The First Descent I (Lim)

~Interior, 11:56 PM~

"What do we do now?" I tried the patio door again and it was unyielding like before. I took out my phone and stared at the now cracked screen. No signal.

"We need to find the stair before Kirana wakes up and wander around. I don't think being split would be good right now."

I sighed. All because of a stupid scholarship. How do we even know the thing that attacked is the only thing roaming around?

There's also the sinister ancient camera lying on the ground. Its design was strange, old and something I've never seen before. And the fact that it made the thing hurt when I used it to capture its image made it even more terrifying.

"-Lim..."

I shook my head, "Sorry, what?"

"You should take it. From what I see, it repelled the... ghost. Or whatever the thing is."

"No, why don't you hold it? I-I'm terrible at using cameras. You know I can't deal with things like this too much."

"Yes. Did you see what I did before? I couldn't do anything and was useless. At least you can still do something despite being scared. You have to take it if you want us to survive."

I took a deep breath. I had always hated it when Vincent was the one doing the correcting. He were always right most of the time. In class or groupworks or quizzes. And he probably would be right again tonight.

So I picked it up with trembling hand. Expecting something terrible to jump at my face but I was lucky nothing happened. It felt cool to touch and a little heavy. My skin prickled with unease.

"Are you ready then?" Vincent said.

I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breathe, "As I'll ever be."

We retraced our steps toward the winding corridor, where we found the ominous warning. It remained the same like it was before- quiet, dusty, dark and empty. Devoid of life.

I tried the door on each side. Both creaked open with ease, revealing two similar square space that I guessed used to be bedrooms. There were dirty clothes splayed on the ground but aside from that, there were nothing worth looking.

So we moved further. There were more doors upfront, 5 in total. We checked each door before going to next one and they all bear resemblance with each other- small, empty square rooms. Some of them had a broken down wooden 'closets', the type which are opened by sliding the door to the side.

"This place probably used to be an inn. Look at the room designs. They're matching." Vincent remarked from behind.

Which was exactly what I was thinking.

The last door at the end of the corridor proved to be the one we were looking for. It revealed a narrow space that led downstairs. Narrow space.

I stared at Vincent. Beads of sweats had formed at his face and he sucked in a deep breathe.

"Will you be okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." He gulped, "I've been seeing therapist. I shouldn't have a panic attack in small spaces now."

"All right. Keep close to me."

He nodded. We took the first short flight of stairs leading down as relaxed as we could. Vincent lied. He was shaking slightly, and the light from the flashlight that he shone ahead of us wavered along with his trembling hand.

It was about 10 steps down that we reached a corner, the stairs leading further down but to the right. I started to worry. The stairs stretched so far below that I couldn't see the ground level. It's a long way down. He could faint halfway through.

"Vincent... I'm sorry."

"I-It'll be fine. I can do it. We have no choice." He stuttered.

And like always, he was right, "Hold my hand, if you want to stop, we'll stop for awhile."

That was the only reassurance I could give him. The bad new? Kirana was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't a high drop when she fell through the floor. If she'd woken earlier than we thought...

I shook my head. It's bad.

"C-come on, Vincent. Let's go down."

With my right hand holding the camera as tight as I could and Vincent grasping my left hand like a lifeline, we started our descend.

His palm holding mine was covered with cold sweats.

Clack. Clack. Clack. Our footsteps echoed through the stairways as our shoes made contact with the concrete surface of the stairs. We took our steps slowly, and then increased our paces as time passes.

With every steps, Vincent's hold on my hand grew tighter. His breathing grew ragged and unstable.

After about 30 steps I still haven't seen the bottom floor. Cold chills washed over me.

How could the stairs be this long?

We started to descend faster, 2 steps then 6. Then 10. Then another 5 steps for safe measure. Still nothing. We were nowhere near the bottom. It stretched and stretched below, and the camera's little light glowed bright blue.

Something was wrong. And Vincent's grip were weakening. So I stopped and helped him sit on the stair. He sucked for breath, his chest rapidly rising and falling.

"Look at me and try to relax." I set the camera aside and took the flashlight from his grip, "I'm with you."

He nodded weakly and shut his eyes for a moment as he held my hand. And I realized something that made my hair stand on end.

I took the flashlight and shone it behind Vincent to make sure.

"Let's go back up."

Vincent gave me a dumb look but nodded. I helped him stand up, took the camera and the flashlight that I've set aside and we goes back up to the top of the stairs in under 15 steps, with me shouldering him.

And the camera's little filament stopped glowing blue.