Eldritch

Chapter 31

Charlene plops herself down on an armchair in the living room. The others watch her from the kitchen and quietly talk among themselves. 'Do you think she'll ever forgive us?' Sophie asks.

Martin bows his head. 'I hope so, I mean, she's our cousin.'

Sophie runs her fingers over her face. 'I know, I can't stand her not talking to me. I wish I had never set foot in that stupid house that night.'

As Martin rocks Sophie's body gently against his own, Lisa slowly shuffles outside to the garden, taking in deep breaths as tears threaten to escape her eyes. Though she wouldn't like to admit it, she's not the cold hearted bitch everyone has her labelled as. The burdensome guilt she had been burying is finally coming to the fore, her chest heaving.

Daniel and Sean wave her over, and she's glad to escape from Sophie; a painful reminder of how her actions have taken a heavy toll on the group. She strolls toward the bench they're seated on and slumps down beside Daniel, who's propped up in the centre.

'Hey,' she says.

'Sophie still upset about Charlene?'

Lisa nods, just as a single tear drop trickles down her face. 'Yeah, and it's all my fault. I was the one who urged everyone to play that stupid game. I was so drunk, and out of my mind, and if I had stopped acting like my mother for once, then maybe, we wouldn't all be in this mess.'

Daniel squeezes her hand. 'Maybe,' he says. 'But, we all played our part, and all we can do now is try put it right as best as we can.'

Lisa nods and wipes her face. 'I know, I just wish there was something we could do,' she snivels. 'You know?'

'I know,' he swallows as he gently hugs her.

Their moment of embrace is interrupted by the Sheriff calling Daniel into the kitchen. He rises from the seat, and leaves Sean and Lisa to converse among themselves.

When he reaches the kitchen, his heart thumps at the Sheriff's smile. It's then that Daniel realises what's coming. He can feel his heart almost skipping a beat. 'My Mom?' he says.

The Sheriff nods, a widespread smile on his face. Daniel immediately rejoices at the news, the corners of his mouth tugging to form a genuine smile for the first time in days. 'Can I go to see her?'

Sheriff Ryan nods. 'One of my deputies will take you to the hospital. He'll be here in a few minutes.'

Daniel has never been as eager to go anywhere before. He grabs his leather jacket from the back of the chair and pulls it on. He almost stumbles as he rushes out the door, passing by the group of armed deputies surrounding the house's exterior.

----

Marissa sports a weak smile as Daniel bounds into her hospital room. Louis nods at him with a smile and leaves the room to give him privacy to speak to his mother.

'Hey Mom,' he smiles, throwing himself to his knees beside her.  He places his hand over hers and squeezes gently while she shifts to a more comfortable position in the bed. 'Can I do anything for you, Mom?' he asks, eager to help her out in any way he can.

'Could you prop the pillows up for me please?' she says, her voice hoarse.

He nods and holds one hand to her upper back while he readjusts her pillows with the others. 'Is that better?'

She nods and takes his hand again. She gently raises it to her lips and kisses him. 'I love you, baby.'

It's as though his hearts starts to bleed. Suddenly, a rush of emotions overwhelm him and he can feel himself starting to cry, even though he's smiling from joy at Marissa's progression.

'I love you too, Mom,' he swallows. 'I thought I was going to lose you.'

She takes a deep breath in, tugging slightly at her tubes of oxygen. 'You thought you'd get rid of me that easily? Think again, Dan. I'll be here to drive you up the wall for years to come.'

He chuckles lightly and then returns to blinking down tears. 'You've never driven me up the wall, Mom. I love you and when you were in surgery and then you were asleep, I was terrified.'

She blinks down tears and continues to smile weakly.

'And I was terrified for that whole week you were missing. I was going out of my mind. I thought I had lost you. And I thought that everything I had been living for over the past eleven years had just been snatched from me. I can't tell you how happy I was when you woke up. If you hadn't, my life would have been over.'

Tears stream down his face as he cuddles into her. 'We're going to be okay,' she says. 'The doctors said I'll likely be discharged in a few days.'

----

As Daniel and the deputy make their way back up the pathway, he slides past the deputy at the door and slips inside. He joins the others and takes a seat beside them at the kitchen table.

'She's going to be okay,' he smiles. 'She's awake, and they're going to discharge her in a few days.'

'That's great, Dan,' Sean says. He shares a group hug with the others, standing in the centre of them. They break away and stand awkwardly as Charlene enters and reaches into the fridge. Everyone falls silent and they try not to look at her, some of them, Daniel included, failing.

Ella's ears prick up at a slamming noise. She whips her head around the room, failing to notice any possible source of the sound. A crunching sound follows. Charlene's eyes widen and she darts her head toward the door. Grunting and groaning follow. 'That's coming from outside.'

Then, the lights begin to flicker. Daniel looks up and angles his head toward the door once more when he hears a roaring sound. He swallows and gestures toward the stairs. 'It's the Gamemaster,' he whispers. 'It's here. Get upstairs.'

Without any argument, all the teenagers except Sean and Daniel tread up the stairs quietly, at the highest speed possible. They stay and blockade the door by shoving furniture against it. They jump as the lights are completely cut out and the sound of a window smashing rings through their ears. They stop what they're doing and dash up the stairs.

Ella, who's popping her head from a closet, gestures for one of them to join her in her hiding spot. Taking into consideration that there's only space left for one of them, Daniel urges Sean to take it. He opens his mouth to object, but closes it upon hearing the steps of the staircase creaking. 'Go,' Daniel orders.

Ella waves him over frantically, her eyes widened, and Daniel nods. Sean runs for the closet. As Daniel perceives it coming closer and closer by the second, the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He tip toes down the hall and searches high and low for somewhere to hide. Still in the hallway, he begins to panic. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see its scaly arm gripping the banister, its claws digging into the polished wood. Sweat drips from his forehead as he leans as far as he can into the corner wall to conceal himself from view.

This is it, he thinks. This is how I'm going to die.

He cups a hand over his mouth to muffle his breaths and tries as hard as he can not to give it any signals to his location.

He closes his eyes and allows a teardrop to flow down to his chin as he hears it advancing in his direction. His heart rate sees a rapid increase as a hand grabs his shoulder. As quietly as he can, he moves with the hand, as its owner guides him into a bedroom. Lisa holds a finger to her lips to remind him to remain quiet. He focuses back in on his breathing and nods, before following her. She points to a small square door in the corner of the room. She pushes herself through it and he follows, crawling as quietly as he can into the small room concealed from the rest of the house.

It's a dark room, and small, but probably a lot safer than where he had been hiding. He can hear that thing slithering along the floorboards, and he slowly closes the secret door over, hoping it won't hear him. His heart continues to pound as he thinks of the others in the house, also hiding from it, and hoping it won't find them.