Ashes and Ghosts (Major Spoilers for Little Hope)

Chapter Seven

Beverly had a look around as they got further into the room, pews scattered all over the place. It was just as derelict as everything else in Little Hope. That was when she noticed a man, sat on one of the pews. He didn't seem to notice the group's presence at first either. 

Andrew had been the one to approach the person cautiously, not speaking up straight away while he thought about how to announce his presence. "Excuse me...?" Andrew trailed off, clearing his throat to get the man's attention. However, once the man had turned around, Beverly had noticed that, much to the group's surprise, he had been a spitting image of Reverend Carver, the priest from the flashbacks they'd been experiencing.

That fact had only made the teen more apprehensive of this stranger, unable to help projecting her distrust of Carver onto this man, just based on his appearance alone. She mentally chided herself for being so judgemental, but she had already feeling anxious and on edge as it was without the presence of Carver's double. "I didn't expect there to be other people such a place." The man responded, a little surprised by the group's appearance. "Is there something wrong? You all look lost, and forgive me for saying, but a little worse for wear." 

Beverly didn't know how to respond, so she just decided to let Andrew do the talking. "Sorry to bother you, but our bus crashed a long ways up the road, and we haven't been able to find our bus driver and..." Andrew had started to say, unable to finish his sentence as John had cut in.

"There's something wrong with this town. Let's just say we've been through a lot tonight." The professor finished, watching Carver's double curiously. The man made eye contact with Beverly for a brief moment, a glance that seemed to make her feel almost uncomfortable, and she couldn't put her finger on why just yet. "Ah, so you guys are trapped here too? Perhaps we can help each other." He began, before remembering that he hadn't given them his name. "Forgive the lack of introductions, my name's Elias Carter." Carter introduced himself.

The surname was even similar enough to Carver's that it made Beverly feel more anxious than she already was. She subconsciously drifted closer to Andrew, clutching onto his arm. Carter had been presenting himself well enough, but she just didn't trust it one bit. "We welcome the help. I'm John, a college professor, and these are my students." John said, introducing himself, and then his students individually. "We were on a field trip, had to take a detour through Little Hope but crashed on the detour." He added, guessing that Carter would ask what they were doing here.

Carter stood up then, once again shooting a glance at Beverly when the others weren't looking. She couldn't help but notice that lingering expression of disapproval at seeing her hanging onto Andrew, though it didn't last long enough for her peers to see it.

All she did know was that she needed to get away, have some time to herself away from Carter so she didn't have to put up with how uncomfortable he had already been making her feel. "Andrew, I'm going to step outside for a few minutes." She muttered to Andrew, pulling away from him with the intention of using the side door. "Are you sure that's wise? That thing is still out there, and there could be more of them..." He muttered back, concerned about her safety.

"I know they are, but I'll be ok, remember that we haven't seen my double executed yet." She reassured him gently. "I just... need to get outside, clear my head. I'll come back inside in a minute." She added, not giving him a chance to object anymore before she headed outside. 

She leaned on the railing, staring out into the fog, taking the time to process everything that had happened to them so far. After a minute, the fog had started rolling in and getting thicker. As soon as she'd turned to towards the door with the intention of heading back inside, she could hear a locking sound, following by some banging. "Beverly!" She heard Andrew call out, that banging sound presumably coming from him attempting to force the door open, though the effort had turned out to be futile as the door wouldn't budge.