"...There is something about her. I have never crossed paths with her, but she seems as if she's been doing this for far too long."
It's never been this bad before.
Laurie's lungs burned as she ran from the courtyard and into the silent halls of the sanatorium. She's seen people die before, but seeing the Entity take an offering for the first time, seeing those horrible barbs sink into Claudette's flesh, stealing a part of her soul – it was bone chilling, and she wasn't new to macabre.
She ran into a room and her back smacked against the wall. In shock, she slid down until she hit the floor, digesting what she just witnessed. Was Claudette dead? She remembered being told when someone is sacrificed, the Entity takes a part of their soul, and they come back as if they're reset, as clueless and naive as day one, at first – the faded memories come back as they're thrown from the pan into the flames once again, like a massive bout of déjà vu.
Laurie took a deep breath as she attempted to collect herself. She couldn't explain it, but it felt as if her odds had...improved? since someone had been sacrificed. It was a sick thing to think...but she couldn't explain it. It just FELT like she had a better chance to get out of here – maybe alive. Slowly, she got up and quietly made her way out of the small room she had confined herself in.
Her body went tense as another blood curdling scream pierced through the air and a terrible moaning sound occurred – the same sound that happened when Claudette was...taken.
Did another person get sacrificed? Laurie swallowed thickly as a bead of sweat dripped down the side of her temple. Were they all to die? What had gone wrong? Laurie looked towards the direction of where she heard the scream, and her blood went cold. She felt as if there was something in that specific direction. A sense of dread was heavy on her shoulders – she had a feeling that looking in that direction had come with a price.
The urge to hide was suddenly overwhelming as she quickly found a small closet and hid herself into the tight space. She practically held her breath as she watched through a small crack between the door and the frame. If she listened closely enough, she could hear nearly silent footsteps approaching so slowly that she had almost considered it was perhaps Dwight or Meg, nearly choking on mere air as she saw that would've been a fatal mistake.
Michael had been stalking past, his breathing steady and ominous beneath that ghastly mask. Laurie was about to sneak out of the closet behind Michael before she suddenly the crash of a pallet smack down and a grunt of surprise before she heard footsteps running in an opposite direction.
Laurie bit her lip as she knew someone was in trouble. She quickly exited the closet when she heard the noise of the chase fade, and as cruel as it seemed, at this point she was running on self preservation. She assumed only two remained, her, and someone else – she wasn't sure if it was Meg or Dwight. In the time that Claudette and one other had been chased and sacrificed, almost all the generators were completed. There was only one more.
She took careful steps to make the least noise possible as she searched for a unpowered generator. She did not have to search for long as she returned to the courtyard, remembering that their was a generator there that had been worked on, albeit slightly. Her hands worked as quick as she could make them, unjamming cogs, connecting disconnected wires, being careful to not make a mistake. Laurie tensed as she heard a scream, sounding like Dwight, and then the same moaning sound – along with the same sense of dread in the air.
Then there was one.
Laurie stopped working on the generator as she recalled something Meg had told her, 'In the event that we end up getting sacrificed and you're the last one, look for the hatch. It's probably the only way you're gonna get out'a there alive.' Remembering that, Laurie abandoned the generator and began her search, heading within the Sanatorium. She didn't even know what this hatch was supposed to look like. Why was their even such thing as a hatch? Perhaps it was part of the Entity's sick game, to give a feign sense of hope.
Feign or not, Laurie knew it WAS her only hope. It was unnaturally still now that Laurie was the last one.. A heavy energy lingered in the air, feeling like it was attempting to weigh her down – slow her progress. If she listened closely enough, Laurie could swear she heard whispers lingering in the static air, however, it was unintelligible.
Taking a step, she suddenly tensed as she had a horrible sense of danger fall over her. She looked around, but she saw nothing. The feeling only worsened as she assumed a crouch behind a desk – there were not many places to hide in the corridor – preparing to run if spotted.
She heard the knife cutting through the air behind her as she quickly rolled out of the way. Well enough, Michael had snuck up behind her, his butcher knife now embedded into the desk. Laurie rolled on the floor and crawled backwards, watching Michael yank his knife out of the desk. She didn't stay there for long as she rose to her feet and made a run for it, her eyes quickly scanning around for the hatch as she ran through her adrenaline rush.
She looked behind her and nearly screamed as Michael was on her heels, nearly right behind her. There was nothing around this time to impede her brothers knife, cutting into her back – searing red pain was in Laurie's vision as she screamed and willed herself to run faster.
She burst through the doors leading into the courtyard with Michael right behind her. She dashed through a old broken down playset that was outside, quickly slamming a pallet down as she heard the bloodstained knife cut through the air again – once more embedding itself into a piece of wood. Laurie knew her time was brief, but it was a moment to attempt to hide and to lose her brother.
Not looking back, she ran into the Sanatorium and finding another small supply closet. She covered her mouth as she hid, hearing the door she had ran through slowly creak open, a heavy footstep following suit. The heavy door clicked shut, and then there was silence.
Silence.
More silence.
Laurie waited several moments, hearing no indication that Michael was around...other than the door opening and him coming back in, knowing he was IN the building. Laurie slowly opened the door and looked around. The coast had appeared clear, so she had stepped out, her adrenaline beginning to fade and the pain from her injury setting in.
As Laurie turned to go down yet another corridor, her throat went dry and it felt hard to breathe. When she rounded the corner, Michael was standing right in front of her, looming over her lithe form and breathing ominously. She flipped around to run, but it was too late.
Michael's hand shot out and grabbed Laurie by her shoulder, bones crunching underneath The Shape's vice like grip as he threw Laurie at the wall, watching her pitifully crumble to the ground.
The whispers in the air intensified, still unintelligible to Laurie, but Michael could understand the whispers of what was actually The Entity itself.
"You have done well, Michael." It praised.
"You have worked hard, the last one is yours."
Laurie was attempting to crawl away, tears streaming down her cheeks as she ignored the pain and tried to escape. It was in vain and she knew it as Michael slowly walked beside her. Laurie lifted her head and looked up at her brother, almost feeling the need to beg him – however he wasn't going to give her the chance as he roughly wrapped his hand around her throat and lifted her up.
The knife was shoved deep underneath Laurie's ribcage, a loud scream passing her lips as she kicked at her brother, punching him as he withdrew the knife. Michael tilted his head at her as if in question as she continued to kick him, trying to push herself away from him. His grip tightened around her throat as The Shape once again shoved the knife underneath her ribcage, harder this time, through her heart and out her back. Michael withdrew his knife and threw Laurie's body to the side, satisfied with his work as Laurie's vision faded to black.
Laurie found herself waking up in a forest...She didn't know where she was, yet, a part of her did? She couldn't explain it as she rose to her feet, feeling as if she had been here once before. She wandered until she had found the very same bonfire she did before, unexplained memories flashing in her mind.
There was a man sitting at the bonfire, someone she didn't recall, even with the unexplained flashes. He had black scruffy hair, wearing a green jacket and some tan pants. She slowly approached, the man's eyes rising from the fire to look at her. He grimaced at her, knowing what that confused gleam in her eye was.
"Seem familiar to you?" He asked.
"Actually...yes, but I don't know why." Laurie answered, scratching her head in confusion.
The man chuckled albeit he knew there was nothing funny about the situation.
"It'll come back to you eventually." He mumbled, "But I should tell you one thing."
"What's that?" Laurie asked.
Another grimace from the man as he spoke,
"Death is not an escape."
FIN