Matters of the Heart

Chapter 18: Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Chapter 18:

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Emily's heart slammed against her chest. She sucked in a pained breath. There was a coppery taste in her mouth. When she opened her eyes she was on the floor in a dark room. Her head was pounding.

"Ali?" Her voice was virtually a whisper. Her throat was killing her.

She slowly sat up. She felt around the cold hard floor. Her fingers brushed up against something solid right beside her. It was a wall. She twisted and pushed her back up against the wall to keep from collapsing.

Then she heard something she never thought she'd hear again:

"Welcome. Willkommen. Bienvenidos."

The audio-recording from the dollhouse reverberated off of the walls.

"No," Emily said weakly. "No. This...no, it's not possible."

According to police reports, half of the dollhouse had been destroyed by the fire they set to escape and after the investigation what was left of it had been gutted and stripped clean. So then where was she sitting?

The lights suddenly flipped on. Emily looked around the room. It was wall to wall cement. It looked like a prison cell, right down to the sad gray coloring of the floors. The room was empty except for a large long box on the floor in the middle of the room. It had a card with Emily's name on it instructing her to open her present.

She refused to move at first. Every bone in her body ached. She laid her head against the wall and struggled to remain conscious. She saw a flicker of movement above her. A small hole appeared in the ceiling. Seconds later something fell through the air and landed next to her with a loud pop. Flames flickered next to her before the object exploded, sending smoke everywhere. Emily leaned forward and coughed. Another smoke bomb landed next to her. She jerked away automatically. This one didn't explode. She looked at it and saw there was a slip of paper attached to it. She peeled it off and read the message:

"Play the game or they all die."

Another smoke bomb fell. Then another. So this must have been what Jenna Marshall felt like when Ali threw the firecracker that blinded her when they were kids. Emily couldn't stand the smoke, so she tentatively crawled towards the box. She pushed the top aside, but it was still too hazy from the fireworks to see inside. After a few seconds the air cleared and she saw a pair of familiar blue eyes staring back at her, but they weren't the bright eyes she loved. They were glassy, fixed and frozen.

"Alison..." She squeaked.

Emily gasped and backpedaled away from the makeshift coffin. She let out a loud wail and started to hyperventilate. The automated voice was telling her to do something, but she wasn't listening. A loud alarm filled the air, piercing her ears. She slammed her hands over her ears and curled into a ball. She shut her eyes tightly and rocked back and forth. When she finally got the courage to open her eyes again the lights had been shut off. She heard a hissing sound and the room had an odd odor in it. She choked on the sickeningly sweet air until she couldn't breathe anymore.

Then the room disappeared. She heard soft snoring next to her. She awoke with a jolt. Her eyes darted around the room. She was in Alison's house, Ali sleeping soundly beside her. Still, she couldn't seem to relax. Emily's entire body was so tense it felt like her bones were breaking. Her hands were trembling. Her palms were stinging from where her fingernails had been digging in to her skin. Her teeth were chattering, but she wasn't cold. In fact, her entire body felt like it was on fire. It took her a few seconds to realize that she was so frozen with fear that she was holding her breath. She sucked in a breath of air, giving her lungs some relief.