Once I Was Blind

Chapter 3

Todd had been in the best of moods all day. He'd run into Elizabeth on several occasions, whether she was bringing up luggage or serving food in the hotels restaurant (She seemed to have to be multitasking, as the hotel had recently lost an unusual amount of employees.) and he pondered how he had never seen her before yesterday. He definitely would have remembered if he had. His day was going so well that even his jackass boss or his crazy ass landlord couldn't bring him down. Suddenly, his boss pulled him aside. great, he thought. But all it was was his boss telling him that he needed to go up to the hotel's penthouse to check something out. Apparently, it had had a do not disturb sign on it since yesterday, and people were starting to wonder. Hmmmm, Todd thought. That was odd. But anyway, he got in the elevator and went on his way up. He hummed to himself, as the elevator ascended, thinking that he'd never been in a better mood, even though almost everything else in his life was going wrong right now. He heard a ding and the elevator had reached the top, the little PH letters blinking white at him. The doors open and he got off. The first thing he saw was the flickering lights. And the next thing he heard were the screams.

***

Todd's heart beat out of his chest. Someone was screaming, and the screams became louder and more frantic sounding. That's when he recognized the sound of the voice. It was Elizabeth. Oh, hell no. What if someone was hurting her!? He became angry and his walk turned into a full sprint. What was happening to her?! He wished his legs were longer so he could get there faster. He swore, if someone had hurt her, he'd kill them. He finally arrived on the scene, and the first think he saw was Elizabeth. She had her hands over her mouth, screams still coming. She was crying and her eyes were wide as she stared through the open doors of the penthouse. he ran to her. "Oh my God, Elizabeth, are you alright?!" She looked up at him, mascara tears running down her cheeks. Her screams quickly turned into whimpers and she embraced him, sobbing into his shirt, her eyes squeezed shut. He wrapped his arms around her, trying to comfort her, while low-key thrilled that she was hugging him. "God, Elizabeth, what happened?" She looked up at him, while he still held her. She was trembling. "In the penthouse...oh my God..." He turned to look, and his eyes widened. He screamed, too. It was like an apocalyptic, mass murderer movie. he'd never seen anything like it. there was blood everywhere, even bloody handprints marking the carpet. A man lay, chopped in half near right in front of him, and three others lay in the exact same fashion all about the penthouse. The piano was smashed and it appeared another man had been hurled upon it. The walls were charred and chunks seemed almost to be bitten out of them. Blood spatter was everywhere, and he tried to comfort Elizabeth while attempting to contain his horror himself. "Todd...iv'e never seen anything so horrible..." She began to cry again, and he pulled her close. Morbid as it sounded, he could not take his eyes away from the gruesome sight, it must have been the shock. "I...i'll call the police...come on, Elizabeth, let-let's get out of here now..." He led her away, doing his best to calm her as she started to relax a bit more, although terrified still. Little did Todd know that that was only the beginning of his adventures yet to come.