I stood at the top of the steps to the basement, staring down fearfully. My heart beat rapidly in my chest as I hesitated to go in.

                Light fell down half way to the stairs before succumbing to the darkness that filled the rest of the room. I could make out the silhouettes of the stairs that managed to avoid the light just barely. My ears perked up, listening for any sounds at all.

                The house was eerily silence.

                I took a cautious step forward.  My foot landed softly on the top step. Both hands were braced on the walls on either side of me tightly. I took another step forward, just as quiet as the next.

                I wasn’t sure why I was trying so hard to remain silent, but it felt appropriate given the situation I was in.

                I took slow, silent steps until I found myself at the edge of the light’s beam. My shadow extended far into the darkness, disappearing with most everything else. If Cassie was down there, my legs would be visible to her.

                The speed of my heart palpitations increased slightly with anticipation.

                With a spurt of energy, I forced myself down the rest of the stairs, landing with a soft ‘thud’ on the cool ground. Black covered my vision. I paused for a moment as I waited for my eyes to adjust to the little light in the room.

                A few minutes later, I could just barely make out silhouettes in the basement. I held my breath as I scanned the room, searching as best as I could without moving for her small figure.

                Nothing.

                This wasn’t going to work this way.

                With a hand brushing the side of the wall, I made my way against one side, staring forward. My eyes searched the space before me for her figure. I crossed my fingers with high hopes that she was still down here.

                I had a bad feeling about that though.

                I cleared the room in roughly two minutes.

                With absolutely no sign of Cassie.

                “Cassie?” I called out quietly.

                I waited a few minutes without a response.

                “Cassie!” I raised my voice with each call, “Cassie! Cassie, answer me! Where are you? Cassie! Come out!”

                It took me a minute before I realized that she wasn’t here.

                It took me another before I started to sprint up the stairs, full speed. Sofia may have been traumatized by having to kill two people today, but with Cassie on the loose, she would have to wait to wallow in self pity.

                “Sofia!” I yelled, breaking the silence in the empty house. I took the longer route to the stairs, avoiding the bodies in the room next door.

                I took the stairs two at a time, racing up to her room. I yelled her name the entire time that I moved.

                “What?!” She snarled, opening her bedroom door, “What, Clayton, what? I just killed two people? Can’t you let me have some damn alone time?”

                I took in a deep breath.

                “I’d give you alone time if we weren’t fucking missing Cassie.”

                “What?” It didn’t seem to register in her mind yet.

                “Cassie. She’s gone.”

                Sofia didn’t answer for a moment. “…What?”

                “Cassie. Is. Gone.” I said each word slowly, enunciating every syllable.

                Sofia’s eyes met my own for a brief second. Her eyes shimmered in the light as fear flowed through them. “She can’t have. We would’ve seen her leave.”

                “Back door?”

                “There isn’t one.”

                “Sofe, I went down and looked around. I called her name and listened for breathing. I got nothing.” I whispered.

                Sofia shook her head, “Impossible. John was the only one to come up, Clayton, there isn’t a back door in the basement either.”

                “Window?”

                “Too small for anyone to crawl through. You can barely see out of it.” She shook her head doubtfully.

                “I got no response or anything when I called her name…”

                Sofia ignored me, pushing past. I stumbled back from the impact in surprise, turning around to watch her figure move. She walked as if in a daze, heading towards the stairs.

                Sofia paused right before the first step, turning to look at me. She cocked her head slightly in confusion. After a moment, she shook her head, moving down the stairs in the same dull movement she’d first started with.

                I followed after her quickly.

                Sofia had the same idea I had of taking the longer way to the basement door to avoid the dead bodies in the other room.

                I was grateful for that.

                I didn’t know how she’d react to seeing them, especially so fresh.

                As I rounded the corner into the kitchen, I saw Sofia standing right in front of the basement door, looking in. Only minutes ago had I stood in the exact same position, taking in everything around me.

                I walked up behind her, waiting patiently.

                “Cassie?” She called out weakly. Sofia cleared her throat, before repeating her name, “Cassie! Can you hear me?”

                Silence filled the air as we waited for a noise—any noise—as a sign that Cassie was still down there.

                When nothing was returned, Sofia turned her head over her shoulder with a fearful look in her eyes.

                “Did you turn the light on?”

                “I…” I felt my cheeks tint red, “I don’t know how to. You never did.”

                “Oh.”

                Sofia placed her palm flat against the wall to the left, waiting for a few moments. Lights instantly clicked on, illuminating the lower level of the house.

                “Oh.” I whispered at how simple turning it on would’ve been. It would’ve been easier for me to search for her instead of moving about blindly in the darkness, calling her name like an idiot. If only I had known this before.

                Sofia took a few steps down the stairs into the now lit room. She turned around a few seconds later when she realized I wasn’t behind her.

                “I already looked.” I mumbled bashfully.

                Truth be told, I didn’t like going down into that basement where I had been trapped with my enemy and that Leech.

                Sofia nodded, continuing down the rest of the way.

                I watched her as she moved steadily with curious eyes.

                I saw her lips open before the blood curling scream erupted from her mouth, sending chills down my own spine.

                “Oh my God, Clayton!” She screamed.

                Without a thought, I stumbled down the stairs to where she stood only a few from the bottom. I had to duck my head down to see what Sofia was looking it.

                “Oh shit.” I whispered, taking in the sight.

                Sprawled out in the center of the room was Cassie’s body. Her legs were twisted at uncomfortable angles. One of her feet had a gash in it with a dark puddle of liquid surrounding it. One of her arms was wrapped over top of her while the other was hidden by her body, the fingers poking out from the other end. Her head was twisted our way, empty eyes staring at us. Her tongue was poking out between her lips with a line of red spilling out. The red line led to a pool of drying red liquid that had gotten into her hair, staining it red.

                I wrapped an arm around Sofia, pulling her against me.

                “Found her.”  Sofia whispered, just barely able to get the words out.

                “We need to get the hell out of here.” I whispered back. “Anywhere, Sofe. We have to get out of here.”

                “I…”

                I gave a gentle tug before leading her up the stairs. I took the long way again, moving to the front door of the house instead of the staircase.

                Cassie’s body haunted my mind. Her death had by far been worse than the other two, leaving a permanent mental scar with me. The worst part was, she couldn’t have done that to herself. And with Mimi, Sofia and myself all above them, that left only one other person.

                I didn’t know how he freed himself, but John had managed to kill one more girl before he finally succumbed to death.

                And that was the worst part.

                Sofia stared off in the distance next to me, eyes blank. I rested my hands on her shoulder, moving my head into her gaze. She blinked a few times before looking at me with no emotion on her face.

                “We need to get out of here.” I said, “We need to pack a few bags, grab a few items of clothing, and get the hell away from here.”

                She grunted, letting me know she heard.

                “Come on.” I whispered, heading towards the stairs, “We need to leave as soon as we fucking can.”

                She didn’t respond. 

********

Two chapters left!