Masks

Chapter 38

My muscles felt unresponsive and stiff as I slowly regained consciousness. The taste of blood was still in my mouth from earlier. I tried to push myself up only to feel my left arm give out as pain shot through that shoulder. My body slumped back onto the dusty concrete floor, causing a burst of pain through one side of my chest. I forced myself to hold back the cry of pain, though tears still built up in my eyes.

"I need to find Tim..." Once again I tried pushing myself up from the remains of the collapsed staircase.

Shakily, I limped away from where I'd fallen and looked around, which didn't help much given how dark the basement was. The only light was a small stream of sunlight coming from the open door above. A feeling of vertigo washed through me as I turned my head too quickly and I stumbled to the side. Kneeling back down on the ground, I gingerly rubbed the side of my head. I felt blood rub off onto my hand.

Quiet footsteps started heading in my direction and I froze, fearing one of the proxies had heard me moving around. The person moved close enough into the lit area for me to make out a small knife in their hand before they maneuvered into the narrow space I was currently in, trapping me between the broken stairs and piles of junk. I crawled back as quietly as I could before flopping back onto the floor. The pounding in my head was making me feel ill and unbalanced. I closed my eyes, hoping if it was a proxy they'd miss me and move on.

For a moment- minutes possibly- I slipped unconscious again. The pain of someone shaking me dragged me back into awareness. I coughed and blinked several times as I tried to wake up. The smell of smoke registered in my mind and I briefly wondered where it was coming from before managing to focus on Tim as he leaned back.

"Can you hear me?"

For a moment I ignored him and tried to sit up, wincing as I mistakenly used my left arm to hold my weight. I settled for simply propping myself up for the time being. "...Yeah..."

"We need to get you to a hospital. Is there another way out?" He shifted closer again and my eyes drifted to a darker stain on his side as my sight adjusted to the darkness.

"Maybe...?" I coughed, flinching as it sent pain through my ribs. "...I... I don't remember... I- there should be a cellar down here..."

"Can you walk?"

I shakily managed to sit up and give a small nod, which sent a wave of dizziness through me. Tim wrapped his arms under my shoulder and pulled me up. I swayed slightly, the nausea hitting worse, and I was glad most of the room was just black blobs so I didn't have to watch everything spin in and out of focus around me. He kept an arm around me to keep me steady and slowly navigated through the small walkspaces.

"How's... your side?"

"Better than it looks." I felt him pull me closer to take more of my weight. "Don't worry about me."

"He wouldn't even be hurt if I came here alone... then again, guess I'd be dead."

We continued our slow pace, trying to feel our way through the darker corners of the basement in an attempt to find the cellar. My head drooped tiredly as we once again hit a wall of boxes. I was trembling heavily despite Tim taking most of my weight; it made me feel bad that he had to put up with me nearly always being hurt. I pulled away and leaned against the cold wall, slowly sinking to the floor.

"Ash?"

I sent him an apologetic look as my eyes began to close. "Sorry... I just... just need to rest... Only a few minutes... please?"

"You need to stay awake." He carefully shook my shoulders. "Ash, come on. Stay with me. You can't go to sleep."

I shied away from him as I felt the tickling sensation of a coughing fit rising in my throat. Seconds later I was hunched over, jolts of pain running through my chest with each cough. Blood dripped to the ground as it subsided and I huddled there trying to catch my breath before crumpling to the floor.

"Ashley, we need to get out. Are you positive you don't know where it could be down here?" There was panic breaking through his voice.

I coughed again, this time managing to swallow most of the blood with a shudder. "Tim... T-Tim... I feel like I'm... going to die..."

"No. Don't you dare say that!" I heard him shifting around next to me before speaking quieter, as if mostly to himself. "...I don't want to see- watch- anyone else die because of those things... I don't want to be alone again... I can't..."

"I said feel." I adjusted so I was once again leaning back against the wall to look at him, my breathing still uneven. "I don't... plan on dying this second... "

"If we don't find that cellar door, you might."

"...We should've found it by now... we checked most of the walls, right?" I tiredly glanced around, not seeing much from my vantage point.

"We have one left."

"Stuff is always in the last place you look." My attempt at humor sounded dull and I shifted the conversation to the last corner we had to check. "I don't want to come back here after we manage to get out... We need to start checking boxes for things that could be important."

"Ash, you need a doctor. The answers aren't as important as your life."

I continued staring at the corner. "If we don't get the answers it could cost our lives in the future."

His hand pressed against my forehead. "You're burning up and obviously not thinking straight."

I reached up and took his hand off, keeping hold of it as I shakily got up and tugged his arm back in the other direction. "I'm fine for a little longer... Nothing's broken. It's just the head injury causing this... bruised side maybe, but I can keep going longer than he thinks- just need to have some breaks... We need answers."

It was obvious Tim didn't like my plan but he couldn't exactly stop me from looking through the boxes around us. The work kept me awake at the very least, though my sneezing and coughing from the dust we stirred up didn't help the throbbing in my head. Most of the items were junk: old holiday decorations, moth-eaten clothes and bedding, empty picture frames and broken down furniture, tools, and even some of my old toys. We finally started getting somewhere when Tim dug out a box of photo albums, not that we could see what was in them at the moment- assuming they weren't ruined or empty.

I took a moment to rest again as Tim continued searching the last corner before hearing him call me over. When I reached him, he was standing in front of a desk with several computer monitors and cameras strewn across it. Papers were spilled all over the ground along with old books and tapes. Was this actually going to give us the answers we were looking for? Perhaps the demon didn't completely lie after all...

"You said your father installed security cameras, right?" He picked up a hand-held camera. "Looks like he filmed outside of that too- the buttons feel worn down on this."

"He was paranoid." I coughed again and blindly felt around the darker shapes on the desk, wishing the light from the stairs was still around to help us see. "Let's grab some of this and hope it's enough... Did you find the cellar?"

"No."

"...It has to be somewhere." I coughed again, this time leaning heavily on the desk as I panted. My shivering had gradually been worsening from my efforts to stay on my feet and help but now... Now I just felt like I was standing directly in front of a heater. "Tim... I don-"

My legs gave out and I yelped in shock before catching myself with the desk. Tim was at my side, easing me to the ground. The cold floor at least helped with the heat I felt radiating off my skin. I pulled my jacket off and just let it drape over me like a blanket.

"Get some sleep... I'll be here if anything happens."

"Thought-t... you d-didn't want m-me... to s-sleep." My teeth chattered as a cold flash hit me. "Shouldn't argue too much... I am tired..."

"Just for a few minutes." I heard a small sound of pain escape as he settled down next to me. Was his side really as 'fine' as he'd let on earlier? "It isn't like we can see anything at the moment anyway. Once it's morning maybe we'll actually be able to find the cellar- or a ladder- and get out."