Can You See It?

Rough Road

Everything hurt. That was the first conscious thought Lauren had as she slowly returned to the land of the living. Her arms, shoulders, and entire torso hurt immensely, every inch of her skin from her neck to her hips burning.

The second thought she had was a question: How am I alive? She remembered the horrific events of the dark mine - being chased and attacked multiple times by a demonic creature - but she didn’t remember making it out.

A terrifying thought struck Lauren - /Am I still in the mine?/ - and her eyes finally opened, searching her surroundings but finding nothing. Darkness surrounded her, not an ounce of light available. Her flashlight was missing, as were the red and green lights of the generators and elevator. Had she been moved?

Moving was painful, especially after laying motionless for however long she had. Her muscles were stiff and her body ached, but Lauren curled her hand into a fist and tried to push herself up. A small, involuntary yelp escaped her mouth and she fell back to her previous position, but she noticed something. The surface beneath her was no longer hard concrete; instead, it was something soft. If she hadn’t known better, she might have thought it was a bed.

Between the physical pain, lingering exhaustion, and psychological horror that lingered in her mind, tears formed in Lauren’s eyes and she forced them shut. Her head lolled to the side and she weakly mumbled, “Help me.” It wasn’t a real call for help considering she was much too tired for that, but she still prayed someone would arrive to deliver her from her personal hell.

A door directly to her right opened and Lauren’s eyes shot open just as the door closed, the darkness concealing whoever had entered the room. Fear gripped Lauren by the throat and her eyes stung as the tears spilled over, running down the sides of her face and into her hair.

Another door on her right opened, but the lights remained off and she couldn’t decipher a thing about the person, her possible captor. The sound of running water in the next room caught Lauren’s attention and she strained to listen for any other clues as to where she was or who the person was, but the sound quickly cut off and Lauren was left in ignorant silence again.

Quiet footsteps against the carpet and the squeaky sound of the door closing alerted her that the person had entered the room again. Biting the inside of her cheek, Lauren tried to quiet her uneven breathing so that she could focus on the sounds of the other person. Her heartbeat was frantic with her fear and the blood in her veins rushed, the sound filling her ears so that she could hardly make out another sound.

A quiet click sounded to Lauren’s left and the entire room was cast in a gentle orange light, but Lauren turned her head away, clenching her eyes closed at the sudden, unexpected assault to her eyes. Slowly, she reopened her eyes, squinting as they adjusted to the light that now illuminated the room. Though Lauren’s mind felt hazy with fear, confusion, and the remnants of exhaustion, she clearly recognized the room. It was the master bedroom in Kate’s house, the room that had belonged to Kate’s mother, Beth, before she had died. She had been in the room several times before when she had spent the night with Kate as a child, and again only a few days before when she had come to help Kate sell the house. If only that had been what happened.

Finally turning her head back to the left side of the room, Lauren was frozen. Standing to the side of the bed, looming over her, was her assailant from the night before - at least, she assumed it had been the night before. The white face of the mask stared back at her, a small trail of blood smeared on the side. The white hoodie of the person was no better off; the once white fabric was nearly grey and blood covered the front of it, a bloody hand print pressed against the person’s chest. Lauren was sure it was hers from when she had tried to fight them off; she didn’t want to think about it being someone else’s.