Chapter 006: No Exit
***
CAMCORDER VIDEO FOOTAGE 003
12:43 AM, MAY 28TH, 1987
The screen glitches back in, but stutters as Ben, Quinn and Emmy run. Fear is on their faces as they run down the hallway toward the front door. The sound of heavy footsteps is picked up as the monster chases after them, and it gives out another unearthly shriek.
QUINN
Oh God, it's closing in! It's closing in!
EMMY
Just keep running!
BEN
I don't think we'll be doing anything fucking else, Emmy!
Conversation stops as the front door appears. Immediately Quinn runs to it and grabs the handle, throwing it open with enough force it might fall off.
But instead of revealing the street, endless darkness meets them, as unnerving howls and screeches echo out from the darkness. Cawed hands reach out from it, fangs and red and white eyes shine in it, the things in the darkness reaching closer to them.
QUINN
What the actual fu—
Emmy and Ben slam the door closed before the things could reach them. The door gives out a bang as the shriek sounds again, and Quinn grabs the door handle.
BEN
Uh, I'd rather take my chances with that thing than what's outside!
QUINN
Do you have any better ideas to get out of here?!
Ben grows silent as Quinn pulls on the door handle. Except this time, it doesn't budge.
QUINN
Fuck! Come on, come on, fucking open! Let us out!
She now slams on the door, desperation in her body as she screams
QUINN
Help! Someone, please, help! Get us out of here! HELP!
A shriek sounds, and Emmy's eye grow wide, as if she's sensing something and she grabs Ben's arm. When he turns, along with the camcorder, they see the monster—and some shadowy shapes detach from the darkness, heads turning on broken necks with white, hollow eyes and gaping mouths. The glitching, which is already erratic, goes berserk, the footage choppy.
EMMY
Quinn, we need to run!
QUINN
IT'S GONNA KILL US! Someone, please! HELP US! HELP!
EMMY AND BEN
QUINN!
That's when Quinn turns and sees the monsters at the end of the hallway. The monster that chased them growls, as the other shapes give out unearthly moans, the sound distorted and choppy on the camcorder footage as it glitches madly. The shapes lurch forward, the shape prowling closer, its footsteps loud and ominous.
BEN
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
EMMY
We need to run. We need to run!
The monster and shapes let out a howling noise that is a scrambled mess of static cacophony on the camcorder before they run forward. As they do, Emmy and Quinn press themselves against a wall while the camcorder jostle as Ben does the same. The monster and shapes run past them as the teens run out behind them—but the monster realises and turns, shrieking as its clawed hand lunges out to grab them. Quinn swings her flashlight against the hand, the monster letting out a shriek of pain and anger as Ben pulls Quinn forward by her arm.
QUINN
Ouch! Ben, you're gonna pull my arm off!
BEN
I think what's more important is we don't die right now, Quinn!
Quinn goes silent as Emmy pauses in the hallway, arms out, her body tense.
EMMY
In here!
They run into the bathroom, Quinn slamming the door closed. A minute later, bangs sound, the monster growling.
BEN
Oh fuck, oh God, oh fuck.
QUINN
This can't be real. This can't be fucking real. Holy fucking shit.
BEN
Well, those things seem to be pretty freaking real to me! Because the haunting's definitely real, Quinn! And that they're freaking gonna kill us!
QUINN
No fucking shit! Which is why we need to get the hell out of here!
BEN
Didn't you see what was outside?! And that the door wouldn't open?!
QUINN
Yeah, I did, and I know! But we should still get out of here!
BEN
Look, I agree, Quinn! But what are we gonna do when we get out and not get killed by what's outside?!
QUINN
I don't know! But we have to try!
EMMY
Quinn's right. We need to get out of here before we're killed—and we need to find Sasha.
BEN
Emmy, Sasha, she might—
QUINN
She might be dead, and we're gonna be fucking next if we don't get out of this fucking house!
EMMY
You think I don't know that?! You think the thought of that... thing killing her doesn't scare me half to death?! That it might kill us?! That I could have stopped it from killing her if I just noticed she was gone sooner?!
BEN
Em—
EMMY
I literally saw her being dead in that fucking photo!
Silence rings out between the three teens as Emmy breathes in and out harshly, leaning against the door as she presses a hand to her forehead. Terror and fear and denial over Sasha's fate wars across their faces before Emmy looks up, face resolved in determination.
EMMY
It doesn't matter. We need to get out of here—I saw a door leading to the backyard through the kitchen. If we get out and it isn't as fucked-up as it looks in the front, maybe we might get away. Maybe we might even see Sasha and we all get out of he—
Emmy freezes, staring at the cracked, tarnished mirror hanging over the cobwebbed sink.
BEN
What? What is it, Emmy?
QUINN
What the hell's going on with you?
EMMY
Run. Run now!
QUINN
Wha—
She doesn't get a chance to finish as Emmy grabs her arm and pulls her away from the mirror, letting go to throw open the door—just as a hollow-eyed woman with an unnaturally large, gaping mouth and a throat gushing blood appears in the mirror, screaming as she stretches a broken arm out, the hand facing the wrong way as it slowly pierces the cracked glass and the woman-thing crawls out.
QUINN
Oh my fucking God!
BEN
Out. Out. Out!
He pushes Quinn toward the door with the hand holding the flashlight as Emmy runs out, Ben and Quinn following as he slams the door closed just as the thing fully crawls out of the mirror and rushes toward them supernaturally fast, slamming into the door. The trio pants, before inhuman shrieks and growling starts up—along with a scratching on the wall that sounds uncomfortably like claws on wallpaper, as the shadows shift and distort into the shapes from the hallway and, more horrifyingly, the shape of the creature as its elongated arm slithers across the wall, reaching for them.
It doesn't take a second before they're running down the hallway toward the door in the kitchen, and as they do, through the choppy footage, more paranormal things are shown—shadows writhe and twist into clawed hands and screaming faces, multiple hands bang and press against the wallpaper and in the mirror hanging from the hallway, and the closed bathroom door bangs as underneath pulses with red light, as the growls and shrieks of the creature come across as distorted, but spine-chilling, static.
From the shadows, a shape lunges out, moaning as a hand reaches for Quinn. She screams as Ben lunges to smack the arm with his flashlight as Emmy pulls Quinn away, the redhead reaching in her pocket and pulling out a switchblade knife she flicks out and throws at one shadowy arm with her free hand. It impales it as black ooze drips out and the shadow gives out a bloodcurdling shriek that is so alien and chilling it leaves anyone's skin crawling for weeks after hearing it.
The effect of the shriek is clear on the three teens' faces as they keep running and the footage glitches out in white static, and—
It blacks out.
After a second, it flickers back, revealing Ben's panicked face and the dining room in the background, as from the front, Emmy runs into the kitchen.
EMMY
Ben, Quinn, hurry!
They run into the kitchen and straight to the door, Emmy and Quinn dropping their flashlights to grab the door handle and open it. It refuses to budge despite them pressing all their weight against it, yet they still try to get it open. The shrieking provides motivation in the girls' efforts to get it open and all three of them to escape.
QUINN
Ben, turn that off and help us!
Ben does so, reaching down to turn it off as the shrieking and growling grows louder and—
QUINN AND EMMY
BEN!
***
CLIFFHANGER!!!
>:) >:)
Literally having so much fun with this!! The horror elements are so much fun to write!
Also, anyone scared of Ben's fate right now? Won't say anything more except >:)
Oh! Should probably mention this will probably be short—maybe just a few more chapters?? Like, maybe fifteen or twenty or so?? It just depends, but I do know I don't want to drag it out since this all takes place in a short time-frame in-universe and I think horror loses its impact the more its dragged out. Still, I can't wait to write these coming chapters and the end—and hey, maybe I might finish it on Halloween and have thirty-one chapters! *shrugs*
Please read, comment and vote!
GhostWriterGirl out!