-X-

I opened my eyes again and saw I was in a completely different place. I felt something in my hand and looked down, seeing the dagger in my hand. I stopped and looked around in the darkness.

Patches of tile went across a metal grate that glowed red from underneath. I looked up and saw rusted beams and holes in the ceiling. The walls were covered in rusted metal with more holes in the walls, showing more rusted beams inside the walls.

I heard something crawl in the background and stopped, looking around for the noise. I hurried up off the damp ground and held the dagger tight in my hand. I was standing there when something started dripping on me.

I stopped and wiped it off my forehead, seeing thick blood stain my hands. I wiped it off and then looked up, having more blood drop on me. I wiped it off again and then saw a hand hanging from the hole in the ceiling. I stopped and then stepped back when I noticed it started moving. It flinched and then the severed arm fell from the ceiling.

I clapped my hand over my mouth to stop myself from screaming, my heart going a hundred miles an hour. I went back down the hall and then looked back, seeing a door. I went forward and looked at it. Something felt familiar about the whole place. I heard the crawling noise again and then everything hit me.

I knew where I was. I was back in Hell. And this was the place I hated the most. It was the orphanage I was in first. I was only taken from the orphanage because of the psychiatrist. Only it was Hell's version of it. I froze as tears began to come to my eyes and I heard crawling behind me.

I hesitated and then looked back seeing a swarm of bugs coming at me. I stopped and some started crawling up my leg. I kicked some of them off and stepped on them, waving them off me and smashing them. I kicked the last one into the wall and then shivered from the thought of the bugs.

I looked back and saw the door, it was the front door and probably the only way to get out. I paused and then tried the door, struggling to get it open. I stopped when I noticed a slot with something missing.

I stopped and then looked at it, "A key…"

I paused and then looked back into the hallway, letting out a shaky breathe,

"I have to find the key…"

I started up the stairs and opened the door to the second floor. I swallowed and then looked to the right of me, seeing a dark hallway. I was surrounded by dark hallways. I hesitated and started stepping out into the hall, hearing the boards creak underneath me.

I went up to one door that looked familiar and stopped. I tried the handle, but the door was locked. I went to the next door and then the next, they all were locked.

Just as I was about to go to the stairs I heard creaking. I stopped and looked back, the first door was slightly open. I hesitated and then went back, going back to the door and opening it so I could see the room.

It was the girls bathroom. I remembered this bathroom. Whenever the girls would tease me, I'd find my hiding place in the last stall. I let go of the handle and stepped in, reaching for the light switch. I felt the wall and then stopped, realizing the hole in the wall where the light switch used to be.

I went further in and stopped when a smell hit me. I covered my nose and heard a quiet buzzing noise but ignored it, hurrying to the last stall. I hesitated and then swung the stall door open, revealing the dirty porcelain toilet and a few crooked tiles behind it. Memories flashed in my head, and I remembered hiding the candy that Sister Helen would give me behind a special tile.

I blinked and I was back in the stall. I stepped forward and moved the tile, showing a hole full of the special candy. I remembered that Sister Helen was the only one who was nice to me. Others taunted me; she said I was special.

I looked back and then saw the box on the wall of the stall. I stopped and then took the bag out, looking down into the rusted metal box. At the bottom was my flashlight I kept. I reached down and grabbed it, flipping the switch as light came out the front. I held onto it tight with the dagger in hand and went back out the stall.

The light reflected off the broken mirror and I saw myself for a moment. The mean girls broke that mirror, but the janitor never fixed it. The janitor was my friend too. Sometimes I would share the candy with him. But like always I would get teased.

The smell in the bathroom started getting stronger and I covered my nose again. The buzzing continued and I heard it coming from a stall. I walked closer and closer to the stall and memories of the same stall flashed in my head. I heard glass break in the back of my head and then blinked to get back to the bathroom.

I kept the flashlight tight in my hand and then hesitated and opened the stall door. The smell hit me even harder and I saw the janitor mangled and bloody in the stall. More memories flashed in my head and I shut my eyes. The girls bashed my head into the mirror and were drowning me in the toilet when the janitor came in. They then took it upon themselves to kill him and stuff him in the stall too, making me watch.

I blinked again and fell out of the stall, the dagger sliding out of my hand to a nearby hole in the floor. I panicked and hurried to grab it, "No!"

Just before my hand could reach it, it fell through the floor and dropped down. I looked down in the hole and saw the only hope of protection fall into the darkness.

I stopped and grabbed the flashlight, gathering the courage I had left and got up, hurrying into the hall again. More memories flashed in my head and I saw the therapist that talked to me, Dr. Helsing. He was a monster. He terrorized me in our daily sessions, in ways that can scar a child for life. The worst part was, he got away with it. No one ever knew what he did in his office with me, but I never forgot. He was the first of many.

I blinked and felt hot tears fall down my cheeks. I blinked again and saw a key laying on his desk, and all the toys on his shelf. The door flashed through my head and I saw the key again. I stopped and everything was normal again. I shook on the floor and then wiped my tears.

Something told me to go to his office if I wanted to get out of this hell. I got up and went back into the main part. I looked to my left and saw the elevator. I looked back to the other side and then saw the door to the staircase. I stopped and looked at the door for a few seconds.

I started up the stairs, going as fast as I could up the endless ring. I was so close to getting to the final floor when a giant gaping hole stopped me in my tracks. I stopped and heard the wooden stairs creak under my feet. I looked up at the remaining part of stairs that was feet away. I saw the door that would lead me to the floor.

I let out a breath and put away the flashlight, stepping back a little from the stairs. I closed my eyes and paced myself, then opening them again and setting up the jump. I let out another breath and then started running. I jumped at the last minute and then hit my chest hard on the broken pieces of wood.

I grimaced and then felt myself begin to slip. I stopped and then grabbed onto anything I could, my legs dangling above the giant gaping hole. I looked down and then started hearing the wood creak and split. I panicked and then hurried to pull myself up. I struggled to get my feet up and then finally got myself up. I heard the wood break again and then hurried and jumped off again.

I saw the stairs fall off and break off the other piece too, bring the rest of the stairs down with them.

I looked over the edge and let out a shaky breath. Guess I'm not taking the stairs back.

I stood back up and then got the flashlight out again, turning it on. I looked back at the door that said 6th floor and hesitated to grab the knob. I finally opened the door and stepped out into the hall. I started going towards his office to the left of me when I saw a gaping hole in the floor and wall.

I stopped and let out a breathe, "I'm not going through that again."

I stepped back and then saw a door creak open. I stopped and then started going towards the door. Before I stepped in I heard whispers behind me. They were almost too quick to hear but I caught a few words. I stopped and listened.

The rouge girl… she's different- dangerous… did you hear… the last family… she's started it… the whole house is in ashes… those poor girls… she killed him… she blames the girls… they didn't kill him… she's a monster…

I stopped and then looked back into the room. I stepped in and saw the beds in rows where the girls would sleep. We were all orphans, outcasts. Children that no one wanted. I blinked and saw the nuns putting the girls to bed, including me. I blinked again and saw the same girls in the beds.

I stopped and then went over to a bed, noticing something. A certain smell lingered through the air, and the beds were black and bare. I went over to the bed and lifted a blanket, ashes falling off it. I stopped and then tore the whole blanket off, seeing a charred little girl laying in bed.

I stopped and looked at her, then the other beds too. I went to another bed and pulled off the cover, seeing the same charred body. Another bed, and then another bed, there were burned bodies everywhere. I stepped back and then looked back, seeing one bed in perfect condition.

I stopped and then saw flashes of the same room. One image showed us all sleeping, then the next were flames. I stopped and then remembered that the un-scorched bed, was my bed.

I stopped and then stepped over, sitting down on the spring cot. I moved the covers and saw my teddy bear I slept with every night. The firefighters took me before I could bring it.

The fire started in my sleep. Everything points to me starting the fire, but I still can't remember. It was just another nightmare I had, about Dr. Helsing. The next thing I knew, sirens were waking me up. It was either sirens, or the screams of those little girls.

I blinked again and then moved hearing a box move underneath the bed. I stopped and then looked down, seeing a box at my feet. I grabbed it and then opened the box. It was full of drawings.

I stopped and then looked at the first one, a picture of woods. There were trees everywhere, and a man with pointy ears chasing a little girl.

I flipped the drawing over and saw the black crayon, "The Big Bad Wolf."

I looked down at the next drawing and saw a house with orange and yellow coming out of the top. A fire truck was next to the house and I realized the house was on fire.

I turned it over and read it again, "Burned House."

I grabbed the next drawing and turned it over, reading it again,

"Accident lake."

I turned it over again and saw the same lake from my dream. I stopped and looked at the three drawings, realizing they were all from my dreams. In fact, they weren't dreams at all. They were memories.

Memories flashed in and out of my head, The Big Bad Wolf.

I ran away from my first home, and they called the police with the search dogs. One dog went rabid and attacked me. He bit my left hand and scratched my chest.

Burned House, my third adopted family. The dad was a drunk, and he would come home at sometimes midnight or later. He would come into my room and do whatever he wanted with me. One night, I finally fought back. I burned the whole house down by accident, and everyone was killed. The only one who survived was me, and the teddy bear that the dad gave me. He was missing an eye.

Accident lake. My brother took me and my best friend, Kate to the park. It was my family after the accident. He left for five minutes to go pick up his girlfriend, and left us alone at the park. We were playing a game of pirate and she was the captain. She tried to make me walk the plank, but I wouldn't. I fell off and took her along with me. I landed in the woodchips, but she hit her head on a bar and landed on the cement. She bled out before he could get back, and she was dead. He took me to the lake and I watched her sink to the bottom from the dock. I dropped my best friend necklace in the lake with her.

I stopped and then looked down at the last drawing in the box. It was a picture of Dr. Helsing's door.

I flipped it over and read the words aloud, "Two Faced Man."

I heard something behind me and then stopped. I shined the flashlight back and then saw a trail of ashes leading to a door. I stopped and then looked back down at my bed. I reached under my pillow and got out a knife. I held it tight in my hand and then got up from the bed, making my way towards the door.

I stepped closer and closer slowly until I heard something crunch behind me. I stopped and looked back, seeing something duck underneath the bed. I froze and then took a step back, hearing the same cracking sound again behind me. I looked back and saw the covers move. I stood planted in my steps, not moving a single inch as my heart beat out of my chest.

Just then I heard a mix of whining and the same crunching sound. I looked back and saw one of the charred corpses rolling out of the bed. I froze and then heard more and more of the whining and crackling sound of their burned skin, then the thuds their bodies made after hitting the floor.

I looked back and saw one beginning to crawl toward me, their eyes missing from their empty sockets and chunks of burned hair scattering their head. Fear broke out in my mind and I started stepping back from the disturbing child. It moaned and groaned and as I stepped back I felt something grab onto my leg. I looked back and saw another corpse grabbing my leg, the hand beginning to glow red and burn my skin.

I yelled out and then kicked it off me. I fell back into a bed and brushed the embers off then feeling the same hot coals touch my arm. I shook off the hand from behind me and got up, seeing more and more of the children come towards me. I looked back and saw a way out, the door to the hallway.

I ducked out the way of one child and started making a run for the door, trying to avoid all the children I could. I took one step forward and something from underneath the bed grabbed my leg. I cried out as it burned my leg and tried kicking it off with no success.

Another caught up and grabbed the other ankle, burning my skin some more and then finally pulling me to the ground. I fell and the flashlight went rolling out of my hands. I looked back and felt more and more hands grab onto my legs, the hot coals burning my skin. I tried kicking them off and crawling away, but so many of them held onto me, moaning and groaning as their skin crackled and then fell off.

Hot tears escaped my eyes as their hands continued to burn my skin. I cried out and then tried crawling away again. I felt one crawl up and grab my arm, making me cry out again from the unbearable pain. I took my last chance of hope and stretched my arm out towards the bed, reaching as far as I could to pull myself away. Another then grabbed my other arm and pulled me back.

More and more crawled towards me, grabbing onto any part of me they could. My arms, legs and back burned by their hands and just as I was about to give up I heard footsteps.

"You'll all burn in hell for this! Thou shall not kill!"

I heard girls screaming and yelling.

"Witch!- Murderer!- go back where you came from, little whore!- Go to hell where you belong!"

I opened my eyes for a few moments and saw I was outside. Blood trickled down from my forehead and the girls were back to normal, throwing rocks at me as I was younger. Sister Helen came behind me and all the girls stopped and dropped the rocks in their hands.

Everything went foggy and I blinked again. I opened my eyes and then turned on my back, seeing all the corpses gone. I sat up and then looked at my wrists and ankles, both completely unharmed. I stopped and then looked back to see my flashlight and knife still on the ground. I reached and grabbed them both, then getting to my feet again.

I stopped and looked back around the room, completely bewildered as to what just happened. I let out a shaky breath and then looked back and into the hallway. I stopped and remembered Dr. Helsing, then started taking small, slow steps toward the hallway, preparing myself to meet- and defeat-the monster of my past again.

Was this thrilling or a let down? let me know by sending a review on this chapter. or even a review on the whole book so far. either way, lemme know. it would be greatly appreciated :)