We Were There

Chapter 90: Next Victim

I turned around as quickly as I could. Cold puffs of air escaped my lips as I scanned the room from corner to corner. There was no one in sight. I was alone. And at the same time, I wasn't. My eyes narrowed on the dresser's mirror again, and there they were. Standing. Waiting. They were like lifeless mannequins. Their faces were saggy and their eyes sunk in just like Neema's. They were more like lifeless cadavers than spirits. I couldn't see them in real time, but in the reflection, they're there. I neared the mirror. I wanted to get a closer look. I wanted to see them better. They were the ones who called me here. They were the ones who wanted help. 

On the mirror's reflection, Josephine, who was still wearing the same 19th century gown on the night that she was murdered, floated towards my back. Her dead gaze were a sparkle of her once ivory eyes, and now all that was left inside of her were sadness and a world full of regrets. She didn't get to see her children grow up. And neither did Thomas. Andy and Alice weren't given the chance to live life as it is. They have been taken from this world at an early age. Thomas had lived his life in solitude, thinking only of his one true love that he had lost to an evil man. Neema had lived her life, thinking back about what she had witnessed back at the Walter's home. Their lives were spent on agony and misery. They couldn't move on from this world. Something was binding them here. I had to save them. I just had to. 

You know what we want.

That's it! That must be it all along! I was so dense to have not thought about it first. They wanted to be free from him. They wanted to be free from Winston Walter.

They wanted him to let them go.

" I can't believe it took me this long to figure this all out..." I muttered out. I spun around as I heard a scream. It was all so familiar. It was Kim's. I jolted towards the door and jogged down the stairs. My eyes widened in fear. 

Mac's features had changed entirely. His eyes weren't his, his mouth, his nose... He was the same Mac I knew but at the same time, he wasn't. But the worse part was, he was holding Kim hostage. He held the gun on her right temple, making every sweat of my body break out. Again, he was using her as leverage. Shit. 

" Calm down..." I motioned my hands and slowly continued down the stairs. 

" This requires sacrifice." He was about to pull the trigger but the words that came out from my mouth saved Kim, stopped him and surprised me.

" Winston..."

His eyes became soft as he heard my voice.  As if it was a voice that he knew so so well. It was...

" Josephine...darling..."

Somehow, I felt a warm light engulf me. I didn't fight it off nor did I struggle against it. But somehow, for some reason, I let it take me instead. 

" Winston... please... let us go." The words came naturally out from my mouth.

He eyed me angrily from head to toe and I knew something in him broke. He had had enough of it. And he was pretty decisive of not letting anyone go at all. 

" You... You're the cause of all this!" He started lunching at me, pinning me down on the wooden floor. I felt something in me broke. His hands reached for my throat and he started cutting my airway. His sudden surge of strength was unbelievable. My hands flailed aimlessly, searching for something that would deem as a weapon against him. He saw this and he pulled my neck up and slammed my head back onto the ground. I cringed. I heard ringing somewhere inside my head.

" Mark my words. I will never ever let you and my family go."

All of a sudden, a loud demonic shriek was heard somewhere inside the house. The house rumbled as if there was an earthquake. All the furniture shook. It took me for a moment to realize that this was his doing. He was decisive of not letting them go. They are bound to him. They couldn't move on from this world. And that was what they're asking from me. To free them from the chains.

Everything was wobbly as if darkness was already eating me fron the inside. My ounce of hope had gotten thinner by the minute and everything was in the depths of what we call, despair. He, then again pressed onto my airways, giving me a severe headache as I struggled to breathe.

I knew I was next.

I knew I was his next victim.

I knew I was going to die.