Asher Banning still mourns his mother after three years. When his friend, Caden, decides to get their group of friends together for Christmas as a way to help Asher not feel lonely for the holidays, things quickly turn upside down.
MATURE: for expl...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
It was pure agonizing torture to hear the thuds halt to silence.
I turned around and ran back down the stairs to the basement door. When I arrived, my heart sunk deep into the pit of my stomach. A crowd emerged, towering over the entryway. Since I couldn't see anything with my short legs, I pushed my way through, curious to know if Paris was all right.
Paris lay at the bottom of the stairs, limp.
Blood oozed out of her throat. A bear trap wrapped around her neck like a piece of jewelry.
"Paris?" I whispered, soft and weak; my voice was so low that I couldn't hear myself speak.
Everything peeled itself away from me as if everything stripped away from life, ripping at the seams. Her still body made it feel like a dream. Could this be a dream? A horrid nightmare, clawing at the insides of my brain?
It had to be.
An unnerving feeling came over me as I stood here, watching the blood spill out of her like a waterfall.
This couldn't be it.
This couldn't be the end.
Before I could stop myself, my feet stepped in front of the other, standing on each step of the staircase. Since no one else was going to move, I had to check for myself. Someone needed to help her.
I carefully made my way down the steps, gripping the railing as tight as I could. At the bottom, my bare feet touched the concrete floor and the cold swathed itself across my skin. I stepped over her body, accidentally stepping in blood.
Her blood.
Without tripping, I went to see her face. A small voice in the back of my head told me to see if she was still alive. But I already knew the answer.
Her eyes, still open, stared out into space. Blood dripped from her mouth, cascading toward a pool on the floor beneath her. I put my fingers on her wrist, trying to find a pulse.
Nothing.
Out of denial, I put my ear to her heart, trying to hear something. Anything. And still, nothing. My body trembled as hot tears came down my cheeks.
Paris was no longer alive.
I glanced up the stairs. Caden ran down with watery eyes, and knelt beside her, cradling her in his arms. Since Kirsty's death, he must had felt responsible. And now, this was the icing on the cake.
+ + + +
We didn't know how long we'd be staying here for, so we did the same thing as we did with Kirsty: we wrapped her up in black trash bags and placed her body outside in a half-assed grave.
After cleaning the bear trap, I placed it on one of the many shelves in the basement. Afterward, I cleaned the rest of the blood and grabbed a box full of food for the kitchen.
