by Amy Cross
"It's okay," a voice whispers in my ear. "Come inside."
I take a deep breath, realizing that the creature is in my head. Strangely, instead of being scared and telling the others, I'm filled with a powerful sense of calm. Somehow, the creature seems to be twisting my thoughts so that I'm happy to let it direct my actions. The voice is weak and raspy, and I'm certain that I'm the only one who can hear it. I guess it must have got into my head when I was in the room yesterday. My first instinct is to tell the others, but something's holding me back: I keep telling myself that I'm going to be okay, and that Elizabeth would only makes things more complicated. I can deal with this without her interference. All my fear and pain is being pushed down, replaced by a sense of calm.
"You're stronger than I expected," the voice continues. "The three of you, together, are much better at manipulating the power. Just go along with whatever I do. I promise, I won't hurt you."
For a moment, I feel a strong sense of panic fill my chest, before it's quelled by the calm that radiates down from my head. As the pain in my head continues, I feel a powerful wave of nausea in the pit of my stomach, and I have to lean against the door for a moment.
"Holly?" Natalie asks.
"Go inside," I say, feeling short of breath. "It's okay. Just go inside."
"Are you ill?" she continues.
"Just go inside!" I say, raising my voice a little.
At that moment, there's a sudden flood of light from the far side of the room, as Elizabeth raises a blackout blind that was covering the small window. Finally, the room is revealed in its bare glory. Looking up, I see a kind of winch system set into the ceiling, with a set of manacles dangling down.
"There's nothing here," Natalie says, stepping forward. "Nothing alive, anyway."
"You can't feel it anymore?" Elizabeth asks, before noticing something on the floor. "What about that?"
Looking down, I see what appears to be a pile of shriveled skin over in the far corner.
"It doesn't have a body anymore," Natalie says. "It's everywhere."
"Is it in here right now?" Elizabeth asks, using the tip of her shoe to push the skin aside.
"I can feel it," Natalie replies, "but I can't see it. How do we kill something that doesn't have a body?"
"We don't," I say, suddenly filled with a sense of panic. "We have to get out of here." I turn back to the door, but Elizabeth grabs my arm and holds me in place.
"We need to stay together," she says firmly. "It's no good with just two of us. We all need to be here!"
"Not me!" I say, struggling to get free. "You've got no right to make me stay! I want to get out of here right now!"
"I think you're forgetting something," she hisses. "Natalie and I could walk out of here at any moment! You're the one with the bad leg! You're the one who's forcing us to stay behind! You can barely even make it up and down the stairs!"
"I'm not forcing you to do anything!" I shout, unable to break her grip. "Go! Leave me here! I don't care! I'm not scared of this place! Just get the fuck out if you think it's so bad!" Finally, I manage to get loose, but before I can reach the door I'm struck down by a massive pain straight through the center of my head, which forces me to drop to my knees. Staring straight ahead, I realize I can't see properly, and my thoughts are fragmenting as a kind of hot white light grows in the core of my brain.
"What's wrong with her?" Natalie asks.
"This is good," the voice whispers in my ear. "You're doing brilliantly, Holly."
"Get out!" I scream, feeling as if my head is about to split open as the pressure builds and builds. "Run! Don't come back!"
"We have to get you out of here," Elizabeth says, as she and Holly haul me up from the floor and drag me out of the room. They set me down on the floorboards near the top of the stairs, and I feel the pain starting to recede.
"Leave me here," I whisper, barely able to summon the energy to speak.
"What happened to you, Holly?" Elizabeth asks. "When you were away for so long last night, what really happened?"
"I was in the room," I say quietly. "I was in the room with it."
"With what?"
"She met it!" Natalie says excitedly. "What did it look like? Did you see its face?"
"Where is it now?" Elizabeth asks. "Holly, you must know where it is!"
"It's in me," I whisper, as tears stream from my eyes. "I can hear it in my head. I can feel it moving through my body." As the words leave my lips, my stomach is gripped by a terrible pain, and I have no choice but to let out an agonized scream. It's as if I can feel something scuttling through my body, and through my brain, making its home in my mind and drumming its fingers on the inside of my skull. "Make it stop!" I shout. "I don't care how you do it, just make it stop!"
"We can't kill it while it's in you!" Elizabeth says. "You have to help us draw it out!"
"I can't!" I shout.
"Don't worry," the voice whispers, forcing itself into my thoughts. "I've got this all under control. You're going to be okay, Holly. Just play along with me."
"Fuck you!" I scream.
"Here comes the light show," the voice adds, before suddenly I feel the most intense heat flashing through my body. I look at Elizabeth and Holly, but they're bathed in a white and orange flame that seems to be emerging directly from my chest. As I stare at the patterns in the flame, however, I start to make out the vaguest hint of a face, looking back at me and smiling.
"Get it away from me!" I scream, as my body starts to convulse with pain.
"Focus!" Elizabeth shouts, as she and Natalie back away to the top of the stairs. "Holly, you have to focus with us! This is our only chance!"
"I can't!" I scream.
"You have to!"
"I can't!" I whimper, as the bright light gets bigger and bigger. I can feel the energy being ripped from my body and drawn into this thing, and I can see its smiling face staring down at me.
"Take your time coming back," the voice whispers. "I'm patient. I can wait forever if necessary." With that, the figure flares until it has engulfed the entire room, maybe even the entire house, and finally I feel the pain start to recede. Short of breath and still feeling weak, I stare up at the ceiling and try to work out what just happened. Seconds later, Elizabeth and Natalie lean over me, and I can see the fear in their eyes.
"Holly?" Elizabeth asks. "Can you hear me?"
I nod.
"Can you talk? Say something."
"It's gone," I say weakly.
"I can't feel it anymore," Natalie says with a frown. "It's like it just disappeared into thin air."
"We were focused on destroying it," Elizabeth says. "Holly, were you focused too?"
I nod, even though I'm not sure if that's true. I was barely able to think while that thing was inside me, but at least my mind feels calm now.
"We got rid of it," Elizabeth continues. "We stopped it. I don't know what it wanted, but we banished it. The power of three was enough."
"You don't know that for sure," Natalie replies.
"How else do you explain what just happened?" Elizabeth asks. "Holly, do you still feel it inside you?"
I stare at the ceiling.
"Holly?"
"No," I say, feeling strangely still and calm. "I don't feel anything."
"Then it's gone," Elizabeth continues. "It wasn't strong enough to stand up to us."
"I want to go home," I say, still feeling nauseous.
"Me too," Elizabeth says, "but first we need to find a way to get you moving. Your leg looks bad, Holly. We need to get you to a doctor as soon as possible, but you can't walk."
"I'm fine," I say, struggling to get to my feet. Eventually I have to give up, and I can tell that my body is almost completely drained of energy. "I'm fine," I say again. "I'm totally fine."
"We're going to get out of here," Elizabeth says as I close my eyes. "I promise, Holly, you're going to be okay. Just hang in there. You're going to be fine."
I try to answer, but I can no
longer move. All I can do is wait as my mind goes dark; the last thing I feel is a set of arms reaching under my body and lifting me from the floor, and the last thing I hear is the faint sound of someone laughing deep, deep within my mind.
Ben Lawler
Today
"Something's different," Natalie says, as we wait for Holly to come back down. It's been at least an hour since her last appearance, and from the sound of things her anger upstairs has only become stronger and stronger. It's as if she's smashing things in all the rooms, overturning chairs and tables while ripping holes in the walls. She doesn't sound like someone who's in control; she sounds like someone being torn apart.
"Maybe she's fighting it," I say quietly. "Maybe Holly isn't ready to give herself over to the creature just yet."
"The house has had more than a decade to secure itself in her mind," Elizabeth replies. "It's quite clear that it was already inside her head when we left all those years ago. It must have been waiting for the right moment to come out again. Perhaps it needed time to recover and get stronger. I wouldn't be surprised if everything that's been happening lately has been part of a plan to get us back here."
"Why would it do that?" I ask.
"Revenge," she suggests. "Natalie, Holly and I were probably the only women who ever managed to escape. There were others down here, before us, and they all died. I only met one of them. Her name was Catherine. The creature used to keep two girls down here at all times, but eventually it became greedy and added a third. It won't make the same mistake again." She pauses for a moment, as we hear Holly's footsteps in the room directly above the basement. "When it realized we were going to escape," she continues eventually, "it hid in Holly's mind and decided to play a long game, slowly teasing us back here. It all makes sense now. No wonder it seemed to die so easily all those years ago. It was tricking us."
"It worked," Natalie says. "We walked right back through that door."
"You don't understand this place," Elizabeth continues. "That creature is filled with hate and anger. It's going to want to punish us for daring to leave. In a way, Ben, you're lucky. It'll kill you quickly, but Natalie and I are going to be made to suffer. Holly's the unluckiest, though. It'll keep her alive, controlling her, for as long as it can. It'll get more girls in here after we're gone, and Holly's going to be the one who keeps them under control. I can't imagine how much pain she must be going through. I'm quite certain she's still alive in there, but the creature has control of her body. The house always wins."
"When you talk about the house," I say after a moment, "you make it sound as if it's alive."
"It is alive," she says. "Or at least, there's something alive here that extends its mind throughout the building. I don't know why, or how, but somehow this house has become a focal point for a kind of power. Over the years, I've had time to do some research into this place. I believe that long ago, some kind of creature or spirit came to live here, attracted by the power that already existed. That creature is the one that has turned the place into what it is today. The creature uses the power to control others, and to feed itself, but the same power can also be used for good. That's what Natalie and I were able to do, and then when Holly arrived, suddenly there were three of us and we inadvertently formed a coven."
"But what does it want?" I ask.
"It's hungry," Natalie says darkly, from over in the far corner.
"It wants to live," Elizabeth continues. "That's all. It's quite happy being here, hiding away. All it wants is to have a few lost souls down in the basement, so it can feed off our bodies. Apart from that, it wants to be left alone by the outside world."
"You never told me about the others," Natalie mumbles. "You always said you were alone before I arrived."
"Would you have preferred to know the truth?" Elizabeth replies. "That there were others down here and they all died?"
"How long has this house been here?" I ask. "How long have people been dying?"
"A long time, I imagine," Elizabeth says. "Catherine told me that there were at least four women before her. She told me not to fight it. She told me that the ones who fought, always died early. That's why I chose to accept my fate down here. I was just too scared of pain and death. Catherine taught me about the power, or at least about part of it. Then she died, like all the rest, and I was left alone until Natalie arrived." She pauses for a moment. "After that, all I cared about was keeping Natalie safe. Maybe I mothered her a little too much, but my intentions were honest."
"How did the others die?" I ask.
"No-one can survive this kind of punishment forever," she says. "Their bodies just gave out. I was lucky. For some reason, after a while, he seemed to lose interest in me. I was rarely called up to the ice bath. The others, though, were pushed beyond their breaking points. Even Holly, after just a few days, suffered a heart attack. She must have already been weak when she arrived here. The human body can't withstand a place like this. That's why the creature has to send for new girls occasionally. It uses the thin-faced man, another extension of whatever evil lurks in this place; it sends him out to find fresh meat. Once Natalie and I are dead, there'll be more girls. And more after that. And after that, more again. I understand it now. The creature will never be defeated, and the house is going to stand here forever."
"Or we could use this," Natalie says, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small cigarette lighter.
"Where did you get that?" Elizabeth asks.
"I told you I'd picked up some bad habits over the years," Natalie replies. "There are sheets down here. Not many, but maybe enough. If we can get a proper fire going, we can burn this place down. There's enough lighter fluid to get a good blaze started. I know we won't be able to salt the earth, but at least the house will be gone. The evil won't have a home, so it won't be able to bring people here. It'll be left to wander aimlessly."
Elizabeth looks over at me. "This would be suicide," she says after a moment, with a steady voice that makes me feel as if she's already made her decision. "We'd never be able to get out, but the fire might do enough damage."
"There's got to be another way," I reply.
"It's this, or spend years, maybe even decades, trapped down here at the mercy of that creature, with Holly as our torturer," she says. "Natalie and I know what it's like to be held prisoner in this place. If you don't agree with the plan, we won't do it, but you have to understand that this is the best option."
I look up at the metal door. I can't help thinking that we still have a chance to jump Holly next time she comes down. After all, she's just one woman, albeit armed with a cattle-prod.
"I think we should wait," I say eventually. "We can always set fire to the place later, but right now I think we should plan to get her when she opens the door. It's worth a try."
Elizabeth nods sadly. "I expected you to say something like that. We'll try. It won't work, but we'll try."
"No," Natalie says, from the other side of the room. "We won't."
Looking over, I see that she's gathered together the bedsheets and set them on fire. Already, the flames are reaching up to the ceiling, and thick smoke is spreading quickly across the basement. Sitting next to the fire, Natalie has the strangest, saddest smile on her face. It's the smile of someone who knows that, finally, she's going to be free from all her pain and fear.
"Put it out!" I shout, hurrying over but quickly realizing that the flames are already too well established. I head to the sink, but there's no way to get water over to the fire. "Do something!" I shout at Elizabeth.
"There's nothing to do," she says calmly. "At least this way, we'll destroy the house."
"I'm not going to die here," I shout, making my way to the other side of the room and climbing up to take another look at the window. There has to be a way out of here, but as soon as I grab the bars, I can tell that they're too solid to simply pull away. After a moment, however, I realize that there's something outside, something staring in at me. I stare back at a face that, for a f
ew seconds, I can't quite make out. Finally, I realize who I'm looking at.
It's Samantha Briggs.
Part Eight:
The Face of Evil
Ben Lawler
Today
"What are you doing here?" I shout.
Staring back at me, Samantha seems lost in thought, almost as if she's in some kind of trance. Her face is pale and there's none of the usual vitality in her eyes, but right now she's the only person who can help us get out of here. In the rush to get out here to the house, I'd almost lost track of Samantha; after Detective Regan and his men turned up at my apartment, Samantha was taken away and I just assumed she was okay. Now, however, she's right in front of me, and suddenly she's the greatest, most brilliant thing I've ever seen. She's our way out of this place, provided I can get her to respond to my questions.
"Samantha!" I shout again, reaching my hand between the bars and tapping the side of her face. "How did you find us?" I wait for a response. "Samantha? Can you hear me?"
"She must have followed us," Elizabeth says, hurrying over to join me. "She must have been drawn to this place. After everything that happened to her, she can't shake the link."
"There's got to be some way for her to get us out of here," I reply, turning to see that the flames on the other side of the basement are now spreading to the area near the steps. At this rate, we're going to be burned alive within a few minutes unless we can come up with some kind of escape plan. "Samantha, can you go through the front door and then come into the kitchen and -"
"If she goes inside, Holly will get her," Elizabeth says, interrupting me. "Besides, I doubt the door's going to be easy to open, and the creature already knows she's here. It'll be cautious, but it won't want to let her interfere."
"Samantha," I continue, "you have to listen to me. We're trapped down here. If you see Holly Carter, you can't trust her. You have to..." I pause for a moment, realizing that Samantha doesn't seem to be paying any attention to me at all. It's as if she's completely out of her mind, just staring blankly into the house. "Samantha?"
