"Brock…" Lui breathed, the tolls of the clock still echoing through the halls. Brian found himself able to move, falling to his knees beside Brock's still body.
"Oh God...Oh God...Someone call for help!" Brian yelled, pulling Brock into his arms. Blood covered his hands that he pressed to the deep wound on Brock's head, his hair soaked with blood. There was nothing he could do but he still tried. "Now!" Tyler ran to find a phone, turning on the dim lights as he ran down the hall.
"Someone pushed him." Craig breathed. "He didn't fall...I saw it. He was pushed."
"No one touched him!" Evan suddenly yelled, tension filling the room. It made Lui uncomfortable and scared, having never heard Evan sound so angry before. "No one fucking touched him! He fell!"
"He was pushed!" Craig yelled back. "You saw it too!"
"You wanna tell the police that? You wanna tell his fiancee that? One of us is gonna get the blame! They are gonna think that one or all of us killed him! Bashed his skull in and made it seem like he fell down the stairs! No one touched him, Craig! He fell!"
"You saw it, Evan! You saw that shadow!" Craig protested, tears falling from his eyes. "That thing pushed him…"
"Guys…" Tyler ran back to them, out of breath. "The phone isn't working."
"For fucks sake…" Daithi sighed, the group following Tyler to the sitting room where the phone was. They tried it, dialling 911 and when that didn't work, the staff number. They heard nothing but that constant dial tone.
"What about our cell phones?" Luke suggested. Those who had their phone with them took them out only to find they didn't have service. "Is there still wi-fi? If we get one of our phones on it, we can at least call Delirious."
"What's Jon gonna do?" Tyler snapped. "He's halfway across the fucking country!"
"So at least someone knows about Brock that can get help!" Luke cried. Tyler went silent for a few moments, glancing up at the others who were just as clueless as to what they should do.
"Let's see if we can get out of here. If I have to break a window…" Tyler muttered, storming out of the room. Lui rubbed his eyes with his sleeve, not sure if he was trying to get rid of the tears or the image of Brock's body at the bottom of the stairs and the blood pooling around his head.
"He can't be dead...He can't…" Lui's voice broke, his watery eyes meeting Evan's. He turned away from Lui, heading back into the hallway to find Tyler. They couldn't look at each other, no one wanting the others to see them cry. Lui forced himself to head back into the dimly lit hallway, hearing Tyler and Luke struggle with the front door.
"Stupid fucking door" Luke yelled, hitting the door.
"They locked it from the outside! There has gotta be another door." Tyler pushed past Lui, practically shoving the shorter boy out of the way. "Don't just stand there!"
"Tyler, stop being such an asshole." The sight of Brain standing at the end of the hall made Lui jump. His sweatshirt was stained red, blood dripping from his hands to the floor the same way tears fell from his eyes. He looked just as monstrous as the shadow that pushed Brock. Tyler stared at him with just as much shock as the others, glancing back at them with desperation. He was just as scared as they were, feeling like the walls were closing in on him, suffocating him.
"I don't… I don't mean to be...I'm sorry...I just...I need to get out of this fucking house…" Tyler sounded desperate, stepping past Brian to head to the back of the house to find another door.
"Got it. It's not very good but it'll have to do…" Luke had Skype open on his phone, calling Delirious. "Please answer...please answer…"
"Luke?" Jonathan yawned, his voice breaking up. "W-What's going on?"
"Brock is dead! We need help!" Craig grabbed the phone away from Luke, clutching it tightly in his hands. "Call the police! Any one! We can't get out of here!"
"Stop...Mini just stop! Slow down! What is going on? Tell me slowly. " Jonathan said, trying to calm Craig down.
"This place...Someone is in here...And they killed Brock!" Lui took the phone from Craig, needing to hold onto something solid, something that he was certain was real. "He was pushed down the stairs...His head...There is so much blood...How can there be so much blood in your head…?"
"Have you called the police? You need to get out of there!" Jonathan cried, now wide awake.
"We can't! The phones won't work...and we've been locked in! Jonathan help!" Lui looked up to see Evan standing in front of him, his eyes darker in the dim light.
"Why did you tell him someone killed? He fell on his own! We're all freaking out right now. Our minds are playing tricks on us." Evan snapped, taking the phone from Lui suddenly.
"Evan? Are you okay?" Jonathan's voice was full of worry and confusion.
"I-I...I'm okay." Evan nodded. "Just call the police. We need help." None of this was making sense to Lui. Evan had just been agreeing with Lui that there was something wrong in the house and now he was saying that there was nothing, that it was just an accident.
"Evan...Evan you said this place was haunted. You saw the shadow…How can police help us?" Lui asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.
"Because Brock is dead." Evan said, doing his best to keep his voice steady. Upstairs, the sound of shattering glass could faintly be heard, making them jump.
"Tyler?" Craig called out, not getting a response.
"Guys? What's going on?" Jonathan asked, having faintly heard the sound. Evan hung up, tucking the phone into his pocket and headed towards the stairs, Lui close behind.
"Tyler! Luke! Was that you?" Evan yelled, throwing open Tyler's bedroom door. He wasn't in there, the room empty. They continued to the other rooms, not finding Tyler or Luke. Lui's bedroom door was closed, the knob clicking as Lui opened it. The mirror on the vanity table was shattered, a hole in the middle of the cracked glass that revealed the patterned wall paper behind it. He stepped towards the mirror slowly, pieces of reflective glass all over the table and floor. He leaned towards the broken glass, peering through the hole to see if there was something behind it.
Darkened fingers suddenly curled around the broken glass from the other side, as if reaching Lui. He screamed, falling back onto the floor, the objects on the table clattering to the floor.
"Lui?" Brian called, footsteps running in the hallway towards him. Lui looked up at him and Craig with wide eyes, struggling to breathe. "Lui? What is it?" All he could do was point towards the broken mirror with a shaking hand. Brian crossed the room to the mirror, Craig staying by the door. Brian leaned towards the glass, looking to see if there was anything there. "There is nothing here." Brian said, turning back to Lui. "Did you break it?"
"N-No! I found it...like this." Lui cried. "There was a hand that came out from behind it! I swear!"
"Come on Lui. Just stay with us, okay?" Craig pulled Lui to his wobbly feet, his eyes still on the broken mirror. "I wanna fucking get outta here." Lui could have sworn he saw the hand on the glass again as he left the room with Craig and Brian.
"All the doors are locked!" Tyler yelled from downstairs, his voice getting louder as they headed down the stairs. Evan, Luke, and Daithi stood around him, trying to calm him down. "Did you hear from Jonathan?"
"Yeah...We told him to call the police." Evan said, glancing up at Lui, Craig and Brian with wide eyes. "He'll do it, Tyler. Just try to breathe. We'll figure this out."
"They'll blame us for Brock! They'll think we killed him!" Tyler was struggling to breathe now, his panic escalating with every word. "No one touched him...right? Right?!"
"No one touched him, Tyler. He fell. Tripped over his own feet." Evan said. Lui watched him closely. They weren't feeling like themselves, but Evan seemed the most affected. He would suddenly be angry only to calm down just as quickly. Lui told himself it was just the fear getting to him.
"Why don't we pack up our stuff and stay in one of the ballrooms? We'll stay together in one room for the rest of the night. There is no point in doing damage to this house with so much already done." Daithi suggested. Tyler seemed reassured by the suggestion, nodding at the mention of staying together now that his prideful anger had faded. The rest of them agreed to the suggestion, avoiding the bloodstained stairs and headed to another staircase that took them to the third floor.
Lui was hesitant to go back into his room, everything from finding Evan frozen there in the middle of the room to the broken mirror and the blackened hand that gripped the glass running through his mind. He grabbed his bag, stuffing his clothes into the pack and reached for his phone. There was no signal and the battery was drained though it had been plugged in and charging. With a sigh, he put the phone into his bag, useless to him now.
A loud bang came from down the hall, almost sounding like a gunshot. Lui jumped, turning to look at his open door and the hallway beyond. It was followed with someone banging on their bedroom door, trying to get it open.
"Open the fucking door! This isn't funny!" Brian yelled, his voice muffled by the wodden door. Lui ran into the hallway, a flash of colour catching his eye. Brock stood, bloody and wide eyed at the end of the hallway by Brian's door. His eyes turned slowly to the closed door that was being repeatedly hit by Brian before he turned and walked towards the very stairs that he had died on. Lui couldn't move the whole time he saw his friend's ghost, watching him move slowly before disappearing into thin air.
"Don't just stand there! Help him!" Evan yelled, pushing past Lui as he ran towards Brian's door. He grabbed the knob, trying to turn it but found that it wouldn't work. The others joined him, hitting the door as much as Brian was.
"Help me! G-Get it open! I can't breathe!" Brian screamed, hitting the door as hard he could from his side. "Help me! Help me!"
"Get something heavy! We gotta break it down!" Daithi yelled. Tyler and Luke ran to find something, the rest of them still struggling with the door and listening to Brian scream on the other side.
"I c-can't...breathe…!" Brian cried, his pounds on the door becoming more like he was scratching at the wood with his fingernails, his voice strained.
"Tyler! Luke!" Evan yelled. "Hurry up!" The two came running back down the hallway, a heavy trunk held between them.
"Back up!" Tyler snapped at them, still hearing Brian scratching at the door, his loud gasps for air faintly heard over it. "Brian! Back up!" The scratching stopped, hearing a faint thud on the other side of the door. It two two swings to bash open the door, the old wooden door breaking open and hit the wall hard enough for the knob to dent the wood. They threw the trunk to the floor, the loud noise it made echoing in the hall. "Oh...fuck…no..."
Brian lay on the floor, his empty eyes wide and bulging out of his head. His neck was darkened with bruises in the shape of hands, his own hands covered in blood, his fingernails chipped and coming off.
Somewhere in the house, a clock tolled one.