Beyond (Niall Horan) (COMPLETED)

Chapter Twenty One

Mariana's POV

I can hear myself scream (again), my voice sounding and reminding me of a terrified character in a horror movie as my brother and I bolt up the attic stairs, following our parents in a desperate attempt to keep them from finding the rotting skeleton in the trunk. We nearly trip over each other as we make it to the top of the staircase, startling our mother, who gasps.

"Eric, Mariana, watch where you're going!" She scolds, folding her arms over her chest and shaking her head at us. She looks absolutely disgusted, like she's looking at two completely crazy people.

Which, in her mind, she is.

"Mom, Dad, we can't be up here!" I protest, earning a pissed off look from my dad.

"And why the hell not?" Dad asks as he begins to search the attic. Eric tries to stop him, but he continues to go through various items. I silently pray that he won't see the chest in the corner. I missed it the first time I came up here by myself so he could not see it too, right?

"Because!" Eric protests.

"There are demons up here!" I tell them, trying to plead with them to go back downstairs. Sadly, they don't get the hint.

"I think you guys just found some cobwebs or something and got freaked out," Mom sighs as she looks at our dad, "I don't think there's any dead body up here, Nick."

"I just want to make sure," Dad mutters as he continues to search through all the junk, "I know there's no dead body up here, but there must be something that's causing them to freak out and tell all these lies. I don't know what it is, but whatever it is, I'm going to throw it out. They'll never mess with it again."

Mom nods and actually begins to help Dad search the attic. I feel like I can't do anything except stand here and watch, but Eric somehow finds the ability to jump into action. He goes forward and gets in front of Mom, preventing her from being able to search the small area she was looking at any longer. 

"Eric Christopher Matthews!" Mom scolds. Dad turns to look at them and scowls.

"Eric, get away from your mother this instant!" Dad screams. Eric jumps and looks like he wants to say something, but remains silent as he moves away from Mom. Eric and I both know better than to mess with Dad when he's angry.

"Good," Dad mutters as he continues to search small boxes and dark corners. It only takes him another minute or two to finally notice the trunk in the corner.

"What is this?" He asks himself, walking to the trunk. His discovery catches Mom's attention and she hurries behind him to the chest. Eric and I, who have been watching silently up until this point, both decided that stopping them from opening the trunk is worth facing Dad's possible anger. 

"Don't open it!" We both shriek at the same time. Eric tries to go forward to try and stop them, but Dad blocks him off again. 

"What did I tell you?!" Dad tells us, his face red again. "You two are really starting to piss me off!" 

Eric and I slowly look at each other and back away. I can feel my bottom lip quiver, but I try not to cry and force myself to keep my gaze on my mom and dad, who are getting ready to open the chest. Dad steps forward and begins to lift the lid of the chest and as soon as it's open...

Mom screams.

They've seen the body. 

They have seen the body...so now maybe they'll believe Eric and me.

My eyes are glued on Dad, waiting for some sort of reaction out of him (though secretly hoping it won't be as terrible as Mom's scream)...when he suddenly turns around, too quickly for me to even react, and slaps me across the cheek. I scream, holding the now (probably) bright red, raw skin.

"Dad!" Eric exclaims in pure disgust, staring with wide eyes at my hurting face.

"You're fucking crazy!" Dad screams at me, "what kind of sick person puts a dead body in a trunk?! Your mother is scared for her life! You're fucking crazy!"

"I didn't do ANYTHING!" I scream back, still holding my burning cheek. I can feel the tears escape, but I don't do anything to try and stop them. I can't. 

"Eric," Dad is suddenly deathly calm, almost acting as if he never even slapped me (or as if he has no memory of the event), as he turns to look at my brother with a grim, terrifying smile on his hard face, "take your sister downstairs. Mom and I are calling the hospital as soon as we figure out what to do with the toy skeleton your sister decided to hide in the trunk."

"That's not a toy!" Eric exclaims, "it's real! Mariana isn't crazy! We're in danger!"

"Your sister is the one who's the threat to this family, not some kiddie ghosts. Take. Her. Downstairs." Dad spits out through clenched teeth. "I don't have much more patience for this bullshit."

Eric looks at me, a destroyed expression on his face. I let out another sob and he grabs my hand.

"Come on," he says softly, giving up. I don't say anything as he leads me to the stairs. But suddenly, the rumbling starts up again! This time the rumbling is so bad that it throws all four of us off our feet. Mom screams.

The room begins to fill with a black mist. Dad cries out and there's suddenly a deep, bloody cut on his cheek. Then I scream as I feel nails down my back, the blood sticky and warm. The pain in my still red cheek was absolutely nothing compared to this.

I'm dazed and confused for a moment, but then I realize...

It's happening.

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