Ghost

Chapter 16

We sprung into action immediately, trying our best to drown out the screams of both Elaine and Claire. I tried ripping through the boards nailed to the windows like Gabriel had before. I guess I thought it would work with willpower or something. I was wrong.

Mel was trying to find a loose place in the wall of furniture at the door but was also unsuccessful.

"She could've been an engineer." Mel commented, giving one last go at pulling out a piece of furniture.

"I'll send you to the fucking corpse room you little shit!" Claire's muffled voice cried out from the door.

"Make her stop swearing!" Elaine shrieked.

There was a door in the kitchen that had also been boarded up along with two other windows. Mel and I both tried to rip the wooden slabs off of our exits, but they remained completely impermeable.

"Do they super glue these things to the walls or something?" I complained.

Mel shrugged in reply.

We headed to the last room, me tripping on one of the many bottles of alcohol we'd moved into the hallway along the way. At this point I was almost ready to consider jumping from the second floor if this didn't work, but that didn't appear to be necessary.

The wooden planks nailed to the windows of the chalk room were noticeably older than all of the others that had obstructed our path. I tugged on one of the slabs to test my suspicions and the chunk of rotting wood pulled apart without any conflict.

We both ripped off the wood, clawing our way to the first view of the outside world we'd been given since we were thrown into this mess.

I pounded my fist against the window until it shattered open with a crash. The smell and feel of the cold night wind hit our face with the smell of dust it had collected on its journey towards us. The empty gravel road lined with nothing had never seemed more welcoming. Part of me was trying not to get my hopes up with the thought of escape.

"We can leave." I breathed to the outdoors.

"Let's go find Claire." Mel said.

"Mel, she could already be dead." I told her, already knowing what little good it would do.

"But what if she's still alive?" Mel's eyes were begging me to agree.

I hesitated for a moment. "Okay, fine."

We stepped over the bottle I had tipped earlier and threw open the bathroom door, revealing the scene of yet another badly injured friend. Badly dead friend. At least that's what I hoped this time around, since her situation would be unbearably painful for anyone living.

Elaine's slender legs were straddled over Claire's stomach, her grey dress splayed out around her in a bunched up circle. The recently torn up shower curtains were lying on the ground in a heap. The curtain rod was in Elaine's small hands and she was delivering cringe-worthy blows to Claire's head. Claire's previously dark coloured braid had become disheveled and had been stained dark crimson.

Mel immediately gasped and turned away, unable to look at the horror that had become of her best friend.

Elaine, finally finished, delicately rose from Claire's newly-turned corpse. She held the curtain rod loosely in her right hand, keeping the base angled across the ground, possibly in preparation for another attack.

"She's fixed." Elaine said in a distracted voice that might possibly have contained satisfaction.

Mel and I just stood in horror.

Elaine dropped the curtain rod without any prompts and held her hands in front of her face. A few specks of blood had stuck themselves to her pale fingers, which Elaine appeared to be focusing on.

Without warning, Elaine threw her head back and let out a tinkling laugh.

"Elaine fixed her." She said laughing in a slightly more distraught voice. "Just like the girl told her. She's fixed." Elaine grabbed at her hair and began tugging it, laughing in between pulls. "Elaine did it right, didn't she? Nothing's happening. The guest wasn't enough. Why wasn't she enough?"

Elaine let out another bright laugh, this time her distress very clear. There was the sound of popping and flickering coming from outside the room, I moved backwards to see what was going on.

The bare lightbulbs scattered along the ceiling had begun to flicker due to Elaine's sudden emotional breakdown, sparks flying in all directions.

My eyes locked on a particular lightbulb that was sparking furiously above the pile of alcohol-filled bottles. I grabbed Mel's hand and launched the both of us away just before the sparks hit the alcohol and erupted into flames. The active heat blocking our exit.

"The guest wasn't enough." Mel said, the curtain rod back in her hand. "Elaine must need to fix the other ones too."