Death Wish

Chapter 20

Writing this story so far has taken a lot of time and effort, but I've become so attached to this it and you lovely people along the way. I have written a longer chapter to express how much I've come to love writing this for you guys. Thank you.

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Remember the last time you kicked yourself awake?

Whatever the last thing you saw rattled your insides so violently you couldn't bare it; you had to escape the nightmare even if you had to hurt yourself to do so.

That's me ten hours after dying in The Pit of Monsters.

I jerk awake surrounded by a ring of ash and snuffed out matches. I wheeze in my first breath of musty air as I adjust to the dim basement lights overhead shining in my eyes. I'm clueless on the cement floor, unaware of what's just happened.

Murmurs scatter around me and something ice cold grabs my sleeve. I gasp and sit up to yank myself away from the freezing clutches of the sudden captor. I rub my sweaty hands up and down my sleeves before I glare back to see who's touched me.

Frank stands there with an abandoned hand hanging in the air where I had laid. I recover from my scare and relax, "Your hands are cold."

"You're really sweaty." He hesitantly answers, unable to stop looking at me. I have no idea why he's so intrigued with me being awake, but I move past it to see if his sweat claims are true.

I smear a hand across my forehead to see for myself. When I look down to inspect my palm I find dribbles of sweat, but a moment doesn't pass before I'm instantly looking past it. My hand is not only oily and moist, the skin is coated in jet black. Both hands are, now that I really look. "What is this?" I flinch.

Something weird is going on. I've been sat in ashes and charcoal drawn symbols, and I'm still covered in grime and fluid but no more comes out of my once present wounds and injuries. Nothing is sprained or broken anymore but I've definitely gone through them enough to make a mess of my clothes. I would say it's a relief to have the damage reversed, but it's only confusing enough to scare me.

"Do you not remember any of this?" Ray asks.

"I remember up to the point where we left the Pit..."

"Makes sense, you didn't make it out of there." He offers a hand to pull me up. I uncertainly accept it and I'm taken to my feet.

"Wait, so I...I'm dead?" I glare.

They all exchange looks. A grin flashes across Frank's lips before he clears his throat and shakes his head solemnly, "I'm sorry, we tried to use one of the curses to get you back."

"Great," I groan, "Now we get to bring back two people!"

Bob snickers and joins in, "You can go through walls now, though."

I frown, "Does it take a lot of effort to do that?"

Frank holds a laugh, "You just gotta take a running start."

"C'mon." Bob eagerly flies through the wall.

"Wait -" Ray starts, but it's too late.

I take a running start to follow him but inevitably meet with reality. There's a loud crack and I smack against the drywall. Frank cackles as I fall over and leave a dent in the wall's paint job.

Ray shakes his head in mild disappointment. Bob can be heard laughing on the other side of the wall while Frank is still gasping for air. Mikey is a fraction closer to smiling with them, but I'm still crippled on the basement floor.