House Of Echoed Screams (Completed)

Chapter 12: One Last Choice

Ryan woke after a long, peaceful nap, and stretched. He opened his eyes, and looked around the room. The room was not his own bedroom, but instead was a small, square, concrete room with no windows, and a single wooden door at the other end of the room. At the far end of the room, there was also a CD player, and a large, square timer, currently turned off, on a small, wooden table. Ryan looked to his right, and what he saw sent a chill down his spine. Chained to a large, concrete slab by all four limbs was Addie. Ryan tried to move so that he could reach her, but his right arm was chained to the slab, so that he was dangling by his wrist. "Dammit," he said, and at that same moment, something else caught his eye.
There was a metal, traintrack- like trail leading away from Addie in a straight line for about seven feet, and ending at a saw mounted on a four- wheeled pedestal, which was clearly connected to the track. Between him and Addie, Ryan could see a large lever mounted to the floor. He had no idea as to what all of this was for, and Addie's screams kept distracting him from figuring it out. He took one more brief glance around the room, and noticed a small hand saw hanging from a nail on the slab, just to his left. Addie must have noticed Ryan at this point, because she then started shouting, "Ryan! Ryan, please help me! Get me off of this thing!" Ryan was becoming a little frustrated, but tried to keep a level head. "Don't worry, babe. Just quiet down for a second so I can take all of this in, and I'll have it figured out in no time." She must have understood, because Addie stopped screaming, and a deafening silence filled the room, which Ryan took advantage of to try and think of how to escape. No matter how much he racked his brain, however, he couldn't come up with anything.
Just as he was about to give up, the CD player turned on, and a deep, inhuman voice spoke out of the machine. "Hello, Ryan," it said. "I want to play a game. For years now, you and Addie have secretly loved each other, but as of late, that love has been rather... questionable. You have put Addie through a few rather difficult desicions lately, under the assumption of since Addie loved you, she'd support your choices, no matter what. She, however, has thought differently, and was forced to side against you. As you can see, you have caused Addie pain, simply because you and her have differing opinions on what love means. Now, Ryan, you are faced with a decision of your own; one that could either rekindle your love, or completely destroy it indefinitely. As you can see, you and Addie have both been chained against twin stone slabs. There is no way for Addie to escape at the moment, but you however, have a chance, but you have to work fast. The saw connected to the tracks will turn on and slowly advance forward until it reaches Addie, cutting her cleanly in two. Once you are free, all you have to do is pull the lever between you two, cutting the power to the saw, and the signal holding Addie's chains together. However, once the saw starts spinning, the timer next to this CD player will count down from five minutes. This is how long you have to save Addie before you lose her forever. You, on the other hand, shall not die; only Addie's life will be at stake. The choice is yours: will she live, or die? The rules are simple. Let the game begin."
After that, the CD player shut off, the timer flashed five minutes, the saw began to spin, slowly moving forward, and Addie returned to her screaming. Ryan frantically looked around, trying desperately to come up with a plan, and his eyes fell upon his chain. He reached up with his left arm, grabbed the chain, and started pulling. The chain didn't seem to be loosening from the slab, however, so Ryan was forced to abandon that plan, and search for another way off of this slab. He glanced over at Addie, who was thrashing around wildly, trying to loosen her own chains, but they all seemed just as secure as his own. Meanwhile, the saw was growing closer to Addie by the second, and as Ryan looked over to the timer, it now read, 3:50. "I'm running out of time, what do I do...," Ryan muttered, but he then remembered the saw to his left, and a sickening thought passed through his head. As much as he didn't want to do it, he saw no other way of escape.
Ryan began swinging himself side to side, gaining momentum until his left hand gripped the handle of the D - shaped saw. He kept swinging until the saw lifted off of the nail, and Ryan brought it down to his side. He then bent his head down, bit the neck of his shirt, and lifted the saw to his wrist. He averted his eyes, and began to cut into his arm, biting down harder on his shirt. His arm felt like it was going to give out, but he had no choice; he sawed faster and harder, and refused to stop even when he could feel blood running down his arm like a river. Pain seared through him, making him scream, but it was muffled by his shirt. Finally, he felt something snap, and he fell to the floor, clutching his right arm. Gathering his focus, Ryan looked at the timer. His vision was blurred by pain, but he thought he saw the timer say 2:08. He limped toward the lever, feeling the blood trickle between his fingers as he clutched his severed arm, and hear it echo as it pattered against the floor.
Between the ringing in his ears, Ryan could hear Addie screaming again. Finally, he reached the lever, and Ryan paused to take a deep breath. He released his right arm, and gripped the rusty iron handle. Gathering all of his strength, Ryan pulled on the lever, but it wouldn't budge. He tried again, but still nothing. Ryan looked over at Addie, and noticed that the blade was about one foot from her. This got Ryan's adrenaline pumping, and he pulled one more time, using every ounce of energy that he had, but no matter how he tried, the lever refused to move. "Come on, goddammit," he shouted, pulling again, but this time, his hand slipped, and he fell onto his back.
Looking over to the timer, Ryan saw it read 0:03. He tried to stand back up, but he only had enough energy to lift his head. He looked speechlessly as the saw reached its destination, slowly cutting through Addie's midsection as she let out ear-splitting screams of pain. Blood sprayed everywhere, and all Ryan could do was watch; watch as the saw ripped through her, watch as half of her fell to the ground and half of her lay limp on top of the saw, each being stained red in a pool of her own blood. Finally, Ryan found his voice, but all he could muster was, "Addie...". He laid his head back down, and tears flooded down his face as he mumbled, " Addie... why? Why her? It should've been me," over and over again, until the pain from his arm overcame him, and Ryan blacked out.

{A/N}: I was inspired to write this chapter by the Saw movies. If you haven't seen any of them, and you like horror movies, I recommend you check them out. Also, considering how descriptive the death in this chapter was, I feel the need to apologize to the real Addie. Sorry for giving you such a gruesome death, and I hope you keep reading anyways. Also, who still thinks Ryan should die, and who thinks there could have been a way for Addie to live? Let me know if you have any answers or opinions.