After Hours

Chapter 7.

Ember's POV.

   Devan's gone. Who's it gonna be next? Me and Grayson have only been here for two nights and I already have a feeling that we're never gonna get out. I'm sitting on the counter of the food stand silently. No one has  said a word. The only noise is the small whimpers from Eva every now and then. Finally, Cameron steps up and crosses his arms.

  "Ok, loosing Devan was sad. But sitting here and crying isn't going to help the situation. It isn't long before They find us here and we can't be mourning and crying in here because we won't be ready to defend ourselves," he says.

   I nod, but don't say anything. Eva stands up, brushes her black hair back and wipes her tears away. She tightens her ponytail, grabs her gun and sighs.

  "Out we go, then," she says, her face emotionless.

  "Wait, were are we going?" Grayson asks, coming to my side.

  "Somewhere besides here," Cameron says.

   I smile. "Duh."

   Grayson pulls me to the back of the group and stops me from walking. I face him and notice he has a concerned look on his face.

  "What it is?" I ask.

  "I have a really, really bad feeling about this," Grayson says. "I keep getting weird vibes from Cameron. Like he's not being completely truthful or whatever," he says.

  "You're just paranoid," I say. "Up here," I brush his highlighted hair out of his eyes and gently tap his forehead. "We're fine."

   He nods, but doesn't return the smile I give him. We catch up with the others when Eva stops.

  "We're not alone in this fog."

   I take out my gun and flick on my phone's flashlight. Vanessa slaps my hand and grabs my phone.

  "Turn it off! Way to get us killed!" she hisses.

   I put up my hands in surrender. Grayson winces and moves his head quickly away from my right hand which is where my gun is.

  "Careful, please," he says.

   I sigh. I'm no good at this. Eva motions for us to form a circle and make sure our guns are loaded. We all get back to back in a circle and I carefully load my gun. We don't make a sound as we try to see through the thick fog.

  "Watch out!" Cameron shouts in my direction.

   I let out a scream and turn around. The same princess, Cinderella, is staggering towards us, her shoe in her head looking worse than normal. I shoot her in the head and she slows down, but continues towards us.

  "There's more!" Eva yells.

  "Is that Sleeping Beauty?" I ask, remembering the innocence of my favorite Disney movie.

  "Yep," Cameron calls back, slamming his knife in her neck.

   Her blonde hair is in knots on her shoulders. Her eyes seem to be stitched together with a black liquid pouring down from them. Her fingers drip blood and there scratches along her face and arms. Her dress is ripped and tattered and the owl from the movie grabs on to her hand, leaving scratches from it's talons.

  "Childhood ruined," I mumble to myself as we run towards the Haunted House.

   Grayson shakes his head and backs from the House. "No way. That's suicide right there," he says, pointing to the House.

  "Fine. Have fun Turning," Vanessa says and we run into the house.

   I see Grayson give a scared look inside, but comes running after us. "What's Turning?" he asks.

   Vanessa doesn't answer until we get deeper into the house. We duck behind the curtain of the stage area and she begins to explain.

  "Every time you get scratched, bit, or killed by Them, you begin to Turn. You slowly turn into a princess, prince, or evil villain," Vanessa says.

  "Who is Cinderella and Aurora, then?" I ask.

  "We don't know," Eva says. "They might have been here before we were."

   Seems simple enough. Don't get scratched, bit, or killed. Grayson will make sure that doesn't happen to me, and same with him. 

   Cameron looks at me, as if he's reading my thoughts. "It's not that easy. Getting caught off guard for even a second can get you scratched. Or bitten. Maybe not killed, but you get the point," he says.

   I nod and fiddle with my gun. Eva looks at her tracker watch and sighs. "We're good. No one in sight."

   I give a sigh of relief and look at my phone. "It's almost 6:00. When do we go home?" I ask.

  "Should be happening now," Vanessa says. "See you tomorrow night."

   I feel myself slowly leaving the scene. I find myself in my bed and look at the clock. I have 45 minutes until I have to get up.

  "There is no way I'm gonna fall asleep," I say, getting under my sheets.

   But I do. I slip off into sleep with dreams of Devan getting stabbed filling my head.

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