Chương 62: Interlude 5 - Oppression

The party died down pretty quickly after the Ouija board incident. Daniel and Matheo got into a screaming match. Daniel called him an asshole for picking on his younger brother, and Matheo called his younger brother a scared bitch. Of course, the person who got caught in the crossfire was Liam, as he just sat there wishing he didn't exist at that moment.

His brother was treating him like a child, not even trying to pretend he hadn't asked them to be friends with him, and to make it worse, it was in front of Emma, which stung Liam even more for some reason. At the same time, Matheo didn't even try to argue with his older brother and just used the opportunity to offend Liam.

"Okay. I think the party's over. We drank way too much," said Emma.

"Why? The girls are fiiighting!" Chett slurred, but after getting a few disapproving looks, even he got the hint.

"Oh, fuck off. We can still have fun." Matheo heard their discussion and broke off from the fight with Daniel.

"No, we can't. If you didn't act like a twat towards the kid, we would still be having fun," said Emma as she was slowly getting up. They started to clean up after the ritual in an awkward silence. Liam hoped that switching from the candles to proper lighting would do something about the strange, unnerving atmosphere he was feeling. But the moment someone blew out his candle, he just felt a spike of anxiety. After that, they all slowly went to bed. Whoever was in a state to wash up went to take a shower.

Others simply crashed in their rooms, leaving all the problems to their future selves. Liam's brother tried talking to him, but it just all came out wrong in the end.

"I didn't ask them to be friends with you. I just wanted to, you know… like…"

"Stop," Liam interrupted.

"Don't treat me like a child."

"I'm not. I just want you to have some fun."

"I'm having fun."

"Liam… when was the last time you went out with people?" He choked a bit. When was it? Months, years?

"I went out with others from high school."

"Friends, or was it a class outing?" He stayed silent, which just added to Daniel's worry.

"I'm going to bed."

"Liam…"

"Gooood night," Liam said and shut the door to his room. He looked around. It was one of many huge rooms in the massive Victorian‑style mansion. Thankfully, the rooms were not used, so their grandmother didn't manage to add any creepy decorations. No, it was Liam who added them, he now realized as he looked at the paintings stacked by the wall. He took them to study later and repaint some of them. But now the portraits looked at him with their hollow eyes.

He winced a bit, catching one of their gazes, and then put his shirt over the stack of frames. He also hid the sketches he made in his free time. It usually calmed him down, but now they were just unnerving. He shoved them under the bed, trying to forget about the whole thing. Liam looked outside. A storm was coming as the wind picked up. The night was dark, and sounds of thunder were slowly making their way toward the house. He tossed and turned in his bed for a long time.

The flashes of lightning lit up his room from time to time, accompanied by the crack of thunder. Each time that happened, he would open his eyes and look around the room. Each time he would feel like someone was watching him. And each time, as the light died down, in the split second he could swear that the empty spaces between the shadows created a silhouette. Liam turned to the side, dragging the quilt further over his head. It took time until he was finally asleep. But sleep did not bring him much relief.

He had never dreamed such a vivid dream. He stood in the attic, the attic of this very house. But it was different. There was a living space among the clutter there, made for someone. It had a gray old mattress, a bucket, and some remnants of food. That was all he could see in the moonlight entering the room through the open window, as the rest of the attic was covered in darkness. Liam stood in the only ray of moonlight entering through the circular window, as he looked over the attic.

"Wake up," he whispered to himself. He tried to pinch himself, but all that came was a dull sensation of pressure. He swallowed hard. It was a dream for sure, but he couldn't wake up.

"Wake up," he said firmly, loudly, as if commanding himself. And immediately regretted it as something skittered across the room in the darkness.

"Hello?!" he shouted. But only silence answered.

"H-Hello," he stammered again toward the space in front. No answer. He stood there wishing himself awake, trying to pinch harder and harder, but nothing helped. Then a thought came to him. Maybe he could get out of the attic, run away. Maybe then he would wake up. But there was a problem with that plan. The exit was somewhere in the darkness in the part of the attic far from the pillar of moonlight in which he stood now. He gulped and took a few deep breaths.

"Come on, Liam, you can do it. It's only a dream. A stupid dream. You're not afraid of dreams." He tried psyching himself up, but to no effect. He took one last look over the darkness and started to walk forward. The first few steps were fine, but once he was out of the ring of light created by the open window, he heard it again. Something moved. Unnatural, fast movements, as if a dog's walk, but missing the clanking of claws against the floor. He sprinted into the darkness. Fear fueling his every step.

The thing sped up as well. It was getting closer as he tripped over some clutter. But he did not stop. Crawling in desperation, half running, half tripping, he moved forward, ignoring the dull pressure from every hit. It was closer. He could hear a rasping breath behind his back. But the attic doors should be somewhere close. They should be right across from the window. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

He briefly looked behind him to see where he was, relative to the window. But he quickly regretted that. As he looked back, there was something standing in the ray of light. It had a pale, white humanoid face, black, empty eye sockets, and a wide-open jaw reminiscent of a snake's. Far too wide for a human, as if the thing had unhinged its jaw and it was now open to the limit its skin allowed. The moment he looked back, the thing dived back into the darkness behind his back. He screamed in terror.

But he was so close, almost at the attic door. He dived forward, thinking he would catch the trapdoor's edge with his fingers. But instead of falling to the hardwood floor, his face met cold steel, as if a cage was there in the place of the attic doors. Then the thing came up behind him. He froze in terror, not seeing a way out. He could feel a warm, sticky breath on his neck, then a deep rasping inhale as its mouth was getting closer. Silence. Then a sentence.

"Coooome to meeeee." As cold arms closed around him, he jerked awake in bed. His breath was quick and uneven as he looked around in panic. Then a crack of thunder lit up his room. He half expected to see the thing with the unhinged jaw standing in the legs of his bed. But there was nothing. He went to the light switch, and the room lit up without any issues. The warm light seemed to disperse the strange shadows.

"It was only a dream," he calmed himself.

"All the ghost stuff is getting to my head," he murmured. Liam lay back down in the bed, this time leaving the lights on after closing the door. If someone came to wake him up in the morning, he would easily get up and turn the lights off so no one would know he was sleeping with the lights on, like a kid. He didn't sleep well that night, and it was a knock on the door that woke him up in the morning. Tired and still half asleep, he went to open it. It was his brother.

Liam was about to ask why he was waking him up in the early hours, but the look on his brother's face immediately took away the sleepiness.

"Did something happen?"

"Come to the living room. I have an announcement. Get dressed. I have to get the others." Liam didn't protest. He quickly got dressed, trying to fight off the sleepiness taking him over. Finally, it took everyone over 45 minutes to get downstairs, some of them clearly not in the best shape. Groans of not enough sleep, headaches, and nausea could be heard all around.

"Why are we here instead of our beds?" Chett whined. Daniel looked over them with a serious face. Once he was sure he had everyone's attention, he sighed and started to speak in a heavy voice.

"I got a phone call from my mother. She was supposed to be here with some cleaners, but when they tried to get here, it turned out the road was unusable."

"What?"

"Last night's storm did a real number on the local roads, there are a few overturned trees, and the local river flooded. According to the specialists, it will be at least four days until the roads are usable. And our middle-of-nowhere spot is not high on their priority list, sadly." Liam felt the weight in the pit of his stomach drop. He did not want to stay here one hour longer.

"So what do we do? Can't they take us away in like a chopper or something?"

"Yeah, or one of those rescue vehicles."

"Does anyone want to pay for that?" Daniel asked.

"We aren't flooded and my mother let it slip that we have food that was meant for the workers, so there is a good chance that insurance won't cover any rescue." Silence descended once again.

"Look, don't worry. We won't starve. All it did was lengthen our party by a few days. And most of all… we have the alcohol!" Some people started nodding at that. They then went to make phone calls to parents and partners about their situation. Daniel caught his brother in the corridor and smiled.

"You'll have to stand us for some more time, Liam."

"So that you can force them to be friends with your unlikable younger burden?" Liam snapped back. He didn't understand why he said that. It's not like he was that angry at his brother.

"I'm sorry," Daniel said, furrowing his brows at his sibling's sudden behavior.

"Sorry. I-I need to get some sleep," he said and excused himself. But no sleep came to him. He tried, he tossed and turned, but he just couldn't fall asleep. The entire day was slow and boring. Most people sat around trying to cure their hangovers or to get some much‑needed rest. It was the later hours when they regained some of the previous party spirit. As the night fell and some at least partially dealt with the headaches and nausea, the alcohol started to look good once again.

This time, thankfully, no one proposed the Ouija board after yesterday's awkward incident. But Liam didn't feel like sitting with them. Maybe being alone in a room wasn't so bad after all. Perhaps he could get some sleep now that it was dark once again.

"Come on, join us." Daniel approached him as he was about to go to his room.

"No thanks. I really need to rest a bit."

"Come on. You need to relax."

"So you can force your friends to force me to drink?" Daniel winced.

"Are you still on about that? I said I'm sorry." Liam wanted to apologize as well. It was all the tiredness, but for some reason, he didn't. The words simply wouldn't flow. Maybe his brother deserved that.

"Okay. Go rest." Daniel gave him a pat on the shoulder and went to join the rest of the people. Liam nodded and turned around. But then he heard a crack and a yelp of pain from behind. He turned around just to see a small plastic clock bouncing on the floor.

"What the fuck, dude? Not cool." his brother shouted, massaging the back of his head.

"What? I didn't throw it."

"Then who? Calm down, Liam. I tried to help you find some friends. Didn't think you would get this butt‑hurt, Jesus." His brother spat and turned around, not listening to any explanation Liam had. He looked at his brother and then the clock. This was wrong. This was unnatural. This might be just his brother pranking him. His brother probably wanted him to feel bad. Yeah, that was it. He needed to leave it alone and rest. He would need to retaliate. It was his brother's fault after all. But first, rest.

Liam went to his room, half asleep. He barely remembered how he even got there. But tonight he would finally get some rest. He was walking through the long corridors. Once again, he knew this was a dream. This time he looked at the house from the perspective of some other person. He walked through the house, but it was decorated differently, giving it a Victorian style. He went into the grandmother's room carrying a tray with some food that looked like prison slop. The room was decorated differently as well.

There was no bed. It was a storage room with stairs leading to the attic in the middle. Following the motions out of his control, he climbed the ladder carrying the tray in one hand. He wanted to wake up, but this time he didn't even have any control. He was a passenger in someone else's body. He opened the attic door with one hand, and what he saw was the attic room, similarly mostly in darkness aside from the moonlight. But weirdly, there was a cage around the entrance.

A cage with some smaller door, but none fit for a human to push through. Something moved in the shadows. And then, bang! The white, pale face hit the cage like a rabid animal. Liam screamed and fell backward, now regaining control over his own body. The scene changed as he woke up, but this time not in his own bed. He woke up as he fell. Fell from the attic. He gasped, expecting a painful landing, but thankfully, he crashed into his grandmother's old bed. It took him a while to orient himself.

He was lying on his back facing the attic. He now realized that, to his horror, he had tried to climb into it.

"Fuck. What is going on?" he whispered to himself as he felt fear grasp his heart. He couldn't move his eyes away from the darkness of the trapdoor. It was like a black hole right over him. And then he saw movement. Something moved over him, he was sure of it. A pale white hand slowly extended from the darkness, opening its palm as if inviting him, beckoning him into the darkness. Each movement was accompanied by a sickening clicking of the joints. Liam screamed. He screamed at the top of his lungs.

He continued to scream as his eyes slowly got used to the night and more and more of the silhouette in the attic could be seen. He was frozen. Fight and flight responses fought for control. Until the room's door swung open, and the silhouette disappeared. He turned to the person entering just to see his brother rush in.

"What happ–" Daniel then screamed in pain. Liam looked at the floor. There was broken glass there, right in front of the doorway. Broken glass that his brother had just stepped on, barefoot.

"W-What the fuck, Liam?" his brother said, now standing on one leg.

"Wh-why would you–?" He looked around, trying to locate the source of the glass, but there was nothing. It was clear someone had carried it here.

"B-But that wasn't–" Liam tried to explain himself, but then some memories came back to him, memories mixed with the dream. Memories of carrying broken glass on a silver tray as he walked through the corridors.