✓ | ONLINE ! ( ST & IT CAST AU )

xii. the basement

CHAPTER TWELVE.
[ xii. the basement ]
/ IRL /

SADIE CONTINUED TO weep as she lied her whole body on Caleb. His mark started to fade and so did he, sparking the girl's fear even more. "No, no, no. Please, Caleb stay," she begged quickly as she tried to hold him, but that couldn't stop anything. His body started to fade away into the air. His blood was still left on her hands. The door opened, making her jump and whip her head. Chosen.

"It's over. Everyone is accounted for, except you and Caleb," he explained with relief as he glanced around the room. "Where's Caleb?" Sadie cried even harder whenever she heard his name, which gave Chosen exactly the idea of what happened to him. "No, no, no," he repeated in disbelief. His heart fell to his stomach. "You're joking. Tell me you're joking."

"I'm not, Chosen," she sobbed and shook her head sheepishly. "He saved my life." Chosen's heart dropped and he fell to the ground. If only he knew exactly why Caleb risked his life.

"This isn't real," Chosen chuckled, trying to convince himself his best friend isn't dead. "This is all bull. This is a bullshit!" Tears formed his eyes. He hit the wall out of anger to try and hide the fact he was tearing up. Just then, Wyatt and Sophia ran towards the door, where they heard Sadie and Chosen's commotion. They're eyes widened as the saw the aftermath of the incident.

"Why are your hands covered in blood?" Sophia asked hesitantly, completely oblivious.

"Someone's missing," Wyatt added fearfully. Sophia's eyes went wide in realization as she knew who was missing.

"Caleb . . ." She trailed off with a gasp.

"No . . . he didn't," Wyatt whispered and shook his head in disbelief. Sadie got up and wiped her tears on her shirt. She swallowed the lump in her throat and stood tall, holding back the tears ready to unleash. She went to walk out of the room, determined to leave memories and emotions back in that room. And she was meant for them to stay there. She and Caleb dated for a bit back in seventh grade. They were the most "popular" couple there, till Caleb broke up with her for a reason she doesn't know and will never know. She still cared, just in a platonic way. She kept wiping the tears still streaming down her face as she arrived in the living room, receiving sympathetic glances from everyone.

"Is everyone okay?" She asked, clearing her throat.

"Yea. Gaten's awake," Lilia explained with relief, pointing to Gaten.

"Is it true?" Gaten questioned, getting up from the couch. "That Caleb died?"

"Caleb? Who's Caleb?" Sadie nervously chuckled, receiving confused looks from everyone. She kept wiping her wet cheeks, trying to ignore everyone in the room.

"Caleb Mclaughlin. You guys' used to be really close, still was close?" Jeremy reminded questionably. Sadie shook her head with a fake smile.

"Nah, I don't know him." Actually, she did. I guess, people cope with death in different ways. And her way, was trying to forget he even existed.

***

Jeremy stayed up as he watched everyone sleep, he couldn't sleep. Oh how he wanted to, he just physically and emotionally couldn't. He checked the time on his phone, 2:27 a.m. He never usually stayed up this late, maybe he was going crazy.

Jeremy's mind is more active at night, he was more determined at night. He decided to search the house, possibly for any clues onto who's behind this. He started walking through the darkness of the house, trying not to make noise. Jeremy noticed someone was missing, he just couldn't think of who. As he was walking through a random hallway, he started to get the idea to check the basement. Usually, he would think this is a horrible idea, but he didn't care what was gonna happen to him. He carefully opened the basement door, revealing stairs going downward into the dark abyss. He took a breather and started carefully walking down the steps.

He eventually reached the bottom and got out his phone flashlight. "Woah," he whispered in awe to himself. Tons of computer equipment was neatly organized, wires connected to most of it. It was clean, not like a usual dirty, dusty basement. Pictures of everyone were on the walls, some with big, large 'X's' across them. He flipped on the light switch and the light shined on everything. He took notice that a lock was hanging on the wall, a lock to lock the basement door from the inside out. "The guy has been here the whole time," Jeremy whispered to himself, disturbed. He touched the keyboards that connected to the computer. He sat down in the office chair and decided to be curious.

He clicked the mouse and it immediately popped up something strange. It seemed like millions of files were on that desktop and he noticed one was labeled Jeremy Ray Taylor. He hesitantly clicked on it, fearing what he may find. All of his information was in that file, including pictures of him from who knows where. He glanced at something pointing out to him, online, was written beside Jeremy's name. He clicked off of his file and went to Millie's. He looked and noticed her's was labeled offline. "What is going on?" Jeremy asked himself as he clicked off the "deceased" girl's file. His stomach turned with disgust and with fear, knowing he shouldn't be down here. Just then, he heard the basement door slam shut.

He jumped out of the chair and ran up the stairs. Jeremy tried to open the door but it was locked. He started panicking and started banging on the door. "Help!" He screamed. He kept banging, terrified what's gonna happen to him. Without thinking, he backed up, causing him to trip. He fell down the flight of stairs, hitting his head along the way and passing out on the cold hard ground.

Jeremy didn't die that night, but he wouldn't be found for a while.

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DID YOU NOTICE I PUT "" AROUND DECEASED, THATS SOME FORESHADOWING.