Purgatech: Jess' Horror

Chapter Fifteen

If Jess wasn't a believer before, she sure as hell was now. The entity or ghost or whatever it was stood directly in front of her. She quickly lifted the Purgoggles to make sure what she was seeing was actually there…but there was no one there. When she slipped them back down over her eyes, the unmistakable shape of the girl was there.

It wasn’t an orb, like Jess had read about so much. At first, she came through in a pale, white outline but then, as she seemed to gather strength, her image materialized, and it was like the girl was actually standing right in front of her.

Somehow, Jess mustered the courage to lean forward. She reached out and with one shaking hand, attempted to touch the figure in front of her. But her hand moved through her. There was no one there, no physical being anyway.

Jess looked at the logo again on the person's chest. She could see it more clearly now. There was no way to deny that it was the Purgatech logo.

"You work for Purgatech, right?" Her voice came out raspy and thin. Jess cleared her throat.

"I think you mean worked," Rob said from the end of the hall.

“Oh, you’re real brave all the way over there,” Jess said, unable to take her eyes off the figure in front of her. "If you don't like the way I'm running things, then maybe you should come over here and talk to her."

Rob didn’t respond.

“Figures,” jess aid. “You’re all talk, Rob.”

It was obvious he wasn’t going to be any help. Jess glanced towards Grace, who stood off to the side with her mouth hanging open.

"What's your app saying now?" Jess said. She backed a few steps away from the figure toward Grace, who had cupped her device in her hands. She pulled it towards her chest as though she didn't want Jess to see it. When Jess reached for it again, Grace shoved her arm away forcefully.

"Get the hell away from me!"

When Grace looked up at her, she looked suddenly different, not like herself at all. It was like someone had slipped into her skin, someone with a dark aura, a sinister spirit that made Grace's soft features turn harsh, malicious.

“Uh, Grace? Grace, you okay?”

Grace let out a strangely guttural groan, but her expression remained unchanged.

"What the hell's gotten into her all of a sudden question" Rob asked.

"She's just… Scared is all."

Jess hoped that was all it was, but she didn't have time to worry about Grace. She pulled out her phone and checked the Purgatech app. The little pointer on the digital Ouija board was going crazy.

Jess spelled it out as the words came up on the screen. "W-A-Y-O-U-T-B-A-C-K-D-O-O-R."

"What does that mean?" Rob asked.

"I saw it! There was a door at the back of the house at the end of the hall. Supposedly it leads down to them servant's quarters. Maybe we can get out that way!"

"I'll sure as hell try anything right now. Let's go."

Rob turned and headed up the hallway before Jess could protest. The last thing she wanted was that guy leading them out of there but apparently she didn't have a choice in the matter. She turned to Grace and looked down at her, holding her hand out for her.

"Okay, Grace. We're going to get out of here now, alright?”

Jess tried not to freak out, not even when Grace looked up at her and her eyes glowed bright white.

It’s just the goggles, Jess thought. Just distorting things, that’s all.

But the hair on Jess’ arms stood on end. It was like she wasn't even looking at Grace anymore. Something dark had taken hold of her. Jess wasn't sure she should take her with them. She would feel terrible leaving Grace there but she would feel even worse if she brought her out of this house and there was something attached to her, something dark that Jess would unleash on everyone else.

"I'm gonna leave your sorry ass behind if you don't hurry it up!" Rob called from the other end of the hallway.

"What you want me to do, just leave her here?"

"That’s what I’m about to do if you don't move it. She's a grown-assed woman. Let Granny fend for herself."

Jess's shook her head. It didn't surprise are the Rob would leave them behind. He was totally that type of guy. He only cared about himself and saving his own ass. Well, Jess wasn't like that. She wasn't going to leave Grace behind and she wasn't going to leave Erica either.

Jess grabbed Grace by the hand and hauled her along with her. Grace sort of growled at her but Jess yanked on her arm and forced her to follow her up the hallway.

"This is for your own good. You'll thank me later when you're thinking more clearly."

They made their way up the hall but when they came to the doorway to the attic, Jess felt that cold blast of air coming from the other side. She peered around the edge of the door. Erica was still where she had left her. Jess didn't know how she was going to lift her friend and carry her out of there but she was going to damn well try.

"Rob, get your ass down here and take Grace with you!"

"I told you I'm –"

"Now!" Jessica shouted.

She was surprised at the force in her own voice but she was tired of his stupid remarks and pathetic comebacks.

He stomped toward her down the hall like a temperamental toddler. When Jess looked up at him, she could see why. His eyes were wide as saucers. His brow furrowed. He was just a scared as Jess was.

"Just take Grace by the hand and lead her out. I'll be right behind you. Okay?"

When he didn't respond, Jess tried to soften her approach.

"We’re going to get out of here. I know the last thing that you want is to be stuck in here with me any longer. And I sure as hell don’t want to be trapped in here with you. So the sooner we get out of here, the better. For all of us. Now go."

Jess waited to make sure Rob took Grace with him before turning toward the attic. She gritted her teeth and braced herself for what was next. She was going to get Erica out of there one way or another.

She clamped her Purgoggles down tightly so it was easier to see in the dark and pocketed her cell phone. She was going to need both hands for this. As she edged forward, Erica's figure came into view. Jess held her breath and watched, waited, but she didn't see any movement from her friend. Tears blurred her vision but she quickly blinked them away. She would have time to break down about this when she got out of there. She just had to get out of there first, she and Erica together.

Easing forward one step at a time, Jess tried to be as quiet as possible. It wasn't an easy feat in a house this old. Every movement made the floorboards creak under foot.

"Erica?" Jess whispered. "Can you hear me?"

Nothing. No response. Not even a whisper or hint that she was even breathing anymore.

"Erica, you have to help me out here, okay? We need to get out of here and I'm going to need your help to do it."

She edged forward another step but she could feel that strange weight in the air again. Some sort of force trying to hold her back, keep her from getting to her friend. Well, there was no way Jess was going to leave Erica there. They came in together, they're going to leave together.

Shoving any doubt and fear to the back of her mind, Jess strode forward. One step, and then another – and then the door slammed between her and Erica. Jess flung her body against the door, slamming the backs of her fists against the wood.

"No! You're not going to keep me from her! Erica! Erica, can you hear me?"

Jess rattled the handle of the door but the door wouldn't budge. And then it started.

The swirling sound of wind, that whirring sound so high-pitched that Jess couldn't do anything but clamp her hands to her ears trying drown the sound out. It was an unholy shriek, the sound of banshees stirred up from somewhere evil. The door started shaking uncontrollably, flinging Jess back. Whatever was trying to keep her out was still up there. And it had claimed Erica as its own.

"If you don't move your butt, I'm leaving you behind, hear me?" Rob called from the stairwell at the end of the hall.

Jess was struck unmoving. She knew what she should do but what she wanted to do was keeping her firmly planted there in the hallway. The sound from the upper floor rattled her very bones inside her. She bounded once more for the door, reaching for the handle but then a loud thump shook the door so violently that it felt like the entire upper floor was going to collapse from the weight.

"Erica!" Jess cried, listening to the thumping over and over again.

Pieces of old plaster came falling down from the ceiling, showering Jess with dust and debris. Whatever that was up there with Erica was trying to get Jess out of there.

"Let's go!" Rob shouted. "Now!"

His voice snapped her out of her stupor. She took one final glance of the door, choking back tears before she turned and bolted up the hallway. She stood at the top of the stairwell for one moment, watching theattic door and hoping it will finally swing open. But it didn't.

She turned, and took off down the narrow stairwell, every step like a stab in the heart of what she had just done to her friend.

By the time she made it to the bottom, she was gasping for air. She wasn't sure if she was hyperventilating from the dust or from the utter despair of leaving Erica up there alone with whatever had trapped her in the attic. But she didn't have time to think. When she got down to the bottom floor, Rob was pacing in a circle and Grace standing in the corner, hysterical.

"We gotta get outta here. We gotta get out, get out, before those things get us."

"Rob, please! The last thing we need is you freaking out, okay?" Jess said, swiping the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand.

Every time he passed Grace, she would shriek and then start crying again, which only seemed to spur Rob's fear on.

"They knew about this! They had to! And they left us in here with these freaking things just to see what they would do to us!"

"I don't even care about that anymore! Do you hear me?"

But he continued in his hysterical pacing, mumbling to himself scratching at is skin with both hands.

"I'm as pissed as you are at Purgatech but that's not going to do us any good right now. The only way were going to get out of here as if we work together, okay?" Jess chased after him, grabbing him by both arms and shaking him. "Look. You're going to have to man up, Rob? You got it?"

She nodded at him, trying to get him to focus. When he finally caught her eye, it seemed like maybe what she was saying was starting to sink in.

"Good. Okay, like I said before, these old houses all have a servant's quarters. Which means a separate entrance that we can use to get out of here. All we have to do is find that, and we're home free. We'll just stick together, go slowly, and will all be fine. Now, let's go."

He didn't say anything but at least when she took his hand, she let him lead her across the room. Grace, who had started to calm down now, was starting to look like her old self again too.

"Okay, Grace. We're going to get out of here and we're going to go together. All we have to do is get to the back exit. Let's go."

Jess didn't wait for Grace to agree. She grabbed her by the hand the way she had done with Rob, the way one would do with a toddler, and led them both across the corridor to a doorway positioned off to the side. It was a mudroom, a small foyer that led to the outside.

Jess paused just in the entryway, not wanting a repeat of what happened upstairs when she tried to get to Erica. When nothing happened, she peered through the doorway. The coast looked clear. She could just make out a door to her left. That was their escape.

"There's a door over here. Let's go!" She whispered.

She boldly stepped through the doorway and strode across the room, dropping both Rob and Grace's hands to reach for the doorknob. Her heart was beating in her chest so fast that she thought she was going to keel over. She turned the doorknob. It was stuck. Her stomach dropped but she tried again.

When nothing happened, Rob reached over her hand. Jess braced herself, thinking he was trying to stop her, but he gripped the doorknob with both hands now and yanked on the door, pulling it free from the door jam.

Jess felt an intense rush of relief, but when she turned her head it was like a smack in the face.

There was a brick wall where their exit should be. The door led nowhere. There are trapped in there the three of them, Erica, and whatever was in the attic. And whatever had let them to this dead end.