Out of the Darkness

8

I aimed it inside the dark room. "Hello?" I whispered, back to keeping my voice low. While the rest of the house was desolate and barren, showing destroyed history, this room was immaculate. It smelled old and musty, of course, but the rest... There was an old queen size bed, with outdated flowered comforter and pillow cases decorating it. The frilly curtains hung on the windows, slightly moth eaten, but otherwise in perfect condition. The vanity table drew my attention the most. I hadn't seen one of those in real life before. There was a small pink cushioned stool sitting in front of a white table with a mirror. It had intricate designs carved into the border of the mirror, going up and down each side. On the table itself, sat old perfume bottles with the squeeze bulb on them, different assortments of makeup and powders, jars of creams and lotions. It was eerie but somehow I was drawn to it. I picked up one of the creams and opened the small jar. I moved my mask and brought it to my nose to smell it. The scent seemed to fill the room then. It was a floral, almost hypnotic smell. Images of days gone past filled my mind, like I had lived them. Only they didn't make sense. Old ballrooms, with women dressed in flared out, frilly gowns, men in outdated tuxedos. Then the image would change to a different time period, teenagers or college kids smoking under the bleachers with their friends, girls with tall hair and guys wearing cropped tanks with long hair and jean jackets. The images started to flash by even faster, spinning behind my eyes. I stumbled back, dropping the jar on the floor. "COLBY! BRO THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" I heard Sam's voice, but I was still too dizzy. I sank down into a crouch and shook my head trying to clear it. "Hey, are you okay? Why didn't you answer us? Colby, what's wrong?" Sam came to my side immediately and dropped down onto his knees. I groaned and pushed the heels of my hands against my eyes, trying to make the last remnants of the weird visions leave my mind. "I don't now," I answered, opening my eyes to meet his gaze. "What do you mean you don't know? Are you okay or not?" His blue eyes looked worried, and unsure of what to do. "Do we need to leave?" He must be really worried about me, if he were willing to leave before we were finished filming. I shook my head. "No, I'm fine. I don't really know what just happened but it was weird. This room. This house. There's something here Sam. I was having visions or something, but different ones. Not even the same people." "Visions?" he asked, looking at me like I had lost my mind. It kind of pissed me off. I pushed myself up and put my mask back on. "Yes Sam. Visions. That's what I said. I know it sounds fucking crazy but that's what happened." He held both hands up. "Okay brother, calm down. I believe you. It's just...well, weird." "You're telling me," I mumbled, running my hand through my hair. "The camera. Where's the camera? I think it's still filming." Sam turned around and picked it up from the vanity table where I had apparently set it. I didn't even remember setting it down at all, but I guess I would've had to, to smell that cream. I leaned down and picked the cream up, along with the lid, which had fallen right beside it. I recapped it and set it back down on the table. "You still want to keep going then? Are you sure?" I nodded at him. "Yeah. Let's just make sure that we all stick together. That was too close for comfort and it scared the shit out of me." My hands were still shaking so I clasped them together. "Where are Jake and Corey?" I asked. "Right outside the room, in the hallway," he pointed towards the open doorway. I saw Jake and Corey both peering through it. "You good?" Jake asked, his own features showing that he wasn't so sure of being here himself now. "Yeah, I'm fine. What did I miss? I had the camera, so we didn't get any footage from whatever rooms you guys checked out." "Colby, we went to the room across the hall from this one," Corey said, pointing at a door directly across from the one we were now in. "We noticed you weren't with us almost immediately so we started calling your name, and looking for you. It's only been a few minutes. When we heard you yell, we rushed in here." I furrowed my brow in confusion. "That's not possible. I've been looking for you guys and actually screaming for you, for at least 30 minutes. When did I yell?" "Are you sure you're okay brother? You yelled just before I came in here and found you on the floor," Sam replied, looking at me with the same worry as before. "What did I say?" I muttered, confusion eating away at my thoughts. How was any of this possible? Did the fear of being alone just make time seem longer than it was? But why didn't they hear me yelling or I them, if they were right beside me? None of this made any sense. "You said 'get out of my head,'" Jake said softly. I looked up and met his gaze, noticing the confusion in his eyes as well. I nodded. "Sounds about right. I was seeing all kinds of things...but I don't remember saying it, much less, yelling it. Come on, let's get the rest of this over with. I'm ready to get out of this freaky fucking place." They didn't argue with me, and I was glad they didn't. This was getting to be a little too much for me, and I was one more freaky thing away from running from this house screaming.