A shadow among men

The 4th floor

     I held my breath and slid backwards on the floor quietly. I managed to get out of the room without him hearing me again, if he spoke again I couldn't hear what he said. "Hey sis, found the key" Jay's voice made me jump a foot in the air. I nodded as I took a breath. "You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." He said. I nodded again, it's probably best if he didn't know about Mitchell possibly being here. I pointed to the stairway gate. "I will take that as you are ready to get this over with. Celeste, let's go" Jay said as he walked towards the gate. I looked around, this place looked much cleaner that I remember it. I heard the gate squeak as Jay opened it. Celeste came up to my side looking slightly pale. I put a hand on her shoulder, I was scared too but I had to try and be strong so she wouldn't get too scared. Jay started up the stairs, I let Celeste in front of me, I had a bad feeling about the fourth floor. I doubt it was fully cleaned seeing as the gate was locked. The stairs creaked as the three of us made our way up the wooden stairs. No one made a sound when Jay pulled the gate open to the floor. "Jesus" Jays voice was quiet and whispered as his shoes suctioned to the ground. Celeste flinched away. "You girls don't have to come. I can look alone" Jay said seeing Celeste. Celeste didn't think twice about going back. I pushed myself against the splintering wooden rail so she could get by. "You gonna be okay sis?" Jay looked at me with a worried expression. I nodded, I wanted to see what else was up here. Even if it scared me half to hell.

     I went up the last few steps and my shoes felt heavy with every step, I looked down. I was right about it not being clean. Blood scattered the floor and most of the walls. Most of the blood looked dry, this was fresh. My stomach turned thinking what it could be from. I looked at Jay, he was looking at the door almost directly in front of us. It was the metal door with the small glass pane on it. The door I remember seeing when Doc brought me up the elevator. The door frame had a name. Celeste Woods. It was splattered with blood as well. A shiver went up my spine, Mitchell never slipped on a single detail to scare me. The creep was trying his hardest to scare me at first. I knew he wouldn't have me killed, I overheard him talking about his ex, she looked like me. I shook the thoughts off, Jay was walking slowly down the hall looking back to check on me every few steps. I began following him, our shoes left blood stains on the floor as we walked. Jay would check every door as we walked, they were all locked oddly enough. We reached the last door, Doc's office. The door was unlocked, Jay opened the door and we were hit with a strong stench of death. Jay covered his nose with his hand and went in. I was used to such strong smells so I didn't bother. I went in and looked at the table, blood stained the right side of the head rest. He never cleaned it after he finished with me, I gently felt the side of my head. The hole was not healed and was easy to find. I cringed when I felt a sting of pain.

     Jay stopped poking around in cabinets and looked at me. I quickly moved to a cabinet, I don't want him worrying about my pain, he has done enough of that. I opened the cabinet to see shelves and jars. I felt bile building in my throat. Only one jar had something in it, it was on the top shelve at eye level. It looked like.. like my.. voice box. I slammed the cabinet shut making the jars hit one another. Tears began falling as I leaned my head against the doors of the cabinet. "Sis, we should go" Jay's voice was soft as he placed his hands on my shoulders and pulled my gently away from the cabinet. My mind was in a blur as he led me back down the hall. When we got to the elevator I stopped. Jay moved to face me and looked my face over. "Is everything okay?" I looked him in the eyes and nodded, I pointed to him and then the stairs. He looked towards the stairwell then to me. "You want me to go? Not likely, I am not leaving you here alone sis" His voice was gentle but stern. I smiled and hugged him. When I pulled back I pointed to the stairwell again and smiled trying to tell him I would be okay. He sighed, I know he doesn't want to. He looked around, and looked back at me. "Fine. But if I hear anything weird I will march right back up here. I nodded, he looked at me a minute longer and went down the stairwell. 

     When I was sure I couldn't hear him anymore I set off. When we were in Doc's office I saw a key in the cabinet, I didn't quite register it because of the jar I saw on top  but I want to see what it unlocks. I quickly went to the cabinet and opened it again. My stomach churned at the jar again, I ignored it and grabbed the key hiding behind it. I went into the hall and checked every lock. No lock worked until I got to Celeste's door. The key clicked into place the knob turned. I took a deep breath and entered the room.

     The room smelled stronger of death than Doc's office and fresh blood splattered the floor by a wall. The wall seemed to be open though. I slowly moved towards it, it almost looked like a closet. The closer I got to the opening the worse the stench got, I covered my mouth and nose as I crept through the blood on the floor. I pulled the opened wall panel so it was fully open. I saw Danielle's face staring back at me. I felt a scream lodged in my throat. Danielle wasn't Danielle at all, it was her skin. Hung up like leather on a tanning rack. I stepped backwards and fell, barely missing the bloody puddle as I hit the floor with a loud thud. "Summer?!" I heard Jay's feet pounding the stairs as he ran to me.