chapter five

"The road is gone!"

"Oh, Amanda, it's you. . ."

"What . . . Hel. . . .oing. . here, Blai. .?!"

He started hearing static. "The line's breaking up!"

"Pl . .se. . .do. .t . .go. . ." It went dead.

"Amanda? Amanda!" He folded it closed. "Damn it!"

He tried to get up, but a sharp pain went up his back, and he fell back down.

Clang!

Blaine turned his head. The floor was mesh, and rusted, just like the hotel. "Jesus!"

It's happening again, Blaine.

"No it isn't. . ."

Blaine, stop it.

"But last time I was almost passing out!" He was desperately looking for an excuse for this time to be different. "This has to be different!"

He looked around. The darkness around him was as strangling and heavy as the fog. Blaine held his head as he slowly got up, forcing himself to ignore the pain.

There's a flashlight in your pocket, Blaine.

"No, there isn't. I didn't bring one."

I did.

"What. . .?"

Reach into your pocket, Blaine.

Blaine put his hand in his pocket, and pulled out a flashlight. "Must've been in there from when the power went out yesterday." H felt over it, looking for a switch. "God, why do they these things so damn hard to find?!"

His finger found it, and he flicked it on. The light brightened slowly. He could see movement, than realized it was in the air, in front of him. He blinked. There was a hanging, dead body in front of him, hanging from the tip of a roller coaster track above. The movements he saw were maggots, writhing and twisting over it. Blaine screamed and turned around. He put his hand over his mouth and fell to his knees. He looked down, and immediately got back up. Beneath the mesh was a river of blood, flowing and bubbling, sometimes splashing above it. Blood hit Blaine's shoes.

He ran in the opposite direction, and could feel tears on his cheeks. He could hear the ambulance siren in the distance. He was sure not to look down, as he stumbled away from the horrors. He found the wall of a building, and brushed his hand against it. It was wet. He looked at his hand. It was blood. He leaned his back against it, barely being able to stand anymore. He stood there and cried.

"Blaine. . ."

Suddenly the wall behind him burst, and Blaine felt hands around his neck, and bricks from the wall fell on him, bruising him, causing his nose to bleed. Blaine clutched his crowbar, and brought it backwards over his head, bringing the creature behind him to the ground. Blaine got up and turned around. It was trying to get up. Immediately he swung it again, hitting its head, killing it. Blaine again had to look away, because he had crushed the monster's head. He put his hands over his eyes. "Oh God, why is this happening to me?" He sobbed. "I've got to be dreaming! God, tell me this is a dream!"

Blaine, snap out of it!

"No! I want to go home! I want to go to my bed and pray!"

Christ, Blaine! You're not a kid anymore! Stop running!

Blaine stood there for a moment, still not daring to open his eyes. "I want to get out of here!"

Well, if you want to get out of here, than open your eyes and find the damn exit!

"No, I don't want to."

"I don't want to, Mom."

Blaine, open your eyes!

"I don't want roast anymore."

"I. . .I can't!"

Yes you can, Blaine!

"It's too hard!"

"Someday you're going to have to face it, Blaine."

"I don't want to! It's too hard!"

"She's dead! Do you hear me, dead!"

"What if they made a mistake! She's never going to die! She's my Mother, she's not allowed!"

"Blaine, you're not a kid anymore! I know it's hard, but you have to do it!"

"Why should I listen to you?! You HATED her!"

"Blaine, I—"

"Go away!"

"Please. . ."

"GO AWAY!"

Blaine opened his eyes. "I don't have to listen to you!"

"What do you mean you don't have to listen to me?!"

He felt rage pulsing with his veins. "You hated her, always made her cry!" He raised his crowbar, and delivered another blow to the dead creature.

"Robert, don't!"

"Then do as I say!"

He hit it again. "And then you would hit her!"

"I'm sorry. . .don't hit me anymore. . ."

The creature barely had a form anymore, as Blaine kept hitting it. "And I would try to stop you, and you'd hit me, too!"

"No, Robert, leave him alone!"

"Shut up! Somebody has to discipline to damn kid!"

"There's a difference between discipline and beating!"

Blaine stopped. His eyes focused and he saw what was left of the monster. He felt his stomach lurch. He turned around and threw up again. It was only bile. He had a fleeting thought that he was beating the monster; sinking as low as his father. "What did hitting people ever do for you, Dad?!"

It helped him hide from all his own problems, Blaine.

Blaine kneeled there a moment before getting up. He was genuinely frightened from the atmosphere around him.

What are you going to do now?

"I'm going back to the exit, and I'm going to try the gate."

What if the whole town's like this? What then?

His teeth gritted. "I don't care if it is! I'm going to find out just what the fuck is going on, and get the Hell out of here!"

The gate's going to be locked.

He felt horrible sadness rush through him. "I know that. . . But I have to try."

Why? What are you trying for? You still can't see the answer, and even now, it's right in front of you. If you can't see it, don't even bother trying.

"Do you know what the answer is?"

Of course not, Blaine. But it has to be here somewhere.

"And I'm going to find it."

But he was right. When Blaine got to the gate, it was, indeed, refusing to open. He looked up at the darkness. "Why is this happening to me?!"

"C'mon Blaine, wake up!"

He suddenly heard it again. The horrible ambulance siren, all around him. "No!" He yelled. "Not again. . ." He fell to his knees. "Please. . ." He screamed as the world around him twisted and swirled, and eventually, as his eyes closed, faded.

I'm in some kind of hallway. The walls are rusted and bloody, but I'm not afraid of them, because they're always like that, so I'm used to it. I'm an adult, but Amanda is a child. She's walking in front of me with a flashlight, but she doesn't realize I'm here.

"Blaine?" She asks the walls. "Where are you, Blaine?" I keep telling her I'm right here, but she won't listen, like I'm dead, or invisible. I can hear that tune my room used to play.

Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree top. . .

Amanda's singing to me, looking for me, but I can't let her find me, even though I'm looking for her, too.

When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. . .

Now I know why she can't find me. I'm in my cradle, and for some reason, she doesn't think to look there.

When the bow breaks, the cradle will fall. . .

Suddenly the floor beneath me is giving way. I can hear a crack, and then Amanda sees me, but I fall before she can get to me.

And down will come baby. . .

There are hanging corpses around me, and I know they're my parents, but I still can't look at them, because I'm afraid to see ugly things.

"Just look at us." They're saying. "We're nothing to fear."

But I do fear them, because they're so hideous. My cell phone rings again. So I reach into my pocket and pull it out, but it's a gun. "Hello?"

"Blaine, please wake up!"

"Dad?"

"Dad. . ."

"Dad. . ."

Blaine's body shot upwards. "Dad!"