After Hours

Chapter 23.

Ember's POV.

   Vanessa glances at me before falling to the ground. I rush to her side.

  "Vanessa, you ok?" I ask.

   She has her eyes shut tight and her hands clamped over her ears. I have never seen her like this. She's always so tough and emotionless and to see her like this makes me hurt for her. She whispers to herself, eyes still closed.

  "You're dreaming. You're dreaming. You're fine, Eva's fine," she whispers.

   Why is she acting like this? I mean, I know Eva was her friend but was she something more? A best friend?

  "Vanessa," I say, trying to pull her to feet.

  "Get off me!" she screams suddenly, opening her eyes. "Leave me. I'm dead already."

  "I'm not leaving you, Vanessa. We can get out of here," I say.

  "How?" she screams at me, making me flinch. "There. Is. No. Way. Out."

   I sigh. Of course there isn't. No one has ever gotten out of here alive, right?

  "We'll get Eva," I say.

  "Oh yeah? Just like you got Cameron and Jess?" Vanessa sits up and says sarcastically. "Oh, and Grayson, right? Funny how you saved him."

   Her words pierce my heart and I sit back. Defeated. "I'm sorry about Eva." I say after at least ten minutes of silence.

  "I promised I would get her home. Get us home," Vanessa whispers, eyes focused on the floor.

  "What is Eva to you?" I ask.

  "She's my sister," Vanessa whispers.

   Of course! How could I not have seen it! I'm not sure how to react to her so I awkwardly trace a pattern in the dirt floor.

  "I remember when she was born. I was only two, I think. How I wanted a little sister and to get her was so exciting for me. When she got a little older, we did everything together. I remember when I was seven years old and she was five I told her if anything ever happened to us, I would protect her as much as I could. And I failed her." Vanessa says.

  "You didn't fail her. You protected her as best you could. What could you do against the ShadowMan? No one can stop him apparently. We have tried," I say.

   Vanessa, still looking at the ground, lets a single tear fall down her cheek. She sniffs and wipes her eyes.

  "Are we going to try and find her again?" I ask after a while.

  "Whats the point?" Vanessa says. "We been up and down both ways of these tunnels. We can die in here."

   Die? I certainly don't plan on that. I have to find them. I get up and dust off my pants. "I'm going. You can come if you want," I offer.

   Vanessa hands me the last bottle of water, her phone, and her jacket. "Have fun."

   I can't believe her! She's literally giving up! And, I honestly don't want to go through these dark tunnels alone. What? I'm terrified of the dark.

  "You are coming with me, Vanessa. For Eva," I suddenly remember the kiss I shared with Cameron. "For Cameron."

   She looks up at me and shakes her head. "Have fun dying."

   I sigh heavily, turn on my heel, and walk a few yards away. I cast a look over my shoulder, expecting her to have come to her senses and follow me, but she still sits on the dirt floor staring at the ground. I turn on her phone's light and walk deeper and deeper into the tunnels. Where am I going? I have no clue.

  "EMBER!" I hear someone scream my name and I look behind me.

  "Grayson?" I ask, recognizing his voice.

   A sharp piercing noise cuts into my ears, making me drop to my knees and cry out in pain. I feel my ear and feel warm, slick blood coating my left ear. I cry out again as the scream rings out, piercing straight through my ear like a knife.

  "Stop, please!" I beg, trying to rise to my feet.

   The screaming stops, but I know it will come again. My left ear is ringing loudly and my head is pounding. I feel my ear and find it's bleeding heavily. I snap my fingers by it and...can't hear it. I do the same on my right ear and can hear it perfectly.

  "No, no, no," I say, snapping and clapping by my left ear.

   I wipe the blood away with part of my tanktop, but it still coats the inside of my ear. Nevertheless, I pick up Vanessa's phone and water bottle and continue on.

  "I won't give up," I say to myself after walking for at least an hour. "I won't give up."

   But my feet and body say no. I have to. I sink to my knees. I hear a sort of grunting and moaning behind me and I groan. I turn around and it's Aurora, from the first few nights I was here.

  "You picked the wrong time to come at me," I say.

   I pick up my knife and stab her in the neck, same that Cameron did so long ago. Which, wasn't that long ago. Only a few days ago. She falls to the ground, blood dripping from her neck. I kick her in the head and walk away, wiping the blood off my knife in one clean wipe.

  "Nice talking to you," I call over my shoulder.

   That gave me some sort of new energy. I run my hands over the walls, trying to find a entrance to somewhere. My hand scratches against something and I wince.

  "Ow," I say and wipe the blood off my hand.

   I shine the light on the wall and squint into the light. I see something in the wall. It looks like a handle, but it's covered in thick dirt on the wall. I grab my knife and start scraping away at the door. It's very thick and I don't think the job will be done with just my knife. I grab my gun and fire it into the wall, making the dirt crumble and fall to the ground. I fire three more shots and then scrape the rest of the dirt off the handle. The door is quite taller than me and I have to stand on my tiptoes to reach the handle. I pull hard on the rusted handle, but it won't budge.

  "You have to be kidding me," I whisper in frustration.

   I pull hard on the handle again using all my strength. Which, mind you, isn't a lot. I pull again on the handle and then notice a padlock on it.

  "Duh," I say.

   I shoot the padlock and it comes off instantly. I pull again on the handle and it opens slowly. I peek my head inside the dark room.

  "Grayson?" I whisper, but hear nothing.

   I turn on my lights and shine it into the room. It seems that there are several rusty cells in the room, but they are all empty. All but one. I walk over to it and shine the light in.

  "Ethan?" I ask, kneeling down by the cell.

   His black hair is all knotted up around his eyes and the color has drained from his green eyes. His face is pale and very thin. He has deep scars and bruises around his eyes. I only have a second to jump away from the cell when he lashes out at me.

   He's one of Them.

Sorry I haven't updated in so long!

Hope you liked this chapter!