OBSCURA (TNT Horror Contest)

Obscura: Part One

In a Remote Parking Lot in Washington D.C.

"They do things...bad things...to kids." Emily's hand shook as she took a long puff from her cigarette.

"Like what?" the reporter asked.

"They strap their legs down to a bed, shred the flesh and let it rot. Gangrene usually sets in and starts turning every inch of their skin green and nasty. They don't strap the kids down up top though; they let them sit up so they can see what's happening to their bodies."

The reporter wrote as fast as she could.

"But to really terrify them, they put them in a dark room and take one kid out. And then, when the kid comes back, he doesn't have any eyeballs. They turn on the lights and the kids go nuts, trying to get away from the one that has no eyes. Are you sure you can hide me?"

"Yes, of course. You'll be safe. We'll put you in a hotel under an alias. Don't worry, I've done this before. Let me ask, why do they this? What do they have to gain from hurting all these children?"

"Fear." Emily's bloodshot eyes welled up. "They live off of fear."

                                                        Five Years Later

Dang, they weren't kidding about these hangovers, this hurts like hell. I sat up and grabbed my head as the room spun around me. My unsettled stomach was going to make me pay for last night. I blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the morning light and remembering I wasn't at home anymore. My room wasn't my room.

Someone must have unpacked for me last night; Bronte, Austin and Hugo made it safely to the shelf as well as all my trophies. I looked around the newly decorated room; it was done in light pink, yellow and green plaids and girlie flowers and way more traditional than what I would have chosen.

My new bedroom should have made me feel warm and cozy but instead it made me feel creepy. While we were drinking, Ben told my sister and I these insane stories he had heard from a former resident and his words wouldn't stop playing in my head. Emily Garner said that on Level C there is a place called The Red House. It's supposed to be like some temple to Saturn or something. There is this cult; it runs the whole country, and they're a bunch of weird sadistic fucks. I knew Ben was probably just messing with our heads, that's what big brothers are supposed to do, or at least, that's what he tells me he is supposed to do, but still the stories were disturbing, and I'll never forget them.

Ben was just a year older than me, and I was a year older than Amelia. If we were movie characters, Ben would be Neo, stuck between two worlds, Amelia, Jenny in Forrest Gump, a mess and forever falling for the wrong guy all while the right guy was standing right there next to her, and me, Queen Amidala, a statue, always together in front of people but a scared girl on the inside.

Being that we couldn't leave here without going through the proper channels, my older brother and us snuck down to the basement last night with a few bottles of wine and mourned what would be the end of our teen years.

Come to find out, Secret Service can be bribed to let a few rules slide as long as we stay in the house and stay away from the basement levels B and C. I don't know what Ben gave Charlie to let us escape to Level A, but whatever it was, it worked.

"Beatrice," a staff member said my name and knocked on my door.

I winced. "Yes."

"It's Maria. I am supposed to let you know your parents would like you to join them for breakfast."