Dream for the Dead (Completed/Editing)

4

"No..." I whimpered.
Once I'd recovered from the initial shock, I ran up the steps and grabbed the doorknob with both of my quaking hands, but no matter how much I twisted and shook it, the door wouldn't budge. I put all of my weight against the door and it still wouldn't open. I rammed it three times, and still, it wouldn't open, as though something was on the other side of the door, keeping it closed. I sat at the top of the stairs, slumping down - giving up. I sighed and put my head in my hands.
"You wouldn't believe how interesting the human mind is," I heard a deep and sophisticated male voice booming from the far end of the basement, "physically, it's so small; you wouldn't believe how complex it is."
"It's just my mind playing tricks..." I tried to convince myself.
"Playing tricks! Ha! Our own brains, turning against us. Funny, really. What's really amusing is turning somebody else's brain against them, and watching what is essentially them destroying themselves, without being able to control nor stop it."
"Who are you?!" I called, "how did you get in?!"
"Doctor Carver," the disembodied voice announced. There was evidence of a smile in his next sentence, "pleased," he spoke confidently, "to make your acquaintance, young Tabitha."
"Who's Tabitha?!" a female scream came from another corner of the basement. "Slut! Whore! Stay away from my husband! He doesn't want you!"
"It appears he didn't want you, Liz, since he left here without even leaving a note, did he not?" Doctor Carver's voice sounded throughout the basement once again.
I could hear the faint sobs of the female, 'Liz', before she threatened me with a cold aggression in her voice, "I'll make you pay for taking him away. He didn't want to leave me, I know it. You forced him. He loves me! He only has eyes for me, you foul bitch."
Doctor Carver laughed, "see what I mean? Insanity is just so satisfying. The ultimate entertainment."
"You're in my head!" I shouted with my head remaining in my hands, blocking me from seeing what might be before me, "you're not real! It's all in my heeeEEEAD!"
I stood, once more slamming my body against the door, again to no avail.
Both the Doctor and the woman laughed heartily.
"There's a bookcase in the way, you'll never get out," Doctor Carver explained, "at least, until we let you out."
"If," the woman growled, "we let you out, that is."
"Don't be so mean to her," a familiar voice joined the others... where had I heard it before? "Leave her alone. She isn't your wife, Doctor."
It was ... Elias?
"Elias?!" I shouted. Then I muttered, "God, now I know this is all in my mind. Shit, I'm going insane..."
"Try the door now," Elias' voice was in my ear, soft and calming.
I stood slowly, and hesitated a little at the doorknob. Once I tried it, though, the door came open with ease. There was one unsettling detail, however: there was a bookcase against the wall; a bookcase which had been in the room opposite before I'd gone into the basement.

*

After sprinting all the way back to my bedroom, I slammed the door shut, and slid down against it until I was on the floor, panting and trying to forget the whole ordeal. Would I have to tell mum I was going crazy? No. It was normal; I'd just found out my father was essentially a hitman and I'd moved across the country, I was just settling in. My mind was just struggling to make some adjustments.
'Our own brains, turning against us.'
Doctor Carver's words rang in my mind. They were so very true, and though I knew what was happening, I couldn't stop it.
"Wait..." I jumped up and grabbed my laptop. "The human mind... Doctor..." I murmured to myself. The estate agent hadn't given the psychologist a name, and I was sure I'd never seen it anywhere. I searched up: 'Doctor Carver, psychologist, Goldstein Manor.'
My heart skipped a beat when the first page of answers was filled with websites, all with the story the estate agent had told us, all using the name 'Doctor Carver.' I clicked on one website to read what had happened after the brother had murdered the Doctor, to find that he had blown his own brains out, presumably to avoid being punished for the deaths of both Doctor and wife.
I sat for a while on my bed, wondering where I must have seen the psychologist's name before, wondering how I'd known. It must've been a strange coincidence. It just had to be. After sitting still for a while, I searched 'Goldstein Manor history', happy to find that the first result was the complete history of the mansion in chronological order. I quickly read over the creation of the mansion: built by Lennard Goldstein in 1887, the Lord of the area. That explained why the high school was also called Goldstein High School. Then, I read about how when he died, in 1913, his will said to hand the house to Doctor William Carver and wife, for he had no family of his own to inherit the mansion, and these were the closest people to him. I skimmed my eyes over the psychologist's story, incase there were details I hadn't learned of yet, and was about to continue to learn about the history of my new home, when my mother called from downstairs.
"Tabbi, there's a young man at the door for you! Says his name is... Elias?"