House Of Horrors

Chapter 5: No Escape

Chapter 5:

Tristen's POV:

It dawned on me right then and there, that this was real. Brianna is fucking dead, Jacob is practically dying; the eyeless dolls, the two headed clowns, the little demon children, all of it. It was real life; this was all actually happening to my best friends.

I pushed my dark hair away from my face a little, getting a good look at the burned remains of Jacob's legs. It was pretty bad, and I didn't want to say this out loud to my friends, but I seriously doubted Jacob was going to survive. I could practically hear that creepy ringleader now, saying something harsh and witty like 'two down six more to go'.

Emily was standing frozen in her place, so I placed my cold hands around her shoulders and pulled her close to me, enjoying the warmth her stiff body gave off. Affection was not something we often showed each other, but right now I needed any sort of comfort I could get.

My tired green eyes slowly searched the dim hallway. Everybody was in the same stiff stance as Emily, except for Nick who was pacing back and forth between the two dingy walls, murmuring to himself. There was no doubt his head was filled with hundreds of different, all equally horrible thoughts.

We were all on our death beds, but there was nothing worse than knowing how we would go. Nothing worse than knowing we would all die in here, probably extremely painfully too. Lily started sobbing quietly, so Hayley rested a shaky hand on her shoulder.

Nick stopped pacing, and looked at us frantically, then went over to console an upset Lily. Hayley pulled a now teary-eyed Jeff into a hug, and even though this was no time to laugh, I couldn't help but chuckle softly; It's like our nerdy friend was one of the girls.

Suddenly, the glass slowly began to lift, and everybody pulled away from each other to rush to Jacob's side. I was the first one over to him, so I pressed my ear softly to his chest, listening for a hint of a heartbeat.

There was a faint one.

Emily stuck two slender fingers just a centimeter below his nose to check if he was breathing. She nodded her head and hope filled her peridot green eyes, but I have always been more of a pessimist, so I didn't get hopeful just yet.

"Tristen, grab his waist, I'll get his arms. Let's take him over to that lump of cloth," Nick ordered, still looking panicked but at least he had a plan.

"Look guys, I don't mean to be an asshole, but I don't think he's going to make it," I stated, taking in everyone's reaction to what I just said.

Nick looked angry and frustrated, while Lily just cried harder in response. No one said a word for a while, no one knew exactly what to say, especially since a handful of them probably agreed with me.

"We can't leave him there... we have to try," Emily whispered, wiping at the salty tears running down her pretty face. I sighed, looking once again at Jacob. It was obvious he was in a significant amount of pain, and that made my heart clench tightly in my chest.

"Grab his waist," Nick repeated, glaring at me now. Taking an awkward hold of Jacob's waist, I waited for Nick to pick up his arms and torso so we could hoist him up and maybe drag him somewhere safer.

As soon as we managed to pick him up, he legs ripped right off his body and landed with a loud thud on the wooden floor. I clenched my bloodshot eyes closed for a moment and tried to settle my stomach, so I didn't barf at the vulgar sight of my best friend's separated limbs.

Hayley quickly shielded Lily's wide eyes from our direction, and I agreed that she didn't need to see anymore gore.

Emily hastily grabbed a couple of cloths from a dirty pile near a door and ran clumsily back up to Jacob to wrap them around the open wounds. Blood eventually started to soak through the clothes as it was already sputtering all over the floor, leaving us all with helpless expressions.