Xxx
Takeshi woke with a start, not sure where he was or what he was seeing. It was dark but there were yellow spots in the shadows. He sat up, heart pumping, and scooted backward until his back collided with a wall. Takeshi jumped and turned, vision revealing a bloodied brick stone wall.
He dared not believe it at first. There could be no way the walls were stained with blood. It had to be an illusion, a nightmare, anything!
But the smell was definite and it stung his nose like pepper. It was revolting. Takeshi wanted curl up in a ball and die. He would have rather blown his eardrums up with Justin Beiber than stay there.
He covered his eyes and peeked through his fingers, terrified. "What-where am I!" He screamed shrilly. "Someone! Help me! Mika!"
He received no answer, only silence. Trying his best to keep form crying he moved away from the bloody wall in disgust and crouched closely against the wall as he searched for an exit, arms folded in close to his chest defensively. The thought of barely skimming one of the walls horrified him, so he kept himself boxed and folded together, legs close to the ground.
His breath was erratic and his heart pounded obnoxiously and painfully in his head. His head pulsed as he circled the room once, twice, thrice. There was no door, no window, nothing. He finally broke down, banging his knees against the floor and sobbing.
He was trapped in a room of blood, in a secluded area. He was nowhere. What would he do? Would he die there…?
Suddenly a small hole opened up in the floor. Flashes of lavender and yellow light flooded through, dancing across his face like a disco ball. It checkered the walls and hid the blood, making it seem as if he were in a disco club.
Takeshi wiped his eyes hesitantly with the back of his hand, fearing to believe it. Could it really be an escape? Hope swelled in his heart as the thought of escape wrapped itself around his mind. It was almost too incredibly wonderful to be true.
Takeshi stood quickly and ran to the hole, not knowing where it would lead or what could be inside. But he didn't care. Anywhere was better than there in that room. So, without giving himself time for second thoughts, Takeshi jumped through.
Xxx
Hiroshi crept carefully in the back hallway after parting ways with Satō and Nikoru. Satō wouldn't budge from the front door and Nikoru had rushed up to the third floor with another glowstick.
After searching for anything useful and winding up with nothing with Satō screaming at him to 'get lost,' Hiroshi had proceeded to the side isle and stormed through the door.
There was a glass door across the way. Hiroshi walked to it and tried the knob, but, of course, it was locked.
What is with all of these locked doors? He wondered to himself, rather irritated. Did they have to lock every door before departing? What ridiculous people!
Dismissing a cold chill that swept his body, he walked off down the hallway. There were ominous, elegant, circular mirrors mounted on the walls spaced within four feet of each other. Hiroshi suddenly found himself wishing he had Takuro with him at that moment. Takuro would be the kind of person to joke about trivial things Hiroshi never cared about. But at the same time, he'd make Hiroshi feel much better with his rubbish pranks, like popping out from a nook in the wall where Hiroshi could clearly see him, or yelling, 'Hiroshi, look over there! Haha, made you look!'
Hiroshi desperately wished Takuro could be there to take the edge off of his anticipation. He really didn't want to know what was at the end of this hallway, and the more the walked, the more the lights were beginning to dim.
This isn't good, Hiroshi thought fearfully. He paused for a moment, mustering up courage. Come on, Hiroshi! HiroshiPEN! Think of Takuro! Of Mika, and Naoki, and Takeshi! You must do this for them!
After taking a deep, deep breath and letting it out slowly, Hiroshi continued on his toes. Another couple seconds passed and suddenly, the lights flickered off. Hiroshi was stunned for a moment, unable to move.
No, no, no! He almost screamed. No, this can't be happening! Flashlight Hiroshi, the flashlight!
He swiftly moved to grab the yellow flashlight from his pocket when the light abruptly flickered back on. Silence as thick as cement made Hiroshi's ears ring and he felt as if his heart were bouncing around inside his head. It was far too silent; not even the lights were humming. Hiroshi expected to hear something like a growl or grunt, but there was nothing.
That sneak is lying in wait, Hiroshi thought numbly. He continued with hesitation. Keep your eyes peeled, HiroshiPEN.
As he walked he balanced himself out so that his footsteps were as quiet as he could make them. But no matter how hard he tried there was always a faint click echoing in the silence. However, Hiroshi was so focused he didn't hear anything. He kept his mind blank and vacant before he had a chance to freak out again.
Soon he came to a room connected off the hallway. It was matted, with closets lined on the back wall. Hiroshi hesitated; did he really want to proceed? It could mean the end of him if something went wrong and he had bad feelings towards those closets. It was like being stalked by the Boogie Man.
Hiroshi forced himself to move and he placed a foot on the mat. Nothing happened. Cautiously, he took two more steps across the mat. Still nothing occurred. Exceedingly cautious, Hiroshi stepped across the floor towards the back closets. Tension was growing in the air and it expanded until it overheated Hiroshi. He felt a bead of sweat slip down his cheek.
And then he was freezing. The contrast gave him a sudden headache.
But what was even more sudden was an abrupt warping in the closet doors. They bulged forward, as if reaching for Hiroshi. He took a step back, preparing for what was coming. And not a second later, the oni busted through one of the closets, surrounded by a light, dusting mist. Hiroshi yelled something incoherently and pivoted like he had in the library. He sped down the hallway back to the door, the oni right behind him.
Hiroshi couldn't point an exact finger on it, but he felt something was different this time. He glimpsed a reflection of the oni in one of the mirrors and cringed; it was drooling a river. Gross!
Maybe that was it; it seemed hungrier then before.
Avoiding the mirrors, Hiroshi raced past the first locked door and nearly collided with the exit door. As he pulled it open, he saw just a glance of the monster hurtling towards him, its red pupils bulging, over his shoulder. His heart nearly stopped as he thought what could happen to him if he didn't open the door quickly enough. Adrenaline pumped his heart almost painfully, giving him a speed boost. Just as the oni was in touching distance, Hiroshi had the door opened and fled through, slamming it in the monster's face before speeding into the foyer. It was deserted; Satō was gone. Hiroshi, thinking he had lost the oni, took a second to glance down both hallways warily. But Satō was nowhere, and for some odd reason that troubled Hiroshi.
His heart leapt into his mouth; what if there were more than one oni? What if another oni had captured him?
The floor rumbled abruptly below his feet. Shocked, Hiroshi glanced over his shoulder again and shuddered; it was right behind him. It goes through doors? Terrified, Hiroshi flew up the stairs, whirling up a plan as fast as he was running.
Takeshi hiding in the closet came to his mind instantly. The closet! The oni could possibly be unintelligent enough to skip the closet and leave if he didn't find Hiroshi out in the open. He didn't have much time to decide if that was what he wanted to do or not; the steps shook with the oni's eagerness and it seethed and hissed demonically. Hiroshi couldn't even begin to decipher what the sounds resembled.
Deciding it was probably his only hope, Hiroshi kicked off the last step and headed for the room Takeshi had occupied. He was relieved to find the door still wide open from the last time he had searched inside and entered. He hurriedly slammed the door. The closet doors were ajar. Hiroshi jumped inside, quietly closing the doors behind him. His heart stopped when the oni crept silently into the room, its mouth wide open (Hiroshi counted more than thirty fangs in there), and its devilish pupils searching.
Hiroshi had to clamp a hand over his mouth to keep from shouting. It was as if a coughing fit had overcome him, trying its best to force a cough from his tight lips. He looked away, trembling and overheating in his winter coat. He felt as though his scarf was constricting him, joining the coughing fit's side.
Traitor!
The oni scanned the room and barged around for a while. It growled and grunted sharply, like one of those creatures from Cry of Fear. Hiroshi was beginning to lose hope when he finally peeked back through and noticed the oni had disappeared. But was it really gone? He waited several more seconds until the oni walked out from the closet. Hiroshi almost exploded; had it just attempted to set him up? Was it just him or what that thing suddenly a little more intelligent from before? The oni scanned the room one last time and finally exited, to Hiroshi's relief.
He slowly climbed out from the closet and treaded carefully across the floor, testing the boards for a creak that could give him away. Peering out from behind the bedroom door, he concluded the oni was indeed gone and started back to the foyer hesitantly.
Keep going, Hiroshi, he told himself. Don't give up yet! You can do this!
The foyer was deserted. The hallways were silent, as well. Hiroshi made his way to the right corridor but paused before the side way. He gazed warily at the door for a while.
I don't feel like trying that again, he thought uneasily. Maybe later I'll try again.
The bathroom seemed like a reliable place to find something useful, so Hiroshi walked there first. Inside, Hiroshi was repulsed to find the bathroom painted pink. What idiot paints their bathroom pink?
"Hippies…" Hiroshi seethed as he cringed in disgust.
He quickly checked the sink, then the cabinets below. Finding nothing, he moved on to the washer and dryer. There was nothing inside. He walked towards the tub. A cracked mirror was perched on the wall and Hiroshi couldn't help but notice his reflection.
His hair was disheveled; his coat was torn in several places though he couldn't recall how. His glasses were lopsided; he fixed them. The cream scarf his mother had bought him three years ago was stained to the point it looked like a duster and that bothered him deeply. He tried to brush off some of the dust and dirt but was further frustrated when the stains spread wherever his fingers moved.
He moved back to the sink to wet the scarf and try to clean it from there, but it was bone dry. Hiroshi on gave up for the time being, deciding he'd find a way to save his scarf later, and moved back in front of the mirror angrily.
Through the reflection, Hiroshi suddenly noticed the bathtub was filled with black ooze. Repulsed, Hiroshi moved away and nearly tripped over a plunger. An idea hit him like a car; he picked up the plunger and turned it upside down.
"Maybe, if I use it like this…" He murmured to himself as he moved the plunger around, searching for the plug. It finally hit something and Hiroshi smiled. "Yes, there."
He rose the hilt up slightly and pounded back down. The plug was released and the black ooze was drained away. Hiroshi triumphantly stepped back and hurled the disgusting plunger in the trashcan under the mirror's counter.
"And look at that," he said, marveling his attire, "Not a speck on me. Hiroshi, you are a genius!"
When the last of the ooze had washed away, Hiroshi discovered a screwdriver covered in black at the bottom of the tub. It meant progress, but Hiroshi was also disgusted at the thought of picking up a screwdriver dripping with unidentified ooze and placing it in his pocket.
What a priss, right?
Hiroshi scanned the room for something to dry it with and immediately noticed a roll of toilet paper by the tub's side. He bent down to pick it up and unrolled a foot or two. With the toilet paper wrapped around his hand, Hiroshi hesitantly picked up the screwdriver and wiped of the black stuff.
The entire time he couldn't help but mentally scold himself; he looked downright stupid cleaning off a screwdriver with toilet paper he'd wrapped around his hand.
But it was effective and the ooze had been wiped away within a few seconds. It had an orange hilt with the words Phillips Head Screwdriver, engraved. He wasn't quite satisfied with its hygiene but concluded it would do. He pocketed it before he had the chance of a second thought telling him to leave behind.
"I wonder what I could use it for?" He wondered to himself, checking the sink and cabinets one last time. Maybe there was something he could unscrew around here? "If Takuro were here he'd figure something out…"
Irritated once again, Hiroshi angrily exited the bathroom and started towards the second bathroom. Inside there were twice as many cabinets as the last room had.
"What is with all the cabinets?" He ground out as he began searching them. In the first cabinet, he surprisingly found a bottle of raspberry scented soap on the first shelf.
"How peculiar…" He whispered. "All of the cabinets are empty…just what is going on here?" He stepped back out into the hallway, speculating in deep thought. "Why in the world are all these items set up like they are? It's as if someone had them set to create some sort of maze…this house is like a puzzle itself. The plate shard must be a coincidence, but why would someone hide a key under a desk? Why would someone hide a screwdriver in a bathtub? What was that liquid in the tub? What exactly is going on here?"
For a brief second he regretted not bringing Nikoru with him. He could hear her in his head, laughing and saying, 'Are you questioning life again, HiroshiPEN? You know you're not gonna understand everything, that's how it goes!'
He pushed her from his mind, refusing to worry about her at this point. He had to trust that she would be okay this time. There had been many times in the past he doubted she would be all right on her own; he'd always end up tagging along with her. This time he had to believe she wouldn't do something stupid like she normally would. After her meet with the oni she had to have a little more sense than before.
Well, she would need a full bucket of sense instead of half if she wanted to survive.
"She'll be fine, HiroshiPEN," he told himself softly. "She's not as stupid as people make her out to be."
Deciding he was calm enough to try the back hallway again, he started into the foyer and down the side way with the distinct feeling he was being watched…
Xxx
Satō screeched in pain, writhing on the ground as tremors washed over him, starting from his feet to his crown. His fingers clenched and unclenched against cold stone. His skin bubbled as a transformation took over him.
He was losing himself to something dark. It went unnamed but he could hear it roaring in his head. Hiroshi's voice suddenly erupted through the closet door. Satō tried to call after him for help, but all that escaped was another cry of pain.
How could Hiroshi not hear him? He was bursting his lungs with pulsing howls and no one heard him. What was going on?
What was happening to him?
Xxx
Satō's in pain, should I feel sorry for him? Hard question…
Anyway, thanks for reading! I know this chapter, as well as the last, was very long! I apologize for that, I got carried away. And sorry if this chapter seemed a bit rushed, I'll edit later but I've been so busy lately. Like you wouldn't believe! My life in general is always insane but it's been worse these last few weeks. XD
Inspiration here would go to 'O Claire' MSD Remix, Cry of Fear (as stated ;D), some creepy clown that stalked me at Six Flags a couple days ago, and Family Guy (interestingly enough).
No, no Lemon Pledge. Or flames.
So, like always, review, maybe favorite and/or follow (you know you want to), and tell me if there's something you'd like for me to edit if I missed it.
Thanks! Stay awesome! -Cappy