Chapter Twenty Six – Lost in Darkness
Jonathan held her hands.
Finally, Helyse, Amelia and Mark were lying down and getting ready to attempt achieving some rest. Mark had insisted Amelia stayed in his sleeping bag as he stayed in the couch (this due to Helyse's own insistence as he had been willing to sleep in the floor) after no fifteen minutes still playing cards, but forty five.
"Now, remember" The boy carried on, his eyes going from Helyse to Amelia and to Mark and back to Helyse. "Do your best to not split up. Watch each other. Don't stand too long in the same place, but…".
"Don't go snooping around" Jessica muttered, sitting near the couch, shrunken and holding a hot cup of coffee in her hands the steam going up in soft waves in front of her face, like a veil. "It… It isn't worth it…".
They hadn't given many details of what they had seen, but for Jessica's reaction it was clear it had been too awful by how she was behaving since waking up. Helyse rarely had seen the girl like that… In another occasion, she would be reminding them to be careful, of course, but also suggesting they tried to find something useful in the boiler room.
Jessica had no reason to go on as well, what she meant to say was clear: Unless Krueger was already with another victim in his claws, there was nothing to be done (and, even so, the chances of them being able to save the poor person were less than zero) and Paul… Paul was already worse than dead.
Jonathan looked like he had something to say, maybe an advice or warning, however all he did was sigh and keep holding Helyse's hand, caressing it. The girl didn't reject the touch and would have tried to smile if she could. All there was within her limits was a grateful look.
There was no denying: Jonathan was able to make her feel better.
"But is that enough?" A part of her mind wondered before she suffocated the thought as if it was a snake that would bite sooner than later. It was no time for such questions!
"And you guys also know, right?" Amelia asked. "One movement, just a sound…".
"And we wake you up" Jessica completed, some of opacity that had taken over her eyes being overshadowed by another thing. "Hey, we trusted in you guys, now it is your turn to trust in us".
"I'm sorry for repeating myself…" Amelia muttered with a shadow of smile that didn't reach her eyes, after all, before it had been Jessica who had insisted in this point and now she was doing the same, the words almost the same too.
Helyse closed her eyes and moved a bit to get comfortable, concentrating in relaxing her body from the muscles until her nerves. There was a moment in which she felt slipping to the darkness…
XxX
Helyse had wondered earlier if Mark would be able to even fall asleep considering how many pills he had mixed, but for a reason or another, her doubts were empty. After some minutes waiting, he was there lying in the floor near her.
Amelia followed soon, standing and looking to her friends and to the sides, expecting an attack of some sort.
"Why…" Mark muttered as he stood up. "All the time, we're in the floor? Is there a way to cross over to here standing? This is getting too old". That harshness was back to his voice. After getting used to his softer and usual tone, it was somehow strange to hear his voice sounding like shards of glass cutting all around.
Amelia however hid a small smile and giggled, though the sound was tense. Helyse looked around with the corner of her eyes and found no signal of Krueger. No shadows moving, no sounds that weren't the typical ones… Although those elements created fear by their own (a foreplay for dread) it touched the others more than her. Somehow, in a instinctive way that was far from rationality's touch, all the girl could feel was the calmness of someone back to a place they know as well as their own home.
The thought, for itself, was if not scary then disturbing enough.
"It's left to see if Krueger intends to see if we will fall in a fake sense of safety" She reflected. "Or if he means to see us getting more and more tense before freeing all hell over us!.
Not that it made a difference in the end, since he would do something.
And the chances of him being watching them right now and being amused by it all were high.
As for her… Helyse wasn't sure she would rather face him sooner than later. She never forgot what or who he was, the knowledge had been marked in her genes by fire and dread, a scar that wouldn't ever fade.
"Well… There isn't much to do, right?" Mark sighed as he also looked around trying to feel the vibe of the place. He was either very controlled or not as scared as before, with the things looking, well, not "normal" per say, but not threatening (for now). "What do you think? Do you want to walk around?" The question was sarcastic as there was little choice in there. Helyse was sent back to the time when, during her coma, she got sometimes so bored that she would sit down and watch Krueger sharpening his claws.
"What if you told them about that? How do you think they would react?" A part of her mind, the same from where that low voice of bad thoughts always seems to come, whispered to her in a tone very similar to the one Krueger would use when teasing her regarding matters she wouldn't tell her friends.
The girl ignored it.
"As if we can do a lot more…" Amelia resigned with a shrug, looking tired even if the physical weariness didn't show much in dreams. Perhaps because what she felt wasn't just limited to the physical.
"Let's go" Helyse whispered. "Remember, we shouldn't stay in a place for long" Wouldn't Krueger interpret this as a sort of provocation, even if they didn't mean so? Maybe, maybe not… Or perhaps she was getting paranoid.
"Yeah, because I really need that too".
They started to walk, without a real path. And for a while, that was all they did. As Jonathan and Jessica, they didn't talk among them not just out of fear of making much noise, but also because the environment didn't allow any feelings that helped them to even attempt to begin a conversation.
The silence in the maze that the boiler room actually was gave birth to more sharp shards in their blood than comfort. Shadows danced with firelight in a parody of twilight that made them long for either complete light or darkness at some moments. They saw the red-orange and black playing in the pipes and walls, touching and mixing each other in sexual sensuality, and expected to turn a corner and see some horrifying vision… But as more they waited, nothing happened.
There were moments that one of them would have screamed, just to break the silence in hopes of having some air to breath.
Helyse wasn't immune to this. Her rationality (nothing had happened yet, therefore no reason for fear) added to the twisted sense of knowing this place acted as a kind of shield, however her animal self felt the tension of Mark and Amelia as her own. And since she liked them, she didn't want to see them in this state or hurt.
Something cried in the darkness, the sound of a small baby being suffocated.
Amelia jumped, her own scream joining the sound.
A heated shadow ran among their feet, brushing against their skin as if purpose. The touch was light, however thick and oily enough to make their nerves cry in repulsion. Mark growled and jumped away and Amelia screamed once more as she tried to back away. Helyse flinched and hissed as she tried to step away and almost tripped.
The rat, a huge and dark thing, didn't look back.
"Argh… Argh…" Amelia muttered as she rubbed her arms, lost in disgust. Mark had sparkles of lightning running over his hands as he looked around with a growl.
The fire crackled in the boilers, amused by their reaction as the shadows caressed their skins in a parody of soothing touch that went to their stomachs and turned them inside out.
Nothing happened.
Amelia ceased her mutterings when Helyse put a hand on her shoulder and tired to get her control back.
"I-I'm sorry for this…" She said in a low voice, slowly dominating her wild nerves and raised her head, throwing her hair over her shoulders. "I shouldn't have screamed…".
"Don't worry about that." Helyse reassured her, tentatively rubbing her shoulder in a clumsy attempt of being comforting. She had no idea of how to soothe her friend, but the gesture was almost instinctual as she recalled that…
Well, anyway, it didn't matter.
"It was really gross. It's okay" She continued as Mark nodded and shrugged with a way of saying "let it go".
"Gross is a compliment." He agreed. Both girls, like Jessica, had opted for pajamas (instead of nightgowns and for obvious reasons that had nothing to do with Mark or Jonathan), but their feet were still bare. To feel that mass of warm, thick fur… Just the thought made their skin crawl once more. And Mark looked equally disgusted…
He wouldn't mention it, but in the moment the rat had rubbed itself against him, he had felt bumps moving in the skin, not unlike maggots.
"Let's just get out of here" He muttered as his normal nature forced an attempt of joke. "The fun and surprises here never end, boys and girls.".
It was a weak joke, but somehow it worked to calm them a little. They resumed to their walk with care and even thought Jonathan had mentioned the idea of finding the center of the boiler room, his and Jessica's advice had been to actually walk away from it (at least this night). So when they found the occasional stairs, they went up, following the logic.
If there was any remains of logic to be applied here.
At one stair, no matter if they went up or down, they ended up in the exact same spot.
After two tries, they gave up and took another way.
Now, the stair they had found was, like majority of them here, narrow. There were times when the metal groaned as an animal being bothered in its sleep and shivered under their feet. But the shadows were devourer of sounds and even the groans were lost until, step after step, they realized this wasn't just a longer stair. Looking around (suddenly or slowly, they would forever be unable to tell when things had changed around), they realized there was nothing.
There was a stair and just that, lost in complete darkness.
"Oh, great…" Mark exclaimed with sarcasm and annoyance that just barely covered the fear. And it was as if he had never said a thing, words lost in the blackness. And after this, he and the girls lost all will of speaking. All it did was to emphasize the inexistence that surrounded their bodies.
There was no boiler room, no firelight.
They could only know the stair and handrail existed due to touch. And they were grateful for such, otherwise it would be easy to fall under the impression that they were mere consciences floating in the air.
Without a choice, they kept going in line, hoping for an end of the stair. Nothing could go on forever, right?
But… Suppose it did?
They were in a nightmare. Nightmares were free of chains, of the laws of physic. So it could go on forever. The darkness, the fall… But they wouldn't know. They would just have a second to feel the metal (so thin as a veil) breaking under their feet and then darkness would have them, as it longed to.
They would fall in that nothing, fall and fall and never know when the ending was coming. Perhaps there would be a second of life in which they would feel their bones shattering, pieces being lost in blood and their skulls cracking open, an eternity to feel before it was all over.
If it would be over at all…
These thoughts plagued them as if they shared one mind and Amelia whimpered behind Helyse. There was no reason for this, she just wanted to confirm if she still had life to make sounds. Helyse did the same with a muttering that held no words.
"Careful…" Mark said in a voice that wasn't his. He longed to put his hands ahead to search for something, but also dreaded to let go of the handrail.
Step after step. Movements that soon turned mechanic. Step after step. A handrail with no end. Walk and walk.
Helyse tried to keep her dread away, but it was hard. The walls of her mind could be strong, but the ones of her heart were not so much after the late blows they had received. It wasn't as bad as being in a coffin to be buried alive or burnt, it wasn't also like she was back in a web with spiders running over her and rubbing paws against her flesh for tasting or being in a pit with rats…
Yes, comparing to things Krueger had done and could do, it wasn't that bad. The thing was, he probably wanted them to freak out and start crying and running, so the trick was to keep control. Soon he would be bored of this.
Thinking all that took longer than it should. The lines of thought were wild in the silence and refused to follow a single track.
"Get a grip, get a grip, get a grip".
Light.
It was so sudden as a needle in her eyes and the girl recoiled with an animalistic movement, having to blink in order to force her vision to get used to the firelight. Looking back now, Helyse saw the stair.
No more than ten steps.
Ten steps.
For some reason, this made her insides shiver not out of fear but out of an attempt to cage a laugh.
Ten. Steps.
She looked to her friends to see their reactions…
They were gone.
Everything was back to normal in the boiler room, but there was no sign of Amelia or Mark anywhere.
Despite the warmth caressing her skin again, Helyse felt cold. Were they dead? She risked looking downstairs by leaning over a handrail nearby, but on the floor below there was nothing more than firelight and shadows in the metal. It didn't mean much, she knew. Were they dead? Being tortured?
Her tongue ran over her teeth as her heart skipped a beat. A little thing for others, but it had the echo of a heart attack to her. Still, Helyse fought to keep her mind clear, which wasn't easy after the hours (hours?) in darkness, her thoughts still refused to be put in proper line and ran inside her mind when her conscience tried to chain them down.
She had no idea of where they were or how, but it wasn't standing there that would help, right? Besides, she had to keep in mind that if something happened, at any sign of unpleasantness from them, Jonathan and Jessica would wake them up. Plus, Amelia had telekinesis and Mark had his electricity. They couldn't very well be considered completely helpless and…
And when had she started to trust them like this?
The girl got rid of the thought. No, not now! She had to go search for them. In any case, they had agreed to stay together.
"Sure and finding them around here must be so incredibly easy" The bitter thought made her sigh. This day and night were being far too long, that was the truth. Fine, the idea had been hers to begin with, but Helyse hadn't really thought about sleeping in turns tonight and it didn't make things simpler either!
Once more, the memory of Amelia's burns came back to her mind and she saying she was seeing things and the black marks under Jonathan's eyes… At least they were getting some rest, right? It had worked even a little, so maybe…
She was wondering if she should throw caution out of the window and scream for Amelia and Mark.
"Something wrong? Aren't you having fun?".
Helyse turned with controlled movements. Krueger had an arm leaning against a cold boiler, his posture of absolute nonchalant, and a smile twisting his burnt features.
"No, but I believe you are" She replied in the same tone, her blood turning cold with caution and Krueger chuckled. Not for the first time, Helyse wondered if he could smell fear.
Well, in any case, she knew very well that he could sense it.
Krueger's eyes slithered over her form, aware she had been looking for her so-called friends. It was always fun to watch the prey when it reached this stage when just being in the boiler room already made their nerves go almost out of control. Heck, he had just materialized a rat (no matter what, it was still just a rat) and the Evans girl had screamed as if she had seen some kind of monster.
Not to mention the clear dread rolling off them in waves strong enough to wear tocks down when they were lost in the stair. There hadn't been nothing there and yet he had been able to see the feeling gnawing in their minds, leaving their naked and raw.
So, so funny!
Taking all in account, they were also no more than rats in a maze. Now that he was a Dream Demon, he looked back to the human mind and couldn't help but to laugh at how limited and fragile it was. So let them run, let them try to find a way out… In the end, they would have their spines shattered anyway.
Helyse had not been untouched by this, no matter how much she fought and he knew it. Oh, at first nothing much had happened when she arrived, but when she had been in the stairs, time itself being twisted by her own impression and the space around, things had been different.
And the reason she hadn't been frightened at first was due to the girl being used to the boiler room (which before would have made him furious didn't bother him so much now). A though almost made him laugh, could it be the girl felt more at ease her than in her own home? As pathetic as it was, there was something amusingly interesting in this, if it proved to be the case.
"We're having such a joyful night, don't you think?".
"A lot. So much that you already killed someone" She said nothing else, what she meant to express by this was more like asking if he hadn't had enough and couldn't leave her alone, even if Helyse knew what the answer would be. "Paulo, Paul, whatever his name was".
Krueger nodded, unable to not be pleased to see her indifference that she always showed regarding his killings. He recalled when he had inquired her as to why Helyse never had tried to convince him to stop or even censure him.
"I did. It was getting somewhat boring after a while" He waved his hand in a gesture of dismiss. "He did resist, I'll give it to the fucker".
Helyse's mind went to her options. Like the killer he was, she had no doubt he would attack her if she made sudden movements. But if she managed to find a way to leave without provoking…
She wanted to leave, but after all the times she had talked to him, it didn't feel as uncomfortable as it should.
"What stupidity is this? Am I going insane?". If he had talked to her before without killing had been because at first she was in coma and later, she had been in the real world! What was she thinking?
"They mentioned you made him some sort of puppet" They hadn't gone into details. Krueger studied her for signals of repugnance and found none, perhaps just a shadow of curiosity (shy, but not embarrassed) in her eyes. Or perhaps it was his imagination.
"Or your desire" His mind whispered.
"Yes, a great work, not to be immodest" He added, his tone going by mockery before an impulse made him ask. "What, want to see it?".
There was a hint of threat there, Helyse knew. The part of her where instincts were stronger sent a wave of nervousness, as to warn her that the threat wasn't exactly what it seemed.
"Why? Do you intend to do it with me as well?".
He didn't doubt, he knew that Helyse had no idea that this phrase, in a different context, could even be taken as some twisted form of flirting even more if her expression or tone had been others. Yet, for some reason, the effect here was stronger.
The idea of taking her among the blood of her little companions had its own kind of arousal.
Even now, despite being well aware of the danger, Helyse still looked somewhat calmly intrigued as she waited for an answer. Krueger tilted his head to the side. Honestly, he wouldn't do this… But Helyse didn't know and while he had always been honest with her, it didn't mean he couldn't omit facts.
"I was expecting you would start to demand I left your friends alone or at least took you to them" The trick of the stairs had been just to separate them anyway and tease a little before he truly attacked. They are facing already some… Difficulties.
But he saw no reason to tell her that now.
"Which you wouldn't do anyway." The reply was in the same tone, which was better than the lack of emotion even if seeing how Helyse didn't deny their ties and was getting more involved with them didn't please him at all. Before, Krueger would have laughed, but things had changed.
Just a little.
Merely raising a brow to her words, Krueger lifted his claws and came closer. Helyse backed away before she could think and hit her back against a cold boiler. The claws touched her neck and made pressure enough to threaten to rip flesh and free blood. The girl was as still as possible.
Krueger smirked at her, the gesture merely emphasizing the exposed muscles and raw flesh of his face and his claw slithered down her skin slowly and he leaned a bit to her, caging Helyse, who tried to not cower.
"Hm, you might be surprised" He stopped his claw in the point where the neck and shoulder joined and scratched as if testing the resistance of her skin. The natural sensibility of this point and the memory of the times Krueger had done this made Helyse's blood go cold even if she knew she was unable to feel any pain now.
"Maybe I'm feeling generous". He dragged the word as if playing with the sound at the same time the back of his claws went to Helyse's chin, making it impossible for her to lower her face. Even if Helyse felt no pain she knew better than to go beyond her limits, so for now she decided to stay quiet.
The pressure was cold and firm, but otherwise it didn't seem he was about to cut her. The gesture, from someone else, would be considered almost gentle.
She knew better.
"Krueger and gentleness are two things that don't go together".
"Then how about just telling me where Mark and Amelia are?" She hoped the question didn't sound desperate or cliché as it did in her mind. His eyes were on her and the girl had to make effort to not look away… Due to their sharpness, having those black eyes on her made Helyse feel as chained to a cold metal table, ready for a surgery that would open not only her body, but her soul as well to the touch and knowledge of that man.
A raise of eyebrow (noticed just by the muscles' movement) and a scoff were her only answers. Helyse was about to give a cold comment and try to get some information regarding Mark and Amelia (part of her wondered if they would be okay, if with Krueger's attention on her, they would manage to escape should they be in trouble).
When the Demon's face touched her neck, all thought left her in a trail of coldness.
Krueger felt the shiver running under her skin and smirked against the girl's skin. If before Helyse had been trying to keep herself under control, now she looked almost like a doe. The girl never had much of a temper for small talk and he had decided to cut the chase.
Helyse stayed quiet, the memory of her saying to the others that Krueger wouldn't rape her going back to her mind as a mockery. No, he wouldn't… It wasn't that she trusted him, but all beings have limitations. Although somehow she knew he wasn't going to do this anyway, it didn't make her any less uncomfortable.
"Personal space, you son of a…".
"You talk too much about them. It's fucking annoying" He hushed against her skin slowly and in purpose, teasing her nerves. Helyse gritted her teeth, it sounded like a joke what he had just said and it didn't help that he was caging her with his own body.
The girl placed her hands on his chest, pushing slowly as she would to a snake that had somehow wrapped itself around her. From a side, Helyse knew better than to piss him off, but there was also the fact that he was too close!
"What is he doing?" He had teased her a bit before, but with Mark and Amelia there, she would expect him to be trying to kill them all. Or he was distracting her? No, bullshit, it wasn't as if she was powerful enough to save them or be a threat and Helyse was aware of such.
Then why?
She felt him smirking against her skin, burying his face so she felt his raw flesh with all the details of the burns. His claws abandoned her chin to touch her face for a brief moment as if he was about to give her a set of scars before they slithered down, going over her neck and pressing it.
There was a strange sensation caused by those claws and his proximity, but Helyse couldn't think about it, her whole being refused any thought to be born regarding this, she couldn't, couldn't.
Aware of the effect he could cause on her despite everything, Krueger laughed quietly when he felt her trying to push him away warily. The vibration of his chest seemed to echo in her skin as a pricking and she was tense under him, fear taking over her being but of a nature Helyse wasn't used to.
Helyse's nerve endings snapped with a shock of varied nuances that were beyond what she could understand, something being transmitted in the air between them as his claws moved slowly against her. She could no longer tell if he meant to cut her skin open or was just teasing or if there was something underneath that.
She actually didn't want to know.
"Get off me, what do you think…?" She hissed in anger when he refused to release her.
"What, do you think that brat would do this to you?" The words were so low that the girl wouldn't be able to hear them if it wasn't for their proximity and for a moment, Helyse's body forgot how to work or feel. What had he just said?
There was a lot she could expect to hear from Krueger, but certainly not that.
"Think he can wake every point of yours?" He went on as something harsh and warm ran over her neck until the flesh of her ear and Helyse realized it was Krueger's tongue. Oh, god, this had to be a joke, there was no way he was actually doing this to her!
Barely keeping a growl at the same time she tried to justify his actions as mere teasing going too far, Helyse tried to get free, but only managed to turn her face away which actually exposed her neck more and by the smirk of Krueger, her struggle had pleased him.
Although her nerves were shuddering under her skin, there were threads of liquid fire running along her veins converting to points of her body she never knew before. Krueger was aware of this and he also knew Helyse had problems with being touched and the root of it didn't seem to be just being unused to it, but he didn't care.
"Stop touching me" She hissed.
With a sigh and a false voice, Krueger released her. Helyse wouldn't have lied if she said she wasn't surprised he had complied.
"You're not very fun".
Helyse's first reaction was a wish to give a rude reply, but the remains of fear held her tongue. Chaos, shame and fear mixed until they were all a mass with no beginning or end, veins of some unknown origin spreading inside her organs.
"He just wants to humiliate you, you know this, he just wants to upset you.".
Krueger however looked wondering.
"Perhaps this is not the best of times, anyway… Would it be a more pleasant scenery if we were surrounded by the corpses of those morons?" His eyes gleamed as he let a growl of excitement. "Not that's an idea".
The corners of the girl's mouth twisted to the suggestion. Krueger almost laughed as he wondered if it was the image of their in such embrace or the blood the cause of this reaction. The fear and tension hadn't left her eyes, which was good enough in his book.
"That is sick" It was, but why Helyse couldn't deny that something in her seemed to grow warmer with the image rather than cold? It should repulse her, yet it didn't as much as she knew it should.
"Oh, fuck, what a grotesque thing!" How could an idea like this, a scene of slaughter like this… What was wrong with her? And what kind of friend she was to be having such a conversation with that murderer, especially in a moment like this? She should be seeking her friends, not talking to Krueger!
"Speaking of which" She decided the best course of action was to change the subject as she tried to bury those images and sensations until they were pieces of forgotten nightmares. "What have you done anyway? Where are they?".
Krueger sighed with fake disappointment. Helyse's self control had returned and he would be lying if he ever said that seeing her in that other state hadn't been a sight or that he hadn't enjoyed knowing he was able to cause such reactions. At first, he had really just wanted to take the chance of provoking her and testing her, but he had thought he would end up as excited as he was now.
Not that it was the first time some thought involving him and the girl in such situation invaded his mind.
"And do you really want to go after them like a little pet bitch, wagging her tail? They wouldn't even let us talk in peace. And they're not much in brain matter, anyway". His eyes turned towards the ceiling as if he was lost in thought and Helyse guessed he was thinking about all the ways he could torture and kill them. "They're just good to die…" He turned back to her with a sick smile. "Would you like to help me ending their lives?".
Was it the question or the sincerity that left the girl's mouth half-open like this? She knew she wasn't the best or kindest person, but to invite her to kill people she regarded as friends… What Krueger thought she was?
"Well, nonsense, I know. You wouldn't do that your precious friends and all that fucking shit". He snarled in despise. "Though we can't be sure they would do the same, can we? Didn't I tell you Kurt was willing to make a trade?".
The girl nodded, refraining herself to say that considering the state Kurt had been, this couldn't be held against him. Besides, people could always say a lot when they were under threat and pain and those would be empty words. This was basic and obvious and this wasn't a matter she felt like discussing (or any actually) with Krueger.
Would she risk taking a run for it? She couldn't, he was still too close and the first sudden movement he could easily hold her. Should she try anyway? She couldn't feel pain, so perhaps there was a chance even if he managed to cut her…
"You already told me to not trust them" Helyse merely said, although they had already had this conversation and she didn't feel like repeating it. Perhaps with him distracted she had a chance… Slowly, she leaned her body to the side hoping he wouldn't interpret this as a sign that she was getting ready to escape.
"So I did" He shortened the distance between them again. Helyse didn't move, but turned her face when he touched it with his claw, pressing more than he had before. A warm line going down her skin told her he had made a small cut.
"It was just a… Friendly advice, you could call it.".
The girl threw him a cold glare.
"What are you really intending to do?" She hissed, referring to all this and having no need of going further in the subject. Both knew she was referring to Krueger actions of just now.
The Dream Demon stared at her with a serious expression that didn't let anything else out.
A white and yellow ray passed by them coming from behind the boiler Helyse had her back leaning on. It hit Krueger, who walked back with a groan of pain.
"Mark!" Helyse realized, just upset that the electricity hadn't been enough to kill. Without thinking, she walked away from her cornering point and joined the boy who was surprised upon noticing her.
"Hell? What the heck you…?" He started with a glare that sent alarms in the girl's mind. Surely he wasn't thinking that…? Oh, to the devil with that, there were more important things to deal with now. She realized Amelia was just some steps behind Mark, shaken but otherwise unharmed.
"Are you alright?" Helyse asked, passing by the boy towards the girl. Amelia nodded. She seemed unable to contain her shivering and there were small wounds over her.
"I'm fine… I-I guess…".
"She was being attacked by rats!" Mark snarled, fury barely contained in each syllable. "Some pipes near me started to explode with liquid nitrogen or something like that! And yet you were here and…".
"Dealing with Krueger" Helyse snapped back, trying to avoid discussions. It wasn't a real lie, though it did nothing against the wave of deep guilty that took over her. Her neck and face were still warm due to his touches.
This was wrong, just wrong!
Krueger meanwhile had noticed Mark's behavior and sent her a satisfied smile. It didn't take a genius to get that she would probably hear comments of the "Told You So" nature later.
Mark didn't wait for explanations. With a cry of rage, he positioned himself better in front of the girls, hands shining with power. Krueger, who looked more bored than worried, pointed to the ceiling with his claw.
None of them looked, Mark starting a new attack.
At the same time, something warm started to fall over their bodies.
There was no need to look to know what it was… They all had come to know that smell.
Amelia cried out when her eyes were covered by the red. She tried to clean it from her face, but the trail remained and spread over her skin the more she tried to get it off.
Pieces of warm flesh and blood rained over them with the same intensity of a storm.
"There is some sort of joke here with this rain and Mark's powers, but to the devil if I understand it" Helyse's thought came without control as she tried to shake the flesh that fell over her shoulders and head, aware that it had once been human.
Looking around, there was nothing they could see but the rain of warm red that accumulated around their feet in the floor that no longer had the grids.
"Amy, do you think you can get us out of here?" Mark asked and he looked up, trying to shield his eyes so the blood wouldn't fall in his eyes. Whether a hole had appeared or walls had gone up surrounding them, the fact was they were in a shaft or well of sorts.
The girl shook her head, hair darkened by the rain. The blood fell over her face in a parody of make-up. The blood was already up to their ankles.
"I can't!" The girl cried back, trying to move at least the increasing pool upwards and out of the strange well they were in, without much success as the rain carried on anyway. "I cannot just create anything, just move and… And there isn't anything here!" She ended up screaming so fast that it was almost impossible to make out the words. Yet, she tried.
"So much effort into finding out what you can do and yet it doesn't seem to be worth fucking shit" A voice above them called their attentions. Krueger was on the edge, watching them as a carrion bird near a slaughter area, without a hurry in its knowledge that there will be a carcass soon enough. It wasn't easy to look at him, not just due to what was in his expression, but also with the dead flesh and blood still falling over them.
With the warm liquid almost to her knees, Helyse bit her lower lip at this.
Mark roared in anger, still trying to hit Krueger with his lightening, making strong flashes of white around that were reflected by the walls. It was more than never like a storm, however with the blood in his eyes, Mark couldn't get an aim good enough and Krueger just needed to walk back a little to be out of sight, all the time laughing at his tries. The sound of malice mixed with Amelia's screaming as she started to throw herself against the walls, trying to wake herself up.
"Amelia, try to lift us up!" Helyse cried, but her voice drowned and the other girl was too lost to take sense of her words. The blood that fell on her hair slid to her face and got in her mouth, yet Helyse tried to ignore it and held Amelia's shoulders. "Amelia, please!".
If at least she heard, then maybe she would be able to lift their bodies through the blood and take them out, perhaps she could…
Amelia was hysteric and merely tried to hit her, Mark's lightening illuminating her face in flashes of white and dark, the blood on her face a mask where her eyes were bulged as a cruel drawing. They were full of dread as if her sanity (or whatever remained of it) had took refuge in a far deeper corner of her mind, letting the body be taken over by fear and do to it whatever it wanted.
And Kruger's laugher was above all.
The heat of blood was in her thighs now.
The cacophony continued, but somehow the cadence had changed, as well as the sound underneath it and what was wrapped around her felt more like arms than…
Realizing she had been trashing around just like Amelia, Helyse finally quieted down while gazing around, for the first time realizing the change as the blood left her eyes. When had she really wakened up? In truth, she didn't know…
"Are you okay, now? Are you wake?" Jonathan asked her, holding her in some sort of half-hug. The girl merely took a deep breath and nodded, her vocal cords feeling tired.
She moved a bit in his arms and, realizing she was uncomfortable, Jonathan released her. He and Jessica looked pale… Despite the remains of blood's smell in her nose, Helyse didn't see anything, not on her or in Mark or Amelia, who was sitting near Jessica. Her hands rubbed her face again and again as she whimpered…
She wasn't crying, but perhaps it would be better if she did.
"God… That… All… The blood… Ag…".
Jessica held her hands, making her stop the movements, probably also unsettled by how it looked like Amelia was trying to undress the skin of her face.
Helyse had nothing to say to any of this, her own body needing conscious effort to even try calming its nerves, her own thoughts slipping between her fingers as her mind refused to form any coherent thought related to what had happened.
"He was… He was going to drown us" Mark muttered, closing his fists. "Son of a whore…".
"Blood of your friends, just so you know" Krueger's harsh voice denounced his presence. He was sitting in the armchair in an unperturbed way, grinning as he watched Amelia running to the kitchen, opening a sink and throwing water at her face.
Helyse ignored him as Jonathan took the moment to pass his arm on her shoulder.
"That was awful…" She muttered just due to the need to force her vocal cords to work before they forgot how to and immediately regretted when Mark turned his eyes to her. There was nothing usual about them and she realized that this wasn't for what had happened, but it was personally towards her.
"And you! Do mind explaining what the fuck you were doing?".
"What are you talking about?" There was hope that he meant how she hadn't done anything to help, but… What could she have done? Her "ability" wasn't fight-related, quite the contrary. And yet, the way Mark eyes were filled by a feverish light and his lips trembled, she was more than sure that he meant…
"How "what"? When we split in that stupid stair, Amelia and I tried to find each other! I found her first, trying to get rid of a bunch of rats going all over her!" His growl grew into something else, not in volume, but expression. He came closer, not once blinking. "I had to make way through a bunch of pipes that kept breaking near me! And there was no fucking water on them, but liquid nitrogen! Can you fucking understand this or I need shorter words?".
Jonathan turned to his friend mouth half-opened, but whatever there was to be said died and he looked from Mark to Helyse as Jessica couldn't help stare as well. Helyse understood well what would have happened should Mark get hit…
"We were here! We were watching, I swear, I…" Jessica started babbling, the words coming tripping in each other and even if he didn't look at her, Mark's voice became softer when he talked to her.
"Yeah, I know, no need to say anything, I was cautious and didn't get hit, but what I'm trying to say here…" He pointed to Helyse, his tone back to before. "Is that while I and Amy were like this… Sudden, when we're there looking for you and worried, we met Krueger. But later I saw that he was practically over you and you weren't doing anything!".
"Oh, I think they are getting the wrong idea about us" Krueger laughed upon seeing Mark so angered, yet the smile didn't reach his eyes. "They will end up saying we have a romance, apparently".
Helyse just manage to register that his tone had been weird when saying this in an animal instinct-level, and didn't dwell in this now. And if it weren't for the control she had over herself, perhaps she would have reacted or said something.
"Mark…" The boy didn't give her chance.
"What got into you? You didn't have pills at home and now, with that monster right in front of you, you weren't attacking or screaming, can you explain if there is anything close to human thought inside this skull of yours?". Helyse took notice that the others were also looking at her, expecting an explanation that she didn't have. "I just saw you were there when he walked away from the boiler, but it was clear he was close to you! What was that all about?".
"Mark…" She started and this time, he became quiet (thought maybe more due to need to breath). Krueger was leaning forwards, watching the scene.
"Careful now, Helyse…" He whispered seriously. Measuring and weighting her words, Helyse tried to go on.
"You forgot that… This power I have doesn't help me much to hurt others…" Not that theirs had been of any use when they had been trapped in that well, but she wasn't going to say that. "So, when I was cornered, I didn't know what to do… One wrong move and he would kill me.".
Be it because he had already said what he wanted, be because he believed her, Mark didn't say anything else as he stopped panting. Jonathan's hand on her shoulder, that just now she realized had been holding too strongly, relaxed and tried to squeeze it in a friendly way, as if he was trying to comfort her. Helyse saw Krueger rolling his eyes, as if he could say much to this, but would rather be silent for now.
"He started to provoke me and I didn't know what to do…" She had a lie in her mouth and knew it could make her look weak or coward and the idea didn't please her, but there was nothing else she could say. The truth? How, if Helyse herself didn't know which it was, why she hadn't reacted with Krueger's closeness, why she hadn't tried to free herself…
She didn't know and there was a kind of fear under her stomach that made her not feel comfortable not even to try understanding it.
"I… I was frightened" She concentrated in using the right tone of fragility and shame. "He kept talking about how you both were missing, I was afraid… I didn't know what to do…".
"Oh, yeah, sure, put the fucking blame on me" Krueger groaned and Mark scoffed.
"Ah, Helyse, give me a break… After all this time… Fuck, you could have been killed, don't you give any value to your life?".
"Guys, enough…" Amelia intervened, standing between them as if Helyse had just stood up and ready to fight. "I don't know you, but even if it was for a little while, I feel kinda better and…".
"We're NOT going to do it again!" Jessica screamed at this, standing and making Krueger chuckle at her reaction. "No way, I'm sorry, Hell, but this idea didn't work at all, that was terrible!".
"Technically, it did work…" The girl replied, before realizing what she was doing. Maybe, despite her control, the stress of this night was affecting her too much to allow real control. The others stared at her in disbelief.
"How in the name of God can you even think this "technically worked"? I know how the guys at school say you're fucked in the head, but…" Mark hissed with a venomous glare. Helyse has seen that days ago when he had suggested that they injected themselves with something his mother used and Helyse had expressed her belief that it could cause more harm than good.
However, once realizing exactly what he had said, he averted her eyes with a groan.
"I just mean to say that we're alive, right? The idea wasn't going to sleep and be fine, it was going to sleep, get some rest and avoid being killed." She shrugged tentatively as Jessica kept shaking her head.
"Maybe, but those are… Just technicalities! I don't know you all, but I'm out! No more, I don't want this!" Her denials went on, the vision of the corpses dancing at the end of hooks like dolls, the touch of the dead flesh and its smell still fresh in her organism and so they would, probably until the day she died.
"Okay, okay, Jay… No one needs to sleep if they don't want to" Amelia sighed. "Even I… I don't want to. I can't bear this stuff. Later, another day, we can perhaps try again…" She emended at the end to Helyse, as if fearing she would be offended or hurt.
Helyse didn't care actually… She had given the suggestion, they had tried. It was already enough. At least they had tried something…
"Oh, sure, because it worked so well…".
"No, that's okay… I guess… I guess we better stay up together then" She commented, the others agreeing with mumbles.
"You're still dancing in thin ice…" Krueger muttered pleased. There was something shining in his eye that Helyse didn't take the time to figure out, not wanting to risk the others asking why she was glaring at her armchair.
They weren't hurt, but those visions were tortures to places a knife can't reach and had expulsed sleep away by remembering them that they would suffer worse, should they fall asleep for long enough.
As they served themselves of more coffee and suggested keep playing cards during the rest of the night or do something else, Helyse internally wished the night would be over soon and she would be left alone.
Only now, awaken, she realized how tired she was of everything, in all senses.
Oh, they were her friends and she liked them, but weren't there moments when people needed silence? A dark corner where they could be and try relaxing, in silence by preference to the point they felt cut from the world? That's how she felt…
And, god, after that night, with that feeling coiling inside her, she longed for some peace…
Ana: And one more chapter done! I guess there is nothing much to be said here and I have no news to tell… Thanks everyone for still following this story even after all this time!
Helyse: Except you seem determined to make a mess of my life? More than usual?
Ana: Please, if even now you expect this story to have a happy ending, then you haven't been paying attention.
Krueger: Wait, isn't this like a Game of Thrones…
Ana: Quiet.
Helyse: Her lack in originality never ceased to amaze me.
Ana: So guys, hope you're enjoying. As always, your support is very welcome! Oh, speaking of which, I made a page! It is more focused in my creepy reading on youtube, but…
Krueger: You already made propaganda of your stupid deviantart page, the other youtube account and NOW ? God, don't you have ANY shame?
Ana: Very little and less is remaining, ever since I started working with YOU of all characters. Jason would be easier, at least he is quiet…