Survive the Night

21

They sat in numbing silence, petrified by the reality they'd heard. And as much as they wanted to negate it, it made perfect sense. That insanity had wiggled its way into each of them, making reality subject to whatever force influenced their minds. In this case, Abner Ashmore.

Could it be? Victoria thought questionably. Of course, it could. There was no other explanation. The eternal twilight, the ever-stretching distance between the fence and them, perhaps even the sightings they'd witnessed in the house. If they were really only there for a few hours, was starvation really an illusion as well? All these thoughts bubbled in eruptive spurts inside Victoria's mind, showing no form or sensible order. She nipped away ferociously at her fingernails, avoiding the dry blood crusting at the edges.

Sasha took in an audible breath-the most prominently audible thing in the room at the moment-and released it. "I don't think I understand totally."

Kevin looked at her dubiously.

"I mean," she went on, "how can you say we were there for only a few hours when we all felt days go by? Doesn't our word beat yours? We had watches, for Christ's sake. And they were all stuck. Like time was frozen."

Habernal pursed his lips. "Not frozen-but, in your mind, very, very slow, yes."

"When did we...lose it?" Kevin asked quietly.

Edwin observed the sad group in the dim setting of the room, then shook his head. "Hard to tell. What's the first strange thing you remember happening?"

They thought about it for a moment, unable to put any of the events in chronological order. It all felt so long ago. Then Kevin remembered.

"I heard a gunshot over the phone," he said.

"A gunshot?" Habernal said.

"Yeah. And it-"

"No," Ashley blurted out. "That wasn't first. Our friend Icarus disappeared before that."

"He left the house," Geo said. "That doesn't count as something strange. Mr. Habernal's talking about weird shi- Sorry... Weird stuff."

Habernal's face was caught in a stiff position, nearly frozen in time. "You saw this friend leave?"

"No," Victoria said.

"Neither did I," Habernal said in confirmation. "Maybe I missed it. I was busy at times, or asleep. Impossible that I could catch every second of the hour. But if he left, and this happened at the beginning, then I'm surprised I didn't see it. I was watching for at least a full hour since you first arrived."

"Wait..." Kevin's vision became glazed and narrow. "You saw us outside the house, and you let us go in?"

Habernal was quick to counter. "I didn't know what would happen. I didn't know about the hallucinations or any of that. I didn't even know about the corpses rising from the grave. I had to let you in to see what would happen."

"See what would happen?" Ashley said with a sour taste in her mouth. "Our friends died. That's what happened."

Edwin rose up his hands in defense, contemplating a way to explain. "Okay, okay. There's more I haven't told you. Will you let me finish?"

They grew quiet, but the tension was thick in the room. "Alright," Habernal said steadily. "Now, I left out something very important. Those books I read on paranormal activity, that Ouija board over there-I began running tests-or séances, really-to find out what I could about the house. About Abner. At first nothing happened. But after a while, I started making progress. I was shocked even to see the planchette move on its own."