Strangers: Consequences

Evil Within

"Hey........, you guys will protect me right?? Jessica said softly watching the sunset after school from the rooftop we were always hanging out in. The sun was a giant mass of egg yolk from where we were standing and the clouds in its surrounding were the white albumen. "Of course, we will. Just say the word!!" I answered back to her with Greg beside me smiling along and nodding. It was at that moment, where the three of us first decided to set up our very own detective firm, funded by part-time jobs and attitudes that won't quit.

"Why am I remembering that now?" Drake suddenly thought, shaking off the memory as he knocked at the wooden floorboards. Wait........a part of it was definitely weaker in terms of structure, I examined it briefly with my hands drumming the sides. There it was, a tiny depression, I quickly lifted it aside only to reveal a hidden passage that led underground.

The air was twice as moist; I could practically feel water gushing into my lungs and drowning me whole as I descended deeper into the dark. The man from before was no closer to chasing Drake, he thought positively. He found himself in a dimly-lit room that was filled with miscellaneous paraphernalia; several times he stumbled upon useless, cloth-covered mannequins before resigning and whipping out his flashlight.

It was basically a morgue down here, except that the corpses are standing upright instead of lying down and that they're not actually human. Their still movement made it seem as though they stopped and watched Drake while he walked past each one without halting.

His flashlight pointed across the room and I stopped at one mannequin in particular; it was the only one dressed in red, ruining the white dress code, so that's gotta mean something. Upon further examination, it wasn't wearing a red attire, more like splats of crimson  unevenness that stained the torso and the leg area, dripping to the floor as well. Was this inanimate object bleeding? Is it alive?? Could it have been Jessica's or Greg's??! There was only one way to find out, he made up his mind, extending his arm out to the cloth that dangled willingly on its head.

With a quick reflex motion, I unveiled it and stepped back at the same time only to realize that it was just an ordinary mannequin. "Oh, that was intense....... Phew, glad that's over!" Drake chuckled nervously at the revelation.

"Well well, I believe we spoke on the phone earlier?? You're not supposed to be in here you know..........." A rough voice sounded from where Drake was standing and he dropped his flashlight, it rolling to the side and directed at the man. The light source was dying out, flickering in the background and he could only see the dreaded silhouette looking right him.

"Let's start again, shall we??!!" he said hysterically heading in Drake's direction who then immediately ran back to the opposite direction, brushing aside the mannequins that blocked him. All Drake could see was darkness, he explored aimlessly with his hands held out onto nothingness.

Now he knew how the victims in horror movies feel, they were not exaggerating, its far too dark to know anything, much less escape properly. It was only a matter of time before his luck ran out or his patience burned off and he did something stupid.

After a few minutes, Drake came in contact with a physical barrier, sending him backwards to the floor. "So there you are!?" He said, his voice approaching closer. A sharp pain filled my legs, weighing me down....... Was it fear?? Was this just nature's way of saying "Ooops, sorry but you're dead??!!"

Drake dragged his whole body, pushing himelf forward on the floor helplessly with his legs stunned unwilling to give in. "Come here........" Drake heard him say it in a soft whisper as he grabbed his left foot and forced himself on him. "Sweet dreams," He let on to say before a black space took over.

Drake woke up face down in a pool of blood, the pungeant smell of iron clinged the entrances of his nostrils.  "Where am I?? Its a bedroom, but how did I get here? I'm not dead??  Drake could hear the door hinges creaking as it was partially opened.

This was not just hell, the evil within had only begun to be unleashed. What awaited next could either be the way out or an anchor to submerge even deeper, up to the point of death itself.........