Sshh, Be Quiet

“Can I think about it?” Brian asked.

“You have one minute to decide.”

Brian’s thoughts raced, and knew that if he made the selfish decision that he couldn’t live with himself, but a free chance to stay alive without a struggle was a tempting offer. The two choices were racing towards the finish line, each fighting with the other for dominance.

“Well?”

“Matt, you have to listen to me, I know you’re still in there,” Brian said calmly. “You’re still in there, and you can hear me. Just listen to my voice and fight this thing that’s taken over you.”
The singer twitched a brief second, and his eyes appeared to return to normal. As fast as that had happened, his eyes darkened again, and he resumed the threatening stance. He crossed his arms across his chest. “I told you, he can’t hear you.”

“Yes he can. I just saw him. Matt I know you can hear me. Fight for your life back. Fight this fucking thing that invaded your mind.”

Matt’s body twitched again, and Brian knew he was trying to fight it. Whatever this thing was wasn’t going to give up easily though. “Hmm, I see you’ve made your decision. I’ll go find them myself, because I know they’re in the basement.”

“They’re not!” Brian replied quickly. “They ran upstairs while you were in here murdering one of your best friends.”

Matt grinned as he went for the stairs. Brian was in disbelief that the lie actually worked. As soon as the singer was out of sight, Brian sprinted back to the basement, shuffling around to find anything to use as a weapon.

“Stephanie, Lisa, come here. It’s Brian,” he whispered.


The two girls joined Brian outside of the hiding spot. Lisa looked at him questioningly, wondering where Zack was, but Stephanie knew already.

“Matt's upstairs, he has the gun. We need to find anything to start a fire. We’ll burn the house down to get out of here if that’s what it takes.”

The three of them searched around for a few moments before Stephanie found a small container of lighter fluid. She doused a rag with it while Brian tried to get a flame on his lighter. Many failed attempts just brought out more frustration. Frustration in Brian seeing as he just saw one of his best friends murdered a few moments prior.

“Damnit, all I need is one fucking spark,” he said.

“Umm, guys?” Lisa asked.

“Hold on,” Brian snapped, still trying to get a spark.

“Brian?”

He ignored Lisa as Stephanie took the lighter and also tried to get it to spark. “It's not working,” she said.

“Will you guys shut the fuck up and listen!?” she whispered.

Brian and Stephanie both looked at Lisa, then listened. Footsteps right above them. Matt was in the kitchen.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Brian cursed, still trying to get a spark. “He doesn’t run after us, so if he starts-” Brian was cut off by the footsteps at the basement entrance. “Go over there,” he pointed behind the water heater. “There’s a staircase that goes to the second floor. Go now.”

Both girls ran, and disappeared up the stairs. As Matt descended into the basement, Brian began to get sparks, trying to catch the soaked rag with one to get a flame. As if a miracle happened, the rag caught a spark and a small fire lit. He held the rag for a bit to make sure the fire would stay lit. After stuffing the lighter in his pocket, he grabbed the bottle of the flammable fluid.

“You lied,” the voice said. “Where the fuck are they?”

“They’re upstairs now,” Brian said, still holding the flaming rag. The fire crept towards his flesh as he slowly sidestepped towards the hidden staircase. “So come on, give me your best shot,” he challenged, biting back the pain as the flame began to burn his hand.

Matt, showing no fear to the fire, stepped slowly towards Brian, knowing that he was in severe pain. The faint smell of burning flesh drifted through the basement. Brian couldn’t handle the pain anymore, and when he knew he was safe enough to make it to the stairs, he threw the rag, quickly soaking it in the flammable liquid. The small fiery explosion was enough of a distraction to let Brian run up the stairs. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes as the pain raced through his hand, up his arm.

“Stephanie? Lisa? Where are you guys?”

“Over here,” Lisa faintly said from the room she once stayed in.

He went into the room to find them sitting on a bed. His hand was now bleeding from the burns, and he knew he needed to wrap it. He motioned for one of the pillowcases, and upon retrieval, he wrapped it around his burnt hand.

“The basement is on fire. Hopefully it stays lit and gets us a way out of here. Just relax for a few moments.”

“What if he comes up from the living room and traps us between here and the other stairs to the basement?” Lisa asked.

“We'll figure something out. Just relax. How are you feeling?” He asked, noticing that she was bleeding through the bandages.

“A little lightheaded, but I'll make it.”

They sat there for a moment, listening for any signs of Matt coming after them while hoping that he didn’t put the fire out. There wasn’t much in the basement that was usable to put it out. Minutes passed with silence. Their hope had risen when the smoke smell began to float around.

“Come on, we’re going downstairs to wait for our opportunity,” Brian said.

He went to the door and opened it to come face to face with Matt. He wasn’t wearing the usual sadistic grin. Instead he wore the look of anger. His skin was blackened slightly by the smoke.

“You’ll pay for that lie,” the voice said as he grabbed Brian by the throat.

“No!” Both girls shouted, knowing they had to react quickly to help Brian, or the three of them would be dead.

Notes