Chapter 30: Haunting Visions

Three minutes soon passed and still, there was no sign of our three friends. I was quite tempted to head down to the King Street Line and find them but at the same time, I knew they would be fine.

Besides, they can assist each other if one gets into trouble...

"Hey Sidney," Granny spoke up, breaking the silence. "What do you think is in there?!"

We all laid our eyes on the door to the room in front of us. I could see that the windows and objects inside were covered in a moist crimson, like it was there for a long period of time. Just the very sight didn't look appealing and deep down, I was praying that a certain sloth wouldn't bring up a gesture I did not want to do.

And, he did.

"Princess, maybe you could go in there and see if there's anything we can use." Sid suggested, keeping a close eye and Granny as the words left his mouth.

"First of all, I'm a normal girl like Megan, so please call me Elise." I began, trying to remain calm as I gripped my knife more tightly. "Secondly, I'm not particularly a huge fan of ... you know, that."

I pointed a finger at the large portion of crimson which was clearly seen on the windows. "Believe me, I do want to check if there's anything useful but ... I cannot stand seeing such grim surroundings."

Yes, I have just admitted that I am mildly squeamish when it comes to things like this. If I told someone else, then they would have laughed and teased me. But, I do have reasons. On the day of my father's death, I immediately went back inside to find him once I came to. I was ... greeted with a terrible sight; my kind, loving and gentle father, lying flat on the floor and covered from top to bottom in cuts and bruises.

It was a memory I so desperately wished to forget.

"We understand." Ellie said, nodding. "But, how about you head in with one of us? Maybe, that might make things easier?"

"Yeah!" Both Buck and Flynn agreed. "I mean ... We're all in this together, so you can always give us a shout!" The weasel continued, with his friend giving a thumbs up.

A huge smile creased my cheeks as I went over to unlock the door. "I'm really grateful, thank you."

Shira was the one who decided to come with me. She too seemed disgusted by the crimson which was perfectly understandable. I took a deep breath, turned the knob and walked in.

As soon as we entered, a series of visions began to flash repeatedly in my head as I stepped forward, taking in my surroundings. Shira grimaced as she looked around, not liking what she was seeing at all.

"I could be wrong, but I think this is where that ghost got killed." She sighed, averting her gaze back to Diego, Sid and the others.

Panting, I tried to confirm that she was indeed right, but the visions gradually got worse and worse until they physically and mentally overwhelmed me. "I ... I ... I believe you may be righ—"

As soon as those words left my mouth, a tormented scream was forced out of me.

"Elise...?" Peaches, Louis and Ellie called out. "Is everything alright...?!"

"No, we need some help! Where's Manny and the other two?!" Shira shouted, looking at me with genuine concern.

That was when my sight was completely blinded by the visions I was having.

I saw ... I saw a young man in his late twenties, dressed in a simple long-sleeved blue shirt and matching jeans who was cradling an older woman who was breathing heavily. Her outfit happened to be a cleaner version of her ghost's outfit, much brighter and colourful, despite being stained in crimson.

"It's just ... a dream right? ... I ... I feel like I'm dying!"

"It's okay ... It's just a dream..."

The woman then let out a strangled gasp and fell lifeless, letting her hand drop from the young man's cheek.

"Elise?! Hello, wakey, wakey! ... ELISE?!"

Snapping back to reality, I opened my eyes in a flash and found myself face to face with my new friends. "What...? What is it?"

"What the heck happened to you?!" Peaches demanded. "You were literally screaming your head off a few seconds ago, we were worried sick!"

I shook my head twice and blinked, trying to get a grip on what just occurred. I knew I had a series of visions but I had absolutely no clue that they were going to be so intense and powerful.

After eventually managing to calm my breathing, I was suddenly startled by a trio of footsteps, one set being incredibly loud thuds. Ellie, Peaches, Shira and the others all recognised it and let broad grins crease their cheeks.

"That's them, let's go!" Sid cried, opening the door and beckoning us to come out.

E-M

I'm only going to say this once; heading up that escalator and fighting those wall-men was not cool at all.

I mean, c'mon! They kept throwing us back down the way we came!

Since Manny decided that we're heading back down to the exit with the others, I am sooooo looking forward to getting my revenge on those monsters, it's unreal.

"What took you three so long?!" Granny demanded, marching towards me with the intention of whacking me hard with her stick.

"I know we may sound impatient," Louis began, with concern lacing his tone. "But—"

"We've been waiting forever!" The elderly female sloth interrupted him, managing to deliver a severe blow to my forehead, forcing a yell of pain out of me.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Sonic shouted, quickly grabbing my shoulders and pulling me out of harm's way. "We're sorry, we ... got caught up with a major issue which still needs to be dealt with before we leave."

Hopefully, Granny won't push us further for an explanation...

"Have you guys found anything?" Manny asked, somehow changing the subject.

Just as those words left his mouth, Diego came out of the exit room with a train handle that he kept a tight grip on with his jaws. "We only found this in there, nothing else."

Whilst my friends were checking up on each other, my mother suddenly drifted back into my thoughts. I didn't want to enter the area she was held captive in and discover that the worst had happened. The possibility of seeing my sweet and caring mother ... gone ... absolutely terrified me.

How can I live ... without her? She has gone out of her way to help me in good times and bad, was always there to comfort me whenever I needed it and was the first person out of my family to congratulate me if I ever achieved something pleasant.

My mum's never given up on me, and I have never given up on her...

What will I do ... if she's gone...?

What ... should I do if I fail...?

"Guys, we should get going now. Everyone ready?"

Snapping back to reality, I noticed that my friends had planned to head back down to the King Street Line in order to get out. Manny, Sid and Diego were already descending the staircase with the possums and Ellie in tow. Eventually the rest of us went down to join them, whilst I was preparing for the wild ride on that escalator.

It wasn't long until it began; Elise and I overtook the others, getting our weapons at the ready. Sonic and Manny also prepared themselves for those blasted wall-men to make their move, along with Diego and Shira.

"Get ready!" The mammoth shouted, making sure that his family were okay.

After clenching my eyes shut for a brief second, I reloaded my hunting rifle and aimed it at the first wall-man who had just appeared, letting out a loud roar. I immediately began firing bullets, whilst Sonic curled up into a ball and launched himself into it.

Unfortunatley, another wall-man appeared and did the very thing I dreaded most; it grabbed me and Elise with an overwhelming grip and threw us back up the way we came. We both screamed until we landed hard on the steel moving steps.

"What in the world...?!" My deceased friend yelled, pulling herself up to her feet with me in tow.

"Yeah, yeah! I know!" I repiled, sprinting down to join Sonic and the others. "Elise, c'mon!"

The good news was that we were able to make past the first three of four wall-men. But, we still had some bad news; more wall-men to deal with. We were all attacking them with the strength we had, some of us slowly getting tired and worn out. I'm not going to lie, I wasn't the only one who actually came close to giving up. But, multiple phrases of encouragement helped a lot.

"Guys, keep going! Not long, now!" Peaches cried, whacking two wall-men hard with her trunk.

"I can see the end! Just a little bit more, c'mon!" I shouted, firing more bullets whilst fighting our enemies physically.

"I so can't wait to get out of this place..." Crash muttered, eyeing Buck in awe as he stabbed a wall-man with his knife.

"You and me both!" The weasel repiled, letting out his cowboy cry again.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour of fighting, screaming and shouting, we made it down the escalator. We all high-fived one another as if to say "You did good." and continued on.

"So, what now?" Diego asked, as we ventured inside the train to find the exit.

"You give me the train handle, I install it into this small hole thing and we're outta here!" I repiled, walking as fast as I could to the very first car.

Eventually, we got there and the Smilodon gave the handle to me. I quickly did what I said and a loud vroom echoed around us, somehow indicating that the car had moved.

"Okay, let's go!" Manny shouted, making his way down a long staircase leading to a simple door with a halo of the sun inscribed into it.

One by one, we went through with Elise holding the door open for us. As soon as it closed, we decided to catch our breath for a brief few seconds.

"You guys alright?" I asked, cupping my hands against my knees as I tried to calm my breathing.

"Yep," Sonic answered, giving his usual thumbs up. "We're fine!"

After a while, we pulled ourselves together. We happened to be in a rather narrow room with another door at the end, it did look freaky but it was nothing too threatening. As I pulled myself back up, I couldn't help but notice that my friends were eyeing something behind me with fright and anger; that was when I realised ... I had one guess on what it could be.

I gripped my hunting rifle tightly, and slowly turned round...

Only to find myself staring down the barrel of a handgun.

Ah great, it's you...