Survive the Night

15

The others waited. Kevin didn’t bother looking back at them; he didn’t want to see their terrified faces. Didn’t want them to see his face.

He knew they were waiting on him, but he was too afraid to move. Afraid that his legs would not reach their destination. It was hard enough to even stand up.

With a shy step, he heard his shoes clipping the marble floor, heard the echo in the room. But he did not feel like he was moving. I’m a ghost, he thought divertedly. I’m a ghost like Bleak will now be. The amusement was gone. He was about two feet away from Bleak’s body when he stopped. Searching, he found the gun nipping only one of Bleak’s fingers. As he lowered to the ground, the joints in his knees cracked—the sound made him feel unpleasantly exposed. Kevin took the gun and stood. He began backing away from the body without turning, somehow afraid that Bleak might jump up at him, rise from the dead like the corpses in the graveyard. The idea didn't seem too preposterous.

Sasha stopped screaming, and it was then that Kevin realized she’d been screaming in the first place. Ashley was sobbing bitterly, and all the boys were chugging heavy gulps of air, panic on their faces.

He reached the door, finally, and looked at the gun. It was a semi-automatic pistol. He wasn’t exactly sure which one, must’ve been from the early 1900s, dating back to when the Ashmores lived here.

"Are we gonna get Bleak’s body out of here?" Geo asked. "It’s gonna rot up the place. I ain’t gonna touch him then, when he’s all…rotted up."

Kevin looked up from the gun, almost forgetting there were people around. "Give me a minute," he said. "Let’s get everyone upstairs for a meeting."

"Meeting. Town meeting upstairs," Mike hummed colorlessly.

They all began walking out. "Ashley, you hold up a minute," Kevin said.

She looked over-shoulder and nodded. After the rest left, Ashley crossed her arms and circled around Kevin slowly. "What?" she said.

Kevin fingered the gun lightly. "I really think Victoria’s alive."

Ashley stopped. She shuddered briefly. "I know you do... I know, but..." she said.

"But what?"

"I'm scared we won't find her," she said, her eyes darting in different directions, holding back fresh tears.

"Well I'm scared we're not trying hard enough," Kevin said. "I'm scared she's here somewhere. Alone. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe she's here, but dead. Either way, I want to try. I have to try."

Ashley had never heard Kevin defend anyone this way, let alone Victoria.

"Where do you think she could be?" she asked.

Kevin swayed his hand back and forth, the hand holding the gun. "I think she’s sending us a message with the lights. It’s so obvious. The way they’re turning on and off, the timing, it all means something."

"Yeah…" Ashley said. "Somewhere with a fuse box."

"It would have to be the first floor."

"The wine cellar."

"That's what I'm thinking. Could be anywhere, though." He glanced around the large room and sighed. "I don't think this will be easy."

"Do we need to get everyone?" Ashley asked.

"No. Leave them. We can handle this on our own. I’m sick of all their fussing. If anything, they’ll just slow us down."

Ashley wiped away the streak of hair that was matted on her perspiring forehead and nodded. She didn’t understand why Kevin was suddenly interested in saving Vicky. He hadn’t been this way about Icarus, or this affected by any of the other casualties. Did he really believe Vicky was still alive? Ashley felt horrible for saying it, but she had already come to terms with the realistic possibility that Victoria was dead—whether by the hand of Bleak, or some other phenomena in the house. Abner was a real threat now; they all saw what he was capable of. If Bleak was lying, then he killed her. If he was telling the truth, then, according to his story, Vicky was dead too. It seemed unlikely that he had her trapped somewhere. But still, there was the mystery of the lights. Kevin was right about that, she supposed. It had to mean something. Abner had already manifested himself in bigger ways, so why would he waste his time putting on a light show? It just didn’t add up.