Chapter 2

My vision came back to me slowly, allowing a hazy blur of colours to form in front of me. I was lying down, that much was obvious from the aching in my back, I was definitely on a hard floor.

I lifted my head to look. I was at the bottom of a set of stairs, but as I looked towards the top of the flight, I saw it was blocked. What seemed like broken desks and chairs were pushed against the opening and I knew I didn't have the strength to push it.

I lifted my body up and looked forward. There were stairs going down to the floor below me, and to my right was Michelle.

"Michelle!" I gasped as she smiled worriedly at me, "W-where are we!?'

Michelle looked around before shrugging, "Well, we're on a staircase" she joked, "And we can't go up" she said as she pointedly looked over my head at the barricade at the top of the stairs.

"Ow" Michelle jumped up, practically making me pee.

"W-What!?" I panicked, scrambling to my feet, my phone falling out of my pocket and cluttering across the floor.

Michelle shook her head as she rubbed her bare leg, "I think I just got a splinter off this shoddy wooden floor" she sighed, "Sorry for scaring you" she grinned at me, sticking her hands in the pocket of her denim shorts.

I shook my head and went to get my phone, checking it over. Unlocking the screen brought up a picture of Jaime and I at our 17th birthday party. We thought it would be funny to wear tags that say, "Hello, my name is…" and write the other's name on the sticker, so, I had a sticker on my tee claiming I was Jaime and Jaime had Alyssa written across hers.

Checking my phone proved I had no texts and it wouldn't even pick up any signal. "Damn it" I mumbled, "Does your phone have any signal?" I turned to ask Michelle.

Michelle was staring at the ground but her eyes moved up as I turned, "Hmm?" she asked before my question set in, "Oh" she muttered as she checked her pockets, "I don't know where it went" she frowned.

I nodded, slipping my phone back into my pocket and brushing off my skirt, "Do you know where we are then?" I asked her.

Michelle shook her head, "You've already asked me and my answer's the same, we're on a staircase" she chuckled, "If we want to find out, we have to go down" she said, pointing to the stairs descending downwards.

I shrugged, "Okay then, it's not like we can go up" I tried to joke back but Michelle just walked by me, jogging down the stairs and jumping the last three steps, "Coming?" she asked, turning to look at me.

I nodded and made my way down, focusing on not tripping as I made it to the ground floor. I looked to the left and right.

We were in a hallway, a really long hallway, dotted with doors on either side. "Which way?" I muttered.

Michelle shrugged, "Left" she grinned, pointedly walking in that direction as I scrambled after her.

"How are you so cavalier about this?" I asked her, "We're in the middle of nowhere all alone! And this place is creepy!" I yelled at her, "Stop acting so god damned chipper!"

Michelle stopped and turned sideways to look at me, a calm smile on her face, "Calm down Alyssa" she soothed me, placing a hand on my shoulder, "Look, there are paper doors, we're still in Japan" she smiled, "We'll be fine."

I looked at her and shook my head, "But we don't know anything about Japan! We don't live here! We don't know our way around the place!"

She moved her other hand to my other shoulder, looking me in the eye, "Alyssa! Calm down!" she told me, her hands squeezing my upper arms, "Just follow my lead and we'll be okay" she smiled, her hands sliding down my arms to grasp my own, "Now come on!"

I was then dragged by Michelle down the hallway, her practically skipping ahead of me.

Her confidence made me feel better and I soon found myself smiling slightly, 'We'll be safe' I thought to myself.

"Hehehe… look at the little girl's run…"

I walked into Michelle's back as she stopped instantly, her body tensed in anticipation. I held onto her shoulders and peeked over, seeing nothing down the corridor, "W-What was that?" I whispered down her ear, making sure to keep her black hair out of my mouth.

Michelle gulped audibly, "I…I… It must have been… the wind?" she asked, shaking her head slightly, "Y-Yeah… the wind."

The laughter sounded again, "Hehehe"

"We should have gone right" I muttered to myself, "We should have gone right, we should have gone right!"

Michelle turned and grabbed my hand in a deathly tight grip, tugging me around and pulling me back the way we came, her feet speeding up until we were running down the corridor.

We passed the stairwell we had come down and I looked as we passed. Michelle didn't seem to notice, but I swear there was a little girl stood there in a ragged red dress, staring at us. I locked eyes with her as we went by, but I was gone before I could even talk to her.

"Hehe, I like it when they run, it makes the game more fun…"

I stumbled but continued to run, keeping up with Michelle, "W-Who's laughing!?"I yelled, "Come out and face us like a- ahh!"

My foot caught something, causing me to fall and land on top of something. Michelle tripped as I fell and, since I was holding her hand, she fell to the floor too.

I moved my hands so I could push off whatever I was on top of. My hands met cloth as I pushed, lifting my body up so I could see what it was.

My eyes widened and bile rose in my throat. Beneath me was a girl, her skin decayed and peeling from her bones. One eye was rolled back into her head whilst the other was mysteriously absent, leaving a giant hole crawling with maggots.

I scrambled off the dead girl and instantly choked. I bent over and threw up everything I had it my stomach. I could still see the image beneath my eyelids and the smell kept invading my nose and forcing me to vomit more and more.

A hand held my hair back whilst another rubbed my back. After a few more gags, proving I had nothing left to let out I sighed. My throat and nose stung and tears ran down my face.

"Come on" Michelle whispered, her voice soothing as she helped me stand, "Let's go in here, I'll take care of you" she smiled.

I was led through a door and into a bright room, well, bright when compared to the hallway. The furniture in the room told me we must have been in the infirmary as there were a couple of beds in there.

Michelle moved me over to sit down on a bed and took the curtain that could be drawn around the bed for privacy.

"Here" she handed it to me, "I don't have tissues or anything and you need to wipe your face" she chuckled.

I rolled my eyes as I sniffed, "Yeah, bet I look like shit" I chuckled dryly as I took the curtain from her hand and wiped my face. I cringed as I brought it away from my face to see it covered in sick.

"Gross" I whispered as I threw the curtain away from me, "This place is weird."

I didn't get a response from Michelle. I looked up and she was playing with something on the only desk in the room… a pair of scissors apparently. I frowned, "Michelle?"

She snapped out of whatever trance she was in and turned to look at me, "Huh? Did you say something?" she asked me.

I shook my head, '"No, nothing, are you okay?" I asked her, taking a deep breath to steady myself.

She flashed me a grin, she was back to the Michelle I knew, "I'm totally fine, seriously, it's you I'm worried about" she told me, putting the scissors down as she walked over to me, sitting on the bed beside me.

She put her arm around my shoulders as I leaned into her.

"Don't worry, I'm going to take care of you" Michelle cooed as she stroked my hair, feeding it through her fingers, "Nothing bad is going to happen, you'll see" she smiled down at me.

I looked at her, a dubious look on my face, "Okay, whatever you say Mitch" I chuckled. Michelle only responded by rolling her eyes and letting out a small exhale of laughter before placing her lips on my head.

"You should rest" she mumbled into me, lying me down on the infirmary bed, "I'll keep a look out for any ghosts or goblins okay?' she grinned.

I smiled, "Okay" I agreed with her, laying my head on the pillow and closing my eyes. Sleep came surprisingly easy, despite the jet lag and the circumstances we were in, I felt safe.

What a lie that turned out to be.