Phobic pt 13

1

Once more, the six inside the warehouse found themselves forming a semi-line, facing yet another doorway. After Kalah’s exposition of her newest theory regarding their reason for being where they were, the others had uneasily tossed the theory back and forth between each other, unable to decide whether or not they had evidence enough to accept it as probable. On one hand, there had been only two “fear rooms,” as Kalah had referred to them as, so far… was there any way they could just be coincidental? But then again, someone had deliberatedly placed them in the warehouse, someone who had yet to reveal themselves or their intentions. Likewise, someone had deliberately designed that narrow room, decorated the other one with clown pariphernalia… having them just “happen” to be there, and having people in their little group who just “happened” to be extremely phobic of those things, would, as Kalah had pointed out, be a pretty big coincidence.2

Judson had then made another good point… even if the rooms WERE intended to scare them, it may not necessarily mean that whoever had done this knew each person’s specific fears. Perhaps he or they- whoever- was only using general common fears- for fear of clowns and small spaces was pretty usual even among adults. Still, they had no way to prove or disprove his theory, and they all knew it. 3

If the person or people who had done this DID know them, DID know their fears and want to scare them… why? What would be the purpose, the reason for it? It seemed so random and nonsensical. Were they people they had known- or had they been stalked? No matter how they looked at it, it just didn’t make sense.4

In the end, Judson had mostly persuaded them, or at least got them to reluctantly agree, to keep moving forward, keep going through the rooms. None of them wanted to, but with no other ideas regarding alternate options, they lined up in their quickly-growing routine cluster. No one was eager to see what lay in the next room… or whether they were soon to encounter their greatest fears….5

Shana glanced about uneasily at the others, her heart already beginning to pound in an erratic rhythm. When Judson had convinced the others to move forward once more, a pained sort of dread had began to press itself against her chest. She didn’t want to move on, she didn’t want to continue through these crazy rooms… she had a vague but quickly growing feeling that the next one in particular would be bad… that something awful was about to happen.6

No, Shana didn’t think that they SHOULD continue moving forward…. But what else COULD they do? She certainly didn’t know…7

And so she said nothing to the others, offered no arguments as they faced the next doorway… as Devon began to ramble just in front of her, having claimed the ‘coward spot’ in the middle, and Kalah made snappish, sarcastic comments back at him that held no true venom, Shana nearly held her breath, simultaneously wanting to crane her neck to see what the slowly opening door held, and wanting to close her eyes and back away…8

At the last moment, when Judson had fully opened the door wide enough for all to see, Shana turned her face away, an involuntary shudder going down her spine. Judging from the others’ reactions to the room’s contents, her dread had been well warranted.9

Shana had heard both Devon and Annabelle shriek, their voices high and shrill with shock, and Devon latched onto Kalah’s hand with both of his, gripping it tightly. For her part, Kalah was doing nothing to push him away; she was not moving, her blue eyes wide and stunned. Shana had heard both her and Judson gasp, and even Judson had taken an instinctive step backward, dragging the parasite-like Annabelle back with him and nearly knocking over Kalah and Devon. Annabelle had began to cry again, her sobs sharp and jagged as a newborn’s,and equally as desperate. And Kade… Kade was rigid, his tanned face draining of all color as his eyes widened, so large and unblinking that the dilated pupils seemed to take up his whole face.10

When Shana finally forced herself to turn her head, to see whatever it was in the room that had so stunned the other five, she felt her mouth drop dimly, and she was vaguely aware of her pulse quickening, her legs beginning to quiver.11

“Oh god,” she muttered, her voice shaking, sounding very far away. “Oh god, what…”12

There was nothing in the room; an ordinary-shaped-and-sized space, constructed much in the same way that clown room had been. It was not something or someone in the room that made the room so shocking and frightening at a person’s first glance, but rather the bright red substance smeared all along the walls, the floor, and even ceiling… a substance that looked suspiciously like blood.13

“Oh god,” Devon breathed, his spoken voice nearly as high-pitched and frantic as his scream had been. “I TOLD you, I told you to say you’re not afraid bloodthirsty killers… why didn’t you listen?! Because that looks like blood to me, does it look like blood to you guys?! I think it’s blood! And someone had to put it there, it had to come from somewhere! Like human bodies! But where are the bodies?! Somehow it doesn’t reassure me that there aren’t any bodies, that means these people might be cannibals or something, or else aliens sucked them back into the sky to get rid of the evidence. Does anyone see bodies, where are the bodies?!”14

No one was listening to him; everybody was too caught up in their own reactions. As loudly as Devon was speaking, it would have been hard to hear him over Annabelle’s shrieked words, her voice high and distorted with hysteria as she dugh her nails so hard into Judson’s skin that she tore a hole in his shirt, and he realized distantly that he was beginning to bleed.15

“Oh god, oh god, we’re gonna DIE! We’re gonna die, they’re gonna kill us, oh no, I don’t wanna die, I don’t’ wanna die, please, please, no-“16

“Oh shit,” Kalah breathed shakily, and the only reason Shana heard her through Devon and Annabelle was because the girl had practically backed into her, was standing nearly on top of her. Even as she spoke the teenager was backpedaling even further, forcing Shana, Kade, and Devon, who was still clinging to her hand, to back up with her or else be mowed over.17

“Oh shit, this is a slaughter room, isn’t it? This is where they kill us, this is where we’re gonna die… back up, back UP, dammit, don’t’ you get it, someone with an ax or a chainsaw is going to come flinging that door open at any minute, and we’ll all be forced to give a generous blood donation not sponsored by the Red Fucking Cross! What are you standing there for, back up, CLOSE THE FUCKING DOOR!”18

She shoved her way past Shana, pulling Devon with her, and somehow managed to avoid touching Kade, who was still standing rigidly, pressed against th wall directly beside the doorway, looking into the room with a frozen petrification that until now none of them had ever witnessed in his expression. Whatever the guy’s issues were that made him behave so oddly, it was clear that the blood in the room, or perhaps its implications, terrified him- one of the few rational responses he had so far displayed.19

Shana Bradley did not move away form the doorway either; she was not sure if she could at first. She stared into the blood-soaked, still-glistening metal room, feeling the tears lumping together in her throat, her limbs going weak and rubbery once more as she blinked them back.20

“We can’t, no, this can’t…” she nearly whispered despairingly, shaking her head. “This can’t be, this is only the third room…”21

She raised her voice so that it was audible over the their loud breaths, Annabelle’s steady sobbing. “This can’t be, this is only the third room, the third door. You said six, Kalah, you said one for each of us, they’re trying to scare each of us, you said! This is only the third room, you said-“22

“It doesn’t matter what I said, Girl Next Door,” Kalah yelled back, and it took Shana a second to realize she was talking to her, referring to her. “I was wrong, Damsel-In-Distress-Slash-Probable-Slut Girl was right, we’re going to fucking die! Any time you see a roomful of blood, that kind of screams that out! So CLOSE THE FUCKING DOOR!”23

“Hey- everybody, hold up. Just calm down,everyone, calm down,” Judson said,obviously trying to sound confident and reassuring, but they all heard his voice waver slightly. “Maybe not… maybe you WERE right before, Kalah…. Maybe they don’t want to kill us. Maybe… maybe the blood isn’t even real. Maybe it’s just another scary room. Nothing in the other rooms could really hurt us, remember? We were just scared…”24

“Well generally I’d say that blood is just a little more ominous and violent than clown pictures and a narrow room, Judson!” Kalah snapped, and Devon looked over at her, momentarily distracted.25

“Whaddaya mean, clowns aren’t ominous?! Did you see them?! Some of them had bloody teeth and lips! How come you thought it was so silly to be scared of THAT blood? And they ARE violent, have you ever seen them beating each other with bowling pins?!”26

“I think that blood spattered across an entire room, IN PERSON, trumps a blood clown picture, Comic-Relief Boy!” Kalah hissed, giving him an evil look. “But if you’re wanting to volunteer to open that room’s door-“27

“Look, guys, maybe it really is okay,” Judson interrupted, and there was a desperate edge to his voice, as if he needed to believe his own words. “ Maybe it’s fake blood, like makeup. Maybe… there has to be a way out, we had to get IN here somehow. So there has to be a way out… we can’t just sit here, we have to keep going. We-“28

“No, we don’t, we could just sit here,” Devon interrupted, “we could, I’m good with the sitting, sitting sounds great-“29

“None of the rest of you have to look,” Judson cut him off, looking at each of them with a bravado that was probably faked. “I’ll open that room’s door, and you all just stay back in this room. If- if I’m wrong, just close the door on me…”30

“No, are you CRAZY , man?” Devon blurted, and Kalah joined in, “If you think that offering yourself up to the blood-man will satisfy him… look, Hero-Guy, if he breaks through his door…”31

But Shana said nothing, torn. She didn’t know what she thought, what she wanted anymore. She just wanted this to be over…32

“Okay, I’m going… you guys stay here.”33

Judson tried to step into the room, but Annabelle was still holding onto him, not willing to relinquish her panicked grasp.34

“NO, no, you can’t,” she sobbed, digging her fingers in even more tightly. “You can’t go, you can’t, you’re gonna die, you’re gonna kill us! Don’t!”35

“It’s going to be okay, Annabelle,” Judson told her, trying to be patient and gentle, but having a hard time. “You don’t have to come. Let go of me, please.”36

But Annabelle wouldn’t… and so Judson took her hands, gently but firmly, prying them away from him. When she reached out for him frantically, attempting to latch back on, Judson gave her a little push away from him, then quickly walked forward several large steps into the bloodied room, where he knew she probably wouldn’t follow him on her own. Annabelle, stumbling back from Judson’s little push, accidentally fell against the still-rigid Kade.37

And that was when all hell broke loose.38

As Annabelle’s long, lanky body came in contact with Kade’s, his eyes widened, a flash of strong emotion, equal parts rage, fear, and panic flickering in their surface. His features twisted, and he opened his mouth as if to speak. But instead, he seized Annabelle by her shoulders, grabbing her harshly, and then thrusting her away from him with all his strength, into the bloodied room. 39

Annabelle gave out a short, shrill shriek, trying to grab hold of him, but she was falling too hard, too rapidly. As she stumbled with considerable momentum into the doorway, her feet slipped on the glistening liquid at the entrance, which was still slightly damp and slippery, especially if one was already falling. Her feet flew out from under her, and even as Judson hurried towards her, attempting to stop her fall, it was too late. She fell hard onto the concrete floor surface, her head hitting it with a horrible, sickening crack that seemed to echo through the room’s interior.40

As the others stared, Devon, Kalah, and Shana paralyzed with shock and horror, Kade’s face still contorted with anger and adrenaline, Judson, his face whitening, quickly knelt beside her, shouting for Shana to help him look at how badly she was injured. But even as Shana stumbled towards him clumsily, he could tell it was futile.41

For he could clearly see that Annabelle’s skull had been cracked at the temple, partially dented in, crushed so he could see bone, tissue bits… he could see blood, HER blood, REAL blood, mingling with the blood on the concrete floor… the blood that had indeed been fake.42