House of Trap

23 | Locked Out

When the other three caught up with Damon and witnessed the same peculiarity, their stoic expression turned to that of utter horror.

"W-what happened?" Maddie was the first one to break the silence. "She was here a half hour ago..."

The sound of Damon's pissed off grunt, followed by the loud slamming of his fist against the wall surprised the others. "We got tricked!" He punched the wall again. "You were right. Ashlyn is the Game Master."

"She is?" Maddie blinked her eyes, trying to make sense of it. "But—"

"She faked her death. That's the only logical explanation." Damon brushed his hand over his hair, slightly pulling it. His knuckles were red and bruised, but that wasn't his main concern. "We fell for her lie."

"But how can that be? I killed her... I made sure she was dead," Jay unconsciously blurted out last night's crime.

Maddie turned to him, completely frightened. She squeezed Ethan's hand harder and shielded herself behind him. Yet, both were too petrified to respond to the murderer's confession. Judging on Damon's calm demeanor, perhaps he was an accomplice.

"Are you sure you killed her? Tell me what you did," Damon urged, pushing the younger guy against the wall and smashing the empty space beside Jay's head.

"I... I used a damp cloth and held it against her mouth and nose to block the air. She wasn't breathing by the time I left. I made sure of it," Jay answered.

"You idiot! She probably fainted. Or maybe her body was experiencing some sort of shock and appeared lifeless for a moment," Damon explained, annoyance clearly embedded in his tone.

"So what does this mean? Is Ashlyn still alive?" Maddie questioned carefully. She should be happy about this fact, but why was she frightened instead? Ashlyn's features resembled a corpse earlier, a beautiful one. Damon said her body was cold. Was the dead raised to life, or were they truly fooled?

"Now that we know her identity as the Game Master, do you think she is going to sit idle and let us roam around freely? We need to get out of here," Damon instructed. This time he sounded rushed and headed off elsewhere.

"She's gonna kill us..." Jay muttered, paranoia struck over him. His face was completely blanched, and he was shaking terribly like a person frozen in the absence of heat. "She's gonna kill me first. I tried to hurt her. I'm next."

"We don't know that yet. We need to find a way out of here, quick." Ethan nudged him with slight force to knock some sense back into his head. "Let's tell Bree what happened."

"Wait!" Maddie quickly stopped him. "Let me grab some things before we go."

She had a feeling they were on their path to escape this place. So she quickly rushed to her room to grab the one thing she would need as proof—something to convince police officers what had happened to them if she testified. She grabbed her bagpack and quickly stuffed the black notebook inside.

"Ready?" Ethan asked as he had been waiting by the door. He kept a constant watch on the lookout, making sure nothing suspicious would try to harm them.

"Yes."

With Maddie's hand in his, Ethan ascended the stairs, careful so she wouldn't trip. They headed to the dining room where they had played their final game to pick up the other female who had remained there in utter disgust towards herself.

"Bree, we—"

His words were cut short when he stared at yet another murder scene in front of his eyes.

Bree was still crouched on the floor and her upper body reached out to something on top of the table. Her effort were met relentless when death got to her first. A pencil was stabbing the side of her neck. It tore her white porcelain skin, puncturing a hole within, and exposed the red flesh to the eye of the beholder. Dark colored blood was dripping from her neck and mouth simultaneously, still fresh.