The Dare

Chapter 12

"I'm going to hold you accountable for this, I swear it!" My sister is yelling, why is she yelling? Her voice is fierce and pierces my psyche, jolting me to partial consciousness.

"It's not like I did it, Salem! She did it with her own two hands, I tried to stop her but it happened. Ok? But as of right now she seems ok. She'll wake up soon and when she does she'll be fine so stop yelling at me." Are they talking about me? Grayson and Salem's voices make my headache, my body feels heavy; as if I'd been submerged in water and now I'm not.

"You were alone with her! You did this!" Salem is shrieking, she never acts this way. My sister has always been known to be calm when she's not being hateful, a cool and collected person. Her screaming hurts my head and pangs my heart, I need it to stop.

"Stop screaming.." I murmur but it's not loud enough for anyone to hear. Blood loss has made me weak, too weak to be heard by the yelling people around me.

"No Salem" His voice raises a few octaves, hurting my brain even more. "This is all your fault! You dared Sage to come in here! You're the one who wanted to hurt her for whatever reason, and now we are all stuck in here! Your sister is guilt-ridden and blaming herself for all of this and it is time for you to own your shit!" His words are spit out like venom, they slash the air and I know her feelings must be hurt.

My eyes open enough for me to see the darkness of the ceiling, it's still shaded in a way that I know it's still nighttime. I'm ready for the morning, I feel like when the sun comes so will our escape. Something about the dark makes surviving feel impossible. Avery meets my gaze, her eyes widen and a smile breaks out on her face. Grayson and Salem are engrossed in each other and don't notice, but Avery does and in moments she's at my side.

"You're ok?" She whispers to me, joy covering her words. My heart lifts knowing that she doesn't have hatred in her heart towards me. I nod at her, her smile growing bigger. Her hands are on both sides of my face, they're warmer than my cheeks; probably because of my blood loss.

"Make them stop yelling, please. They're hurting my head." I tell her, and instantly her head snaps up and she claps her hands together loudly enough for the echo to radiate through the room.

"If you guys are done bickering I'm sure you'd be pleased to know Sage is awake." The arguing stops instantly and their faces appear in my view in seconds. Grayson is smiling, Salem looks relieved.

"You're ok?" Grayson says, giving me deja vu from just moments before when Avery had said the same thing. This time I nod at him and his smile is the one that grows. "Let's get you sitting up, ok? I'm sure it'll make you feel better." His hands brace behind my shoulders and lift me into a sitting position, the room spins and I grab his arms to brace me onto the earth.

"Am I still bleeding?" I ask, too afraid to look at my abdomen that still twinges with pain.

"You seem to be ok, after a little while we got the blood to clot and we wrapped it with some old gowns and some duct tape. Not the most sterile but it did the job. I'm no doctor but besides some blood loss, you seem to be doing ok." Good, I'm thankful to be ok. But what about the others?

"How's Hazel?" I ask, looking for Teagan cradling Hazel. I can't find them.

"They're ok, Hazel woke up. She and Teagan went to the bathroom, it's just down that hall. They've only been gone for a moment..." Avery takes a pause, they all look uneasy.

"What is it?" I ask, my tone coming across as harsh but damn it I didn't want to be left out on anything.

"We haven't told Hazel about Mason yet, she woke up with no memory of what happened. So we let Teagan take her to the bathroom, and we have no clue how to tell her. Or if she should even be told..." Avery's eyes water and I grab her hand. I'm reminded again of what I'm putting them through. Reminded again that the people around me are dying and it's my fault. We need to get out of here.

There is loud banging, three loud echoing bangs that come from the front door. We all flinch, Avery and Grayson both jump in front of me, Salem jumps into Conner's arms.

"Police! Open up!" The cops, they're here. We're saved. Grayson sprints to the door with Conner and they start wildly pounding on the door. Avery brings me to my feet and helps me steady myself, tears are streaming down her face. Tears of joy.

"Help us! We can't open the doors, please help us!" Grayson is yelling, still pounding on the door.

"We're dying in here man! Help us!" Conner yells, and the police respond by telling the boys to back up. They do so hurriedly and I grip Avery tightly, my heart racing. We are getting out of here. Another really loud bang and this time the door bursts open, two police officers balancing a gun on their wrist and a flashlight on the opposing hand march in.

"What's attacking you? We had a call about a dead body? Where's the killer?" The cop's voice is barking, but I've never felt this safe around a cop. We are free.

"Uh, actually it's two dead bodies now...and we don't know what's attacking us. It's..the building doing it." Grayson says, it sounds lame but we all know it's the truth. Their flashlights scan us, blinding us. The light hovers on my abdomen which is still heavily bandaged and then moves to Mason's covered body on the gurney.

"Are you guys on drugs?" They ask, probably assuming that we are high or worse; murdering our friends. Before we can say anything the big wide doors behind them slam shut, and my whole body freezes with shock. No, no-no-no. "Who did that?" The cops demand, turning on everyone once more; but none of us touched the doors. A girl is laughing, the laugh makes my whole body cold. Last I heard that laugh, Mason died.

"Who's laughing? What's happening? Show yourself!" The second cop spews, but I can see the fear on their faces. Avery shakes beside me, I squeeze her tighter to comfort us both. Before our eyes the cops slowly turn towards each other, their bodies undergoing tremors as if fighting the motion. They face each other and point their weapons at the head of their partner. What are they doing?

"Stop it!" I yell out, watching everything play out like a disastrous movie. It's like watching two trains plowing for each other, it won't stop despite every nerve in my being wanting it to. There's the laugh again, it echoes and sounds like it's coming from everywhere.

The cop's whole bodies shake, trying to resist the force that once controlled Hazel. They both let out yells, their faces dripping with sweat. Avery screams and turns her face into my shoulder, trying to not be where she is.

The guns go off loud shots that make my heart stop in my chest. I don't notice I'm screaming until my throat burns itself horse. Both of the police fall to the ground, dead instantly.