Masks

Chapter 33

I found myself staring down at my sister as she lay helpless on the ground, her wrists and legs bound with cheap rope. She was crying, struggling, begging me to let her go. Slowly, her tears became a light pink and darkened into a bloody crimson as she continued to cry. Around me, I could hear others crying out to me in the darkness. I stood there, feeling numb to the nightmare, before stepping over Faith and walking down the path of dark pines to find an exit.

"This is why Dad didn't love you!" My sister's wail made me pause. "You let me die! I was your sister, why didn't you keep me safe? Why did you let it take me!?"

"You aren't real." I growled back.

"...All you did was ignore me... If you hadn't maybe I wouldn't have disobeyed and gone into the woods... Maybe I wouldn't have seen the Tall Man."

I looked back at her before recoiling in horror. Her small form was ripped open now and she just stood there- no, she hung there from dark tree limbs like a puppet or ragdoll. Despite the hole in her body, no organs hung out... they'd been removed.

"It hurt..." She whimpered, her head slumping down to stare at the gaping hole in her flesh. "Why... Why did you do this to me? You just watched it kill me... You're a m-monster."

Blood began dripping from her mouth and I turned away again. Ethan blocked my path, his head cocked slightly to the side in his typical fashion. He smiled at me, revealing unnaturally sharp teeth stained with blood.

"Did you forget about me? You did... I tried to help you... and you just left my memory to rot." He took a threatening step closer.

"I told you to stop helping me... I tried... I tried to keep it from killing you." I felt the line between nightmare and reality blur the closer he got. "I just want it to stop..."

"It won't. It started with your grandfather, then your father... and now you." For a moment his form shifted to reflect that of a taller, demonic, figure. "I went looking for a solution... I didn't die because it killed me. I died because I tried to help you and the only way out was to put a bullet in my skull!"

His sudden shout made me flinch back; I'd never heard him raise his voice in anger before.

"W-what?" I focused on the side of his head, finally noticing the darker stain to his light brown hair. "N-no... No you wouldn't! Ethan would never do that!"

"If it weren't for you I'd still be alive. My girlfriend would still be alive. So many other people would still be alive if you weren't around." Hearing those accusations from my cousin's mouth cut into me like a knife.

"I... I know..." Behind me leaves crunched. I didn't dare turn around, as I knew I'd likely see the zombified looking corpses of my friends waiting for me. "But they wouldn't know... They wouldn't know I was the reason they died!"

"I got mixed up in your mess just like they did whether they knew it or not... and in the end I lost everything- I ripped out Emma's throat because of it."

That couldn't be true. It was too specific- too terrible and out of character for him. His eyes were burning a familiar yellow. It was that demon... of course. I shoved him away, angered after all the torment he was cramming into my nightmares.

"That isn't what happened!"

"And you would know?" He sneered. "Maybe if you actually tried to find answers you'd know."