m******e Mansion

Chapter 16- Sunday: Darkness

    "Klarissa's been gone for an awful long time. Do you think she's okay?" Lewis broke the tense atmosphere. It had been nearly forty-five minutes since she had departed from them.

    "If she wasn't she would have used her walkie-talkie," Caspian answered. He had been holding his walkie talkie close to himself ever since Klarissa left.

    "What if she forgot about it?" Kadince asked worriedly. That was the question that left the entire room in silence once more. After another five minutes Mark answered.

    "If that's the case then we should probably go check on her. That way we can confront Olivander himself as well," the green-eyed male proposed. The idea seemed to process in everyone's mind before Kadince spoke once more.

    "Does anyone still have a flashlight?" She asked. Lewis nodded his head in a sad way before producing it out of his pants pocket. 

    "Yeah, Miranda gave it to me before...." his voice quietly faded out. A tear seemed to shine in his brown eye before it disappeared. A tough time had fallen on him ever since the blonde had been taken. 

    "Okay, we'll use this then. Anything else we need before we go?" Asked Kadince. Looking around the room at the saddened faces, she received no answer. Releasing a sigh, she stood from the window seat and walked to the door.

    "Be happy guys! I'm sure they're fine. We just need to check up on them is all," the red-head attempted to cheer everyone up with a bright smile, but she was met with the same grim faces. Shaking her head, she opened the door and motioned for the remaining men to follow her. Lewis turned on the flashlight and shined it out into the dark, dusty hallway.

    "Klarissa said the stairs were on the left end, right?" Caspian pondered aloud. Kadince replied with a 'yep' and started walking down the correct hallway. An uncomfortable silence filled the space around the group. Kadince attempted to stay lively with a bounce in her step, but the men followed behind her with empty faces and shuffling footsteps.

    "Okay, come on now. You're not even trying to think positively. Would Miranda and Klarissa want us to greet them in this state?" Kadince asked while turning to face them, hands on her hips. They stared at her as she let out a huff of annoyance.

    "How are we supposed to be cheerful when anything could be happening right now?" Mark questioned after awhile.

    "You're not supposed to be thinking of the bad things. They could be perfectly fine! Maybe Klarissa and Miranda are coming back as we speak, and they just wanted to surprise us!" Kadince proclaimed. No one seemed to believe what she said, but they attempted happier faces most likely to get her to leave them alone. It seemed to work as she turned around and continued walking. 

    The ensemble stopped at the stairs and looked down into the eerie darkness. Even the flashlight couldn't lighten up the entire staircase.

    "How did Klarissa descend these stairs? She didn't even have a flashlight with her!" Kadince exclaimed. 

    "She's a very brave girl. Doing as many things as she has for us....this is such a small feat compared to her other tasks," Mark replied. Not wasting anymore time, they began their journey down the stairwell. At about what the group thought to be halfway, they heard a muffled, high pitched noise.

    "What was that?" Immediately came Kadince's question. They all looked at each other in silent communication before they began rushing down the stairs. Skipping multiple steps in small leaps they made it down in a couple minutes. Another sound much like the first broke out, but could now be distinguished.

    "That's screaming!" Lewis said with worry written on his face. Running towards the ballroom, they attempted to open it. Somehow, the room seemed to be locked. The group began slamming into the door, but to no avail.

    "KLARISSA! MIRANDA!" Caspian yelled at the door. Inaudible yelling could be heard as well as more screaming, until all grew quiet. This scared the group more than the screaming because it had all stopped so suddenly. Caspian pulled out his walkie talkie once more and tried to make contact.

    "Hello? Hello? Klarissa, are you receiving me? Hello?" Caspian frantically asked. A response came, but not from the desired person.

    "Why hello there. Caspian, was it?" A male voice they only assumed to be Olivander asked.

    "What the hell did you do to them, you bastard?!" Caspian raged. A chuckle was heard through the small device.

    "In the terms of Klarissa, she's perfectly fine with the exception of a small blackout. Miranda on the other hand....hahaha...."came Olivander's voice. A small click was heard from the other end as Olivander ended his response.

    "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Lewis screamed at the walkie talkie.

    "Why don't you come see?" The male on the other end replied in a crazed way. Lewis immediately rammed into the door once more to end up tumbling to the floor. That door had opened just in time to reveal Olivander smirking while an unconscious body was being held close to his form as he suddenly dropped through the floor. Caspian, Mark, and Kadince ran towards the hole in floor that had appeared while Lewis frantically began searching around the room. While the trio ran towards the floor, Caspian misjudged the distance and didn't have time to stop himself.

    "Caspian!" Kadince called while attempting to grab him back before the ground closed once more. Kadince and Mark stayed at what was the edge of the circle while crouching down to examine it. Kadince beat on it attempting to open it as Mark just sat and stared at it.

    "WHY?!" A voice screamed at the other end of the ballroom. Kadince and Mark were instantly snapped out of their trance to look at Lewis. He sat on the ground with what looked like a human torso cradled to his chest. Tears were falling out of his eyes like two water faucets. He was stroking the dirty blonde hair that covered the form's head. 

    "I-is that....?"Kadince trailed off. Mark stared, shocked at the scene before him. He glanced at Kadince and silently nodded before Kadince jumped up and rushed towards Lewis.

    Lewis was rocking the torso of Miranda back and forth while he seemed to be whispering into her ear. The saddest part was that Miranda seemed to still have a small part of life still left in her. Her eyes were still slowly blinking as a small smile looked to grace her face. Lewis seemed like he had completely lost it. He brought Miranda's body away from himself slightly as her lips tried to form words. A few dribbles of blood left her red lips as she spoke. Lewis only nodded his head before kissing her lips as a single tear escaped her eye before their light flickered and died out. Lewis still cradled her now dead body to his    chest while muttering words to himself.

    "Lewis, it'll be ok," Kadince said as she reached out to touch his shoulder before he violently jerked away.

    "DON'T TOUCH ME! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE! I-it....will n-never ....be okay a-again," Caspian whimpered out. His tears were staining Miranda's bloodied shirt as they slowly trailed down his cheeks. He continued to weep into Miranda's dead form as Kadince stood back, for once not knowing what to say.

    "I don't think Miranda would have wanted you to be grief ridden," Kadince slowly tried to comfort him.

    "You don't know what she would have wanted....s-she told me t-to hold her until she died....I'm never letting go," Lewis said. Kadince simply looked at him with pity before kneeling down to him.

    "Miranda would have wanted you to get over her. She'd have wanted you to get out of here. Please, you have to let go," She pleaded with the male.

    "I.....I can't. Just....leave me here.....please...I'll come find you when I'm ready....I promise," Lewis quietly replied. Kadince realised it was a fruitless task to try to reason with the male so she looked down at Miranda in goodbye, then at Lewis before turning away and heading back to Mark.

    "We have to find my sister," Kadince told Mark.

    "What about Lewis?" He questioned.

    "He's not coming. I think it's for the best anyways," Kadince said while looking down. Mark nodded before turning away with Kadince and walking out of the ballroom. Kadince looked at Lewis one last time in the candlelight before turning away and shutting the door.

    Lewis was never heard from again.

                                                                   ~                         ~                         ~

Black.

    That's all I could see. I was almost certain I had came to, but I couldn't see anything. I sat up in what felt like a plush bed before turning to my side to still see black. Turning to the other side, I saw the smallest sliver of light that came from a window which appeared to be boarded up. I brought my hands to my eyes in an attempt to clear any grogginess from my eyes, but my vision remained the same.

    ".....h..." I attempted to call out for help, but my voice had become hoarse and my throat, sore. I brought my hand to my throat and rubbed it, hoping that it would help, but to no avail. It still hurt to use my voice. 

I got up from what I thought was a plush bed and walked towards what could be seen of a window. I brought my blue eyes to the small c***k between the boards to catch a glance of what was outside. The clouds appeared darker, and the moon was more covered up. A storm would most definitely be coming soon. I stood up straight and let out a huff. Squinting my eyes, I looked for an exit. There was none in sight. I hoped that there would be one among the wall so I proceeded to walk around and push in every part of wall I could.

    No wall opened, but I got an idea of how large the room was. From how many paces I could move, I concluded it must be some kind of master bedroom. The bed also brought me to this decision. 'I wish I could call for help,' I thought to myself. Suddenly, a thought struck me. My walkie talkie! Feeling around my waist for the bump of the device, I came to no luck. My face fell as I realised I was trapped.

    'Wait...that walkie talkie was beneath my dress meaning......' I visibly shuddered at the thought of that blonde demon taking the device from me. I felt on top of my head to discover the tiara still lay upon it. I took it off and hurled it at a wall, hoping to hear some kind of noise indicating that I had destroyed it. All that was heard was a small 'thud' as it hit its target, but that was enough to make me smile. It showed I still had a bit of defiance in me. I hope Olivander was watching me at that point.

    "Klarissa....why did you try to break that?" A soft, high voice spoke.

    "Cla-" I was cut off as a cough escaped my throat. I keeled over as the coughs wracked my body and I felt a cold pressure touch my back.

    "It's ok, sweetie. You don't need to talk," Claire said as I assumed she rubbed my back. I nodded my head as the last cough escaped my lips and stood up. I turned around to meet the ghostly beautiful face of Claire as she smiled at me.

    "I always wanted a daughter. I'd like to think that if I did she would be like you," the lady told me. I weakly smiled back at her as I decided to sit down. She sort of sat with me. Her body left no trace of her being their, but she kind of sank down as if the bed did. Her ghostly glow lit up the room a small bit so I could see slightly more of it.

    "This used to be my room. I would sit here for hours on end with no one to converse with but myself. I think I was driven slightly insane because of it. This is the highest room in the mansion by the way. That's why there's no wall or door to get out of," she explained. I looked at her as if telling her to go on. Her cold fingers brushed a bit of my hair behind my ear in a motherly way before she continued.

    "You're such a sweet girl. I told you to leave this place. I told you that you couldn't save them. Now Lidia, Nathaniel, and Miranda are all dead. Soon, others will be as well," she spoke with a sad tone. Looking at her confused, she sighed and averted her gaze.

    "The night I was kidnapped was much like this. A storm was coming, too. I remember it like it was yesterday, sadly I don't want to. I tried to help you as I tried to help others, but I could never do it. I'm sorry, little one. Please forgive me," she pleaded while looking me in the eye once more. You would think that it would be impossible for a spirit to cry, but looking into her eyes I could clearly see the glistens of salty tears that were threatening to fall.

    "Y....you never....did anything wrong, Claire," a hoarse whisper escaped my throat. She smiled once more at me before attempting to hug me. I was wrapped in a cold, but comforting air when she did this. Her soothing aura seemed to soak into me as my mood increased.

    "I promise I'll get you out of here, but now I must leave," she said after pulling away. I nodded at her as she seemed to glisten brightly before fading away into the dusty air.

    "Klarissa, my darling. So glad to see you're awake!" Olivander's voice rung out around the room. I assumed an intercom must be in here, but I was too tired to look. Since it hurt immensely to talk, I decided to stay quiet.

    "Why aren't you speaking, my love?" He questioned. I knew this would end terribly if he thought I was ignoring him, so I motioned towards my throat and shook my head attempting to say I couldn't speak.

    "Oh, I see. Well in that case, don't talk. I don't want you to hurt your soothing voice. I do, however, want to show you the next contestants for this round," a smirk could be heard through the intercom as a tv screen suddenly brightened up the room. My eyes widened as I found myself looking at Caspian who appeared to be stuck at the bottom of a well. How he got there I had no idea. The screen then split in two and showed Kadince and Mark walking through a darkened hallway.

    "For this round, my sweet angel......you get to choose who comes to their ultimate doom. You'd better choose fast, or else one will die by default. I wish you the best of luck, and the cleanest of consciences."

With that, red numbers appeared on the screen and started to count down from fifteen minutes as an insufferable ticking noise filled the room.