"Think I should open the door?" Lance asked, glancing at the two.
Lita shook her head. "I don't want to be anywhere near the killer, leave him there he'll be okay."
Lance knew he was outnumbered. "Fine, I won't." He gave in.
The banging of the door stopped moments after, the room once again filled with the silence.
"See? If there was something wrong he would have kept on knocking."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William gave up trying to get up stairs; it was obvious that the others weren't planning on opening the door to him.
He walked down the cold cement stairs, sitting on the bottom step. "Could it get any bloody well worse?"
"It can." A woman stepped into the light; a gun aimed steadily at his head.
"M-Molly…" William began to stand, but froze when Molly sharply said to him, "Don't move."
"Why are you doing this Molly? I love you."
Molly laughed bitterly, "You don't love me, all that you ever loved were yourself and your stupid amusement park. Goodbye William, nice knowing you."
She lowered the aim from his head to his chest, releasing a spray of bullets.
William jerked back, feeling the bullets slice into his chest. He fell back, falling, his body falling against the wall as his eyes closed.
When Molly saw that William was no longer moving, she smirked with satisfaction, approaching William's dead body, leaning down to trace William's jaw line.
"You naïve fool. If you actually took time to see who I was you would have seen that I married you only for your money, your fame, your status. What else could a pity like you could offer a jewel like me? I would have killed you sooner, but I couldn't have spent the remaining days of my life in jail, could I? William, William, you gave me so much, yet so little at the same time. You—"
She dropped the gun she had in her hand in shock when William roughly grabbed her neck, picking up her gun in his hand.
"I'm no fool." He unbuttoned his shirt to reveal a bulletproof vest. "I have many enemies that would probably like to see me dead, though I never thought this would come in handy to protect me from my own wife."
Her surprise quickly turned to anger. "No, you should be dead, you should be—"
William gestured to himself. "I am quite alive Molly, even if you choose not to believe so."
He pushed her away from him, throwing Molly's gun to the depths of the building.
Molly became fearful, she knew what William was capable of doing, he could not only destroy her, but her life as well. She tripped, crashing through the brick wall, the cemented wall seemingly crumbling beneath her. She fell to the floor, her body contacting with the cement. She was dazed, her vision growing blurred.
William smiled cruelly, Molly was right about one thing, he was a fool to have been in love with her, although she never would have believed him if he had told her so.
Molly tried to get to her feet but fell back in exhaustion, she moaned when she felt the pain wrack throughout her body.
His smile froze on his face when he saw a dark shadow that started to lift from the dark corners of the room. The silhouettes formed into one, a fog-like group taking into shape.
"Get up." William said to Molly with a sense of urgency.
"What?" Molly asked, confused that he was talking to her.
"Get the bloody hell up." He could see the shadow was taking its time reaching Molly, as if it were hunting its prey.
Molly tried to get to her feet, except she stumbled, contacting with the ground once again. The fog embraced her. Molly disappeared underneath the thick cloud fog.
"Molly?" William asked, panicked.
That was when he started to hear her blood-curdling screams, a sound of pain.
William at any other time would have tried to save her, but he did not want to die.
The screams lessened inch by inch, until it was only but a fading echo.
A hideous face emerged from the fog, the fog packing tightly together to form what looked like a body, except it was floating. It turned to William, a low inhuman voice saying, "Your turn."
William started for the stairs, running up the short flight of stairs. He banged on the door loudly, yelling to anyone who could hear, "Open the door, please! Open the bloody door!"
He could see the shadow begin to slowly creep up the steps, step by step.
The door opened suddenly, causing him to take a step back in astonishment. He glanced back to see the shadow show itself, throwing itself towards the door; he threw himself aside just as it attacked.
Lance never got a word in, before the fog engulfed him.
The shadow seeped down into the cracks of the cement, disappearing from sight.
"That bastard was right, this house is haunted, you two better find a way out before it kills you both." William ran past them, heading for the stairs leading to the attic.
"What are you talking about? What happened to Lance?" Matt yelled but William had already vanished from hearing width.
Matt sighed, glancing back at where Lance was only a minute before with fear. "Lita, we better do as William says, or we might end up dead as well."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William took the stairs two at a time, opening the door to the attic. The dust made his eyes water, the attic was large, with furniture all around. He knew he would have to be quick in finding an exit, unless he was already dead meat.
He passed by the furniture, disconcerning anything that he passed by until he saw levers and ropes hanging from the ceiling.
William pulled on one of the levers, knowing he had nothing to lose, only to gain.
The first lever turned up nothing, only the screeching of old metal hinges moving.
He tried the second lever, still no reaction.
He tugged on the rope, a relieved smile beginning to form when he saw, that with each pull of the rope, the metal shutters that closed over the windows began to rise, inch by inch. He held the rope high enough just so that he could get through. He tied the rope to a metal pole, beginning the long journey to the other side of the attic, where escape led.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lita let out a gasp when she saw the shadows emerging from the floor, its darkness seeping through the carpets.
Matt pushed her to not lose faith, helping her climb into the attic. They saw light, real light, that they haven't seen for what seemed like so long. They headed for the light, when they bumped into William.
"I found a way out, go before it kills you!" William told them, making their steps faster.
Lita didn't even see the shadow creep up from behind her until she was roughly pushed aside, her head hitting a metal pole. She held her head in pain; her feet wobbly beneath her as Matt picked her up, running over to the exit.
William was no longer yelling them to make the exit, because he, had been the one to save Lita from the hands of death — the shadow.
"Come on, come on, come on!" Matt guiding Lita out of the exit, just as he was about to head for the small space to freedom, the metal shutter came sliding down, separating him from Lita, leaving him yet once again, in darkness.
Lita banged on the metal shutter, desperate to try to get Matt out. "Matt!"
Matt hit the other side of the metal shutter, but to no avail.
When he felt the sudden chill of what could only be described as death, he turned around, pressing himself further to the metal shutters. The shadow showed itself, the faces and screams of the ones killed by it, trying to get free. A monster's face emerged above the rest, its deep voice sending shivers down his spine. "No one escapes the House on Haunted Hill, game over."
Matt closed his eyes, squeezing his eyes closed, expecting to feel pain. He opened his eyes several seconds after when he realized nothing had happened. There, across the attic where the ropes were, was Lance, his ghost figure holding the ropes high enough for the shutters to once again open. He threw himself under the metal shutters as soon as it opened, the metal shutter closing behind him sharply, only barely missing him.
He could hear the screaming of the tortured souls, forever to be trapped inside the mental asylum.
Lita hugged Matt, tears of happiness overflowing her emotions. Matt smiled, he had never been happier to be alive than he was at that moment.
Lita saw a small envelope sticking out, under the metal shutters. She took the envelope in her hands, opening the envelope.
Inside, she discovered, were the cheques meant for the ones that survived. In the envelope, were five checks, each for one million dollars.
"We're rich!" She said ecstatically.
Matt grinned back, "Now the only thing we need to do is, figure out how to get down." He pointed to the floors below them, the house was nearly as big as a twenty-floored building, and they were at the very top.
Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
I travel the world
And the seven seas--
Everybody's looking for something.
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused.
Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
I travel the world
And the seven seas--
Everybody's looking for something.
THE END
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please R&R
Note: This story is finally done, what did you think? I added the lyrics at the end of the story, the song is by Marilyn Manson (originally by Eurythmics). I added the lyrics at the end of the story because that was the song that ended the "House on Haunted Hill" movie. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews!