Chapter Text
Five years earlier.
The hot weather made Petra sweat as she climbed the rocky terrain. She had only been out in the sun for only thirty minutes or so, and she could already feel her limbs beginning to ache. She craned her neck up to see how long till she had to climb this hill, but her view was blocked by Auruo, who was already two feet ahead of her. He was talking to Eld about the ghost activity in this area, and what they should expect up there. She shook her head, the boys hadn't even realized that she was so far below them, sometimes she felt like they cared more about the supernatural than they did about her.
She had enough, "You guys, can you stop this ghost talk for a second and tell me how long do we have to climb? my limbs are aching."
Eld looked down at her and grinned, "Come on Petra, stop complaining! Where are the days when you used to beat our asses at mountain climbing?"
"We were in college that time, you fool, and in case you haven't realized since the past few months is that I am fuckin' pregnant."
Eld opened his mouth to retort but Auruo shut him up with a tch sound, "Leave her alone, Eld. You know she is going to scream your head off any second; pregnant women can be very hormonal."
Eld chuckled and patted Auruo's shoulder, "Speaking from experience, mate?"
Petra huffed as she put her foot on top of another jagged rock and hoisted herself up, "Wow Auruo, aren't you supposed to be on my side?"
"Always am, babe."
The two men finally climbed up the small hill, with their equipment strapped on their backs. Eld dropped his bag containing the cameras on the ground while Auruo helped Petra up the last meter of the hill.
"Be careful, Eld, that's worth a lot of shit." Petra warned as she sat down at the edge, and placed her palms against her stomach. It had only been five months since Petra got the news that she was with a baby, and she had already grown so huge.
She smiled to herself, pregnancy was sure as hell tiring; she woke up with morning sickness daily and had fluctuating hormonal imbalances, but she loved the feeling of knowing that she was going to become a mother and couldn't wait till she got to hold her tiny bundle of joy in her arms along with Auruo.
But first, she had to make this one last trip; one last visit to a haunted location and record about the spirits trapped in there. Then she would take her maternity leave and rest the few months that were left before her due date.
She really didn't understand as to why Gunther had wanted to explore this very place. The Place was an enigma amid the ghost investigators all around the world. Rumour had it that no one ever made it to The place and lived to talk about it. All anyone knew for sure was that this place was notoriously haunted.
Really, they should have waited to explore this location till Petra was ready to investigate again. She didn't want to be here right now with her condition; it just wasn't healthy for her. What the hell was Auruo even thinking to agree to this mission?
"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Auruo sat down beside her and wrapped his arms around her tiny waist.
"That I rather be at home right now." Petra murmured as she leaned her head in her fiance's shoulder.
Auruo nodded, and his scruff rubbed against her cheek, "I know, but before we go off air till the next season we need a rating boosting finale. This episode should keep us on air for next two years atleast."
I hope it is worth it.
"I am not very sure that I want to risk all of our lives for a grand finale. This place is notorious for its haunting, after all." If Petra had a choice then she'd never step in this place, no one intelligent enough would ever even think of visiting this place. This was a no go zone, and Petra knew that she should force the guys to head back.
But Auruo wouldn't ever relent, unless Petra was dying. She could act like she was falling sick but that would break Auruo's heart if he found out that she had lied.
Eld trotted towards the couple and sat down on the other side of Petra, he sighed as he put his hand on her small shoulder.
"Say Petra, you're not taking too much stress on you, right? I've heard that stress leads to premature labour."
Petra glanced at him sideways and smiled softly, "That is only when you are under extreme stress, like a sudden accident or...death." She trailed off till her voice was barely a whisper.
He sighed,"I know you're unhappy Petra..but this was Gunther's last wish before he disappeared. This is just us honoring his wish of us investigating this place. Lets fulfill it and then we'll head back and never come here again."
Tears formed in her eyes as she thought about the fourth member of their tight knit group. Gunther Schultz had always been the guy who cheered people up when the times got bad. He was the one who had gotten Auruo and Petra together as a couple, the one who had made them start their own television show about ghost hunting, and the one who had kept the group together whenever they had a huge fight by dissipating any tensions between them.
Petra clearly remembered the day when Gunther had announced that he needed a vacation; as if it had happened yesterday and not two months ago. It wasn't a big deal for the members to take a break from ghost hunting as it was a common knowledge that it was a stressful job- talking to dead people did take a lot of physical and mental toll after all. The big deal however was the destination he wanted to visit: The Place. Petra still remembered the shock she had felt when Gunther had announced his plans, at first she had thought that he was kidding, perhaps he came up with a joke to play on her to lighten up her mood since that time she had been in the first trimester of pregnancy; the intense cravings and the mood swings made her irritated and snappy as hell all the time then. But it slowly became clear that Gunther wasn't playing a trick; he was actually serious. She should have known it then, that Gunther would do something like that since he had an extremely competitive nature. Despite being a really good person, he had his own dark qualities, the worst being greed. Gunther always wanted the best of everything. After he had convinced Auruo to start the Ghost Hunting show, he became an investigator along with Petra and Eld. While Petra,Auruo and Eld were pleased to become an investigator to follow their passions and doing something together, Gunther, on the other hand had wanted to become an investigator so that he could become the greatest one in his field of work. The one way ticket to getting what he wanted was by becoming the first one to explore The Place. One video and that was the sure shot to his stardom, and so the temptation became too great for him to resist. This is why he refused to listen to any arguments or begging from his friends which were related to keeping him away from visiting the haunted location, and at the end the three of them gave up and said their goodbyes to him. Petra remembered how empty she had felt when she couldn't stop Gunther from leaving even though she had known something was going to go terribly wrong. The last thing Petra remembered about him before he hopped in his car and left, was that he had his huge cheerful smile on his face as he waved them goodbye and shouted that he couldn't wait till all four of them went together to explore The Place.
And he was never seen or heard from, ever again.
The sun beat down on all the three friends as they got up to head towards The Place. Petra shielded her eyes to avoid the sun rays and squinted towards the northern side of the hills. The hill where The Place was situated on gave her an advantage point of view to the beautiful scenic beauty surrounding them. The scenery was of a desert. The area wasn't always this bare, at one time there used to be people who used to live around this place, the evidence had been in the form of a canal system and stony roads, but it wasn't the only evidence of the long perished civilization, perhaps the most interesting evidence was the enormous stones looming at some distance.
"Oh my god! Eld, Auruo! look, The Walls!" Petra squealed she pointed excitedly towards the huge man made wall: the relic of the ancient times.
Auruo and Eld turned around quickly at Petra's enthusiastic voice and gasped at the colossal man made structure. The Walls were just giant walls that had a rich history: they were built around two thousand years ago by the same people who lived in this area. Once it used to surround a vast region, serving as fortification, but now, there were the only pieces left of the original structure. The walls were reduced to half the size they used to be as most of the parts had crumbled down from age, but it still was something akin to a treasure to the City of Sinaria; people from all over the world came to see The Walls in masses, but strangely, today it was eerily empty.
Maybe the distance was playing a trick on Petra's eyes, and she could hardly see anything except the mirage, so she didn't think about it too much and turned around, tugging both men's hands towards The Place.
"Come on," She muttered as the boys protested at the manhandling, "Lets do this guys, once we're done with this you both can ogle The Walls for as long as you want."
Petra couldn't wait to get done with this for once and for all, and get rid of the uneasy feeling in her stomach. she really wanted to ignore her gut but couldn't help but realize that it was same feeling of hopelessness she had felt as she had watched Gunther leave them behind. She had known something evil lurked in this place, and now she was making her way towards it. She dropped the men's sweaty hands when she saw The Place. At one glance at The Place no one could ever think that it was such a notoriously haunted location, but that was the deception of the horror places; they came in all kinds; a scary looking broken house in the middle of nowhere or little comfy looking houses in the crowded neighbourhoods. The squad had already learned it earlier in the business that places which gave the nice feeling were the ones they needed to be wary of.
Cause they were the worst.
The Place fell somewhere between the two options based on it's outlook. The grey areas were a pain in the ass; either they were filled with benevolent ghosts or the crazy fucked up ones. Since no one ever made it alive back from The Place; it was considered as unclassified. No one had any clue whatsoever what went behind the old wooden walls, yet such a place was known as one of the most haunted places in the world, some people even went as far to say that the house was alive, and that the people gone missing were because it ate them all. It was ridiculous, sure houses were haunted, but that didn't mean that they were alive!
They might not be, but whatever inside was, may be.
The Hunter Squad would be the first ones to go in there to investigate professionally and hopefully, make it out alive.
Eld and Auruo's bags carried all the necessities they needed for the trip . They wouldn't let Petra carry anything remotely heavy even when she insisted that she was fine, so she gave in,defeated and sighed as she watched Eld grunt from the weight of the equipment.
"Looks like we're here." Auruo whistled at bottom for the staircase that lead to the entrance to The Place.
The Place was a huge mansion, it extended on both the sides of the front door and extended to a fair distance, the floor to ceiling windows were shut closed by stacks of boards nailed across them; there was no exit from the mansion, except from the front doors. The doors, thankfully, were wide open. Petra narrowed her eyes to see better but the inside was pitch black. She began walking towards the broken steps which lead to the entrance and the men followed behind her, the crunch of the gravel under their shoes was the only sound in the unnaturally quiet place. Yes, The Place had the eerie feeling associated usually with ghostly locations but it was more than just a feeling; this place felt downright chilly.
There is no backing out now.
Petra sighed softly and patted her belly to calm herself down, "Ready boys?" she asked.
"Yeehaw! I am ready!"
"Tch, Eld stop embarrassing yourself."
Auruo shook his head and took Petra's hand in his, "Let's fulfill Gunther's last wish and show the world what the Hunter Squad is made up of!"
And the three of them went in.
Eld was pretty sure that he had stepped on something really nasty.
He looked around the place with an unrestrained awe, unable to believe that he had finally made it to The Place. However, even the awe couldn't stop the feeling of uneasiness forming in his stomach.
This was the place where Gunther had disappeared into.
He remembered seeing the missing columns in the newspaper: the pictures along with where the person was last seen on a nondescript page. Most of the people who had gone missing in the spirit hunting business that were linked to this place had a particular word in common in their reports: Ghosts.
Went missing while Ghost Hunting, missing while researching about ghosts around the area.. etc, but, no one had procured a body till date to make the disappearances officially a work of an evil entity; so the skeptics argued back how there must have been something else going on that was responsible for the vanished hunters, but even they couldn't explain how anyone who had stepped in this place had never made it back. Therefore this place remained an unsolved enigma that baffled everyone who had been interested in the location.
Eld studied the interior of the mansion. The gloomy mansion had rotten floorboards, which groaned with every step. Eld looked up to see at the ceiling, but it was coated in darkness, he squinted his eyes to see as far as he could, but the sunlight didn't reach the old ceiling, as if the light itself was afraid to spread its tendrils towards the dreary murkiness; he couldn't help but wonder if there was something up there.
Curiously, he began looking around the foyer. The old moss covered walls were decaying slowly, but on closer inspection, Eld could see that there were crisscrosses ingrained in the rickety panels. It reminded him of scratches as he touched the dented lines in the wood, and traced the cold, damp counters. A chill ran through his spine when he realized that the indents ran extremely deep inside the wood. It wasn't humanly possible for a person to make it, they looked like they could have only been made by something with long, sharp fingernails.
The damp walls extended on the both sides of the entrance; they lead to two mysterious hallways which disappeared in the darkness. Unsettled, he took in a deep breath to calm himself down, but the the smell of mold that assaulted his nose did nothing to alleviate his trepidation.
Eld turned away from the halls and towards the front of the shabby room. The dark foyer led to two decrepit staircases: one went upwards while the other spiraled downwards, disappearing in the pitch blackness. The rickety wooden steps had railings on both the side, but they didn't look terribly supportive. Eld had a feeling that if he put his weight on the aged wood, then it would lead to a grave situation.
An ill-boding aura settled down around him, and a voice in his mind whispered not to look up at the foot of the staircase.
Instead he looked down at his shoes to see what he had stepped on, and saw that it was something slimy. Eld shook his feet to get rid of the gooey material from the shoes, but it stubbornly stuck to the grooves of the sole, he made a face as he bent down to scoop some of it on his finger to examine. The liquid was extremely thick but translucent, and somewhere deep inside Eld was relieved; he didn't think that he could've handled it if it had turned out to be blood.
"What's that, Eld?" Petra's sweet questioning voice came from his right side. She was facing Eld but her eyes were glued on the ancient entrance door, her heart fluttered every time the door creaked on its rusted hinges as the cold air whispered past them. She shivered at the desolate feeling inside the house, and was scared that any second, the door was going to close and shut the three of them inside. It hadn't happened ever before, usually the spirits wanted people off their property whether dead or alive, so the doors were always open as a mean of escape. But this was The Place after all, this was where the trio had to rely on their survival skills and not the general ghost hunting etiquette.
"It's not blood, that's for sure but I really don't know what it is." Eld admitted softly as he got up. Petra frowned and he held her hand in support.
"So..where do you think we should..investigate first?" Auruo whispered as he studied the place with vague disinterest, and unlike Petra or Eld, Auruo seemed unperturbed by the house and almost looked bored.
"Maybe the right hallway?" Petra suggested, keeping her voice low. Among the four of them, Petra had always been the most perceptive. She picked up the atmosphere far quicker than the rest of the squad and it had saved their lives numerous times. She remembered the past cases, like the Bell witch cove, and the countless times they had looked death in the eyes. Her pregnancy had been an added bonus in the cases, because for some reason her senses had become stronger. In the last case they had worked with Gunther, Petra recalled how she had begged Auruo not to take up the case. It had been an uninviting inn, the dark red brick walls felt like they were going to confine the hunters inside. The lobby had the similar feeling of despair Petra felt here, but it was far less bleak. The hunters hadn't been happy that time but they had given up the case for other ghosts hunters to solve, and it hadn't even been two days till later tragedy stuck. The inn had been set ablaze as the word had traveled that it was haunted, and it had killed all the occupants inside.
The hunters had been planning to stay there for some days to explore the inn better, and Petra had saved their lives. The memory was a reminiscent of Gunther being together with the squad, and how he had thanked Petra for his life.
"I owe you my life, Petra." He had said then.
And now, he was the reason Petra and the squad were putting their lives on the line.
She looked at the buttery warm sunlight which dared to enter the stark cold house, and bit her lip in dread. Exploring meant that Petra would have to let go of the light source which was the only reminder of the outside world and freedom, and explore the dark uncharted territory of The Place. Agitated, she promised herself that they wouldn't venture far from the sunlight.
She intertwined her fingers with Auruo's and snaked the other hand around Eld's left arm, and began walking towards the somber hallway. It felt like they were entering a cavernous mouth which could engulf them in the dark any moment. The floorboards creaked under their weight and the dank air blew past them, sounding like an old woman's sighs.
They moved slowly, using the aged wood as their guide. Petra scrunched her nose as she smelt the musty smell of stale water; she ran her fingers lightly on the cold walls, and felt rivulets of water running down the moss stained walls. She stepped delicately on the slimy wooden planks, and almost slipped on the water spilled on the decaying wood. Thankful that she had the boys to support her, she balanced herself again and began sloshing through the thin layer of liquid.
Each hunter strained their ears to hear anything shady, but other than the dripping water and the drafts of winds shaking the rickety old planks, it was a pin drop silence.
"Shh," Auruo's deep voice whispered in front of her, "I think I have found a door." Auruo had both his palms splayed over the clammy wood, but the particular slab had felt far smoother than the wood of the walls surrounding it. He searched for a way of entry, and to his luck, his hands cupped around a raised piece of round wood, which suspiciously felt like a door knob.
He turned the knob and pushed the door open without a warning, and the door groaned as it swung inwards. It was dark and felt uninviting, just like the other areas of the archaic mansion.
Auruo felt the damp air on his face as he entered slowly. When he heard nothing, he tugged Petra's hand to signal her to come inside, before dropping it to rummage through his heavy backpack.
"I think it is safe to switch on the flashlights." He muttered as he clicked the button on the plastic handle. The yellow light created a mellow circle on the wall where it hit, and Auruo began studying the room. The shabby room was the size of a small bedroom and the only occupants of the room were chairs. They were lined up in an orderly fashion, as if it was a conference room. The chairs reflected the shiny light solemnly back at him, and Auruo made his way over to them and touched the tops of the chilly item. They were made of metal, and there was a heavy layer of dust coating on the chairs from apparent disuse. Auruo tsk-ed and ignored the puff of soot rising in the air as he placed his bag on top of the chair. He stretched his fingers and then began to dump the bag's contents out on the neighbouring chair. He checked the EVP,nightvision camera, extra flashlights and its batteries, and when he was satisfied that he had all the items he needed, he turned around to ask for the rest of the equipment.
"This is the perfect place to set up our stuff, don't you think? Petra, love, can you hand me the EMF and the thermal cam?" Petra turned towards Eld, who had been carrying the rest of the items, which included the EMF, thermal camera, thermometer and motion detector, and held out her palm at him. He patted his bag, looking around clumsily in the dim halo of Auruo's torchlight, and handed them to Petra. He took out his own camera's batteries, and checked to see if they were working properly. Pleased when he saw no damage, he took out his heavy camera, and decided to film around while Auruo got his things ready.
On the other hand Petra made herself busy so that it helped her to steer clear of the awful thoughts about this place. She even tried to hum cheerful tune like Ave Maria but even her voice sounded sorrowful in the dark place. It felt like she was singing a funeral song, and the sorrowful chimes rung out throughout the dead room; she couldn't help but feel melancholy. This place was so desolate, that it made a song about birth sound like a song for the dead. Shuddering, she wrapped her arms around her stomach, as if to create a protective barrier against the death and decay of this place.
She slowly let her arms slide off, and picked up the other two flashlights from the chair where Auruo had dumped his bag's contents, and flicked the light on. She explored each corner of the room vigorously, to make sure they were actually alone, but there were no shady movements, the only motion that came was from the dust motes floating gently around in the air, they seemed to get disrupted ever so often when the air whistled past them. Petra hated when it happened, because the house would shudder, croak and moan as if someone was in utter pain. She remembered the how people had said that this house was alive; and could see certainly see where that rumour arose from. She wondered how the mansion looked from outside on a dark, stormy day. With it's croaking and moaning; rotting smell and hostile aura, and concluded that it must look terrifying.
Exactly like how it looked inside.
She turned to face the ceiling and saw rotten scabs of plaster stuck on the dank wood, they seemed like they could fall down any second, and Petra stepped away from one particularly threatening piece, that dangled dangerously from the edge of a plank. She turned her flashlight towards the walls again, and saw one of the walls was considerably darker than the others. It looked far smoother, but cracks, and dripping water had led to its thorough deterioration. Turning around slowly, she flashed at the chairs, then at Auruo to look at what he was up to, and then towards Eld to see if he needed any help.
Eld had the camera pointed towards the door of the room, and he stood there, quivering.
"What's wrong Eld?" Petra whispered, alarmed, and walked quickly towards him.
Eld's breathing was heavy, and he jumped as Petra touched his arms; he had hair raised all over his skin, and his face had turned into a sickening shade of green.
"I..I...the camera..wont work," Eld stuttered, "I-It worked for a s-second and then went i-it black and n-now it won't turn o-on."
Petra focused her torch on the light that signaled the camera was switched on or not and saw the red light was off, and no matter how much Eld shook it, wouldn't turn on. She put her hand on Eld's too calm him down but he was trembling too much with fear.
"Auruo can you check the EMF? and Eld, honey, why are you so scared?" she frowned up at his face. He looked like he had seen something freaky, and his expression sent a chill down her spine.
Eld faced her slowly, disturbingly mimicking the scenes in the movies where the victim realizes that someone is standing behind their back, "Before it went dark..I saw something heinous glaring at us from the entrance."
Petra shuddered at Eld's fearful voice but she slowly beamed the yellow light towards the door and saw it fall on the frail wood; there was nothing blocking the view.
But Eld had seen something, his expression had said it all. Petra turned towards Auruo, who ran the EMF but the rating read normal.
"Eld, you are a ghost hunter, why are you scared of ghosts now? "
"It wasn't a human ghost, I cannot explain what it was. It didn't look human in anyway."
"The EMF rating reads normal. Whatever was there must have left." Auruo quipped by the way of comforting.
Eld nodded and Petra patted his calloused hand, he curled it around hers and she squeezed it back. It must have been something terrible enough for Eld to look so panic stricken, but from past experiences Petra knew that some ghosts looked downright terrifying but necessarily didn't mean any harm, but that was only if they weren't the vicious poltergeists or grisly revenants. She prayed that it were the case; or else it would get extremely dangerous for them very soon.
She pointed the flashlight around the room to show Eld, and by extension, herself, that they were the only ones in the room, the yellow light illuminated the walls briefly as Petra pointed the light, and set her mouth in grim line when she saw their own shadows on the wall, the black outlines looked menacing as they towered over their heads, and the retreated back in the corners when Petra turned away, how was it possible for a place to make silhouettes look so treacherous ?
She turned to Eld with a fake smile plastered on her red lips, and Eld looked at her with wide eyes. She gave him a thumbs up and Eld smiled softly, before he turned away and walked towards Auruo. She sighed softly, and felt the puff of breath on her dried lips. The momentarily warmth was replaced by heavy cold air, and Petra huffed again, futilely trying to push the coldness away from her, before she tuned in to what the boys were conversing about.
"...perfect plan, eh?" Auruo muttered, and his deep voice grew louder and louder as he drew closer to where Petra stood.
"Perfect plan? Auruo, are you crazy? you'll have all of us back here?"
"What?" Petra squeaked as she turned to face Auruo, he studiously ignored her and held his hands out towards the entrance of the door, Petra pointed her flashlight at him too see what he was doing and ignored the eerie shadow behind him, which seemed to envelop the cold room.
"No," Auruo sighed sharply, "I cannot have Petra on another case, and you're scared shitless of this place. I will come here to get the cameras back."
"What the hell, Auruo! I get it, the idea of placing cameras here to record what happens after we leave is brilliant, but this place is a slaughterhouse! you cannot come back!"
"Boys!" Petra chided, and she turned to glare at Auruo, "You'll come back here just for twelve hours worth of footage?"
Auruo shrugged, "The cameras can work up to five days, along with the EVP and motion sensor equipment, we can record what happens after we leave! We'll get so much more footage!"
Petra's mouth fell open in surprise and she quickly regretted it as the cold air invaded her throat, she exhaled sharply and scowled at Auruo and said with an absolute finality in her tone, "No."
"Petra.." Auruo began but she cut him off angrily, "This is a nightmare house, Auruo, do you get it? get whatever the fuck footage you want while we're here cause sure as hell I am not letting you come back to the house where Gunther vanished without a trace!"
Auruo's mouth set in a grim line as he ran the thermal camera, to see if there were cold spot where Eld had reported seeing the apparition at. There was no point of arguing with Petra when she had made up her mind. So what? This house was brimming with dark secrets and Auruo would get the permanent status of being the best ghost hunter in the history! Now that he didn't have Gunther competing with him, this was once in a lifetime opportunity. He wasn't going to let this go.
He will be back.
He tightened his fingers around the plastic of the camera, and peered in the screen as he looked around. He bit his inner cheek as he realized that Eld had been right. The bluish screen which recorded the heat signature showed orange and red when there was a living person that radiated heat, but when there were ghosts; the colour would turn dark blue or purple. That was what world knew as cold spots and those were specifically attributed to ghosts. Where Eld had seen the apparition, apparently there was a massive dark spot. Whatever Eld had seen must have been enormous, and most likely, inhuman.
"Let's not discuss it. Eld, you were right, there was something here. Let's set the motion censor cameras and see if we can catch the spirit on tape."
Eld nodded and chuckled nervously, "Well atleast it wasn't inside here, with us the whole time.."
"Eld," Petra murmured softly, "Let's get going."
Eld nodded and began to head towards the chair where Auruo had kept the rest of the equipment. The motion censor camera would click the picture the second it detected something moving on its screen, and Eld sincerely hoped that they didn't capture anything.
Maybe he didn't realize that the chair where Auruo's bag was kept was slightly fore the other, and Eld's knee banged against the metal leg and swore as he lost his balance. He held the biting cold chair in support as he lifted the weight off the bruised leg.
"Eld?" Auruo sounded worried.
"I am okay, just hurts a bit." He stretched his leg and groaned as the sharp pain lanced through his body. It wouldn't last long enough but the duration was going to be painful.
"Dude, sit down for five minutes, it will get better the more you stretch."
Eld nodded and limped towards the chair beside the equipment to sit on it. He hissed as the cold radiated on his butt, and fidgeted as the metal groaned. The chair felt hard against his back as Eld stretched again, already getting better, he closed his eyes as he concentrated on the pain to ignore the chilly seat. The metal was hard and uncomfortable, and Eld could feel the screws on the joints digging in his back and shuddered, stopping abruptly when the chair screeched in protest.
"Are you better now?" Petra's voice murmured from his left side.
Eld shook his leg experimentally in answer, the leg hardly hurt anymore. Pleased that he could walk again, he stretched his hands to the fullest. Now he was ready to-
He froze.
Eld had his left arm snaked around the camera, while the other one was resting on the cold seat beside him for support when he stretched, the only thing was that the seat wasn't cold when he laid his palm on it.
It was very warm.
Someone had recently occupied the seat and he had been deadly wrong. There had been someone inside with them, the whole time. And in that moment, he felt a spine chilling cold racing down his back, more icy than the room itself.
He pulled his hand away abruptly and the chair creaked as he got up. He tried not to think of it, but he had been sitting down, defenseless, while something sat beside him. Something probably inhuman.
He didn't say anything about it, Auruo had already labeled him scared, and it had affected him more than he would have liked it too; he swallowed loudly and put a smile on his face. Auruo didn't even glance at him but Petra looked worried, she peeked sideways at the chairs and then began walking towards him. Eld's smile wavered and she drew nearer and nearer with her flashlight, he didn't want her to see the fear in his eyes, or look behind him. He couldn't decide if he was scared because Petra would realize that he was frightened or that she would realize that something was behind him.
Her footsteps echoed as Eld tightened his hold on the camera and watched her walk closer and closer towards him.
Please Petra don't notice my fear, don't notice how scared I am, don't notice me shivering, don't notice that something is probably behind me, don't notice my fear..
He exhaled softly when he saw her smile at him, and she stopped where Auruo had kept the equipment. Rummaging through till she found the motion sensor cameras and handed them to him. She smiled quizzically when she saw Eld's right hand trembled as he took the small cameras from her.
"It's just cold." He whispered and Petra nodded, not believing him.
She felt terrible turning away from Eld even after knowing that something was definitely wrong. He had already seemed so frightened to death and felt bad for him. Auruo shouldn't have called him scared and neither he should have been making plans to come back here.
Petra felt an uneasiness spread through her, Auruo's eyes had reflected a dangerous madness in them. She hadn't quite seen this side of her fiance and couldn't phantom why he was so eager to be back here and why wasn't this place affecting him like it did to her and Eld.
"Alright, let us explore this place but keep this visit short. This place gives me the chills."
She didn't have to turn to see Auruo's disapproving face, but she wasn't going to listen to him. He had brought his pregnant fiancee to this ghastly place where their bestfriend had vanished without a trace and was most likely, dead. Now, their other friend was scared to death yet Auruo felt like staying back. Petra was really dismayed.
"I feel like we should stay here and explore more." Auruo muttered but began packing up their stuff.
They left a motion sensor camera on the second row of seats to get the view of the front door before they headed out.
The hallway felt like a dark tunnel which grew increasingly suffocating as they quietly trudged forward. This time, Petra in lead. She pointed the flashlight around crazily whenever she sensed slightest of movements, but other than the cold air blowing, there was no motion and neither did they encountered anything. Petra tried to comfort herself into thinking that they were alone but the feeling that someone was staring at her intensified with every footstep on the creaky wood. It was different from Auruo or Eld's gaze, no, the staring felt extremely hostile.
The light fell on a doorknob and Petra's fingers curled around it. She turned the knob slowly, but the door was locked. She turned the old doorknob again but the door wouldn't budge.
Eld nudged her shoulder, "Let's try another door" He murmured softly.
They tried the third door and it opened to the same murky darkness, but the stench in the room was so putrid that Petra began gagging. Eld slid past her and shut the door quickly.
Petra began to breathe rapidly to eliminate the stench from her nose, and focused to calm the blood rushing through her ears; belatedly, she felt an arm around her shoulder, but she couldn't concentrate on it. Slowly, her mind cleared and she felt something moving, and realized that it was her own body.
When the smell faded away from her mind, she looked up to see Eld's outline in front of her, carrying two flashlights. She looked down at her hands in the darkness and tried to remember when she had dropped hers.
"Petra?" Auruo's worried voice whispered.
"I am okay." She swallowed loudly, and wrapped her arms around her bloated stomach, that always helped her to calm down.
The fourth and the fifth door had the same desolate atmosphere of the first room and the inhabitants were the usual rusted metal chairs that had collected dust over time, and the one apparent wall darker than the rest. They stepped inside each room and Eld would flash the flashlight and she would see their shadows; the same silhouettes that reminded her of hostile spectators of the darkness. She felt them staring, she felt other things staring, and for the first time in her life, she was regretting her sixth sense.
But when she had thought it couldn't have gotten worse. They reached the sixth door.
The door radiated an ominous aura, and it looked even more threatening when the cold winds drafted past them and the doors creaked together, and it reminded Petra of cracking bones.
Eld turned the knob around slowly, and the door groaned as it opened.
The first thing Petra smelled was the pungent odor along with a cloyingly sweet undertone as she stepped inside the room. The room was threadbare, except for one single chair, which was rusted with dust coating all over it, but there were long strips of dried colour slashed across the seat. Petra scrunched her nose as she silently took her flashlight from Eld's tightened grip, and began walking towards the old chair. Her boots clacked in the darkness and she felt coldness curl in her toes. She knelt down in front of the chair and immediately felt cold liquid seep in through her jeans and looked down at her knees but her stomach blocked her view. So, she pointed the flashlight on the floor and saw that there was slimy liquid which was accumulated on the wooden floor all around the chair.
Petra touched the cold fluid on on the ground and realized that it was the same translucent liquid Eld had stepped on earlier.
She frowned as she swiped her hands against the back of her jeans before pointing the flashlight towards the chair. The discoloured part of the chair turned into flakes when Petra ran her fingers over the cold metal, and she jerked her hand back. She pointed the light to her fingers and jumped when she suddenly heard rapid footsteps behind her. The flashlight fell against the wood with a clatter and she swore.
"What the f-" She picked up the fallen flashlight and turned around, expecting Eld or Auruo to be standing behind her.
But there was no one.
Dread began to pool in her stomach when couldn't see anyone or anything. The pungent smell in the air grew stronger and the cloying sweet smell became sickeningly sweet, they seemed to envelop her; choking her slowly. She began coughing as the atmosphere around her became immensely icy and the dense air started to slither around her torso and then under her shirt, the cold air left a trail of goosebumps and a feeling of liquid fire as it trailed her soft skin before curling around her neck. She pointed the flashlight around madly in all the directions in search for help, but the light never reached the walls. There was a black mass blocking the light and wisps of smoke seemed to emanate from the thing, whatever it was, it seemed to be something revolting. She could feel it creeping towards her as she choked and tried to scream for help, but her voice came out as a weak gasp and she felt her consciousness draining away. The darkness seemed to blanket around her and the cold air pressed against her from all the sides, belatedly she realized that the darkness had eyes. Eyes that looked at her venomously, and soon after her vision began to fade.
Abruptly, she heard footsteps again, and Petra saw blurry profiles of Eld and Auruo run in the room, flustered. She felt oddly detached, as if she was watching them from a long tunnel.
"Petra? Petra!" She heard someone's voice around her, shaking her and whispering furiously.
"...an you hea......answer." Petra tried to concentrate on what they were saying but she couldn't pay attention to it. She felt like she was slipping away in the darkness.
Darkness....
She was wrenched back to consciousness as she felt something cold on her face, the liquid fell down on her cheek and sideways down the floor, and she shivered when the icy air blew over the trails the wetness had left behind. She felt the cool liquid dripping down her chin, and pooling under her shirt.
Petra..
Petra looked up slowly and saw two concerned faces staring at her. At the movement, one of them wrapped his arms around her and gradually, she realized that it was Auruo.
"Are you okay?" He buried his face in her brown hair.
No.
"Y-yes."
No.
"What happened, Petra?" Eld leaned forward and gently pushed the sticky hair away from her face.
"There..there was something in the room, a-and it attacked me." Petra remembered the bleak darkness, and the baleful eyes, and shuddered violently. The feeling intensified further as the hostile aura grew at an alarming rate.
It's coming back.
"Let's get out of this room right now," She begged, "Please, please!"
Auruo nodded against her hair and hoisted her along with him as he got up, Eld grabbed her flashlight, and the three of them ran out of the room and in the black hallway.
The cold winds sighed in her ears as they dashed out of the room, and Petra felt like she could finally breathe again. The pungent smell was gone almost immediately after they left the dark room, and the musty smell that replaced it almost felt heavenly. She staggered against Auruo, who wrapped his arms around her waist delicately. She wanted to hug him harder and never let him go but her pregnancy stopped her.
"Wait, what?" Eld took out the thermal camera, and switched it on, "Let me check if there was something in the roo-"
"No..no no Eld, do not go in that room!"
"Why?"
He got his answer the next second. The door shut behind them with a bang and the hinges rattled at the force. The deafening noise rang throughout the dark corridor for a frighteningly long time, and Petra wondered if the hallway ever ended.
Eld slowly put his hand on the door and gently pushed it, but the door was locked.
"Eld-" Petra began but stopped when they heard an unearthly wail come from the room.
Eld turned deadly pale and turned towards the other two, all of them got the clear message: run.
The three sprinted down the dark corridor with only the two flashlights to illuminate the wooden pathway. Eld handed Petra's flashlight back to her while running and she switched it off to conserve the battery.
Fortunately they had the light to guide them down the hallway, unfortunately, it was the beacon for any other ghoulish entity out there to find them.
And also unfortunately, they were running away from the grand foyer, rather than towards it.
Petra slowed down and doubled over in exhaustion. The pregnancy was taking toll on her strength; she had to run, while carrying her baby, and it wasn't possible for her.
The two boys slowed down when she did, and stopped in front of her. They were heavily breathing too, but not as hard as Petra.
"We need to go towards the other direction- towards the entrance!" She gasped, her pulse quickened under the skin.
"Petra, we are going towards the entrance." Eld frowned. She turned to face Auruo, but he was nodding too.
No, no, no.
"Why are you guys lying! we are running away!"
"Why would we lie, Petra?"
"I don't know, I don't know!"
"Petra," Auruo murmured, "I think you got confused. I have a compass and it says that we are moving towards-"
"Auruo, are you seriously going to trust a compass in a place like this?"
"let's leave," Eld muttered nervously, "I don't like staying in one place."
Auruo pulled Petra's arm and she weakly resisted. She knew they were going in the wrong direction. Then why were they both insisting otherwise? Was she wrong? was she going mad?
She whined but gave in as Auruo wrapped his hand around her arms, and pulled her with him and then, they were running again. Petra couldn't feel her legs anymore, they felt like dead weight which were dragging her along.
When they were at the safe distance from the wretched room, Eld stopped running. Auruo slowed down beside him and forced Petra to do the same; his hand was still around her arm, and Petra felt like it would bruise her skin.
She had no energy to scream, they weren't going to listen to her anyways. She wrenched her arm away from Auruo's hand and stumbled towards the cold mossy wall; she rested her forehead against the rotten wood, and it creaked slowly under her weight. Closing her eyes, she strained her ears to hear for anything out of the place; for the rapid footsteps on the wooden floor but there was nothing. She took in a deep breath and coughed at the musty smell, but as long as there wasn't that awful smell, she could deal with it.
"Petra," Eld's voice gently whispered in her ears, "Trust us, we're going in the right direction,"
Petra kept her eyes shut tightly, even at Eld's insistence and then, his begging, for her to open her eyes. She felt hot drops against her cheeks, and realized that she was crying.
"I need to sit down." She croaked.
Eld turned away from Petra and faced Auruo, who looked away guiltily. Of course Petra was exhausted, and they had no idea what had happened in that room. Eld and Auruo had been standing right outside the door, unable to take the smell in, and setting up the cameras. The motion sensor camera had bleeped once, but Eld had thought it was because it must have captured Eld or Auruo's movements. The next thing they knew was they heard Petra's scream and they rushed in the room, only to find Petra lying on the hard ground. They had tried to wake her up, and thankfully Auruo had water which he had then splashed on her face. Petra had woken up, but she had looked disoriented and terrified to death ever since.
Eld flashed the light towards the right wooden wall of the hallway as the winds whistled past them again and they rattled the doors in their wake. The cold air was starting to feel icier and icier and in no time the thin cotton clothes they were wearing wouldn't be enough against the temperature drop.
The winds disappeared down the hallway, and the doors rattled far away, but soon after they had calmed down, Eld swore he heard a door creak open.
He turned to look at Auruo again, and saw him looking towards the direction of the sound.
He had heard it too.
Eld flashed the light at his face to get his attention, and when he did, he silently flashed it towards the nearest door to them, and prayed to all gods that there was nothing behind the door cause whatever had opened the door was definitely stalking towards them, and they would be in deep trouble if they stayed in the hallway any longer.
"Petra, we have to leave" He turned towards her frail body and saw her silently sobbing. He wrapped his arms around her gently and steered her towards the door. She stumbled along and the three of them entered the cold room.
There were those metallic chairs there, the same rusted metal ones that had been the same recurrent items in the rooms, Eld wondered again and again why were they there.
But his priorities shifted when he pointed the light towards the door, to guide Auruo to the doorknob to close it behind him. He was the last one to enter and he softly locked the door behind him.
Eld guided Petra towards a chair and she flinched as her weight settled on the seat. Eld turned towards Auruo, who was leaning sideways against the door. He began walking towards him, when Auruo turned suddenly and put his finger on his chapped lips; he stopped. No one dared disturb the dead silence until there was a dull thud outside in the hallway. Auruo was still staring at him, eyes wide with fear, and the thuds began to grow stronger and stronger. The floor creaked and the winds grew chilly as the distance began closing between the friends and the unknown spectator.
Eld clicked the light off, and the room was covered in pitch darkness. Slowly, slowly, he tip toed across the room, he put his weight gently on the floor, and hoped that there was no creaking. The winds rustled past the hallway again, and the ancient woods groaned, and Eld darted across the room, and put in his weight against the door beside Auruo. The door vibrated beneath his fingertips and stopped slowly when the wind whispered past them down the dark hallway.
The thuds didn't stop.
Fear raced through Eld's spine and his blood rushed through his ears. His heartbeat quickened with every second, until he could only hear the beating of his heart and not the thudding sounds down the hall.
Any second..
three..
two..
one...
now..
wait..
The doorknob rattled.
The sound startled the three of them, and Auruo cursed softly under his breath. The rattling noise became stronger and forceful as the doorknob screeched loudly as it was forced to turn.
And then it stopped suddenly.
Eld's breathing grew louder as the silence fell again. He turned to face Auruo, but couldn't see him in the darkness, and only heard his own heavy breathing.
He counted till ten as the odd silence settled in the room. Whatever was outside must have left them, and Eld sighed, relief settled over him as his heart calmed down.
Suddenly, there was banging on the door. The door groaned as it shook, and Eld pushed against it, desperately trying to keep the door closed and the monster on the other side out. The banging sounded like fist against the aged wood and the slamming against the door echoed throughout the room. The battered door wasn't going to stand for long, and Eld furiously prayed that the door wouldn't fall of its hinges. Eld pushed his weight against as much as he could, and his teeth clattered together from the force. The banging continued for agonizing five minutes before the stopped abruptly, much like the last time. Eld had learned from the last experience, and he wasn't going to push off his weight now. Instead, he leaned forward and put his ear against the cold wood, and strained to hear something, anything, that would help them to know if the entity was gone or not. Eld shut his eyes tightly and heard.
He heard noises outside the door when he concentrated on them, and realized that there were garbled noises, which sounded somewhat like ritualistic chanting. The voice sent chills down his spine, as the voice reminded of the death of a young child, or more specifically, the keening of a young mother who lost her baby. The wail of a lover who watched his lover die, or the desolation of a person who is about to commit suicide.
The images and the feelings tormented his mind, and Eld swallowed painfully as the sadness coursed through him. The hideous noise faded away slowly, with the cold air whistling past the hallway. The door shuddered in the wind again before it settled down.
Eld clicked on his flashlight and pointed towards Auruo, whose eyes were wide as soccer balls and face white as a funeral shroud. Eld grabbed his cold and clammy hand in an effort to comfort him, before he looked over at Petra, who in similar fashion, was holding on to the chair with a death grip, with face that looked petrified, fear was oozing off heavily from both of them, and it slowly smothered Eld.
They needed to get out of this mansion, now.
Gathering his courage, he slowly unlocked the door, and winced at the click! sound. He waited for the heinous creature to bang open the door, but there was nothing.
The door swayed in the frigid wind, and its creaking was the only sound disturbing the dead silence.
"Petra, we're leaving, alright?" Eld murmured shakily, he couldn't imagine how terrible Petra must have been feeling. He knew that this much stress wasn't good for her or the baby; she was the one who needed to get out of this sickening nightmare before anyone of them. He made his way slowly towards her, as if not to startle her. She looked up with reddened eyes, and cried silently, her lips quivering as another sob raked through her. She tried to say something, but her lips trembled and no sound came out. Eld offered his hand to her, but Petra didn't let go of her death grip from the chair, he pried her fingers away gently, and saw tiny pinpricks of red on her palm.
"Blood." She whispered and Eld glanced at her, worriedly.
"Blood." He nodded, her hand had cut through the rust and now she needed an tetanus shot urgently, before she got infected.
"No..Eld, blood. The dark discoloured slashes in the room was dried blood," She shivered.
The door creaked again and the cold air enveloped the room, and Petra shivered again. The lifeless air surrounding them reminded Eld of a morgue, and he shook his head to get rid of the disturbing thoughts.
At this rate if they didn't make it out if the house by tonight, they would be dead either due to cold, or due to the mysterious occupants of the place.
Not wanting to find out, he pulled Petra up from the chair, not caring for the sound the metal made as it dug in the wood. He slipped the EVP in the front pocket after switching it on. Now, if there was a noise, the equipment would capture it, and the audio was the only thing Eld wanted from the house. He didn't want the footage, as he didn't think he could take it in to see what they had captured on the film.
He pushed his flashlight in the other pocket. After checking that Petra had hers in her hand, he switched on the thermal camera. It would give off the heat signatures, and by luck, the house would still retain the heat emitted from their bodies earlier, when they had first made their way down the dark hall.
Petra was right, trusting a compass was a stupid idea. This, however, this they could put their faith in.
He really hoped that he didn't find any dark mass in the camera.
He wrapped an arm around Petra and slowly turned towards the door. He looked up to tell Auruo to pack up their bags, and hoped that he didn't complain about the footage they didn't get. This place was awful and it wasn't meant to be filmed for people's entertainment.
"Hey Auruo, lets leave..Auruo?" Eld called out and Petra's breath hitched. When they received no answer in reply, Petra switched on the flashlight and pointed towards the entrance. The light fell upon the slightly ajar door which swayed in the frosty winds.
Both of them faced each other and the recognition dawned on them.
Auruo had left.
Petra's heart sank as she stared at the open door for a few seconds, and then turned to Eld, whose expression was contorted in rage.
"We must find him, Eld." Petra urged and he nodded.
Their footsteps echoed the dark hallway as they searched through the doors. Petra had switched off the flashlight and blindly followed Eld's heavy footsteps. The woods groaned whenever Eld opened the doors and she couldn't help but expect something to jump out at them any moment.
"Fuck! I am not getting any heat signals! but I think he probably went in the other direction." Eld declared after they had searched numerous doors, other than the heat signatures, Eld had no clue what could have been inside the room, and he was glad, he didn't want to know what all horrible things could have been inside that didn't give off heat.
"You mean, the other side which leads us more inside this damn hallway?" Petra rasped, hugging herself tightly after a particularly icy draft of wind whistled past her.
"Yeah." Eld replied darkly.
They stood there quietly for some minutes contemplating their next move.
What should they do now?
Petra looked down the despairingly dark hallway, the side she had believed to be the way to the exit. Should she follow down the path and find Auruo? or should she escape with Eld?
Fuck it, Auruo was the love of her life, her fiancee, she could never forgive herself if she made out of the house without him.
She squared her shoulders and sobbed quietly, why did Auruo decide to disappear now?
"Eld..." She switched on the flashlight and faced her friend. The shadows on his face gave him a grisly look, and she shivered.
Eld was looking at her strangely, "You are going to go after him, aren't you?"
Petra nodded regretfully.
"Petra that's a damn stupid decision! we cannot spend another moment in this vile house!"
"I cannot leave him, Eld! He is my fiance!"
"Well, he left you!" Eld replied angrily.
Petra took in a deep breath before she spoke calmly, "He probably went to get the cameras..so that we can leave.."
"Are the cameras worth more than our lives?"
Petra couldn't help but think of the time when she had asked herself a similar question as they had sat on the hill's edge. He had risked their lives for the footage inside the mansion, but it really didn't mean that his career was more important than them!
Right?
"I must search for him, Eld. He needs to come back with us-" Eld raised his hands to cut Petra in the mid sentence.
"I cannot do this, Petra. I am sorry."
"Eld?"
But Eld was rummaging through his pack, and in the dim light, he took out the two extra flashlight batteries he had stashed in case of emergency, and handed it over to Petra, who took it from his hands, puzzled.
"I am leaving," Eld muttered, " I am not going to be dead meat for whatever is down here. Petra don't stay back, it is extremely dangerous. Atleast think about the baby!"
But Petra had made up her mind, she had to get Auruo out of here, along with herself and their child. She was disappointed that Eld was leaving them, but the horror of being alone in this dark place soon replaced that emotion.
No amount of begging seemed to work, and finally Eld turned around. It physically pained Petra to watch him walk away, and not go along with him. Every cell, nerve, in her body was screaming for her to find the exit and it was as if she was paralyzed; her body seemed to refuse to move down the dark hallway.
"I hope we meet on the otherside." Eld's voice came as a whisper before he disappeared down the hall. Footsteps echoing in the dark till they seemed to fade with the winds.
Suddenly freezing, Petra forced herself to turn around and move in the other direction. Her feet seemed to grow heavier, toes colder, and her clothes barely protected her from the onslaught of frigid air anymore. The winds seemed to grow louder and louder, and sounded disturbingly like a woman's dying moans.
She jangled the doorknobs' slowly, and opened each room. She peered in the small rooms, and wished that she had the thermal camera. Her eyes would have been spared of gruesome dried blood spilled like ink across the room, or the scratch marks, that looked like someone's desperate attempt to escape the place. It adorned the rotten walls, like a morbid painting.
Petra shuddered as the winds blew yet again, like tendrils, whispering past her body and leaving goosebumps in their wake. It reminded her of her recent encounter with the hostile being, and she shivered again. Her heart beat faster with each twist of doorknob, and she prayed reverently that she didn't come across that evil phantom.
For precaution, she switched off the flashlight in the hallways, and used her ears to guide her. She only opened the doors when the freezing winds blew past her, dropping the temperature near the freezing mark. That along with the damp surroundings made Petra feel like she was in the Antarctica rather than Sinaria in 77 degrees. She felt like she was in a different world, period.
When the wind blew past again, Petra smelt the familiar putrid smell. It wafted faintly in the air, but the smell was definitely the same one Petra had smelt in the room where that creature had attacked her.
Heart in her throat, and blood roaring through her veins, she slowly opened another door. And quietly stepped inside.
Auruo wasn't there, he wasn't in any rooms. And Petra was deathly scared now; if he was in one of the rooms where the smell was coming from...
No. Auruo wouldn't be that ridiculous to continue down the hallway, down the room where Petra has been assaulted. But an another unwelcome thought invaded her mind.
What if the wraith like thing had ambushed Auruo?
Petra sat sown against the door and stuffed her fist in her mouth to muffle her sobs; she hadn't found Auruo yet, and she had no idea what to do. She could- would continue down the hallway, past the wretched room, but what if she didn't find Auruo? Would she turn around and go back in the mansion to search for her lost lover again?
If only Eld was here, she could imagine his gentle smile and reassuring words, telling her that Auruo would be down somewhere in the hallway, safe and sound.
Oh God.
Eld.
Petra had been only thinking about Auruo to realize another dark truth. Eld and Auruo had assured her that they had been going in the direction of the entrance, but if Petra could smell the familiar smell, that could have only meant two things.
Either the monster had moved from the room to another while they had been exploring, or the boys had got it wrong and Petra was moving towards the entrance.
This meant that Eld was wandering deeper inside the house.
Oh no.
Petra was torn, she hugged herself and almost broke down. Either she could run behind Eld and call him back, or she could continue walking down towards Auruo- and the entrance.
He left you, didn't he? Her thoughts whispered. She felt horrible that she was thinking of leaving her friend alone in the dark, where he would definitely die. It seemed no matter what Petra did, her hands would be stained with blood.
Oh Eld, oh Eld, oh Eld.
Her childhood friend, her colleague, he had always loved her like his little sister, and now she was going to leave him behind.
She wished that she could rewind the time and force Eld to come along with her. It wasn't even his fault that he had left, he had been scared and he had offered Petra to come along. He had begged her because he had cared for her and she was planning to throw away their friendship like this.
Yes, she was a killer.
Petra switched on the flashlight and moved her hands aimlessly in circles. The light danced on the walls. She pointed towards the ceiling and blinked when the light reflected back. Shocked, she pointed at the top again, and saw rusted metal bars towards the ceiling.
Vents.
There were vents in the house.
Petra frowned; they hadn't been there before. How the hell had the vents appeared out of nowhere?
The winds blew in the room, and this time, were accompanied with the vile smell Petra hated to death. If there were vents here, that meant whatever that black mass was, could it move through the vents?
This explained the hostile stares Petra thought she could feel on her back, something had been staring at her from the vents.
She shivered.
Slowly getting up from the place, she quickly got out of the room, and closed the door behind her. And walked towards the putrid smell.
The scent wafted in the air, and blew towards her in the chilly winds, but then the smell got weaker and weaker as she walked, till Petra couldn't smell it even though she was standing in front of the very door.
Gathering courage, she swung open the door, and saw the place was empty. She didn't go inside the room, and quickly shut the door behind her before heading towards the entrance.
She imagined how Eld would have reacted when he saw that Petra had been right; imagined nudging him in the arm and telling him that he owed her his life. He would have begrudgingly agreed and laughed with relief, before hugging her and thanking her fervently.
His laughter echoed in her mind, and her heart wrenched when she realized that she would never ever hear him again.
Boom.
Petra looked up, startled. She heard the faint noise from her right side.
Boom.
Then she heard the door rattle.
Boom...
Boom..
boom.
She ran.
Petra dashed towards the entrance. This was the same terrifying sound that she had heard against the door when she, Eld and Auruo had been together for the last time in the room, where she had heard the demonic garbles that had sounded like harbinger of death.
The pounding on the doors grew louder and louder with each creak of the door opening. Petra ran as fast as she could but the over exertion was leaving her exhausted. It reminded her of those common nightmares where the something evil would chase her but she couldn't run from it, or hide enough quickly.
The winds whipped past her, making the house shudder; not only did the creaking sounds veiled the noises coming from her right, but it also brought a very familiar pungent smell with it: the smell of decay and cloying sweetness.
The wraith was behind her.
She forced herself to run, abandoning any hope of finding Auruo. She was awfully selfish for leaving both men, but was she really bad for thinking about herself before the others?
She didn't have time to contemplate about it, as she ran for her life. The pungent smell grew stronger and stronger, but up ahead she saw the light streaming through the dark walls. The entrance, she was almost at the entrance! The endless tunnel seemed to get lighter and lighter as she bounded towards freedom.
Suddenly, her legs gave under her and she twisted her knee, the rotten wood under her seemed to crack open. Petra lunged for the wood on the other side but the wood gave in and she fell in the abysmal darkness.
**
Petra opened her eyes in the darkness and they began to slowly adjust to the opaque haziness around her. The first thing she was aware was of her aching forehead, and the pain in her back. She was lying against the cold wooden ground, and she shuddered as the feeling returned to her arms and legs.
The second thing she noticed was that something was in the room with her.
The light streaming through the hole on top was barely enough to illuminate the place, but it was enough for her to see someone standing in the room with her. She tried to make out the shape in the bleak darkness, but her eyes were too weak, and they couldn't focus enough as the shivers raked through her every time the wind blew down on her from the top.
She had been so close, so close to freedom, but her thoughts were interrupted by the pounding on top of her. The floors seemed to groan at the force on the doors, and she could barely hear thunk! of heavy footsteps rapidly running to and fro.
Petra winced as she tried to sit up; but her back didn't seemed to support her and she fell down again, eyes on the hole in the floor and the soft light from the outside.
She wanted to make herself inconspicuous, as she felt the air grow colder. She willed her eyes to get adjusted around her and she used her palms to feel around her. Scabs stuck on her palms as she ran her hand through the raised wood.
Was she in the basement?
"Your friend is dead." A voice murmured softly.
If she had been standing, Petra would have jumped. In a million years she would have never imagined hearing a human voice down in this desolate place.
A human boy's voice.
"Are you-" She winced as she heard a menacing howl echo through the house, sending chills down her spine.
"Are you stuck here, like me?" She asked again, keeping her voice low. If the person was stuck like her then that was it! she could escape with their help! Petra felt hopeful in this lifeless place for the first time, and a smile threatened to spill from her lips. She was going to make it out alive finally-
A sharp bark of loud laughter echoed around her and she flinched at the sudden sound. She looked up at the direction of the voice in shock, and almost screamed Are you crazy? at the faceless person.
She listened for the telltale footsteps above her as another door slammed.
"I am not stuck," The voice replied with an eerie chuckle, "In fact, I live here."
Petra was too shocked to form any words. A person who lived in this macabre mansion?
How?
She tried to form words but her voice had deserted her, the person however answered her unasked questions with an odd amusement in his voice, " You see Pet-ra, I own this palace of nightmares called Shinganshina. So I live here."
She couldn't believe what she was hearing, the owner of the place, this nightmare mansion was owned by someone. Someone who could have just let them walk freely. Someone who was responsible for the deaths that took place here .
Petra swallowed loudly, "Did you kill my fiance?"
The dark voice replied, "Maybe. Maybe not, does it matter now?" A somber silence fell over them; Petra was breathing too heavily to reply, her harsh breath felt like it echoed in the ebony darkness.
Does it matter? Does it matter who killed them when she was going to be the next?
Oh god, she was next.
"Who are you, and what did we ever do to you?" She cried, her vision blackening momentarily. She looked up and saw the reason why.
The monster was looking down at her from the hole.
She could never describe the nightmare above her properly, there weren't words enough to describe something so sick. Two red eyes glowered at her in a hostile way; it bared its decaying sharp canines at her, which were dripping red. Heavy droplets fell on her shoulder, and Petra couldn't get her body to move. She had lost control entirely.
The monster's face contorted in a sinister smile which stretched its sickly skin unnaturally.
It howled again, and forked out its thin tongue, as if to taste Petra.
She blanched and tried to move away, but she was paralyzed with fear.
"You did nothing," The voice replied in a sing song voice, surprising Petra, she had nearly forgotten about the person in the room, and it seemed to remind her that they were enjoying her suffering.
Anger pricked her skin, but terror was stronger. The monster was grinning lewdly as it lowered his head down the hole, but he was too far away from Petra, "All you did was to sacrifice your friend's life for your sake."
"I..I did not.."
"You knew he was going in the wrong direction, you did not stop him." The voice wafted closer and closer, and Petra heard shoes clicking on the wooden floor.
"I.."
"I don't care," He replied, annoyed, "So as long I got to see you all suffer in your last breaths, that is all I care about. I nearly haven't had this much fun in some centuries. Thank you, Petra."
Fear trickled down in Petra's stomach, and the reality set it. Whoever this person was in front of her, he was the one who controlled the what happened here after, and he was very interested in making her suffer. She looked up at the monster who was grinning above her, and then at the monster in front of her. His profile was still shrouded in darkness, and the fear coursed through her as she realized that she was defenseless against whatever the torture the person was planning to put her through .
No one would find her, ever, and she had no idea what had happened with Eld or Auruo.
Or what would happen with her.
The fear seemed to settle down in her stomach, but she suddenly felt pain in her back. The pain shifted to her stomach, and her abdominal muscles began to contract. Petra screamed as the excruciating pain lanced through her, and tears streamed from her eyes.
Petra had gone to numerous parenting classes at her university, she could hear the professor's voice ringing through her head clear as a day: Pain and shock in extreme cases caused premature labour.
And she could feel the telltale pain of it.
She was going in labour.
"Fuck..fuck!" She grieved.
"Tch. So Sad." The boy's voice was suddenly very near her ears; Petra hadn't realized in the agonizing pain that he had moved towards her. She saw his hazy profile now, and almost recoiled, as his hand ghosted over her stomach. She wanted to scream at him to stay away, but the pain was too unbearable for her to voice any words.
Her baby, her baby, oh god her baby..
"I am Eren, by the way." The person replied flippantly, as Petra screamed again.
"Go.. to HELL."
"I am already there, unfortunately. My pet, come down." Eren clapped his hands before walking away and she felt his sadistic presence disappear.
Petra was too much in pain to notice where he went. She screamed and screamed as she felt the strong contractions ripping through her. Vaguely, she heard her name being called, and slowly realized that it didn't belong to Eren.
No, it was Auruo.
She opened her eyes painfully when she heard her fiance's desperate wails. Her eyes were too watery to see anything, but now she had a chance to fight! Auruo was alive, Auruo would save her, Auruo-
And the monster jumped down.