UNTIL DAWN: Sam's story

V.

I was peacefully lying in the bath with my eyes closed and earphones plugged in, trying to relax my muscles. Especially enjoying the warmth of the hot water since it was so cold everywhere else. Even inside the lounge, we had to wear our coats most of the time. I had candles lit up all around the room, to make it cozier. Suddenly I felt a cold gust of air and I shuddered. I quickly opened my eyes, turned off the music and looked around. A candle that was right next to me, was extinguished and I heard distant steps, in the corridor. "Hello?" I called out. "Guys?" there was no answer. "What are you doing out there?" I asked still aloud. "Being creepy?" I mumbled. "Oh... kay..." I climbed out of the bathtub and wrapped a towel around myself. I went to where I left my belongings, but there was only one sock left there. Everything else was gone. "Oh, for Pete's sake. My clothes? Really?" I cursed under my breath. "Whichever one of you did this, is off my Christmas list. Seriously, not cool, guys. Not cool at all," I yelled bit annoyed.

I tightened the towel and walked out the door. "Chris? ... Josh?" I called out their names into the silence, as I walked through the huge house. It was way too quiet. My voice echoed around the walls. "What the hell?" I thought to myself. I kept looking though random places, on my way to the main staircase. I entered a small hallway and an old grandfather clock chimed, the sudden noise causing me to jump. I pressed my palm against my chest in attempt to calm my racing heart. There were candles lit, all the way down making the cold room slightly warmer. I hesitated as I raised my eyes to a balloon with an arrow drawn on it, pointing towards the next one.

"Chris? Mike? Emily?" I was getting really annoyed. "This is really getting out of hand, okay? It was all very funny, ha, ha, look at Sam walking around in a towel, but now I just really want this to be over, alright? You had enough?" I groaned, my voice cracking in the end, while silence absorbed my words. To be honest, I was getting pretty scared. I swallowed hard, walking in the direction of those arrows, down the staircase and into the living room. The television suddenly started to flicker, so I slowly approached it and turned it off. When I turned my back on it, I heard a short scream coming from behind, but when I looked back, the TV was still off. "What the..."

As I continued looking for my friends, I saw an unplayed message on the telephone. My curiosity was killing me, so I played it. "New message," the answer machine beeped, as I pressed the right button. "Hi Mrs. Washington – this is Sergeant Tait again. It's bad news, I'm afraid. We've been through the case files, and there's nothing we can do. He's a free man. We don't have the legal power to restrict his movement. I know it's not what you wanted to hear, so call me if you want to know more." Well, this is weird. Who was the Sergeant talking about? Does it have something to do with Hannah and Beth's deaths? But that was an accident, right?

I was confused but continued walking along the path those balloons made for me and was officially getting terrified. "Okay, if you were trying to freak me out, guess what, you succeeded." No answer.

"Where the hell are you guys?" I whisper-yelled, as my gaze landed on the flashlight Josh had used earlier. I reached for it and turned it on. "Whoa, this is weird..." I mumbled as I walked into an open door, leading to a small cinema. "Hey! Guys come ON! I am DONE with this! I really don't appreciate the silent treatment here!" I snapped, partly because I was angry, and partly because I was scared. The door behind me suddenly closed and I screamed, as I backed away from it, shining the flashlight onto the hard wood.

"Hello Samantha," I felt my breath hitch in my throat, when I heard a distorted voice coming from behind me. I spun around and saw weird symbols flickering on the television. "Looking for me?" the voice continued, as I kept turning around furiously, but there was no one here. "I don't think you'll have much luck by looking, Samantha. You're only going to see, what I want you to see.... And I have quite a lot to show you."

"What... what is going on...!?" I asked desperately.

"Open your eyes." A video of me, lying in the bathtub portrayed itself on the television.

"Oh my god."

"She's quite beautiful, isn't she." In the video, I began getting out of the bath. "A beautiful bathing bird..."

"How... why... why did you..." I was breathing heavily, shaking out of fear.

"...do you think she has any idea what lies ahead? Do you think these were the last happy moments of this creature's life?" I shook my head, turning away from the screen.

"Why are you showing this to me...?" I was on the brink of crying.

"Why are you watching?"

A pained scream drew my attention back to the screen. There was Josh, tied up against a wall and he was shrieking. "Josh!" I gasped, when a rusty saw began cutting him in half, while he was screaming his lungs out, until he fell quiet with his eyes open.

"How does it make you feel?" I heard the voice.

I screamed in fear. "OH MY GOD WHAT DID YOU DO?!" I cried, backing up from the door feeling my head pounding painfully.

"I'm going to give you ten seconds... Nine."

"No, no, nonono." I stuttered fearfully, pressing my back up against a stone wall.

"Eight. Seven."

"Please no..." I begged as I covered my head, tears streaming down my cheeks. "AHHHHHH!" I screamed when the door was kicked open. There was a tall man with a terrifying mask over his face, long black hair draped over it and he was holding an injection containing some yellow fluid in his gloved hand.

"Sam," he whispered.

"No...no!" I panted, stumbling back, shaking my head in denial.

"Sa-am?" he cooed, tilting his head.

I ran away through another door into a corridor. "Shit! Shit, shit, shit," I kept cursing as I hid in a random room, I wasn't familiar with. A bed had been pushed into the middle of it as a block. I jumped onto it, crawling to the other side. He caught up with me, so I screamed and ran into another hallway, looking behind me and holding the towel closer to my shivering body. There was only one door in front of me, leading into the basement. I began ascending the stairs, taking three at a time, not paying attention to the broken one, and falling. I got up panting heavily and kept running through the unfamiliar corridors, turning my head furiously, looking for an escape path or a place to hide. I decided to run in an unknown direction when I heard his heavy steps behind me. I realized that the door in front of me had no knob, but saw it laying on top of a cabinet instead. I hurriedly pulled the shelf down, grabbed the knob, jammed it into the door and closed it behind me, just as that psycho was about to grab me. "Get out!" I shouted, almost knocking his arm in the process.

I looked around frightened and discovered I was in the lodge's laundry room. As I heard the man banging on the door behind me, I quickly slipped though the room and reached another exit, but it was locked. I slammed my shoulder against it until it broke out of its hinges and I stumbled down onto the hard ground on the other side. I wheezed as I got up. It looked like I was in an old hotel, I had no idea something like this was here. The walls were moldy with dust covering everything in this messy, dark place. "Oh crap. Crap!" I cursed under my breath, when I heard noises signaling that the psycho was close, and I decided to hide in an air gate. "Oh Fuck.... Fuck!" I whimpered, because I tripped, just before I jumped down the gate. I quickly turned off my flashlight and silently prayed that he wouldn't find me.

"Here little kitty," he cooed from right above me. I made my best not to move, while my body was still trembling out of fear and cold. "Here pussy pussy," I heard him walk around the room, until he cursed angry. "Fuck!" I exhaled relieved as his footsteps faded into the distance.