Into the Dark
The highway whined and rain relentlessly battered the window as you stared out of it. You could barely see the street from the rain from your position in the backseat. It was the early evening, but the cloud cover made it out to be midnight for all you could tell. There wasn’t much to look at anyway. You knew this road too well to care. You just wish you were coming home under better circumstances. Hopefully things would sort themselves out.
Your chauffeur leans over to glance at you out of his peripherals, he was the only other one involved with your family that hasn’t gone missing. You never knew him personally, so you didn't care to carry on any conversation. That didn’t stop him from trying.
“I’m terribly sorry about your parents, sir. They meant a great deal to me as well,” he said, not taking his eyes off the road.
“They haven’t been found dead yet,” you said with a scolding tone. He acted as if they had already found the bodies.
“It has been three months, sir.”
“Until I see a body, I’m not giving up on it that easily.” You turn away from him and look out into the woods. Your parents always loved being secluded. It explains why they chose to build a mansion in this country forest. You always felt it was out of place.
“I just do not want your visit here to end in disappointment. Your parents would’ve wanted you to be happy..”
“Thank you for your concern, but I will deal with my own problems.”
He took that as a signal to leave you be. You took the opportunity to review the case file that the police were kind enough to lend you once they had closed the case. You open it and begin reading the contents for the hundredth time that trip. Five people missing, three servants and the two homeowners. You look over the pictures for the maids and the chef, and your parents. All presumed to be dead. You flipped the page over to reveal the more brutal part of the file. One girl had been found, but the gruesome photos before you showed her fate. She had been hung from a tree via a single hook in her back. She was missing the lower portion of her body and was disemboweled all the way up to her trachea. She was also mostly covered in lacerations and burns. The only part of her unscathed was her face. On her right cheek was the kiss of hot pink lipstick.
You closed the file as your chauffeur turned into the driveway. The mansion loomed in front of you. The early twentieth century style created and eerie image as the dark mansion rose in the rainy backdrop.
The car came to a stop in front of the main door. You slipped a tip into the chauffeur’s coat pocket.
“I will let you know if I even need you.” He nodded in confirmation. That was enough for you. You opened the door and stepped out into the cold rain. The drops instantly began to soak you as you stood up and closed the door behind you. The car left you alone with the dark mansion.
What once held you in a childhood home now represents nothing but eerie mystery of your parents fate. You stood in it’s shadow, simply pondering what you planned to do. Part of you wanted to get as far away from the decrepit house as possible, but you had a purpose here, and you weren't leaving until you found the truth. A bolt of lightning rang out in front of you, and you decided to get out of the rain.
You close the massive wooden door behind you and look into the empty house. There was not a light on anywhere in sight. The only light that managed to enter was the little that was allowed through the windows. You ignore the only sound of you dripping onto the wood floor and begin to search for a lightswitch.
For a brief moment, a strike of lightning illuminates the room, and the shadow that covered the wall before you.
Your heart jumps and you turn around to face whatever it was. Walking out of the veil of the dark is a girl in a maid outfit holding a towel. Her long pink hair straightened out below her elbows, and swayed as she walked towards you.
“Good evening, sir.”
“Where did you come from?” You ask, still a bit worked up.
“I assure you, I’ve been here the whole time.” She looked up at you with cold eyes and a deadpan expression. She looked right into your eyes with a sharp expression that pierced your very soul.
“Could I interest you in a towel, you look to have stayed too long in the rain.” She hold out the contents of her hands, and you take them from her willingly.
“Why are all of the lights out?”
She pauses for a moment to inspect her surroundings, then turns back to you. “I suppose I prefer to work in the dark.”
Her monotone voice only sets you further on edge. “I’m Pinkamena, by the way. I am currently the maid of this household. Your parents told me a lot about you.” The first hint of an expression creeps onto her face. A small smile crawls across her cheek when she mentions your parents.
“I am aware, you were the only other one who hasn’t gone missing.” Just as soon as her smile appeared, it leaves without a trace. “I’m here to find out what really happened. What do you know of all those that went missing?”
“I can tell you what I have told the police... over dinner if you would like.” She motions towards the kitchen as her unsettling smile returns to her. You take a step back from her.
“I... I will be alright, it’s been a long ride, and I just want to rest now.” Her smile leaves her yet again as she turns back towards you.
“Suit yourself. We may discuss this matter in the morning. I will be leaving for the night if you no longer require my services.”
You nod to her, and she walks opens the door. You walk over to the hallway and begin the search for the lightswitch. Her voice cuts you off.
“I hope you enjoy your week here.”
“What do yo-” you turn around to question her, but the door is already closed. Leaving you to only silence in the empty house.
Not a sound but the distant roar of thunder can be heard as you find your way to a bedroom and attempt to retire for the night. You find a suitable room, and knock your shoes off before crawling into the made bed. The occasional groan from the old frame of the house stirs you out of slumber momentarily, bringing your senses back.
You lean up in bed, unable to get comfortable. You had the weirdest feeling, as if someone was watching you. You sigh and shake your head, looking for anything the dark room might reveal to you, but you saw little.
A bolt of lightning illuminated the room before you, and the figure standing right in front of your bed with wide eyes and an evil smile.
You jump back into the bed and grab for your phone to illuminate the room. You hold it in front of you, as if it was some defense from the demonic face you had just seen. But once it illuminated the room in front of you, all you saw was the barren floor and sparse furniture that it held when you had first entered.
You take a couple of deep breaths to attempt to calm yourself, but your heart raced in your chest. The image of the bright eyes and evil smile looming over you haunted your every thought.
Needless to say, you didn't sleep very well that night.
This was the first day...
You lost track of how many times you checked the time on your phone, hoping the night would be over already. You felt like a child, trembling in fear after some silly campfire story. The image of the demonic smile still haunted your every thought, and the undeniable feeling of not being alone in the bedroom kept you from drifting off, even though every time you checked, the room was just as empty as the last time.
Finally, the clock on your phone read 7:30, and dim rays of light began to enter the window. The rain had not ended though, as you could hear it barraging the house at every corner.
You drearily made your way to the kitchen to try and wake yourself up with a meal. Your vision blurred with fatigue, and you hardly wanted to stand.
"Did you sleep well sir?" The voice tears you out of your lethargic state as adrenaline courses through your veins. You turn around to find the maid standing close behind you.
"I... not particularly." She stood extremely still, as she simply looked up at you expectantly.
"Were you here last night, Pinkamena?" You could hardly imagine the face belonged to her, but your mind couldnt come up with any other explanation.
"Why, no sir. I leave every night around 8, when my duties are done. Why do you ask?" Her deadpan voice conveys nothing but professionalism, but it combined with her cold eyes only set you on edge.
"N-No reason."
"You look dreadfully tired, I'll make you some coffee, and we may discuss those missing... Just, take a seat in the dining room, and I will be right with you." She doesnt even wait for you to finish your 'thank you' before turning around and beginning on her task.
You take her silence as a signal to go into the dining room. The room was sparsely lit, with the blotted out sun being the only illumination. The decoration in this room was akin to that of some medieval castle, with suits of armor stationed around the room. You took a spot at the end of the massive table and tried to rub the weariness out of your eyes.
You take your hands off of your eyes to see Pinkamena standing right before you. You jump a bit, it reminding you of last night, but you shake it off quickly.
She sets a plate in front of you with a cup of coffee. Steak and eggs, you happily dig in, not realizing how hungry you were. She smiles a bit as you begin eating it, but you pay no mind.
"What is it that you wish to know, sir?" She asked as she pulled out a chair and sat down beside you.
You take a break from your meal, feeling a bit better. The steak was unlike anything you've had before. Her smile vanishes when you stop eating though.
"Anything you can tell me about the disappearances, what happened that day?"
She draws a finger across her chin, contemplating for a moment. "It all happened so... suddenly. That day, everything in the house went on as it normally would, but as soon as night fell, the house became... empty."
You give her a questioning look. "What do you mean?"
"It's as if they left without a trace. All of them. I had assumed they had left without notifying me, but when the chauffeur showed up without them, I couldnt imagine where else they could be." She taps a finger to her chin, looking up to the ceiling.
"And what of the body they found in the woods? Did you know her?" You lean onto the table, to look at her more seriously.
"I knew all of the residents of the house, especially the maids. She was quite the innocent one, I cant believe she would be deserving of such a fate..." The smile returned to her lips as she turned to meet your gaze. You didnt know how to read it. You looked to her bare lips and thought of something.
"And what of the lipstick?"
"That they found on the young girl?" You nod to her, "I cant imagine who it could belong to... Your mother prefered a darker red..."
You fell off of her gaze and looked down to your meal, the way she looked at you, it was unsettling.
"...And so do I" You snap back up to her, the corner of her mouth turned up ever so slightly as she looked you over.
"This steak, how did you prepare it? I've never had anything like it." You said, attempting to change the subject.
"It is of my own recipe. It was one of your parents... favorites." She gets out of her chair, and leaves you with a small smile on her face. You let her go about her daily chores and finished your meal.
Once you were done, you returned to the bedroom you had just left. Since the room was more properly illuminated, you decided to attempt to rest. You wanted to search the house for any sign of your parents whereabouts, but you wished to do it a bit more alert.
You drifted off more easily now, finally able to get some sleep.
You wake up a couple hours later, your clock tells you that it’s nearing the evening. You turn over in bed and sit up to survey the room.
Pinkamena is leaning against the doorway, looking at you patiently. You had just gotten up, so she must’ve been sitting there for quite a while.
“Dinner is ready whenever you feel hungry.” You don’t even get a word off before she turns around and leaves you in the room alone. The fact that for some period of time, she was watching you sleep is a bit unsettling, but you brush it off. You now feel much better, and decide to take a look around before you go down to the dining room.
You make your way outside. This time you had brought a flashlight. You didn’t think you would need it for now, since the overcast lit up the house just fine, but after last night, you’d rather be safe than sorry.
You explored some rooms of the house. It seemed like your parents were doing renovations in places, because many rooms were sparsely furnished, and some traded wallpaper and carpet for bare concrete and woodwork. Nothing particularly jumped at you in most of the first story rooms, but you knew there had to be something around here.
You push open a door and walk into a courtyard. There was a bit of scaffolding around the building, confirming your suspicion. The rain had let up to a slight drizzle, but the hours had escaped you, so the light from covered sun was nowhere to be found. The cold wind gently pushed across you, giving you chills as your body got used to the differing temperature. You turned your flashlight on and looked around the courtyard.The grass around the garden was overgrown and unkempt and vines snaked across the paths you played in as a kid. Nothing moved except the leaves in the wind in front of you. You didn't risk trying to enter the overgrown lawn, you’d need a machete just to get across it. You’d save that for another day.
You turned around to go back into the house when you got the feeling again. Something was out here with you, and it was watching you. You spin around and point your flashlight back at the garden, but nothing met its light.
The feeling didn’t go away. You tried to ignore it and search through the garden more thoroughly, but it kept nagging at the back of your mind. You took one step off of the concrete and felt a small, hot wave of air pass over the back of your neck. You jumped into the the garden and spun around to see who the offender was, but nothing was there. The only movement was the gentle sway of the ropes off of the scaffolding.
You take another step back and feel something gently grab the back of your arm. Your heart jumps into your throat and you jump forward onto the ground with a loud yelp. Turning around, you try to bring your flashlight up to the aggressor. You try to take a deep breath and try to calm yourself. The would be attacker was only a bundle of leaves.
You shake your head and laugh at yourself. You get up and nervously walk back into the house, clutching the flashlight close. You just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was right behind you, just watching. You tried to shake it off, but every open door and dark hallway swallowed the light and gave you nothing but a dark abyss to stare into, promising that something could be lurking at every one.
You tell yourself that it’s just an empty house over and over again, but the feeling remains. The old house must just be getting to you, the creepy atmosphere is just messing with your head, there’s nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.
The more you assure yourself, the less safe you feel. You know the only other one in the house is the maid. And then you think of her. You really don’t want to be alone right now, and the girl with the creepy smile and the monotone voice is better than nothing, so you shakily make your way down to the dining room again.
You go into the kitchen and find Pinkamena doing dishes. You feel a bit more at ease in the presence of another person.
“Hey, uh... How you doing?” You say nervously, just wanting a little interaction to slow your heart rate.
She turns around to look at you, laying a large steak knife down on the counter. “Are you alright sir? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Um, I just was coming down, about dinner,” you manage to stammer out.
She turns back to the sink and continues her work. “I have laid out your plate on the table, I hope you find it to your liking.”
“Th-Thank you.” You didn’t quite want to leave her presence just yet, but you didn’t want to linger too long either, so you made your way into the living room and sat down out the table.
It was steak and mashed potatoes. Having steak twice in the same day seemed a bit odd, but you weren't complaining. You ate, and looked out the window into the front yard. The rain poured down on the window again, letting you know it’s picked up. You can only see the silhouette of the woods peering over the the lawn with the light available. Yet something seems to be glowing a dim white at the base of the woods. You stare out the window at it, trying to get a better look.
“They say that the rain will persist through the week, I hope it doesn't spoil your stay here.”
Her voice snaps you out of your focus, and brings back the small edge of fear that you had just manage to lose.
“Why do you keep implying that I’ll only be staying here a week?” It seems the question rolls right over her head. She keeps her eyes focused on the window, before quickly bringing them down to meet yours.
“It is becoming late. Do you require my services any longer?”
“N-No, you can leave.” You watch her as she moves through the hall to the doorway, she sneaks a quick look back at you with a sinister smile.
You do a double take, but she’s already out the door. You shake it off and get back to your meal. The girl really does have a talent for this, even if she is unsettling.
You finish the meal and get up to go try to find something to do that would keep your sanity intact, but as soon as you leave the dining room, you begin to feel very fatigued. So much so that you barely feel that you could take another step. You lay down on the couch closest to you and fall asleep right there.
A single drip wakes you and makes you stir a bit, which causes you to turn entirely. You thrashed for a moment, and found that your hands were tied above your head and your feet touched no ground as you swung there helplessly. The damp cool air chilled your bare skin, since it seemed all of your clothes were missing as well.
“I’m going to have fun with you...” A barely audible voice whispered behind you. You tried to spin around to see it, but your eyes were nowhere near used to the dark that surrounded you.
You started to panic in the helpless position, the only thing that you touched was the old rope that bound your hands to the ceiling.
A smooth hand gently stopped you from rocking and pulled you to the right. You let out a whimper, expecting the worst.
“Shhh, it’s alright...” It whispered to you. Whoever it was planted a quick kiss on your right cheek, and then all traces of the person disappeared entirely.
You’re heart rate started climbing again as you swung there in silence. You tried to look for something, anything to help you through this.
The sound of a match striking sounded in front of you, revealing the same face from the previous night inches from yours.
Before you could even scream the match went dark and you were struck across the temple, putting you out.
You shot up in your bed, throwing the blankets off of you. It seemed you were back in the bedroom, unharmed. The memory of swinging there helpless with that demonic smile in front of you stood there in your mind.
“Just a dream...” You tried to assure yourself. You couldn’t help but revel in how real it actually felt though. You were terrified just thinking about it.
You raised a hand up to your temple to find nothing, not even a scratch. It must’ve been a dream then, the only one that had the key to the house anyway was... Pinkamena.
You think for a moment about if she was the one doing this, but dash the thought. She couldn't weigh more than 110 pounds, there was no way she could’ve hung you up like that, let alone drag you to bed.
You laugh at your silly assumption as you get up out of bed. Your imagination is just playing tricks on you, it’s just the spooky old house getting to you and giving you bad dreams.
You walk into the bathroom and start brushing your teeth. You start thinking of ways to enjoy your parents old house. You’re sure they would hate for you to be afraid of the house you grew up in and spent so much time with them in.
You reassuring yourself gives you a bit of a confidence boost. Maybe today will be the day you find something to clue you in on your parents. You wash out your mouth and look up at yourself in the mirror.
“No...” Your blood runs cold the instant you see your face.
“No, no no no no no!” A light kiss of hot pink lipstick stains your cheek. You panic, leaning into the mirror to make sure it’s really there. To your dread, it is. Plain as day, it sits there on your cheek as a mark of what’s to come.
You turn the water to as hot as it will go, and start scrubbing the vile mark off of you. Your cheek burns painfully as you turn the water off and fall down into the bathroom door. You pull at your hair, trying to convince yourself it was just your imagination. But the image of the case file keeps floating back to you.
You didn't want to die. You kept trying to find a way to assure yourself it was just a dream, but nothing came to you. You laid on the bathroom floor a curled up, panicked mess. You kept telling yourself you didn't want to die like that, strung up in the woods, missing half of your body.
Then you remembered the chauffeur. You could just call him and ask him to take you out of here. Every part of you no longer wanted to stay here. There was no reasoning with this place.
You got up and got out your phone. You scrolled down the contacts until you got to the drivers number. You pressed call and put it up to your ear. You took a couple deep breaths as it began to ring.
You thought of your parents. The way they were always there for you when you needed them, the way they accepted you no matter what you chose to do. The way your mother always comforted you when you fell down, or accidently broke a toy, and always made it better. Or the way your dad taught you how to cast a line, or how to replace the oil in the car when it needed it.
You dropped the phone from your ear and ended the call. If your parents were still out there, you were going to find them. You cast the thought of last night aside and made plans to search different parts of the household.
You walk down the hallway, attempting to calm your nerves, when Pinkamena rounds a corner and stops you.
“You must’ve slept quite well. It’s almost time for lunch.” She says as deadpan as usual.
“I had another rough night... I guess I slept in.” You look to her lips, and the are just as bare as they always are. She only wears a hint of mascara for make up. “You... you didn’t stick around last night after dinner, did you?”
She tilts her head just slightly to show a bit of questioning. “No, I had left after you dismissed me, was there something the matter?”
“I think there might have been someone in the house last night...” She looks up at you with an expressionless face, almost expecting something. “...On second thought, it was probably just my imagination.”
“If you would like, I could keep you company tonight. To quell your fears of whatever may haunt this house.” She jokingly rolled her eyes across the ceiling, looking for any sign of ghosts. You noticed she had both hands behind her back, hiding something from you.
“Yo-You don’t have to do that.” You didn’t want to look like you were scared in front of her, but part of you wanted to ask her to stay anyway. Whatever she was hiding made you a bit apprehensive though.
“Suit yourself. Lunch will be ready momentarily.” She turned around and begin walking towards the kitchen. You catch a glance of what she was holding behind her back. It was only a duster. You realized you were beginning to become paranoid. You shake it off and walk down to the dining room.
After another meat heavy lunch, you begin to explore the house again, this time, for any place you thought might have held that nightmarish situation last night.
You walk outside of the house to check the shed. As soon as you stepped out, the light threw you off and you had to put a hand over your eyes for them to adjust. It wasn’t even that bright outside. The overcast still lingered, but the rain had slowed to a sprinkle, making today a bit brighter than the last two days.
The cold air nipped at you as you walked across the lawn to the shed. You hadn’t been in here in years. Your father kept all sorts of tools in here, and would dress animals in here when he didn't want to bring them into the cellar.
You came up on the door to find a thick padlock closing it. You didn’t have the key, and your father always kept it on him, so you weren't getting in here like that. You gave the door a solid tug, and the thin wood bent under the pressure. Feeling it’s weakness, you decide to give it a good yank. You’re rewarded with the metal hinge the lock is attached to snapping of and sliding across the dirt. You open the shed up all the way and step inside.
The hanging rack and bucket are all set up for skinning, but there was no sign it had been done. You looked in the bucket and found it to be empty. You looked up at the hanging rack and thought briefly if this was the room it could’ve taken place in, but decided against it when you realized you could easily touch the roof from where you were standing.
The shed looked to be just as it had been the last time you had seen it all that time ago. This obviously didn’t hold any clues that would help you. You grabbed a crowbar off of the wall, and looked back up to the hanging rack. No, it couldn’t be it. You remember smelling, concrete.
That meant only one other room. The cellar.
You go around to the back of the house where the cellar doors are. The lock is suspiciously missing from the doors as you inspect them. Your father always left it locked. You open up the door and begin walking down the stairs. The image of the dark abyss below you almost makes you turn back out of fear, but you press on, crowbar in hand. The light from the open doors offer little to help you down, and soon enough you’re enveloped in darkness. You know where the light switch is, across the room.
You take a deep breath and hold the crowbar with both hands. You carefully shuffle across the dark room, expecting the worst. Little creaks and the soft moan of the wind pushing through the door keeps you looking around for anything that might dare come at you. You finally make it to the light switch and flip it on. You turn around to find that your little scared dance to the lightswitch was all for naught. The room was empty. You sigh and look up to the ceiling. The spot where the hanging rack would usually go was bare, and your father always kept the racks in the shed, so that ruled out this possibility. The floor however, was stained with a thick layer of blood which was odd, since nothing had been in season for a couple months. You didn't pay much attention to it for now.
You walk over to the freezer, and lift the lid on a whim. What you see surprises you. There had to be more than 150 pounds of meat in there. Your father never put that much in there if he could help it, let alone if he was even able to get that much.
“What are you doing?”
Pinkamena’s voice scares you enough to jump up and slam your head against the lid before closing it and looking over to her.
“I was looking around... Do you know why there’s so much meat in the freezer?” You said, trying to be serious while rubbing the back of your head.
Pinkamena just walks over to the freezer and opens it up. “Your parents were kind enough to fill it up.” She grabs a cut out and closes the lid again.
“Once you’re done poking around, dinner should be ready shortly.” She said, almost a bit annoyed before walking back out of the cellar.
You forget your quest for answers for now when your stomach reminds you how hungry you actually are. You make your way up to the dining room again for dinner.
Pinkamena sits down beside you and shares a meal with you. You look her over. There’s no way this girl could be capable of something like the picture in that case file. There had to be something else involved, something much more evil. Sure, she was creepy, but she didn’t strike you as a murderer.
She looked up at you and you realized you were staring at her.
“Yes?” You break away your gaze as she looks right into your eyes.
You clear your throat “Sorry, I was thinking about something.”
“Do you wish to share?” she leans onto the table, obviously interested.
“N-No, I’ll be alright.”
“My offer to stay with you tonight still stands, if you wish to have some company.” She straightens her outfit out as she returns to a more proper position.
“No, you can leave if you want.” You kind of hoped she would stay anyway, you fear what may happen in her absence.
“If you say so.” She gets up and takes the plates to the kitchen before leaving without a word. You stare at the door for a moment, wondering why she would leave so suddenly, but forget as you suddenly realize you needed to use the bathroom.
You walk into the bathroom and attempt to flip on the light, but to no avail. You try a couple more times and the light flickers for a moment.
Five feet from you stood a deathly looking woman shrouded in shadow, looking right at you with a tired expression.
The image floored you as you attempted to crawl away. Looking back, the light came completely on, but the bathroom remained empty.
You shook your head, fearing for your sanity. You resigned to going to bed for the night, even if it was a futile effort.
You covered yourself in the blanket, attempting to block out the rest of the world. The only sound was that of the rain against the home and that of the distant thunder that would occasionally fill the sky.
The disturbing images of the faces and the woman in the bathroom kept haunting you, you couldn't think of anything else. The only thought that brought you comfort was that of Pinkamena, oddly enough. The sparse interactions with her made you feel a bit less alone in the terrifying house that you are coming to know again. You know that there really isn’t, or shouldn't be anything there, but your pounding headache and trembling hands reminded you that you may be slowly losing your grip on reality, and your sanity.
You curled up tighter as you thought of the kiss on your cheek as well. Overall, you were terrified at the moment, of everything.
You were going to ask Pinkamena to stay with you tomorrow night.
That night goes over about as well as the first night did. You constantly check your phone, hoping you fell asleep and a couple more hours passed. the feeling of your worst possible nightmare looming over right over you keeps you from moving the blankets away from any part of your body, fearing if you got a glimpse, you would see what sort of hell awaited you, and if a body part jutted out, you would lose it in the worst possible way.
The hours drag on to seem like days as you dread what may be looking right at you. The images surge through your mind constantly, reminding you not to look.
After what felt like an eternity, I bit of light entered the room, and your phone said it was time for the sun to rise. You dared to peek out of the covers to look into the room. You gave a sigh of relief, the room was empty. You dragged yourself down to the kitchen to start the day, hopefully. Pinkamena was down there again, making coffee for you.
You walk up beside her, embarrassed about what you want to ask her. You look away from her and grab your arm, dreading having to ask someone else to stay with you because you were scared.
“Uh, Pinkamena? Could I ask you something?” You steal a glance or two up at her, trying to save as much of your pride as possible.
“Why, yes, sir. What’s on your mind?” She says as she turns to you and gives you her attention.
“Does, your offer from yesterday... uh, still stand?” you ask bashfully, still not wanting to look her in the eye.
“What, do you wish for me to stay here with you tonight?” she says, her neutral expression not faltering.
“Y-Yes, if it’s not too much to ask...”
She brings a finger to her chin, as if to think about it for a moment, “If you so wish, I will stay here with you for the night,” she says officially.
“Thank you.” You give a sigh of relief and bowed to her.
“Now, if you’ll be seated, I have prepared breakfast.”
You sit at your normal spot on the table. Soon enough, she brings out a plate and a cup of coffee for you and sets it all out in front of you.
Yet again she gives you steak and eggs. Judging by the amount that you had found in the freezer, this isn't surprising.
She pulls out a chair and takes a seat beside you. She straightens herself out before clasping her hands together and positions herself towards you.
“What seems to have changed your mind about my offer?” She asks with a slight tilt in her head.
“I... Things happen at night, that I don’t know if I can deal with alone anymore,” you tell her begrudgingly.
“Whatever do you mean?”
“I had this weird dream, and I keep feeling like something’s watching me... waiting. I just...”
She puts a hand on your arm to calm you, “Say no more, I know this house can get a bit spooky in the wrong light.” Her touch puts you at ease almost immediately. Her face almost contorts a bit to that of concern, and for a moment you really feel like you can trust her. Maybe tonight will be different.
After breakfast you go back up to your room to catch up on your sleep, feeling much safer now.The bed feels much more comfortable now with the room properly illuminated, you go to sleep almost immediately.
You wake up to the one thing you would have rather skipped. You slept through the whole day, and now no light peered through the window. Panic started to take you yet again as you sat up to look at the dark room. You knew what was coming, you already had that dreadful feeling of something watching you, and you could tell it was close too.
You reached into your pocket to find your phone, but it was missing. You pat down all of it’s possible hiding places on you and the bed before you remember where you left it, down in the dining room. You scolded yourself for not having it with you, and more so for leaving the crowbar in the cellar.
You scampered out of bed and began to frantically feel around tables and in drawers for anything that might provide you with some light. In one drawer, you found a small boxy object. it was a disposable camera. This was the last thing you wanted to use, but you didn't have any choice.
You rolled the small gear on it over quickly to get it to be able to take a picture, then illuminated the room with a quick flash.
The room seemed empty, but your imagination made up little things here and there to make you feel like you saw something. A reflection off an old pair of glasses looked like demonic eyes waiting to take you, and the wallpaper looked like razor sharp teeth for all you could tell.
You try to shake off your paranoia and look for something to protect yourself with. You scoured your memory to think of something, anything that might help. Then you remembered that your father always kept a revolver in his bedside drawer.
You took a deep breath and walked out into the hallway, giving the camera a click to illuminate your surroundings every few feet. You moved along slowly, your panic growing with every step.
You finally reached your parents bedroom, and gave the camera a click to illuminate the door.
Instead of the door hung the disemboweled upper body of a girl with a hot pink kiss on her cheek.
You feel back into the floor, attempting to crawl backwards for all you were worth, while frantically trying to roll the camera for another shot. You pushed the button to reveal that there was nothing in front of you but your parent’s door. Your breathing rate didn't slow however, since the helpless feeling of sitting there in the dark overcame you.
“Pinkamena! Are you there?!” You yelled out, like a scared child, calling out for his mother.
You counted to thirty, “Pinkamena!” you yelled as loud as you could, but still no answer came.
You sat there curled up on the floor for a moment, but decided you needed that revolver more than anything.
You looked forward with mad determination and threw open the door and sprinted to where you knew your fathers nightstand was. You threw open the drawer and began pawing around it as fast as you could. You were rewarded with the heavy metallic feel of the revolver in your hand.
You sped back out of the room as fast as your legs could carry you and slammed the door behind you. You slid down the door and curled up into the fetal position. Your mind was playing tricks on you. The image of that girl hanging on the door was so real. It was just your mind playing tricks on you. You repeated that to yourself over and over.
After your heart rate fell to an acceptable level, you stood up and clicked the camera ready again, and brought up the revolver. You clicked it.
The demonic smile and bright eyes reflected right in front of the camera. You let out a scream of pure terror and let off a shot.
The muzzle flash however, told you that the hallway in front of you was empty. The shot broke a window across the hall, and the wind and rain began howling into the house.
You weren't going to deal with this anymore, you sprinted to the front door and ran right out of the house.
You ran as far away from the house as you could with the energy you had. Right into the woods. You paused for a moment to catch your breath. The only thing you had with you were the gun and the camera. You looked up into your surroundings. The woods were even darker than the house, and the rain soaked through your clothes almost immediately. At least now you had room to breath.
The occasional crack of lightning illuminated your environment, and the emptiness of the cold woods felt better than the claustrophobic house. However, you didn’t plan this out very well, you had no idea where to go from here. Maybe climb a tree and wait for morning?
You pondered your possible moves from here when the feeling returned. Something was out here with you. You realized your mistake too late. These were the same woods that the girl was found in. The others simply weren't found, but the pictures from the case file told you the story of these woods.
You began to panic again. The feeling grew stronger and stronger. you clicked the camera over to try to reveal your surroundings. It didn't snap for you fast enough. I stick broke in front of you and you heard leaves crackling closer and closer to you with every step.
You clicked the camera to reveal something crawling towards you. Only a glimpse terrified you to the very core. It’s cold black eyes and serrated mouth were merely inches from you.
You started running back and unloaded the remaining five shots into whatever was in front of you.
You ran for your life as hard as you could until your lungs burned and your legs threatened to give out on you entirely. You stopped for a moment to catch your breath and spin the wheel around on the camera for another shot. You pointed it in front of you and pushed the button.
Nothing.
The battery just ran out.
“Please, not now. Not now!” you screamed at it. You forcefully clicked the gear and tried it again. Nothing. You gave it another try. Nothing. It was dead, and you were out of bullets. You might as well have been naked.
The brief moment of panicked rest you had came to a close as the dreaded feeling returned. You could hear it this time. It’s broken breathing as it slowly crawled closer and closer to you.
You got up and ran again, but this time you didn’t get far. You tripped over something, and the breathing seemed to be right on top of you now.
You frantically tried to crawl backwards away from it, closing your eyes and waiting for it to strike.
You crawled right into a pale pair of legs, and as soon as you touched the cold skin you curled up and let out the most blood curdling scream you had ever heard.
After a moment of not being disemboweled, the owner of the legs you had run into put a hand on your shoulder.
“Sir, whatever are you doing out here?” Pinkamena leaned over and said to you.
You looked up to her and dropped the gun and the camera to wrap your hands around her immediately. You hugged her waist, and she merely put a hand on your shoulder. You felt immensely better being so close to her. You pathetically whimpered to her, and she just patted your back.
“It’s alright sir, let us get you inside, it’s simply dreadful out here.” You nodded to her. She picked you up off the ground and all you could do was let her lead you like a frightened child. You looked back into the woods and a bolt of lightning illuminated them in their entirety.
Empty.
There wasn’t anything but trees to be seen.
Pinkamena lead you by a hand into the house. She lead you all the way into the kitchen and sat you down in the corner.
“Now just wait right here, I will get you a towel.” She turned to walk away, but you instinctively reached out for her. You pulled yourself together when you realized what you were doing, but you really didn't want to be caught alone in the dark again. Before she left, she flipped a light on, which revealed the kitchen as safe. Why didn’t you do that earlier?
You look through the doorway to the window in the dining room. The sun began to just barely sneak it’s way through the overcast and illuminate the scenery. The woods looked just as dark though.
You could have sworn there was some ungodly beast following you through the woods, but even inches from you, all you did was see and hear it, it never once touched you. It’s cold black eyes looked so real though. Could your mind be this far gone already? Come to think of it, nothing has actually even laid a hand on you except for whatever left the lipstick on your cheek.
Is this really all just your imagination? Is this house just making you paranoid? The more you thought about it, the more foolish you thought you were.
You shake your head and take your eyes off of the window to find Pinkamena standing right in front of you.
You jump a bit, but this has become sort of a habit for her.
She hands you a fresh towel, “Here you are, sir.”
“Th-Thank you.” You take it and begin to dry yourself of, finally feeling a bit more at ease.
“Do you need anything else?” She says as deadpan as usual, but puts a hand on your leg in concern.
“No, I just... I’ll just go back to sleep.” You were exhausted, and you felt a bit better knowing that Pinkamena was close.
“I’ll see you up.” You got up and began walking to the bedroom again. Pinkamena stayed by your side the whole way, reassuring you. She kept looking at different parts of you and smirking, but you didn't care. As long as you didn't have to walk through the dark alone, you would be alright.
You get to the room and try to flip the light on. Sure enough, it doesn't work. You wouldn’t have gotten anywhere with that earlier then.
“I don’t think the electrical systems are operational on this side of the house. Something about repairs that were never finished.” She says, looking at the switch. Of course they were.
You looked around at the disheveled state of the room. You wrecked it looking for a light source. Pinkamena paid no mind as she came over to the bed and pulled back the blankets for you.
You nod to thank her, then crawl in. The apprehension remained however, you could still feel her presence behind you. You turn over to see her sitting in a chair across from the bed, her legs crossed and focusing on you. She tilts her head a bit.
“Having trouble sleeping?” She gets up and pulls a bottle from a pocket, grabbing a pill out of it.
“This should help.” She leans over you and puts a tiny blue pill in your hand. You were beginning to trust her, so you took the pill and downed it.
Pinkamena sat back down like she was, and simply waited. You were thankful for her being there, she almost reminded you of your mother. Before the thought could complete itself though, you were out.
You woke up feeling like you over slept. You looked out the window, and it was pitch black again. It couldn’t possible be night already. You look over to the nightstand to find Pinkamena had placed your phone on it for you. It said it was only three in the afternoon, but outside it looked to be midnight. Rain barraged the roof above you endlessly and much harder than it had before. You rub your eyes and sit up to look into the room.
Something was wrong. Really wrong. Dark corners of the room swirled with a slight red tint. The broken breathing of whatever tried to assault you in the woods felt like it was right behind you. Looking back you only found a wall.
You looked over to the chair in which Pinkamena had sat to find nothing. You started to panic, but shook it off as you simply imagining things.
You got out of bed and started to walk towards the door. The breathing did not stop, nor did your swirling vision. You felt the light touch of something on your shoulder. Turning around revealed nothing but an empty room.
“Pinkamena?” You yelled. No answer came. Maybe she had left. She did stay all night.
You walk out into the hallway, looking for any signs of her. Only the endless volley of rain responded. You look into empty doorways and see only darkness, and the glint of something, watching you. But every time you brought up your phone, only an empty room greeted you.
You decided to go to the room at the end of the hallway, since that was the only one that had a light on inside of it.
With every step, the hallway seemed to grow longer and longer. Light red swirls entered your vision at every corner. Things started moving around in the dark open doors in your peripherals. You tried to shut them out, but they started whispering to you inaudibly. Every step you took, they quietly tried to tell you something.
“What are you doing here...” you managed to pick up from the sea of whispers behind you.
“I-I’m looking for my parents.” You answered them. The broken breathing behind you began to overpower the whispers, sending a wave of chills down your spine.
“Why?” The voices asked you.
“Because... They went missing.” You heard a tiny giggle in the whispers, then the sound of one of your mothers music boxes came to life. It sounded as if someone was walking with it right behind you.
“...no, they’ve been here the whole time...” You stop for a moment in shock. What could that have meant? You take a quick glance back and immediately regret it.
Dark tendrils and massive dead eyes stared at you, and in the middle was the deathly woman from the bathroom, turning a music box and slowly floating toward you.
You turned tail and ran for the door, trying to leave whatever followed you in the dust, but the broken breathing, and the whispers, and the music, all followed gently behind you, not losing a step.
You swing open the door and speed in before slamming it behind you, taking a breath to try and ease yourself. The breathing and the whispering ceased, leaving the room ahead of you in complete silence.
All this room had was a single chair in it, accompanied by a girl sitting in it.
“Pinkamena, thank God I found you.” You say, starting to walk up to her.
“The wine cellar...” Said a voice that did not belong to Pinkamena at all.
“Huh?” You put a hand on the back of the chair.
The girl swings around and comes inches from your face. She had no eyes and was crying blood.
“GO TO THE WINE CELLAR!” She screamed in your face. You fell back to the floor, putting a hand over your face for protection.
The whole room flashed a dark shade of red, then only you and the chair remained in the room.
You had to be in a dream. This was the only explanation of why all your worst nightmares were coming to life. That also meant that the only way to make it out of this hell was to play their little game.
You stood up and took a deep breath. The only way out was forward. You took a deep breath and pushed through the door past the chair.
What loomed before you were the stairs down to the wine cellar. What little light traveled with you down to the room didn't help to ease you any.
You stared into the dark abyss, dreading what could be waiting for you. The whispering returned, but this time it was in front of you, calling to you. You took the stairs cautiously, one step at a time.
Then the door shut behind you, leaving you in complete darkness. You crouched down to put your hands on the wall to guide you.
Another step down, something taps you on the forehead. You duck down to try and dodge whatever was messing with you, but look up to find it was a flashlight hanging from a string.
Something wanted to help you along. You jerked the flashlight down and turned it on. As soon as you illuminated the bottom step to the cellar, the whispering vanished. You walked down a bit easier now, with your path illuminated, but the darkness still creeped into your peripherals.
You get to the bottom and turn the flashlight to illuminate the room, but as soon as you try, it flickers and then dies.
“Stupid thing...” you bang on the back end a couple times. You smell... concrete. And then a single drip broke the silence. You bang the flashlight back to life then illuminate the room.
Hung before you were two bodies, rotted through the skin, swinging there gently held up on both sides of the room by your father’s hanging racks, with a place for a third in the middle.
You jerk the flashlight away as your heart jumps. They’re just hallucinations, you keep telling yourself.
You walk into the cellar, the bodies still hanging there. Just hallucinations, they aren't real...
You walk by one of them and a single drip of blood lands on your shoulder, you spin the flashlight over and accidentally bump the body, making it swing into you. You jump back, landing into the other one, which you can feel the decrepit bone and slimy dead skin on.
These weren’t hallucinations, these were real. You could smell the rotting flesh, and the sound of them swinging on rusted hinges filled the room. They hung just high enough to where the feet touched nothing.
You held the flashlight to you, not sure what to do next. The light began to flicker again, before dying out entirely.
You mercilessly bashed on it to try to get it to come back on, but you made no progress.
You just sat in the corner and listened to the bodies swing, as you curled up and waited for something to happen.
“You made it further than I thought...” A voice whispered behind you.
The candle went out.
An ear piercing scream filled the room. Your hands shot over your ears to try to save them, but the scream shot through even that.
You turned to run out of the room, but a black eyes and a bright smile flew into your face, touching it, you turn around to try to go the other direction, but another scream joined in and the same face was brought to yours.
Every direction you turned the terrifying face flew up to you, adding another scream to the symphony from hell.
You could do nothing as you were surrounded on all sides. They stood over you, screaming endlessly to you.
You fell to your knees, then down to the ground completely.
And passed out.
You woke up naked, hanging from the ceiling again. The familiar feeling caused your heart rate to jump and you started swinging around trying to free yourself. You started having a panic attack, as you felt more helpless than ever.
A pair of soft hands grabbed you and stopped you from swinging.
“Shhhh...” I familiar voice whispered to you.
The only sound in the room was your ragged breathing. One of the hands left you, and the feeling of a needle pricking your leg replaced it. You let out a yelp, not expecting the sudden pain, then it was gone.
“Don’t worry... We’re going to have fun...” the voice whispered to you.
The two soft hands traced down your chest, before coming to a stop at your member. With two fingers, the hands traced up and down the shaft. The feeling became almost overwhelming as you whimpered, trying to get away.
“Shhhh...” The voice tried to reassure you. Then you felt a tongue slowly trace all the way up from the base to the head, before putting all of it into it’s mouth. You squirmed as the mouth worked tirelessly on you. The feeling was so intense it wasn’t even pleasurable, it sent a wave of shocks all the way up your spine. Soon enough your cock had become completely erect, and the mouth left it. The cold air brushed past your saliva covered manhood, bringing another intense wave of odd pain.
Two hands pulled you forward, your dick pushing into soft skin. You felt the hands grab onto you, and your assailant began climbing up onto you. Legs wrapped around your waist as your dick began rubbing up against the wet slit that told you the person on you was female.
She wrapped a hand around your neck, and traced something very sharp across your chest, drawing blood. You whimpered and your breathing rate picked up tremendously.
She planted a quick kiss on your right cheek. “Shhh... It’ll all be over soon.”
She moved a hand down to your dick, then moved down to let it enter her. The feeling was too much. You threw your head back and grimaced in pain as she started thrusting herself into you.
All you could hear was the two of you swinging as all of your senses overloaded and your head felt as if it would split at the seams
She doesn't make any noise as she continues to thrust into you. Every once in awhile she’d giggle whenever your entire body would tense in pain. You tried to twist out of her grasp, but it was useless.
She put whatever had cut your chest before up to your neck. “Let’s not get rowdy and ruin the occasion,” the voice whispered, but continued thrusting into you.
She started dragging the object across your throat, every thrust making it dig a bit deeper in.
“I’d hate for someone to get hurt...” once the knife reaches the other side, she pulls it quickly off, creating a small cut that set your entire neck in a world of pain.
She leans in to whisper right into your ear. “Cum for me...”
For some reason, you can't help but oblige, you let loose inside of her, filling her with your seed.
She hops off of you, then puts a soft hand to your side, and a sharp object to your chest.
“See?” She thrusts the knife into you right below your ribcage. “THAT. WASN’T. SO. BAD.” With every word she thrusts the knife deeper into you, making a new hole that you felt blood leaving you through.
“Now it’s time to... let go...” You cough up blood and slowly start to become dizzy from the pain. Soon enough, everything was gone.
You jerk to consciousness on your bathroom floor. You look around for a moment, confused as to how you got here.
Then you remembered what had happened. You jerked upright and lifted up your shirt, expecting the worst, but your body was unscathed. You remembered the feeling so clearly though. The knife puncturing your chest, the blood sliding down your body. Coughing up blood...
You get up and lean over onto the sink. Just another bad dream. You turn on the sink to splash some water into your face and try to wake yourself up.
You look down at your hands and your blood runs cold. Some of the water was stained pink.
You look up into the mirror and fear overtakes you.
Not only is there a smudged hot pink kiss on your cheek, there's a deep scratch going clear across your neck.
You fall to the floor and put your hands over your head.
“No... No this can't be happening!” You curl up in the fetal position.
This is it. This house and whatever is in it is going to kill you. There was no getting around it. You had to find a way out. You try to think of something that could save you now, then you remember the chauffeur again. You pat around for your phone and find it in it’s correct pocket.
You dial his number and wait. You were leaving this time, whatever is tormenting you must’ve gotten to your parents, there was no hope for them now.
You calm yourself, finally accepting that he can take you out of here. You hear it ring once, but a robotic voice answers.
“I’m sorry, the number you are trying to reach has been disconnected.”
You jerk the phone away from your head in shock and try the number again.
“I’m sorry, the number you ar-” You cut it off and tried it again.
“I’m sorry, th-” You cut it off and sat there, astonished. This can’t be happening, you can’t be trapped here like some rat in a cage.
You bring your phone up and dial 911, you weren't going to die in here if you could help it. You pressed call and put it up to your ear. You take a deep breath to try to explain to the operator that you needed to get out of here now.
“I’m sorry, but the number you are trying to reach cannot be completed as dialed. Pleas-”
You let the phone drop to the floor. You know you dialed the number right. This was happening. You were trapped, or at least, that’s what the wall seem to be whispering to you.
You got up without a word and walked out of the room. You were going to try everything to escape from this fate. Even if that meant getting up and walking out.
You barely heard the phone chirp as you left it on the floor. It didn’t matter it couldn’t help you now. You made your way to the front door and left.
The phone sat alone on the bathroom floor as the dial tone connected.
“Hello, this is 911, what is your emergency?”
A soft hand reaches down and picks up the phone off of the floor and brings it to her cheek.
“I’m so sorry, I accidentally dialed you. There isn’t any emergency. Sorry for the inconvenience...”
The girl takes the phone away from her face and ends the call. A devious smile plays across her cheeks.
You walk down the road determined. The next town wasn't for another 30 miles. but anything is better than staying in that house.
The sky remained a dark tint as the rain mercilessly poured down onto you. The clouds made it look like the late evening, but you knew it was still morning. You shivered and held yourself. You didn't take the time to grab a jacket or anything as you wanted to leave as fast as possible. You looked around you. You’d been walking for a good ten minutes and there wasn’t a car in sight.
You looked into the woods. The dark abyss seemed to call out to you. The whispering returned, and the woods seemed to move with shrouded beasts watching your every move. You keep your eyes forward, focusing on the road. Once you got to town, everything would be alright. You keep assuring yourself, and trying to ignore the whispering, nagging at you to look back, and into the woods.
You shook your head to try and shake them off, but they persisted. The longer you walked, the more dizzy you became. A sharp headache began in your skull, making the long walk even more painful.
Soon enough, you forget which side of the road you should be walking down, and second guess yourself and turn around a couple of times. All the while your headache grows worse and worse.
The inaudible whispering calls out to you from the woods, making you focus in on that, trying to ignore the pounding migraine forming in your head. You push into the rain, simply trying to persevere, but everything gets worse.
The only thing you can focus on now is the whispering all around you and the throbbing pain in your head. It brings you to your knees as you grasp your head, trying to make it go away.
“What... What was I doing out here?” You can't honestly remember why you were out here in the first place, or what you were going to do. You sat there just gripping your head, trying to make the pain go away.
Through your muffled hearing, you sense a car pulling up and opening its door. After a few seconds you feel a touch on your shoulder, and your headache begins to fade as you look up.
Pinkamena stood there with a hand on your shoulder and an umbrella in the other.
“You need to stop running off like that, sir...” You look up to her and feel your headache disappear. She saved you yet again. The whispering ceases and you feel ten times better in her presence.
“Come with me... I’m sure you are quite famished.” She reaches out a hand and you nod and grab it. Letting her help you up. You get into the passenger seat of her car, and she drives both of you back to the house.
You follow her back in, letting her guide you up to the dining room. She sits you down at your usual place and brings you a glass of water and a sandwich.
“I can't imagine why you would go out in this kind of weather, without a jacket as well.” She says as she sets the glass down in front of you. You take it and stare into it. You have no idea why you did either. Things started slipping from you. Why were you even here? How long had you been in this house? You composed yourself and looked to Pinkamena for assurance. She was simply doing dishes in the kitchen. Casting a glance over at you occasionally with a small smile.
You finish the sandwich and resigned to rest in your room. You couldn’t think of anything else to do, and you felt like you needed the rest. But as soon as you got settled, the whispering started again. This time you could hear it a bit more clearly.
“The sixth day is drawing to a close...”
“The week is almost up...”
“You and the girl in the woods are about to have something in common...”
“She’s waiting for you to...”
“Your time is drawing near...
“Always watching...”
“...Go to sleep.”
Hundreds of voices whispered into your ear. You sat there and listened for hours. Just watching the rain fall...
After what seemed like days of listening to the ominous voices, the night falls yet again. This time, you fall asleep quickly, without any incident.
You wake up to see that it’s morning. You slept through the entire night without anything happening. You look outside and it’s as if the rain is finally letting up. You only see the occasional drip roll down the window.
Something else was in the room with you again, but unlike last night, it was silent.You could feel it staring at you, waiting. The darkness beckoned you to join it. Your door was open. Nothing waited on the other side but the dark abyss you had become so familiar with. You had no other choice, this was the only path you could take.
You got out of bed and shuffled over to the doorway. The entire hallway was pitch black. This entire week had made you afraid of the dark, of the unknown that laid before you. Every fiber of your being told you not to go into the hallway, so you listened. You turned back into the room where the light would hold you.
The darkness had other plans. Slowly, the room began to vanish, on the forefront floated the deathly woman, turning a music box. It crackled to life as she came closer to you. You took a step back, but it put you in the hallway. Not knowing what to do, you looked back to her as she played the sweet tune that your mother once shared with you. She raised her head, her eyes hollowed out and her face sunken.
“Your time has come...” You took another step into the hallway, but she drew closer to you.
“Walk,” She whispered to you.
You turned around and and started to run, but your legs didn’t follow suit. You simply shuffled slowly forward, into the dark hallway not being able to see a foot in front of you. The sound of the music box and the woman holding it floated steadily behind you.
The music drew to a close and you looked back for the figure that was pushing you along, but found nothing. Only the dark abyss greeted you again on both sides. You knew not where to go, since no path seemed open to you.
A small flame came to life behind you. You turned to see two visions of that woman floating on either side of the hallway, illuminating your path. dozens more came to life down the hallway, seeming to guide you.
Being the only option available, you pressed on, averting your eyes from the glaring, empty faces as they turned to watch you. You tried to keep your eyes on the floor, but you could feel every cold hollow eye weighing down on you. After every passed set of candles, the flame would whip in the wind and go out, leaving you to only go forward.
“What is it that you fear?” The figures all whispered to you.
“D-Death,” You answered.
The hallway turned a dark shade of red, and all the figures turned to disemboweled upper bodies of a girl. The head and arms thrashed against invisible bonds, but always kept eyes on you. They let out an ear piercing scream that brought you to your knees. You almost lost your composure. You put your hands over your eyes to try to block it out, but the screams pierced your very soul. You tried to close your eyes, but you felt the thrashing eyes staring at you.
Then every single one of them stopped. You opened your eyes to see them completely still, bloody eyes pointed at you. You got up and began walking forward in the odd red tint that illuminated your path.
You stuck as close to the middle as possible, fearing that an inch either direction would bring you that much closer to the rotting bodies.
“What is it that you fear?” The whispered to you through a mouthful of blood.
“The... Dark.”
And then everything in the world disappeared and left you to the abyss again.
The air ran cold.
Everything was silent.
But you felt one set of eyes still on you.
All that was visible was two glints on what seemed to be black orbs. You stared at them, since there was nothing else visible.
Right below them, a mouth contorted into a twisted smile, that once it ceased increasing, began moving closer to you, promising your worst nightmare.
You turned and ran, only wanting to get out of the nightmare. But every step you took into the abyss ahead of you seemed to draw you closer to what lied behind you. A gentle cold air rushed past you, but the warm rhythmic breath caressed the back of your neck, becoming stronger by the second.
Your legs grew tired. You were done. You fell to the ground, prepared to let the nightmare behind you end your suffering. You waited for the blow, but only silence met you. Tears of frustration streaked your face, you sat there barely being able to breath on the carpet. You just wanted it all to end. For the hell to be over.
You grimaced and looked behind you, ready to tell whatever it was to end it already, but what met you instead shocked you more than any beast ever could.
It was the hallway, in the light of day. Light gently poured in from the windows and made the hallway you were prepared to die in look plain and ordinary. Nothing was wrong. Not at all.
You look forward to see Pinkamena standing over you. Her face neutral as she looked down at you.
You jumped forward and wrapped your arms around her again, she made you feel so much safer. She doesn’t move this time though.
“Oh, Pinkamena. Thank god you’re here...” You say into her skirt, tears still staining your cheek. “I think I’m...”
“I think I’m going insane.” You look up to her for reassurance, but a devious smile plays across her cheeks.
“That was the plan...” You feel a needle lodge itself into your neck. She starts laughing softly as you fall back onto the floor and lose consciousness.
You wake up with your face against cold concrete, you were laying on your side, and you still had your clothes on. You tried to push yourself up, but your hands stayed behind your back. Something was wrong with them. You jerked them, but pain shot across your hands.
They weren't tied.
Your fingers were sewn together.
You get up on your knees and begin to feel every thick string tug at your skin with every movement. You began to panic, your breathing became ragged and broken as you couldn't see anything in front of you. You pushed your face back down into the concrete to try to stand up, but bending your back like that caused you to stretch your hands apart, which caused debilitating pain to shoot through your entirety.
“Awake at last...” You shoot back up and look before you. Pinkamena stood before you with a wicked smile and a candle in her hand.
“Pinkamena... Why?” You tried to say, holding back a sob.
“They always ask that. They don’t understand. Your parents asked that same thing...” She said, eyeing you with that wicked grin and giving you a couple of laughs as well.
“My... What did you do to them!” You yell in anger, but tensing your arms caused you to double over in pain again.
She giggled. “I wouldn’t worry too much about that. They never actually left the house.”
You looked at her incredulously. “In fact, they joined you in the dining room at almost every meal.” Her smile turned wicked. You recognized it now. It was the one from the first night that has haunted you ever since. She was the one standing over you that night.
“Dining room...” You thought for a moment, clearly confused.
Then it all made sense. The freezer full of out of season meat. The meat heavy meals. The blood and bodies in the cellar.
Your eyes went wide at the realization. She fed you your own parents.
You turned over and vomited immediately, you couldn't bear even the thought.
You panted as you leaned over the pile of vomit in front of you. You were already fatigued from the pain and convulsions, but you couldn’t imagine she was through yet.
“Yes... Let it all go...” She smiled down at you.
“Why? Why would you do that?!” You yelled at her, not even wanting to look up.
“There you go again. Why, why, why...” she walked over to a table and picked up something metallic, and began grinding it against something else.
“You won’t understand. But I don’t need you to.” She walks up closer to you, Grin growing wider with each step.
“Please don’t do this...” Tears run down your face in fear, yet her cold eyes did not falter.
“You’re right, it can't be done like this...” You look up to her, a sliver of hope still in you.
“I prefer to work...”
The candle cuts out, leaving nothing but darkness.
“...in the dark.”
Your eyes dart around for anything that could help you, but you couldn't see anything. There wasn’t even any sound besides your ragged breathing. You try to get up again.
You get one foot on the ground when the glint of a blade slides through your arm, leaving a deep gash. You yell in pain, then go back down to one knee.
You attempt to rise again, but this time a knife cuts across your chest, leaving a long gash across your ribs. You scream and fall back into a wall, but not to the ground.
You start to run forward in a last ditch effort to get away.
A clean swipe creates a deep gash across your back. You fall forward into a brick wall, disorientating you. You fall back into the concrete, and as you hit the ground, a knife embeds itself into your shoulder. You yell in pain and see a glimpse of a demonic smile above you before it disappears into the dark.
Adrenaline rushing through your veins, you get back up, determined not to die like this. With new found vigor, you try to free yourself.
By pulling as hard as you can on the strings attaching your fingers.
A couple of strands and bits of flesh tear out before you stop and feel the pain rush back to you.
The sound of a knife cutting through air fills the air to your right as another slice gets taken out of your shoulder.
You stumble sideways, then pull on the strings harder again.
You hear bits of flesh begin to rip before you feel it, gasping in exhaustion from all the pain coursing through your being.
“Having trouble?” A voice whispers behind you.
You ignore it and pull harder, feeling the flesh begin to give.
“Let me help...”
Right as you begin to feel you were coming free, a knife slashes through your lower back and your hands.
Your hands jerk free, but you look down at them in horror.
All your fingers had been cut in half.
You don’t even have time to scream as another swipe cuts across your chest.
You get up and try to run, but every step is met by a swipe, and a new gash.
Every place you turned, stinging pain and the cold air brushed your cuts as she added new ones. You were matted with blood, and you knew you weren't going to last much longer. Nothing shielded you from the endless barrage of cuts at every corner.
You held up your hand to try and block it, but a knife embedded itself clean through it, sticking right through your bloody appendage.
You feel to your knees, the pain being too much. You were dizzy from blood loss.
“Please... Just let me go...” You said through a broken voice.
A metal door swung open in front of you with a loud clang, revealing the dark forest outside. It was barely brighter than the inside of the room, but you clung to the image anyway.
You got up and began limping towards the door, waiting for another strike. But it never came. You stepped out onto the grass. Then ran as fast as you could without looking back.
When you thought you were a safe distance away, you looked down at your hands. A knife stuck through one, and your fingers were bloody stubs with the other half barely sewn on to them. Blood coated your entirety, and you dry heaved at the sight of yourself.
You grabbed the knife in your hand yanked as hard as you could with what little purchase your shorter hands could offer, flinging the object out of you and covering you in a new spurt of blood.
You close your eyes to try to catch your breath and get out of here, if you even made it before you passed out.
You open your eyes to see Pinkamena standing in front of you with a meat cleaver at her side. Head tilted and a wicked smile pointed at you.
You turn tail and run as fast as you can again, trying to get away from the face that’s haunted you all week.
You run hard, closing your eyes from the exertion. When you open them you see Pinkamena, right in your path, simply standing there smiling at you.
You turn and run again, only to be met with her standing in your path. Waiting.
She’s always a step ahead of you.
You turn and sprint again.
The sides of your vision blur.
Your heart races and the woods fly past you.
You turn a corner around a tree.
And a knife meets you... Plunging in right below your sternum.
“Surprise.” Pinkamena whispers to you.
She spins you back into the tree and shoves you into it. But you don't fall forward from it.
You look down to see that a metal spike with a barb on the end of it is protruding from your chest. You look back up to Pinkamena.
She’s wearing hot pink lipstick.
She turns your face and plants a quick kiss on your right cheek.
Then she brings the cleaver up and buries it deep within your hip. You hardly feel it, you were fading.
She brings it down on you again. With a heavy whack.
Whack.
Whack.
Whack.
Your lower body leaves you and you feel yourself spilling out into the grass.
Your vision darkens.
The last thing you see is that demonic smile.
Right in front of you.
Then darkness.