More Evil Than Before

Chapter 14: Escape

Lilly's hair flops behind her in a tangled mess as she flies down the hallway. Her bare feet makes  loud thumps as they hit the hospital's concrete floor. She coughed in between short breaths as she continued running down the hallways of the hospital, looking for the exit. Her whole body filled with the desire to escape, a desire that might not be gratified after leaving the hospital. She rounded the last corner, when a door sprung open, and out stepped Ethan. A large needle filled with some kind of light blue, almost white liquid, is steady in Ethan's large hands. Lilly stops in her tracts, staring Ethan down. 

"You... You're not really here, you can't hurt me." Lilly stated, with quakes in her voice. 

"I think the quake in your voice says other wise." Ethan says, glancing at the needle then back at Lilly.  

Lilly bolts for the doors, letting her desire to escape take hold of her legs, but Ethan catches her.  His hairy, pale arms surround her like a snake who has caught its pray, getting tighter and tighter every second. Lilly struggled to wiggle herself out, but her limbs grew fatigue, making it harder and harder for her to move.

 Suddenly, something cold pinched Lilly's neck. Her vision became blurry, as the world spun around her eyes as if she was in the middle of a tornado. Her limbs flopped to the ground, as her body slumped through Ethan's, now loose, arms. 

"This... doesn't hurt." Lilly said, with a faint smile on her lips, before submerging into unconsciousness. 

The sounds of kids laughing grow closer, before young Lilly and another girl with black hair tied into two little braids come into the picture. The sun flashes in Lilly's eyes, causing her to squint. Long blades of grass sway across Lilly's thighs as she sits, staring out at her younger self and her first best friend, Erica. The girls are sitting at a little white picnic table with little plates and teacups set for each person. 

"Do you think my mom would get mad at us for using her plates?" Young Lilly asked, Erica. 

"Probably not, your mom is pretty cool," said Erica, before pulling a flattened sandwich out of her overall pocket.  

Young Lilly sits at the table placing crumpled napkins next to the plates, as she hums her favorite song, while Erica pulls handfuls of chips from her pockets, splashing them onto both plates. 

Suddenly, the ground begins to shake, as fire bursts from the ground like rockets, streaming up to the stars. 

"What's happening!?" Young Lilly screams. 

"Let's get out of here!" Erica screams, before bolting with young Lilly towards young Lilly's house. 

Lilly quickly pushes herself off the ground, and starts to run, but before she can make it very far, she watches as a stream of hot yellowy- orange flames burst from the ground, swallowing her younger self and Erica. The girls scream, as their bodies melt like candles, slowly spreading across the field into small puddles. Lilly drops to the ground, with tears dripping from her eyes, when an immense pain swallows her body, as her vision fills with orange. 

Lilly's eyes pop open as she regains consciousness, her head is pounding like drums. She lifts herself off the ground, before realizing where she is. Lilly stares at the lockers in the locker room, and then glanced down at herself, checking to see if she had actually changed, but when she looked at herself she saw that the dress was still on her. Lilly wiped away the tears, that remained on her face, from her vision, before quickly walking to the door. Before Lilly could grab the handle, the door opened slowly, and Jasmine's head poked through the gape. 

"Hi mom" Lilly said softly. 

Jasmine opens the door wider, as she makes her way inside the room. 

"Everything okay in here?" Jasmine asks, Lilly. 

"Can we just go home now?"Lilly says, avoiding Jasmine's question.

"Yeah, sure" Jasmine responds, before pushing the heavy door wider, so that Lilly can leave first. 

**** 

The headlights of Jasmine's car illuminate the bricks on the hotel, while everything else is engulfed in darkness. 

"We're here" Jasmine says, turning off the car.    

Lilly doesn't say anything. 

"Are you okay?" Jasmine asks 

Lilly doesn't answer, instead she opens the car door and pulls her weak body out of the car. As she walks to the main entrance of the hotel, something catches her eye, but she ignores it and keeps walking. Suddenly, a shadow flashes by, as cold hands grip her throat. She can't see who it is, a black ski mask covers their identity, all she can see is an oddly pale hand clutching her throat. Tiny gasps of air escape her mouth, as she struggles to breath. 

"Lilly?" Jasmine's voice interrupts. 

The masked strangler, throws Lilly into the side of the building, the bricks scrape her skin. 

"Lilly!" Jasmine screams, as she rushed towards her daughter. 

Lilly gasps for air, trying to make up for all the oxygen lost. 

"Why did you throw yourself against the wall!?" Jasmine asked, as her voice quivered. 

Tears flooded Lilly's eyes, "For fun." 

Jasmine crouched down to Lilly and engulfed her in a hug, Lilly's tears soaked Jasmine shoulder, as her tears turned heavy. 

"Tell me what's happening," Jasmine begged.

"I just tripped, I'm fine," Lilly said. 

Jasmine pulled away from their hug, and wiped away her own tears. She knew there's something else that's going on with Lilly, but she knows Lilly's not going to give her an answer, she would have to find out on her own. 

Lilly picked herself slowly off the ground, and headed for the door once again. 

After they checked into the hotel, they settled quietly into their room, neither one of them saying a word. 

Jasmine watched as Lilly walked into the bathroom. She listened closely, waiting for the water from the shower to start. As soon as it did, Jasmine quickly pulled her phone out from her pocket, dialing fast the one number she knew could understand what's wrong with Lilly. 

"Hello, Annabelle's friend?"