Little Touches | O. White | Escape the Night

VI. The Burial

"And now, we're going to decide who's going in the coffin and be buried alive." Arthur stated.

"Oh my goodness. This is terrible. Oh my goodness." Glozell muttered.

Arthur slowly dipped his hand into the hat and drew a name. "Justine." Arthur said.

"No, you guys! Why would you guys do this to me?" Justine shouted. She quickly tried to run away from them, but Marvin managed to grab her.

She screamed and flailed as Tim and Lele grabbed her legs so that she couldn't kick her way out of Marvin's grasp.

"You can't do this, please." Justine pleaded. "You've got to do this." Glozell said.

"Guys, we cant do this, come on!" Joey said. "We have to." Sierra said.

"Joey! Don't let them do this to me!" Justine shouted through her sobs. Tim, Lele and Marvin shoved her into the coffin. Justine let out a high pitched scream as they slammed the door shut on top of her. Alexa held down the door as the others began pushing it into the grave.

Alexa could feel her kicking against the wood and could hear her desperate cries as she tried to escape. Alexa couldn't help but mutter, "I'm sorry." She repeated the phrase under her breath numerous times.

Just don't think about it.

Another high pitched scream reached her ears.

God, just don't think about it.

"Please! Let me go!" Justine shouted. She sobbed even louder. "Please, let me go."

Alexa could hear the fear in her voice and could feel her eyes start to well up.

God, I'm sorry.

She felt another kick to the coffin.

I'm so sorry.

And another, and another and another.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

Alexa was practically shouting the phrase in her head. Marvin and the others pushed Justine in the grave and Alexa begrudgingly grabbed a shovel.

She began scooping the dirt and throwing it on top of the coffin. "No! Please!" Justine shouted. She banged her hands on the coffin multiple times.

"I'm sorry Justine, we've got to do this." Oli apologized.

"Don't pay attention to the screams." Sierra said. Justine screamed even louder again. "Don't pay attention to it." Sierra said.

"Joey, you're not going to help us out?" Tim asked.

Why would he want to help? His best friend is being buried alive for fucks sake. No one would want to help do that.

"No, I'm not going to help!" Joey shouted.

"Do you want us all to die, Joey?" Tim questioned. "This is sickening!" Joey said, pointing at the coffin.

"Joey at least needs to shovel one pile of dirt." Tim insisted.

"No." Joey responded. He kicked a pile of dirt towards the coffin. "There, happy?" Joey said angrily.

After a while, Justine stopped screaming. Alexa couldn't hear her kick against the coffin's door, she didn't hear her scream. Nothing,

"Wait, wait, wait, guys, do you hear that? I think she stopped." Lele realized.

Alexa listened, and heard nothing. No cries for help, no screaming, no banging against the coffin door. Nothing, just utter silence.

Alexa just wanted to drop that stupid shovel and kick it to the side. She didn't want to see this place ever again. She just wanted to get out of here, yet, she kept digging.

After what felt like forever, an odd sound disrupted the silence in the area.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Oli asked.

"What was that noise?" Joey questioned.

"It sounded like it came from over there." Matt mentioned. "Is there something there?" Alexa asked.

"Yes, dig. Come on. Yeah, yeah!" Glozell cheered. Oli dug into the spot and took out a strange case.

"It's got the marking on it." Matt noticed. "Joey, can you open it?" Matt asked.

Joey opened the case, and took out an artifact. "It's the artifact." Joey muttered.

"Yes! See, it was all worth it, Joey." Tim said, patting Joey's shoulder.

No it wasn't. Alexa wanted to say, but she kept quiet.

Well, at least we're closer to getting back to 2016.

Just think about that. Don't think about anything else.

"What is that?" Eva said, pointing at a strange, small, wooden box to Joey's left.

Joey picked it up and looked at it. "What is it?" Oli asked.

Lele took the box and tried to find a way to open it, but there didn't seem to be a way to open it. Alexa's curiosity got the best of her, and she took the box and looked at it. It was completely normal. There was no hole or crack to open it. There was no key hole or clue. It was just a box. It seemed empty and useless to her.

Then why the hell is it with the artifact?

Eva took the box from her and looked at it, and it seemed like she came to the same conclusion. "It's just a box." Eva said. Her statement had a questioning, surprised tone.

"It doesn't open?" Glozell questioned.

"Alright, I'm done. Let's go." Joey said. He closed the case, took the artifact, and walked back to the house. The rest of the group followed. Joey set the new artifact next to first one.

"I can't believe what we've done." Glozell said. Alexa's head moved down in shame.

I voted for her. I held her down as she was buried.

I buried her.

I killed her.

I killed her.

The phrase repeated in her mind. She bit the back of her lip and gritted her teeth.

"Joey, I'm sorry, man, but one of us had to go." Oli apologized.

But why? Why did it have to be this way? Why did it have to end like this? What twisted fuck decided to do this to us?

Who did this to us?

Joey looked down, before lifting his head back up again. "What do we do now?" He asked.

"We're going to do this." Eva said, holding up the small wooden box.