What Lies Beneath

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Guardian

The house roared to life. Every gas lamp and piping found within its walls surged with power. The shadows hidden in long forgotten rooms began to move as they made their way to Sophie. It was time to start. Time to show the world the truth and take what was rightfully theirs. The house had kept them all imprisoned for this moment, the moment when it would claim all the souls it could find.

Sophie stood staring at the shell that once held Charlie's soul. It was beaten so much it was hard to tell that it was even a body at all. She didn't know what she was planning to do when she first closed the door, but it never crossed her mind that something like this would happen.

Since her first footstep into this house, she felt as though she was drifting away. All the pieces that made her who she was were melting into nothingness. This house was filled with ghost stories and memories long forgotten. Her only wish was that she did not become one of those. In all her desperation to find her friends and get out, she had lost herself along the way.

She was no longer the innocent girl burdened with a curse. Now she was the curse. It took root within her soul and before she knew it, she was lost to the darkness that loomed around every corner of this house.

The weight of everything that happened pushed her to floor. Tears came pouring from her eyes as she felt the darkness closing in. It was too late for her. She was a part of the house now. It consumed all the good she once kept close to her heart. All those accidents and deaths in her past were nothing compared to this death. She took a life. Yes, he was a murderer and would have killed her and her friends given the chance, but that was no excuse for what she did.

She buried her head in her hands to block out the visions of death asshe wept for the death of who she once was.

Jason stumbled down what was left of a burnt hallway. Underneath the scents of burnt wood and chemicals from the wallpaper, he could smell charred human flesh. Someone had burned to death in this corridor. Traces of the person's screams still lingered amongst the ash. Jason slowly ran his tongue acrost his chapped lips. He could taste their fear as if he was licking it right off the corpse.

This was what he wanted. He wanted to be surrounded by death. In all his dreams and darkest wishes, he was standing in this place with the taste of death on his lips. The house may be holding him prisoner, but it was also feeding a Rottweiler.

His feet came to a complete halt as he stomped through the pile of remains on the floor. With each step he'd taken more and more of the ash seeped into the cracks and crevices of his rubber soles. Now no matter where he went, he would be taking the poor soul who died here with him. Their remains would be stomped on for all eternity. It was with that thought a sinister smile cracked his already damaged lips.

Blood slipped through the new splinters in his skin, but he didn't let it escape. Using his tongue once again, he lapped up the metallic liquid, savoring every last drop.

"Something's wrong." Delphine came to a sudden stop causing both Greyson and Joe to crash into one another.

"What?" Greyson asked the question while rubbing his head.

"If I knew what, then I wouldn't have said something." Delphine whipped around and snapped at them. There was a feeling of dread sweeping over the entire house. Something bad was coming, something truly horrendous. An evil that should never have existed.

"Are you okay?" Joe took a cautious step towards her. He didn't want to make her upset, but the expression on her face was worrying him. Not to mention the fact that she yelled at someone she claimed to care about.