Survive the Night

23

Victoria could only stare; face flushed, eyes staring with concentrated stillness. Sasha's hand came down to her side again, thumping clumsily against the table. Then, Sasha dropped her head against the table, and a louder thump sounded. Winston jerked her way, but everyone else stared at Vicky.

"What did she mean?" Kevin asked. "What did she mean about Vicky?"

Habernal assumed that the question was directed at him, so he answered. "I don't know."

Victoria knew, though. Those proceeding moments felt like a lifetime. The thoughts she ingested were heavy and many, crammed into those conflicting minutes of her life. She thought about her arrival to the house; the magnetic pull she felt as she neared the estate, the voices she heard in her head, inviting her in. She thought about the way she felt upon arriving at the house. The living room, the library, the sitting room-there was this gnawing familiarity about the entire place, something she could never explain. She assumed that they'd all felt it. Apparently not. It was her. Because she'd lived there once.

She thought about the letter she'd read. It was like reading an old birthday card; something from your past that brought nostalgia. It never felt brand new, it felt brought up. Rekindled.

"I'm Evelyn," Victoria said aloud, trying how the words sounded in her mouth. "Abner killed me."

Habernal looked at her quizzically. "We don't know anything for sure."

"Yes," Victoria broke off, and looked up at him. "I know for sure. It has to be true. It's why all this is happening."

Ashley lent an arm over Vicky's slouched shoulders, and rubbed gently. Meanwhile, Victoria fiddled with her hands, contemplating if she should continue to the Ashmore house as she'd meant to before. In those endless minutes, she decided that, yes, she would go.

Causing Ashley's hand to fall awkwardly from her shoulders, Victoria rose and picked up her shovel again. She headed for the door again.

"Where do you think you're going?" Kevin demanded, getting up as well.

She spoke without turning back. "You already know."

She was outside before they could stop her. The moment she was absorbed into the wooded darkness, she decided to sprint for the house. The trees became a black blur on her sides, and she could feel the thick roots beneath her as she treaded over them. Below her, she felt herself sinking mildly into the soft dirt, chucking up wet grains of soil as she went. The house was in full view now, massive and gloomy before her. The smoky sky hung in the backdrop of the mansion like the head rest of a royal throne. In the cold night, she heard something on either side of her. Fear struck her. The corpses.

As soon as she reached the steps, something came out at her from behind the veranda. The figure was skeletal and wormy, with frail white hairs sprouting scarcely atop its bleach-white skull. Its eyes were sunken deep as it reached for Victoria. She screamed and kicked it violently in the jaw. The bony corpse fell back against the rocking bench. It rose and came at her again. Victoria tried to make a leap into the house but it threw its arm in between the closing. The door slammed shut on its arm and it made a dull cracking sound.

"Let us in!" she heard faintly from outside. It sounded like Kevin.

Victoria flung the door open again, and the corpse rushed at her. She buried the shovel into its skull and its head came rolling off. Shoving the corpse aside, she opened the door fully and saw all of her friends, including Mr. Habernal, running wildly through the shadowy grass. Behind them, she saw in disbelief, were at least ten corpses hobbling towards them.

"Hurry!" Victoria shouted.

As soon as they reached the veranda, they each ran into the main hall of the house. Victoria shut the door.