Dice Roll
Boots, 7.
Die once, shame on me. Die twice, shame on you
At first it was darkness — pure darkness — but as his light eyes adjusted it became apparent he had been tossed into an abandoned room somewhere still within the complex. After such a dramatic event he expected to wake up in another dimension. Thin, almost skeletal fingers rubbed at the nape of his neck as Nat glanced around the peeling paint on the walls revealing the aged wood beneath it. If he imagined hard enough he could envision a time when Mythos Complex wasn’t a horror house and maybe even had a landlord who cared about its upkeep.
In the time it took him to glance over at his shoulder to confirm Xan had healed it and back to facing forward a ghostly figure appeared. This presence was not knew to him, even though he was not a resident here. Truth be told, prior to today he had refused to step anywhere near this place because he could feel the evil emanating from it. However, he was not one to deny the pleading of a friend.
The entity before him was none other than Katie. They had met when he ventured down into the depths of the basement before. There were many spirits whose souls were trapped here, but she was special solely for one reason: she chose to stay. Despite the monsters tormenting her and older ghosts poking their fun Katie remained in Mythos Complex of her own freewill. When she cried night after night it was an attempt to scare the residents away and because of the immense pain she was in by remaining here. Ultimately, when it came down to it, her reason for staying was solely to protect one individual.
“He isn’t safe…” the young woman spoke softly, her voice cracking in the middle of her sentence. The soft red hue of her eyes made it evident she had been crying for sometime. “The tsuchigumo got him… there’s nothing I can do… Why… didn’t he leave…?”
As Noah desperately clung onto the being whom appeared to be Cait there was no movement. Her eyes faded and lifeless while they remained unfocused on anything. It wasn’t until he let go and made his way towards Bridget that she finally stirred. The movement was subtle. A twitch here or a shake there. All of it was minor and unnoticeable without having your focus solely on her. The attention was away from her and she couldn’t have that. After all, this was her grand entrance.
An eerie, toothy grin crept over her features almost unnaturally as her head ever so slowly tilted to the left.
“A tsuchigumo is here? They must have gotten desperate… Surely there was not one before…” Nat mumbled to himself, not fully understanding why it was Katie had been bothered so. He was never very people smart, even if he did genuinely care for them.
“There’s nothing I can do…. There’s nothing I can do…” she slapped her palms over her eyes, shaking her head vigorously.
“Only they can save themselves,” Xan slunk out from behind Nat, revealing himself to Katie. Her fearful reaction as she slunk back was expected due to the fact he had not been visible to her when Nat had ventured down into the basement in the morning. Having him hidden was a tactic to avoid suspicion from the monsters lest they feel the paranormal expert had come down here to cause them any harm. Thus, naturally he expected her to be on edge; certainly she expected him to be no better than any of the other creatures residing here. “It does not amaze me the amount he will do to complete this ritual.”
Her eyes rolled back into focus as the figure of Katie laughed. It was a crescendo laugh as it gradually; and steadily got louder and more bizarre. The longer it went on the more evident the entity had snapped and whatever it was before was no longer. All could hear her skin cracking as it began to expand and rip within a matter of minutes.
“I have to save him… I have to help him… I can’t let him become…” Katie peered down at her open palms, shaking uncontrollably. “…me…” Rivers streamed down her white, translucent skin. She no longer tried to fight off the tears; after being trapped in this form for so long she stopped caring.
Nat’s brows furrowed and then he smiled, “You know… a lot of spirits in your position would actually desire for their loved ones to die so they can stop being alone. You are pretty admirable with how much you want to save him.”
“I need to save him…” she brought her hands tightly to her chest with her head hung low. “He’s saved me… countless times… but I’m so useless… I can’t… do anything…” The slivers of tears expand thickly along her cheeks, gritting her teeth. “If… it wasn’t for him… I never would have made it this far…”
Several years ago when Katie was initially checking out Mythos Complex she had a tall, bulky man beside her. At the time he was her fiancé and they were looking for a place to stay as they bounced between houses. Continuously he insisted he would buy Katie her dream house, though she knew it was unlikely he would; Hector never followed through with any of his promises.
Even as a child Katie was rather frail and it followed her into adulthood. Barely hitting a doorknob on the way out could cause massive swelling wherever it hit. Maybe it was why she didn’t mind the bruises and cuts dawned on her features. She received beatings from him so often it became apart of her appearance. There wasn’t a day where her body was free from the abuse.
No one questioned it. Holly was too nice to bring up her personal affairs, though she worried; this was the attitude of most people she ran into. Others either deemed it not their business or didn’t care, but Noah was different. He didn’t buy into her fake stories and he didn’t ignore Hector’s screaming that occasionally echoed the halls. Numerous times he stopped her in the hall in some attempt to get her to admit it was her fiancé who caused all of her wounds, but she slunk into silence, darted her eyes, and scurried off before he could see her cry.
One night Hector had gotten especially violent, beating her into a corner. She was silently weeping to herself as she kept in her tight ball in some attempt to lessen the blows and imagine herself somewhere else. Because of this she barely made out what happened next, but suddenly the hitting stopped. Was he done for the night?
Even if he was she remained in this position in case he changed his mind and swung. She was startled when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump in fright. Katie stared wide-eyed like a deer caught in headlights at none other than Noah and Hector was nowhere to be found.
Though her mouth parted she failed to utter any words to him. The trembling of her body caused her lips to quiver. He wrapped his arms around her as if somehow it may calm her down, but what truly amazed her and always remained in her memory of this day were the words spoken which finally broke the silence.
“Beaten, broken, battered, or bruised. I will always be here to save you.” It was the first and last time he ever spoke those words. Katie figured it was because he sounded like a cheesy super hero and felt a bit embarrassed by it. However, he stuck true to his word and it forever resonated with her.
The beast’s true form was revealed as the outer layering that was the shell of Katie ripped off violently, cascading down to the floor like a reptile’s old skin. In her place was an enormous, black spider; and as the eyes of the party members’ adjusted they could see the webbing behind her and around the room. What they had fallen into was none other than the tsuchigumo’s nest.
Without hesitation the creature lunged forward towards Noah and Bridget. In a fast, swinging motion a leg sped down and separated the two of them, flinging Noah behind the spider creature and into its web. Bridget was sent flying the other direction, smashing her spine against the jagged, concrete wall. The tsuchigumo pressed down hard with her feet against Bridget, though not hard enough to break any of her bones; she just made it evident she could if she wanted to. “You’ll be next…” the creature snickered, then made its way back over to Noah.
The tsuchigumo pressed down with enough force against Noah’s stomach to puncture it, blood seeping down along his waist line. “It never ceases to amaze me how much love truly blinds fleshlings,” she twisted her leg around his wound as she snickered.
“I… I can’t let him die!” Katie announced as she turned and sped through the wall behind her.
“N—No! Wait!” But she was already gone. “Oh… gosh… no! Xan, you have to take me to where she is going. I cannot let her do this.” Nat veered his head around to lock eyes with his companion, pleading to move along.
Xan shook his head. “I cannot let you interfere any further.”
“If I don’t touch the demon it won’t count. I just want to stop her. Please… She…” He begged, swinging himself onto his knees as he clasped his hands together. Nat pressed his forehead against his thumbs. “Please, Xan, please… You know the consequences if she fails…”
The entire time Boots remained frozen in the corner farthest from the monster. All she could manage to do was state as her heart raced and she failed to will her body to move. Was this the end for them? There were no exits and this creature didn’t desire a riddle to be solved. Clearly all it wanted was bloodlust. They had managed to fall right into its trap; this was its domain. “H—Howl…”
Right above her hooded head Katie’s head phased through the wall. The only reaction from Holly was her eyes moved, following wherever the spirit girl went. As she headed towards the creature she only became more and more bewildered. In life she was such a fearful, klutzy girl, yet here Katie was in this claustrophobia inducing room with a gigantic spider bent on destroying them.
She sped into the room, immediately going towards the web where Noah was. In swift motions nearly invisible to the naked eye she managed to cut the webbing which kept him trapped and pulled him down beneath it all away from the tsuchigumo. Gently she set him in the corner underneath the white netting with a soft smile on her face. “Noah…” her eyes welled up as she bit down on her bottom lip. A transparent hand delicately trailed along his cheek, and then she kissed the top of his head. Lastly Katie leaned in beside his ear and whispered, “Beaten, broken, battered, or bruised… This time I’ll save you.”
Behind her the tsuchigumo was growing restless, reaching its legs in to tear apart its own web. Katie turned to face it with no fear apparent upon her expression. Within the blink of an eye the spirit girl flew through creature’s abdomen. A bright light filled the room, blinding all who were in it; and once it subsided she was gone and the creature laid motionless on the floor.
Nat barely phased through the wall when Katie shot herself through the gigantic spider. Beneath him his knees buckled causing him to hit the floor as all he could do was watch.
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