I'm not the only one in my reflection.

Part twenty-six

Leaning her back against the nightstand, holding it in place as the Ghost continued to batter the door, the former redhead saw Samantha look out the window again, but this time she was catching the ladder that their neighbor Danny and, surprisingly, Oliver were holding out for her.

- Samantha, you go first. - Katherine shouted, her feet planted firmly on the ground, while Mindy found a more comfortable position and sat down, her feet resting against the nearby wall.

- I'm not leaving you here. - Carpenter protested, and after securing the edge of the ladder to the window frame, she turned to her two friends and her lover. - Mindy, you go first, I'll help Kat.

- No, Sam, you go first. You're the least injured of us. - Macher pointed out, vaguely pointing to the bloodstains that the three girls had here and there on their clothes. - You'll get through faster than us. Less talk, more action, Sammy!

Samantha bit her lip and, gritting her teeth, climbed the stairs. Of course, her beloved girlfriend was right, and she was safe in another apartment with Milton and Danny within seconds.

- Good job, baby! - Oliver's niece shouted, smiling through the tears that streamed down her face at the sight of Tara's older sister, who had climbed down the stairs and was being helped to her feet by her uncle. - Mindy, now you, I'll hold the door for you. - The brunette ordered in a firm voice, pointing her head towards the window, and she immediately took Meeks-Martin's seat, resting her feet against the wall as soon as she stood up.

When Chad's sister was halfway up the stairs, having quickly kissed her girlfriend's bloody forehead, the former redhead turned to Kayoko, who was in a semi-fainting state.

- Well, we won't be able to do it together. - The girl said with a laugh, pointing out that the door, which she was still preventing from opening fully, had already slightly cracked open, and with each Ghost's blow, the gap was widening. - Go, Anika. And don't argue with me, you still need to find your mother and ask her what you want. I'll keep this door closed for as long as I can, so you can accomplish your goal.

- Girls, hurry! - Oliver shouted, his fingers white-knuckled on the ladder, as if if he let go, the ladder would collapse, cutting off his niece's escape route. - Katherine, you go first!

Anika stood up on trembling legs and looked into her friend's equally watery blue eyes.

- Anika, go! - Mindy shouted, extending both hands. She didn't seem to care that blood continued to gush from her forearm, soaking into her clothes, preferring to keep her hands ready to catch the severely injured girl.

Sam, helping two men to keep the ladder steady as it shook from Anika's crawling, looked past the girl, straight into Quinn's room with a betrayed expression. She saw her lover left there, alone with the Ghost. She saw the door opening more and more, saw how hard it was for her beloved to keep the door closed.

But Roman's daughter continued to hold on so that Kayoko could crawl away from the clutches of the Ghostface. And she herself? Well, she would escape in another way: she would fight the masked maniac, try to escape through the front door, or, if things got really bad, simply throw herself out of the window to meet death.

Stu's niece slowly got to her feet and swung the knife back, aiming at the hand that the Ghostface had pushed through the gap between the door and the door frame. She aimed directly at his forearm, but because of his attempt to pull his hand away, she only left a long scratch along his arm.

Leaning back with all the strength she had left, Katherine ran to the window and grabbed the edge of the ladder, hearing the Ghost behind her, banging on the door even more furiously. She looked up and saw her loved ones waving at her, shouting for her to climb faster.

But she knew she wouldn't make it in time. As she let the three girls go ahead of her, she knew what she was sacrificing and what she was going to do.

Fight.

The brunette, hearing her lover's cries, pushed the edge of the ladder off the window frame, causing it to fall to the ground, as everyone on the other side of the window was too busy to worry about it.

- I love you, Samantha! I love you all! - Leslie's daughter shouted, closing the window and turning her back on her crying and screaming family, facing the upcoming fight with the handle of the balisong clenched in her hand.

Her balisong was, of course, tiny compared to the Ghost's large kitchen knife.

Taking a deep breath, and seeing the dresser give in to Ghostface's power, Stu's niece realized that this was her last chance to get out of the darkness of Quinn's room and into a more spacious part of the apartment, where she could at least get a head start on the fight.

And if she did end up losing the fight, she wanted to die somewhere her beloved Sammy wouldn't see it.

She ran to the door that Sidney's niece had previously held with Carpenter, unlocked it, and ran out, hearing the cries of her loved ones behind her and the crash of Quinn's dresser as it was pushed back by the Ghost.