Chapter 6:
Emily's POV:
Tristen still wriggled around in agony, so I gently helped him back up to his feet. Whatever it was that just caused him such intense pain terrified the shit out of me and everybody else, it was obvious from their wide-eyed faces. Nothing even touched him, I guess this hell house and its inhabitants were so powerful that they didn't even need to touch us. Hayley claimed it was Satan's daughter that we just saw, but I was positive that was just her trying to make sense of this confusing situation.
I was never a big believer in religion or God, but after tonight I definitely agreed that there was a Hell, and we were in it.
"We have to get out now," Jeff demanded, and everybody gave him a dumbfounded look. For usually being the smartest one here, he sure knew how to state the obvious. Head pounding, I couldn't help but get irritated by the shaky sound of his voice.
"No shit Sherlock! What do you think we were trying to do? Find something to eat?" Hayley snapped coldly at him. At the mere sound of food my stomach instinctively growled, cramping almost painfully with hunger. When was the last time I ate? The last time any of us ate? I suddenly realized we had no way of seeing how long we had even been in this never-ending haunted house.
Nick whipped out his cell phone from his jeans pocket almost as if he had read my mind and checked the time.
"It's almost midnight, we came at like what? Seven? Eight?" he mumbled, flipping his little silver phone closed and stuffing it back into his pants pocket.
"You have a phone?!?" Lily screamed, making us all stare over at Nick in realization. My green eyes widened significantly with hope as I whipped the phone back out of his pocket and held it up for everyone to see like we were at show and tell in elementary school.
"You fucking idiot! What the hell is the matter with you? You had a phone the whole time, and you didn't call anybody? Why?" Tristen growled at him, getting very frustrated very quickly. Nick shrugged and shot him a glare, feeling flustered, while Tristen just huffed and crossed his arms. I lifted the small cell phone into the air to look for a signal, but no such luck.
"Tristen chill, it doesn't even have reception," I announced, trying to calm Tristen down by placing my dainty hand on his stiff shoulder. Nick looked angry now, and he wasn't the type of person to let someone just yell at him without consequence. He furrowed his thick brows in anger and frustration.
"Don't you think I tried? It didn't have a signal you bastard," Nick shot back. Tristen took an intimidating step closer to Nick. Even though Nick was at least a foot taller and a varsity football player, he took a hesitant step back against the dingy wall.
"You still could have told us you had it!" Jeff chimed in, throwing his hands into the air in exasperation. Hayley chuckled bitterly, faintly bumping Jeff into the wall with her shoulder. Jeff pushed Hayley back a little harder and they glared at each other for a while, as I'm assuming the hunger and desperation started to really settle in.
"For being the smartest one here, you sure are an airhead. What was Nick supposed to do? It's not like he could have used it without a signal!" She shouted right into Jeff's pale face. Jeff glared at her through his dirty, smudged glasses, which I'm surprised he still had after everything we'd been through.
"At least he's not being a total bitch," Lily mumbled, directing her rude comment at Hayley. Hayley turned on her heel and marched angrily right over to a shaking Lily and opened her mouth to speak while pointing her grimy finger straight in Lily's tired face. They had a little stare down for a minute, as Hayley finally closed her mouth, deciding to keep her unnecessary words to herself.
We were all turning on each other, it was obvious we were becoming the real monsters here. I knew that's exactly what the owner, Isaac, and his band of freaky killers wanted; they needed us to tear each other apart so they wouldn't have to.
"I think you're the bitch in this situation Lily!" Hayley finally retaliated. Lily was not usually a fighter, but she really appeared as though she was ready to lunge at Hayley, while Nick looked like he was about to ring Jeff's skinny neck. I decided I needed to put an end to this madness before it went too far.
"You guys stop!" I exclaimed, stepping in between the two fuming girls that were my best friends. "Don't you see what's happening? They are turning us against each other, trying to tear us apart to make us weak."
Lily nodded in agreement and came over to stand next to me to get away from Hayley, "Exactly, we can't let them do that, it will just weaken us even more. We're already tired, hungry and god damn afraid."
Tristen and Nick both looked down at the wooden floor in shame for arguing with each other. I placed my cold hand on Tristen's back, and he looked up and smiled softy at the sweet gesture.
"Ok, so your phone has no signal?" Hayley asked, rubbing her chin while mentally getting into leadership mode. Nick shook his head sadly and Hayley sighed weakly in defeat.
Peering down at the open phone again, my heart started to beat fast as I found a small glimmer of hope. It currently had two signal bars, that's still weak but we could possibly make one successful call.
"You guys it has a signal!" I suddenly shrieked and jumped up in excitement. Lily screamed and jumped with me, while everyone else started shouting out ideas about who we should call; the police, Jacob's dad, Isaac the owner, Hayley even suggested we call the U.S Army.
"Call my brother!" Nick yelled out over everybody's frantic voices. I gave him a look of confusion, to which he responded, "He's on the force remember?"
My heartbeat quickened with hope as I quickly punched in the phone number that Nick read to me, the number for his older brother whom we've all known since we were little kids and first became friends. The call went through and suddenly the hallway fell silent once again, as everyone held their breath in anticipation.
"Hello?"
"Oh my gosh Collin!" I sobbed into the phone as soon as I heard his sleepy voice on the other line. My knuckles began to turn white as I clutched the phone with everything I had in me. Hayley started to jump up and down with excitement, and Nick let out a huge breath of relief for the first time all night.
"He answered!" Lily exclaimed, twirling around with happiness. For the first time, I think we all had real hope, just a little hope that we might get out of here alive without losing anybody else. Everybody had huge, goofy smiles on their faces and a lively twinkle back in their eyes.
"Emily? Why are you calling on Nick's phone?" he asked before yawning loudly. I could just imagine him scratching at his head the same way Nick always does when he's confused.
"You need to help us, Collin! Brianna and Jacob are dead and-"
"Whoa wait they're dead? How?" Collin demanded, cutting me off before I could finish. I heard shuffling on the other end as he got up from his bed frantically and started to get dressed, I had almost forgot how late it was. Tristen placed his strong hands on my shaking shoulders to calm me before I hyperventilated.
"They were murdered Collin! We're in this haunted house and it's like, real. Brianna was cut up and painted like a doll and Jacob was literally liquified and there are these dolls and clowns and creepy figures, and we need you to bring help because there's too much in here for us and just you to handle by ourselves," I ranted frantically into the phone. Fresh, hot tears were streaming down my face as I thought about Brianna again, so Tristen pulled me into his warm chest for comfort.
Hayley snatched the cell phone from my hand and spoke more calmly to Collin, "Collin, just please bring a lot of men or cops, we are trapped in here and may die any minute. They are hunting us," she explained, holding all of her emotions in.
"Um ok, which haunted house are you guys at?" Collin asked. Now you could really tell he was rushing around his apartment getting ready to come rescue us from this hell.
"It's the one on the corner of Sibley," Hayley said softly into the phone, letting one or two tears finally slip from the corners of her eyes. Collin knew which one we were at, so she flipped the cell shut and sighed out loud.
Now we could only pray he would get here in time to save us.
"Uhh, you guys... I'm feeling a bit... dizzy," Jeff announced, and suddenly crashed to the cluttered floor as he blacked out. We all gasped and rushed over to his cold, limp body. We were exhausted and all needed food soon, but there was no telling if we would be able to get some. Hayley shook Jeff's fragile body slowly and whispered his name over and over, begging him to wake up.
"Jeff? Jeff, can you hear me?" Nick repeated softly, lifting him back to his feet. Eventually, Jeff's eyes fluttered back open, and he shook his head. I couldn't help but sarcastically think about how peachy this was; now we had starvation to think about, there was no doubt that sometime soon sleep deprivation would get to us too.
"Should we sleep?" I asked, mostly to myself. Tristen looked at me and placed the back of his cold hand on my sweaty forehead. His tired green eyes filled with worry, which made me start to cold sweat even more.
"Emily are you okay? you look.... well, you look pale... and dead," Hayley stated, scooting closer to me. I nodded, even though it was an obvious lie. Not only did I look dead, but I felt dead, like I would collapse any minute from exhaustion. There were bigger things to worry about though; if I fell asleep, there would be no telling what the things in this house would do to me.
"We need to sleep somewhere," Tristen muttered, scooping me up in his arms before I collapsed on the floor like Jeff did. He carried me through the dark hall for about two minutes, until he kicked open a specific door and walked in hesitantly. Unlike the other rooms, this one was surprisingly well lit. It was just like the room we found Brianna in, all youthful pink and childlike.
"Come on you can sleep in here," Tristen whispered in my ear, setting me down on the surprisingly soft bed. Twin size bed or not, this was better than a pile of dirty rags, or out in the middle of the dangerous hallway. He got up quietly to leave, but I grabbed ahold of his arm and pulled him into the tiny bed with me. No way in hell was I going to sleep in here alone.
"Umm, ok."
He didn't object, he just laid down next to me on the bed and brushed a soft strand of dark red hair off my forehead. Tristen's green eyes mesmerized me as we just stared at each other, silence engulfing us, a comfortable silence. Within seconds I was asleep, but with one very important thing on my mind.
Surviving the night.