Town Darkness

Chapter Thirteen

       Matt and Nate checked on the now unconscious Jack, as Mark helped Felix, then Ethan to their feet. "What happened? We couldn't see from where we were, the fire was too dense. How did you knock him out?" Ethan glanced in Felix's direction, and Felix glanced back, a slight expression of fear flashed in his light blue eyes. Ethan opened his mouth, then closed it a few times, debating internally if he should say something since Felix was deciding to stay quiet.

      "Guys, he's waking up!" Matt interjected, drawing everyone's attention. Jack bolted upright, gasping and coughing, causing the others to flinch away slightly. He looked around confusedly, as Mark cautiously approached him. "Hey man, are you... okay?" "What the fuck happened, last thing I remember was a ton of pain then heat, then everything went black." Everyone looked at each other, silently debating who would be the best one to explain it. Then they all looked at Ethan, expecting him to have the answer.

       "Why? Do I seriously have to explain what happened? His dark half tried to kill me. Why exactly? I don't know!" He began to rant. "I just can't remember everything okay! I know this place was different before when I was just a boy. I'm called 'Lost' just because I'm different. I don't know why my memories are hazy about this place or why it's corrupted by darkness or why there's monsters at every turn trying to kill us or why Jack and Felix had their dark halves! I just DON'T KNOW!" The last two words echoed through the main lobby, followed by tense silence, then the silence was broken by Nate.

        “It’s ok not to know everything… we’re just afraid.  Afraid of the unknown, and of what’s happening to us.  I want to get out of here before we all become completely corrupted.  We need to get out of here.”  More silence dragged on afterwards, everyone unsure of where to go and what to do, until the sound of light footsteps echoed from the stairwell leading to the upper hotel rooms.  “Up here.”  a child’s voice whispered, audible enough for them all to hear. 

       A little boy beckoned to them from the top step.  “We’re seriously not gonna follow a little creepy ghost child, are we?  I mean that’s literally one of the top horror movie don’ts - where are you going?”  Jack broke from his rant to the others when he saw Ethan beginning to ascend the stairs, his attention on the little boy.  “Who are you?  You look like…”  He trailed off as the little boy looked up at him and brought his index finger to his own lips, shushing Ethan.  “Bring your friends, I know where to go. We have to hurry though, or else we’ll get caught.”

       The little boy went through one of the doors that leads to a hallway with various hotel rooms, Ethan followed him tentatively, leaving the others behind.  “Ethan, wait up!”  Mark called after him, climbing up the stairs hurriedly, the others following suit, with Jack begrudgingly trailing behind, muttering under his breath. “Great, now we’re all gonna die.”  The only light in the hallway was from the clip on flashlight on the front of Ethan’s shirt.  The hallway seemed to stretch on indefinitely. 

       The door he had just gone through creaked open as the others filed in.  “Why is it so dark in here?”  The others who had flashlights turned them on, illuminating the area a bit more.  The boy tugged at the bottom of Ethan’s shirt and pointed forward, signaling for them to keep going forward.  “Where are we going?” Mark asked Ethan in a hushed tone, to which Ethan shrugged his shoulders, continuing on. 

       “I don’t like this, not at all.”  Jack muttered as he looked around, paranoid of what might be lurking around every corner.  He flinched as he heard a whisper centimeters from his right ear, or at least, he thought it was a whisper.  “-the fuck!?”  He looked around frantically, Nate turned to him, his flashlight shining on Jack’s face.  “What happened?”  Another whisper sounded, causing Jack’s face to pale with fright, he began to stutter and hyperventilate.

       “Y-y-you d-didn’t hear t-th-that?”  “Hear what?”  “You’re the only one that can hear me, Jack.  Or do you prefer Sean?  I guess it really doesn’t matter since I’m becoming you anyway.”  His… Its laughter echoed through Jack’s head, then like a switch had been thrown, it cut off, taking the fear and paranoia along with it.  But it seemed to take something else too, something substantial.  

       “Jack?”  Nate put his hand on Jack’s shoulder, shaking him gently.  Everyone was crowded around, concern all across their faces.  “He’s almost gone…”  The boy whispered sadly.  “What do you mean-?” Mark was cut off as Jack began to sob, the tears that fell were blacker than ink.  “What is happening to me?!”  His voice echoed off the walls.  

       Everyone seemed frozen to the spot, helpless and unable to answer their friend’s question.  “I want to go home.”  His voice broke mid-sentence.  Felix stepped up to him, pulling him into a comforting hug.  “We’ll get there, we will, I promise, Sean.  We’ve gotta keep moving though.”  “I know where to go, keep following me!”  The boy began running down the hall, prompting the others to follow him.