Out of the Darkness

55

"I'll go with you." I heard Sam's voice, and turned to meet his gaze. He was scared. I could see it. No one else would know it from his firm stance, and the determination in his voice. I could though. It was in the way his fingers twitched just a little. The crease between his eyes right above his nose. The way his hand barely trembled as he fixed his hair for the hundredth time. "Thanks," I replied, relieved that he had offered. I didn't want to do this alone. We got the key from JC, who luckily never took it out of his pocket, and opened the room door. It was a mess. The blankets were all ripped off the bed, the pillows ripped open, stuffing everywhere. The curtains were hanging down on a bent rod, the tv busted and torn from the wall. "What the fuck?" Sam mused. I didn't say anything but I could feel my heartbeat creeping up my throat. This was insane. I spotted their bags up against the door to the closet. I pointed them out to Sam, then grabbed both of them, and tossed one to Sam. We looked over the room one more quick time, then got the hell out of that room. Anna hadn't really explained what had happened. Just that there were a lot of ghosts out for our necks. That was all I needed to know. Sam and I might do stupid things, and we might push ourselves to the limit, but this was the limit. We couldn't face something that we couldn't see, especially when it was way more powerful than us. "Here," I said, passing JC his bag. Sam gave Kian his, and they both started going over the contents to make sure that they hadn't left anything. "If you're missing anything, you two can go in yourselves," I retorted, motioning to Sam to go with me into our own room. Right when I stepped inside the room, I noticed my breath hanging onto the cold air that suddenly surrounded us. "Did it drop about 20 degrees in here, or am I crazy?" Sam asked, his voice low. I turned to answer him, just in time to see the room door swing shut. The same bone chilling laugh that we had heard down in the boiler room echoed through the walls of our room. I could vaguely hear Kian and JC yelling and beating on the outside of our door. "I think you should stay a while," a woman's voice said. It was barely more than a whisper, but we both heard every syllable. I felt the fear go up my spine, and saw the same fear in Sam's eyes. He swallowed hard, causing his Adam's apple to convulse a little. "We should hurry and go," he said, meeting my eyes. I nodded, although I had a feeling that we wouldn't be allowed to go until whatever spirit that was in here was finished with us. I saw a shimmer to the left, and jerked my eyes to the spot. Anna faded in and out of view, almost as if she couldn't control it. Her emerald eyes glowed brightly, the green seeming to almost cast the color onto the wall in front of her. I wanted to shrink away from her, feeling an absolute hate and anger spew off of her form. Instead of watching her, I turned to see if Sam saw any of this. He did. His blue eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open slightly, in shock. "What the-" he started, but didn't finish. "Do you see-" Another unfinished sentence left his mouth as his eyes met mine. I just nodded, unwilling to voice Anna's existence. Another one of those terrifying laughs filled the room, just as I felt a force knock into me so hard, I crashed into the wall. Just as my body slid to the floor, something grabbed me around the throat and lifted me back up, my feet dangling in the air as I slid further up the wall. "COLBY!" Sam yelled, his voice cracking as he ran to me. He grabbed my leg, and pulled with all of his strength, to no avail. My throat hurt, the force against it, making my eyes water, and my head throb. "Sa-am," I managed to gasp out. I tried to pull whatever was against my throat away but I was just clawing at my own neck. There was nothing there. Nothing substantial at least. "What do I do? WHAT DO I DO?" Sam shrieked, letting my leg go, and burying his hands into his hair as he looked up at me in distress. "STOP IIIT!" A voice shrieked around the room, busting the glass from the mirror that was barely hanging on to the wall. The laugh filled the room again but the force against my throat let up just a little, allowing me to gasp in mouthfuls of stagnant room air. "And who's going to make me, child? You? I tried to warn you. I told you not to mess with me, but you didn't listen." I recognized the voice speaking as the one who had laughed so menacingly. I saw Anna again, flicker in and out, then back in as she stared at me, her emerald eyes glowing. "Leave them alone. PLEASE!" she exclaimed, her hands balled tightly into fists as the owner of the voice came into view then. A woman, her hair pulled back tightly into an old style updo. While Anna's spirit was in color, and she looked almost normal, this woman did not. Her appearance was grayish, the only color was the splash of blood red against her lips. Her sharp cheekbones did nothing to deter away from her harsh appearance. She was floating in front of me, her hand around my throat, as she stared into my eyes. "Why would I want to do that?" she asked scathingly, tightening her fingers on my throat again. I felt like my eyes were about to bulge out of my head. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" "No-" I tried to tell Sam not to do it, but I could barely speak. He came running at her, brandishing a cross. I vaguely wondered where in the hell he had gotten it from before she swung her free hand at him. His body lifted up from the ground, his eyes meeting mine. I was helpless to do anything for my friend, as I watched his body crash to the other side of the room, and his eyes close. "Saa-" I started to scream, but she tightened her fingers again, cutting me off. "Brave ones, aren't they?" she said. I could hear an almost admiration in her voice, before she flitted her fingers up. "No matter. They're mine to play with now. I think I'll keep them." Her face split in a gruesome smile, her lips pulling away from her teeth as both of her hands squeezed around my neck. "NO!" I was starting to black out. I could see the black dots swimming in my vision. Maybe I was hallucinating. I wasn't sure.