Hey guys,
Welcome back to the next chapter of Trapped Until Dawn. Yay, we're on to chapter 10 (I know I put an author's note around chapter 5 but I'm not going to count that one) of this story and the first chapter was uploaded over 10 months ago. 10 MONTHS!
Feels like only yesterday I was contemplating whether or not to start making a story to upload to fanfiction and it's definitely payed off in my opinion. I enjoy creating this story, it's my creative outlet and it makes me happy knowing that people are enjoying reading it.
Also, I noticed that I didn't actually put the email address for my fanfiction profile if you actually wanted to help me with making the cover art for this story. It's mitchinator9000 if anyone is still interested but you don't have to if you don't want to.
BTW, sorry it's taken me this long to upload. It probably would've been up sooner but I was on holiday for two weeks from 23rd July to 6th August and I didn't take my laptop with me. And I wanted to take a break after holiday and, some of the time, I didn't really feel like doing it, but I'm back now.
This chapter may be a bit flimsy in the way this is presented but please stick it out, I'm trying to make all my ideas work and this chapter might not work well but I really think this is a good idea. Please let me know if this is bad, I need to know. I've got a backup chapter ready if so.
But I think you've heard enough from me, let's get into the chapter, shall we?
William's pov, Old Hotel, 3:04
I awoke from my forced sleep to find myself tied to a chair by my hands and ankles, in a very dark room. There was a sliver of light that shone on another chair that had Chris sat in and tied to it with a table that looked like it had something on it that I couldn't see the opposite side of him. On the other side of that table I could see Ash tied to another chair, both still in their slumber. I also saw some saws (no pun intended) above their heads, ready to cut them open like they did Josh.
"Chris?! Ash?! Come on wake up! Please!" I shouted to them, while I tried to struggle to get out of the ties to the chair to no avail, looks like they're conked out for the time being.
What do I do now? I'm tied to a chair with my two video game friends tied to two other chairs with sawblades hanging over their heads with absolutely no way out. Yeah we're screwed. I thought still trying to free myself.
I guess I can piece all the clues that we have found that link to the psycho together. So there was that package full of fake newspapers, the dead pig carcass with no internal organs, the hooks and chains, the hit list, the wanted poster, the camera and the electrical wiring with timers.
Well I can forget about the hooks and chains, the hit list and the wanted poster because they just prove that he's been here forever planning this.
Why would a psychopathic killer have a dead pig hanging up with no internal organs? He could have put it up because he's crazy but I feel like there's a bigger reason behind it. Especially seeing as there were no guts in it. A crazy killer would probably leave it there with all the guts hanging out to scare his victims but that's not the case here.
We also didn't find guts lying anywhere as we were walking around either. They should've been by the pig carcass at least if they were carved out of the pig but they weren't. So shouldn't we have at least seen them somewhere else?
We didn't see any in the shed either. The only time we saw organs was... when... Wait, could it be? The only time we saw organs was when Josh died. Was Josh's death faked? No way, that's not possible. But that's a plausible theory. But that would mean that Josh is still alive. But where would he be? Is he hiding? But why would he hide from us? And, most importantly, why would he do that to his friends? It just doesn't make any sense.
Well, let's think about this from a different angle. Why was there a package full of newspapers, Especially ones that are fake? Wait, didn't Chris, Ryan and I find that exact newspaper in the storage room? And wasn't Josh the one who left us to find the deodorant on our own? And didn't he say while we were doing that he was "going to do something"? This is making Josh seem more suspicious by the minute.
But why was that newspaper in that room in the first place? It was in a room off to the side of the storage room which could be easily missed. I don't think Mr and Mrs Washington would read a newspaper then put it in a room in the storage room where in might be lost. Well, lets think about this, we found the newspaper and it told a story about an ex-janitor who was convicted for Arson and he wants revenge on the Washingtons... Story... That's it! The newspaper is telling a story, but the newspapers are fake. So the story is fake which means the the arsonist is fake and the psycho is the arsonist so the psycho is fake!
But that means that all of this was set up by someone but who? Well, it has to be the person who faked his own death. Josh! He set all this up to scare us. The wanted poster is fake, just put there to set up his story. The timers make sense now too, they were set up there to make the place more scary and supernatural. Everything was all set up by Josh to scare us, the ghost that was telling us where to go, all Josh, the seance telling us that there was a ghost in the lodge, all Josh, everything was all Josh pulling off the biggest prank ever.
And Josh can pull this off because his dad is a movie director so he can get access to death weapons and special effects and all that shit. But the one thing I don't get is what's with the camera. They could be to spy on us to make sure we're doing the right thing at the right time but I think there's more to it.
So, to sum up, Josh is the Psycho and has set everything up to prank and scare us, it all makes sense. I realised and brainstormed.
Suddenly, I heard groaning and grunting coming from Chris and Ash. Looks like there waking up.
"Ohh. Shit... Oh crap..." Chris said.
"Oh Chris, thank god you're awake." I said to him
"Oh Will. Ash? ASH! Shit, I'm going to murder his fucking face off" Chris said. I giggled at that remark as Chris started to struggle and I noticed that one of Chris's hands wasn't tied to the chair he was tied to unlike me and Ash.
"What is this?..." Ash said starting to cry.
(Chris) "This is him. This is the guy who killed Josh -" (Ashley) " No, Chris... Oh my god no! Oh god... Chris" (Chris) "You murdering piece of shit! You monster!" (Ashley) "Look around! We're gonna die Chris! - I don't think I'm ready to die..." Chris and Ash said at the same time in that order.
"No-one is going to die" Chris said. Yeah, Chris is right. I may have only known the guy for a couple of hours but, from what I can tell, Josh wouldn't want to kill anyone. I thought.
"I wish I could tell you... It's just not fair!" Ashley said, screaming and grunting.
"What?... Tell me what?"
"It's too late! Chris, what's the point?!"
"Stop it, just say..."
"We're always talking around it, and now, I mean, We've wasted everything!"
"Ashley... None of it was wasted."
"What do you mean?"
"Every second that I spent with you was the only thing I ever wanted to do with my time."
"What are you saying, Chris?"
"I'm sorry... I should have told you how I felt."
"Chris...!"
"Ashley, I swear, when we get out of this-" he said but was interrupted by the sudden start of the saw blades above.
"Oh god" Chris said while Ash shouted.
(Ashley) "No! Help!" (Chris) "Ashley- I'll get you out of this! I won't let you die!" Chris and Ash said at the same time all while they struggled for their lifes and I struggle to get free to save them to no more avail then before.
"Hello there my special little subjects" We heard the 'psycho' from the speakers around the room.
(Ashley) "I'm so scared, Chris-" (Chris) "Aw shit. Don't be scared -" Chris and Ash said as he picked up the object on the table which turned out to be a gun.
('Psycho') "Oh, you should be, Ash, because here's the twist: Chris has made one fatal choice already today," (Ashley) "Oh no... No..." ('Psycho') "and now he must make another. Chris... you can take that gun in front of you and shoot Ashley, or you can shoot yourself. Whoever is left, can live! The choice is yours." The 'Psycho' explained while Ash sobbed in her chair and as the saws grow ever closer.
Chris held the gun upwards and tried to shoot the saws to stop them but they still continued to blare and lower.
"Don't be so silly, Chris" The 'Psycho' sniggered as Chris struggled to make this decision.
"Wait a second..." I said to myself as I remembered a totem I saw earlier.
I saw Chris holding a gun and another person on the other side of him but I couldn't see who it was. Chris put the gun that he was holding down on the table between him and the other person.
Now I know who that other person was and that this is all fake. Now I intend to stop Chris from shooting anyone, even if this is fake. You never know what could happen with the choses you make. But I looked at Chris to notice that he already had the gun to his head ready to shoot with Ash trying to persuade him not to.
"...Let me choose to save you! If I do one last thing in my life let me do this! Chris, please, oh god." Ash pleaded, sobbing still.
"Chris, you don't have to do this! Just put. The gun. Back. On. The table." I exclaimed.
"Are you CRAZY?! We'll both die if I do that!" Chris proclaimed.
"Just TRUST me!"
"But-"
"Just. Trust. Me." I finally said with the most trusting and confident look I could muster as the saws sunk even lower.
He looked like he was mulling over his options but he eventually, but reluctantly gave in and carefully put the gun on the table.
"Chris, what are you doing?!" Ash screamed.
"Trusting in the person who tried to save me." Chris said as the saw got dangerously close to their heads. (Butterfly effect update X2)
"NOOO!" Ash let out an ear-piercing screech as the saws came inches from their heads but I heard the sound of the saw blade turning off and rise back up to the ceiling.
"Ha! I knew it!" I said loudly while Chris looked astonished and Ash looked like she was about to faint.
"Wow. You were right. How did you know the blades would stop?" Chris asked.
"Just my intuition." I lied. They'll think I'm crazy if I told them I know from a vision I got from a totem lying on the ground.
Suddenly, there was a bang on both the left side and right side of me. On my right was a single door that had swung open to find, to my surprise, Sam and Mike on the other side, coming to our rescue. On my left was some double doors that slammed open to reveal the 'psycho' in all his menacing glory.
"Noo! No no no! Get away!" Ashley screams as he inched forward towards the pair of his 'experiment', completely ignoring me.
Wait... I thought. I have an idea, it could backfire on me but I'm going to take the risk.
"HEY! Psycho! I know who you are!" I blurted out at the 'psycho' to which he turned to me.
"What?" The 'psycho' said.
"You heard me. I know who you are for real!" I shouted.
"No you don't." He replied.
"Oh yes I do. Would you like me to prove it? Sam, Mike, would you untie me please so I can put this guy in his place?" I said, glaring at the 'psycho' as Sam came rushing over, a little hesitant at first, to untie me and, to my surprise, the 'psycho' didn't do anything to stop her. Guess he wants to see if I've worked him out.
"Thanks Sam, anyway, where were we?" I said, getting out of the chair.
"You think you got me figured out. You're not scared?" The 'psycho' said in his modified voice, advancing on and leering over me.
"Not anymore, and I'm going to expose you for the lie you are!" I said.
"Lie? What do you mean lie?" Chris asked.
"You had us all fooled for a time but I figured you out. You can't fool me anymore."
"Will, what's going on? Where are you going with this?" Sam asked.
"This... This is all fake, set up by someone with special effects."
"What?!" Everyone in the room except me and the 'psycho' said.
"Yep, that's right, this was all a set up. I was first clued into this when we found those newspapers in a packaging box, they were there to provide a backstory for this 'psycho' but turns out they were fake so the story is fake which, in turn, means that the psycho is fake. This guy is just a character being played by a guy in a mask."
"Well, if you think that this is true, then who is he, huh?" Mike said, sounding sceptical.
"Well, this guy is actually... JOSH!" I said dramatically.
"WHAT?!" everyone said again.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me, you seriously think that this maniac is Josh?" Mike said as he untied Ash and Chris from their binds.
"Yes, and I can prove it. While Chris, Ash and I were trying to find Sam, we found a pig carcass that didn't have any internal organs. They had all been carved out and placed somewhere. But, the question is, where are those organs? There were no guts anywhere to be found along the corridors as we walked."
"So, where were they?" Mike asked.
"Well, if you all recount tonight's events, where is the only time, throughout the whole night, that we see guts anywhere?"
Then Ash perked her head up in realization. "Wait, you don't mean... Oh GOD!" she exclaimed.
"Yes, that's right Ashley. The only time we see intestines throughout the whole night is when Josh was killed by the saw blade!"
"Oh, so what are you proposing? That Josh FAKED is death?" Mike said loudly.
"That's exactly what I'm saying Micheal!"
"This is ridiculous. Why would Josh fake his own death?"
"To take himself out of the picture. If he was with us, he wouldn't been able to pull all this off. He would need to be behind the scenes, making sure that everything went off smoothly and at the right times to scare us. He had to make the lights and tv flicker on and off, which explains the timers we saw."
"And just to put the nail in the coffin, we found one of those newspapers in the storage room when we were trying to find a way to open the lodge door. And guess who was the one to leave us in there to find the deodorant while they had to 'go do something'. That's right, it was Josh!"
"The wanted poster was put up there to help his story along. The seance was set up to progress the story forward and to send us down into the library to find the threat letter, which was so fake and stupid, who would possibly think to put their base in the house of the people they despise. The ghost was faked to show us where to go to get us to the right places at the right time. And he'd be able to pull all of this off because his dad is a movie director!"
"So, this was all a prank?" Chris asked
"Yes, a massive prank set up by Josh to scare us! You probably would've been able to pull it all off without a hitch if you hadn't left out so many clues that lead right... to... you!" I said, finishing my rant with flare.
"No, this isn't right, there is no possible way that this is..." Mike continued persuading us that this wasn't Josh, only to be interrupted by someone slow clapping. We all turned to the sound to see that it was the 'psycho' clapping.
"Well well well, Mr Miles, I'm impressed." He said, starting to take off his mask.
"But you have to be such a spoilsport!" he exclaimed as he took off the mask completely to reveal none other then Josh himself, clearly annoyed that his surprise was ruined by me.
Butterfly effects
Will chose not to shoot the squirrel; Nature remained in balance.
Will pushed Chris out of the way to pull the lever; Chris blamed Will for Josh's death; But he trusted Will anyway.
Ryan kept the axe; Ryan was put in danger; But made it out safely.
Ryan walked calmly through the herd; Ryan, Matt and Emily escaped the threat unscathed.
Ryan kept the flare gun.
Ryan decided to check the trapdoor; He fell through the open door; He failed to grab the doorframe
Will tried to save Chris from the psycho; Chris trusted Will and put the gun down.
I hope you all enjoyed that detective type section there where Will figured out and exposed Josh and his psycho prank. Again, please tell me if this works so I can change it if necessary. I would love feedback.
Bye guys.