BROKEN BEGINNINGS

Chapter 11 - New Residents

Time slows, the world suddenly spinning in slow motion as Sarah falls, a look of shock on her face.

I slid down the wall, looking at my blood-stained hands. I hunch over, my shoulders shaking. But unlike last time, there are no tears. Only cold laughter.

"Look who's the bitch now, huh," I hiss, looking at the golden-dressed figure splattering the floor crimson.

I still can't believe my entire life has been a lie.

So I laugh, on and on, until I can't take it anymore, until laughter can't contain how I feel. So I scream. I scream as loud as I can, howling like bloody murder, like a murderer is about to run me through with a machete, even though I know the only murderer here is..

Is me.

Me.

ME.

I scream for what feels like a thousand years, even if it's only a few minutes.

My life, my emotions, my sanity, my world, everything is crumbling before my eyes.

Esme floats out from behind a wall. "Gee, you definitely had a hell of a night," She squeaks, eyeing Sarah's corpse, sprawled on the floor.

"To say the least," I crab, finally looking up. My dress is torn and I'm covered in ash and dust and blood.

"Well we could--" Esme begins, clearly about to suggest something to cheer me up.

"No."

I hate the tremble in my voice. Sarah never fucking cared about me. Not one bit. Yet I still give shit over her.

BANG!

Something crashes above us, and I feel grateful. It saved me from fighting with Esme. She's all I have left now.

But then brutal reality sets in.

Esme and I are the only ones in the house.

We're alone...

Right?

My breath dips and it feels like someone sucked all the oxygen out of the room. My heart beat stutters, because...

We aren't alone anymore.

Esme latches on to the sift in the air as well, shooting up through the ceiling and disappearing. I run up the stairs after her, following her silver glow all the way to the thirteenth floor.

The thirteenth floor is different from all the other floors in this house. It has only one room at the end of the damp hallway. The lamps are never lit, and it's especially cold here.

I stand outside the door, not wanting to go in. I don't know who or what's in there and I've had enough drama and excitement tonight to last me a lifetime.

I finally kick the door open, sending it flying of its impossibly rusted hinges into a dark abyss of the room.

"Hello?" I call.

The darkness only taunts me, echoing my words back.

Hello?

Hello?

Hello?

Esme floats farther in, her dim silver light doing nothing to combat the dark.

"I don't see anything--" I begin, peering into the inky nothingness.

But as I turn to leave, I hear Esme scream. Whirling around, I see her racing toward me, a look of utter panic on her face.

Instantly, I see what she's running from.

A huge beast, almost like a crocodile, but with jagged spikes along its back and a forked tongue.  Bloody hell, this... thing is the size of a school bus! I stumble back in shock.

Esme is barely avoiding that huge mouth full of knife-sharp teeth, screaming for me to do fucking something.

I finally snap out of my shock, jumping forward to try to lure the monster away from Esme. I then realize how stupid my idea was.

I have no defenses.

No protection.

No bait.

No plan.

I am officially an idiot. An idiot about to die.

The beast changes courses, barreling straight for me. I get a blast of fiery breath, like a geyser... a geyser that really needed to brush its teeth.

I swerve left, causing the monster to crash into the wall.

I make a mad dash for the door before the beast can recover...

Wait, where did the door come from? I recall kicking it in earlier...

But that doesn't matter right now, because the monster has taken a renewed interest in Esme. I'm at the threshold, when I realize she's no where in sight.

I turn, horror building--

Esme screams one last time before the horrid brute's jaws crash around her.

The shining little girl breaks, shattering in a thousand directions, silver mist forming where my last defender once was.

Then, the door slams shut.