The Madness Within ✓

XXII.

„What?!" Chris responded and put his cup of coffee down on the table as I explained everything that happened last night. I nodded and sighed, then looked around the mess in the library that had stayed around since yesterday.
The blood and the body of the man that attacked me last night was gone by the morning. I don't know how it disappeared, but I was convinced that all of the things I saw last night really happened.

„Look, I.. I understand that you might not believe me. Everything is gone, after all, so.." I mumbled and looked Chris in the eyes, waiting to see his reaction to everything I just said.

„No, no.. I trust you," he replied and gave me a reassuring smile for a little moment before it dissipated and his face turned back into the serious expression as before. „Are you sure it was your grandma, though? You yourself said that it didn't look human. It could be trying to trick you into doing something that could put you in danger. Or maybe it-"

„Stop it! I know my grandma well enough to tell that it's her," I interrupted him, my tone of voice changed from fear to anger in less than a second. After seeing shock slowly creep up on his face, my facial expression immediately softened as I looked down at my feet and sighed, placing my hand on a table near us.
Chris was right and I knew it. But after last night, it was hard for me to convince myself otherwise. I strongly believed that it was my grandma and I didn't want anything to convince me otherwise. I missed her so much and if it really was her last night, I was given a chance to talk to her one last time. And I wanted to truly believe that. I didn't want anyone else to ruin that for me. But he was right. While I did strongly believe that it was really my grandma, I still had my doubts. But I mostly chose to ignore them, and I wanted to keep it that way.

„I.. actually heard something similar in the village," Chris spoke up after a moment of silence. I looked up at him and took a step closer, curious to hear more about what he's about to say.

„I heard that some kind of ceremony is happening at night. At midnight, just like you said. They didn't say much, just that it's happening in the forest and that they'll be watching it happen from the village."

My eyes widened as I listened to Chris and thought about what might happen tonight. If the villagers are staying at the village, it has to be related to the creatures that are in the forest. But what exactly could that be? Can I really stay here?

„Are you.. sure you'll be okay with staying alone here tonight?" Chris asked, uncertainty reflected in his eyes as he stared at me, waiting for an answer. I smiled and placed my hand on his shoulder, then nodded.
„I'll listen to what grandma said, so I'll be fine, don't worry."

„Okay. Good," Chris responded and smiled back at me. But something about his expression at that moment was..

It looked like he felt relieved.

I guess I can understand that. Staying here sounds terrifying, so I'm sure he's just glad that he doesn't have to stay here with me. He could be afraid of the ceremony as well. Still, something felt so off about the way he looked at that moment.
I shook off all my unnecessary thoughts and smiled more, then sat down by the table that I previously rested my hand on. On the table stood the cassette player that the creature used to communicate with me. I showed it to Chris and we tried to turn it on somehow, but nothing we tried did anything.

I stared at the cassette player for a moment before looking back at Chris.
„I was told that I should look in the attic and the basement."

„The attic?" Chris asked, to which I responded with a nod.

„I don't know where the attic is, but it has to be somewhere upstairs. We can try looking for it if you want."

Chris nodded and smiled, and so we both got to work and begun searching. We searched through all the rooms that we had access to, even checking twice just in case we've missed it. We looked through the unoccupied empty rooms, through the bathroom, through two bedrooms. But neither of us found anything.
We eventually decided to split up and looked through all the rooms again, this time more carefully. We decided to meet in the library once we're done and share what we found.
On my end, I found nothing. Is there a room that we're missing? Or is it just really well hidden?
I eventually returned to the library, hoping that at least Chris was more lucky. Once I arrived there, Chris was already standing there with a smug smile on his face.