Welp, here's a short chapter. I'm really excited for this one though because it's a HUGE turning point! We're finally getting into the plot of the story! But I HATE it cuz it's short . Like, seriously, this thing isn't even 3,000 words. And I'm SO sorry! I'm 99% sure this will be the only chapter this short...maybe. It kind of sucks too because t's mostly dialogue, but that's basically what this story consists of anyways.
Thank you to all who reviewed/alerted/favorited/whatever! And Thank you to the people who stick with this story after these really long periods of time inbetween them!
Hope you guys like it ;) and I'm REALLY sorry it's short :P
You know those days where it feels like nothing seems to be in its place?
Yup, that's what it's like today.
It's been three days since the night of the church, still no sign of Kathy. Ron has been popping in an outevery once in a while throughout the last three days. Every time he was either was in a really good mood, or a really bad mood.
Both are scary in their own way.
Right now he was trying to give us an english lesson. Logan kept speaking up that this was how we were doing things and that it'd be easier for us if he tried to do it the way Kathy did. The last time he spoke up he was slapped across his already bruised face. He didn't talk for the rest of the lesson.
All of us had been "punished" within the last few days just because he didn't have anything else to do. Although, after he had beaten one of us he'd go out and leave us alone until late at night. Just knowing the beast was gone wasn't enough to pull out the fear of the jail we were in. None of us even wanted to take a step outside in fear that Ron would come back and do worse things than he had ever done before.
Ron said he was going out again an if he finds anything out of place or that we did somethin he didn't like (which was impossible not to) then there will be punishments. We all nodded shakily and he left with the door slamming behind him.
"It's like we're dogs." I commented as soon as he left.
"Shut up!" Logan scolded. "He could've bugged the place by now! We have to be careful of what we say!"
Kendall scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Stop being so pessimistic and paranoid. I'm sure if he had bugged the place we'd probably be dead."
"Well obviously he can't kill us! If he did then he'd be in jail for the rest of his beady, disgusting little life. And who knows what would happen to Kathy, then."
Carlos spoke up. "Where is Kathy? She hasn't been here for almost a week."
Logan shrugged. "I'm afraid to even ask."
November days continue to get shorter and shorter, it's been a only been a couple days, though. It has felt so much longer. Kathy still hasn't returned, and it's worrying the crap out of us. How can she just leave for a week and a half without notifying anyone? When she was here with us it was so much easier, and less painful.
It snowed the other day for the first time this season. We couldn't work on the field anymore (even though all we were doing was just digging up dirt). That meant it was time for Ron to show Logan, Carlos and I how to take care of the animals.
I had no idea there were any other organisms considered as animals here besides us.
We almost do nothing related to the animals at all. We basically just have to haul giant stacks of hay from one side of the barn to the other. If we finish that early only then would we take care of te animals. Carlos was very disappointed by this. He has come out a lot more since I first met him. He's more out going and innocent and fun-loving and optimistic. That's one of the things the rest of us have been lacking: Optimism. All we have to look forward to in a normal day is hard labor and beatings, some more than others. Anyway, at first Carlos was really excited about seeing the animals. He tried to pet one when we were being instructed on how to do things, but he was pushed away by Ron almost landing into some very undesireable things.
Ron led us to the barn where all the hay was. James and Kendall were already in there working. They wore big coats, beanies, and gloves to protect themselves from the cold morning. Logan and Carlos each wore a simple wool hat, I wasn't. Logan and I had gloves, Carlos did not. Should've though like the smart one.
"At twelve you can take a short five minute break." Ron explained. You could hear the annoyance rising in his voice. "During that time, I will be back. Half of these better be on the other side. I don't think I need to explain any more." He turned on his heel and began to walk away.
"Oh, wait!" I called. "What if you're allergic to hay?"
He turned his head toward us. "It's almost winter, I don't think you'll have any problems." He walked away towards the way we came, and we were alone...again.
"Well!"
"Are you seriously allergic to hay?" Logan asked.
"...No."
"Logan!"
"Mm?"
"Logan, get up!"
"Sam, now is really not the time to be doing this." He mumbled into his pillow.
I crossed my arms. "Oh, so it's okay when you guys wake me up in the middle of the night, but when I do it it's a no-no?"
Logan raised himself a little. "What? No, just..." Ha gave an exasperated sigh. "What is it, Sammie? It's 1:18 in the morning."
"Let's go to the Church again!" I suggested excitedly.
Logan sighed again. "I don't know, Sam. Today's been weird and hard. I don't want to risk anything."
"Risk anything?" I questioned with a raise of my eyebrow. "What would we be risking? Rob isn't here...I don't think...And Kathy hasn't been here for this entire week. No one would catch us!"
He stared at me. His face remained unchanged.
I rolled my eyes. "Or does the all-knowing brain of Logan think we'd still be caught by nothing?"
Logan shot me a glare. "I thought you were scared by the Church."
"Oh, I was!" Logan didn't look too convinced. "Okay, it still creeps me out...but don't you think it'd be better for me to overcome it by going there more often? Or would you rather me try to avoid it at all costs and have me get better that way?"
Logan sighed, defeated. "Fine, but only for a little while. Go wake the others up."
"Oh Carlos is already up! Actually we were going to go anyway if you had given us a definite no, heh." I admitted with an awkward smile. He gave me an 'are you serious?' look, but shook it off and got out of his bed.
"Whatever. Go get Kendall and James, then."
I smiled. Logan pushed me out of his room and quickly shut the door behind him. I became skeptical to whether or not he would actually come, but pushed the thought away and made my way to James' room. I entered after I knocked a few times but recieved no answer. James was sound asleep in his bed. I almost didn't want to disturb him.
But this was a golden oppurtunity. I had no choice but to give in.
I walked up to his bed and gave a little chuckle. Poor little Jamie, he's just sleeping peacefully in his comfy little bed.
Well, at least he was sleeping peacefully.
Suddenly I ripped the blankets off of him and shoved him off his bed. He landed with a loud thud and a slight squeal. I immediately felt an overwhelming sense of pride for myself. Take that, James...
He popped up from behind his bed with a scowl on his face. "What the hell, Sam?"
"Karma, basically. Now, come on. We're all going to the Church again." I explained. He stood up, and readjusted his pale blue wife-beater.
"Alright, I guess I'll go. But if you ever do that again I will be damned if you ever get away with it."
I shrugged. "Fair enough. Meet outside Carlos' room."
"Guys, I think we should go back."
We all groaned at Logan's comment. "How many times is that now?" James asked.
"About sixteen." Kendall answered, swinging his arm around Logan's shoulder. He steered him away from the door and we began walking to the Church.
"But guys!" Logan protested. "I really have a bad feeling about this! Don't any of you think that this could turn out really badly?"
"Logan," Kendall sighed. "How many times have we gone there? Way too many times to count. And I think-"
"W-wait, Kendall." Carlos interrupted. We all stopped and turned towards our Latino friend. "Maybe Logan's right. What if something does happen?"
James groaned. "Don't tell me you're backing out on this too! Seriously, what could happen? It's not like we're going to get kidnapped or anything. We've done this many times before. And look! We're still alive! And we're going to do it again!"
Logan narrowed his eyes at James. "Don't be a smartass, James."
"Why should'nt I? Sammie's a smartass all the time! So are you, sometimes, Logan! Now come on, guys! Before anything bad actually happens."
"You hypocrite..." Kendall snickered.
James turned to him, eyebrows raised. "How am I a hypocrite, Kendall?"
"You're criticizing Logan and Carlos for being scared when you appear to have that same feeling as well." Kendall grinned, knowing he was right.
James glared at Kendall, and turned back around. He began to walk towards the Church, pulling me along with him.
"Why am I being the one dragged along by you?" I asked, a cold breeze passing by. I pulled my hair back, stuffing it in the hood as I pulled it over my head.
James glanced at me, then turned his attention back to our destination. "Because you're the only one that's not pissing me off...for once."
"Oh...well, thank you? But you know you can't get mad at them so easily."
"I just hate how Kendall can just read through you and take it as a joke almost all the time."
"What about Logan and Carlos?" I asked.
James sighed. "Logan is just a smartass, like we established earlier. And Carlos...I don't know. He just chickened out and sided with Logan."
I raised an eyebrow at that. "There's nothing wrong with being scared, James." When he rolled his eyes I shook my arm out of his grasp. He glanced at me and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Even if there's nothing to be scared of, it's okay to be afraid of something."
"I'm not scared." He said flatly.
"I never said you were!"
By that time we had come to the front doors of the Church. James held the door open while the rest of us filed in. He shut the door after the last person entered, enveloping us in pitch blackness. But as soon as he did...the atmosphere changed. Suddenly, not any one of us wanted to be there.
"...Do you guys smell that?" Logan asked after a few moments of just standing in the darkness.
"Um...kinda. What is that?" Kendall wondered aloud.
"I...am not sure, actually. It's faintly familiar but...I don't know."
"Well turn on the lights and find out! And hurry!" Carlos yelled worriedly.
"...Are you afraid of the dark, Carlos?" James asked. You could definetly hear the humor in his voice.
It took a while for Carlos to answer that question. "That's stupid. I just don't like being in here, suddenly."
I rolled my eyes slightly. Sure, I was still freaked out by the fact that we were in a church and I was aware of the sudden mood change, but that doesn't mean something would happen.
"Come on, Carlos." I half-whined. "We're fine. Nothing has happened to any of us while we were in here."
"You had a breakdown last time." He pointed out.
"And we should never talk about that again. My point is no one comes here anymore. It's been abandoned for a long, long while. Now Logan will go turn on the lights and we can go up front and relax. Okay?"
"...Okay." He gave in with a sigh. I smiled and began to walk up the aisle. I hear Logan shuffling along the wall trying to find the lanterns we had last time. Last time I asked him why we didn't just turn on the ceiling lights he told me it was because if we did that then we would draw too much attention. If they should find us we'd be dead by now for sure.
"Uhh, guys? I can't find the lights."
Kendall groaned and went over to help him.
The closer we got to the front of the Church, the stronger the smell became. It smelled kind of metallic but something else was there, too. Almost like something was decaying.
"Hey, guys?" I started. "Did one of you leave food in here or something?"
It was about three seconds before everyone said no, they didn't. They barely knew where to find food! Ron always changed where everything was for some reason. This onviously led me to believe he just enjoyed watching us get frustrated ant almost have to beg him for something to eat.
"Ugh! Where is that stupid thing?"
When I reached the front pew, the smell was overwhelming. I had never smelled something so...so ugly. I know, you can't really smell ugly. But this thing did NOT smell pretty! I walked up the two steps in front of me when I bumped into something. It was soft and apparently hanging from the ceiling.
"Oh my God! What is in here?" I heard James complain. I focused on the thing infront of me. Steadying it with my hands. I felt kind of gross while touching it, like it wasn't normal. So i dropped my hands and stared at whatever was infront of me.
"Something's definetly in here, guys." I muttered lowly.
"Here it is! Found the light, finally!" Kendall announced with annoyed pride. He clicked it on and the whole room went into a soft light. I looked up an gasped loudly as I saw what–or rather who–was hanging from the ceiling.
Kathy.