Dressed for Despair

𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

"Are you guys still here?" Jamie's voice. I can't bring myself to answer him but I manage to take a few deep breaths, calming down a bit when I understand that I'm okay. For now.

"Yeah, I'm here. But what exactly was that?" Erika. After gritting my teeth I force myself to move, turning my body around and making my way towards the sound of the others. I stick out my hands, reaching out for anyone nearby. I can't see a thing.

"Watch it!" Bianca slaps away my hand but then my stomach lurches, and suddenly I feel my body falling. Screams surround me in the dark as my body drops, and before I fully register what's happening my body hits something. Hard. Not this again. I let out a groan at the same time a loud click fills the air, and soon light encircles me. I squint my eyes. We're in some sort of bright hallway. I can feel my heart pounding as I stand up, trying to make sense of things.

"What just happened?" When Bianca's voice reaches my ears again I turn to face her, my thoughts whirling around my head as I try to make sense of things.

"Where's Erika?" I whisper, looking back and forth between Jamie and Bianca. They glance at each other, and when they gape back at me I can tell they're just as shocked as I am. I peer up at the ceiling, and I can feel myself getting dizzy when I see nothing but white lights. This hallway is completely white and yellow, with mirrors and paintings lining the walls. There are no windows. No doors. Are we still in the manor? Where are we now? I flinch when I hear Bianca laughing, and my eyes flicker over to her as she starts backing away from us.

"This is some sort of joke, right? Some sort of sick prank?" She laughs again, turning away from Jamie and I and walking down the hall. I'm about to try and stop her when the lights flicker around us, rapidly turning on and off. I freeze for a moment but then I break into a run, bumping into both Jamie and Bianca but dashing down the hallway as fast as I can. Whatever this is, wherever we are, what's happening isn't normal. Both Austin and Erika are already missing, and I'm not about to go missing either.

"Wait!" I slide to a stop when Jamie yells behind me, but it's not because of Jamie's voice that I stop. Right after I turn a corner in the hallway I spot something out of the ordinary, and now that I've stopped running I can see what it is. It's a person, standing at the end of the hall...

"Erika?" Bianca comes to my side, squinting at the figure. They have their back turned to us, but whoever it is looks like they're wearing the same outfit Erika had on earlier. Her straight black hair has dyed red tips that we can see even from here, but I don't like the feeling I'm getting from staring at her. The lights won't stop flickering. On. Off. On. Off. I move to the side when Jamie joins us, keeping my eyes trained on her. What is she doing?

I jump when she spins around, her entire body swiveling as she tilts her head to smile at us.

Her smile is so unnatural that it takes up half her face, the skin around her mouth pulled back and stretched. Her teeth are much larger than they should be. And... her eyes. They're wider than normal, and instead of the glossy brown they used to be, they're nothing but black. Even with the flashing lights, I can tell. They're empty. She tilts her head even farther until it's nearly upside down, and I watch in horror as her body twists itself in a way that makes her jerkingly move down the hall. Right towards us.

I... I'm frozen. I can't scream. I can't do anything.

And the lights. On. Off. On... off... on... off...

All I can do is watch as Erika staggers closer. I can't look away from her smile.

"Coral, run!" Jamie's voice snaps me out of my trance when I realize he and Bianca have already left me, and without another glance at the thing in front of me, I do it. I run. I run past the paintings and mirrors, running away from the laughs that leave the thing chasing me as the lights continue to flicker. I can't bring myself to scream. I can't bring myself to think. All I know is that I need to escape. That I need to leave.