Leave This House

Day 5 - The Last

Corbin collapsed, numb, to the floor of the cell. He leaned against the cobwebbed wheelchair, then pushed it angrily away. He dug his fingers into his eyes. He wanted to erase the images of Elvyne's face from his mind.

There was a beeping from the corner. Its persistence was beginning to annoy Corbin and he jumped to his feet, reached through the bars and tore the camera off the wall. He threw it out and it slid across the floor and down the hole.

He sat and cried for what seemed like hours. Granny never came back up. Maybe she enjoyed this type of mental torture just as much as she liked making them bleed.

Cool air blew on the back of his neck. He enjoyed it. It soothed his hot body and calmed his nerves. After a while, he stood up and tried to find it's source. A large fan was in the wall. A key sparkled from behind the rotating blades. Excitement surged up inside him. Could this be the padlock key?

He held his breath and reached to grab it. The blades sliced his hand. They flung the blood into his face and he staggered back. He couldn't grab the key. A blue wire came out of the wall and connected to a small gray box protruding from the wall.

Remembering with pain the wire cutters Elvyne had thrust into his hands, he reached onto the floor and grabbed them. He looked at them and wondered how many hands these had passed through. Victim after victim probably handled these and tried their hand at escape.

Corbin opened them and clipped the blue wire. The fan slowed and stopped. He licked his lips and pulled out the key. Its head was wooden. Corbin pocketed it. It clinked against the wire cutters, rusting metal on rusting metal.

Now to get out of this cell. Corbin shook the door and it rattled lightly. He felt along the door, looking for any weakness. He had a feeling that he could get out. Somehow. He closed his eyes and tried to remember any movies and TV shows that this obstacle had been given to the hero. Nothing came to mind where this specific thing had happened but there had been plenty of crime shows where the door had been kicked in.

Corbin smiled and stood as far as he could from the door. He jogged up and kicked the door. Pain rattled up his leg before his foot slipped in between two bars. He lifted the collar of his shirt up to his mouth and bit on it to deal with the aching. He pulled his foot out and sighed. That didn't work.

If this was a movie, the door would have flown off, frame splintering and hinges fly-

Bright red hinges gleamed at him. He reached for them and easily lifted the bottom one. Then the top one. The door slowly fell forward.

"Wait, no!" he cried, trying to catch the door. He caught the lock box but the other side of the door slammed onto the ground. Corbin winced and knew Granny was coming. He dropped the other half and ran across the board. He jumped into the tunnel that would drop him into the bathroom. He waited until Granny came before dropping.

He landed as light as he could onto the tiled floor. He walked to the one working sink and turned it on. He leaned over and took a long drink from it. He then filled cupped hands and splashed water in his face. The water ran pink down the drain. He then decided he would wait in the bedroom for Becca and Solomon.

Corbin opened the door and peeked out. His eyes drifted to the pile of floorboards, where Elvyne should have been. She was gone. No surprises there. Solomon would blame him of course.

It was clear and Corbin quickly slipped into the bedroom. To his surprise, Becca and Solomon were seated on the bed, clearly waiting for him. They stood up quickly when he came in.

"Where is Elvyne?" Solomon asked.

Not beating around the bush, Corbin answered, "She's gone. I got locked in the cell upstairs and she didn't. Granny got her. How little my have you guys been here?"

"Another person killed because of you," Solomon snorted.

"We've been here for a while," Becca said. "Solomon claimed he had a plan but he really didn't."

Solomon whirled on her. "You were not helping at all!"

"You're the one that made us split up because you had an, oh so great plan," Becca said.

"Did you find anything?" Corbin asked, trying to avoid another fight. He was not in the mood. Becca laughed sarcastically. "Oh no. Sol here made us both split up. I took the living room while he stayed in the second bedroom. We didn't find squat. You?"

Corbin reached into his pocket and dig out the key. "Is that the padlock key?" Solomon asked greedily. Corbin held it back. "I don't know. But I'll find out now. Solomon, you're distracting Granny."

"Whatever," he said, walking to the door. "Granny seems to be gone all the time anyway."

"It's true," Becca said. "She was never around. This is way different than when we first got here. She was everywhere."

"Let's enjoy whatever's changed," Corbin said. "Solomon, go into the other bedroom and keep Granny there. I'll get to the door and try out the key. I'll only need 30 seconds."

He walked to the door but Becca caught his sleeve. "Wait, I did find something."

"You did?" Corbin and Solomon said in unison. She nodded. "Above the stairs right here is a shelf. There's a cup on it with something blue in it."

"Is it a key?" Corbin asked.

"I'm not sure."

"You did not tell me?" Solomon asked, a little hurt. Becca rolled her eyes. "I was really mad at you."

Corbin waved to Solomon and he ran out the door past Corbin. Solomon turned into the bedroom and knocked over something. After two seconds, Granny came down from the attic and went into the bedroom. Corbin ran out and down the stairs. He grabbed the padlock and shoved the key in.

It stopped halfway and Corbin groaned in annoyance. No luck here. Now he had to find where this key went. But he an idea.

Author's Notes

Here's your bonus chapter! I hope you enjoyed!

Votes and comments are appreciated :)