Chapter Warnings: Violence, swearing
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Both Lotus and Rurik stopped to stare at the spirit box; a loud thump and a squeak in front of them drew a startled gasp from the smaller; raising their flashlights, one of the previously closed doors now stood slightly ajar.
"I heard a thump; is everything alright up there?" Goth's voice came over the walkie talkie.
"Yeah... there was a noise in the room left of the stairs and the spirit box went off... it said 'leave'," Lotus replied, flicking on the lamp as Rurik casually approached the door. The smaller warned, "Be careful, the ghost might be in there."
"All the more reason we should look," Rurik reasoned, pushing the door open further. "It's colder...," he mumbled to himself, pressing the button on the spirit box, "Where are you?" The device only repeated the word 'leave', much to his annoyance.
"We'll finish what we're doing down here and make our way up," Goth announced.
"Got it," Lotus replied, releasing the button to let it fall silent. Entering the room slowly, he panned the reader around the chilly room; the device released a high-pitch tone as it passed over a table, "Rurik, over here."
"Hmm?" Rurik walked over to join the smaller in observing a small potted plant lying sideways on the floor, seeing two bright green lights on the device as it droned on, "Was this what made that noise earlier?"
"It looks like it," Lotus offered with an air of uncertainty, scooping up the loose dirt and gently repotting the plant.
"What a crock of shit," Rurik scoffed, standing to leave the room, "this bitch is just screwing with us." Lotus rocked back on his heels, placing the plant back on the table and following the taller as they spoke in a condescending tone, "Hey Helen, why don't you show yourself already?"
"Ru-"
"Death," the spirit box said as the hallway lamp went out and their flashlights flickered; one light disappeared as the door slammed shut, separating the pair from each other.
The knob rattled as Lotus nervously yelled from the other side, "Rurik, it's not opening!" Rurik put his hand on the knob and tried to push inward, grunting when the door refused to budge; it was as if it were suddenly made out of stone rather than flimsy wood.
The EMF reader then screamed to life on the other side of the door; seconds later Lotus was banging wildly on the door, shrieking, "It's here! Holy shit it's materializing let me out please let me out!"
Rurik rammed his shoulder into the door, growling as it held firm while static buzzed over the walkie talkie.
"No.... come on, please...," Lotus whimpered softly from the closed-off room.
"Lotus! Use the damn cross!" the taller yelled, suddenly glad the smaller decided to bring it as he threw himself into the unyielding door again.
"It's caught on my pocket!" Lotus shouted back.
Footsteps thundered up the stairs toward them as Goth yelled, "What happened?" Glancing between Rurik and the door, he seemed to put the pieces together quickly, "Lotus, have you used the crucifix?"
"I'm trying," Lotus wailed, "but it's stuck on my- NOOOOO!"
"Lotus?!" Rurik screamed into the resounding silence, slamming into the door and tumbling to the floor when it easily caved from the force; heavy breathing and the continuous whine of the EMF reader met him.
"Lotus, are you okay?" Palette called from behind Rurik; he turned to find Lotus huddled on the floor next to the doorway, gulping down air with their sockets clenched shut as they lightly held their neck; deep reddish-purple bruising peeked past their fingers and scarf while the crucifix laid broken into three pieces at their feet.
Rising to his feet, the monster moved closer as Palette touched Lotus' shoulder; the smaller skeleton pulled away with a gasp before relaxing as Rurik kneeled on their opposite side and reached out to grab their skull, directing their sockets on him, "Are you hurt?"
Lotus let out a shuddering breath, shaking their skull and hastily stammering, "N... no... t... the reader hit le... level five... then she... c... came at me... and t... tried t... to grab my... my neck and... I s... stopped her, but... she bro... broke the c... crucifix..."
Wrapping his arms around the smaller's rattling frame and pulling them into a hug, Rurik sighed, "You're gonna be fine." The smaller relaxed into his hold, pressing their face silently into his jacket.
"Oh stars...," Palette murmured grimly. The camera flashed as everyone followed the beam of light to the opposite side of the room; a dark shadow stood tall at the foot of the bed with a dark mist swirling around it like a vortex.
"We need to leave, now!" Goth urged, grabbing Palette's jacket sleeve to drag him out of the doorway.
Rurik hauled Lotus to their feet when the terrified monster couldn't seem to do more than stare in horror at the ghost, pulling them along while yelling, "Why the hell are we running?!"
"Because she's stronger than we thought and we have nothing left to protect ourselves with," Goth bolted for the stairs without looking back with Palette close behind, "she was only stunned and was already gearing up for another attack; she'll go into a frenzy as soon as she recovers, so we need to get out before she locks the house down again."
Hitting the bottom landing, everyone made a beeline for the door as the flashlights began flickering again; Rurik reached it first with his longer stride, yanking on the handle and snarling when it didn't move, "Son of a bitch!"
"She started another hunt; we need to avoid her and hide until she calms down," Goth panted, shining his light toward the top of the stairs, "it doesn't look like she made it downstairs yet, we-"
"Uh... Guys?" Everyone looked toward Palette, who was backing away from the console table, "The book has writing in it..." The group drew closer to the journal; messily scrawled across the pages over and over were the words 'CAN'T RUN'.
"This means we're dealing with an Oni, right?" Lotus gasped, hugging himself tighter.
"Looks like it," Goth shakily confirmed, moving toward the hallway as his eye light darted around in frantic thought, "This is bad; Oni prefer big groups, we have to-"
"Goth!"
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Word Count: 1,057