Leave This House

Day 5 -Split Take

Becca and Corbin returned to the room to wait for Elvyne and Solomon to wake up. Becca saw Corbin staring at the sleeping Solomon with loathing and warned him. "Do not pick a fight with him," she said wearily. "He'll just push you down the stairs again."

"Speaking of," Corbin said, "Why didn't you stop him?"

She snorted. "He weighs at least 200 pounds and I'm five foot even on a good day. But I am sorry. If I knew what he was doing, I would have tried to talk him out of it."

They waited for only a couple minutes more before Solomon and Elvyne began to stir. Solomon opened his eyes and rolled out from under the table. He used the table to pull himself to his feet and then looked at Corbin. "What day are you on?" he demanded. 

"Five."

"Good. Elvyne ran after you so she got caught. She is not in a good state."

"It was your fault she ran after me!" Corbin said, standing up. Becca gripped his arm. "Don't." Corbin sat back down after hearing the pain in her voice. Solomon looked at Becca and did a double take. He swore and said, "What happened to you? You look like you took a knife to the face."

"That's what happened," Becca said quietly. Solomon licked his lip and winced as it started to bleed. "Granny has a knife now? We are officially screwed." He sank onto the bed and the legs creaked.

"No, it's Iris with the knife," Corbin said. Solomon kneaded his forehead with the heel of his hand. "This just got a whole lot harder."

Elvyne's head poked up from the end of the bed. The cut on her head was beginning to clot and it was bleeding less. Corbin took her hand and helped her up. Becca rushed forward. "Here, Elvyne. Come with me and we'll get you cleaned up in the bathroom."

Elyvyne gasped. "What happened to you?" she asked breathlessly. Becca gave a forced smile and led Elvyne out of the room. After they closed the door behind him, Solomon sighed. "Corbin, I am... sorry."

Corbin's eyebrows rose. "You are?"

Solomon looked at the floor and nodded. "I don't know what I was thinking. May I was flustered over losing another person. Especially someone who made it so far."

"You've made it so far," Corbin pointed out. Solomon snorted. "Only since you've got here. Before, I just stayed in this room and watched everyone else die. I was too scared to leave and risk my life."

"What's different about me?" Corbin asked.

"You treat us all like a team. It was never, 'How can Corbin get out the soonest?' it was, 'How can we get out. Together.'"

Corbin was flattered. He had no idea he had been doing that. He had only wanted everyone out of the horrid house. "Thank you, Solomon. That means a lot. And I accept your apology. Miranda's death was hard for everyone here. Especially since... I did cause it. If it makes you feel any different, I've been torturing myself with thoughts of that I could have done something different."

Solomon was quiet for a second then opened his mouth. "Thank you. Now that I got my apology out of the way, I can more easily say what must be said. In my opinion."

"And what's that?"

"Wait until Becca and Elvyne are back."

They waited a few minutes in an awkward silence. Corbin began to formulate a plan for their next move in his head. They had almost all the keys. The only one eluding them was the padlock key and Corbin was sure where to look. They needed to check out the cell in the attic but he really didn't want to go back up there. Maybe he could send Solomon up. Corbin thought this with a smirk. They might need that Teddy bear too. He had dropped it when Granny got him last. In the basement. He could go and get that and they could examine the bear.