I Survived A Horror Story *unedited version*

Chapter 25

Carefully, I moved the chair so the top wheels rested on the first step. "Seica I need help." I said. Seica arrived at my side and I directed her to hold the back while I climbed to the second step and faced Jet from the front. "Here, Jet, this is what I'm going to do, okay? So while Seica is holding the back, I'm going to lift it from the front and place it on the next step. Everything alright?"

"Yeah." He said. I bent down and grabbed the bottom of the seat, trying to ignore the ugly burns on Jet's leg.

"On three Seica. One... two... three!" Seica lifted the back and I lifted the front and we shakily brought him to the next stair. "Okay, again! One... two... three!" It was a slow process, but our painstakingly cautious movements paid off. After repeating the same steps for every stair, we finally got Jet upstairs safely.

Seica rolled Jet safely into the first bedroom in the hall - the one me and Michelle were supposed to share. We found Michelle sitting inside on the bed.

"You got them!" She said, looking a little surprised.

"Yeah." Seica said, "It took a lot of work though."

I left Seica's side and practically threw myself onto the bed, hearing Michelle squeal as I did so, "What the heck Saryl?!"

"I can sleep!" I cried, and then sat up.

"Okay, you two can talk I'll just take Jet to his room and then meet up with Melissa."

"Yeah you do that." I said, but as the words left my mouth I saw Jet look at me sharply. "What? You don't mind right?" It wasn't like I was his personal babysitter or anything, anyway.

Jet frowned. "Yes. I mean no. No."

"Great." I said. "Thanks Seica."

"Yeah, no problem." She turned Jet's chair around and rolled him out of the room. I sat still on the bed, and watched him move farther away from me until he disappeared. Then I flopped back onto the bed.

"Would you stop doing that?!" Michelle said irritatedly.

"I'm just so tired." I said, elongating each syllable.

"Then go to sleep." Michelle said. "I'll keep watch." I thought about it. The idea definitely did seem very appealing. All my muscles ached from carrying Jet up the stairs, and I was literally brain dead from all the thinking that had gone on.

"...Okay." I rolled to the edge of the bed and curled into a ball, trying to keep warm. Then I closed my eyes, and waited for sleep to come. I must've slept for an hour or two because when I awoke, I felt rested and relaxed. But that didn't last long.

For example, the dim light provided by the peeling lamp itself flickered uncertainly, and I felt the impending sense of doom. Of all things, it was the fact of not having light that threatened to send me overboard. Perhaps it was the darkness. There was something to the feeling of not knowing my surroundings, not seeing the color of things as they appear, but as they truly are. The unknown, the silence, and the cold... It unnerved me... and now I was going to be pitted right into it. "Michelle." I croaked, my voice terrifyingly low and stifled. "The light- the lights are going- Michelle? Michelle?!" Where the heck did Michelle go?

The room fell into darkness as pitch, dark black swam over my eyesight, taking over any other color I could once see and smothering me. I yanked myself up to a sitting position and scooted till my back was pressed against the bed frame, while gathering the sheets all around me. My breaths were short, labored puffs and they filled my ears with their ragged sound, along with the thump, thump of my bleeding, fearful heart. My eyes squeezed shut on their own accord, as I attempted to calm myself down. See? Everything's alright. Why are you afraid of the dark, anyway? That's stupid. Closing your eyes, it makes it dark. Are you afraid then? When you blink?

My thoughts swarmed around in my mind aimlessly, countering each other and failing to reassure me. Of course I'm afraid. Even when I close my eyes, there's always the fear of what's going to be waiting when I open them again. Well, what about the light then? You think monsters won't attack in the light, only in the dark? Everything just led to more questions, more mental battles. Time to try another tactic. Whatever you want to believe is reality. YOUR reality. If you believe you're smart, you're smart. If you believe ghosts aren't real, they're not. If you believe... If you believe death isn't scary, then it's not. And if death isn't scary, then what's there to fear? I opened my eyes, and the way I knew that they weren't still closed was when I reached up and touched my opened eyelid. I wasn't going to freak out. Seven other people were relying on me.

Pushing back the covers I crawled out of the bed fearfully and crept to the door. I twisted the doorknob and peered into the hallway. It was empty and everything was dead silent. I swallowed and stepped out of the room. The next room was Alen's and Mallarks. I pushed open the door and walked in. There was a covered form on the bed, and the sound of soft breaths filled the air. Was it Mallark? Alen? Or... I moved to the bed and hesitantly touched the sleeping form. "Hey. Wake up." Obviously, I got no response. Cautiously I pulled back the covers to reveal a sleeping Alen.

"Alen. Alen. Wake up." Silence. "Alen, seriously." I shook his shoulder until he finally opened his eyes.

"What? Saryl?" He blinked sleepily.

"Have you forgotten where you are?"

"I'm-" Suddenly he sat up quickly, "Oh fu-"

"Yeah. Where's Mallark?"

"Mallark's with you." He said, eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

"What? No! Seica said he'd be with you." My voice dropped, "And that his neck is..."

"Is what?"

"Is fine." I said. Alen doesn't know. Seica... lied? Lied about what? Everything?

"Mallark's neck is fine? Um... okay, too much information. I did not need to know you have a crush on Mallark." He swung his legs over the bed and hopped out.

"What? Wha- No. No! Ew, I don't have a crush on Mallark."

"That's what they all say."

"Alen!"

"What?"

"Just- just shut up!"

"Are you blushing?"

"NO!"

He peered at my face in the dark. "Yeah... you're not."

"Of course I'm not." I sighed. "Look, I think Seica is not Seica."

"Then who is she?"

"Danielle." I deadpanned.

"You mean she got possessed again."

"Yes." I hurried into the hallway when the realization hit me. "Oh my god."

"What?"

"She's going to kill us off one by one."