that sent Ritsu reeling back, nearly screaming. Mugi, on the other hand, screamed loudly and burst into a fit of tears at the sight before them.
Her naked body was suspended in what was a spider web of barbed wire. The serrated coil was wrapped around her one wrist, just past her elbow where her arm had been removed, around her ankles, and around her torso in several places. The wire had left her covered in tiny cuts, each oozing a trickle of dark colored blood. Her throat was cut, with her head hanging limply to the side, and her hair fell freely down her back. It was a small miracle her face couldn't be seen by the two surviving girls. The inside of her thighs were smeared with her own blood, originating from her crotch as it looked like. And in one last attempt to rob Azusa of any dignity she had in death, pretty much every variation of the word 'whore' was scribbled across her body in black ink.
"Who… who would do this?" Ritsu whispered. Her head was spinning, and she would be amazed if she came out of this even remotely sane in the long run. Watching her friends die had been one thing, but to see them crucified with barbed wire was something else.
"We have to help her!" Mugi shouted, shoving past Ritsu.
The drummer grabbed her and pulled her back, "No, Mugi, don't!"
Mugi shoved Ritsu away effortlessly and ran towards Azusa. The blonde looked for a way to get her down right away. The ground was littered with tools, so at least one of them had to help her. Ritsu caught up with her, and realized right away that Azusa wasn't breathing. With all the blood around her wrist, torso, thighs, she could have died from any one of those injuries. The strands of barbed wire around her were attached the floor, walls, and ceiling, and were going to be a pain to get around.
Mugi found a set of shears that looked strong enough to cut the wire. Ritsu put a hand on her wrist, "Mugi… Azusa… we can't help her."
"How can you say that?" Mugi pushed past her again, "She's our friend and I'm happy to get a few cuts from this wire to help her!"
"No, Mugi!" Ritsu pulled her back once more. "Mugi, Azusa's… Azusa's… she's dead and we can't do anything about it!"
For a moment, the only sound that could be heard was Ritsu's heavy breathing. Mugi's shears dropped, clattering off the ground loudly. She looked up at Ritsu, with heavy tears spilling down her cheeks. "But… Ricchan, I never got to say goodbye."
"Mugi…" Ritsu sighed again, and then grabbed her into a hug. "It's okay," she whispered into her ear, "Azusa knows you cared about her."
"Azusa-chan, Mio-chan, Yui-chan; they're really all gone, aren't they?" Mugi asked in a surprisingly calm voice.
"I don't know, Mugi, I hope not."
"No time for tears, like you said. It's hard though, Ricchan, but I'm trying my best not to cry."
"You're doing a good job Mugi, just keep with it awhile longer and then you can cry as much as you want. Like I said, we'll cry together, but we're too close to the end to just give up and become like Mio. Here, let's take those shears and cut a hole against the floor for us to crawl out of."
"Yeah, I'll do that…" Mugi took a deep breath and picked up the shears again. She moved to the bottom right corner, which had next to no Azusa taking up space there. Slowly, the blonde keyboardist began to clip the first wire. There was a lot of resistance, and it took pretty much all of her strength to get it to break. Meanwhile, Azusa's foot was the corner of her eye the whole time. She held her breath through most of it, being that the carrion smell of the room was even more awful when closer to the ground. After several minutes of uneventful clipping, Mugi managed to clear tiny little spot just big enough for the two to escape out of.
There was no time for merriment. Behind them, Ritsu saw some of the clutter on the ground begin to shift just at the edge of the darkness where her vision ended. In the air, the chains began to sway as if something was moving aside.
"Mugi, it's back!" She exclaimed in a loud whisper.
"Okay, then I finished just in time." Mugi breathed a sight of relief. They could now hear heavy footsteps getting closer. The steps were slow, deliberate, but wouldn't take long to reach them. "You first Ricchan."
"I can't do that, you made the hole, you go first." Ritsu argued quickly.
"No, I want you to go." Mugi was stubborn at the worst possible moment.
"We're not arguing this; get your blonde butt on the other side!"
Mugi crossed her arms, "I'm not moving until Ricchan does."
"Mugi…" Ritsu growled, but obliged. The hole in the barbed wire didn't leave a lot of wiggle room. She had to get down on her belly to crawl through it using her elbows mostly. Even then, the points of the wire picked and tore at her blazer from behind. Moving as fast as she could, she made it to the other side in some twenty seconds. "Okay, now come on!"
Mugi followed, but immediately ran into problems right away. While Ritsu's skinny, boyish body allowed for easy access to the other side; Mugi's larger frame and much larger breasts had her stuck in the middle. The barbed wire stuck to her back, just below the shoulders, piercing into her flesh and stopping her from making any progress.
"R-Ricchan, I'm stuck, help!" She pleaded, trying desperately to wiggle forward. Ritsu quickly grabbed the shears from the other side, giving her a few cuts as she did so. She went to cut the wire pinning Mugi down, and saw that the lights the way they had come were going out one by one.
"I can't break it!" Ritsu shouted as she squeezed the shears with all her might. The lights just above them flickered out, and almost immediately Mugi let out a surprised scream in the dark. The back of her blazer tore loudly as something tried pulling her back. Ritsu couldn't see it; she just grabbed Mugi's hand and pulled. If Mugi ended up with a few cuts on her back, she could deal with it. She pulled as hard as she could, determined not to lose Mugi like she had Azusa.
"I'm not letting go Mugi, I'm not letting go!" She screamed. Mugi screams of terror and pain were nearly deafening to Ritsu, and gave her more motivation to pull harder. Whatever had Mugi began trying to drag her back with even more force. Ritsu felt herself losing this tug of war, and grunted once again, "Not… letting… you go!"
As she finished those words, the monstrous force that had her friend made one inhumanly powerful yank. Mugi's hands were pulled out of hers, and the force of the pull sent Ritsu falling face first into the barbed wire. Ignoring the cuts all over her face and hands, she pulled herself away from the strings of razors. In the dark, Mugi was now gone from sight, but her scenes still remained. Ritsu sat there bleeding, and couldn't do anything but listen.
She heard what sounded like something stabbing into flesh over and over, and liquid splattering. Squishy ripping sounds; screaming; something breaking and snapping; more screaming; the sound of something wet smashing against the wall; no more screaming. All she could hear was a faint gurgling sound, and the sliding of something heavy being dragged back through the darkness.
This is it… they're all dead, all my friends are dead. They're all gone and I couldn't save Mugi or Azusa. I don't deserve to be alive; I'm not the one who should have made it to the end. Mugi should have lived instead of me, her, or Mio or… any of them! They all had so much going for them, and I'm just useless me. Why did I get to live when they all didn't? This isn't fair!
Whether or not is a blessing or a bane, the lights flickered back on. On the other side, blood was splashed across the floor, mixed with bits of bone and blonde hair. Tattered of flesh hung from the barbed wire just above where they had crawled out. On the wall to Ritsu's left was stain spread outwards, where it looked like Mugi's head had been violently smashed in. A thick trail of blood spread back into the darkness. The sundries littering the floor
Ritsu stood up and ran the other way. Her mind focused on getting home and nothing else. If she focused on what she had just seen, she would go completely insane. She pushed past the previously locked doors like they were made of paper. Outside, it was chilly, windy and looked like a perfectly normal evening. There was nothing abnormal about the school from the outside as she ran across the front lawn. She could see the lights of houses and buildings, and now it looked like the entire evening had just been like any other. Ritsu wanted to feel relieved, but she couldn't, she felt like she was the only person left in the world. She felt like whatever had changed the school was still after her.
She ran around the corner and towards the direction of her house. She tried to think of what she was going to say to her parents, but couldn't even begin to think of how to describe her night. Nobody would believe her, especially if none of her friend's bodies could be found. Ritsu slapped herself on the face as she ran, trying to wake herself from the nightmare. No matter what she did, she couldn't wake up.
The drummer ran around another corner and face first into a passing pedestrian. It looked like some college guy, dressed in jeans and hooded sweater. He had the hood up and was smoking a cigarette.
"Hey, better watch out who you run into, strangers can be dangerous." He joked, and then nodded towards a parked car across the street. Ritsu realized that this street was particularly dark, had no streetlights, and all the houses looked like they were dead somehow.
"S-Sorry, my bad." She shivered, and tried to run past this man.
He grabbed her by the wrist before she could get anywhere. "Hey, where are you off to so fast?"
"I need to get home, let me go!" Ritsu growled, trying to push away from the stranger. It was futile; he had at least twenty kilos on her, even if he was only a little taller. Two other men exited the car from across the street, wearing dark clothes that obscured their features.
"Fancy a ride?" The first man chuckled, yanking Ritsu towards the two others.
"Let me go, I need to get home, my friends are in trouble." She frantically shouted. The two others grabbed her arms, stopping her from elbowing or squirming. That didn't stop her from kicking and shouting, "Seriously, they could be-"
A hand was placed over her mouth, and she felt something pointed press against her back.
"If you don't behave and come with us, you're going to be in trouble." One of the two other men whispered in her ear. Gagged and a knifepoint, Ritsu was dragged through dark towards their sedan with tinted windows.
From one man to another, "Call the boss and said we got a highschooler. She's a scrapper, so make sure he has the right preparations made. I think he'll be happy though, you know how the fighters are always the best in bed."
THE END
Author's Notes and Junk: Basically I spent half a year coming up with various plots for horror stories for K-On! I've scrapped nearly half a dozen and it wasn't until three days before Halloween that I decided I REALLY needed to write one for the holiday. I spent those days writing it more or less constantly and finished it at around 3:00 AM Halloween morning. My goal was to create the single most upsetting story I could within the genres of supernatural and horror. Hopefully I succeeded. What did you guys think?
