House Bound

Chapter 4 - Rules

A/N: your comments blew me away last chapter, so consider this update my thanks for being so awesome. I still don't have a schedule, but I'm aiming to get as much out as I can before uni starts back in March.

* I'm so sorry if I don't reply to your comments, Wattpad is sending me notifications, but they won't always load to show where you've written them or allow me to respond. I can sometimes get them up, but it's pretty sketchy 😞 I really do love seeing your reactions! *

       The static of the speaker buzzed through the air, crackling like the very house was coming alive around us, its lungs choking with disuse.

       "Go to your rooms," a robotic voice boomed from all around us. Ominous, directionless, omnipresent.

       No one moved, all of us startled entirely silent. Kota's mouth was still slightly open, though his face went slack, his reply long forgotten. I watched on uselessly as the boys glanced around at each other as if trying to come to a decision. 

       This was the first contact of any kind. And all we got was a four word demand? 

       "Fuck that," Gabriel blurted finally, breaking the silence. 

       "Gabe, we don't know what we're dealing with..." Silas hedged, glancing around the ceiling and walls.

       The sound of the static was still thrumming through the air, waiting, but the voice on the other end didn't seem inclined to add to their initial statement. 

       "Maybe we should just see what happens if we go. Maybe it'll get us closer to some answers." Nathan suggested. 

       I was inclined to agree with Nathan, even if the thought of being alone was a little frightening. It was easier to pretend something horrible wasn't happening when I was around the boys, who kept everything light, but it was time to face up to reality. 

       I'd taken only a step towards the entrance hall again, when sudden electricity sparked through my veins, igniting a path of fire down my spine and locking up all my joints as agony spiked through my body. I was barely aware of falling, not even registering the pain of the impact past the searing of my butchered nerves. It was only when that pain lessened, easing off gradually to a tolerable ache, that I became aware of the growing sensation of burning in my throat.

       A hand landed on my cheek, causing me to flinch away violently as though I'd been slapped, though I realised a second later that the touch had only been gentle. I opened my eyes to meet Victor's dulled brown ones as he kneeled beside me, and I knew instantly that he had felt it too. I stopped screaming, realising that the burn in my throat was my own fault, though my broken vocal cords had only managed to emit a strangled rasping sound.

       "Get her upstairs!" Kota barked out.

       I looked over to see Kota pulling himself up shakily by gripping the table, his face pinched. His glasses looked to have been thrown under the table, but he left them there as he stumbled to stand, helping Gabriel to his feet. Nathan was slowly getting up too, aided by Silas, looking as though he'd had the wind knocked out of him. It was scary seeing the boys so incapacitated, felled by an invisible force.

       Silas himself looked relatively unscathed, though he looked stressed as he glanced around at each of us. It took a moment for the to remember the demand, and then I realised that he'd already unintentionally obeyed, and therefore didn't need to be punished.

       Victor lurched upright, yanking me up with him. We leaned together, panting heavily. My whole body trembled under the fear of receiving another shock, my muscles feeling as though they'd been liquefied. Victor and I held each other tightly, aware that for the moment, we were all that kept each other from falling again. Kota helped Gabriel to us, wrapping Gabriel's arm over my shoulder and looking over the three of us with unfocused eyes, though his face was a mask of worry.