The skull beast

Part 2: The house

Peeling my eyes open, I see that the car is now on its roof and we're hanging upside down. My head pounds as the blood rushed to my head completely just before I woke up. Turning to look at my surroundings, I see that my mom is gone and Leo is just now waking up.
Where's mom?...Fuck...my head
A couple of seconds pass before it fully sets in that my mom is missing from the car and it's only Leo and I again. "No no no...Mom! Momma?!" My hands fumble for the buckle to release myself from the passenger seat. Eyes frantically looking through all the windows in hopes to see her standing outside but it's too dark out to see through the cracks. As soon as I click its button I fall to the roof landing on my shoulder. "Leo, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" My eyes meet his and he responds, "Yea, I'm okay. I'm not hurt, are you hurt? Where's your mom?" Tears sting my eyes, "I– I don't know...she's just gone. What i-if they took her?" A sob catching in my throat.
There's no way they can travel outside of their parallel...right?
He unbuckles and falls to the roof so he can crawl over and comfort me. Pulling me close to him, my head rests on his shoulder as I continue to cry out my fears for my mom and for us. "Hey, it's gonna be okay," he grabs my face, "let's go and look for your mom." Nodding, I wiped the rest of my falling tears with the back of my hand. "Yea okay, let go." We open the door and crawl out onto the grass. I get up from my knees and hold out my hand for Leo to grab. Pulling him up to his feet, we look around in the dark forest for any hope that she is close by.
"Mom!"
"Mrs. Jones!"
Leo and I shout out into the darkness looking around in hopes to catch sight of her pale blue shirt she was wearing. Only silence filling the air, no sign of my mom anywhere. "Let's start walking to wee if we can find her, yea?" I nod and Leo grabs my hand and we start to walk away from the car. My sniffles periodically fill the air as I continue to think about my mom and hope that she is okay.
Our feet carry us through this dark forest filled with thick green trees and the crashed car slowly fades into the distance. The atmosphere instantly feels just as heavy and weird as it did when we were back at that parking plaza where death had just missed us. It's even heavier reminding Leo and I that our friend Max is dead and so is his dad. Taken and ripped up by the beasts we fought to live against. And now my mom has disappeared, everything is falling apart and I can't fix it.
How much time has really passed since the initial hit of the crash?
It's hard to believe that we were in this parallel with these beasts and were able to survive. But we crashed in the middle of a storm back into the parallel after leaving and seeing our surroundings return to normal. And I never would've thought that we are surrounded by this mirror image of our own town and space that has these beasts with every ounce of its atmosphere weighing our hearts down. My mind is still confused as to how parallels even exist, I only thought they existed in movies and books and only as separate universes.
The walk is like an eternity, time must move differently here. Now that I think about it, the daylight seemed to last a while when we were fighting the beasts. I'm brought out of my thoughts when Leo's honey brown hair crosses my line of vision.
How cute...wait what? Stop it, now's not the time to admire him.
Until then, I wasn't aware that we are nearing the edge of the forest. Reaching the edge of the forest, there is a large clearing in front of us with a drop off at the edge, at least that's what it looks like to me. And the sun is just starting to peak over the drop off lighting up the sky in an array of yellows and oranges. We pause briefly to look at one another before continuing our walk through the clearing. Making our way to the drop off, we notice that it's not really a cliff as we had imagined. It's more of a sloped hill that's hidden by the edge of the clearing.
Staring over the edge there is a smaller clearing with a splintered and cracked wooden house. And the house is leaning with its appearance also being kind of tall and skinny with two tones of wood. A darker wood resides as the roof and the lighter is the house itself.
Everything is starting to feel increasingly heavy and unnerving...just like when we were in that plaza.
The house kind of resembles the beasts in a way. Maybe it's the accents of bones added throughout the exterior...images of their antlered skulls flash through my mind at the mere sight of the house. Taking one step down over the edge and onto the slope my foot slips on the dewy grass, "f-fuck!"
"Atticus!" Leo freaks out as I disappear tumbling down the hill.
He follows after me trying to avoid the same fate I was met with on the hill. I finally stop tumbling down the hill reaching the bottom with Leo closely trailing right behind me.
We walk through the splintery door, the inside confirms my suspicion and uneasy feelings that I got just a couple seconds ago. I'm going to say we should leave and not stick around when the door vanishes. My heart drops to my feet as I freeze in my spot.
No fucking way this is real.
I run over to the window ready to break it with my fist when it along with the rest vanishes too, "no no no, let us out!" My shoulders drop and my hands fall limp at my sides. Looking over my shoulder, Leo holding the same grimm expression mirroring my own. The air is thick with uncertainty and a sickening feeling brewing within all of us.
"Leo...what's gonna happen now" my voice coming out hoarse as I look at him.
"I– I don't know...we're not gonna die here right?" Leo asks as he turns his head to look at me.
I just look at him contemplating the right words for the moment. "No we're not. I won't let that happen." Feeling goosebumps running up my arms and down my back I move closer to Leo suddenly feeling fearful of being separated from him.
I feel dizzy...maybe it's just the adrenaline talking.
The house feels infinitely larger than its outward appearance. It looks tall and skinny, yes, but the inside is far more spacious and the ceiling has no clear ending point. The floorboards are worn and bowing in some spots, probably from weathering or lack of care. I look around and only see a few furniture pieces, mostly torn to shreds or rotting with mold. The walls match the exterior––splintered and two toned with small accents of what look to be human bones.
Wait a minute is that...is that writing above the bones in blood?
The writing spells out 'Welcome," and the blood is still dripping so it has to be fresh. "Hey Leo, you don't think that's her blood, do you?"Mouth agape staring at the wall. "I uh, I hope not, let's get moving, maybe we'll find her in here in one of the rooms." And a set of crooked spiral stairs sit in the far left corner of the first floor. There is too many floors to count but each floor has a thin walkway around the edges leaving the middle wide open for us to look up at the never-ending ceiling. "Let's start up the stairs," agreeing to move from the first floor.
I feel a clammy hand grab my own, breaking me from my examination of the house. Everything seems to stop and fall silent at this moment of touch. My eyes trailing up from our intertwined hands to the owner of the hand and they fall onto Leo. We both give a weak smile as the dread and worry continues to fill us and the atmosphere.
Are we too young for this? We are only seventeen, we haven't even graduated yet and we might not even make it out. Hell, if we all die, we are leaving so many people behind. If I die here––if my mom has disappeared here, my little brother is going to be all alone. He's not old enough to take care of himself. What if Leo dies? I don't think I can handle that.
Heat instantly rushes to my ears thinking about how much I care for Leo. He looks towards my face and notices my bright, flush ears as his eyes flicker between our hands and my face. Embarrassed, he pulls his hand away from mine and mine falls to my side stiffly. Ouch. "Should we try and find a way out?" his voice falling soft into the dead air of the house avoiding echoing on the walls. "Y-yea I guess we should. The least we can do is try," I respond with a dry throat.
Seeing there is no apparent doors or passageways around us, we slowly make our way to the stairs avoiding the bowing boards. It's too eerie though with no beasts peering around any corners or their loud steps filling our ears. The thuds of our uneven footsteps ringing through the dead air as we try not to stumble on the steps with slight slants. I look back at the first floor as it is starting to back into an abyss.
The sun must be setting now. Time really is weird here...
Climbing the stairs is beginning to feel like an eternity but I can now begin to see the emptiness of the second floor. There isn't much on the floor besides a few dusty hall tables and an array of doorways. Dim candles faintly glow on their holders that are placed on every hall table that can be seen. Light thumps can be heard from the farthest room, but they don't last very long.
I look over at Leo and his face mirrors my own fearful appearance. The sound is no longer present in the air. Shit. "I don't like this Atticus." Leo grabs my hand and I squeeze it lightly to reassure him. The heart-thumping feeling continues to grow in my stomach and I can feel our palms begin to sweat the more we hold one anothers. "Mom? Are you up here?" But she's not here, there is no sound except for our breaths and footsteps.
Oh my god. No no no this cannot be happening. I'm too young for this––I cannot do this. Mom is gone. Like she's really gone. She's not here in this house, and she's not in the woods. Only Leo and I are left and... what if we don't make it out? If my life ends here no one will know, I'll be missing and wasting away. What did I do to deserve this?
Globs of tears fall from my eyes as my thoughts swirl around my brain.
I'm alone. I should've been awake sooner. Oh god why didn't I wake up sooner. Maybe if I actually did, she'd still be here. Alive and with me, with us. But no. It should've been me that was taken. I wouldn't care if I'm gone.
I don't register right away that there are sleeves wiping my face and the faint sound of my name being spoken. "Atticus!" his face coming into view and everything becomes clear. "I can't do this––I can't do this, I'm alone. It should've been me, no one would miss me..." my mind is clouding by the second as my breathing is getting more labored. His hands grab my face, forcing me to look at him. Tears continue to roll down my face as he says, "I would miss you! Atticus I love you!" Everything around me stops as I look at him––his deep brown eyes, his fluffy auburn hair, his freckles splattered on his fair skin. I can feel the warmth of his hands on my cheeks.
"You love me?"
He starts to answer but is interrupted by loud thumping sounds coming from the lower level we were on previously. "Don't tell me...is that them?" Our hearts are pounding against our ribs as we both turn our heads in the direction of the staircase down the walkway. Heavy breaths and shuffling fall onto our ears as the sounds get closer and closer to the stairs. "C'mon," I whisper, grabbing his hand and pulling him into a room.
Leo shuts the cracked door softly behind us so we don't alert the beast of our presence. But I'm fairly sure it can sense us just like it had earlier today. A candle ignites as soon as we stepped foot in the room.
How strange.
The sounds cease and all that fills the air is silence as if the beast just vanished. I squeeze his hand a little tighter to gain some ounce of reassurance. He squeezes mine back and looks at me, "Do you think it left?" I only nod, unable to form words at the moment. The room doesn't have a whole lot of furniture besides a couple of older looking wooden chairs. "Hey, maybe you should take a seat bug. You're shaking like a leaf." Letting out a quiet laugh, I agree as he guides me to one of the chairs that is along the right wall of the room. He sits down beside me wrapping both of his hands around my clammy and shaking ones.
"It's true what I said though," his voice breaking the long silence we've been sitting in. "What..?" My voice is quiet and a tiny bit hoarse from the duration of time I wasn't speaking. "That I love you. I really do love you Atticus. And I'd miss you if it were you who disappeared" The features on my face twinge with confusion. "I love you too, I thought that was already established after we became friends like four years ago?"
Fuck fuck fuck. I don't think that's what he meant! Shit! Wait, does he actually love me? As in romantically?
My face morphing into a shocked expression, "Shit, I'm so stupid. Leo I didn't mean it like that. You love me? Like love love me?"
"Yes! If I haven't been making it obvious the past two years and especially today. I hadn't pegged you as oblivious Atticus'' His face is turning a slight shade of red as he is expressing all of this to me. "Man, I really an stupid," I pull one hand away from his and rest my head in it shamefully embarrassed.
Loud thuds register throughout the house alerting us that the beast has returned. "Continue this later, yea?" I nod, my heart pounding in my chest.
He actually likes me, loves me! This has got to be some sort of hallucination or mind trick the house is playing on me...Then again, I guess I have been thinking of him the same way.
Grunts and the creaking grew louder as the beast neared the top of the steps stopping on the second floor––the floor we are on. The sounds only get closer to the room we are hiding in.
My heart is pounding so much, it feels like I might have a heart attack.
Our gazes locked on the closed door as the anticipation grows in our chests. The grip on one another's hand tightening with each step and grunt getting louder. All of a sudden the sounds stop and silence fills the air in the most agonizing way possible. I think it stopped right outside the room we are in. The heaviness of the steps start up again and from what I can hear they are continuing further onto the walkway away from where we are.
Slowly we get up from our chairs and softly step over to the door to peer out of it. My hand reaches for the black rusted door knob and turns it slowly to not make any sudden noises. I open the door slowly and poke my head out of the room, seeing the backside of the beast entering the furthest room away from us. Leaving the room, we peer over our shoulders periodically just to check if the beast has noticed our presence, but thankfully hasn't.
I briefly peer down the stair in hopes to find any ounce of light signaling that there is a window or a door. Suddenly steps can be heard behind us causing us to turn our heads and see the beast coming out of the room. Turning back to the lower floor, there is a small glimmer of light and we rush down the uneven stairs towards the light. Fuck. I trip over my feet and tumble down the stairs landing on my face. I groan with little time to process what just happened because Leo grabs me by my arm hoisting me up to continue towards the light. The thunderous steps and creaks can be heard louder as the beast is getting closer to us.
There is in fact a door and the sun can be seen shining through its cracks and missing pieces. As soon as we are outside we continue to run a little further from the house before stopping to catch our breaths and assess the situation. We look back and see nothing. No beast chasing us, only the faint outline of the house that no longer seems so big. I let out a sigh as I collapse to my knees landing on the itchy yet soft grass of the clearing. My eyes briefly close but I'm pulled back when I feel him put his hands on my face. "Hey, hey, Atticus, look at me. Don't pass out." I can feel my heart hammering in my chest as I look at his eyes.
"Hi."
"Hi."
He looks over my face and body scanning for injuries. Brushing a thumb over my now bruising cheekbone as he only sees some bruising and slight cuts from the wood when I took a tumble down the stairs. I flinch at his touch, "I'm okay, nothing major is hurt." He laughs lightly even though his face still shows concern. "C'mon, let's get out of this parallel shit." Pulling me up off the ground we link hands once again and begin walking to the forest where we crashed into. As we are walking through the forest my voice registers through the air, "You think we can continue that talk now?" My eyes are fixated on the path in front of us, suddenly nervous to look at him.
"You know...I've liked you for some time now, Atticus. I'm surprised you didn't notice sooner." He looks over to the bruised side of my face and smiles lightly. "God, I feel like such an asshole now." Whining as I continue to speak, "I've liked you too, but there's been so much going on that I haven't felt ready to even talk about it." Before we realize it, we are back at the top of the hill we fell from. And we step through to our side leaving the parallel.
"Wanna come back to my place?" I nod smiling at him as we walk down the road fading into the distance.