Locked Away - Book 1

Chapter 18

"He isn't here!" A deep voice shouts.

"Well, he has to be." A woman's voice, scratchy.

"Keep looking!" The man seems angry.

The sound of things being thrown. Things being broken. The sound of destruction. The sound of anger.

"What the!" The woman shouts.

There's a sudden scream. Something big breaks. Someone else says something indistinguishable. A loud bang. A big crash. A weird crackle. And a sudden snap. Then it goes silent.

The silence is deafening. It goes on for too long. An ominous amount of time.

"It's okay." It's her. She's whispering. "It's all okay."

That same crackle sound from before. Then a sudden snap.

"Mommy?" I shout as I wake up, on the floor, sweating, and body aching.

"She's not here." The voice is like knives scratching inside my ears.

"Who is that?" I look around the pitch-black room. "Who are you?"

The voice starts to laugh. A laugh, unlike anything I've ever heard. It brings tears to my eyes. My throat starts closing up.

"Who... wh..." I can't get the words out. It hurts.

"Lies!" The voice shouts and my body is flung across the room like a small pebble in a tornado.

"Wh... Wha..." My lips quiver.

"Lies! Lies! Lies!" My body flings to the other side of the room, my body smacking into a mirror, glass flying across the room.

"Please!" I push out the words like vomit. "Please!"

"Eliot?" It's Tyler, but it's not. "What's going on?" His voice is emotionless. His skin a blueish tint. "Why would you do this?" Bright red blood spurts from his mouth as he collapses to the ground.

"Tyler!" I rush up to my feet.

"No!" I get pushed back down, this time my leg snapping. The echo of the break rings throughout the room. "No! No! No!" Gusts of wind blow around me.

The mirror shards fly around me, each one cutting me little by little. I look around and Tyler is gone. I can feel the air being sucked out of me. I can feel it flowing through my lungs. Up through my throat. And out into the cold night.

"Eliot!" It's Tyler's voice but from a faraway distance.

"Lies! Lies! Lies!" My ears ache as the voice continues over and over.

"Eliot!" His voice is closer. Stronger. "Eliot!"

My eyes open. Tyler directly above me.

"Lies!" This time the voice punches me in the gut and I scream at the top of my lungs.

The windows in the burst inwards. The mirror shatters. My skin rips open, cuts forming on both my arms.

"No!" I scream once more and the shards of glass and mirror fly in all directions and into the attic walls.

Then it stops. I lose all control of my body and I collapse to the ground. I feel all the pain. Ten times worse than in my head, especially the ones on my arms. The blood starts gushing out of them. My heart won't stop racing. Tyler runs to me, tears running down his face. Behind him stands his entire family. I see their eyes turn to the wall and mine follow. There, on the wall, written in blood is one word... Lies.