Love And Hellfire

Chapter 4: The Dead Don't Die

"Do you think she's alive?"
"Of course she's alive Robin can't you see her breathing?"

Two familiar voices. That's all Avila could hear. Her body hadn't quite regained its strength enough to awaken fully, so she just lay there asleep. Asleep, but listening. Her memory was blurry, but she'd somewhat convinced herself that the whole ordeal with Jonah was simply a dream. The cabin in the woods wasn't real it was just an insanely good title for a horror movie one day. She hadnt been knocked out by a creature in the shadows at all! She was just dreaming. A terrible, strange dream.
Soon enough she'd awaken to find herself in bed, watching Grease. Steve would be making some crude remark whilst Robin spilled pizza sauce down her top. Yes. That's exactly what was happening, Avila thought. She was asleep at home, in no danger whatsoever....so why couldn't she wake herself up?

Wriggling in her deep, head injury induced dream, Robin panicked more at her bedside.
"What do we do?" She looked to Steve for answers. "She could need a doctor."
Stroking her face, robin observed the cuts and bruises that had appeared during the 8 hours she'd been unconscious. It was the next morning and daylight had blessed them just enough for Robin to see her wounds more clearly.
"And how would we explain this to a doctor?" Steve snapped, pacing back and forth. They were both worried understandably. "Sorry." He apologised swiftly, his attitude shouldn't be taken out on either of them.
Avila continued to wriggle around, her head moving back and forth, left to right. She tried once more to wake herself up. Thinking back to the moments before her slumber, Avila recalled sitting with Robin and Steve to watch the movie. It made her feel so happy, she was almost certain she was smiling in her sleep. The warm and happy memory was quickly swept away by visions of her in the cabin. She was so frightened as the long dark hand emerged from the shadows and grasped her by the throat. The uncalled strength of this being meant it was easy for them to throw her against the wall, her head colliding with the wooden frame. As her body hit the floor, she jumped where she lay... triggering her just enough to wake.
Shooting upright, Avila panted quickly. Panicked, she looked around the room for something familiar, someone she knew. Robin sat directly infront of her, taking her by the shoulders she smiled widely.
"It's OK, it's OK!" She reassured her cousin. "I'm here!"
Avila hugged Robin tightly. Anxiously, she continued to scan the room over her shoulder.
"Hey trouble." Steve waved, calm and collectedly. "Gave us quite the scare there."
Avila dismissed his words and actions, as she came to the realisation that they were not at home. They were in the cabin. Examining the floor it didn't take her long to recall where she'd seen it before. Covered in rubbish and wrappings it was the same floor of the same room she'd entered in what felt like moments ago. Turned out it was the night before. Bright sunlight beamed through the now closed window she had originally entered through.
"How you feeling? Are you hurt?" Robin placed a hand on her forehead, running her fingers gently over the large bruise that was growing beneath her dewey pale skin.
Feeling more awake than ever, Avila grasped at her forehead.
"My head hurts!" She whined. "What the hell happened?"
For a moment, Robin nor Steve had the words to answer. They simply looked to each other, each one too cowardly to explain themselves. Quickly, this made Avila angry.
"20 minutes." She attempted to stand, but soon resisted.
"What?" Steve asked, looking to Robin who was just as confused by her comments as he was.
"You said you'd be 20 minutes!" Avila shouted, angrily using the strength she had to stand once more before two of them. "Liars! You're both liars!"
"Avila-"
"No!" Pushing past her cousin, Avila left the dirty bedroom. Venturing out into the corridor she heard multiple voices from the communal living area. The deja vu was unreal as she recalled walking down this corridor last night, only moments before she was, attacked.
"Avila you need to stop!" Robin chased after her, followed shortly by Steve. "I'll explain everything just-"
Placing a hand onto her cousins shoulder she attempted to stop her but failed. Avila strided towards the voices, shoving her grasp away. One swift turn to the right would reveal secrets Robin clearly didn't want her to know.
As Avila turned, she was met by another person. Walking straight into them, she bumped into his chest. Naturally, she went to apologise as she looked up at the tall, dark haired boy with long locks that she could merely see beneath his dark hood. However his face, his face was one she had seen before. It took her a moment or two to recall but when she did, the utter shock of the situation was too much for her.
"Hey." The boy smiled. Avila had no chance to respond, as she fainted to the floor. Once again she was asleep, dreaming sweetly of a situation where life was indeed normal.