Cusick Hollow

6

What was I supposed to do in this room?

What was I supposed to find?

I walk around the room, my gaze running over all the horrible things.

"WHAT?" I yell

"WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW"

A box falls to the floor as if an invisible hand pushes it off. The box is small. It would fit in my palm. The tattered brown covering was made of skin. The cursed box that started all this evil lay at my feet. I am fascinated and terrified at the same time. Both emotions fight for dominance. "Is this what you want?" I whisper.

How can this avenge you? Can I trap him back inside somehow? Will that free all the trapped souls? Questions run through my mind one after the other.

I cautiously reach down and pluck the box from the floor. A shudder runs through my body at the feel of human skin. I imagine it was peeled off while the victims screamed in terror.

How do I return the evil back to the box? I muse

"I need more information, Lily." I plea to the empty room.

But it doesn't remain empty.

The air becomes colder by the second; My breath clouds around me. I become more dead with each breath.

IT'S HIM!

I pivot toward the door, prepared to make my escape, but it slams shut; the wood grazes my nose.

The sound of claws scratching against the stone wall fills the room. A phantom hand reaches out and grabs my hair. Soft at first like a caress, then hasher, causing me to cry out. My neck bent all the way back. Any further, and it would snap.

The scratching noises intensified, as did my feelings of horror and dread

"Naughty girl, snooping around in here. I will have to punish you, Gabby."

How does he know my name?

A ghostly image begins emerging from the pools of blackness.

Not human.

Yellow eyes protruding from an animalistic face roam over my body as a forked tongue flicks out and licks away my tears. He seems to savor the salty taste. It was tall, over seven feet, with slender arms and black claws.

The air in the room was so cold the exposed flesh on his face looked like ice. The demon's presence hung in the air like a thick fog.

"What did you do to Lily, you bastard?" I scream into his repugnant face.

Long black claws slash across my chest, shredding my shirt and cutting through the top layer of skin.

"You will find out so enough, little fly." I am thrown across the room, my head hitting the wall, and my vision fades as I struggle to stay conscious. But it's a losing battle.

I am dreaming, but it's not me, not my body. But hers.

"Lily?"
She couldn't see his face, but she knew his eyes were on her. She could feel them.
A moment passed. Then another. He flicked the lantern on, his eyes zooming in on her mouth. "Are you scared enough of the dark to leave?"
She shook her head. "You planning on leaving me down here."
He tugged their linked hands and leaned the slightest bit closer.
She breathed, mirroring his movement. She was  inches from his face. She admired the curve of his lip. "What are you doing, Roger?"
"I'm going to have to kiss you." He whispers back.

I leaned in. My head tilted slightly, my eyelids half-mast. Right before my lips meshed with him, something caught my have opened eye.

Down the hallway, from what is left in the wake of the snuffed-out light, emerged a long, sinister thing. Yellow eyes looked right at me. I tried to scream, but Roger covered my mouth.

"Don't he doesn't like it when they scream before the fun can start."