The Last One | Project Fear

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑

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The hospital has been incredibly active throughout our investigation.

From Dakota feeling strange on the second floor to me hearing noises behind Alex on the third floor. At one point, Dakota and Tanner went in on their own while Alex and I took a break and they had plenty of responses on the REM pod. While separating into duos, Dakota and Alex went together and wound up hearing something like a scalpel being thrown on the ground down one of the hallways.

The group reconvenes after Tanner and I let them know that we've captured something like a mist in one of the Polaroids I had taken.

"Okay, um, Olivia," Dakota starts, taking what seems to be a nervous breath. I'm sitting beside him and I glance at him. A small, uncomfortable smile breaks over his face. "I have an idea, and you can say no."

I shake my head. "No!" I exclaim, glancing between him, Tanner, and Alex. "I'm already saying no. Like, that's not fair!"

My quick response is in retaliation to realizing what Dakota's wonderful idea is going to be—he wants me to head up to the third floor to see if I can provoke the entity there by simply being up there.

The entity who hates women.

"Trust me, you're gonna like it," Dakota says as the same time Alex says, "You might like it."

I narrow my eyes at both of them.

"What if we send you alone on the third floor?" Dakota asks, glancing at me. I turn back to him, eyebrows raised and unimpressed. At the look I give him, he continues, "We're on the second floor."

I glance back at Alex, eyebrows raised as I stare directly into the camera in his hands. "I'm going to like it?" I repeat, releasing a slow breath.

"But," Dakota continues still, "you don't have to sleep up there then." I roll my eyes and sigh. "Just to see, we'll be right there, twenty-five feet down the stairs."

"Ready to sprint," my cousin adds in supportively.

"Realistically, even if I don't consent to doing this, I shouldn't be sleeping up there," I remind Dakota. "It just isn't safe."

Dakota glances at me, holding my gaze for a moment before he nods slowly. "You're right," he agrees tentatively, as if he's realizing that his plan may fall through.

I swallow thickly, realizing that all eyes have fallen on me. I know that no one would hold it against me if I were to back down. I'm so new to this it isn't even funny. I've never been in any situations like this and I feel like the last investigation showed that.

I know that I have a lot to prove—being the youngest, relatively being an outsider.

I blow air through my teeth, shaking my head. "This is so freaking messed up," I mutter.