Purgatech: Jess' Horror

Chapter 17

Back in the mudroom, Jess' heart raced. They really were trapped in this house. There was no way out of there. The message on her Purgavision app had led them there, but why? Was it all some sick joke, giving them hope and then yanking it away from them?

"We have to get the hell out of here!" Rob said.

He pushed past Jess, scraping his fingers across the bricks, trying to claw his way through. When he realized he wasn't getting anywhere, he started shouting for help at the top of his lungs.

"Well, that's not going to get us out of here!" Jess yelled.

He spun toward her. "But they told us there's camera's all over this place. Surely they see! Surely they know what the hell's going on in here! Why haven;t they pulled us out of here yet?"

"It's obvious! They don't care!" Jess said, ripping her pack from her back and throwing it to the floor. She couldn't stand carrying it any longer. It felt like it was suffocating her.

She was still wearing her Purgawear amplifier. It hissed like crazy, every sound needling her nerves. She tapped it to turn it off.

"Don't care, they don't care!" Grace started repeating over and over from the corner.

"Shhh," Jess said, going over to comfort her.

"Granny's freaking cracked up!" Rob said, starting to pace back and forth. "Shut her the hell up!"

"Maybe you should shut the hell up! Make yourself useful and go see if you can find us another way out of here!"

When Rob glared at her, Jess took a step toward, stomping her boot on the floor. It was enough to get him to leave. The moment he was gone, Grace stopped freaking out and went quiet.

"It's okay, Grace. I promise you, we're going to get out of here soon."

The moment Jess said it, she regretted it. What if she was just giving the old lady false hope? What if they never made it out of here at all. She tilted her head back and looked up to the ceiling.

"Gram, of you're out there somewhere, I could really use your help right now!"

Jess wasn't sure what she was expecting but there was no response, so she continued.

"To the spirits in this house. Sarah...It's Jess. We aren't trying to hurt you. We just want to get out of here. Please...please just let us go."

The air in the room shifted. Just out of the corner of her eye, Jess saw something shift. She spun away from it, grabbing Grace and jumping back, but it was just Rob.

"There's no way out. The front door's locked!" he said. "Why would they lock us in here? Why are they torturing us?"

Jess shook her head. She didn't know why. She didn't know why any of this was happening. But Dylan? Surely he saw what was going on. He'd said they would be watching 24-7. So had he left, gone home for the night? Or was he just watching and didn't care?

Well, Jess wasn't going to stand around waiting for an answer. She was going to find a way to ask him. She moved past Rob and went out into the corridor. The sense of panic started to rise from the pit of her stomach. That's when she spotted one of the light fixtures on the wall Dylan had mentioned when he was giving them a tour of the house that first day. Jess sprinted towards it and stood in front of it directly from it.

"Hello? Is anyone out there? Are you watching this? If you're trying to scare us well, bravo! You've don a freaking bang-up job of it! But we've had enough! Get your asses over here and get us the hell out of here!"