Eyes Like Hellfire [Completed]

Chapter 2

Ow. Where the hell am I?

I woke up on a rough, wooden floor, a familiar darkness surrounding me. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I noticed my surroundings bit by bit. The faded coral sofa, the white vase containing the single dead white rose, but it was the painting that brought everything back to me. The black eyes that looked like they had no end caused the chilling memory to speed through my mind.

I'm back? How am I back? I can't be...

I slowly sat up, looking around the room to make sure that my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. To my dismay, they weren't.

Everything was exactly how I remembered it. Though I wish I didn't remember it at all. Every time a single snippet of that night flashed through my mind, my heart would beat faster, my mouth would go dry, and a chill would run up my spine. I'd had those episodes a few times before, and they would always end with me feeling trapped, vulnerable; unable to move or function until someone brought me back to reality.

I carefully stood up, taking in what was around me, making sure I was alone. I scanned every inch of the room until I was satisfied. Then, I went with my first instincts and bolted towards the front door, desperately trying the handle. The door didn't move; I was locked in. Trapped. Vulnerable. Just like in my memories.

Well, crap. This is just great.

I turned around. This time, instead of looking up the stairs to where I encountered that... thing last time, I opted to go down the hallway adjacent to the stairs. My bare feet hitting the wood floor was the only sound that echoed through the house as I walked. That and the rain outside.

Rain? When did it start raining?

I hadn't noticed any rain prior, but now it was pouring against the windows, as if trying to drown the glass. The lightening became violent as well; thunder continuously screaming outside the home after each strike of a lightening bolt attacked the ground.

The weather's abuse of the earth was soon forgotten as I stepped into a library. Books and bookshelves lined the walls, causing the room to seem even darker than the others. But with that came a certain sense of... security that wasn't present in the rest of the house. I felt safer here, like whatever evil cloaked the house wasn't welcome here. Like the room was immune to it.

But as quickly as the sense of safety settled in my bones, it was ripped away as a cool chill seeped into my veins. "No, no, no, not again. Seriously, not again." And as soon as I finished my sentence, I knew I wasn't alone anymore. There were eyes on me, so many of them boring straight into the core of my very soul, seeing right through me. It was as if the walls had eyes of their own that I couldn't see. But I didn't see anyone.

Not until one of them decided to show themselves to me, at least. And I wish she hadn't.

In the blink of an eye, there was a woman standing in front of me. She was as pale as paper, except for the bruises that littered her body. The black splotches were everywhere, like the spots on an animal. Her lips were blue and frosted, like she had been in the cold, and you could see the veins running up and down her arms. But what terrified me were her eyes. Where her eyes would be were only two holes. Two holes of absolute nothing. There were black strings hanging out under her sockets, as if what once was in place of the twin chasms was, for a lack of better wording, viciously ripped out.

The woman who looked like she just came out of a horror movie took a step towards me, causing me to fumble all the way back until my back hit a bookcase. My breathing hitched as she reached out her hand to me. Her voice was hollow when she spoke, not louder than the whispers of the wind, but so full of pain, agony, and despair that it send dread coursing through my blood.