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When the first 3 keys don't work, I sputter a curse and almost drop them. But when I hear the beautiful click of that fourth key, I run as fast as my legs can carry me.
Problem is...I don't know where I'm going. This place is huge and I have no idea which way is out.
The hallways are long and narrow with high archways and everything has a dark, haunting, and almost Gothic feel to it...not DeLuca's extravagant blood-red style at all. The walls are covered with either matte black paint or perhaps wallpaper, and although it's gorgeous, it makes it really hard to navigate when you don't know your way around.
After a solid 15 minutes straight of turning down hallways leading to random rooms with no outside exit, and trying to open windows that are permanently sealed shut, I finally make my way into the large foyer.
And that's when I notice it again...another table holding a vase full of dandelions.
Screw the dandelions, get out, my mind screams as I run to the front door.
I have to control the way my hands are shaking again due to the adrenaline pummeling through me as I'm trying key after key, and none of them are working.
13 goddamn keys and none of them lead to the outside world.
I feel my lower lip start to tremble but I won't give into my despair...until I notice the keypad to the right of the front door.
Dammit...I don't know the code. And there's no way I'm trying random numbers so the alarm will sound and trigger my keeper to snatch me himself.
Think, Lou-Lou...think.
There was a large kitchen I passed on my journey...and kitchens have knives. Knives are better weapons than lamps...although those are effective too.
I dash back to the kitchen and root around the kitchen drawers until I find what I'm looking for— a big, sharp, butcher knife that will force that bitch to either give me the code or let me out herself.
I want out of this fucking nightmare and I want out now.
A smile tugs at my lips...until I hear it.
The muffled, but very distinct sounds of someone yelling...no screaming.
I feel myself stiffen as I look down and realize. It's coming from underneath my feet.
The screaming grows louder...and then there's nothing.
I lower myself to the floor and press my ear against the cold tile. As if on cue, the screaming starts up again...only this time it's followed by something that makes my heart drop.
The sounds and wails of someone begging...no pleading for their life.
Nerves scrape down my spine because I've never heard another person plead so hard for something before.
Except for me.
Monsters never die...your monster will never die, Lucia I stuff down the little girl crying in a bathtub and make sure she's hidden behind me... because I'm not that little girl anymore. DeLuca saved me and in return, I killed him. He's dead. And that alone gives me the strength I need to do this. I get up off the floor and grip the knife in my hand. I make a sharp left turn, walk out of the kitchen, and continue to follow the screams coming from what I can only assume is the basement of the house. I know this first floor pretty well now...but there's still one hallway I haven't been down yet. The pitch black hallway that I can't see the end of. I figured there couldn't possibly be an exit down here, so I didn't bother. But now I know that's the one leading to the basement where the screams of people pleading for their life are coming from. I know that's where I'll end this nightmare for once and for all. My hands are sweating and I can hear my heartbeat in my ears and the unsteady sounds of my feet on the cold granite floor as I pad down the never ending black tu I can also hear the screams of the victims increasing in both duration...and frequency. There's definitely more than one now. And these people definitely sound like they are being tortured to death. I fight back the shiver that knowledge causes me and continue until I'm standing in front of a door. I pluck the set of keys from my left hand and try the key marked with a black x. All of the keys look the same except for this one, obviously Marlene knows what must go on down here. The click of the lock as I turn the key is the equivalent to a pin dropping. I feel around for the banister to the staircase because somehow, it's even darker down here. And colder...freezing even. Like I can physically feel all the souls that must have been taken by this monster. Think, Lou-Lou...think. DeLuca's dead...I killed my monster...this can't be him. Monsters never die...your monster will never die, Lucia I squeeze my temples and stuff that little girl back in the bathtub...I'm strong...I'm not that little girl anymore. Nothing scares me now. I've lived in the dark for so long, it's my home. Because girls like me can't survive in the light. We wither away when the light hits us and exposes our scars to the world. Girls like me live in the dirty...we bask in the filth...and we dance with the devils in the shadows. I survive in the dark...I can do this. I walk down the staircase and clutch the knife that's still in my hand. The screams are so ear piercing, it causes my head to throb even more. I navigate my way around, the blood curdling screaming becoming louder with every step I take. The basement is dim enough that I can make out several large columns and pillars that separate and divide the basement into different sections. I dip behind a column and gather my bearings...I'm only a heartbeat away. One more step and I'll be there. “I have a family. I have a wife,” some man's voice that I don't recognize pleads. “I didn't know he was working for you both, please do—” The man's own inaudible sobs cut him off and I soon hear the sounds of deep grunting and heavy fists pounding into flesh. And then it stops. And there's nothing but silence. Until there's one long, last guttural scream. I hold the knife out in front of me and tell my legs to start moving...but when I look down...I have to bite back a scream of my own. Blood... A trail of blood is oozing from underneath the pillar, it's so thick and sticky around my feet that for a moment, I'm scared I'll be permanently stuck to the floor. Jesus, it must be coming out in rivers behind that column. I turn my head to the right and the tiny hairs on my arm stand up and I throw my hand over my mouth and fight the urge to puke. Because the blood doesn't even compare to what I see over in the next column. Piles of bodies. Or rather, corpses. Because they're all definitely dead. Dead and so...disfigured and deformed. They're missing so many limbs and other various body parts...including what I can only assume must be organs—given the way their insides were gutted and ripped apart—that I can't even take a guess at how many whole men there were to start with down here. I swallow down bile as my ears tune into what must be the man's last sound. A gurgling sound...no doubt due to the poor guy choking on his own blood as life leaves him. Brutal isn't even the word for this massacre. The knife nearly slips out of my sweaty palms then but I tighten my fist around it and charge forward.