Night Games Chapter 10

I know no one has read any of this but I shall continue until the end of the story anyway!

Click "read more" to read chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Jennifer stopped abruptly and shined her flashlight into the inky shadows behind her. The connecting hall of Sunny Vale Rest Home was eerily lit, the moon shining pale beams of light through the clouds of dust only recently disturbed by the padded soles of their sneakers. “What? What is it?” Fred asked. Jennifer squinted, listening intently. “I don’t know. I thought I heard something.” Fred turned to shine his light behind him, and then back at Jennifer. The situation had finally begun to sink into Fred’s nerves, and he was beginning to fight off a growing sense of panic. “Well? What was it? Was it something random, or what?” “I said I don’t know. It sounded like Hannah, kind of, but she isn’t there.” She spun and shrugged at Fred. “My mind’s playing tricks on me. Let’s get to the kitchen fast.” Fred nodded. “Yeah, good, let’s get going.” He began to walk in the direction of A Hall, but stopped after a few steps when he noticed Jennifer wasn’t following. “Jennifer, come on! Seriously, we really need to do whatever we’re doing in there like A.S.A.P.” Jennifer frowned. “Fred, I know. Listen: I’m going to suggest something now, and you need to trust me. We can’t keep using these flashlights.”

Fred stepped toward her, whispering, “You’re messing with me now. I’m not walking around this place in the fricking dark!” She put a hand on his arm, taking a deep breath. “I know you’re scared. I’m scared too, but you heard the story as well as I did. These flashlights are like a death wish. The Midnight Man hates cheaters, and right now we’re cheating by keeping these on. Only candles, remember?” Fred threw his hands in the air in frustration. “Fine! Whatever! Let’s just get on with it!” He flicked off his flashlight and slipped it into his pocket. She took his hand into hers gently. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, “it’s just a hunch, but I think it’ll help.”He squeezed, almost hurting her hand with his grip. “It’s okay. Come on.” 

They passed from the wan light of the glass paneled hallway into the common area of A Hall and stopped, waiting for their eyes to adjust. Standing hand in hand in the utter blackness, Jennifer felt a strange sense of calm wash over her. Suddenly and inexplicably she felt as though things were going to be all right. A shiver ran down her spine as she thought that it might be because they were playing the game according to the rules now. “Okay I can kind of see,” Fred said, gently tugging on her hand. She followed his lead, her eyes not yet adjusted to the dark. She heard a shuffling in front of her and a strong tug on her hand, and she giggled. “Everything going okay up there?” Fred cleared his throat. “Yeah just damn books everywhere on the floor, be careful.”

They inched through the common area and along the wall leading to the kitchen. Fred kept his right hand on the wall, ripping new gashes into the rotting wallpaper as he went. Jennifer clung to his left hand with both of hers, letting go with one hand ever so often to balance herself as she stumbled over an obstacle. “I can’t see a damn thing,” Fred said, tripping over an overturned chair. “It’s like no light at all gets in here. I mean, I can see light coming from that door at the end of the hall, but I can’t see two feet in front of me.” Jennifer looked at the sealed exit door at the southern end of A Hall. A small rectangle of bluish light filtered through the dirty Plexiglas window and illuminated the area in front of the door. Around this tiny island of light was a sea of matte black that allowed no light to escape.

She nearly bumped into Fred’s back when he stopped walking. “We’re here, come on.” They stepped into the kitchen and Fred groaned. “It’s no better in here! How are we going to find anything like this? We’re fricking blind!” Jennifer let go of his hand and walked carefully forward, her hands outstretched. “Just need to find the cabinets… here we go.” She opened a pair of cabinets underneath a tile counter and reached inside. “Start checking the ones above, I’ll look in these and the drawers.” Fred touched her upper back, patted her head, and found the counter. “Sorry.” “It’s fine just start looking.” Fred chuckled mirthlessly. “Looking, right. Looking with my hands. Oh gross! These things are filled with spider webs!” 

Jennifer shut the first pair of cabinets and shuffled on her knees to the second. “Are you more scared of spiders or being found? I- Oh thank God.” Her hand had bumped into a pile of thick cylinders. “Candles! Oh there are matches here, too, awesome!” She handed a small box of matches and a candle to Fred. “Here, light this so I can see what I’m working with here.” He quickly obliged, happy to finally have a way of beating back the dark. The striking match was unusually loud in the kitchen, the sound echoing from its tiled surfaces. He touched the burning wood to the dusty wick and soon a pool of warm, flickering light slowly surrounded them. 

Jennifer blinked twice, amazed at how bright the candle light seemed after having had to squint into shadows for so long. She piled the fist-sized candles onto her shirt, using the bottom end as a pouch. She quickly stuffed several boxes of matches into her pockets and finally grabbed a candle for herself. She stood and turned to Fred, counting the candles clacking against each other in her shirt pouch. “Okay, light mine with yours and we can head back to the others.” “Heh, that’s what she- never mind.” Jennifer chuckled, the comfort of the yellow glow making her feel safer than she had in hours. “I’m not sure how that could be what she said, but I’ll give you that one. Considering the circumstances and all.” Fred tipped his candle to the side and lit the candle in Jennifer’s hand, dripping wax onto her finger. “Ow, damn it Fred! That hurts!” “I’m sorry!” Fred said, righting his candle. Jennifer headed for the door, the burning wax on her finger cooling quickly. “It’s really fine, let’s get back.” “Yeah, I- hey, did it get colder in here? It feels like it got colder.”

Jennifer turned back to Fred with a half-formed retort on her lips, something about shrinkage, but as she looked at him the words caught in her throat. Behind Fred, in the flickering light of the candle, stood something her mind couldn’t quite comprehend. It was over two feet taller than Fred, even hunched over as severely as it was. Bandages covered its head all the way around, with odd strands of hair poking through the top of the wrap. Its arms and legs were incredibly long and lean, its elbows nearly on the floor. Its skin was the color of rotting meat, and it was completely nude. One lidless, bloodshot eye was open to the air and the thing stared at Jennifer with incomprehensible intent. Below its open eye was a hole that had been cut into the bandages, but where its mouth should have been there was only a mass of writhing maggots. Jennifer gagged. Fred tilted his head in confusion, apparently unaware of the thing’s presence. “What?”

The thing leaned even closer to Fred. Maggots started to fall onto his shoulder, but he brushed them off nonchalantly. “Jennifer, what’s wrong with you?” the thing raised a single finger to its mouth in a shushing motion. Jennifer stood frozen in terror, unable to run or even warn Fred of the horrible thing towering over him. The thing took its rotting hand from its mouth and as it rested it on Fred’s shoulder, the candle he carried went out. Jennifer screamed, her paralysis broken by the sudden darkness, and sprinted towards the door. She stole a glance back at where Fred stood and, seeing only shadows, ran into the hallway. The silence of the building pressed in all around her. She heard nothing from the room behind her. No struggling, no screaming; nothing.

She dashed across the connecting hall, kicking books out of her path. Her candle flame sputtered in the wind of her panicked run. She nearly leapt into room B11, candles spilling from her shirt. Liz stood in the corner, her gaze transfixed on the open window across the room. Jennifer jumped to her feet and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Where’s Sean?! Where’s Hannah?!” Liz shook her head and her jaw moved up and down, but she couldn’t speak. Her face twisted with grief and fear, and she merely pointed at the window and began sobbing loudly. Jennifer followed Liz’s pointing finger to the window and cursed. She turned back to Liz and slapped her as hard as she could with her free hand. “Liz! Get it together! We have to make it through the night!” She fumbled with her pockets, boxes of matches spilling onto the floor with a faint clacking sound. She shoved a handful into Liz’s palm. “Here are some matches. Take a candle, light it, and go hide,” she instructed, and without another word Jennifer strode off into the darkness.