I’m bored. There’s nothing to do here anymore. At first I could explore the place, but now that the novelty has worn off and I’ve explored the entire place I’m bored. Again. The others are busy doing something and clearly don’t feel like talking. Well, except Goldie. But he’s been a bit distant lately. It’s something about the newest guard. I would try to find out what it was, if he didn’t make it clear to NOT do so. I can’t even spy on the guard to find out; tonight’s Night Seven.
I really hate not having a physical body. I can’t even draw. Right now I would do anything for a laptop I could animate on. Or a piece of paper and a pencil to draw on. I have so many ideas and yet I can’t do anything with them. It’s just frustrating. I can’t believe Mari managed to handle not having a body for so long. I’m dying of boredom. If I could die again. Which I highly doubt is possible.
Mari has been a bit distant lately. I’m not surprised. She hates him more than we do. I do. She was his first victim. That monster seems intent on killing. Which makes it weird that he seemed to not want to kill the guard. I saw the way he looked at him. I’m not sure what it is.
Too bad I won’t be able to find out. They never come back after one week, even if they do survive. And that guy was terrified. Like, more than the average guard. But it didn’t seem that the actual monster was scaring him, more like the knowledge of something. I saw the look in his eyes, he was determined. Determined to do something. I’m not even sure why he came. Like, come on, it’s a HORROR ATTRACTION, the clue is in the name. Even if the place isn’t actually haunted, being ALONE and IN THE DARK is still quite scary. Though he must know about the rumours around this place if he decided to work here. But he probably dismissed them as rumours. Because ghosts aren’t real. Usually.
I wonder if he knows about what I know. I have been spying on him. Hey, I was bored, and I’m not scaring the guard again! Well, it was fun at first, but then we started… It's not right. What we did is wrong. I might've been innocent while I was alive, but that innocence is long gone. I'm guilty. The others try to tell me it's not my fault, but lies cannot fix a situation they created. Who's to blame, if it's not me? they all had family, friends, maybe even kid of their own. I made children become orphans; I made wives become widows. I spilt so much blood. They'll hate me for all eternity, and this is my punishment.
I was up on the ceiling, spying on him. He probably spotted me, and just chose to ignore me-
Wait, what’s the noise! It’s not the others, as the lack of physical bodies ENSURES we can’t make any noise. And I doubt he would be up walking around. We made sure that it was painful for him to move. Well, the original plan was to kill him to set ourselves free. But of course he couldn’t make it that easy. Even after we cornered him and crushed his puny little body, juicing all the blood from him, tearing apart his guts so they spilt all over the ground… He couldn’t just die and let our misery be over. Why should he? Of course he stayed alive somehow. If we can’t be free, then he should at least feel the pain we felt for all those years.
The others didn’t hear it. They’re not here. It’s… It’s the guard. The latest one. He’s walking around, wary of something, of us. He’s…pouring something all over the floor. Gasoline. He’s not going to, is he? The others are here, even Mari. He even pours some gasoline into his room, though by how quickly he left it’s clear he doesn’t trust that thing. We’re all watching him, hiding in the shadows just out of view. He knows we’re here anyway. He can feel us. I can see it.
The whole place is coated in gasoline. It seems to happen in slow motion. He takes out the box of matches. He lights one. Right now he’s just standing there, looking at the tiny flickering flame. He’s thinking. Will he do it? Wait… He’s in the heart of the building!! If he light’s the place, he won’t be able to get out!!! HE CAN’T DIE!!!
“I’m here.” He’s… talking?
“I came back. I know I shouldn’t have come back here. I know you told me not to. I’m sorry for disobeying you.
I know the truth. I’ve been doing my research. I looked through each newspaper clipping thousands of times. I listened to each recording until I could recite them word for word. I learned.
It hurt. I didn’t want to believe it, but it made sense. I found out so many things about you. I learned about you like I’d never before. About all your little quirks. About all your fears.
I found your co-workers. The ones that survived. I tracked them down with only scraps of incomplete information. At first they welcomed me. Yet as soon as I mentioned that place they reacted violently. They were terrified. I had to force it out of them. They were wrecks by the end, but I got what I wanted. I feel bad for it. I hope they understand why I did it. I hope they forgive me. I hope they find out what I did. I hope they understand it.
I understand what happen. It hurts. The truth, the loneliness. I’m all alone. I hope you can forgive me for this. But please, know that I’m only doing this for your freedom. So we can be together.
I also want to apologise. I was horrid. I shouldn’t have done what I did. If only… I wish I could go back in time. I wish I could fix all of this. I wish we could be all together again, happy. I wish everything turned out differently.”
He’s crying. On his knees, sobbing. I see the terrified kid inside of him. I wanna help him, comfort him… Why are you guys holding me back! Why are you stopping me! He needs comfort!
“I… I…”
“I’m sorry”
The match drops. Flames explode everywhere, engulfing the building in their glow. Somehow, I can feel it. I can feel their heat even if I shouldn’t. I feel my tears, real tears, flowing down my cheek. I walk up to the burning carcass ahead of me. I comfort him. Not the body, but the ghost. At first, he seems oblivious to me, sobbing away his worries. Then, he jumps back at the sight of me, fear radiating off him. Then a stifled scream as he sees his own, lifeless husk.
“Thank you” I whisper, a small smile forming through my tears. I offer him my hand. Uncertainty flickers in his ghostly eyes. Then he accepts it, unsure but curious. The others come closer. He still seems terrified. I don’t blame him. He just died, saw his own body and was comforted by a ghost that earlier tried to kill him. At least, that’s how he sees it.
“We are finally free” mutters Mari, the mask that covered her face gone. For the first time I see the face of a pale girl with ink black hair. She giggles. She giggled!
“In a fire. Are we clairvoyant or something?” jokes Bonnie. Fire. Oh, ‘Die in a Fire.’ Wow. That’s, oddly prophetic.
“What… what’s going on?” I turn back to our newest guest. I kinda forgot about him in the heat of the moment. Huh, HEAT of the moment.
“We’re free. You just set us free. We can finally leave this place after all these years. We can move on.” Mari explains. I stay silent. Mari is a lot better at all of this than I am. I just start to fly up. Then, as the final test of our freedom, I soar through the roof.
I… I left the place! The walls didn’t stop me! I’m free. I wait for the others. They all come, all except Goldie. Goldie just stand there.
“Aren’t you coming?” I ask.
“What about him?” he asks.
“Probably hasn’t even realised that the place is on fire. Oh wait, he must have. I forgot he still feels pain. He’s probably in agony now. I vote we leave him.” I state. I don’t want him to be free. He should go rot in the eternal flames of hell, his body burning to ash, yet not being destroyed. An endless suffering for what he made us, innocent children, go through.
“We can’t. It’s not fair for him. He suffered enough. It would be wrong for us to just leave him.”
“You wanna know what’s not fair? It’s not fair that OUR WHOLE LIVES WERE TAKEN AWAY BY A PSYCOPATH!!”
He stares at me, stunned. Everyone knows that I’m emotionally unstable, but I don’t often snap like that. Goldie is the one person that understands me. It feels wrong for me to argue. But anger wins out over friendship.
“HE DESERVES EVERYTHING WE DID TO HIM, IF NOT MORE! HE LAUGHED WHILE WE SCREAMED FROM AGONY!! HE LIED TO ESCAPE PUNISHMENT WHILE WE WERE BEING TORTURED BY THE SIGHTS OF OUR OWN FUNERALS!!! I DON’T FEEL SORRY FOR DOING THIS TO HIM JUST LIKE HE DOESN’T FEEL SORRY FOR OUR DEATHS!!!!!”
I stare at him, my fury drilling into him. He just stares at me. Then he turns round, and returns back for him. I just… I…
I float past my audience, still shocked by my outburst. I snap away from the hands that seek to comfort me. I don’t need them…
The night sky wraps around me like a cool blanket, its temperature non-existent. A light breeze blows through me. I don’t want to look back. I don’t need a final glance at Earth. I don’t want it. I don’t want to see the town in which I grew up in, in which I died. I don’t want to see the remains of my prison. I don’t want to see the flames that saved me. I have nothing. No-one will miss me. To them I’ve been dead for decades, just like I should have. My grave still lies empty. It will lie empty.
I wonder if they’ll ever find my body. I wonder if they ever take down the old place to build something else. I wonder how they’ll react. It will seem like an unmarked area of ground, but when dug up it’ll reveal a mass grave for children. I wonder if they’ll realise that that’s us.
I guess they’ll finally find his body. I bet that’ll be shocking. I can already see the headlines- MAN MISSING FOR DECADES FOUND DEAD IN LOCAL HORROR ATTRACTION. I doubt that they’ll put two and two together and realise the truth. I guess I’ll never know. Still if they do it will mean tha-
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Confusion. I’m somewhere. I… feel… weird. What’s going on?
“Oh sweet Celestia! There’s a filly!!”
Everything hurts. I don’t wanna wake up. I wanna fade away.
“She’s injured! Quick, help me with her!”
Why does everything hurt? … Why can I feel pain? I can’t feel pain. I need a body to do that.
“Please say she’s okay. We need to get her somewhere stable!”
Yes, this is all just a nightmare. I’ll wake up soon enough…
“Does she have a pulse! Check her pulse!"
Oh wait. I can’t dream.