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Her voice was cold and she stared at me with emotionless eyes.
I sighed. “I don’t know. He is trying to make everything look normal while we both know it isn’t.”
“So it is uncomfortable huh?” she asked.
I sheepishly scratch the back of my head and nodded while she gave me a side glance and tsked. “What were you expecting? A happy ending?”
The anger in her tone made me flinch.
“Why are you so stupid? Did you think your life with him would be a happy one?” she asked angrily.
Anger flooded through me. “You are making this look like it's my fault!”
“It is your fault!”
“Says the person who challenged him to a fight and got kidnapped. I was already out of options and he was going to kill you. What choice did I have?”
“This isn’t about me!” she screamed making my hair stand on end. “This is about you! You are a good person Emma but you have to rethink your decision.”
“What decision?”
“About using him, idiot!”
I went quiet for a few seconds. “So this is what it is about?”
“Stop acting like a fool. What are you going to do with him now that you are dating him?”
“I…I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
I gulped because I knew she wanted to hear the truth but where do I begin?
“I… It's…I… I admit it’s tiring walking on eggshells all the time and keeping him at arm's length.” I begin. “But I am not going to involve him in this."
"Why?"
"He has a tragic past and..."
"Is that it? You pity him?"
I was taken aback. "No, I don't pity him. I am just being conscious of him that's all. With his past and his delusional mind dragging him into this will only increase his chances of going insane and I don't want that. I don't want to wake up in the morning and find everyone close to me dead because of him."
There was a moment of silence between us and she chuckled. "So you don't plan on dragging him into this?"
I nod.
Then she began to laugh. “That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. What makes you think your idea might work?”
Okay, now I am pissed. “Then what is your idea, smart guy? Ditching him in a psychiatric hospital and making me run anytime I see him?”
“Killing him is more like it!” She barked. “Caroline gave you the solution to your problems but you refused to listen to her! If you made him tag along, I would have ended him before you know it!”
"You lost to him the first time. What makes you think you would win the second time? He would kill you for sure."
She looked at me in shock so I continue.
"You should be lucky he spared you and you should stop blaming me for saving you because it's...its...its..."
"It's what?" she asked coldly.
"It's breaking my heart." I croak and wipe the tears from my face. "It's breaking my heart."
"If you really love me you would obey Caroline and use him," she said.
'This again?' I bow my head and look up at my once-good friend remembering all the times we spent together. Was I willing to jeopardize our friendship for someone who is crazy? What I was doing sounded so wrong yet so right at the same time.
“I am sorry Gwen.” I sniff. “A…at least we can still be friends right?”
She chuckled and unsheathed her machete. “Sure we can be friends but since you can't change your mind, I will do it for you.”
I see my reflection on the blade and take a step back. “Gwen?”
“Don’t worry.” She said walking towards me. “I am not going to kill you. I am just going to hit you really hard on the head. You will get amnesia AND FINALLY, MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE!”
I grab the nearest object and use it to block the blow but she broke it into two. Swinging it at me this time aiming for my head, I back away and proceed to run down the narrow hallway. I turn round the corner and run straight into Malcolm’s servants but I push passed them aside and run for my life.
‘At least they will slow her down.’ I said turning to the right towards a narrow hallway. The light bulb hanging on the ceiling flickered revealing the corpses littered the floor. Some of them had deadly injuries on them while the rest were cut to pieces.
“Emma!” Gwen called forcing me to push that question aside and run towards the door. With no time to waste, I kick the door down and find myself tumbling down the stairs.
"Oww," I rub my head and picked up my torch to look around the place. I was back at the entrance.
Gwen jumped down the fleet of stairs and landed on the floor with a huge thud. While she picked herself up, I looked around for any object I could use to defend myself and grab a tall candle stand. Gwen swung her machete at me and but I use the candle stand to block it. Locked, up close and staring into each other's eyes, we broke off panting.
"It would be wise of you to reconsider your decision, Emma," she said posing with her weapon.
Despite my trembling, I get a grip on myself. "Sorry, Gwen but I am not ready to die or go to the hospital."
She charged and tried to strike me on the head but I block and kick her in the stomach. Doubling down, I use my weapon to disable her but she backed away and swiped the weapon on my legs. I jumped just in time but the landing caused the floor to give away causing my right leg to be stuck.
“Oh no!” I said feeling the sharp pang on my feet. I look up and see Gwen towering over me. She kicked my weapon away from my hand and tried striking me on the head but I move out of the way and use my other leg to trip her. I get my leg out of the hole and tried crawling to where my weapon was but she stepped on my hand sending unimaginable pain through me. As I sit up clutching my hand in pain, she kicked me violently on the stomach.
Nonetheless, I manage to stand up despite the pain in my leg while she brandished her weapon.
“Don’t worry Caroline.” She said raising her weapon in the air. "I will knock the madness out of her!”
Before she could do that I move quickly and push her knocking the weapon from her hands. I pin her to the floor but she flipped me over and put her hands on my neck.
I coughed and gagged struggling to pry her hands off me but she tightened her grip and stared at me with eyes full of rage.
"You claim to love me yet you won't make the right decision?" she applied pressure on my neck. "Maybe when we meet again in your next life you will make the right choice..."
Suddenly, she was sent flying away from me. My vision was blurry and my throat was sore but I could make out the person who saved my life for the second time.
Gwen hissed as grabbed her weapon. “You!”
"I should have killed you from the very beginning but I spared you because it would make her unhappy." he started walking towards her. “You stole Emma from me, made her cry, and made her hate me. Now you are trying to kill her."
Gwen laughed and picked herself up. "So what? She decided to spare your sorry ass despite the fact she hates you. Don't you hate him, Emma?"
I couldn't talk because I was too busy catching my breath.
“I don't care if she hates me. My love for her is so powerful that it will kill her hatred for me." he unsheathed his katana and pointed it at her. "You have crossed the line. Friend or no friend, I will kill you."
“NOT IF I KILL YOU FIRST!” she screeched charging toward him. He dodged her attack and swung his sword at her causing it to collide with her machete.
"B!tch. I only need one hand to beat you," he said pushing her away and swiping his sword at her. she dodged it and a shot was heard.
Jake backed away and stared at her gun.
“Didn’t think I’d come prepared huh?” she yelled taking another shot at him but he used his katana to repel the bullets at a fast pace once he was near her, he swiped the katana at her but missed.
Gwen turned around to fight him but her arm fell off. Screaming, she dropped to her knees and held her shoulder as blood gushed out.
“M...my...my arm!”
Jake towered over her in victory. “Too bad you are going to lose more than that.” Then something happened. All I could see was Gwen’s eyes wide open in shock and her mouth agape.
Jake was standing behind her. “DIE B!TCH.”
I watched her head fall off and her torso dropped to the floor.
'Wha...how...how did he...'
I was shocked. Not by how fast her death was nor how it would have been avoided if she didn't try to kill me but by how empty I felt inside.
I guess I was too shocked to shed a single tear.
"Beloved?"
I look up to see Jake standing over me with a weird expression on his face and shivering. He seemed calm but there was something in his eyes that said otherwise. Picking myself off the floor, I try standing up only to trip and fall on him.
"Whoa. It looks like you have a bad leg there My Love," he said setting me down on the floor. "Let me help you with that."
“Ahem.” We look up and see Stan and Alice staring at us from the balcony.
“Looks like we interrupted something,” Stan said as he descended the stairs.
Jake went back to my leg and I wince in pain when he grabbed it.
“Relax my love. I am not going to hurt you,” he said.
Just as I was about to say something pain shot through my body and I groaned as it went numb. My leg was not hurting anymore. The pain was gone.
“There,” Jake said lifting me to my feet. “You are all better.”
I pushed myself away from him. Alice noticed her decapitated head and smirked. Raising her baseball bat high in the air, she brought it down on her head with a thud.
I watched in horror as she smashed Gwen's head into pieces. Blood sprayed everywhere covering her with each hit she gave and when she was done, Gwen's head was nothing but mush...
"I did promise I was going to smash your skull to pieces." she gave us a sadistic grin. "Too bad she died before I could fulfill that. Right big tits?"
My stomach churned as a shiver went up my spine. I shouldn't be surprised because of how much she hated Gwen but she took it too far.
She wiped the blood from her face with the sleeve of her red shirt and sighed. “Should we go on? Or should we leave because I am so sleepy?”
As she walked towards the door to her right, I looked back at what was left of Gwen’s body and shuddered. Jake noticed this and tugged my arm forcing my stiff legs to move while Stan hummed like it was no big deal.
It was quiet. Too quiet and Stan's humming surely didn't help matters. Jake seemed irritated because his eye twitched but anytime I look at him, he smiled. We finally reached a door that had an electric lock with a puzzle beside it.
I study the drawings. "I...I think I can solve it."
"Don't bother Beloved I will do it," Jake said and after studying the drawings, he typed in the code and opened the door.
“Jackpot!” Alice said as we walked in.
We were in the study and everything was black because of the aftermath of the fire but the shelves were still intact with books in them.
Jake touched it with his fingers and said, “These are made of oak wood. Quality stuff too. They don’t burn easily in a fire. ”
Alice scoffed. “Must be good being rich. You can afford the good stuff and avoid buying the cheap one.”
Stan chuckled. “I know what I am going to do with MY money when I get rich.”
“What are you going to do?” Jake asked.
“Buy anybody I like and marry ‘em.” was his response. “Especially the ones with the huge fronts.”
"Really?"
I decide not to pay attention to them and look at the books on the shelve. ‘These are books on Psychology and it looks like they are not affected by the fire! Weird.’
But just as I reach to take them, a cold whisper was heard. Turning around, I see a girl with black hair wearing a nightgown that was burnt at the edges. Her face was black, there was something dark in her chest and she was holding a knife in her hand.
“Touch them and you are dead.” She threatened as her eyes glowed red.
“Molly?”
“Beloved?” Jake looked at me with concern. “Are you alright?”
“Big tits must be losing her rockers.” Stan jeered.
Jake glared at him while I look back at Molly’s ghost and shuddered. ‘They can’t see her.’
“Hey, are you going to stand near the empty bookshelves all night?” Alice asked walking towards us.
I was stunned. “Empty bookshelves?”
She rolled her eyes. “Duh! There is nothing there!”
This made me look back at the books on the shelves and then at her. Connecting the dots, I move away from there.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
Stan sniffed the air. “Does anyone smell that?”
A huge bang was heard causing the whole building to shake.
“Dang it! That maniac is trying to burn the house down!” Jake hissed.
I coughed as the room filled up with smoke. “What maniac?”
“The one leading the cult,” he replied. “You didn’t meet him?”
I shake my head and another bang was heard.
“Sorry big tits but we have to get out,” Stan said running towards the door. He grabbed the handle and burnt his hand.
“When there is a fire behind the door, do not open it,” Alice said.
Stan winced and glared at her. “Thanks for the tip b!tch. Now how are we going to get out of here?”
Thanks to the fact there were no windows around the room, it quickly filled up with smoke. I coughed and Jake took off his jacket and wrapped it around my face. Trapped in the room with no way out, I look around and notice something on the floor.
‘It looks like writing.’ I turn on my torch and see something carved on the wooden floor. There were the numbers, which read, 15:30, 14:11, 13:12, and 16:21.
“Did you find something?” Jake asked looking down.
I look at the three clocks lined up on one side of the wall opposite the bookshelves, immediately grab a chair and move it to the wall where they were hung.
'The numbers engraved on the floor are time written on a twenty-four-hour timeline.' I turn the handles on them. 'This means 15:30=3:30, 14:11=2:11, 13:12=1:12 and 16:21=4:21!’
As soon as I turn the hands of the last clock, a shelf moved to reveal a secret passage with stairs leading downwards. Without a second thought, we go in and descend the stairs.
‘Maybe this is how Malcolm escaped the fire with Clair.’ I nearly lose my footing on one of the steps but Jake grabbed me by the waist and helped me up.
“Ugh! Be careful next time.” Alice said with a huff. The more we descended the stairs, the more I smelt smoke. Finally, we reached the door but it had a lot of smoke behind it.
“Move,” Jake said before kicking the door open. Flames exploded before us and Stan quickly shoved him into the inferno.
I scream. “Stan!”
“What?” he shrugged. “I was just testing if it was safe.”
I knew it was a lie and so did Alice.
“Why don’t you try it then?” she asked suddenly shoving him inside. Stan grabbed my shirt and dragged me with him. I fall to the floor and find myself surrounded by fire and smoke. No one was with me and I was lost in the sea of flames.
“Emma!” a voice called.
I coughed. “I am here!”
“Where are you?”
I look around me trying to locate where the voice was coming from but find no one. The heat from the fire was unbearable and the smoke stung my eyes making them water. I coughed again and covered my nose with Jake's jacket but it helped a little. I was about to lose consciousness when someone started singing at a distance.
‘Oranges and Lemons sold for a penny…’
I look around.
‘All the school girls are so many.’
‘Wait I know this song but where did I hear it?’
‘The grass is green and the roses are red.
Remember me when I am dead, dead, dead, dead, dead.’
Then a small red fox with four long bushy tails appeared before me. We stare at each other for a moment before it ran a few meters away and looked back at me.
‘It wants me to follow it.’ I do so and it leads me through the flames and straight into someone’s arms.
“Emma!”
It was Jake. After what seemed to be a brief hug in a collapsing building, he lead the way out of the inferno and through the front door.
I was panting, sweaty and tired. After coughing for a few minutes, I look back at the building and watch it burn what was left of the place.
“Oh, you are still alive.” Alice was standing behind us with her arms folded and an evil smirk on her face. “I didn’t expect that.”
I get the message. “You wanted to kill us!”
She shrugged and watched the fire engulf the mansion. “Too bad.”
Jake charged towards her but she vanished right before our eyes, her laugh echoing through the woods. He tsked and looked at me in anger.
"Come on Beloved," he said grabbing my hand. "Let's go home."
ns 15.158.61.55da2
