Chapter 21: Somebody Else

There was a knock at the door. No response. Riba listened for anything on the other side. Nothing. He had been told Rosa never left the servant's quarters during the ritual preparation. Only Riba, Alice and Alfred knew of what happened to her. She had killed herself.

At first, he saw nothing but a dark room. For some reason, the cabinet that always remained closed was open. Riba walked in. He thought he was going to sit down on a bed to think, but then, he bumped into something.

He looked up, and saw a ghastly face that looked like a Shy Guy mask. No way... this was Rosa? She looked like television static. Though he had seen her body, he had never seen her spirit. At least, he couldn't remember doing so. "Ncgh!" Riba grunted.

"Riba, dearest, what's wrong?" Marie asked.

"Stay back," Riba warned. He noted that Rosa's head was stuck in a position to where it appeared she had hung herself. Drooping down... "You don't want to see this." But it was too late. Marie, Rae, and Mercy all saw.

"What the Hell?!" Mercy shouted, stumbling back. "Rosa! She committed suicide!" Suicide was a grave sin in their minds. And anybody who committed it would be damned for eternity. Yet... nobody cared about sins at the moment. Rosa was always close to everyone, and though they knew she was dead, it came as a shock to everyone that she had committed suicide. She was happy enough in her life--- so... "Why?"

Riba saw a note on a table in the room. He read it. "The note says she killed herself as to get out of here without letting people know that there was a ritual going on. She said it would have broken her honor as a maid," he stated.

"Rosa..." Marie whined.

"I can't believe it," Rae sobbed.

"Rosa!" Riba exclaimed. "You need to help us! Do you know anything about the girl with dark blue hair?"

A crack of bone. Rosa's head looked up from its vacant stare at the ground. "Effigy?" Rosa asked, in a dry husk of her voice. "Where is my Effigy?"

"Is that her name?" Riba replied. "I thought you would know where she was. What do you know about her? None of us have ever heard of an Effigy, all we know is that she was part of the family."

"She..." Rosa spoke. "She is my child. I had a child with Alfred, just before everything fell apart."

This also came as a shock to everyone. They had never heard of Rosa having a child. "We had her in secret. We knew Lady Alice was up to something, but we didn't know what. To protect Effigy, we kept her a secret from everyone, and rarely let her out of the servant's quarters."

"So that must have been the strange child in the family photo," Marie stated. "The one we thought was an angel of some kind."

Nobody knew quite what to say. "I never saw how she died. I regret it every day I go on... please, find my baby and return her to me. Please. I beg of you."

"Do you have any ideas as to where to find her?" Riba asked.

"The attic. Check the attic," Rosa instructed. "She loved to play there. It is the only spot I could think of her going."

Just then, they heard a pounding on the door on the left of the room. Rosa screamed. Looking over, there was a large crate blocking the door to the bathroom. It appeared to be falling, however.

"Rosa!" Alfred's voice shouted. "Let me out!"

"No!" Rosa cried, turning away. "You'll hurt me again!"

"Oh, Rosa," Alfred replied. "I promise I won't hurt you. We can be together again, just like old times. Doesn't that sound fun?"

"No, it doesn't!" Rosa shouted. "I know what you're trying to do. You attacked me!" Rosa cried. "I won't let you do it again!"

"Rosaaa~..." Alfred sing-sang. "Let me out. I will do everything in my power to make up for what I did."

Riba felt a sweat run down his face. "We need to leave," he stated. "C'mon, go go go!" He opened the door and let everybody run out. One person after another. Except Rosa. She was approaching the crate. Was she going to take it down?

Riba grabbed her hand and ran with her. To the attic. They would be able to throw off Alfred, and possibly find Effigy. When they opened the door to another room, they heard the door come down behind them. Not the one with the crate in front of it, but the entrance to the bathroom from the hallway.

"Rooosaaa!" Alfred shouted. He sounded like he had ill intent, to put it lightly. Riba kept running, as did everyone else. Rosa was crying, Rae stayed with everyone out of fear for what may happen to them, not herself. Riba just kept running, Marie by his side.

Riba was so focused on running, he didn't even notice Rosa's hand slip from his. Up the stairs, he found a pull string on the ceiling. Could this be the entrance to the attic? "Alright, everyone," Riba panted. "Up he---" Riba noticed nobody was there. Except... Alfred. "Alfred! What have you done with everybody?"

"I didn't do anything, demon!" Alfred shouted, gripping a shard of glass. His hand holding it was bleeding. "It was you! You brought damnation upon them, didn't you?!"

Riba took a step back. "Alfred. Put down the shard of glass," Riba told Alfred. His voice was shaking. Could this be it? "We can talk this---" Alfred charged forward with the glass. Riba dodged, and kicked Alfred to the floor. He then pulled the pull string, and ran up the stairs. To the attic.

Riba stood at the end. Would Alfred get up? If so, he'd kick his face back down. He didn't want to, but he'd have to. "Hello, Riba!" Riba froze. Behind him, was...

"Effigy!" Riba shouted. Damn. He was planning on having Rosa talk to Effigy. But now he was alone. He didn't know where everyone was. "Stop this! Where are my friends?" Riba felt his body be held by some sort of unknown force. He couldn't move.

"Your friends..." Effigy said, calmly. Many people walked forward from the shadows. "Your friends are mine now." Riba then realized... she was right! These were all the people he had met in the mansion that night. Except Alfred, and Leo. In Leo's place, was Luigi.

Only... everyone's faces were void black. "A shame. I thought at least Leo would have his face visible by now, after all these years of training." Effigy said, gesturing towards the obviously fake Luigi. "But that doesn't really matter."

"Riba, come back here!" Alfred shouted. Riba cried out in fear, as Alfred came back up the stairs. But Effigy took a hold of him with the same force she was using on Riba, and brought him over. His head fell limp, and his face turned void black like the others. He dropped to the ground, got up, and stood with the others.

Effigy's eyes glinted. "This little ongoing game of ours has been fun, Riba. But it's getting stale. You've come to expect the unexpected, and you always find a way to beat me. So long, Riba..." Effigy paused. Then, she smiled. "Get him."

What were they going to do? Would they beat Riba to death? Riba thought of this as they closed in, their hands reaching towards him like Shadow Hands from Evangeline. Riba struggled to break free, but he couldn't. Then, they got to him. They used their hands to beat him down. He received many blows to the head, and soon enough, he felt weak.

"Wait!" Riba shouted, on the floor, bruised and bleeding. His friends, who must have been under some kind of mind control based on what he witnessed with Alfred, stopped. They cleared out, revealing Effigy raising up her hand to tell them to shoo.

"What is it?" Effigy asked. "Any last words?"

"Yes," Riba replied.

"Go on, then," Effigy allowed. She sat down on a crate, her legs crossed.

"Effigy... I know you don't care, but..." Riba sobbed. He looked into Effigy's eyes as his vision cut out multiple times. His body was already failing him. "I care. I care about you. I care about everyone in this house. For the time I was here, they showed me nothing but kindness, respect, and care. I'm so sorry I did not reciprocate it when I had the chance." Effigy raised an eyebrow.

"That's why I stayed. I wouldn't have stayed if it weren't for everyone in this room," Riba followed up. He felt tears run down his cheeks and hit the floor. "I don't know if any of you can hear me in there, but let it be known that I'm sorry."

Riba lifted his head and opened his eyes. Back to Effigy. "And you. I'm sorry I didn't play with you when I could. I know you must have had a lonely life. And I know you try to appear strong because of it," Riba cried. Effigy looked surprised. Her mocking expression fell. "But you need to be yourself more. From this moment on, I want you to be yourself. Not someone else. Don't hide behind another person's image. Don't try to be someone you aren't. Because you're one great person, I can tell." Effigy frowned, biting her lip. Then, it all came out. She started to cry.

"But..." Effigy whined. "Everyone forgets me! The people who play games with me, even my own parents never paid attention to me. I'm forgettable, Riba."

"I don't think that's true," Riba replied. "You're not forgettable. You are the most interesting person in this whole house right now, I think so, at least."

She ran up to Riba and sat down on her knees. She put her hands on Riba's shoulders. "Riba, you're right!" She cried. "I'm sorry... oh no... what did I do? I---!"

"It's okay," Riba replied. "I'll be fine..." Riba got up, but then stumbled down, as he bled onto the attic floor.

"Riba?" Effigy asked, shaking him. "RIBA?" Riba didn't respond. Marie walked forward, and tried to hit Riba again. "Stay back! Stay back, you horrible animal!" Marie cocked her head. Riba couldn't respond. He couldn't do anything. But his heart was still barely beating. He was in so much pain.

Mario, I'm coming... He thought.