Chapter 103: Tormented Prisoner

A few minutes later...

After having used the facilities, I washed my hands thoroughly, and then proceeded to check on my hair and makeup in the mirror. As I looked at my reflection in the mirror, I was pleased to see that my makeup was holding up well, as well as the vampire bite prosthetic, so I left well enough alone. However, being a self-proclaimed perfectionist, I started fidgeting with my hair a bit – resetting my hair clips, trying to decide whether to keep some of it over one shoulder or not.

Once I was pleased – at least as pleased as I could be – I lowered my arms and was about to turn to leave the bathroom when I noticed a woman standing behind me in the reflection of the mirror. She was glaring at me with dark eyes. I gasped in shock before I quickly whirled around, grabbing onto the edges of the counter with both hands to brace myself.

Nothing.

I took a bit of a deep breathe before slowly turning back to the mirror and saw only my own reflection. I tried to tell myself it was probably just a combination of anxiety about the premiere, and the fact that it was Halloween night. For as long as I can remember, I had always felt slightly uncomfortable on Halloween. I don't know why. It was just something that happened every year.

So, yes, that's all it is. It has nothing to do with the fact that Zak believes there are spirits living here that have terrorized his ex-girlfriends before...

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, the bathroom light flickered – long enough to put the entire bathroom in complete darkness for a few seconds before it came back on.

That was just a coincidence...I thought, as I rather quickly headed toward the bathroom door and opened it – mentally thankful it hadn't mysteriously locked on me – and stepped out into the main room, flicking the bathroom light off as I did so.

Just as I was about to walk the short distance through the game room and back upstairs, I noticed something different about my surroundings.

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The bookcase to Zak's dungeon was open a tiny bit. I was absolutely positive it had been firmly shut when I had passed it earlier. Zak never left it open, even if he was inside.

Don't go in...this has all the signs of a deadly scene from a horror movie written all over it...the thought unwillingly crossed my mind.

I stepped closer to the bookcase and gently grabbed onto it's edge, about to push the bookcase firmly against the wall, when I heard a faint voice from inside – my mother's voice.

"Alicia..."

What the hell? I had never, in all the years since my parents had died, heard my mothers or my fathers voice.

I felt my heart swell with longing, and against my better judgement, I opened the bookcase further, and stepped into the dungeon, letting the light from the game room shine in.

"Mom...?" I questioned quietly.

"Help..."

I could practically feel my heart breaking at the sound of my mother asking for help.

Losing all sense of logic, I walked further into the dungeon, and over to the small, black door that lead into the "prison cell" of the dungeon – the place where I had heard my mother's voice.

As soon as I opened the door and leaned down and slightly inside to look into the small room, I felt something push against my back – hard – causing me to stumble into the cell, tripping over my skirt and falling onto my hands and knees. Before I could even contemplate what had just happened, I heard the cell door shut behind me, and then heard the bookcase slam shut against the wall – the dungeon once again in complete darkness.

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Oh no... I thought, my logic starting to kick in.

I quickly got to my feet and turned around and – with my hands stretched out in front of me – managed to find the cell door by taking a few steps forward. I grabbed onto the bars and pushed against the door.

It didn't budge.

"No, no, no..." I mumbled, starting to panic slightly, and tried rattling the door back and forth, to know avail.

Suddenly, I heard an eerie, female, laugh echo throughout the dungeon, causing my hands to grip the bars of the cell door more tightly. How could I have been so stupid? Zak had mentioned numerous times about his concern of me being in the dungeon by myself, and now here I was, trapped inside it.

"Playtime..." a female voice said. The same female voice that I had heard throughout the night.

"Zak!" I yelled, shaking the cell door again.

Meanwhile...

Zak's Point of View

As the set of commercials played through on the television, I responded to a few tweets on Twitter – answering some questions, or simply retweeting some of the fans. I was happy to see that even though we were only thirty minutes into the episode, most of the feedback about Alicia being on the crew was positive. Although I had to admit, a few tweets from our male viewers made me tense in jealousy, as ridiculous as it seemed.

Just as the show returned from commercial break, Cheryl came back into the living room, happily walking over to Aaron and retaking her spot beside him on the couch, which caused Aaron to smile. I couldn't help but smile a bit myself. It was nice to see Aaron happy with someone, after having gone through such a rough time with his divorce years ago.

"Where'd Ali go?" Cheryl questioned, glancing over at me.

"The bathroom. She said you'd take 'twenty minutes' fixing your hair and makeup," I replied, trying not to laugh.

Cheryl laughed before grabbing a cushion from the couch and throwing it at me, which I barely had the time to dodge.

"Hey! Don't shoot the messenger!" I exclaimed, causing everyone to laugh before we focused back on the episode.

Meanwhile...

Alicia's Point of View

"Zak!" I called again, this time more loudly, but I knew that most likely no one would hear me from upstairs.

"He doesn't care about you...he never will..." the female voice said.

"Shut up..." I mumbled automatically, partially feeling stupid for seemingly talking to no one. But I knew better by now – there was someone, or something, in this dungeon with me.

Trying not to panic, I let go of the cell door and started searching myself for my phone, only to remember I had left it upstairs. Damn it.

"You really think he'll ever love you?" The voice said, sounding amused.

I closed my eyes and tried my best to stop the mental dam, which held back my emotions from flooding my system, from breaking. Whatever this entity said, it was just messing with me. Nothing it said was true.

"Oh, you know I'm right. You're just his latest toy..." the voice said, as if it could read my thoughts.

I grabbed onto the cell door again and tried with all my might to shove it open, but it still wouldn't budge.

"Let me out!" I said angrily, feeling my eyes welling up with tears despite myself.

The entity laughed.

"How could he love someone like you? You're worthless," the voice responded.

The voice now sounded louder, as if she – it – whatever it was, was in the cell with me. I cringed back away from the cell door and tried my best to ignore my inner negativity starting to rear it's ugly head.

It's not true...he cares about me...I told myself.

The laughter that echoed throughout the cell gave me goosebumps.

"He's just using you. He just wants to fuck the 33-year-old virgin and be able to brag to everyone about it!" The voice said, practically speaking right into my ear.

I flinched away from the voice, and ended up bumping into one of the walls of the tiny room. My panic, fear, and insecurity started to take over as I felt tears start to fall down my cheeks.

"Zak!" I cried out, my voice partially cracking.

"That's right, then he'll throw you to the curb, like the piece of worthless trash you are," the voice said, laughing, once again right into my ear.

I couldn't stop a small whimper from escaping my throat as I covered my ears with my hands, and ended up sliding down the rough wall – unknowingly scratching my bare upper back – until I was sitting on the floor.

"Shut up!" I cried out to the voice, which only caused it to laugh.

"You're fat, ugly and useless," the voice responded. "That drunk did your parents a favour. Now they don't have to deal with you anymore," it added.

The voice sounded like it was inside my own head now, just as loud despite my hands over my ears. I felt like I was going to go crazy, and I felt my heart breaking into pieces as the voices words started feeling more and more true inside my mind.

"Stop...please stop..." I pleaded, my voice quiet – defeated – as I broke down into small sobs.

I heard laughter echo throughout the cell again and nearly jumped out of my skin when a section of the cell wall across from me lit up, and what I saw nearly made me vomit.

Even though the dungeon was in pure darkness, I still could easily see the familiar shadow figure that was standing across from me. It was the same exact figure I had seen on our last night in Romania – when I had thought I was done with everything.

It was Zak's form, but he looked like death. Pale, grey skin; blue lips; thin and skeletal looking; sunken, black eyes. The eyes staring down at me were full of hatred.

"You're worthless to me...I'll never love you...how could I ever love someone as pathetic as you?" Theshadow figure said, in a hoarse version of Zak's voice, before fading away and a message appeared on the wall where it had just been standing.

"I'll NEVER LOVE YOU" was written on the wall in what I knew was blood.

I felt like I was being stabbed in the heart, over and over again. I was bawling my eyes out at this point. The emotional pain was unbearable. I bowed my head down toward my knees, covering my head with my arms, as I let out the loudest scream possible – a scream full of nothing but agony and pain.

Authors Note: I hope this chapter wasn't overly dramatic...I wanted Alicia to be attacked verbally by using her own worse thoughts against her. This chapter was hard for me to get through, as it essentially based on my very own, real life thoughts - at least some of them.

I know this update was short, but I figure to chapters are better than nothing. And I'm not going to lie...I love cliffhangers...lol.

Thank you once again for your support and reviews. Until next time!