A Little Bit Of Hell

Chapter 23

Charlie's POV

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I stare at Ben, in the back of my mind I'm almost to afraid to take my eyes off him. He's standing next to Ruth, and even though he's not overly tall, he towers over her. "So what about if we need to go out to get food? What do we do then?" I ask Ben, the thought of being stuck in Rue and Matt's mansion for god knows how long making me feel claustrophobic. Ben smirks, biting his lip. "I'm sure your brother can bring you something, none of you girls are leaving the Mansion." His eyes flash with fire. We all go silent for a few seconds, the only sound the dripping of icy water from Ben's hair that never seems to dry. Ruth looks up at Ben, the look on her face makes her look like a shy little girl about to ask her older brother's friend a question. "But..." She starts, Ben looks down at her expectantly. "What are we going to tell Matt and Damien?" We all look around at each other, worried and confused. Except for Ben, who's staring at the floor in the centre of everyone, a looking of aggravated annoyance on his face. "You should tell them, you'll need all the protection you can get from these monsters." Ben says, his voice that horrible low, buzzing voice that I don't think I'll ever grow accustom to. Ash rolls his eyes. "What's to say they'll even believe us?" He mutters. Bens eyes are filled with a burning anger, but his face is calm. "I'll deal with Matt. The rest of you can tell the other one." Ash's face changes, and he quickly steps in. "Actually, I think it'll be just fine if I tell Matt." Ash gives Ben a snake like look as though there's something only the two of them know. Ben scowls, and looks away angrily. If I didn't know any better, I'd say these two already know eachother. The sound of running down the stairs makes everyone whip their heads into the direction of the sound. Rue, reaches the bottom, a look of distress clear on her face. We all move forward in concern. "E.J-Um, Jack, he said to get down here, he wants Ash! He told Ben to help us hide... He said something was coming? Something about proxies?" Her words are jumbled together and most of them unfinished. Both Ben and Ash are fully alert, and look as though they're ready to spill blood in a heartbeat. I shiver internally, as the look on their faces almost looks like they're TOO excited to cause bloodshed. Ben grabs Ruth by her waist, Ruth's eyes growing wide and her hand raising to push him off before lowering it in hesitation. Without a word, Ash moves briskly up the stairs to where E.J is waiting. Ben drags Ruth forward, grabbing my shoulder and pushing me forward, then doing the same to Rue, then Savannah. Ruth begins to say something, but Ben cuts her off "Shut up, and get into the closet!" His voice is deep and aggressive, so threatening I keep my mouth shut in fear of what he'll do to me if I don't. He throws open the door to the living room closet, and almost immediately Savannah goes to enter the closet, before Ben grabs the back of her shirt, ripping her back. "Are you fucked in the head?!" He whisper shouts, Savannah staring wide eyed at him, clearly caught off guard. "The closet is the first place they would look!" Savannah hesitates in confusion for a second. "But you said-" he cuts her off by grabbing her arm, and looking down at the floor hatch in the floorboards of the closet. The little crawl space made for storing winter clothes or whatever, but at this time it was empty. I used to use that as a hiding place while playing Hide and Seek as a child, I was always last to be found. Immediately, Ben flips the latch up, and throws open the trap doors, revealing the little box shaped crawl space, about four feet wide and four three deep. He grabs Savannah with one hand and Rue with other, potentially shoving them into the crawl space. Before he could shove me, I jump into the tiny space, cramming together as closely as we can, barely enough space for the three of us, let alone one more person. Ruth goes forward to step into the box, but Ben grabs her wrist, pulling her back into him, his left hand holding her roughly by the back of her hair, pressing his lips against hers. From what I can see of Ruth's face, she's as shocked as the three of us sitting in the box. Her hands raise up I front of her as if in defence, and after about three seconds he pushes away from her, shoving her full force into the box. Just before shutting the trap doors on us, he leans in and whispers "If they find you girls, you better goddamn run." and shuts it on us, the sound of boxes being pushed over the crawl space and the closet doors closing following soon after. The tiny space causes us to have to force our necks down. We can hear his footsteps leading up the stairs.

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Ruth's POV

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I sit silently in the cramped darkness, the surprise from Ben's actions still not fully worn off. Where the fuck did that come from?! The heavy tension in the air is a mixture between fear, confusion, shock, and the weirdness of what just happened. None of us dare say a word, even though the whole house is deathly silent, no sign of a fight or struggle, any sound could give away our hiding space. My ears begin to ring from the deafening silence, and the suspense of the whole situation is enough to kill me.
BANG
We all jump in shock, the sound of a gunshot ringing through the air. "Get the fuck out here, you fucking cunts!" An aggressive, horribly loud and intimidating voice shouts from the outside of the mansion. Three more gunshots round off, and the sound of someone kicking the door open, makes us jump again. My heart is gunning in my chest, and I can hear very clearly the sound of crashing and banging, as whoever just bashed in the door begins searching for us. I hear Savannah sniffle beside me, and it's only now I realise that I'm crying as well. "We know your here! Get the fuck out!" The same voice yells. My hands begin to shake in fear, and I have to raise my hand to my mouth to stifle a scream. I didn't realise until now, but I can now hear Ash's voice along with whoever else is in here. He's shouting at the intruder, and from what I can tell, he's putting up a fight. The banging crashing of things being thrown, or someone being thrown into stuff is causing the closet to shake and tremble. Savannah grabs my shoulder, squeezing it. We can still hear the banging and crashing, causing the closet to shake and tremble. "Get the fuck out, you fucking sluts!" He screams again, smashing what sounds like a window, or maybe the mirror. Whoever the fuck is out there is making so much noise my ears begin to ring again. And as suddenly as it started, it all stops. My breath hitches in my throat as I try not to make any sound. The sound I heard next, causes a cold chill down my spine. The closet doors creak open, and I pray to god he doesn't notice the trap doors on the floor. I hear a small chuckle. "Found you."  trap doors swing open so fast, I barely have time to think, which apparently isn't the case for Savannah and Rue. Savannah leans down, and kicks up at the boy in the mask, hitting him square in the face, scrambling up, Rue following behind her. I have never seen Savannah move so fast. I lean into one side, pushing myself out of the box and stumbling to my feet, I lift my head, And scramble out of the box. Savannah is running up the stairs, and Rue is back up frantically into the corner. The boy I recognise as Masky is on the ground, ready to pull himself to his feet. Before I can think, he grabs my ankle, pulling me to the ground. I scream, and kick at him. He pulls up, his fist crashing into the side of my head.

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