Out of the Darkness

127

"Oh yeah, sorry," Sam said, sidestepping so that I could walk into the room. "Should we close the door?" he asked. "No," I said quickly. "Let's just...leave it open." I left my other thought unspoken but I was sure that they knew what I meant. Leave it open in case we needed a quick escape. I glanced around the room, taking in my surroundings. There was a thin mattress, on a metal frame, and an old blanket that looked dingy and faded. The pillow at the head of the bed had feathers sticking out of it in a couple of different places. The window on the other side of room had a latch on it. I knew that if I undid that latch the window would swing open, instead of going up and down. We were in the past. The hard wood floors didn't have tile or carpet. It wasn't shined and varnished, like the hard wood floors that people had today. It matched the wood on the walls, splintering off in areas. There were no lights in the room, only gas lanterns. I saw a pack of matches beside it, so I struck one and lit it. As the flame flickered to life, l let my eyes sweep the rest of the room. Sam and Ash walked away from me, exploring. "Wait," I said quietly, as my eyes landed on something that looked very familiar. It was more up to date than the rest of the house. A vanity table, with the round mirror and even the little stool in front of it. There were tubes of lipstick, a few different perfume bottles, and other various odds and ends. I walked over to it, slowly, feeling that chill creep up my spine again. I was positive that someone...or something, was watching us. Only we couldn't see it. That left us at a disadvantage. I reached the table, and picked up one of the perfume bottles. "Getting pretty for me, Colleen?" I heard Sam ask. His voice sounded far away, instead of just a couple of feet away. I tossed my hand up, without looking at him, telling him to shut it. The bottle was pink, with sharp angular corners. It kind of looked like a misshaped diamond or something. I reached out and put the little bulb in my hand, preparing to squeeze it. I needed to know what it smelt like. If was necessary. I wasn't sure why, but I knew that I needed too. "Colby?" I heard Sam's voice, but far off, in the distance. It wasn't important. He wasn't important. The only thing important was in these bottles. "Put it down!" I really wished that he would just shut up! Couldn't he see that this was important? My fingers tightened on the bulb, and I lifted my face, so that I would be able to catch the scent in the air. Something hard came down on my wrist, knocking the pretty bottle to the floor. "NOOOO!" I screamed, watching it, waiting for it to shatter. Instead, it bounced once, then rolled towards the bed. I rounded on Sam. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" I screamed at him. I was enraged! Why couldn't he just let me smell the damn bottle? It was important. I needed to do it. "Because there was something wrong with it!" he yelled back. "It's just a bottle of perfume, Sam. What could possibly be wrong with it?!" He was so fucking annoying sometimes, I swear. "If it's just a bottle of perfume, then why is it so important?" I opened my mouth to retaliate, to explain exactly why it was so important...but I couldn't. I didn't have an answer. My mouth snapped shut, as my eyes found the bottle on the floor again. Before I could reach down and get it, Sam kicked it under the bed. I closed my eyes briefly, then opened them, finding his gaze. "Thanks," I sighed. He rolled his eyes. "I got you. The bigger issue here is why was that such a big deal? It's just perfume...wait a minute..." I watched as he stepped up beside me, and started running his hands over vanity table, his fingers trailing over the little bottles of creams, the powders, the scents, and the lipsticks. "What are you-?" He held his hand up and cut me off. "This is familiar. Don't you recognize this, Colby? It's the house! It's all the same, but it's not. It's lived in now. It's in the past, but also in the present!" My brain was whirring with his words. I glanced at Ash, who just shrugged, then went back to examining Sam's reaction. "Sam, what are you talking about? What house? Why would I recognize a- OH." I swallowed hard, as the memory of that night came back to me. The decrepit old house, with it's overgrown yards, and boarded up doors. The pictures on the walls were different, but were just as creepy. The vanity table that didn't fit in with the rest of the house... "It's the same one," I said, going to run my fingers up over the curve of the mirror. The same exact one. I noticed the jar of cream that I had opened that night, sitting directly in front of me. I didn't recall much of it, but I knew what happened from seeing the video. My hand twitched towards the jar, before it reached the mirror. "No," Sam said, slapping my hand down, like I was a child. "I don't know why this thing has an effect on you, but don't touch it. Just in case." He was right. We had to be extra careful. "Yeah. That thing made me crazy earlier. Don't need a repeat," I agreed, then ran my hand through my hair. I was stressed. "Can we just leave?" I asked Ash, turning to him. "We haven't found her, or any clues at all, but I just don't know if it's worth it right now. We need to prepare, then try again another day. I feel like this is getting too risky." "Are you sure?" Sam asked, bringing his hand down on my shoulder in support. I nodded. "Okay then. Ash, you heard the man. Take us home."