No scene change this time - I've been itching to get to this chapter, and hopefully it'll prove worth the wait for you all, too.
They'd parked in what technically wasn't a parking spot, but Terri argued that it didn't count if she didn't turn the car off. Kirsty slipped out of the car, gripping her coffee cup - a new one - and stepped away to where the museum was. She could still hear the clamor of the crowd, but it had shrunken a great deal since their first visit.
How much time had passed...?
Kirsty reached for her phone just long enough to text Joey that she needed some air, quickly slipping it back into her purse. She just started walking - minding where the car was but otherwise not aiming for any particular destination. Perhaps she shouldn't have been surprised when she found herself behind the museum, staring at the closed and locked doors.
It's better this way, she thought to herself, though it felt like a lie. Truthfully she wanted to go in - to face the demons now, to get the hard part over and done with so she could just deal with whatever was down there.
Kirsty laughed. The hard part was risking another panic attack, not confronting an inhuman pain zealot who was supposed to be dead. What had happened to her that so skewed her priorities?
She was walking again. It was her own choice, but it felt odd - like an invisible hand on her back gently guiding her to the door. She reached for the handle and shook it; nothing, no give whatsoever. Another shake, and again the door didn't budge. She let go, and after a moment felt a small, frustrated laugh bubble up in her throat. She looked at the ground, smiling in disbelief. What was she doing?
Another thought popped into her head. It was an absurd little thought, and this was dangerous besides...
... but the pull she felt was unbearable. She needed to see what was inside that building. So Kirsty took in a breath, lifted her hand, and knocked, twice, on the heavy door.
"Hello?" She said to the empty air, barely hearing herself over the crowd past the building. "It's Kirsty. I'd like to come in, please."
For a second there was nothing, and she felt remarkably stupid. What if somebody had seen that? She was almost about to walk away when she heard a small, polite click. There's no way, Kirsty thought, but reached for the door handle again. It turned in her hand, easy as anything, and the door opened expectantly for her. Of course there was nobody on the other side, but she had expected that, at least.
Kirsty took a breath. It would be so easy to just walk back to the car right now. She thought about Joey, who'd ask if she was okay, and Terri, who was already nice to her. She thought about Tiffany at home, probably reading and having a wonderful day off that she'd tell her sisters all about once this absurd day was over and they'd all gone home.
She thought about the casket on her desk, and how she used to talk to it, to him, and how it'd helped her get through tough decisions. She wished she could talk now.
Instead, she released her breath and stepped through the door, into the welcoming darkness.
The museum's halls felt somehow more hostile than before, darker even than when the power had first gone out. She wasn't sure if that was her imagination or if she was just tired. Which she was - she had been utterly exhausted since coming out of the panic attack, tired in her bones, in her muscles. She had been blinking heavily in the car and nodding off, and had only stayed awake by virtue of her coffee. She was only more awake now because she couldn't afford to be anything else.
I could turn around at any moment, Kirsty thought as she walked further into the building, down the hall. She somehow knew exactly where to go; her destination a complete mystery, but the way there effortless. She turned a corner and only paused once to glance back at the door, but that didn't feel right. I could be walking right into a trap for all I know. She thought about the Cenobites who had pursued her - all dead. Would another seek revenge, or to collect dues unpaid?
She could hear the faint sound of mechanical humming in the background. Kirsty figured it must have been the air conditioning, or perhaps things would power up soon. She hoped so, considering her hand to the wall was the only thing keeping her anchored in the dark, unreadable space. She could feel those imagined eyes on her as she walked, peering down at her in the darkness.
There was a loud metal clang and Kirsty took off running.
She didn't think. She didn't consider the mechanical architecture or the notion of the power coming back on, she just ran. She could hear a pounding in her ears and she could barely run in the first place but pushed forward even as her body screamed in protest. There was something in the dark and she could remember that fleshy thing in the Labyrinth halls and it was after her and she had to run, run as fast as she could-
A wall slammed into her. She turned and ran blindly, crashing into corners. A rip of fabric as her jacket caught on something but she kept running, turning, until she reached a hallway that was not like the rest of the building. She leaned against the wall, breath ragged, and she was calm just long enough to realize the hall was actually dimly lit before another clang sent her sprinting.
She crashed through the door and into a room flooded with dim blue light, shadows and metal. Above her - had she gone downstairs? - she heard the continued clangs and groans of shifting metal, like Goliath trapped between the walls. She stumbled backwards, knees shaking, trying to capture her breath again as she felt what energy she'd had fizzle out and the world start to grow dim. She took another step back, arm reaching behind her to grab something for support. A hand caught it and she bumped up against something behind her.
Her coffee cup fell from her hand and spilled across the floor.
She tensed up and started to turn, but a hand slipped into her hair, fingers cool on her hot scalp. She turned to look even as her eyes failed to focus, but she could see black, white, and something glittering.
"You..." she whispered, and the hand on her head gently scratched at her skin. She felt her exhaustion settle on her shoulders like a blanket. Her eyes wouldn't stay open. This was a mistake, she thought in her haze, I can't stay up.
"Then rest," came that voice she only partway realized she shouldn't have been hearing, "there is time. I can wait longer yet, Kirsty." Her better impulses told her not to, but he pulled her close and ran that hand down her hair and she just could not hold on. Kirsty let herself sink into her exhaustion and a pair of leather-bound arms, the dark swallowing her whole.
Woof. That's the one I've been itching to do for a week now. Hopefully soon I'll get the next chapter up, and then the real fun begins!
That being said, I want to clarify now that this story has no non-con or dub-con in regards to Pinsty or any other ships. Horror, yes, but that's a line I can't imagine even Unbound Pinhead crossing. So for now, I hope you enjoyed this, but I seriously can't keep my eyes open.
Be kind and stay spooky, everyone.
-Inky
