House Of Echoed Screams (Completed)

Chapter 16: One Last Soul

Neither of you can live while the other survives. These words repeated within Nikki's mind as she stared at Ryan, who had an evil, almost murderous look written on his face. Nikki had never seen this look on his face, and in spite of all of the courage she knew that she had, she was actually afraid of him. She carefully took a step forward, never taking her eyes off of the saw in Ryan's hand, and said, "We don't have to do this; if we work together, we'll find a way out of here, I'm sure of it." She stared at Ryan, hoping for some change in his expression, but it only seemed to darken at these words. "No," he muttered. "No, we won't be able to find a way out. This place is a prison that makes even Hell seem pleasant in comparison, and the last thing it would do is let us just leave without sacrificing more that we care about!" Ryan shouted these last few words, and Nikki could see tears running down his cheeks. She knew that she should have sympathised with him, but something about what he said offended her.
Why can't he just try to look for some small glimmer of hope? He's so quick to believe that demon all of a sudden, even though it was the one who took away all that we cared about, and he won't hardly listen to a single word that his own sister is saying, just to try and cheer him up, Nikki thought, and couldn't help laughing in spite of herself. "You seem so willing to lose what you care about now. You used to get so angry when that demon threatened to kill someone you cared about, and look at you now. You're about to willingly do it with your own hands! You haven't even considered that there could be a way out of here, if we just looked together for it. You don't know for sure that we're stuck here!" Now Nikki could feel tears forming in her eyes as well. She hated herself for saying these things, but had no time to think about them any further.
"I know better than anyone," Ryan shouted back clenching his fist around the handle of his saw. "Ever since we've arrived in this place, I spent my time scouring every last hallway for any sign of a way out. I even lost those I cared about the most, just so that I still could have a chance at escaping this horrible house, but obviously to no avail. Do you know how dead inside that's made me? I know now, without a doubt, that there is no point in looking for a way out until one of us is dead, so it's better to end it now, than give something in here the satisfaction of killing one or maybe both of us while we're looking for a way out. This way, at least one of us will be able to leave." As much as she didn't want to, Nikki saw the sense in what Ryan was saying; there isn't anyone else within the house, and they might not live long enough to kill someone that happens to wander into the building. It was him, or her, and all Nikki knew was that she didn't want it to be her, not after all she had been through.
"Alright," Nikki said, raising the sword Becker found all those hours ago. "I guess we've got no choice, so let's end this. Let's finally earn our freedom." She saw Ryan nod, and then charged him, her sword held out to her side. Ryan however just stood still, but as Nikki slashed at him, he sidestepped and stabbed her in her exposed side, causing her to kneel down. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ryan stab at her back, but she spun around on the floor and brought her sword up to block his saw. "I've got the advantage here, Ryan," she said, but to her surprise, Ryan ducked out other way at the last second, making Nikki swing right into the ground. As she pulled the sword from the cement, her side burned, causing her to wince. Ryan took advantage of this, and grabbed the arm that Nikki was holding her sword with, making her unable to do anything but struggle.
He leaned in close to her, and whispered, "I'm sorry for this." Nikki was about to ask what he was sorry about, but then he let go of her arm, and she felt something go through her chest. Looking down, she saw Ryan's saw protruding from her, and she sighed up blood. Everything around her was starting to blur and lose focus, and without any warning, her legs gave out, making her collapse, right as Ryan pulled his saw out of her, and walked away, toward the door, muttering something like, "Right, now to find the way out of here." He opened the door, stepped out, and shut the door behind him. Right as the doorknob stopped rattling, everything around Nikki went black.
Meanwhile, Ryan limped down the long, dark hallway, looking for a door of some sort. "Come on, where is it, you goddamn house? I did what you wanted; I killed my sister, so let me out," He shouted. Finally, he saw a door at the end of the hallway, and ran toward it. Opening the door, he saw the familiar shape of the entrance hall, but instead of the front door being broken, there was a set of solid wooden doors. "This must be it," Ryan said, and he walked over to them, excitement building within him. Finally, after all this time, I'm free from this hell house, free from all of the horrific things that we all had to go through here. He reached for the door, but stopped when he heard the sound of footsteps coming down the staircase behind him. Slowly, he turned around, and to his amazement, saw Nikki limping down the stairs, leaning on her sword like a walking stick.
For a moment, he was at a loss for words, but then Nikki reached the bottom of the stairs, stopped, and said with a smile, "You didn't think it was over, did you?" He held up his saw, ready to use it when needed, and said, "Why don't you just make it easier for both of us, and just die? You're already almost there, judging by the way you're leaning on that sword." Nikki lifted her sword up off of the ground, took a few more steps forward, and replied, "I've been through too much in here just to die by a piece of shit like you, so why don't we finish this right here?" Ryan grinned, and said, "That's the most sense you've made since we got here, sis. Hmm, I suppose I should get used to not saying that word anymore, huh? Anyways, let's settle this." He held his saw in front of him, and charged Nikki.
"I'll be sure to make this quick," he said as he hacked at her leg, but Nikki was expecting that. She blocked his saw with the blade on her sword, and Ryan chuckled. "This looks pretty familiar, huh?" Nikki simply grinned, and said, "Yeah, but this time, you're not getting away." Before he knew what had happened, Nikki had used her free hand to punch Ryan square in the jaw, knocking him off balance, and with one swift strike, cut off Ryan's other hand, causing him to roar in pain. "GODDAMN IT! WHY'D YOU DO THAT?" Ryan was sure he saw a single tear run down Nikki's cheek as she said, "To make sure that what I'm about to do is as quick and painless as possible." Ryan took a breath, preparing to say something, but right at that moment, Nikki brought her sword back behind her head, swung down, and Ryan spoke no more.
Wiping the blood off of her, Nikki walked toward the doors, and looked up at them. This has gotta be it, she thought. She grabbed the doorknobs, and pulled open the doors, revealing a large, grassy hill, bathed in golden sunlight. I'm free, she thought. I'm finally free. At the front gates, Nikki turned around and looked up at the old, run-down building that served as her prison for however many hour she was trapped inside there. As she walked down the street, she silently made a vow to herself. I am never going to step foot in that house again for as long as I live, but I'll also never forget all of my friends that died in there.
In the upcoming years, Nikki had been asked by many to recount what happened inside the building, and difficult as it was, she agreed to retell her tale. Nikki's story spread like wildfire, occasionally landing her interviews from members of news channels across America, all of which dubbed this building the "Demon House". Eventually, the interviews died down, but Nikki's horrors did not. Every night, she was plagued with nightmares about ever changing hallways, bloodied and mutilated bodies, and even a young girl with jet black hair, pure black eyes, and two, dark wings laughing, and saying, "Neither of you can live while the other survives."

{A/N}: Finally, I finished my first book on Wattpad. I really feel like I achieved something by finishing this, and I hope you liked it, too. As thanks for reading all the way to the end of my first book, and for all of the support I was given while writing this, I've decided to jump right into a new story, and to let you, the readers, decide what kind of story it will be! Feel free to leave your ideas in the comments, or PM me your ideas, and I'll pick the one that I like the most, and try to get it up within a few weeks after I release this chapter. I'm looking forward to all of your unique and brilliant ideas, and I hope you give me lots to chose from. The more, the better! Bye!