DARK PARADISE ⎯⎯⎯⎯ ETHAN LANDRY

viii. the apartment attack

     MORE AGONIZING SCREAMS CAME from Quinn's room as we rushed into the living room. Tara and I bolted straight for her door, only for us both to be drug back by Chad. We all stood still, watching her door in anticipation, when suddenly it flung open and Quinn's dead body was pushed onto Anika. It knocked her to the ground and she screamed.

     "Get her off! Get her off!" Anika cried for help as Ghostface exited calmly out of the bedroom.

     I caught glimpse of Tara and Chad leaving through the front door and I went to follow after them, but ultimately decided to turn around when I heard Mindy groan in pain. There was a cut on her arm and blood was quickly seeping out of it.

Anika grabbed Ghostface's leg in hopes to throw them down to the ground, and I grabbed onto the knifed arm, also trying to get them down. Ghostface was quick to shake me off his arm. My butt hit the ground with a thud and I let out a pained groan. I say still in horror as Ghostface wrapped a hand around Anika's throat, squeezing harshly. Suddenly, he picked her up and threw her into a wall before jamming his knife in her exposed stomach. Anika screamed out in agony as Ghostface began to twist the knife inside her.

I found the courage to stand back up, grabbing a vase off the table next to me. I gripped it hard in my hand as I began to sneak up behind Ghostface. However, just before I made it, Sam pulled me back and swung a knife holder at Ghostface's head, knocking them to the ground.

We all rushed Quinn's bedroom as they were getting off the ground. Sam slammed the door shut just in time, the sound of Ghostface's knife swiping at her just before the lock clicked into place. I stood by the door with Sam, making sure there was no way Ghostface could get in as they pounded harshly on the door.

"Oh, fuck," Mindy groaned, holding her wound.

Ghostface's pounds stopped abruptly and I turned my head at the sudden realization that the bathroom door, which connects to the room we're in, was wide open. "Shit, the bathroom!" I cursed, leaving Sam's side and running to shut the door. I stopped in my tracks as I noticed the cut up body of Quinn's hook up in the bathtub, his blood smeared all over the walls.

"Holy fuck, thats sickening!" I cried out at the same time Ghostface appeared at the doorway. I yelled in horror and quickly tried to shut the door, but Ghostface jammed their arm in and prevented it from closing. Ghostface swiped the knife towards my body, but missed terribly. Almost like they weren't trying to actually hit me. "Fuck you!" I screamed, Mindy and Sam coming to my rescue and hitting the door against the masked person hard enough to knock them back.

I grabbed them both and led them back into the bedroom, hurrying to shut the other connecting bathroom door. My hands shook as I tried to slide the lock into place, but Ghostface's attempts to break the door was causing it to rattle too much for me to be able to do so. So, I pressed my back against the door as Sam began to push a dresser over. I grabbed the other end and helped her position it in front of the door as a barricade.

After successfully blocking the door, I rushed over to the window where Danny was calling out to us, pulling it up to hear him better. Sam joined my side and we both looked down at the long drop below us.

"Shit!" Sam exclaimed.

"Oh, my God, what are we going to do?!" I panicked, grabbing my hair in frustration and terror. Danny pulled out a latter from beside him and began to pass it over to us. "Oh, absolutely not!"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Sam asked, looking at Danny like he was a mad man for this plan.

"Do you have a better idea?" He asked, still sending the latter over to us. Sam grabbed ahold of it, setting it in the window sill, shaking it to make sure it was steady enough to climb across.

     She turned to me, "You go first!"

     I gulped and nodded, seeing no point in arguing. My sweaty hands grasped tightly into the metal bars as I hoisted my body onto the latter. After I was all the way on, I began to move my away across it. Danny's hand were stretched out as far as possible, ready to latch onto me as soon as I was in arms reach. I didn't look down, afraid I might freeze up if I did.

     My hand reached out for Danny's and he firmly grasped it, helping the rest of the way. His arms wrapped around my waist as he safely but me back on solid ground.

"Have you already called the police?" I asked Danny, to which he nodded his head yes.

I could still hear the bangs of Ghostface coming from the door in the apartment. I gagged as I caught sight of just how truly bad Anika's wound is.

     "No, you go! Someone has to stay and guard the door!" Mindy shouted at Sam, who had just tried to convince her to get next. Sam hesitated and Mindy gave her a reassuring nod. "I'll send Anika next, just go." Her back was still pressed up against the dresser, her body jutting forward every time Ghostface rammed into the door.

     Sam quickly made her way across the latter, giving Danny a big hug when she arrived to us. I sobbed into my hand as I watched Mindy pull Anika into a kiss, like it would be their last one ever.

     After Mindy got across it was Anika's turn. "Come on, Anika!" I screamed at her, offering the bleeding girl a soft smile. She wailed in pain as she began to progress across the latter, slowly but surely. Everyone shouted encouragement to her.

"No, no, I can't do it," She cried.

The sight of the horrid white mask came into view and we all stopped talking, staring behind Anika in horror. More tests poured down my cheeks, knowing that Anika might not make it.

"What?" Anika chocked out, noticing our scared expressions.

"Anika you have to move right now!" Mindy screamed at her girlfriend. Anika looked behind her and sobbed even harder when she realized Ghostface was behind her. Ghostface stabbed their knife into the window sill and grabbed the latter with two hands, beginning to bounce it up in down. I was sickened at the sight of Anika slowly loosing her balance.

"Mindy, I don't want to die!" Anika said, shaking her head profusely towards us. I grabbed Mindy's arm, pulling her into me as we both sobbed. Ghostface continued to tease Anika by shaking the latter.

"Anika give me your hand!" Sam demanded, her hand stretching out as far as possible. It made contact with Anika's, and for a moment my tears stopped and a sliver of hope seeped into my brain that Anika was going to make it.

However, Ghostface turned the latter to the side, sending Anika off of it and hurling forwards the ground. We all watched as her head smacked against a dumpster, her body falling limp onto the ground. Anika's whole face was spilt open and her left eyeball laid a few feet away from her.

Bile rose into my throat and I suddenly needed to release everything in me. I spotted s trash can in the corner of the room and ran over to it, emptying my contents into it. Danny rushed over to me, holding my hair back. Sam pulled Mindy away from the window, holding her as the girls body racked with screams.

My body began to shake and Danny picked me up bridal style. Cop sirens wailed out on the streets and red and blue lights illuminated the alleyway below us.

∙◦∘༄ OLIVIA'S OUTRO!
( another short chapter
sorry. i wrote this with a
bad headache, so it's
probably horrible. have
a good day tmrw🫶🏻 )