"Bump in the Night" Part 6
Scene #6: Separation Anxiety
Adam and Geist turned to leave the basement, afraid that Kendra was still somewhere nearby, when Adam noticed a faint light coming from the corner. He went towards it and ran his hand across the stonework, causing a secret passage to swing open. The brightly lit tunnel had a thick, undisturbed layer of dust on the ground, indicating that no-one had been this way in some time.
“Quick, let’s use this way. At least we know Kendra won’t be waiting for us,” Adam said, stepping quickly through the passageway. Geist went to follow but the door suddenly slid shut. No matter what they tried from either side they couldn’t find a way to re-open it.
While Geist was still in the basement and Adam was wandering down a newly found passage, Patrick was upstairs trying different doors looking for his room and Kendra was barricading herself in a small storage room off the gallery.
Nathan Grey had given up on this adventure. He’d returned to the main lobby with the express interest of making his escape from the mansion turned blood bath. After repeated attempts to barge open the thick heavy doors he started turning out drawers and knocking over ornaments trying to find a key.
Suddenly he stopped his search, shocked at what he’d found. Tucked in the drawer of a sideboard at the base of the stairs was a small six-shooter pistol. With the gun in his hand he suddenly felt much safer. He was prepared for the killer if they made a move.
While thinking about this turn of events, Nathan Grey was struck from behind with a heavy brass clock lifted from the items he’d left littered around the room. The killer had taken advantage of Grey’s distraction to sneak into the room, pick up the object and bury the sharp, heavy corners into his skull killing his instantly. The killer picked up the gun and slipped it through the letterbox in the door where it splashed into a puddle outside.
It's voting time! Down to four people - keep writing the story and make your votes nice a clear!
OldKingClancy as Adam McAllister, Journalism Student
Anakin as Kendra Lowe, aspiring Actress
Speederice as Professor Speed R. Geist, Paranormal Investigator
TJLunsford as Patrick Irving, Freelance Journalist
goNADSgo69 as Beau Wyndell, coffee shop employee
Rebellion_Reborn as Johnny Calloway, SFX Artist
Psycho-Pirate-99 as Nathan Grey, Psychiatrist
The Bodygaurd as Oliver Flynn, Therapist
and G-Funk as W.G. Funkhauser, Billionaire
Angry
The Professor bit his lip when the stone wall closed behind Adam. Was this another one of Funkhauser's traps, or something deliberately placed by the killer? Someone didn't want the two of them working together anymore. "H-h-hold on son! I'm going to try to get you out!" His hands tried to replicate the places on the wall where Adam had touched, searching for a groove or button, but it wouldn't budge. He didn't like the idea of being separated from his only ally in the mansion, and the Professor felt more scared and alone than he had all night. "No more." He said to himself, returning to the room where pieces of Kendra's chair were still lying on the ground. He picked up a piece with barbed wire on the end, groaning at the weight. "I can't keep relying on others to help me survive this night. Just hang in there, Adam." The Professor followed the stone wall further down into the basement. His first priority was to find Adam, but if Kendra or one of the others showed up first, he was ready.
Patrick had given up finding his room. None of the doors upstairs were unlocked, and he was starting to get hungry. He remembered the foot set out in the lobby and began to head that way. As he got there he discovered a trail of blood leading through a door at the back of the room. It looked like someone had been dragged across the floor. He also noticed a fully-loaded pistol on the side of the stairs. At least he would be prepared for whatever he found when the trail of blood ended.
Kendra came out of the room and took a look around. The coast seemed to be clear. She took a deep breath, clucthed the iron pipe and headed towards the staircase. On the third floor the house appeared to be not as looked after as the lower floors. Cobwebs and ancient furnature decorated the floor. She opend the door at the far end of the hallway. A staircase leading up to what must be the attic. She took a look around to make sure she wasn't being followed and headed up the stairs...
Adam kept walking closer to the light, slowly but surely he mad it to the end of the dark passage where he found himself behind a bookcase in the study. He froze as the door opened, in front of him Patrick walked into the study, holding a gun. Luckily he couldn't see Adam but he was looking for something. Adam followed Patrick's gaze to the floor, there was a blood trail. Somebody had been killed, did Patrick kill them?
No, why would Patrick be following his own blood trial, Adam needed to clear his mind, he needed to focus. He needed to find Kendra and get that murderous bitch to confess.
The Professor stumbled along the stone walls looking for a way into the room where Adam was being held. The basement was like a maze and with each dead end, the Professor worried that he would lose himself down here. Reaching the far end of a long corridor, the Professor leaned against the wall, exhausted when a heavy iron gate closed behind him. The floor gave a shudder and began to rise - an old elevator! But where was it taking him? After a few moments, the room stopped, the gate clanged open - and the Professor was face-to-face with Kendra herself in the attic.
Kendra spun around at the sound of the Professors arrival. She let out a smalls gasp and took three steps back. Holding the iron pipe out in front of her she continued to back away. "Are you going to kill me?" she asked. The Professor shook his head, his eyes kept going from her paniced face to the iron pipe. "No" she sighed "Of course your not...because the killer is Adam and he's trying to frame me."
Patrick realized someone was behind him, but he kept following the trail of blood waiting for the person to make a move. He hoped it wasn't the Professor, as he was almost sure he was the one behind these crazy murders.
A-A-Adam?" The Professor stammered his eyes moving from Kendra's face to the iron pipe in her hand. "Trying to frame you? The only person who's been framing other people is YOU. Like with Johnny..." The Professor shook his head, tracing back everything that Adam and him had gone through to this point. Adam was the one who told him about Kendra and Johnny, if he WAS setting someone up... "Y-y-you're just trying to turn me against him! He's been the only honest person in this place. What makes you think I can trust you?
Adam realised that if he needed to get out and the only way was through the bookcase. But with Patrick holding a gun and everyone on edge he needed to be careful. Adam stepped back from the bookcase in case Patrick freaked out and shot him. In a loud voice Adam spoke. "Patrick. It's Adam, I'm behind the bookcase. Don't shoot me I'm coming out."
Ah, so it's you who's been hiding back there, good. Let me see if I can get you out." Patrick starts pulling books looking for a switch to open the passageway. "Listen, you're the only person I trust in this mansion. We need to stick together if we want to make it out alive.
Kendra went to speak but stopped herself. He'd obviously seen her and Johnny in the libarary. She decided to come clean. She looked him in the eye. No bull shit. "Look. I thought if I was messed up I could use you and the others for protection. It wasn't one of my finest moments but I swear to you. I. AM. NO. KILLER." Her eyes steady. No tears. No act. All seriousness. "Adam is setting me up. I don't know why. I swear to you I havent even been around when most of these bodies have been pileing up." She held up her bloody wrists. "I've been locked in the basement. Tied to a chair." She tossed the pipe at the professors feet. He jumped as it clanged to the floor. "I just wanna find the fucker and put a stop to this. Take the weapon. You can trust me." She didn't need it anyway. If she got her hands on the killer she'd claw his fucking face off...
Adam waited as Patrick moved some books, finally he pressed a button and the bookcase slid open. "Thanks." He said. "Listen we need to find Kendra and the professor. The four of us are all that are left and as much as I hate it, one of us is the Killer. I don't think it's you, I know it's not me and I'm fairly certain it's Kendra. But we need all of us in one room to keep an eye on each other."
It took a moment for the Professor to process what was going on in front of him. Kendra, who to this point, he had been sure was the killer...laying down her weapon, and looking him in the eye and asking for his trust. Was it because he was the weakest left in the house? But one detail didn't make any sense with the rest of Kendra's story - she wasn't locked in a chair when the Professor and Adam came down to release her - she had escaped or...perhaps she had allowed people to see what they wanted. Fine - if she wanted to be an actress, if she enjoyed setting people up, then the Professor would have to play along. He kicked aside the iron pipe so that it slid beneath a bookcase. "I never thought I'd say this...but I think I can trust you, Kendra. I found this elevator here, we need to go back down and find the others. Maybe we can find Patrick and warn him, then come up with a plan for Adam." In truth, he hoped to find Adam and warn him first! Kendra was setting him up now!
Kendra gave the professor and wink and a smile and picked the pipe back up. "I'll keep hold of this...in case we need it. Let's go". She and the professor stepped into the elevator and the doors closed.
The Professor took a step away from Kendra as she picked up the pipe, and the elevator doors closed. 'Just have to keep her talking, try and survive by distracting her,' he thought to himself. "So, what makes you think that Adam is the killer? I know Patrick and I were talking in the kitchen when he found you downstairs in the basement...b-b-but he didn't leave you down there! He warned us that you were there and even came back to help you." The Professor was trying to reason things out in his own mind as well. He still wasn't convinced that Kendra didn't tie those binds herself, but if he tipped her off to his suspicions, she may try to kill him then and there.
"I don't think Adam is the killer. I know he is." She took a breath. "After the first murder I was attacked in the hallway down the basement. I got lucky and escaped." The professor was looking at her expectantly 'so'? "There was this smell that I noticed. This cheap aftershave. I'd smelt it before and I then later on when I was tied to the chair. It was when Adam came into the room. It was his aftershave. He's the only one wearing it." She gave him a satisfied smile and the doors to the elevator sprung open as it came to a stop.
A noise from the basement caught Adam and Patrick's attention. Adam put down his candlestick and replaced it with a fire-poker, it was lighter so he would be able to attack quicker plus it had a sharp point. Adam turned to Patrick. "Follow me, that's probably just the Professor in the basement but let's be careful just in case." The two of them walked slowly down the hallway towards the basement.
Adam started to panic. He was trapped, in the dark, with no way out. His mind raced through so many thoughts how had the door shut, was it an accident. Or had the professor shut him in. No, that was ridiculous, the professor had been his only friend through all this. But even now Adam was having his doubts. As his mind began to clear Adam spotted a thin ray of light, with one hand feeling the cold stone wall and the other still gripped tightly around the candlestick he walked slowly towards the light.
Was that voices he heard in the distance?