H&S: Story Of Dorothy Oneshots

Pt. 4 Dorothy & The Exorcist

Dorothy and Woohee had made it halfway up the staircase before realizing the maid wasn't following. There were no more revving sounds of the buzzsaw, no more mad laughter. "She... She can't follow us up. She can't leave that floor!" Dorothy felt relief seep into her. She sat herself down on a step, letting go of the mirror, resting and letting her heart rate slow. One storey down, and... Wait.

"Phew, that was a work out if I've ever had one!" Woohee chirped as she wiped the sweat from her brow. Her translucent form had a jagged slash in its back, and a similar hole on her hip, allowing Dorothy to see many floating glowing particles drifting about inside her. Like glittering dust motes. "I'll give you a moment to rest before we continue."

Dorothy stood and faced her. "We're not going upstairs." She decided, voice firm and pink lips pressed into a flat line.

Woohee hummed in confusion, staring at her for a few seconds. There was a wide window on the landing of the two-set stairwell, outside were tree canopies and a star spangled sky. The moonlight flooded in and washed them with its creamy glow, making their hair shine and their eyes gleam gorgeously. "You're giving up already?" She asked, not surprised. "That's alright, Dorothy. We'll find a way to get you out, perhaps Escal could assist with the locked entrance."

"No, that's not what I mean." Dorothy sighed, albeit patiently. She turned and walked to the window, finding comfort in seeing the outside. She felt almost as if she needed the confirmation of there being an outside world, places devoid of this hell she was stuck in. It always seemed to be a never-ending limbo of people dying, luckily she was able to save her parents from being next. Her servants didn't deserve their fates, but she'd put an end to it.

"Mind explaining, then?" Woohee pressured, not so patiently as she once again placed her fists on her hips and pursed her lips.

"Okay, let's see..." Dorothy exhaled slowly, hoping that if she stayed facing the window, Woohee couldn't search her face for a lie. She prayed her reflection wasn't too visible. "I suppose I should um, continue where I left off, when we were so rudely interrupted by that dead maid. Sue blackmailed me into playing the games. It turned out, if I lost, then someone in the house would die. When it first happened, he said he could revive that person, or persons. They were the maids-"

"With the vines wrapped around their necks!" Woohee finished the sentence for her, eyes widening. Dorothy gave her a confused look over her shoulder. "I read your mother's diary, but only the most recent entries, to get important background info. Then I just decided questioning you all would be easier, and that's when I found you sneaking out. But please, continue."

Woohee expected Dorothy to criticize her for reading Maria's diary, but she didn't thankfully. She only faced the window again and resumed her story. "I believed him. I didn't know what he was capable of, after all, it was worth a shot. But, he said the only way to revive them was to win the games. So I tried, then lost the match and yet another life. I was so desperate, I kept trying to win. I thought I would be making my soul pure again if I fixed my mistake, and I felt so guilty.

The deaths kept coming. I finally stood up to him before my parents could have the same fate as our staff, and we packed our things to move elsewhere. That's when...all this chaos happened. They won't let us leave. He turned the servants against us, told them it was all my fault and that's why they're doing this. He wants me to play one last time, that's what this is about."

Dorothy bowed her head, bangs dangling over her eyes and hiding her tears. A few managed to slide down the slope of her cheeks. She clutched the windowsill tight enough to hurt. It felt terrible to lie, but she just couldn't own up to it. She already faced ridicule from herself over it everyday, she just couldn't handle another person berating her for it. Sue had been right, she was afraid of what Woohee would think of her.

Woohee walked up to the girl, standing beside her with an arm around her. "Cheer up, little lady." She said blithely, smile glowing brighter than the moon above. "Your servants have been turned into monsters... I may be able to return them to average spirits by breaking the demon's influence somehow, they may just forgive you. But Dorothy..." Her smile faded a bit. Should she tell her this? It's impossible to truly resurrect someone.

"Yes, yes, I know," Dorothy tittered as she wiped away her tears, "you're going to ask me what this has to do with us turning back. You see, I first met Sue in the sewers. He came out from inside a grandfather clock, if you can believe it. He'd been... staying down there for a while, I never asked why. I'm so stupid."

"Sewers?" Woohee replied inquisitively, chewing the inside of her cheek in thought. "Below the house? You can actually get there from in the house?"

"Yes." Dorothy confirmed, nodding. "That must be where he's hiding. He wants us to endure this long journey through the house only to lose as we fail to find him. It's a trick. There's a door in the corner of my room that leads down into the sewers, it was locked until I found the key, which is how we met in the first place. Let's go, maybe the maid wandered off far enough for us to go there without alerting her."

Woohee nodded, then smiled again. "Once again, great thinking. You're not stupid at all, you know." Dorothy gave her a watery smile in return. They both entered the first floor again, and tip toed into her bedroom. All was silent. The young girl shut the door behind them as slowly and quietly as she could. She slid her hand under the pillow on her bed and produced a rusty, copper key before presenting it to Woohee.

"It's definitely safer if I lead the way." The exorcist agreed, quietly. She unlocked the door in the corner of the room, revealing a stairwell room similar to the one they just left, except there was no window and the walls and floor were a drab gray. They began their descent as silently as possible, Woohee's blue fireball lighting the way. Just as they reached the landing, bloody words splattered themselves over the wall, startling the duo enough for them to jump and gasp.

It wasn't the usual elegant handwriting of Sue. It was sloppy, uneven letters that angrily spelled out: NO CHEATING.

A croaking noise came from the darkness of the bottom of the stairwell, deep and throaty. A vine advanced on them, the green grew transparent at the top portion of the vine that faded into the ceiling. Hanging from it, gliding up the stairs slowly, was a maid with short black hair. Her face was a sickly blue, her mouth gaped open, her neck occasionally twitched, and her icy blue eyes sightlessly stared at the ceiling despite her targets being in front of her.

Dorothy shrieked and tore back  up the stairs, Woohee hot on her heels before passing her and grabbing her hand as she did. Back upstairs they went, this time rushing into the second floor. Woohee dragged Dorothy into the first room she spotted, on the left, "You need the invisibility cloak now!"

"The-what?" Dorothy blinked.

Woohee allowed the cloak to materialize into her hands again. She noticed Dorothy had discarded it in the library, and stored it back into her inventory. She pushed it into the girl's arms. "Wear it and you'll be invisible! Just do it, before she comes. I'll be the one to find the key this time around. Then I'll come back for you."

Woohee bolted back out the door, hoping it wouldn't be too hard to find the "cherished item" and key for the next floor. She found herself in a corridor. She simply chose the door across from that one, discovering another bedroom, and began searching.

Meanwhile, Dorothy draped the cloak around herself. Nothing happened. She slipped the hood over her head. Suddenly, she couldn't see any of her body anymore. In awe, she stared at the seemingly empty space where her hand was supposed to appear. That's when that dreadful croaking entered the second floor.

A/N: This has been collecting dust for a while so I decided to publish it, despite it being only half-finished. Hope you enjoy. This mini series won't go on for too long. Thanks for the support!