Hello everyone, sorry if I kept you waiting. It has been longer than I intended since I wrote last (1,2,3,4). Honestly, keeping it together has been taking most of my energy. Too many voices in my head. But that has improved, somewhat of late. Actually, maybe improved is the wrong word. I’m not entirely sure, yet. I mean, I might have a way out. The problem is, is it worth the price I’d have to pay? But I am getting ahead of myself, maybe I should get you up to date on what has been happening here at the Resort. To that end, here is my latest journal.

I smoothed the sheets on the bed and carefully tucked in the corners, making the surface as tight as a drum. Satisfied, I gave it a little pat as I turned to leave.

Pointless. Futile. Why do you bother? No one cares. This room may not even exist tomorrow.

The cacophony of whispers in my head seemed to indicate that I was wasting my time, but sometimes it was a bit hard to tell. In the days since I had inadvertently let them into my head, I had learned that they rarely agreed on precisely how they wanted to belittle or undermine me, so often what I heard was little more than a wave of noise and malice. That this was mostly intelligible spoke to their general agreement that I was foolish for even trying.

“Tell me something I don’t already know,” I muttered as I headed back out into the hall and deposited the dirty towels on my cart.

“What?”

I looked up to see Vincent emerging from a room down the hall with his own cart.

“Why are you here? I thought you were on the 4th floor?” I asked.

“We are on the 4th floor,” Vincent looked back at the door behind him, 406.

I looked behind me, room 404. That wasn’t the room I had entered a few minutes ago.

“Very funny,” I muttered to myself.

“Who are you talking to?”

“No one, just irritated that I’m not on the 3rd floor anymore, now I am going to have to walk all the way back down to finish.”

“Are you sure you are alright, Lucy? You seem a bit distracted lately. Ever since…”

“I’m fine,” that came out a bit more terse than I had intended it. “Are you sure you aren’t projecting a bit?”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t think I’ve noticed you sneaking into the woods to look for that diamond?”

“So maybe I am,” he crossed his arms over his chest. “Why shouldn’t I? It’s worth a fortune.”

“The forest isn’t safe, especially since a maniac with a gun is also still out there, searching for it.”

“I doubt that. I mean, you saw him. He was half dead when he wandered off. He couldn’t have survived this long, alone in the wilderness. It’s been over a week.”

“I wouldn’t count on that. There is something driving him. That alone makes him dangerous, in this place. And people don’t always die when they should, here.”

“Well, I haven’t seen him out there. As far as I can tell, he is gone, one way or another.”

“Maybe he found the gem and destroyed it.”

“Possible. But it can’t hurt to look, can it?”

“Yes! Of course it can! That is literally what I am trying to tell you. Stay out of the woods, Vincent. I’m serious.”

“What are you, my mother? Get off my back,” he tossed a bottle of cleaning fluid down onto the cart with a clatter and stalked off down the hall, to the next room.

He’ll turn. It’s only a matter of time. Kill him, before he has the chance. It would be a kindness.

“Uh huh,” I mumbled.

They were always telling me to kill someone; I was starting to get bored of it, honestly. I wondered if that was a problem. I shook my head, no sense worrying about it now. I had just placed my foot on the stair to return to the 3rd floor when I heard the bell. Abandoning my cleaning for the moment, I trudged down the stairs and headed for the front desk. Standing in the lobby were four young women, wearing sashes. The three read “Team Bride” and they were carrying luggage and gift bags, the fourth woman was leaning on the counter, drinking straight from a bottle of champagne. As I approached, she turned and I saw that her sash read “Bride”. A bachelorette party, fantastic. I suppressed a sigh and stepped up behind the desk.

“Welcome to Ultima Resort, how can I help you today?”

“Took you long enough to get here,” the bride wrinkled her nose. “Is this the kind of service we can expect all weekend?”

“I apologize if you were kept waiting. How many rooms will you be needing today?”

“We have a reservation,” one of the bridesmaids stepped up to the counter.

“What name is it under?”

The brunette looked back at her companions,

“Alex, do you know whose name Elly used for the reservation?”

The blonde shrugged,

“No idea. Try Lindsey LeDrew?”

“That isn’t my name anymore!” the bride protested. “It’s Mrs. Timothy Roberts.”

“You aren’t even married yet, Linds.”

“Close enough! This is to celebrate my wedding, if you recall.”

“Uh huh. Do you have any reservations under those names?” Alex asked.

I typed for a moment,

“No, I’m sorry. Nothing is coming up in my system.”

“Where the hell is Elly?” Lindsey turned to Alex. “She is supposed to be handling all of this.”

At that moment, the front doors burst open, and a young woman stumbled in, loaded down with half a dozen suitcases. She, too, wore a sash, hers read ‘maid of honour.’ As she approached the front desk, a small case on the top of the stack tumbled to the ground and bounced across the tiles.

“Be careful with that, Elly!” Lindsey snapped. “You are going to damage my luggage.”

“Sorry, Lindsey.”

“What took you so long?”

“I was trying to get all your bags, but I will have to go back for some,” she replied apologetically.

“Whatever. Just give the woman the name for the reservation, so we can get up to our room and start the party. I don’t want to waste a moment of my weekend.”

“Of course, Linds,” Elly turned to me. “The reservation should be under Ellen Pine.”

“Under your name?” Lindsey sniffed. “Isn’t this party for me? Why wouldn’t you make the reservation under my name?”

“I… I didn’t think it would matter whose name was on it, I’m sorry.”

I pulled up the reservation. It was in the system, though I knew none of us had taken it. There were four adjoining rooms reserved, and one suite.

“Look, Elly, you are my maid of honor, you should always be thinking about what I need and want. That is your job.”

“Of course, Lindsey. I’ll be more careful.”

“Good. Now, I want to go to my room,” she turned back to me. “Are you done yet?”

I forced a smile,

“Of course, ma’am.”

Vincent emerged from the back, rolling a cart. I helped him load the luggage.

“Manny still on the roof?” I asked.

“Yeah, I said I would take care of any customers we got, so he wouldn’t have to climb down before he was done the repairs.”

“That’s nice of you.”

“Well, I don’t particularly want to go back up on that roof again, so it’s not entirely altruistic on my part.”

We finished loading the cart and I passed him the keys.

“I am going to go help our guest,” I nodded to Elly. “Get the rest of the bags, can you take the others up to their rooms?”

Vincent nodded,

“No problem,” he turned to the small group of women. “Please follow me, ladies.”

“About time!” Lindsey followed him to the stairs and her attendants trailed behind her.

I turned to the only remaining guest, Elly.

“If you show me to your car, I can help carry in the rest of your bags.”

“Thank you,” she smiled shyly. “It’s right this way.”

I followed her outside to the SUV that was parked in front of the building. She opened the door to reveal four more bags on the floor. I slung two over my shoulder with a grunt.

“This is quite a lot of baggage for a four-day reservation,” I observed.

“Well, we are heading straight from here to Vegas for the ceremony,” she explained. “And Lindsey wanted to make sure she was well prepared. It is her wedding, after all. I try to make things easier for her, but I always seem to mess it up. You saw.”

“I think perhaps they were a little hard on you. You shouldn’t have to do this on your own.”

“No!” she protested. “It isn’t like that. I want to help. She is my oldest friend. And Lindsey isn’t normally like this. It’s just the stress from the wedding planning. There is so much on her plate. It is such an honor that she trusts me to assist her, really.”

Honor was not the word I would use for how she was being treated, but it wasn’t really my business. I shouldn’t have said anything about it in the first place.

“Of course, I apologize. It isn’t my place to say.”

“No, no, it’s alright. I understand, it sometimes looks bad from the outside. My family doesn’t understand either. But, she is really so kind and patient with me. Like, do you know that she still asked me to be a bridesmaid, even though I wore glasses and they would ruin the aesthetic she planned for her wedding photos? She cares about me so much, she was willing to have me anyway,” she smiled brightly.

I blinked, confused,

“You aren’t wearing glasses, though.”

“Well, of course not! Lindsey obviously needed me to get laser eye surgery, so I wouldn’t ruin the pictures. But the fact that she even asked, that she would wait for me to be ready, she is so patient with me. And she never said anything about my glasses before that. Because she isn’t judgmental.”

I tried to keep a neutral expression on my face. The whispers rose in the back of my mind, but I wasn’t sure what they meant this time.

Delicious. An opportunity. Perfect.

I tried to ignore them,

“Let’s hurry, it wouldn’t do to keep your friends waiting.”

Elly’s face took on a panicked expression at the very idea. She grabbed the remaining two bags and hurried back towards the hotel.

That one worships the bride. Will see no flaw in her. Is that how Anthony saw you, right until the end?

I shook my head and rushed after her.

We arrived at room 402, bags in hand, to find that the party was already in full swing. Loud music pulsed through the door, and Elly’s knock went unanswered for a long moment. Finally, she pounded on the door again and the brunette opened it,

“Elly! Finally! Lindsey wants to pregame before we go to the spa. You have her green bag?”

“Right here, Sarah,” Elly nodded, holding up the smaller bag.

“Well hurry up, then. We only have an hour before our appointment,” Sarah pulled her into the room. “You can just leave the bags by the door and close it behind you,” she called over her shoulder to me.

I stepped into the entryway of the large suite and deposited the bags on the ground, then slipped out of the room. Vincent was waiting for me in the hallway,

“They asked me if we could get strippers for them. How am I supposed to answer that question?” he hissed.

“Depends, do you want to strip for them?” I asked, heading back down the stairs.

“No!”

“Ok, then I would tell them to check the hotel directory.”

“We have that?”

“Sure. It should be in the drawer under their phone. People can get basically anything they want from the directory.”

“Are the people that come… real?”

“Not usually. They are like the Masseur. Most people can’t tell the difference, though. So, it isn’t a real problem.”

“Ok, well, I guess I will let them know, then,” he chewed his lip, uncertain about that decision.

“I’m going to go down and start preparing the dining room. I am sure they will be by after their spa appointment.”

“Sounds good, see you down there.”

Dinner was an event. The party was raucous, and they kept Vincent, who was tending bar, extremely busy. The food was significantly less popular, so after I delivered the main course, I found myself searching for other jobs to do. It was evening, after all, and the voices in my head kept telling me I had not yet done enough to earn my room. I wasn’t sure they were being truthful, but I couldn’t take the risk. I offered to help Vincent, but he still seemed a little irritated by our earlier argument, and he told me he was fine by himself. I wasn’t too upset about it, the less time I had to spend serving Lindsey, the better. Still, I needed to keep busy, so I slipped out of the room and went to clean the bathrooms. I was in the stall, scrubbing one of the toilets, when I heard the door open.

“You brought more, right?” I heard Lindsey whisper, too loudly for the attempt to be meaningful.

“Of course, Lindsey,” Elly replied.

“Well, put it on the counter, then, hurry up.”

I heard plastic crinkle and a quick, sharp inhale.

“Good girl, Elly,” Lindsey breathed.

“I try.”

“I know.”

Curiosity got the best of me, and I peered through the crack in the door to see Lindsey caressing Elly’s face, stroking along her jaw. Elly reached out and gently brushed the white powder from Lindsey’s nose. Lindsey leaned in and kissed her, pushing her up against the counter. I quickly stepped back; I should not be seeing this, it was clearly private. I tried to stay quiet, hoping they wouldn’t notice me here, which was probably why I heard the click from a few stalls over. Someone was taking pictures. I suddenly had a feeling that things were about to get very messy. The vague jubilance of the whispers in the back of my mind probably had something to do with that. I did not want to get involved.

I had to wait for an interminable amount of time, until I heard everyone leave and I was alone in the bathroom. I emerged and returned to the dining room. Everyone was now back that the table, as if nothing had happened. I breathed a sigh of relief. That had been a close one. As I approached the bar, I heard a clinking and saw the bride climb unsteadily onto her chair, clinking her glass with her fork. I cringed as the metal clanked too hard on the fragile material, but it didn’t shatter.

“I have an announcement,” she declared, steadying herself with a hand on the back of the chair. “I want to make this toast to all of you, my closest, dearest friends. Alex, Sarah, Morgan, Elly, you are all like sisters to me, closer than blood, really. And I am sure you feel the same,” heads nodded around the table. “We have all been ride or die since college and I can’t imagine getting married without all of you there.”

Everyone at the table had their glasses raised in preparation for the toast.

“Which is why I am so disappointed,” Lindsey announced. “I wasn’t going to say anything, because I wanted this to be a fun weekend, but I can’t just sit here and celebrate with you, and hide how hurt I am by this betrayal. By the disrespect. I was supposed to be able to count on you. But what do I see when I check the crowdfunding site for my honeymoon tonight? The only one who has donated over $2000 is Elly,” Elly beamed. “The rest of you are throwing me pocket change,” she spun on Sarah, “is $800 the best you could do, Sarah?”

“Lindsey, come on. You know I lost my job last month. And I am spending a lot on the dress, the hair, the jewelry, the suite in Vegas, this weekend…”

“That’s enough excuses, you should have thought of that when you agreed to be my bridesmaid. And you,” she turned to Morgan, “$1200? You didn’t lose your job too, did you?”

“No, but Lindsey, you know, my kids…”

“Stop! This isn’t about your kids or your job or whatever excuse you have for only donating $500, Alex. This is about me. This is my special day and how can I be expected to enjoy it knowing I can’t even pay for my dream honeymoon? How could my best friends in the world betray me like that?”

“I mean, Linds, maybe you should scale back if you can’t afford…” Morgan began.

“You think I should compromise my dreams, Morgan?!” Lindsey rounded on her.

“That’s not what I…”

“Maybe I should just call the whole thing off, huh? You’d love that. Then maybe everyone would be just as bitter as you, ever since Jeff divorced you.”

Morgan’s face grew red,

“How could you…”

“Come on Morgan, you know she didn’t mean it that way…” Elly began.

“Like hell she didn’t!” Morgan rose and stormed out of the room.

Elly moved to follow, but Lindsey put a hand on her shoulder, and climbed down from the chair,

“Let her go, I don’t need unsupportive people around me,” she turned back to Sarah, “And you. You have done nothing but complain about how much everything costs. It isn’t my fault you lost your job; you should have an emergency fund for things like this.”

“For your wedding?”

“Yes! This is important and you agreed! Then you do nothing but complain about how expensive everything is. This weekend, the Vegas trip, the dresses, everything! It is sucking the fun out of my day.”

“God, Linds, have you always been such a selfish asshole, and I just didn’t notice?”

“If you are going to insult me, I don’t need you in my wedding!”

“Good, because I can’t imagine why I would want to be there in the first place.”

Sarah stormed out of the room. Leaving only Alex to face the bride’s ire. But she seemed unconcerned, even pleased, a slight smirk playing over her features.

“What do you have to say for yourself?” Lindsey put her hands on her hips.

“I think maybe you were onto something, when you said you should cancel the wedding.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that if you don’t cancel the wedding, and break up with Tim, I will show him what you were doing in the bathroom with Elly.”

“What?”

“Should I speak slower?” Alex pulled out her phone and turned the screen towards Lindsey. The bride’s face blanched.

“You were spying on us?”

“It’s the only reason I agreed to be a bridesmaid. I’m not stupid, I knew what was going on with you and Elly. I’ve been planning this ever since you stole Tim from me.”

“You can’t steal a person,” Lindsey scoffed. “He wanted me, not you.”

“We were together for 5 years, we were happy, before you. And he’ll want me again, once he knows you are cheating on him.”

“You wouldn’t dare show him this.”

“I will, if you don’t break it off yourself.”

“Fine, do it then! He won’t care. You’ll see.”

“Yeah, I will. In fact, maybe I will wait until I get to Vegas to tell him, so I can see his face. And so that I can be there to comfort him.”

Alex laughed and strolled out of the room, leaving Elly and Lindsey alone at the table. The bride picked up a wine glass and flung it, shattering it against the floor.

“It’s alright, Linds,” Elly said softly. “You don’t need him. You don’t need any of them. You could walk away from all of that. We could be together.”

“Be serious, Elly. I told you, we can still have fun on the side, but I am not cancelling my wedding and Tim is not leaving me. He’s going to be a baronet, you know, when his father finally dies. He has an estate. Don’t you want that for me, Elly? Don’t you want me to be happy?”

Elly nodded.

“Well then, come on, we need to figure out how to fix this.”

Lindsey strode out, Elly trailing behind her.

“What do you think is going to happen?” Vincent asked softly.

“I don’t know, but nothing good, that is clear enough. I wouldn’t count on all of them surviving the night. And we should probably get to our rooms, soon.”

Vincent nodded,

“Who do you think it will be? Maybe they will all kill the bride together, Murder on the Orient Express-style.”

“You never know. Anyway, let’s clean up so we can get to safety.”

I went looking for the broom, I had more broken glass to clean up. As I swept, Vincent looked up from cleaning up the bar.

“I figured out what you did, earlier, by the way.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I know you were dodging my question, back on the 4th floor,” he reached up to place a bottle on a high shelf. “You were deflecting. I asked if you were ok, and you made it about me, so you didn’t have to answer. But I can tell something is bothering you. Is it about Anthony? Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

I started to shake my head. It wasn’t about Anthony, not really, and I didn’t want to talk it, either. The voices rose in my head,

That’s right don’t trust him. He can only hurt you. Don’t let him get too close. Don’t let anyone get too close. If they learn what you are, what you did…

I was beginning to think there might actually be an advantage to this whole thing. I mean, they gave terrible advice, but that also meant if I did the opposite, it might be good advice, right?

“You’re right, Vincent, I am sorry. I did say I would tell you about Anthony, about what happened. If you really want to hear it.”

“I do.”

“Ok, but let’s clean and talk, we don’t have much time.”

“Fair enough.”

I started clearing the table, using it as an excuse to avoid looking at him as I spoke.

“I had two siblings, growing up. My older sister, Ronnie, and my younger brother, Anthony. He was only 11 months younger, and we were really close, as kids. We did everything together, even planned our futures together. We were both going to become archaeologists, and go on digs together around the world. It… didn’t work out.”

I fell silent for a moment.

“What happened?” he prompted softly.

“It was the day before I was supposed to go back, for my second year of university, and I decided I wanted to go on a hike together, before I left. He was nervous, because it was going to be getting dark soon, but we had hiked the trails near our parents’ house plenty of times, I thought it would be fine. I insisted and he didn’t want to disappoint me, so we went. Everything was fine, we hiked out, had a good time, talked about him coming to the university the next year. But on the way back, it started to get dark. I took a wrong turn, and we wandered a bit off the usual trail. It wasn’t that big of a deal, though, we just had to cross this rock ledge to get back to a section that took us home. We’d crossed it before, but we usually avoided it, because it was a bit unstable.

We should have gone back, gone around, but we didn’t want to be out there when night fell, so we crossed the ledge. We were almost to the other side, when the section we were on started to crumble. I lost my footing, and I would have fallen, but Anthony pushed me from behind, and I fell forward, onto the wider path in. When I looked back, Anthony and the rest of the ledge were gone. The fall was only maybe 20 or 30 feet, though, so I still thought he might be ok. Maybe a broken leg or something, but he would be ok. He had to be. I took the path down, to look for him.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to breathe. I didn’t want to say the next part out loud. Usually, I tried not to think about it at all. The whispers begged me to stop. So, I pressed on.

“When I found him, he was… well he was impaled on a broken tree, like the other night. He wasn’t dead, but he was speared through the stomach. There was so much blood. I think I knew right away that he was dying.”

“God, that is terrible, Lucy. But you know that wasn’t your fault, right? It was just an accident,” Vincent said softly.

“I don’t know about that. It was my idea to go out there, I made the wrong turn, he saved me, instead of himself.”

“Still…”

“Let me finish,” I interrupted, “that isn’t how I let him down. That isn’t why I feel guilty. Well, not the only reason, anyway. It was what happened next. He saw me there, my little brother, and he reached out his hand to me. He knew he was dying, he begged me to stay with him. Begged me not to let him die alone. I should have stayed, but I didn’t. I told him I was going to get help, I told myself that, too. But I am not sure that is the truth. At least, not the whole truth. I think I was afraid to watch him die. So, I ran away. By the time we got back there, it was too late. Anthony died alone in the dark. Because of me. And nothing I do can ever change that. I can never take it back. I can never make it right. And I can never let it go, because it would mean letting him go.”

There was a long moment of silence.

“Lucy, I am so sorry,” Vincent said at last.

“Yeah, well,” I shrugged. “Now you know. We should get to our rooms.”

I turned to leave before he could see the tears, but paused, just for a moment, as I reached the door.

“Thanks for listening, Vincent.”

I tossed and turned in my bed all that night. There had been something cathartic about talking about Anthony, at the time. But now the voices in my head were so loud I wasn’t sure I would ever sleep again. Reminding me of how I had failed him. How he had suffered, alone. How one of the last things he ever saw was my back, as I ran from him. A cascade of overlapping recriminations washed over me all night. Finally, as the watery light of dawn started to seep through my curtains and a dozen voices all talked over each other about how irredeemable I was in a barely intelligible jumble, I couldn’t take anymore.

“If you are going to talk, at least do it one at a fucking time!” I shouted to no one in particular.

To my surprise, absolute silence followed. I hadn’t heard true silence in over a week. For a moment, I didn’t even move. What had happened? Were they… gone? And then, as if responding directly to my thoughts, I heard:

Yes. They are gone. It’s just you and me, now.

I swallowed hard. I couldn’t imagine that this was an improvement. The one thing I was sure of, was that talking to it would be a bad idea.

Well, that’s just rude. You asked for this, after all. And now you aren’t even going to chat?

The voice was deep and sonorous, and it almost seemed to be pouting, though I couldn’t really tell if it was sarcastic or not. I had just decided to studiously ignore its presence and hope it went away, when I heard the scream. I would have to revisit whatever fresh hell this was at a later date. I threw on my uniform, and headed for the stairs. When I reached the 4th floor, Vincent was already there, trying to understand whatever a babbling and sobbing Elly was trying to say. Morgan and Sarah stood off to one side, talking quietly to each other.

“She was fine last night, and it was… Everything was… it’s too terrible,” Elly broke down in sobs again.

I approached them, catching Vincent’s eye. He stepped away and we moved to the side a bit.

“What happened?” I asked.

“She’s dead,”

“Lindsey?”

“No, the other one, Alex. It looks like she was smothered, there was a pillow over her face.”

“Oh, that makes sense. Blackmail is a strong motive.”

“So, it must have been the bride, then, right? You think she is already possessed and has left?”

“Hard to say…”

Of course not, the voice in my mind returned. They don’t want her.

Before I could even address that thought, the bride in question burst from her room, face a mask of fury.

“Are you people serious? Making this much noise, right outside my room, at this ungodly hour? I will be making a complaint,” her eyes fell on me. “Oh, the staff is in on it, too? Is this how you run a hotel? This is absolutely the worst experience…”

“Lindsey,” Elly interrupted, grabbing her arm. “It’s Alex, someone killed her last night!”

Lindsey froze for a moment, then covered her face with her hand. She didn’t look upset, or horrified, or even guilty. She actually looked, annoyed?

“Oh, you stupid little…” Lindsey pinched the bridge of her nose. “What would possess you to do something so dumb, Elly?”

“What? Linds, I didn’t…”

“Don’t lie to me, Elly.”

“I’m sorry, I… I thought it would help you, Lindsey. I thought I was protecting you. Why are you upset with me? Isn’t this what you wanted?”

“Of course not,” she rolled her eyes. “This is the last thing I wanted. I could have handled Alex. She would have done what I said, eventually. And even if she showed him, Tim would have believed whatever I told him. He always does. It was inconvenient, but I could have dealt with it. Now you have created a messy, public scandal. What do you think will happen when the police look into this, huh Elly? When they find the photos and the video?”

“I destroyed her phone.”

“She had it backed it up to the cloud, dipshit,” Lindsey sighed in frustration. “If they find that, they’ll probably think I did it.”

“I would never let that happen, I will confess!”

“Obviously. And you are going to have to lie to them about why, because I won’t have you dragging my name through the mud over this,” Lindsey sniffed. “I can’t believe this, after all I have done for you, you try and ruin my wedding? I am going to be down two bridesmaids, now. What will I tell people?”

“I did it for you, please don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad, I am just done with you, Elly. I can’t believe I wasted so much of my time on you,” she turned to the others. “Morgan, Sarah, grab my bags, we are leaving.”

“Leaving? But Lindsey,” Sarah began.

“No buts,” Lindsey snapped. “If we stay here until the police arrive, they will probably keep us here for days, we might miss the wedding. No, we need to leave before they get here.”

“What about me?” Elly asked softly.

“You stay here and wait for the police and confess when they get here, so they don’t come after us,” Lindsey instructed in a strangely casual way.

“Will you come and visit me, after the wedding?”

“Of course not,” Lindsey’s face twisted in disgust. “You killed my friend in cold blood, I can’t be seen visiting you. You and I are done. For good.”

At this, Elly collapsed to the floor, her tears suddenly genuine and frantic,

“No, you can’t leave me, Lindsey. I can’t live without you. Please. I thought you loved me?”

“Loved you? You were convenient, Elly. You were useful. You have ceased to be both,” Lindsey shrugged.

The other girls returned with the bags and the trio headed for the stairs.

“Should we try and stop them?” Vincent asked quietly.

“Nope,” I replied.

As they disappeared from sight, Elly wailed on the floor, gradually curling in on herself, mumbling about how she couldn’t go on without Lindsey. Finally, she fell silent, her eyes hollow, like all the tears had emptied her out. And that was when they flickered, black bleeding from the pupils until it filled the iris, then the whites. She rose slowly from the ground and turned to us. The eyes passed over Vincent before landing on me, they studied me for a moment, then a cruel smile spread across her face,

“You missed an opportunity. This will be magnificent.”

It sounded like she was mocking me, but I wasn’t sure what she meant.

I seized my opportunity already, the voice in my head seemed to respond to her directly.

Elly tossed back her head and laughed,

“We’ll see who got the better deal, I suppose,” when she looked back down, her eyes seemed normal again. “Maybe I’ll even see you out there, eventually.”

Then she turned and headed down the stairs.

“What the hell was that about?” Vincent stared at me.

“I have no idea.”

It wasn’t even really a lie.

“Well, we had better get things cleaned up, I guess. The body is in here,” Vincent opened the door and entered the room and I began to follow.

Aren’t you tired of all this?

I paused in the now empty hallway.

“I am tired of a lot of things. For one, I am sick of you, already.”

That is hurtful. You asked for one at a time, so here I am, just one. You could show a little gratitude. After all, I am here to help you.

“Yeah, I completely believe that,” I muttered.

No need for sarcasm. I truly do want to help you. I mean, you are trapped here, so am I. We both want to leave, right?

I nodded in spite of myself.

Exactly! I can make that happen, easily, it purred. We just have to make a little deal. How about it?

“I…” I hesitated.

Maybe… No. I wasn’t that stupid or that desperate. I wasn’t going to be making any deals with a demon, because really, what else could this be?

“I don’t need your help, I can find my own way out.”

Sure, you can. It is going great so far, the demon chuckled.

“All I have to do is come to terms with…”

Come on, it cut me off. If you were capable of that, you would have done it in the decade plus since it happened, when you were surrounded by support and family and friends. You really think you are going to manage it here*? Surrounded by humanity at it’s worst, by death and loss?* It laughed dismissively. But go ahead and try, if you want. I can be patient. I’ll be here, whenever you are finally ready to deal.

The voice fell silent, and I found that I was shivering, despite the warmth of the hallway.

“Are you coming?” Vincent poked his head out of the room. “I can’t move her on my own.”

“Right, sorry,” I followed him into the room. At least cleaning would be a distraction.

So, hopefully you can see my dilemma. I was never really interested in the supernatural, in my old life, but I am pretty sure you are not supposed to make deals with demons. On the other hand, I think it might be right. I don’t think I will ever be able to leave here on my own. Maybe, there is a way I could negotiate something that wouldn’t be so bad? Maybe. Except, well, the voice has been quiet, since we last talked in the hallway this morning, but I think it can tell whenever I consider negotiating. It feels… eager. That doesn’t really seem like a good sign. I think I am going to have to put some more thought into this. So, I will end here, for now. At least it is quiet. Maybe I will be able to get some sleep.

Until next time,

Lucy

Part 6