CHAPTER 3.5: THE NIGHT THAT SHATTERED ALL OF THEM (GREGORY’S POV)
3.5-1
"GUYS! THE BASEMENT DOOR IS HERE!" Troy shouted in the open,
"Greg." Venus shook me out of my thoughts.
I was thinking about Kevin and others until Venus shook me out of it. I just couldn't believe our situation. I am trying my best to keep my composure cool and aligned but I know deep inside, I am clueless. Just what the fuck! Kevin, Carlo and Ryan could possibly be dead, there are shitty 'faceless' running amok in the forest who might possibly be trying to eat us and anywhere we run to will just end up back here in the fucking forest. Just WHAT THE FUCK! We were only trying to enjoy our last day of vacation. It wasn't supposed to become a slaughter fest. We were only trying to have fun… Still I need to keep a straight face because I don't want others to know that I am becoming broken. I need to be firm for them… Until the time that we escape this god forsaken shit fuck!
We went to where Troy is and simultaneously entered the magical basement door. I just hope these basement doors are the key to our escape. I don't want tostay here anymore. I don't want to lose any more of my friends. Every more seconds of staying here questions my very sanity.
Each step we take down the stairs creates an eerie sound as the sound of water drops echoed the atmosphere. As all of us stepped down the last step, the view then changed instantaneously, from complete darkness turned into a cave illuminated in a dim blue light. In the middle is a pond but deep below it looked like a room of some sort? Can't say for sure.
"Where the hell are we?" Troy got confused,
"Guys. The stairs… Is gone!" Claire exclaimed.
We all turned around to where we came from and true enough there are no stairs. Heck, there are no openings at all, just a wall of rocks, stalagmites and stalactites.
All of us examined every nook and cranny of the wall. Maybe there's a switch or a mechanism that will open up to somewhere other than here but there is nothing, it's literally just a rocky wall.
"This isn't what Jasmine told us." I said in the open.
Wasn't it supposed to be just a table and a paper? This looks nothing like that at all.
"See! I knew it was wrong to assume things. So now what?! How do we get the hell out of this place? Screw this shit!" Troy exclaimed,
"Where do we even go? There's nothing in here." Venus said.
I looked below the pond in the middle. The other end of it really looked like a room. Maybe, we have to get ourselves down there but how are we going to do that anyway? Swim it? Looks very deep though, I don't think I can just swim it all the way down. I may be athletic but I'm not very confident with my endurance.
"It looked like a room, doesn't it?" I said in the open,
"Yeah. Does that mean that the water is suspended in the middle?" Claire asked,
"That may sound stupid but it looks like it. After seeing this door, some faceless and this forest, every illogical thing, science and common sense are just a pile of rubbish." I replied,
"There's no way to go but down." Troy came near me as he muttered those words,
"Looked really deep though. I don't think we can swim it." I also muttered,
"Do we have a choice?" He asked,
"No…" I sighed as I reply,
"But we can't be too sure ourselves too you know. Do you have a high endurance?" I asked Troy,
"Not much. But I think I can manage to swim up if that room is really filled with water, though, I don't think I can swim down and swim up again." Troy said,
"There are stalactites. If we can smash some of it, we can use it as weights." I said,
"We can do that. But those things are quite thick. Do we even have the power to even break it?" Claire said,
"Well. Do we have any other choice?" Troy said,
"True." Venus said,
All four of us sighed and went to the skinniest stalactite and smashed our foot and spears on it. We used our full potential in smashing one of these rocks. After twenty minutes of smacking we finally break it in half.
"Wew. That's quite the battle." Troy said as all of us breathe heavily.
"Let's break another one." I said as we went to another stalactite and smashed it again. it took us about twenty five more minutes to break the second one since it wasn't as skinny as the first one.
Our plan was simple. We let Troy get a hold of the stalactite and bring himself along with it as it travels down the pond using gravity, if the supposedly room below isn't filled with water then the three of us, me, Venus and Claire can follow suit, if not, Troy will swim back and think of a different strategy.
"Here I go. I guess." Troy gulped as he jumped to the pond along with the stalactite. We looked at him go deeper and deeper. After a whooping five minutes, he finally reached the bottom to the next room. We saw him grasp for breathe in there and waved his arms indicating that there are no water below it. Wow. Water being suspended in the middle. Can I go home now? This place is making me crazy. This place is becoming more ridiculous the longer you stay.
"Can you two hold on for five minutes or so?" I asked,
"We can manage. I hope." Venus said,
"It's not like we can do anything anyway." Claire said,
The three of us held on to the second stalactite and counted to three before jumping the pond. The speed of our descent is quite faster since the stalactite is bigger than the ones troy had and with the additional three people holding on to it. I can really feel gravity pulling us down. One minute, two minutes, three minutes. I'm slowly losing breathe as I strengthen my will power just to held on to the stalactite. Four minutes, 30 seconds, I'm slowly losing consciousness as I grasp for air. After a few more seconds, we fell down and simultaneously, all three of us grasped for air as we tumbled down the ground.
"Haa!Haa! Thank god!" I said as I grasped for air.
Troy comforted Venus as me and Claire sat down this rocky ground, taking deep breath.
"I found the staircase as well as the two papers. Let's get the hell out of this place." Troy said,
"I second that." I agreed,
I took the lead and they followed. We need to tell everyone about this and maybe strategize before entering another one. Though, It could be James, Daryl and Sheila's turn, I just hope they can manage.
"FUCK THIS PLACE! AM I RIGHT?!" Troy exclaimed,
I exited the door first then Troy. The moment Troy exited the door. The door vanished in front of Venus. We both looked back. Eyes wide opened, flabbergasted to the scene.
"WHAT THE FUCK!? VENUS! VENUS!" Troy smashed his hands on where the supposedly basement door.
Still shocked, I finally forced my brain to thinking. Wait. Just wait. If thishappened, then… then… JAMES AND OTHERS! ONE OF THEM MIGHT GET STUCK IN THE BASEMENT! I need to stop them. I just hope that they haven't entered the door yet.
I immediately ran outside leaving the angry Troy in the house. I traverse the compound end to end reaching the house where James, Daryl and Sheila are in.
"JAMES! DARYL! SHEILA! GUYS! STOP!" I shouted to the bottom of my lungs as I opened the door and looked for the basement door.
I ran hurriedly. I ran and ran. I saw the door. Trying to stop them, I was inches away from it. Inches away! The door disappeared.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" I was shocked, confused.
WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! Don't tell me this disappeared the moment you enter it. Does that mean… The moment we entered it, the door also disappeared hence no other people can help? This is getting ridiculous, this isn't even funny anymore though it never did.
"Greg. What happened?" Johnny went to where I was.
Johnny and Jane entered the house asking what happened.
"Why is Troy mad at Jasmine?" Jane asked,
"What do you mean?" I asked,
"They're fighting." Jane said.
"They're fighting? Why would they be fighting?" I asked,
"I think Troy is blaming her for something. I'm not too sure." Jane said.
The three of us immediately went to the estate as the commotion seems very intense that half way to there, I could already hear their shouts.
"SEE! IT'S BECAUSE OF YOUR FUCKING DUMB ASSUMPTION THAT VENUS IS STUCK IN THE FUCKING BASEMENT!" Troy shouted at Jasmine,
"YOU EXPECTED ME TO KNOW THAT! I WAS JUST SHARING WHAT HAPPENED TO US WHEN WE ENTERED ONE!" Jasmine fought back,
Kristen and Nadia held Jasmine back while Wesley and Steph is holding Troy back as well.
"IF IT'S A FIGHT YOU WANT! I WILL GLADLY GIVE IT TO YOU!" Jasmine shouted,
"FUCK! YOU!" Troy shouted,
"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Guys we need to calm down." Jane tried to ease the situation,
"CALM DOWN! VENUS IS STUCK! AND YOU'RE TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN?!" Troy shouted,
"You need to calm down and tell us what happened. We can't reason things out if you let your anger consume you." Kristen said,
"Venus and Claire are stuck in the basement after me and Troy got out." I explained,
"How is that even possible?" Jane asked,
"We don't know. The door just disappeared in front of them." I expounded,
"THIS WOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED IF STEPH DIDN'T SUGGEST ABOUT GOING TO THE WATERFALLS!" Troy exclaimed, passing the blame to Steph,
"Whoa! Wait! It's my fault now? All of us agreed to this. Don't just go passing the blame on me! You're being a fucking cunt!" Steph defended himself,
"If we just went to a resort then none of this would have ever happened!" Troy expounded,
"We made a discussion, we threw our suggestions and we decided our option. All of us talked about this. If you have qualms or even had one then why did you even come along? Huh?! No one forced you!" Steph said,
"Everyone is to blame here. If we have to blame someone, we better blame ourselves." I muttered,
"Yeah. It's not like we knew this would happen. None of us expected this to happen." Jane also muttered,
"I NEVER EVEN AGREED TO THIS BULLSHIT! HERE IS YOUR STUPID PAPERS!" Troy shouted as he threw the papers that we found in the basement room that we were just in then he exited the estate.
"Ahh!What the fuck is happening?!" Johnny exclaimed,
"I wish I know…" Wesley muttered,
We areat a loss. Tragedy just keeps happening one after another. What are we supposed to do? Why are we here? The atmosphere is so heavy that none of us could even utter another word. Comfort words? What is there to even be comforted with? If this continues, every one of us will break that even if we do escape this place safe and sound. We would still end up becoming insane. I just hope that James and others are safe. We already lost too much.
"It… It looked like James and others have already entered the basement room… Until then we will have to keep watch at the house that they were in and stop them from exiting before anything bad happens. Sigh… Let's try reasoning things out and maybe shed some light in rescuing Venus and Claire." I said in the open.
I want them to believe that there is still a way to save them but the way I said it sounds like I am also losing all faith. I just hope there is because I just can't help myself for being this powerless. I just hate it. I hate this feeling so much…
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It was nearing midnight and I am together with Jasmine and Steph in the kitchen trying to think of a way to get Venus and Claire out of the basement. Somehow, in some way, Daryl and James got out of it even though Sheila went out first. Right now, Daryl and James is sleeping back to their assigned house with Kristen as guard.
"Why hasn't Venus and Claire got out yet? Daryl and James got out so what gives?" I asked in the open,
"There has to be some sort of difference, right? The situation of your group and Sheila's group is the same, yet Daryl and James still got out of it." Steph said as she tried to reason things,
We were trying to piece everything that just happened as I fiddle with the paper that Daryl gave me earlier,
"Wouldn't the basement door appear again since it has a time schedule?" Steph asked,
"Maybe." Jasmine answered nonchalantly,
"Jas… You entered the basement here right?" I asked,
"Yeah." She answered,
"At what time did it the door shows up?" I asked,
"I think it was around twelve." She answered,
"Wouldn't the door shows up now?" I asked,
"Umm… Yeah." She answered,
"Let's enter it then." I said,
"Sure… But there is nothing in this house's basement. Just a table and the 2 paper." She said,
"Still. I still want to see what's in it. It might give us some clue." I said,
"Okay. It's 11:58 now so let's go wait for it up front." She said,
The three of us stood up and went to where the door was supposedly appearing in this estate, Me and Steph just followed Jasmine and stood in front of a freshly painted wall. It's 11:59:30 PM… 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 12:00:00 PM.
"? So where is it?" Steph asked,
"Let's wait for a while, our time might be a little advance. It might still be 9:57 PM in this place." Jasmine said.
And so we waited. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes have passed… The door hasn't appeared yet.
"Are you sure it's right here Jas? It's already 12:20 PM now, the door hasn't appeared yet." Steph said,
"I'm sure of it. We saw it right here." Jasmine defended,
"This is strange… This is strange…" I said.