Chapter 10

Hiroshi opened the door leading to the basement, well, what the key called it anyway. He entered the dark place, followed closely by Takeshi helping Takuro to walk. He reached for the lightbulb but soon remembered that he left it near the headless doll. He searched in his pockets until his hand met with the lighter. He quickly took it out and lit it. He led the others in deeper in the dark corridor, feeling he needed to go there. They reached two doors. They headed for the left one. Hiroshi felt his heart racing in his chest. He didn't know why and he wasn't sure if it was important either. His heart skipped so many beats, it nearly exploded so many times, it almost stopped so much, he couldn't thrust his heart anymore, right?

He shook his head. There was no time for bad thoughts like those, they had to focus on finding an exit. It was near, he just knew it. The gray-haired boy turned the knob and opened the door, leading his friends in another dark room.

Right.

He followed what his instincts were telling him and met with a tree in a pot. He frowned and clenched his fist. He kicked the pot that fell with the tree, revealing something much more interesting, a switch. Without hesitation, he pulled it down. A loud sound was heard, making them blench and the lights got turned on. They closed their eyes, blinded by the sudden light. As they tried to open their eyes with little success, they grew more and more nervous. What if the monster was in the room, waiting for them to see so they would see their own blood get spilled on the walls?

Takuro was the first to get adjusted to the light. He took a quick look around the room. There was a rather large carpet, that tree Hiroshi kicked away and a bookshelf but, happily, no monster.

"We're alone now, guys." He said to reassure the others.

They immediately felt a huge weight lift from their shoulder. They've never been so happy to learn they were actually alone. Takeshi and Hiroshi opened their eyes and took a look around the room too. Doubting something would be in the bookshelves, they left the room and saw at their huge relief that the switch had lighten up the entire basement. They walked past the door leading back to the annex and entered the one at the end of the corridor. Why? They had no idea at all. The door lead them in a smaller hallway were an open door stood at the end of it. Takeshi and Takuro headed for it while Hiroshi stayed in front of two empty shelves. He pulled one of them to his right.

"Hey, look what I found!" He shouted to the two other boys that had just passed through the open door.

Takeshi turned to look at Hiroshi. As he was about to head out with Takuro, the door closed right in front of them. The blonde teen tried to open it but it was no use, he needed to type a code on the keyboard.

Hiroshi darted to the door and turned the knob but it was locked. It's only after this that he noticed the small keyboard.

"Can you open the door?" He shouted.

"I need a code to open it!" Replied a panicking Takeshi.

"Let's concentrate on finding the code," said Takuro rather calmly, "Did you try those numbers I have on my arm?"

"That's the code I used to find the basement key." Answered Hiroshi.

"We'll search on our side. We'll just unlock it of we find the code." Suggested Takuro.

"Good idea, I'll come back from time to time to see if something changed."

"Same for us!"

The gray-haired then heard Takeshi scream and a loud Bam against the door. The teen quickly got out of the hallway and ran in the room he didn't enter yet. He had to find the code and fast! He ran to the bookshelf in the corner of the room, quickly flipped through the blank pages, dropping the books on the ground once he was done. Since he found nothing, he looked under the table behind him and inspected the walls. Seeing a key in the bathtub, he quickly grabbed the small rusty object and exited the room. He rushed in the one where they found the switch. He took the books one by one, flipping the pages before throwing them behind his shoulder. As he was flipping through the pages of a thinner book, a colored thing fell from it. Hiroshi tossed the book away and picked up the object. It was a bookmark with colors placed at random patterns. He got out of the room and ran toward the hallway with the door he needed to open. This bookmark would surely be useful, everything they could find was useful.

The gray-haired boy rushed to the door but stopped. How could he turn those colors in numbers? He looked at the keyboard. He noticed a screw. He rapidly took out his screwdriver and unscrewed it. It was hiding a small pad with holes. The teen looked at the doors. Four squares were on it and they were the same color than the bookmark. He inserted the small object between the pad and the wall. The holes were now filled with colors. He counted the dots.

3 white, 2 green, 1 red, 7 blue.

He then looked at the squares on the doors.

Red first, green second, white third and blue fourth.

He then entered the code on the keyboard, sure of himself.

1237

A loud clicking sound was heard as he opened the door, leading him in another hallway. Hiroshi looked behind the door and smiled in relief seeing there wasn't any blood on the door. He ran throughout the corridor until he met with a door. He got in, determined to find his friends.

That's exactly what happened.

Takuro was stuck in the left corner, holding a disc, his leg had obviously gotten worse since there was a lot of blood getting out of it and Takeshi was facing the monster, his back leaned on the right corner, with his plate shard in hand. The creature was whispering to the blonde boy, that didn't move. It was whispering something different than what it said to Hiroshi but it still made them all shiver. Suddenly, Takeshi's eyes turned upward by themselves until his iris and pupil disappeared from Hiroshi's view. The blonde teen let out a moan before falling on the floor, his body shaking uncontrollably. Hiroshi clenched his fists in anger.

"Hey!" He shouted defiantly to the thing, "You want to play? I'll gladly play with you, you piece of shit!"

Takuro looked at his friend in surprise. He never thought Hiroshi could be angry enough to insult the monster in that way without even thinking.

The creature turned slowly toward the gray-haired teen. It smiled widely and its eyes flashed red before it darted toward the boy. Hiroshi gasped and ran out of the room. This time, it wasn't only to save his friend or to survive that he ran, but also out of fear. He took a quick glance behind just to be sure than the monster didn't stay with his two friends and blenched when he saw it. The fangs were much sharper and longer and what he could consider its pupils had turned a bright red, like blood. He rushed out of the two hallways and got back to the stairs leading to the annex. He climbed the stairs and got back in the annex's main hall. His blood turned cold. That thing was laughing at him. The walls seemed to vibrate with its giggles. The teen climbed up the stairs but tripped while doing so. He bumped hard his head on the steps. He immediately stood up, ignoring the pain and his blurry vision. He climbed up the other staircase and entered the large room where he found the lighter fluid and headed for the hole he had made on the floor. He jumped in and landed on the table as he ran out. He gasped. The monster had climbed down the stairs instead of following him in the hole like he expected it to do. The boy got down the stairs and headed in the large corridor next to the staircase. He sprinted to his right, entered the room, closing the door behind him and closed the light before he fell to his knees. It was no use, the lightbulb was making too much light, that thing would see him anyway. He fell on his stomach, panting and silently crying. He didn't want to die, not here, not this way!

The creature laughed again as the music slowly faded away. Still, Hiroshi didn't move. It was too good to be true, he was still alive! He smiled under his heavy breath. He was too exhausted to get up. He had to run faster than before since the monster's speed had increased a little and his head was pounding hard. After a moment, he sat up and took a look at his surroundings. He noticed the shadow of the doll on the wall was making the form of a keyhole. His eyes opened wide as he shot straight up and stabbed the wall with his plate shard. There was a door behind. Hiroshi happily turned the knob but lost his smile when it blocked. He exited the room and looked out the window. It was stormy...

...

...

The window! Why didn't I think about it before?

He used his elbow to smash the window into pieces. He looked out but his heart stopped. There were thousands of huge purple bugs under the window. They all looked hungry and excited to see something to eat. The teen looked in front of him. If he wanted to get out this way, he would need to walk throughout those insects. He looked on the sides and up. Anywhere he could see a window, there were some of those bugs under it. He backed away and walked back in the basement and throughout the door with the code pad. He finally reached the room where his friends were in. He opened the door and closed it behind him. He was still panting but at least he was back. Takuro smiled seeing him.

"Hiroshi! Thank god you're okay!" He exclaimed.

The gray-haired boy made a little smile before he knelt next to Takeshi, facing the red-haired.

"Are you okay?" Hiroshi asked.

"I'm fine and Takeshi is alive. I have no idea what's going on though..."

They both looked at Takeshi, who was still having those blank eyes and was still shaking violently. Plus, he looked like he was facing a great pain.

"We have to get out of this room, that thing will expect us to be here. Can you walk?" Said Hiroshi.

"I guess..."

Takuro stood up and helped the gray-haired teen to take Takeshi. They headed out and walked to the door at the end of the hallway, a door they didn't notice until now. It was a room about the same size than the other, pretty big. There was a closet in the corner. They walked toward it and opened the doors before setting down Takeshi in it. Hiroshi headed to the door but stopped when he saw that Takuro was following him.

"You should stay." Said Hiroshi.

"What? Why?" Asked Takuro.

"You're limping and it hurts, it's pretty easy to see."

Takuro opened his mouth to reply something but closed it when he found nothing to say.

"The closet is big enough for the two of you, I don't think you'll have any problems." Continued the gray-haired boy calmly.

He was about to exit when his friend stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait, I found this not so long ago." Said the red-haired teen, giving him a disc with colors making a circle in the middle of it. "I have no idea if it can help but take it with you."

Hiroshi smiled as he took the disc.

"Takuro, everything we find in here can be useful." He said as he got out of the room.

The red-haired looked at the door for a couple of seconds before limping into the closet.

I decided to that Oni from Akame oni for absolutely no reason I just felt doing so!
Oh, and I saw a lot of jokes about "Hiroshi, you should jump down the window" so, I thought of that. Heheh...

Seriously, I can't believe I was able to write this chapter IN TWO DAYS!
I had, like, a LOT of last minute inspiration! I guess I own it to Kironase! Thank you, your review made want to write a lot more than I usually do!

So, please leave a review and see you in next chapter!