A state of FEAR : Escape The Night Fanfiction

Rosanna

Ro was slipping in and out of consciousness. She didn't even know that was possible at this point. If she was really dead, how come she still had some form of consciousness. It didn't make sense to her in any way she thought about it.

If Matt were here, he'd have an explanation for it.

She couldn't stop thinking about Matt in her unconscious state and it frustrated her. Matt wasn't here. She was missing her friend more than anything right now and she didn't recognise the people who had saved her. At least not by voice alone.

The constant sound of discussion, it seemed like there was loads of people in there. She wasn't quite sure how to take that idea. Did all these people die because of Joey? Is he really at fault for all their deaths?

The short Jetsetter scrunched her eyes as she came back into a stable consciousness, hearing one or two people yell that she was awake, or something along the lines of that. She felt a gentle yet firm grip on her arm, at first surprising her before her eyes opened feebly.

She was in... a house? That was weird. Maybe it was that manor she had spotted when she was outside? Its appearance was old, classic. It reminded Ro of The Great Gatsby, as if it had stepped out of the 1920s. The stunning Chandelier immediately caught her eye, it was shinning all sorts of gold from the lights, so bright that she couldn't see what colour the actual thing was.

The grip of the hand on her arm tightened slightly. She could hear a voice calling a name and after blinking a couple of times, she managed to distinguish the voice and recognise it.

"Ro? Ro, can you hear me?"

She knew that voice. She knew that voice all too well. Oh how she'd missed it.

"Safiya..."

"Yeah, it's me Ro. You're okay, you're safe here."

Someone scoffed, before speaking up, a heavy Spanish accent evident in the speaker's voice.

"Yeah, safe. Arthur and his group are totally safe."

"...Lele..? Why are you here?"

The Latina's presence confused Rosanna even more. It made sense seeing Safiya here, as much as it pained the short woman. But Lele being here?

"We should tell her. Its only fair."

Another voice. She recognised this one vaguely as the voice of the male who had been carrying her in. Only now she could put a name to the face. Alex. Now that she was thinking about it, Lele had been missing for two years and Alex for one now. Along with a whole list of YouTubers who had all disappeared at the same time. She had been worried about it at first, but now it all seemed to make sense. She would be added to the next list. The next cold case. It chilled her to the bone.

"Is... is it because of Joey? That's why you disappeared?"

The nod she got was all the reply she needed. Safiya had begun to gently rub Ro's back as she sat up on the couch. She explained that while Ro had been asleep, they'd found Manny outside and later had been joined by Calliope and Mortimer. Hearing that another friend of hers was dead made this all worse for Ro.

Safiya went on to list everyone that was here who wasn't present in the room, including the young woman who Ro recalled seeing outside, fending off the man who she had assumed to be Arthur.

Allison, from what Ro could gather, was very similar to Calliope and Mortimer, someone related to the incident who ended up serving as a protector for the group of people who had disappeared last year.

Not long after having everything vaguely explained to her, Ro saw another familiar face enter the room. Liza. Liza who had been 'missing' since last year. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but the look on the Explorer's face was hard to distinguish, both a look of hope and despair at the same time.

"I got through to Joey. He might be able to save us all."

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Matt shot up, sweat drenching his face. It had been who knows how long since that night. Since he'd gotten back, he had been questioned time and time again by officer after officer and detective after detective. Since he'd gotten back, Steph had given birth to their baby. His son. His Little Theorist. And yet Matt couldn't celebrate. Not really. Every night he would wake up, not to Ollie crying, but to his own screams. He kept seeing it. Every single time he closed his eyes, he saw Ro. He heard her screams. These nightmares plagued his mind. He wanted to save her. But every time it would end the same and he would find himself in a cold sweat, or screaming, or crying or a combination of the three.

A gentle touch took him out of his thoughts.

"Matt? It's happened again, hasn't it."

Stephanie had been the biggest support through this. He'd told her everything, and while she had been sceptical at first. The moment that the missing person posters started to turn up, she believed every word.

Matt could only nod in reply to Steph, shaking softly as he let her rub circles on his back. Every moment when he wasn't working on theories for the channel, he was trying to relax with Steph. Which was most of the time now.

The silence between the pair was broken by the doorbell. The doorbell? At this hour? Matt checked his phone for the time.

5:46 AM

Why was someone at the door at this time?

"I'll get it."

Steph got up and left for the door while Matt calmed himself, running a hand through his hair and pulling on a t-shirt and pair of pants.

"Matt?"

"Is everything okay Steph?"

"...Joey's here. With Nikita."

Matt's heart stopped for a moment, maybe two. Not again.