Dark Nights

The Labyrinth of Torture

A/N: You guys... Writing this chapter gave me so many chills. Warning there is Torture in this chapter, including that of a child.

Elliot and I stepped from the Elevator and onto the cold concrete floor. Him leaning heavily against me for support so he would not topple over. Though it seemed he might be regaining a little bit of strength.

As soon as our feet were off of the elevator platform it closed and started rising up again. Leaving us in the long hallway to face an enemy whose face and name had been unknown to us for as long as they had been known.

For a long moment, the two of us stood against each other in the long hallway. Staring at the wall of darkness at the end that was waiting for us.

Just what exactly was on the other side? Would we face my framer immediately? Or would they make us wander through the dark hallways, our paranoia growing with each and every second?

I squeezed one of Elliot's large hands, and he squeezed mine back. Then we started limping onwards. There was nowhere else we could go. The elevator would not move for us.

With each step we took the closer the wall of darkness came, and the bigger it seemed to get, the more my anxiety rose. My heartbeat was so loud and fast that even Elliot heard it. Giving me another comforting squeeze with one of his paws.

My eyes were wide to catch anything I could as we entered through the wall of darkness. The concrete below us seemed to get considerably closer and a chill ran through me.

All of the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck were standing on end as goosebumps appeared all over me. I held onto Elliot as if he was a beacon of light in a cold sea of darkness. Unknown creatures lurking in the depths around us just waiting to gobble us up.

After walking for a minute in the long dark hallway we entered a decently sized room. There was a single flickering light that helped us see. There was nothing but more doorways in the abandoned room. The walls were white and grey with decay.

On the wall ahead of us was a single picture. As we approached I noticed that it was an old picture of Charlie Destiny and me from our freshman year in high school.

The three of us were in front of the school and we were all smiling brightly. My face had been furiously scratched out with something sharp and Destiny and Charlie both had red hearts around them.

I lowered my eyebrows with confusion. Staring at the picture in bewilderment. What... what on earth did this mean. I knew what me being scribbled out meant? But why did Destiny and Charlie have hearts around them?

I remember Destiny telling me that my framer had made her lie to the cops to get me arrested. In return, her mother would get to keep her life. Did they do something to Charlie too?

I continued to hold onto Elliot as we entered another room. This one had two pictures it it, each on a different wall. One was of me and Charlie after school one day. The other was of Destiny and I at a small cafe in town. Again in both pictures, my face had been cut out with red hearts around the others.

I was already on edge, but now I was completely freaked out. It all was so creepy, I did not understand what it meant. I looked up at Elliot and he blinked down at me with his half-lidded eyes.

I softened my gaze for him, and he almost seemed to smile. Just being in his hold made me feel so much safer. As if the boogeyman in the shadows could never touch me no matter how they tried.

I decided to go back to the previous room and try the other doorway that had been there. We just found the same thing there. More pictures of me and the other two. The same thing going on. My face scratched out and theirs with hearts.