Living With the Enemy

Chapter 8: Alone in the Dark

Author's Note: Hello again! I'm going to be away all this weekend (tonight to Sunday afternoon) so I figured I might as well upload this while I can. Enjoy!

 The museum, to put it lightly, was trashed. All the lights had been burned out, and the garbage bags had been torn open and their contents strewn across the floor. A fair amount of obscene graffiti had been sprayed on the walls, including a lot about us, with rude gestures drawn accompanying them. I noticed a number of the offensive pictures had Damien's name written on them, as if he were the one who had drawn those images. Those particular ones also included words that I didn't think Damien even knew. And that was just the stuff I could see. The place was huge, and there were 3 levels of exhibits, plus a gigantic climbing structure that reached almost all the way to the ceiling.

"Okay, I think we should split up." said Ava. "We can cover more ground that way."

"Yeah, like whenever anyone in the movies splits up, it's totally a good thing, and everyone ends up just fine. Get real, Ava. We should stick together." I said.

"Actually, fire-girl, the thing I was going to suggest was that we split into groups, one for each floor. Zoe and Kat and Cam and I will take the ground floor, Allie, Becka, and Savannah can cover the second floor, and then Ember, Marie, and Max get the third. Sound good?"

"Yes. Anything else?" Allie asked.

"And if you hear any one of us screaming, drop what you're doing and go help them as fast as you can. Got that?"

"Yes!" we all said.

"Okay, then. Let's move!"

When we got to the third floor, I headed straight for the Mystery House. It was a lot darker than it usually was, which was kind of fishy.

"Come on, guys. Making the creepiest part of the whole museum even creepier? Who else would do that but Saturnine?" I asked.

"I don't want to go in there. It's too dark. There may be things...scary things...in there." Marie said.

"Don't worry. If anything comes near you I'll torch it." I said. "Max, can you do a quick run-through of the other exhibits on this floor, just to check if they're clear or not?"

"No problem." she said. Then, she became a blur and was out of sight in a second.

After that, Marie and I went into the Mystery House. It was completely dark, so I conjured up a fireball to light up the area for us. I kept it hovering in midair in front of me.

We walked through the house, taking our time as we didn't quite know where we were going. Sometimes, there were just these sounds that came out of nowhere for no reason whatsoever, making you (figuratively) jump halfway out of your own skin.

Then we came to the kitchen, which was the location of the beginning of the tunnel that would eventually deposit you in the bathroom of the house.

"Oh, I'm not going in there." Marie said of the tunnel. And for good reason too, the strange noises carried over into the tunnel, and it was completely dark as well and lined with surfaces that made you feel like you were actually in a drainpipe. (Don't ask how that feels.)

"I'm going in. Back when I was a little girl and my family went here all the time, this was my favorite part. It's not all bad, I promise. Just meet me in the bathroom, you'll see. It's just fine." I said.

"Okay." Marie said. "I guess I'll stand guard."

"It's settled then." I said. "Wish me luck."

With that, I plunged into the tunnel.

In retrospect, it was not one of my brightest ideas.

For one thing, it was dark. I mean, not like open-area-but-there-are-nightlights dark like it was in the rest of the house, but so dark you couldn't see the hand in front of your face. It was usually like that in the daytime, sure, but at night, alone, it was even creepier and darker. And the sounds we heard? They were in here, too. And they were loud. It was enough to make you crawl backwards out of the tunnel with your hands up, and scream "I surrender!" But I wasn't going to do that.

Also, it was a lot smaller than I thought it was. I hadn't been to this museum in 4 years, not since my powers had manifested, and since then, I had grown a lot. Not to say I was fat or anything, but it was a pretty safe bet that the tunnel was not built for high schoolers.

So I just kept crawling on, through the twists and turns of the tunnel (how's that for alliteration?) and then, finally, finally, I got to the end, hoisting myself up and out, then walking down the stairs (since the exit was a lot higher, there had to be a short flight of stairs next to the exit landing so people wouldn't fall and hurt themselves getting out) I thought Marie would be there, waiting for me, but she wasn't. But then...

"Boo!"

I sent a blast of fire at my assailant. It hit them in the chest, but whoever they were just smiled.

"I should be glad I'm immune to fire." they said. "But it isn't very nice to try to kill people when they saved your life a few days before."

I recognized the voice.

"Dylan?" I asked.

"The one and only." He said.

I conjured another fireball, and confirmed that it was indeed him. He smiled again.

"So, you did get my message?" I asked.

"Indeed. I even took out Saturnine for you. She's currently unconscious in the top of the climbing structure."

"So, uh...why are the lights still off?"

He laughed. "Oh, that's because I just wanted to scare you." he said.

"You scared me, all right. Dylan, you are an evil, evil boy." I said jokingly.

"I've been told that several times."

I playfully punched him in the arm. Then, he crumpled like a piece of paper and fell to the ground.

When he fell, Marie was standing behind him.

"Marie! What did you do that for?" I asked.

"Whoa, don't go all crazy on me. I thought he was trying to hurt you." she said innocently.

"He's a good guy! He could have helped us!"

"I'm sorry I incapacitated your boyfriend."

"He is not my boyfriend! But it's okay. Now, you have his powers, at least for a while. He controls water. Conjure up a tidal wave for us and get us out of here, so we can see if anyone else needs help."