The Murder House

Five- Rescue gone wrong

Amelia's P.O.V

"I can't believe you're making us go in there again." I say, following Kira into the slightly overgrown garden.

"I thought you wanted to save them." Kira says. Gray appears next to me.

"Found my boots!" Gray says, holding them up to show me.

"I do want to save them, but it's creepy in there." I say.

"Stop being such a wuss." Kira rolls her eyes.

"Hello, is noone excited about my boots?" Gray pipes up.

"Yay." I say.

"Wait, wait." Gray says, sitting cross-legged in the grass, pulling on their boots. Kira walks on, creaking open the door and disappearing into the darkness of the house. I wait while they tie their laces. Gray finishes tying their laces and stands up, following me into the house.

"I have a bad feeling about this." I whisper to them. The door slams behind us and we are left in complete darkness. There is not the tiniest speck of light in sight.

"Kira?" Gray calls into the blackness.

"Shush!" I hiss. I step back, trying (and failing) to find the door to let some light in. Finding Cerys, Ellis, and Kira in this void of darkness will be impossible.

"Kira!" Gray shouts. I hear their footsteps moving near me. They step on my foot.

"Ouch!" I hiss.

"Sorry." Gray whispers back, "I can't see a thing." They stop moving and we are plunged into a terrible silence again. I think I can just make out a hazy shadow in the distance, but I am not sure.

Then, an awful scream rings through the house and I feel Gray freeze next to me. I recognise that voice. Kira.

Footsteps echo through the house. It sounds like at least two people are heading towards us. Floorboards creak upstairs. I'm not sure if I imagine it, but I swear it drops a little darker. Kira screams again.

"Gray." I hiss, "You still here?"

"Yeah." They whisper back, "Let me see if I have a match or something."

"Okay." I say quietly. I hear a small scuffling and the sound of Gray rooting through their pockets for something.

"It's impossible." Gray sighs from somewhere next to me, "I can't see a thing."

I try to let my eyes adjust to the darkness a little, and am able to make out Gray's pink-purple hair.

"Wait." I hush Gray. The footsteps are getting nearer. They are loud. Fast. Urgent. They are either running away from something, or towards something. And, judging by the fact that me and Gray are the only things in this corridor, there is a high chance that they are running towards us.

"Let's hope it's Kira, Cerys and Ellis." Gray hisses. I nod, but I know they probably can't see me nodding.

Someone screams again and yells something unintelligible. A loud thud rings in my ears, and the footsteps stop. Then Kira screams, only quieter this time. Almost as if she has seen something so terribly awful and heart-breaking, that her voice seems to have forgotten how to work. Then the footsteps start again. Closer. Closer. Closer.

Someone slams into me, almost knocking me to the floor. Whoever it was seems to collapse to the floor in a pile of sobs, breathing ragged and heavily. Someone else approaches us.

"Amelia, Gray?" The second voice says. Cerys, "Are you here?"

"Yeah." I say, "We're here."

"Everything good?" Gray asks the two.

"We need to get out." Cerys says, a sense of urgency in her voice, "Kira, come on, we need to get out."

"I c-can't... I-- no, please..." Kira sobs, not moving.

"Kira, hurry!" Cerys says. She slips past me, pushing open the door. Bright light fills the hallway, revealing Kira: covered in blood, collapsed on the floor in a mess of tears, hair a mess, blood seeping from a wound in her arm. And Cerys: tears running down her face, eyes urgent, and blood dyeing her clothes a dark shade of red.

No Ellis in sight. I look down the corridor, at where the two came from. No sign of her. I glance back down at Kira, and at Cerys. Cerys has no wounds, I realise with a pang. The fresh blood coating her t-shirt and jeans is too much to be Kira's. And, if she really had lost all that blood, she wouldn't be standing right now. I look at their sad eyes, the new tears Cerys hasn't bothered to wipe away, the mess Kira is in.

I gasp softly, feeling my own eyes threatening to overflow with tears. No, you shouldn't assume the worse.

But there is nothing else to assume.

Kira and Cerys: covered in blood that isn't theirs, eyes red with tears and pain.

Ellis. Nowhere in sight.

Cerys hasn't said anything. She hasn't suggested going to find Ellis.

Kira is a mess. A grieving, heartbroken mess.

And I know what has happened. And, looking at Gray's face, they know what has happened too.

"Kira, we have to go!" Cerys cries, grabbing hold of Kira's unhurt arm, hauling her up and helping her out of the house. Me and Gray follow, not saying anything. We follow Cerys and Kira through the garden, past the rusted gate, onto the pavement. We cross to sit on the other side of the path, just to be safe.

We all sit on the edge of the curb. Gray glances at me, and mouths: Ellis. I nod sadly, finally letting the hot tears run down my face.

Ellis.

Neither Kira nor Cerys have said anything, but I think that says it all.

"We found her... bracelet." Kira chokes out between tears. She holds out a blood-stained, silver chain bracelet. I recognise it as the one Ellis wore, "It was.. on the floor. Covered in- blood. And, and- we looked up... and Ellis was..." Kira sniffs, "She was-- laid on.. the floor. Her blood... it was everywhere... and she was- she is.... d-dead... and I-- I tried to help, but... she was already gone... and-- we couldn't find... who'd done it, or her... ghost...." Her voice fades out and she gives into tears again.

I look up at Cerys, who has her head down, tears running quietly down her face and splashing onto the road below.

I let myself cry.

"She's gone forever now, isn't she?" Cerys whispers, looking at Gray. Gray wipes their eyes with their already sodden sleeve.

"Yeah. She died in the house..." Gray whispers, not looking at Cerys. They are fiddling with a single crystal in their hand. They must have found it while looking for a match earlier.

"We can't do anything?" Kira asks, finally wiping her eyes, "To bring her back?"

"No." Gray shakes their head sadly, "We can't help her now."

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1134 words. Sorry for this one, Ellis.