Behind The Locks || ONC 2024

Chapter 18: Only One Way Out

Arielline got up to a heavy head; the kind of aftermath after an overly drunk party. She couldn't quite tell when she nodded off but she could tell that she was out for a couple of hours.

Her attempts to slap her brother awake were frail, but since she could still feel the beat of his pulse, same case to those of Mirabelle, she could tell that they had not yet seen their way to the afterlife.

Her head was on the ground but somehow she couldn't tell how she fell off her brother's shoulder. Must have been the sleep.

It would have been easy to lose track of time, but Nick's Phone really came in handy.

It was just some minutes to seven pm. Crazy how time raced while they were in a hell of a trap, the devil must have been craving for their souls.

Though her leg had completely restored its ambiance, some mild pain still lingered; like it was just but a mere scratch of a twig.

She switched her glance only to find that Zack was missing.

"Zack!" As swift as she noticed, she blurted.

"Arielline," he shot back from within the dark, a light from afar pointing at her direction.

Footsteps came racing towards her.

Zack and Nick were still in one piece.

Mirabelle, who would die for a second in Instagram appeared stretching a hand with her phone above her head. The network must have been pretty rough on her.

"What happened?" Arielline quizzed, covering her eyes from Zack's torch.

"A lot, we just found out that we are standing on a broken giant clock," Zack could not stop his mouth from jabbering the words of excitement. "And that's not all."

That face must have been one that he was trying to create suspense in the room, and it was working.

"Mmhh," Arielline urged him to proceed.

"There are twelve doors around us."

Who brought up the idea of poorly bringing twelve doors into a hidden entrance in the library. If he or she called that hiding, he or she had no sanity.

Twelve keys for twelve locks. The idea was unimaginable.

"You know what that means right?" Though Arielline could not see his face, she could tell that Zack's eyes were widening. "The twelve locks are here."

His excitement was just too exposed that one would not imagine that they were trapped in oppressive darkness and sooner or later their phones would die. Don't forget how much of a traitor Zack's torch is.

For a second she had been trapped in a revie of what would happen if they were to be trapped forever. How people would miss them, and their skeleton remnants would be found centuries to come.

Nick knew something, her senses were quickly lure back.

"Nick."

They were all seated in a circle each in a harder attempt to think of what to do next.

"Why did you bring a silver knife?"

"It was iron," he corrected. "I had also done some research," he uttered, but something in his voice was slick.

"And who is Dax?" As soon as the words left her lips she felt like she had struck him in a combat.

A swift, subtle, shudder was all it took to sell him out. Arielline had hit the nerve. He did not respond instantly. Instead, he faced Arielline.

She could almost feel his glare burning through her.

Everyone else kept silent.

"He.. he killed my mother." Arielline was not expecting such a response from him, certainly not in a sympathetic breakdown.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"You didn't know," he interjected. "He was arrested and imprisoned for life, but I still see him in my nightmares." A tear broke down from his eyes.

Arielline should never have started the topic. "I, I-"

"You don't have to apologize while it was never your fault."

He went grave silent after that.

"Mirabelle, what did you see that made you nearly kill me?" Arielline switched the topic in a desperate attempt to make Nick feel comfortable.

Mirabelle swallowed a lump of saliva before opening her mouth, "You made my Instagram followers down to zero."

Arielline would have guffawed but she realized that it was not the time nor place.

She didn't have to ask Zack. She knew it was her, but the thought of why attack her after leaving with it for over five years was one she couldn't mind knowing.

"What time is it?" Zack enquired.

It was quarter past ten.

Just a second past it was midday, and now it's a few minutes to midnight.

"Do you think that we should open the door with the time?" Zack threw the question to no one specifically but his eyes were on Arielline. "I mean, the door adjacent to ten pm mark."

It was a bright idea, but suicide wasn't a thing everyone was into, plus they couldn't afford trying to kill her involuntarily.

"It's better than doing nothing."

That was true.

If it was to be viewed in a different perspective, it would be the only thing to do that could give them a way out than wait for Dan day in day out.

It was already past thirteen hours and he hadn't shown any sign.

"Yeah." She paused. "I think it's better than sitting our asses here all day." Mirabelle finally spoke sense.

"Me too," Nick agreed after sobbing for a while, wiping a tear from his face.

All three turned to face Arielline as if it was her decision they were all waiting for.

If there was an easier path, she would have taken it, but unfortunately there wasn't. She sighed and made a nod for it.

Zack went around the clock sweeping the dust with his legs off the digits until he found the number ten.

Without hesitation, they all appeared beside him.

If they were going to get out of there they had to take risks, risks that were as mysterious as the place itself.