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all-for-geek · 8 days

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The Cal Who Kinda Like Musicals - Chapter 1: The Greatest Stories Ever Told...

Fandom: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals/Starkid/Hatchetfield

Summary: Cal Brady had moved to Hatchetfield not that long ago. They seemed to be doing well all things consider. Managed to find a steady job, made some friends. These were going nice. They should've known it wouldn't last. Granted, they didn't think it would take the form of musical zombies.

Word Count: 2,119

On the northwestern tip of Michigan, there is an island called Hatchetfield. It’s a rather big island, although you wouldn’t guess that if you stepped onto its shores and walked around. It’s one of those towns where everyone seems to know everyone. Where most families can trace their roots to the same plot of land for generations. It’s not often that newcomers go to the island, and many don’t stay for long. The island doesn’t take kindly to strangers.

On this island is a company called CCRP: a tech conglomerate that bought out the old gazette building about a decade ago. No one’s sure how the deal came about or who did it, but it brought steady jobs to the island and decent healthcare, so they didn’t care. There were more important things to worry about in Hatchetfield. The building was split into two sections: the labs where much of the tech was developed, and the administrative side who ran all the mundane day-to-days of office life. This is where our story begins.

Three employees sat at their desks. One, Charlotte, was filing various paperwork between outgoing phone calls. Another, Paul, was busy typing up some report that his boss asked for a week ago. The other one, Bill…well saying that he was working might have been a stretch. Half of his screen was filled with the numbers and calculations he was supposed to be running, but the other half was where his full attention was. Perhaps, that’s why when he looked down at the printer sitting next to him, there was nothing to find.

“Hey, Paul,” Bill called out, “I think I might have sent something to your printer.”

“Uh…,” Paul looked down. Sure enough, there were papers in the tray that certainly weren’t Paul’s. “Yep. Here.”

“Thanks,” Bill replied with a smile.

“I thought Cal fixed the printer problem?”

“I did.” A young individual, no older than 19, with blue hair stormed over as they heard their name, leaning on top of Paul’s computer. “But Davidson still won’t let me do the overhaul that the system needs. As long as the lazyass keeps dragging his feet, it’s gonna keep happening.”

Cal was one of the rare transplants to Hatchetfield. Having only graduated last spring, they had packed up and somehow gotten a job as CCRP’s head of IT department. Granted, they were the only member of the IT department, but the title still came with a fancy security badge.

“That’s not very polite, Cal,” Bill chided, “I’m sure Mr. Davidson has a lot on his plate.”

“Well, maybe he’d have less on it if he let me actually fix the fucking system. It’s not gonna last on duct tape and a prayer forever.”

“Who taught you to use such vulgar language?”

“From my proud Irish bloodline. If you think I’m bad, you’d faint if you had a conversation with my gran” Cal gave him a cocky grin.

“I swear, you spend too much time around Ted. He’s not a good influence on you.”

Cal rolled their eyes. Their snarky remark was cut off by Paul standing up and clapping his hands. “Well, I’m off to Beanie’s. Want anything Cal?”

“Not from there, no,” Cal chuckled. They walk away as Bill and Paul start talking about whatever show was at the Starlight. Cal spotted Charlotte sitting at her desk, clearly shaken about something. More importantly, they spotted the flask she was holding in her trembling hands.

“Hey Char,” Cal called as they walked over, “You doing alright?”

“Hm?” Charlotte’s gaze slowly pans over to Cal. It took her a moment to register that the teen was there. “Oh…yes. Everything is fine, Cal. Everything is just fine.”

Cal nodded slowly, assuming that Charlotte had been on the phone with her douchebag husband again. They weren’t touching that with a 10-foot pole, instead gesturing to the flask. “Mind if I have a drink?”

“Sure…” Charlotte hands the flask in Cal’s general direction. Right as they were about to grab it, someone yanked it out of Charlotte’s hand and downed whatever was left.

“Oh, you’re such a bastard, Ted,” Charlotte whines.

“You know it,” Ted smirks at Charlotte, giving her a wink before giving Cal a pointed look. “Don’t worry, I can make it up to you.”

Cal gagged, walking away before they had to hear anything more.

Later in the day, Cal spins around in an office chair, waiting for requests to come in. This is what most of their days looked like. Sitting around waiting for computers and servers to break, fixing them for a few minutes, and then going back to sitting and waiting. It’s no wonder that they ended back up where they always end up when they get bored: Ted’s office.

“Yo,” they greet, casually walking inside.

Ted quickly closes the tab that he had opened. “Cal, how many times do I have to tell you to fucking knock?”

“The same amount of times I’ve told you that looking at that shit on a work computer is a bad idea.”

He rolls his eyes. “What do you want, nerd?”

“I’m bored,” they announce, plopping down in the spare chair.

“So? Go bother Bill or something.” Ted waves them off, focusing back on his computer.

“Ugh. If I wanted to hear someone nag their kid and talk shit about their ex, I would just call my mom.”

“Well Paul, then. Or Charlotte. Buzz off. I’m busy.”

“I’m sure. With all that important ‘work’ you do in here.”

“If Davidson’s not gonna give me anything to do, who am I to stop him?”

“Lazyass.”

“Ouch, such an insult,” he deadpans, placing his hand on his chest in mock offense.

“I mean, I could be actually mean if you wanted.”

“Kid, you can’t say anything I haven’t heard before.”

“That sounds like a challenge.”

“It wasn’t. No. Stop that.”

Cal answers with a shit-eating grin. “Nah, annoying you is one of the best parts of my day. Ain’t planning on stopping.”

“You could consider being nice and polite and respecting your elders.” He responds jokingly through gritted teeth.

“You could consider not being a horny bastard. Don’t think I didn’t notice that move on Charlotte.”

“Right. And remind me, why were you over by Charlotte in the first place?” Ted gives them a knowing look. Was he deflecting? A little, sure, but they needed to talk about it either way.

Cal rolls their eyes. “It was one drink. It’s not the end of the world.”

“I’ve told you to stay away from that shit.”

“I’ve got my shit handled,” Cal responds defensively.

“Sure.”

They roll their eyes again. “Whatever.”

“You’re too young to be getting messed up in that shit, Cal. You still got time to break out of it.”

“Fine, Dad.”

Ted can’t help but chuckle. Before he can respond, Cal gets a notification on their work phone.

“Ew. Work. Later.” Cal stands up, giving him a two-fingered salute on their way out the door.

Ted returns it. “Yeah. Later, ya little shit.”

Once Cal finishes fixing the server (for the third fucking time this week), it’s finally time to clock out. They pack up their work bag, slinging over their shoulder as they head for the door. They wave goodbye to Melissa on the way out.

“Have a safe night, Cal!” she calls out.

“Will do, Mel!” they shout back as they walk out the door.

Ted stands at his car, fiddling with his keys. Technically speaking, he wasn’t off for another couple hours, but it wasn’t like he ever did work anyway. No one would notice that he was gone. Even fewer would notice that this happened to be around the time that Charlotte got off.

“Need a ride?” Ted asked on instinct. He silently cursed himself. He had other places he wanted to be tonight.

“Nah, I’m meeting Pete over at Beanies.”

Ted gives them a knowing smirk. “Ooooooooh. Pete, huh?”

Cal’s cheeks flush red. “Shut up, asshole.”

Ted rolls his eyes. “Never. Enjoy your date, nerd.”

“It’s not a date!”

“Just keep telling yourself that.”

Cal walks away, flipping Ted off with their back turned. They don’t see Ted doing the same, his signature assholish grin smeared across his face.

Cal found Pete where he always was if he wasn’t at the library: Beanies Coffee. The coffee was shit and the prices were shittier, but it made the customers feel better than going to a corporate chain like the Starbucks down the street.

The boy stood outside the cafe in his signature suspenders and bowtie, grumbling with his coffee in hand. When he saw Cal waving as they approached, his whole face shifted into a bright smile, waving back.

“Hey!” Cal said as they approached.

“Hey,” Pete echoed with a sigh. They two started walking in the general direction of Cal’s apartment.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, the baristas there always take their sweet ass time.”

“I will never understand why you go there.”

“They have good hot chocolate!”

“Riiiiiiiiiight. The only other person who goes there as religiously as you do is Paul, and at least he has the excuse of having a crush on one of the workers.”

“I definitely don’t have a crush on one of the workers.” The words were true, but they came out a little too rushed and made his face a little too red to be believable.

Cal eyes him teasingly even as something tugs down on them. “Sure.”

“I don’t!”

“So you just wait too damn long after paying too much for the chocolate you need for your blood sugar for fun? Give me a break man.”

“I’ve been going to Beanies ever since Ted let me walk around town on my own. It’s a staple of Hatchetfield culture and life.”

“You’re such a nerd.” Cal chuckles, only affection in their voice.

“Well, so are you,” Pete responds teasingly, nudging them.

“Touche.”

The two walk in comfortable silence around town. Their hands dangle dangerously close to each other’s. They take turns looking down at them, each wondering if they would dare take that risk.

“Uh, you doing anything tonight?” Cal asked, shoving their hands into their pockets.

“Yeah, Ted gave me his season tickets for the Starlight tonight. He’s not exactly the biggest fan of Mamma Mia I guess. Ruth and I are gonna go see it.”

“You’re willingly subjecting yourself to Mamma Mia?” Cal practically spats out the name.

Pete shrugs. “Ruth likes it. And who knows, it might be fun.”

They roll their eyes jokingly. “If you make it out of that show, you deserve an award.”

“Oh yeah, like what?”

“I don’t know. Free hot chocolate for life or something.”

“Well shit, if I had known that it would be that easy…”

“I think you are underestimating the kind of snooze fest you’re getting into.”

“I think you’re being a little too harsh.”

“It’s a shit show!”

“That’s your opinion.”

“It’s the correct one.”

Pete chuckled. Up ahead, at the edge of the road was an old brick and mortar apartment complex. It was functional, but not much else outside of that. The edges of the Witchwood just on the other side of it were shrouded in shadow as the sun began to set. The two stopped at the doorway to say their goodbyes.

“We still on for stargazing this weekend?” Pete asked, taking the last sip of his hot chocolate.

“Hell yeah, dude. I can’t wait.”

“Cool.” He threw his Beanies cup into the nearby trash can. Cal allowed a soft smile to appear while his back was turned. “I’ll see you then, then.”

“See ya.” The two fistbumped as Cal headed up the stairs, and Pete left for the show of his life.

Cal opened the door to their cramped apartment, laying their work bag on the couch. They quickly changed out of their fucking work clothes before eyeing the drumset in the corner of the bedroom.

…Nah. As fun as it would be, the neighbors were probably home by now. They didn’t need another noise complaint. They settled for the next best thing: throwing themself on the couch and booting up Trombone Champ.

They played well into the night. Far later than they should have been considering they had to go to work the next day, but they just shrugged off the tiredness. They weren’t going to be sleeping anyway. Might as well do something fun.

It’s probably for the best that they weren’t in their room anyway. If they had been, they might have looked out their window facing the Witchwood and noticed a blue streak hurdling dangerously close to the ground. Best to give them one last night of normalcy.

#the guy who didn't like musicals #tgwdlm #hatchetfield #starkid #oc insert #the cal who kinda liked musicals #the misadventures of cal brady

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all-for-geek · 8 days

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Drawn to the Dark: A Nightmare to Remember Chapter 10: Betrayal at the House on the Hill

Chapter 9

Fandom: Escape the Night

Summary: The one working with the evil has been revealed. Surprise! The Butler did it. The remaining guests are so close to the end. Either they escape soon, or they never escape at all.

Warnings: Grotesque Imagery, Slight Drugging

Word Count: 3,699

The four don’t get far. Sarah was waiting for them behind the door. She grabbed Eva from behind and held her in place with a knife to her throat. The other three screeched to a halt as Marvin blocked the staircase pointing a gun at Oli with one hand and grabbing Joey with the other. Arthur waltzed up behind them and forced Selena down the stairs by the arm as the others followed.

The guests were forced onto the ground, the knife still at Eva’s throat and a gun still pointed at Oli’s head. Arthur stood in front of them. His butler persona had completely melted away revealing the arrogant, smug monster underneath.

“Thank you for all the work you did,” he said, beginning his villain monologue, “I needed the artifacts collected and the previous owners gone so that I could have full control of this house. I truly couldn’t have done it without you.”

“You played us,” Joey muttered.

Arthur smirks at them as he drops a piece of paper.

“What’s that?” Selena asked.

“The ritual. The right ritual. Not that it’s of any use to you anymore.”

A damp rag was pressed over Selena’s nose and mouth. She struggled to get out of the grip, but her movements grew weaker as the chloroform kicked until she collapsed unconscious.

There was nothing. No light. No sound. No sensations. Not even a thought that would flick through her mind. She was nothing. Nothing more than a hypothetical birthed from the mind of a mad man. Then, there was a shift. Nothing became something. A hypothetical became a reality. An experiment became a result.

It started with the smoke. It was black like the nothing, but it billowed and formed shapes and surrounded her. It entered the lungs of the body that had been designed for her, filling her with unholy life.

Suddenly, nothing became everything. The bright light above was subdued by the rippling water that she was submerged in. Two muted voices spoke in hushed tones. Most importantly, the cool water washed over her skin. It felt right. It felt like home, but the smoke forced her upward as she gasped in her first breath.

The air was cold. Not the comforting cool that the water had been, but the kind of cold that drilled into her scaly flesh like tiny daggers. Oh, how she wanted to return to the water, but the two men staring down at her, her creators, they instructed her to get out, and she obeyed.

Selena opened her eyes, still in a daze. She could still feel the ghost of water droplets clinging to her skin. The light shining down on her now was softer than the one in her dream, but she missed the dulling effect of the water all the same.

As her vision cleared, she forced her body up, taking in her surroundings. She was sitting in a small but comfortable chair next to a lavish bed. The whole bedroom felt different compared to the others around the house. This one was full of various knick knacks and baubles. The bed was not fully made. This room was lived in.

Its occupant stood by the bedroom door. Arthur turned around as Selena started to stir. He smiled at her like a hunter who had finally locked the shot on his prey.

“Good, you’re awake,” he said. He moved in closer, sitting on the bed by Selena. “Terribly sorry about all that downstairs. Couldn’t have you all leaving before the fun could truly begins.”

Selena goes to stand up, but her movement is caught short by a chain locked around her wrist and bolted to the wall.

Arthur smirks. “You’re so much like her, you know?”

“Let me fucking go!” Selena shouted. She didn’t care what this madman had to say. Everyone who died tonight died because of him.

Arthur flinched for a moment before chuckling. “Remarkable. It took her years to even begin to reach that level of persuasion, and you only had your abilities awoken tonight. You would still have to be much stronger to persuade me though.”

Selena eyed him with confusion. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You never met your mother, did you Selena?” he asks with full confidence that he already knew the answer.

She paused. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Everything,” Arthur stated simply. He stood back up, pacing the room. “She was a phenomenal woman. Nimble. Powerful. She was almost the perfect creation.” Arthur chuckles to himself. “But she was so goddamn stubborn.”

Selena stared at him. He had to be lying. How could her mother have been around in the 1920s. But, then again, she shouldn’t have been able to come to the 1920s either.

“She was going to be the next great lieutenant for this house,” Arthur continued. “She was always…hesitant, and with her power of persuasion. It was difficult to make her do anything that she didn’t want to, but she was slowly being convinced.” The smile on Arthur’s face made Selena’s skin crawl. “Until, one day, she was gone. Escaped through a rift in time. I had always wondered what possessed her to take such a risk.”

He turns to look Selena dead in the eyes.

“Now, I do.”

Selena struggles against her restraints. “So what now, then?”

“Well can’t spoil all the surprises,” Arthur replies with a laugh, “But there are plans in store for you, Miss Mordrim. With your gifts, you are too valuable to become just another servant like your friends will. You will take up the role that your mother abandoned, and what a fantastic role it is going to be.”

He walks out of the room, locking the door behind him. He smiles as Selena screams and shouts after him.

She fights desperately against the chain, but it’s not even long enough for her to stretch her arms out fully. Just as she is considering if breaking her arm would be worth it, the sounds of a man shouting echo from the other side of the wall. Selena paused, listening. There was scuffling coming from behind the closet door. She strained her neck to try and hear what was going on, but to no avail.

After a few minutes, she got her answer. Joey, Eva, and Oli came rushing out of the door. Selena could see that rather than it being a closet, it was some kind of dungeon, but she couldn’t bother thinking about that. She was too happy at the sight of her friends.

“Guys!” she shouts.

“Selena!” they shout back. Eva spots keys on the nearby mantle. She rushes over to Selena, fiddling with the chain.

“We have to get out of here,” Joey explains, “They injected us with some sort of serum. If we don’t leave by sunrise, it’s gonna control us or something.”

The key clicks and the chain goes crashing to the floor.

“Let’s not waste any time then,” Selena says as she stands up.

“Hey guys, come look at this.” Oli calls them over to the dresser by the door. There is a file that he had opened sitting on top. “Brother, you have betrayed me. To prove to the house your loyalty, you have imprisoned me here and hidden the keys to my freedom in a trail of gems. I know the first one was thrown into the shallow pond. You better pray that I never get my hands on them.”

“Arthur has a brother?” Eva muttered.

“One that he apparently managed to piss off,” Selena added, “Maybe he’d be willing to help us.”

“The first key is in a “shallow pond”. Could that mean the pool?” Joey asked.

“Probably. Let’s go.” Oli leads them over to the door. Eva takes the other key she found and turns it in the lock. It opens with a click, but the second the door opens, an alarm blares through the halls.

The four race down the stairs, booking it out the door as they hear Arthur and servants scramble somewhere behind them.

“After them! Marvin, you take the back. Sarah, stay inside in case they try anything,” Arthur ordered.

The guests scramble for cover behind a nearby bush. Selena could hear her heart threaten to burst out of her chest. Footsteps crunch the grass right on the other side of the bush. She doesn’t dare to look around. She doesn’t even risk breathing until the footsteps are far enough away that she can’t hear them.

They make their way back to the pool like this, constantly flipping between running and being deathly still while hiding. It is a painstaking trek back to the pool.

When they finally arrive, the guests search all around for any trace of a clue or gems, but there was nothing.

“Did we miss something?” Selena asks in a hushed whisper as to not alert Marvin.

After a moment, Eva pipes up. “There was a fountain out front.”

And so the tense walk around the yard began again. Selena’s heart pounded in her ears as she hopped from bush to bush. They all desperately scanned the area to make sure that Marvin or Arthur weren’t nearby, but luck wasn’t on their side this time.

“Hey! Over there!” Marvin’s voice called out.

Any pretense of stealth was gone as the guests took off like a shot. They ran without any clear direction until they stopped at an empty pool shed. They threw themselves inside, waiting for Marvin’s footsteps to get far enough away. It wasn’t until then that they noticed there were only three of them in the shed.

“Where’s Eva?” Oli whispered.

A cold shiver went up Selena’s spine. She prayed that the many, many horrible things that could have happened didn’t.

Once they were sure enough that the coast was clear, the three exited the pool shed. Their eyes once again scanned around for any sign of both their captors and their friend. Selena let out a sigh of relief when she spotted the top of Eva’s hat sticking out from behind a bush.

“Eva,” she whisper-shouted, hoping desperately that Marvin or Arthur weren’t nearby.

Eva raced out from behind the bush, not daring to let out the loud sigh of relief that she was holding in.

Thankfully, they made it to the fountain with no other incident. They crowd around the rim, looking into the gem-filled waters below. Joey spotted a chest sitting on the water's edge with spots for three gems carved into it. Engraved underneath was the request for a specific type: diamonds.

The four scoop through the water, searching as quickly and quietly as they can to find the three diamonds. They’re all half paying attention to the water and half to the empty field around them. Just in case it becomes less empty. Eventually, they find all three, the chest opening with a click.

“Arthur!” Sarah’s voice rang out from the second-story window. “I found them!”

“Shit!” Joey scrambled with the chest, quickly handing the two emeralds inside to Selena and reading the clue next to them. “The gems are the eyes I watch over the house with. I guard it with my wings.”

“The gargoyle,” Oli whispered as Arthur entered the clearing.

They scrambled to their feet, booking it back inside as Arthur gave chase.

The guests rush inside, closing the door behind them as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, they miscounted once again.

“Shit, Oli’s still outside,” Selena whispered. They didn’t have time to worry about that though as footsteps thudded down the stairs.

The three scramble out of the foyer, finding themselves in the dining room. Without many other options, they scurried underneath the table. Just as they pulled the tablecloth back down over them, the click of Sarah’s heels entered the room.

They could hear her walking around the room, searching for them. The scrape of metal as her knife dragged along the wall. It was then that Selena noticed just how short the table cloth was. One wrong move. One unlucky look down, and they were toast. Selena held her breath, gripping onto the center table leg for dear life. She doesn’t let go until she hears Sarah’s footsteps leave the room.

The three slip out from underneath the table as a quiet tap comes from the window to the backyard. They all jump. Selena bites her tongue to keep from screaming. The salty liquid slowly dripping into her mouth is ignored when she spies Oli at the window.

“Oli!” Selena stage-whispered. They made their way back to the front door, quietly letting him inside. They didn’t waste any time with questions or greetings. They didn’t know where Sarah was, and they didn’t want to wait and find out.

The four made their way upstairs as quickly and quietly as they could. They only stopped when they noticed that their path was blocked by a metal door that slid up and down. It groaned and cried as they pulled it up. Any pretense of stealth gone, they scrambled to get it open and get into the crawlspace. Selena shut the door behind them just as she noticed Sarah rounded the corner.

She passed the rubies off to Joey who slid them into the eye sockets of the gargoyle. For a moment, nothing happened. The four yelp in surprise and relief when they heard a box click open. Inside was an emerald and a note directing them to the “spiral of pain and table of blood”.

“Charming,” Joey muttered.

With their next destination in mind, Oli and Eva opened the door once again. It groaned loudly, melding with Sarah’s shouting as she came barrelling down the hallway. Selena and Joey rushed out, forced to make a beeline for the stairs as Sarah continued her charge. Selena caught Oli and Eva running further down the hallway in the corner of her eye.

The two rushed out the front door. They didn’t stop until they were back at the fountain, crouching down and begging for air.

“Shit, what do we do now?!” Selena whispered.

“You have the emerald, right?” Joey asked. Selena confirmed with a nod. “Then we gotta keep going.”

“We can’t just leave Eva and Oli in there.”

“There’s no time,” he argued. “We’ve only got about an hour left before sunrise. If we don’t get to Arthur’s brother by then, we’ll have a lot more to worry about.”

Selena hated that he was right. She hated leaving her friends, the only people that she had actually trusted for the past few hours, to an unknown fate. But the sun would be starting to rise soon. There wasn’t time for a rescue mission.

“Alright.”

They snuck to the back of the house. There was black spiral staircase waiting for them. Selena winced as it creaked and groaned underneath them. She was terrifyingly aware that if anyone saw them right now, there would be nowhere to hide, and nowhere to go.

They reached the top to find a table with a grotesque statue of a head sitting on a pedestal. The head was human shaped but its face was too angular. Its glassy eyes held no iris or pupil. Fins protruded out of the cheekbones with gill slits carved underneath them. Underneath the bust was a slot that looked like it would fit the emerald.

Selena stared at the statue. For a moment, she could have sworn that it felt like it was staring back. She hesitantly approached, only staying near it long enough to put the emerald in its slot.

Joey grabbed the key and note that appeared in the hidden compartment the gem opened. A sense of relief washed over Selena that was quickly dashed by the news that they had to go back down to the basement where Arthur’s brother was being kept.

The two nearly stopped in their tracks when they noticed two figures standing, waiting at the bottom of the stairs. They relaxed. It was only Oli and Eva.

“Sorry we didn’t wait,” Selena said genuinely after they had reached the bottom, “We weren’t sure if there would have been enough time and-”

“It’s okay,” Eva interrupted. “You have the key?”

Selena nodded.

“Then let’s get going,” Oli said.

The four made their, hopefully, final tense march through the yard back to the basement. As they descended the staircase, Selena couldn't help but think that not even an hour ago there were five of them walking down these stairs. Her hands twitch at the memory of the electricity that had been coursing through her body.

The four walk down a hallway. Selena didn’t remember it being here before, either in her last trip down or in her dreams. The others looked equally as confused. There was nothing in the hallways save for the lights that sparsely littered the halls and the door at the end.

Oli takes the key and slowly unlocks the door. At some point, it was some sort of storage closet. An assortment of garden tools and household items still litter the shelves. A man sits on an old bucket in shackles. His greasy hair shone in the dim light. The man tensed, squinting as the door opened. Oli slowly approached him with the key. Hesitantly, he held out his hands.

The shackles fell to the floor with a thud. He stood up slowly, rubbing his wrists. His blank expression did not change until he had fully stood, testing his balance to ensure that he wouldn’t fall. All at once, a look of horrifying determination covered his face.

“My brother’s a deadman.” That’s the only thing he said before heading back down the hall.

He bursts out into the courtyard, the guests rushing to catch up with him. Sarah ran out of the house towards him, her knife gleaming in the moonlight. In the blink of an eye, the knife was in the brother’s hand. In another blink, it had slashed through Sarah’s throat.

Marvin was next. He ran forward with his shovel, using it to keep his distance. It spared him a few more minutes before the butt of the shovel was shoved into his stomach, causing him to fall back. The brother used the opening to his full advantage, plunging the knife into Marvin’s head.

BANG! Arthur’s brother fell to one knee as a gunshot rang out over the estate. Arthur himself stood only a few feet away, the gun still smoking. His brother managed to stand, charging towards Arthur and earning another bullet for his troubles. Fueled by what must have been adrenaline, rage, and some form of dark magic, he managed to reach Arthur. The butler crashed to the ground, dropping the gun in the process.

The group watches with bated breath as the brothers wrestle, each grabbing for the gun. The fight couldn’t last forever. Not with dawn so close. A hand manages to grab the gun. A bullet is fired. As Arthur’s body collapses onto the ground, the air feels lighter. A weight lifts off Selena’s shoulders that she hadn’t noticed had been there until it was gone.

The sun was starting to poke out over the horizon. The guests don’t have any time to waste. The four scramble back to the house, grabbing the ritual that Arthur had taunted them with merely an hour ago. They quickly gathered the supplies to create another incantation circle, lining everything up as perfectly and as quickly as they could. They didn’t have the time to be wrong.

They sat down with the artifacts. Oli sat in the center, binding the artifact in front of him with rope as he read the incantation. The sigils on the artifacts glowed with power as black clouds billowed out of them. It didn’t take much time for the house to be obscured in a wall of smoke.

Selena once again felt her body drain of energy. Only this time, the feeling did not go away. She could feel her body getting weaker with every word spoken, her body tensing every time the artifact is bound. It takes all of her control to keep sitting upright. Even so, it’s not enough to stop her from collapsing.

Black spots danced in her vision. Her body pulsed in time with a dying heartbeat. Not her heartbeat, but a connection long secure being severed. She gasped for air, only to find smoke filling her lungs.

“Selena!” Eva's frantic voice pulled Selena back to reality. All at once, her vision cleared, her body relaxed, and her lungs filled with the oxygen that she desperately needed. Her arms quivered and she started to sit up, basking in the sunlight beaming in.

Eva was quick to help her sit up. “Are you alright?”

Selena nodded, her lungs still focused too much on getting air to speak.

Eva carefully helped Selena to her feet. Once she regained her footing, they two joined Oli and Joey outside. The boys were in the process of digging a hole. The artifacts were sitting next to it, waiting to be thrown in. Eva grabbed a shovel and started helping them. Selena didn’t trust herself to do that much physical excretion then, and even if she did, the others wouldn’t have let her, but she still received the honor of dumping the artifacts into the hole before they all started covering it up.

The four survivors began the long walk back to the front gate. The last task before they could leave the house for good. It had only been one night, but it might as well have 100 years. They walked in silence, the sun shining down on them reminding them that was over. That it was done.

A shiver went up Selena’s spine as they crossed the threshold, leaving the grounds of the manor for good. A deep seed of dread was planted. A feeling that she couldn’t shake. For some who entered the house, everything was over, but for her, it had only just begun.

Thank you so much to anyone and everyone who read this story! I'm probably gonna talk a little break from it to focus on other stories I have planned, but I have plans to continue at least up through season 4 and potentially beyond. Hope to see you all there!

#escape the night #escape the night season 1 #etn #joey graceffa #my works #drawn to the dark #a nightmare to remember

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