The House on the Hill

Chapter 8: The Basement Pt. 2

Terror flooded through Ava's body as she realized...the hand she was holding, was not Brian's....

She flung her hand out of the grasp of the ice cold hand and screamed in horror as her heart sped up rapidly. She fell backwards and crawled away from the hand as fast as she could. The flashlight lay stranded in the middle of the floor, out of reach to both Ava and Brian.
     "Brian there's someone else in here, please let's get out of here," Ava broke into tears as she felt a second presence in the room, even though Brian was the only one there. He picked up the flashlight and approached Ava slowly.
     "It's okay, these spirits like to play tricks on you," he said calmly as he stood in front of Ava, who was hugging her knees to her body in the corner. "Here, everything will be alright," he said as he extended his arm out for her. Just as Ava was about to take his hand, Brian's smile faded.
     "Did, did you grab my foot?"
     "No," Ava shook her head honestly.
     "Then what's--" Brian began but before he could finish, his body fell to the floor. Ava gasped as her breath got caught in her throat. He got back up and brushed off his shirt.
     "Must be my imagination..." he murmured, but even in the dim light, Ava could see his face was pale and afraid, his lips pressed together so tightly, it looked as if it were a straight line.

But he fell again, and this time it knocked the wind out of him. Ava let out a yell as she realized he was falling because something was pulling him from his leg.

On the floor, Brian looked up at Ava, revealing a trickle of blood from his mouth down to his chin. His right foot lifted up from the ground; it looked as if something invisible were pulling it.

His face filled with panic and anxiousness as he desperately mouthed the words 'help me' to Ava before letting go of the flashlight and being violently dragged into the dark.

Ava's breathing sped up as more tears streamed down her face.
     "BRIAN!" She yelled as loud as she could.

There was no reply.

Brian had gotten dragged out of sight by a vicious being that no one could see. This is worse than she thought.

Tears blurring her vision, she ran and retrieved the flashlight, stumbling to the door.

     "BRIAN!!" She held the flashlight tight in her sweaty palms and shut her eyes.

She banged on the door urgently to someone...anyone...who could hear her.
     "HELP ME!!"

She cried profusely, scared to shine the flashlight and reveal what was waiting for her in the dark.

There was a distant scream in the background that sounded as if it belonged to Brian. Ava weeped more and begged, and pleaded, for someone to open the door and let her escape.

But no one came. She was going to die.

............................

     "Oh no, what happened to my only daughter!!" a broken mother wailed as she fell to her knees beside her only daughter she had, who was lying limply on her back with scratch marks on her arms and face.

The rest of the team looked solemnly down at the scene before them.
     "I'm so sorry..."
     "What happened?"
     "Brian and Ava were checking out the basement. We didn't find anything upstairs so we decided to help them out...and that's when I found that the door wouldn't open. So I got a crowbar from the bag we had and...well, she was on the floor on the steps near the door," Nick explained. "But...we couldn't find Brian, and we found scratch marks on the door."

     "Unfortunately, those scratches will be permanent," Quinn added. "But apart from that, she should be okay within two days. If she doesn't wake up by then..." his voice trailed off as he exchanged worried glances with Nick.
     "Oh!!" her mother wailed as she hugged Ava's cold body. "Please wake up honey..."