Terrifier: Splatter

14

Two and a half weeks since she had seen that clown. She knew she shouldn't go out in public, he was still lurking out there, and he probably would be for the rest of her life. If the shredder didn't kill him, she was sure that he couldn't die.

As she walked over to her bedroom, she noticed the door at the end of the hallway was slightly ajar. Danny always kept it locked. He must've forgotten to lock it this time. She looked around, she was by herself. Danny was at work. Everett was most likely taking a nap on the couch downstairs, and Mallory gave Zoe the weekend off, assuring her that she had earned the break.

She went over to the door. Only a quick peek.

Expecting a relaxation room or something like that, she opened it fully, and was in confusion at what she saw. It was an empty room, but there was a trapdoor on the floor, covering what she assumes is a room underground. She is crouched down beside it, unsure if she should mess with it further. Probably shouldn't.

"What are you doing in here?" Danny asked, and she whipped her head around to face him. She decided to speak without hesitation, she was snooping, she had to own her decision. "You left the door unlocked, I wanted to see what's in here... what is this?"

He didn't seem angry, he walked inside the room, and she stood up. "I knew I'd have to tell you this eventually..." Wonderful, a secret.

Danny sighed, scratching the back of his head. "It's a bit complicated just saying it right off the bat, so I'll lead up to it," he explained, gesturing to the trapdoor before talking again. "My father was pretty rich. He was also sick, very sick, so he died when I was a toddler. I don't even remember him, but apparently he loved me enough to make sure I would get all of his money when he died. My mom, she was always there for me, and a few years ago... on Halloween..." he got quiet, he was trying to stop himself from crying. He took a deep breath, and continued, "She got murdered."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Mallory said sincerely. She was thinking about what this had to do with the trapdoor she was next to, but didn't interrupt. "It's okay. So, Halloween, and I was with my friends all night. She was by herself at home, and when I got back to the house, she was... chopped up into pieces, different parts of her scattered across the living room floor... and her head... sorry, I... I didn't mean to go into detail." He caught himself before he went too far. Her eyes widen, this was starting to sound... familiar to her. Brutal death in Miles County, Halloween time.

Danny had to regain his composure, and it was obvious he was struggling to. He cleared his throat, and tried to stop himself from shaking. She recognized the look on his face, like the memory had come back to him. "The next morning, I got on the security camera we had. The guy that killed her, he wore a clown suit."

"Art." Mallory's voice cracked when she spoke. He looked into her eyes, and revealed a new detail, that tied it all together. "He wrote 'Art' on the wall in her blood."

"I thought it was just me, just my luck that a psychopath killed my mother, but I've seen on the news, he killed other people after that. Ever since then, I've been trying to look for something, anything, to stop him. Someone said on the news that he seems to be hard to kill." he said, and she nodded, then spoke. "So, then you know, right? That he came after me?"

"Well, I-I did, and I planned on using you as bait eventually... since I had seen your face on the news, I hadn't heard of anyone surviving him, so I knew he must be looking for you, but I didn't know you were going to walk into the café." A mere coincidence. She was surprised how honest he was, she had to give him that.

"Bait? Sorry, Danny, but I can't do that... not if you're just going to end up dying and I have to risk my life against him, again!" Mallory said, and he sighed. "No, you see, it's not going to be that much of a risk... after going through so many books, and going through many different sites... I found a way to stop him."

"Honestly, it seems like nothing can stop him, Danny." she told him, raising and lowering her arms to her sides in slight frustration. She thought he knew that.

"You're standing next to it, Mallory. That... is a portal to hell."

Immediately, she took multiple steps away from the trapdoor, instead getting closer to where she had entered this crazy room in the first place. "What?" She wasn't sure if she had heard him right. "With your help, we can send him there. Art can go straight to hell where he belongs."

She blinked at him, and was unsure of how to respond. Oh, how about a 'Hell no!'? "Danny, you know I'm the biggest advocate for Art dying a painful death, but I'm not messing around with any of this." She gestured to the portal.

"Just listen, Mallory, if everything works out-" he tried to explain, but she wasn't going to listen.

"What if it doesn't? What if he throws us in there instead?" she responded, to which he had no good answer to. Before he could go on about that portal again, she runs out of the room, going into her bedroom that was nearby, and locked the door. "Mallory, come on, you don't have to do this." Danny told her from behind the door, she ignored his words as she opened the bedroom window.

There was a tree nearby, so she jumped and grabbed onto the branch, then moved to a lower one, lessening her fall as she went onto the grass, and ran out of the neighborhood.

This was going on the list as one of her dumbest decisions.

Mallory was well aware that what she did was pretty stupid, leaving the house where she had company that could protect her if she ever saw that clown again. There was even a security guard! Danny kept bugging her about it, and didn't seem as if he was going to stop. If she was going to risk her life again, it would be after she had considered the pros and cons, she would not rush into this because of peer pressure.

That's what she was doing now, on her own, thinking about whether she should go through with attempting to toss Art into the portal. She hadn't even seen what was under the trapdoor, but she visualized it as a pit of darkness, an abyss.

She looked around, and went inside of an empty alleyway, hiding behind a dumpster so she could think. If she did this, and it failed, she would most definitely die. On the spot, she thought of many different torturous ways Art would kill her if this didn't work out. None of them were pleasant, at all. That was the point, it was only satisfying for him, the kills.

She could get rid of herself right here in this alley, before he had the chance to. It would be faster, less painful, and he would be disappointed that he wasn't the one to do it. Mallory wasn't going to do that, though. Her death, even if she was the one to do it herself, would be a win for him, and she doesn't want him to win. It would show that he had finally gotten to her after all of these years. She's a survivor, if she was going down, she was going to take him with her.

She could do it. She will lure Art to Danny's house, and they will throw him into the portal.

She has to make it look convincing, that she is actually fearing for her life when she runs away from the clown, and coincidentally knocks on Danny's door. He had to have genuine surprise that she was there. Otherwise, the clown would know that they are planning something.

She steps out of the alley, and began her search for Art.

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final chapter next!