Blood Moon Lake

Chapter 45

Trigger Warning! ⚠️ Mentions of de@d b0d!es

💫 Important Author's Note!

I looked around as we made our way through the halls, ivy vines grew up the walls and grass had sprung up in between cracks on the floor. The stones were a drab gray color. Matched with the rain, they made the building radiate cold sadness. Which is fitting for our circumstances. But it also gave the building an unsettlingly eerie undertone. Almost like something could pop out from around the corner at any moment. Or maybe that's just my paranoia talking. Suddenly, we came to a halt. Glancing around, I saw we were in a large room. It appeared to be the main room for whatever this place used to be for. The room housed various plants that grew from the floor but thankfully it didn't have too many holes in its room. A few spots had rotted through or been pierced by branches but there was still plenty of it to keep us dry.

Er well, not get wetter because we already got rained on so we're not dry. Speaking of which, I wonder if we have any towels. Taking off my backpack, I unzipped it and rummaged through it for towels. Unfortunately, there weren't any but I did find blankets so those will work just as well. Piling all the blankets I could find on the floor, I rezipped the backpack and put it back on. "Anyone want a blanket?" I asked. "Yes please," Jack replied shivering slightly. Handing it to him, I watched as he wrapped it tightly around himself. "I'll take one," Ella said snatching one from the pile. I rolled my eyes in amusement and looked at Leo who wasn't paying attention. His eyes darted around the room like he was expecting something to happen. Hmm, he must be nervous too. Picking up a blanket, I tossed it at him smirking as it hit him in the side of the head.

Leo turned and glared but wrapped the blanket around himself. "Hey, you want one?" I asked Anna who was staring into space. Snapping her head toward me, she blinked a few times processing the question. "Yes, please," she replied coming over when it finally registered in her brain. Passing the blanket to her, I watched as she threw it over her head and plopped down. I took a blanket from the pile and wrapped it around my shoulders. The soft fabric felt nice against my skin and absorbed some of the water that clung to me. Tucking my knees to my chest, I positioned the blanket so that they were covered by it. Hopefully, this will warm us up, and since we didn't get completely soaked we won't get hypothermia. I'm not sure what would happen if one of us did. I highly doubt Margret packed us medicine and I don't want to stay here while we wait for someone to get better. I'd like to leave this place as soon as possible.

It feels wrong. There's something off about it but I don't know what. You're being paranoid. Shoving those thoughts away, I surveyed my friends. All of them were covered in blankets. Jack and Ella were talking quietly about something. Leo seemed to be half-listening to the conversation still looking around the room. Anna had gone back to staring off into space probably thinking about something. I thought about joining in on Ella and Jack's conversation but I couldn't muster the energy to do so. So, I let my thoughts swim around my head. After a while, I felt someone nudge me. Glancing up, I saw Ella looking at me. "Yeah?" I asked. "It stopped raining," she told me pointing to a hole in the roof. Sure enough, no water was coming from the opening. That's good now we can leave. Sitting up, I turned to see all of my friends in similar places as before. "You guys want to leave?" I asked, "It's not raining anymore we might be able to cover some more ground."

"No!" Anna quickly objected, "I mean... we're gonna have to stop and sleep eventually and we're already here. Why not stay and spend the night here?" My eyebrows furrowed. Why did she say it like that? Something about her tone was... off. The way she said it sounded wrong. Almost like she was mad I even suggested it. I just asked whether they wanted to leave or not it's not like there's anything important here. It's just a building. ...right? Glancing around, I tried to find something that looked significant. As I searched, I locked eyes with Leo. He looked at me questioningly. Did he pick up on Anna's strange behavior too? No, I don't think he's been around long enough to notice. He has been acting odd this whole time though. Maybe he picked up on the fact something was off beforehand. If he thinks something is wrong too I must be right. But what is it that's wrong? Is it affecting Anna and that's what's making her act weird? Leo's eyes darted over to Anna and back to me like he was asking if she was the problem. Is she?

I gave a slight shrug. Glancing back at Anna, I tried to think of what might be bothering her. Nothing happened while we were here... nothing awful happened since Amelia(?) Greer died. Thinking about it, she's been acting off since Amelia(?) Greer's death. She's always been empathetic toward people whether they deserved it or not. She'd never skip away from someone's dead body evil world keeper or not. She wouldn't keep walking if all of us weren't there. She always made everyone wait till we were all together. She never stares off into space, she's always present and chatting. She never leads either, she always follows but she brought us here. The realization hit me like a bus. Everything finally made sense and all of the pieces fell into place. The reason Anna skipped away from the body. Why she was so quick to suggest Amelia was Greer. The reason she always alerted the demons of where we were. The reason the room in the dream realm looked so familiar. It's because Anna is Greer.

I felt my eyes widen in panic. The reason I recognized the room is because it's Anna and Ella's! Whenever I entered the dreamscape I was near Anna! She wasn't crying when Brian got torn to pieces she was laughing! She led us here because that's where the demons wanted us to go! How had I not realized this sooner? This is bad. This is really bad. My eyes met Leo's and I frantically looked toward Anna and then back to him. Please understand. Please understand I pleaded. Leo glanced over to Anna and then looked back at me. I could see the gears turning in his head as he gaged the emotions on my face. I saw his eyes widen at the realization. How do we warn the others without alerting Anna we know? Looking over to Ella, I tried to catch her gaze. If Ella knows what's going on she can queue Jack in on it too. As I tried to catch Ella's attention, laughter began to reverberate through the room. My eyes snapped to Anna(?) and I saw a large grin plastered across her face.

"Finally figure it out?" she asked mockingly. I sucked in a breath, Anna's eyes had changed from their usual cat-like green to a deep crimson, and her voice. Her voice was all sorts of wrong. It was a mix of hers and a stranger. Like someone had shoved two voice boxes together and the voice of the speaker switched and faded between the two as they spoke. "It took you long enough," Anna?- Greer? said, "Honestly I thought it was over when you saw Ella and I's dorm room but luckily for me you'd only been in it a few times." Jack and Ella glanced at each other in a mix of confusion and horror. "Luke," Ella asked in a strained voice, "What's happening?" "You're friends just figured out who the imposter is," Anna Greer replied in a sickeningly sweet voice. Ella paled and Jack's face morphed into one of pure terror. "I will admit I never thought it would be such a hassle to get you here," Greer told us, "But I mean I got you here eventually, didn't I?"

"I hand-picked you," Greer smiled, "In middle school. That walk in the woods I mentioned. That was Anna's last. It's been me ever since. It's odd sharing a body. I'm two separate people. A brain and a body. Funny right? We never fully melded so I can't consider this body mine." They? took a deep breath, "All of this would have been done a lot sooner if those demons weren't so picky. And if you didn't interrupt us," they spat glaring at Leo, "I would have been done at the beginning of the summer but you just had to warn them! I guess it all worked out though. I mean this is the moon the demons prefer." As Greer spoke, the clouds seemed to move away letting the red light of the moon shine through the holes in the roof. My blood ran cold as a familiar scream echoed throughout the inside of the building.

💫 Please keep Anna being Greer out of the comments! You can talk about it but please refrain from using Anna's name. I don't want it to be spoiled for people who are reading through the comments. Thank you!

Heh, losers! Did you see that coming? I bet you didn't! Or maybe you did she did have a large personality shift. So if you guessed it good job! Anyway, see you next week! Have a great day! Bye! 🙃