"Are you sure this is going to work?" Kuroo asked you as Akaashi slid the door open just wide enough to peer through, glancing furtively left and right.
"We don't have much of a choice. We can't stay here any longer," you said, turning to him. Light from Tsukishima's torch slivered over his neck, and you couldn't take your eyes off the bruises that welled there, like ink stains on his skin.
"It's all clear out there," Akaashi reported a second later, closing the door quietly behind him. "Do you think they know that we're here?"
"Most likely," you said, shrugging. "But they haven't come for us yet."
"Then they must be waiting for us to leave," Tsukishima said, his tone low and bitter. "Are you sure it's a good idea to split up? I thought you said-"
"I know what I said," you interrupted, not unkindly. "It doesn't sit well with me either, but I think it's best in this situation. As long as the Crow goes after some of us, the others can run. At least this way, someone might get out."
Kuroo moved closer to you, spreading his hands, palms up. "How about I go first, on my own? If I distract him, all three of you will have a better chance of escaping."
"No," you told Kuroo tiredly. "Nobody goes on their own. Akaashi will go with Tsukishima. You'll come with me, and that's final." Kuroo looked at you closely, his features set like stone, but he said nothing else. You had a feeling he didn't want to go on his own either. He was just acting brave - for you, for the others, maybe even for himself. "Kuroo and I will go first. If the Crow sees us, we'll lead him away and you two get the hell out of here."
"What if..." Akaashi began, then seemed unable to finish, his lips quivering softly. You guessed what he was going to say.
"If we get caught, at least the two of you have a chance," you said softly, honestly. "You can get out of the forest and bring back help."
"What if we just get lost again?" Tsukishima said. There was no spite in his voice, just bitter helplessness.
"If you start thinking like that before you even try, maybe you will."
"[L/N] is right," Kuroo finally said, and when you glanced at him, you saw fierce shadows haunting his eyes, and there was a certain steadiness about him. In that moment, you knew you would trust him with your life. "We're never going to get out of here unless we keep trying. If you want to stay behind with Hinata, that's up to you. But we're going."
You fluttered a quiet sigh, and reached out to touch Akaashi's arm. The tension in his face eased only a fraction. "You'll be okay. Remember to just keep running. Whatever you see or hear. Keep running."
Akaashi nodded.
"You ready?" You looked towards Kuroo, and his lips parted with a thin smile that seemed to say as ready as I'll ever be. "Then let's go."
The hallway was pitch black and silent when you stepped out of the room. Your heart thudded hard in your chest, but the noise sounded oddly distant, like an echo, as if it were not your own. You felt Kuroo step out behind you, and whispered for him to stay close. Fingers gingerly gripped the hem of your jacket, and the touch felt reassuring. You couldn't face the thought of being trapped alone in the dark.
As you moved further into the gloom, you silently debated the merits of switching on your torch. You felt vulnerable in the dark, but you also worried the light would attract unwanted attention.
As if reading your thoughts, Kuroo leaned down and whispered against your ear: "Shall I switch on the flashlight?"
You swallowed, undecided, then paused. Something cold and damp trickled over your arm, and for a heart-wrenching second thought that there was something else with you in the dark, breathing on your skin. But then you heard the distant clang of shutters, and realised there must be a window open somewhere.
"Yes," you said after a breathless moment. "But put something over it, so that it's not so bright."
Kuroo let go of your jacket and fiddled with the torch for a second, then a beam of greyish light shone over your shoulder. You felt the blood drain rapidly from your face.
The corridor had changed.
There were no longer stairs leading down to the ground floor. Only a staircase leading up. Which you knew wasn't possible. You knew it didn't belong there. It couldn't. And yet, there it was. You exchanged a panicked glance with Kuroo, gesturing for him to shine the flashlight behind you. The other end of the hallway was a dead end.
"What do we do?"
Kuroo pressed his lips tight together until they went white. "I guess... we go up?"
"But... but that's impossible. There shouldn't be an 'up'."
"We don't have a choice." You didn't get many choices when you were trying to survive.
"We could climb out of a window," you suggested, remembering the cold breeze, the clang of shutters. But when you went to try the other doors, they were all locked. You faced the staircase with a sigh. "Up it is then."
"This is impossible," you muttered to yourself as you climbed the stairs, Kuroo swinging his flashlight over your shoulder to illuminate the way. When you reached the top, another long hallway stretching out before you, defying the very dimensions of the house. There shouldn't be a second floor. It didn't fit here, it didn't belong.
As you stepped onto the dusty floorboards, you stopped. There was something unnatural up here, you thought, something very, very wrong. The air was thick and clammy, and it smelled like rot and ash and lost broken things left in the dark. You didn't want to take another step forward.
"We have to keep moving," Kuroo said gently, his voice belying the tremor of fear in his eyes when you looked back at him, his face ashen in the torchlight.
The corridor sloped slightly, and you felt off-balance as you walked. To your left was a door, made out of wood so dark that it looked like a gaping mouth in the gloom, ready to swallow you whole. You went towards it. One of the doors had to lead to a way outside. Otherwise you would be trapped here. Just another lost, broken thing left to rot in the House of Crows.
The handle was so cold it stung when you touched it, and it didn't move when you tried to twist it open. Locked. You swallowed soundlessly and moved on to the next one. Also locked. It left your fingers stiff with the cold.
Kuroo stayed close behind you, his breathing slowly becoming more strained as you tried each door you came across, only to find them all locked.
"Shit. What do we do now?" You said as you stepped away from the last door. The doorknob was blackened, and when you touched it, it came away like ash. "Back downstairs?"
"How about that door?"
You turned to him, frowning. "What door?"
He gestured to your right, and you followed his gaze. Tucked away in the shadows of an alcove was one final door. There was nothing overly conspicuous about it, but the way it had evaded your notice made you uneasy. Almost as if it didn't want to be found.
"Hm," you muttered, moving towards it. The wall dipped slightly deeper here, and shadows latticed the door like cobwebs. When you reached for the handle, you thought you could feel the darkness, sliding over your skin, soft and wet. You twisted, and the door shuddered softly off its hinges. You let it swing open.
Even before your eyes had fully adjusted, you saw there was someone standing inside...
Y'all probably figured by now that I like playing around with graphics, so have another one...
So there should only be one, maybe two, more chapters left of this story! I hope it hasn't been too silly or boring. Though admittedly this wasn't supposed to be anything serious to start with - just something fun to write to satisfy my cravings for horror ❤ Are you guys horror fans too? Or are you just here for the best bois lol.