The Evil Within

An Awful Discovery

Amanda was so startled she nearly screamed but it was only Emily.

"Ems," she gasped as she tried to calm her heart rate, "you nearly gave me a heart attack there."

Emily crossed her arms, "it's not my fault you scare easily."

Amanda was what you'd call a scaredy-cat. When Kelsier still lived with them, he would always prank Amanda by waiting for her behind doors or corners and jump out from his hiding spot intending to frighten her. And no matter how many times Kelsier would pull the same trick on her, she would still fall for it everytime, and sometimes even end up in tears.

Emily would scare her sometimes too. But her style was a bit different. All Emily had to do was stand in a corner quietly and wait for Amanda to notice her. Granted, it didn't make Amanda scream, but the terrified look on her face was enough to send Emily doubling in laughter.

"Are you going to explain yourself or do I have to ask?"

Emily's question brought Amanda back to the situation at hand. Judging by the look of disapproval on Emily's face, it was safe to assume she saw everything.

Amanda straightened and attempted to look Emily in the eye. She had been lying to her cousin, the one person in the world who stood by her side when everybody else was busy hating her.

"I'm sorry for not telling you right away," she apologized. "I was only trying to be careful."

"I hardly think making out in the open is being careful."

Amanda winced at Emily's harsh words but said nothing. She was right anyway.

"Fine. Keep your secrets Ames. I'd hate for you to feel obliged to tell me everything."

Emily started walking up the stairs before Amanda grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into her room. Amanda explained to Emily Adam's theory about the serial killer and how it could be anyone. Amanda and Adam decided to keep things quiet since they didn't know who to trust. They ruled out telling the police since they already failed to catch the person responsible for all the murders and missing people that made contact with Amanda.

Emily said nothing the entire time but she didn't look happy at all. She looked mad.

"That's dangerous! You're walking a very dangerous line Amanda. Do you even know what you're doing? I thought you wanted to keep Adam safe? Curse or not, someone is willing to murder people just to keep non-family members away from you. If you want what's best for him, you should stop meeting him and report your suspicions to the police so you can work with them in setting up a trap for this killer. Once they're behind bars then you can stop sneaking out with Adam."

"But we don't know who to trust. For all we know the killer has connections within the police force. That would explain why the investigations never got anywhere."

Now that she thought about it, it made perfect sense. But it didn't convince Emily. She just shook her head in disbelief.

"Do whatever you want Amanda. But don't say I didn't warn you."

And with that, Emily walked out of the room.

Amanda felt sick to her stomach. She couldn't stand it when she and Emily had disagreements because Emily was always on her side and without Emily, Amanda felt like she was all alone. But this time it was going to be different, because this time, she had Adam as well. She wasn't entirely alone yet.

The next evening, Amanda was still determined to keep on meeting Adam so she avoided Emily, which proved to be convenient because Emily wasn't also talking to her. It's so easy to avoid someone when they're avoiding you as well.

Adam would usually come around eleven o'clock and then they'll both be back from their walk at around one in the morning or two. But that night, after dinner, Amanda started feeling tired and heavy. Maybe she was coming down with something, whatever it was she decided to lie down for a bit hoping she'd feel better by the time Adam arrived. She had absolutely no intention of falling asleep but the next thing she knew, the clock on her nightstand told her that it was already a quarter to twelve.

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Adam arrived a few minutes past eleven. As per usual, he gathered a handful of pebbles and began tossing them towards Amanda's window. A few moments later, her lights clicked on. Adam usually waited five minutes before Amanda emerged from her house, but tonight she was late. Adam was about to throw another pebble at her window when pain suddenly exploded at the back of his head and darkness welcomed him.

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Amanda noticed two things that were wrong.

One: she didn't remember turning on her lights because it was still bright outside when she decided to lay down for a bit. Two: when she tried calling Adam on her phone, there was no answer and Adam always answered her calls.

Panic began to settle on her nerves but she willed herself to calm down. Panic wouldn't get her answers.

She decided to ask for Emily's help. Amanda didn't think she could handle this alone. But when she opened the door to Emily's room it was empty.

Three things were wrong that night. The third was that Emily would never be up this late. She valued her beauty sleep too much and even if she was out somewhere, she would have told Amanda or at least left a note.

But you're not on speaking terms remember?

Still, it was so unlike Emily to disappear just like this.

Amanda tried searching the house and ended up in front of the entrance to their basement. Emily definitely had no reason to be down there, especially at this hour but something nagged at Amanda to go down and check.

Nothing looked out of place. Nothing except the big cabinet that was positioned at the far back of the room had been moved aside. Fear mixed in with her anxiety. Who would move the it and why?

Steeling her nerves, she approached the cabinet and found a trapdoor where it once stood. With trembling fingers she bent down and pulled the lid open.

A frigid gust of wind brushed her exposed legs. It was like opening a giant freezer. It was dark inside but she could see faint blue lights that illuminated the sides of the dark space. She walked down the stone steps that had no railing on either side. When her eyes adjusted to the dark, she looked around and saw that there were rectangular glass boxes all around her, filling every inch of the wall, they looked like display cases found in museums. The blue light she noticed earlier were coming from underneath the cases. But these cases didn't display artifacts. They displayed bodies. Cold dead bodies. That's why the room was freezing. To preserve the bodies.

All the hair in Amanda's arms stood on end and a chill ran down her spine. With morbid curiosity, Amanda stepped closer to one of the glass cases and to her horror recognized the face that was displayed.

It was Nick.