You're Not Alone// A Dolan Twins Thriller

4| Cold Water

Ethan

We pull the triggers. Blanks.

"Oh thank God." I sigh. Grayson and I drop our guns and bear hug each other.

"You two performed well in this challenge. Even keeping you cool when faced with certain death. Now, return to the warehouse floor. Another challenge awaits you." The psycho says.

The door to the warehouse floor unlocks automatically. I open the door and we exit the kitchen.

"So, what's this challenge?!" I yell into the empty space.

"Another key is hidden in this room, but in a less obvious spot this time." The psycho answers. "You have two hours remaining to complete the rest of the challenges. Tick tock!" The voice disappears.

"Again?" Gray sighs.

"Come on! Start looking!" I order my slightly younger brother.

This time we take the side of the warehouse that the other person checked the first time. I'm walking by the trampoline when I accidentally kick it.

"Ow! Fuck!" I say and bend down to rub my foot. I look under the trampoline as I do and notice something dandling from one of the springs by a small piece of rope. I rip it off the spring. "Gray, I found it!" I yell across the room.

"All right!" Grayson yells back and comes running to meet me in the center of the warehouse.

The voice returns to haunt us. "You two are improving. That only took you fifteen minutes as opposed to the thirty it took the first time. Now, choose your next room. The bathroom and the editing room remain." The speakers click off.

"I say bathroom. What about you?" Grayson asks.

"I was thinking the editing room." I answer.

"Let's flip a coin then. Heads is bathroom, tails is editing room." He pulls a quarter from his pocket. He flips the coin into the air and catches it. He slaps it down on his forearm and moves his hand to look at it. "Bathroom it is." He says.

We walk up the steps to the loft and to the bathroom. I insert the key into the lock and unlock the door. Just like the first key, it breaks when I try to take it out. I turn the knob and we go in.

I close the door behind us.

"Welcome to your next challenge, Dolan Twins. In this room, there is a hidden item that must be located in order to escape the booby trap. That item is your first camera that you ever owned. Clues are scattered around the bathroom to help you find it." The psycho explains.

"What's the catch?" I ask.

"The catch is that in thirty minutes, this room will be filled to the ceiling with freezing cold water and you will drown if you don't find the camera in time. Begin!" The psycho says.

Suddenly, both the bathtub and the sink turn on and start to fill rapidly with water.

"Okay, start looking for clues or something. I'd rather not drown today." Grayson says in a panicked tone.

I fling open the medicine cabinet and start throwing bottles of various painkillers into the now ankle high water. I grab a bottle and realize that it's lighter than all the other bottles. I twist off the cap, expecting to find a couple pills but instead I find a small, rolled up piece of paper. I unroll it.

"What gets wetter as it dries?" I read it aloud.

"A towel." Grayson says, having overheard me. The water is now up our thighs and we'll be swimming before too long.

"The towel rack." I say and wade over to the shelves of towel in the back corner of the bathroom. I start moving towels only to find nothing under or on top of the towels. "What the hell?!" I exclaim.

"You're not looking hard enough." The psycho's voice comes through the speakers. "Maybe this will motivate you to look harder." The water begins to rise faster, reaching my pelvis and then my belly button within a matter of seconds until Grayson and I can no longer stand on the floor.

"Dude, I can't hold my breathe for longer than thirty seconds and the water's almost to the ceiling." Grayson says.

"Just stay calm, Gray. We can do this." My head hits the ceiling.

Grayson and I take a deep breath and go under water. He already has that look like he's running out of air. I do the first the first thing that comes to my head. I take Gray's head in my hands and smash my lips against his and breathe about half my lung capacity into him. He looks at me in shock and then he must realize what I did because he gives me a thumbs-up.

I turn around and focus on the towel rack. I look at the walls and the ceiling. That's when I notice paint coming off of one spot on the wall. I feel it and find that the dry wall has more give to it then it should. I punch the wall and my fist goes straight through. I feel around the hole until I find something. I grab it and pull it out. It's the camera. I turn around to show Grayson and gasp in a mouthful of water because Grayson's completely unconscious and floating. He passed out after he lost his breathe.

The door to the bathroom unlocks and opens automatically. The water rushes out and Grayson and I ride the wave all the way to the bottom of the stairs. I gasp for breathe and cough up water. I see Gray and immediately run over to him.

"Grayson! Grayson!" I yell and shake him violently. He doesn't move.

I put two fingers to his neck and feel for a pulse. It's not there and he's not breathing. I lock my fingers together and start doing CPR on my brother.