Atem stood, stunned, staring at the pile of rubble and the dark, starlit sky that shone in the center of the broken and splintered ceiling. The trees bowed down over the tops of the roof as if peeking inside the room to get a better view of the calamity and destruction.

The rubble shifted as if an unseen force moved the wooden boards and planks.

I caressed Atem's shoulder as to not startle him but get his attention. "Are you ok?" When he didn't answer I added, "We gotta keep moving. Let's go." I gently tugged his elbow, but he didn't move.

The pile of wood wobbled and quaked, and it was then that the thought of lifting the camera came to mind. Through the viewfinder, the bloody and mangled bodies of the mysterious couple rose through the destroyed planks. Lying posterior, the woman's twisted limbs pushed through the wood and extended toward the door where we stood. The black hair stuck to the bloody parts of her face and her eyes popped open to stare directly at us.

Deadly, determined, and eager.

"Atem!" I cried, shoving the camera in front of him to show him what lay before us on screen that wasn't seen with the naked eye. "Look."

Snapping out of it, he shook his head as if to stop the confusion from keeping him paralyzed. "Mom?" He called out. And when the man's wounded head emerged from the rubble, he questioned, "Dad?"

"Let's go," I pulled his wrist, using the light of the camera to guide our way down the dark and lengthy hall that became narrower the further we went. Behind us, the sound of commotion kept us going, pushing us to a run, and then a sprint to escape the noise.

Further ahead, another sound pulled us in. The voices of another couple arguing, but this time in English. The passion in their voice seemed familiar.

Out of curiosity, I looked over my shoulder at the commotion behind us, seeing the two bodies of the couple crawling along the floor in pursuit. My heart nearly stopped as a scream escaped my lips at the horrid sight. The way their mangled limbs overlapped one another to drag their torso along the floor pumped fire and a sudden burst of adrenaline through my veins.

Further behind them, in the darkened hall itself, the walls cracked and crumbled with a loud roar, ensuring we wouldn't exit the same way we entered. And just as the broken couple reached for the heels of our feet, the walls of the hall behind us collapsed, crushing them where they were.

The commotion from the collapsing walls stopped. Only a haunting silence and a cloud of dust loomed around us. Almost as if the responsible force had fulfilled its purpose.

I gripped Atem's hand more securely as we moved closer to the voices ahead.

"Why did I go through with it?" the woman screamed, anger and a hint of sadness in her tone. "I wish I would've gotten rid of you when I had the chance."

"Having them was your idea," the male responded, the anger emphasized the bass in his tone. "Didn't I say I didn't want to do this? I knew we would give up our lives for them. I knew it. Why don't you ever listen? Now it's too late. You got what you wanted."

My chest tightened at those words, cracking the hardened shell of my heart, and exposing pain I wish would remain hidden.

"They're just gonna have to get smart and figure it out on their own," the women went on. "I'm not stopping my life for two ungrateful brats."

The male dominated the conversation with his tone. "Clay, you're old enough to do more around this house than you've been doing, anyway. Help your mama take care of your sister. You see how much this is stressing her out?"

My eyes widened when the kid's cries filled the air. Their sobs cut through the man and women's yelling.

"Ima, stop your boohooing!" she shouted. "This is why I wished you onto someone else. You need to be somebody else's problem. I can't do too much more of this, Kenneth. I can't do it anymore."

"You won't have to, Issa," he assured her. "They're old enough to take care of themselves. We need a break. We earned it. No need to worry about it."

As I approached the open door in the hall, a tickle on my cheek brought attention to my crying. My heart raced at what I knew I would find inside that room, and memories and feelings I had wanted to rid myself of for so long came to the surface instead. Even though my vision was back to normal and as sharp as ever, I questioned what stood before me as I popped my head around the corner to see my Mom and Dad. They held each other in an embrace that should have been ours, but their backs were to the shadowed silhouettes of Clay and I, a few years younger.

I remembered this day clearly, and all the miserable moments before and following.

I gulped, reminding myself of all the effort Clay had put into raising me. Only four years older and he quickly became the mother and father I craved, but never had. He risked his education, put aside his dreams, and spent sleepless hours helping, feeding, and caring for me. He had made sure I continued school, putting bandages on my injuries, speaking to me, and providing me the companionship I needed, starting at ten years old.

I had always sought my mom and dad, upsetting Clay when I asked about them. I often wondered where they had gone and when they were coming back. They would return now and then to drop off groceries and cleaning and cooking supplies, never staying long. Sometimes we'd come home from school and there would be groceries still in their bags on the kitchen table. Often the milk would be warm and the butter soft, but that routine felt normal over the years.

I assumed they paid the rent and kept the utilities on, since I never had to worry about those things. Finally, after a few years, I stopped asking about them. After a few more years, I realized the neglect Clay and I endured and grew resentful. Hateful even.

I would frequently fantasize about my parents' deaths, and hope that the universe would deliver a karma only parents like them deserved.

Then Clay decided he had enough.

"Ima?" Atem's eyes were wide and focused as they registered in my sights. "You blanked out. You ok?"

"Huh?" I looked around the empty room and behind me at the crushed and tattered hall, remembering where I was. "Did you see that?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "Was that ... your folks?" A look of concern formed on his face as the light of the camera lit up the space.

Remembering the camera in my hand, I lifted it and pointed it to the room to see the unseen. There on the screen, a body hanged from a rope in the center of the room. My jaw dropped at the sight. Although the black bag wasn't encasing the body like it had the others, it hung loosely from a rope like a robe or dark, ghastly energy.

Because of the angle, half of the person's face shown in my light and the other half remained in the shadows. But I didn't need to see the entire face to know I was witnessing my greatest fear.

His dark skin was almost purple due to lack of oxygen, which had caused bruising. He didn't look peaceful as he often did when sleeping, but his eyes were closed. His hands were bound behind his back with the same type of thick rope that was around his neck, and his entire body swung ever so gently, like the trees in the wind.

I cried so hard, Atem took the camera from my grip and tried to pull me away from the door. I wouldn't budge, something wouldn't let me leave him there, hanging, alone in the center of the room.

I half expected the room to collapse and crush everything inside like it did to the other, but it remained intact. The feeling of being paralyzed kept me stuck in place as if our hearts tethered us. I wanted to run away and never look back, but I also didn't want to leave. Ever.

A part of me wished I had the guts to follow Clay wherever he went. But the other part reminded me of his last words. And just as the words entered my mind, momentum swung the body and caused him to turn his back to me. In the center of his back was the familiar and elusive page. His last letter I've been chasing. The paper that needed to be back where it belonged in my notebook.

With blurry eyes from all my tears, I recognized the writing and the words, partly from memory. Do as I couldn't, live, love, laugh.

Suddenly, the rope around his hands uncoiled and went taut, reaching for me and seizing my wrists.

"Let me go!" I screamed, and Atem came to my rescue, pulling me back from the door by my waist.

The ropes loosened from my wrists, and down the corridor we went. Following the light that shined from the camera, not knowing where we were going or how to escape, but sprinting in the only direction we could.

"What's happening?" Atem called out.

"I don't know," I said, trying to keep up with my feet that seemed to have a mind of their own, while also staying alert for upcoming threats.

Finally, the moonlit forest glowed at the other end of the hall. As unnaturally long and big as the cabin and its hall were, it led us right back to the woods. The wooden door at the end of the corridor was wide open, but slowly closing. My mind focused solely on my destination, and I pushed myself, sprinting toward the exit.

As soon as my foot crossed the threshold, I collapsed with a thud on pine covered ground. 

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