Under the Floorboards

Chapter 14: The Killing

The lights flicker, something I have grown used to after so many times. I don't flinch, my heart doesn't skip. I breathe heavily, preparing myself for the next fear. I'm not scared anymore, I honestly feel emotionless. I feel empty, hollow like a carved pumpkin. The house has cut me open and pulled out all of my insides, my ability to feel, as if a wall has been put up between me and my feelings. My face is blank, my muscles are tense. My stomach growls, reminding me how human I really am. It must have been days that we have been trapped, over twenty-four hours since we have seen the real world. The real world. I laugh bitterly to myself, the real world seeming as if it's only a dream. Now I'm in hell, God only knows how far away from what we call "the real world".

"What's so funny?" Mark looks up at me with his brown eyes, hardened like steel.

"Nothing," I dodge the question, feeling as if I am a monster myself.

"You love me?" his voice trails over to me, less of a statement and more of a question.

"That isn't a question," I nod to him.

"You do, then?" he raises an eyebrow. I feel an inner tug on whatever is left inside of me, shoving me towards him. My arms are around him now, the hollowness inside of me feeling a little fuller.

"I love you," I whisper to him.

"I love you," he echoes my words back to me. I release him, standing at his side.

The lights flicker once more, suddenly the room goes pitch black. The darkness feels like it's swallowing me, or at least whatever is left of me. It flickers back on, Mark stands in a different place across the room. He holds something black in his hand. Focusing my eyes, I realize what it is. His eyes are watery and traced with fear, his whimpers slip through his trembling mouth. "No," he states. Screams break out, I can't pinpoint from who. I turn my head to the side, unsure of what might happen. The lights flicker again, only for a second and when they come back on, Mark is aiming a gun at me. It's shaking in his hands, his biceps flexed as if he's fighting it.

"You're going to shoot me?" I spit the words out of my mouth like a knife at him. My voice is darkened, as if I had already predicted this to happen.

"I can't... I can't put it down," His voice shakes with pain.

"Shoot me then. I just want it to be over," I call to him.

Alaska's face turns to me in anger. "Are you kidding me?" she snaps at me.

"We have made it so far and you're just going to give up?" Nina's splotchy face looks at me with disappointment.

"What else is there to do, Nina? I just want this to be over with," I whisper to her half-heartedly. I remember the other side, where everyone else is that didn't make it. I wish so badly to be there with them, but instead I'm here. I'm here and I am about to be killed by the one I'd never think would dare hurting me even a little. It is stupid to think back to all of us sitting at the lunch table, alive and well as we talked about this haunted house as if it was all just some joke. As if it wouldn't be the death of us all by the end of the week. Silly us.

"I can't do it, Kendall. You have to move. You can't let me shoot you, I won't be able to live with myself," his face is twisted as he wipes his tears on his shoulders. The lights flicker and his hand has changed positions once more. A gunshot sounds.

My face is still. My heart has stopped, blood splatters all over me. I grow dizzy, the lights go off. Has he shot me? Am I dying? I hope.

I stumble back, the world spins around me. I feel my chest for the wound but I can't find it. I can't feel anything. My whole body trembles, tears swelling in my eyes. I can hear all of their cries in the air, the wailing and the screaming of Nina, Alaska, Zane, and Damon. But no Mark. The lights flicker back on, the glow fogging my vision, my eyes squinting. I'm still alive. He shot himself. His corpse is motionless on the ground, the boy I loved isn't in its place anymore. The gun is still in his now pale hand. He is just a corpse. I know where he is, he is beside me and yet he is so far away. He is probably just arriving to the other side, the rest of my friends explaining to him everything they have found out about the other side. I am still numb, I'm not in control of my body.

I find myself walking to the body, collapsing to my knees beside him. I remember every moment we have shared all in an instant. The tears fall quickly, like waterfalls from my eyes. I take comfort in the fact that he is still existing somewhere. I cry into his chest as his body fades away into the nothingness of the house, taking the gun with it. I imagine myself fade away with him, I am already dead inside anyway.

I'm still looking at my empty hands, the blood droplets surround bruises and cuts all over me. My wounds from the past fears, my whole body throbs as I realize how much we have actually been through. I glance up at the rest of my friends, the alive ones. They're covered in cuts and bruises too, their skin is splotched with blemishes and wounds. "I should warn you of what I'm afraid of now..." my voice shakes as I predict what will come for me. What will come for all of us.

"I'm afraid of death."