Tears fell from Lui's eyes, streaming down his cheeks before falling to the floor. He had hidden in Evan's room, crawled under the bed and told himself that none of this real. His friends couldn't be dead, couldn't be gone from his life when they had only been there for a short wonderful time. Evan wasn't a monster, he wasn't possessed by some devil. Lui told himself that he would wake up on his bed and none of this would have happened. Everything would be alright.
Yet when Lui opened his tear filled eyes, he was still staring out at the old fashioned room, the smell of dust and blood stinging his sinuses. His shoulder felt numb, soaked with his own blood. He closed his eyes again, wishing he had grabbed the gun from Tyler to protect himself. He had nothing now; nothing to stop the demon from coming after him. He remembered what Jonathan had said about getting on the plane out and finding them and wondered if he would make it and bring the help they needed.
"Lui…" The soft voice made him jump, his eyes shooting open. Someone was standing beside the bed, their running shoes splattered with blood. "Lui…" The ghost said again, the voice soft enough to calm him.
"I'm sorry…" Lui whispered. Though he wasn't sure whose ghost this was that had come to haunt him but he felt responsible for their death anyways. He could have saved them, could have stopped them from hurting each other. Instead he had stood by and did nothing but run away and hide.
"Right under our noses…" The ghost said, sound more like Craig the more it spoke. Lui remembered finding Craig in the hall, having fallen to his knees under the pressure of grief. "I tripped over it…" Craig told him. Lui stared at the shoes, hoping that it was the actual Craig telling him this and not the demon trying to trap him. "It's there...Right under us the whole time...Get out."
"Please don't make me go back out there." Lui sobbed, his shoulder stinging from the movement. "Evan is out there…"
"Get out." It was Tyler's voice now, the ghost moving to it's knees.
"Get out." Brock pleaded.
"Get out." Brian wheezed.
"Get out." Craig stammered.
"Get out." Luke spluttered.
"Get out." Daithi peered under the bed at Lui, reaching his cut hand towards him. "Get out...Please. For us…We can't leave but you can."
"He'll kill me…" Lui sobbed. "Daithi please don't make me go out there."
"We'll protect you...The door is in the floor...watch out for the fall…" Daithi insitructed. "Get out." The ghost suddenly disappeared, leaving Lui alone once more. He could see the window from where he hid, warm early morning light spilling in through the thin lace curtains. They were right, he had to get out.
Forcing himself to crawl out from under the bed was a pain filled task, having to stop a few times to catch his breath and make sure the bleeding from his shoulder wasn't too bad. He finally got out, moving towards the door. He listened for a few minutes, hearing nothing but the early morning traffic and birds singing pleasantly outside. Taking a deep breath, he pulled open the door, the hallway still oddly dark and silent as he stepped into it. He had to keep telling himself to walk as he stepped down the hallway, glancing into the rooms nervously. He expected to see the demon but instead there was nothing. He was the last living person in this house, surrounded by ghosts and demons. He could hear their footsteps behind him, cold chills running down his spine.
"Please don't leave me." He whispered to the ghosts, believing that he could see his friends just out of the corner of his eye. He tip toed down the stairs, finding the door to the hallway where he had found Craig.
His eyes landed on the tipped over table and the broken lamp, the hallway too dark to see the floor and the door his ghostly friends told him about. He stepped forward, the fear making him feel like turning around and hiding again.
"You are never going to leave this house." Evan stepped out of the shadows at the end of the hall, the axe held in his bloody hands.
"Evan...Listen to me. You are still in there...Somewhere...Unless Tyler really did kill you but if your ghost can hear me, I need to you now! I need you to snap out of this! To wake up from whatever nightmare this is! I know how to get out of this house and I will leave this house!" Lui yelled. "Are you coming with me, Evan?"
"You are nev-"
"I'm not talking to you, you fucking evil bastard! I'm talking to my friend! Evan please! Come with me. Wake up!" Lui cried, tears of anger welling up in his eyes. "Evan!" Lui screamed, his hands curled into fists despite the pain of his shoulder. "Please!"
"You are never going to leave this house." The demon stepped forward, starting to raise the axe above his head. Lui dropped to his knees, frantically searching for the small door. His hand caught on a piece of metal hidden under the rug, his eyes glancing up at Evan as he pulled the handle, throwing open the door. Craig must have been to overwhelmed to look for what he had tripped over and Lui cursed him for it as the demon ran at him. "You are never going to leave this house!" Evan screamed as Lui scrambled into the small gap under the floor, pulling the door closed on top. He crawled through the darkness, hearing the demon scream above him, and it's angry footsteps.
The axe crashed through the floor, cutting Lui's leg as he scrambled to get away. The demon pulled the axe back, only to bring it down again on the floor above Lui, the wood splintering around him as he kept crawling forward. He could feel fresh air coming from the end of the small tunnel through a vent, his lungs burning as he heaved for air. He could still hear the demon above him, shrieking with rage. He reached the vent, hitting it as hard as he could. He winced in pain, the metal cutting his hands as he hit it but he didn't stop. He could see through the small gaps, the waking world outside and could feel the cool morning air. "You are never going to leave this house!" The vent gave way, breaking from the wall and falling two stories to the garden below.
"Oh God…" Lui breathed, staring down at the hard ground below. Daithi had warned him about a fall. He knew he could survive the landing; it would hurt like hell but he could do it. A part of him wondered if he could just hide there and wait it out. "Get out…" He whispered, taking a deep breath of fresh morning air. He had never loved the morning quite so much before.
He pushed himself out of the vent; landing harshly in one of the hedges. Lui gasped in pain, unable to move for a few moments, only stare up at the morning sky and listen to the birds singing in the trees. He didn't have any time to enjoy it though. He managed to push himself to his feet, stumbling towards the gate. He could hardly believe that he was outside, breathing in fresh air, the dew soaking the grass and through his socks. He could see the sun rising in the sky and the breeze swaying the branches of the trees.
"You will never leave this house!" The demonic voice screeched, Lui's heart sinking as he turned around to see Evan standing on the path behind him.
"Evan...Please…" Exhaustion was starting to weigh heavy on Lui, his muscles aching with every step. He was so close, so close to getting out of this nightmare.
Evan raised the axe above his head, blood dripping down the wood handle. Lui fell to his knees among the flowers, looking up at his friend as the axe glinted in the light.
Somewhere in the house, the clock tolled…
"Lui! Hey wake up! We're here!" Luke's voice snapped Lui's eyes open. Lui stared with wide eyes around the van at his friends as they looked up excitedly at the mystery house. Lui felt sick, the nightmare and it's gruesome images running through his mind.
"Holy shit. You weren't joking. This place is weird." Craig said excitedly. Lui's head spun, trying to make sense of what was real and what wasn't. He had already seen this before, heard this conversation before. Why was it repeating?
"Are you sure about this?" Lui wasn't sure what he was saying, stareing at his friends with wide eyes. He was tempted to reach out and touch Craig or Luke, just to make sure they were real. "D-Do we really have to spend the night here?" Lui"s voice broke with fear, sounding like a squeak.
"What? Are you scared, Lui?" Tyler laughed, a strange look in his eye just as he had in Lui's vivid nightmare when he attacked Evan.
Everything happened like how Lui remembered it, a few more comments and laughs as they got out and admired the place, opening the trunk and reaching for their bags. As he got out of the car, his eyes went up to the window that had been in Evan's bedroom, seeing a dark, bloody figure in the window.
The demon with Evan's face smiled as it disappeared, the curtain swinging back into the place as somewhere inside the house, the clock tolled six.