CHAPTER 11

AUROVILLE VILLA

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And I drove fast. Almost like Elec. I had to. Otherwise, she'd jump out of the car and run. Who knew, maybe she could even reach there before I drove myself there. When we crossed the cornfield, I remembered the conversation with Aiden. I had to tell my brain to shut up. When we reached there, it was too dark. I figured the silhouettes on the porch were Irsia, Aiden and Miles. Miles was sitting while Aiden and Irsia stood beside him on either side. Miles had his palm pressed on his forehead. I guessed he was hurt. Before I even killed the engine, Elec yanked out, rushed into the gates, and sprinted for him. She slapped him right across the face. Irsia struggled to pull her back. Elec was so angry that she could have beat him up to death.

Aiden chided, "Electra, cool it. He is hurt."

"Why did you go in there?" I asked, still walking toward them, trying not to run out of my breath.

"I wanted to take a picture of the lake from inside," he muttered. There was a serious bump on his forehead.

"You are viscid," Elec spat. Irsia was still holding her back. "uhhh...," she growled, disgusted. "You are adhesively clingy. I thought something bad had happened to you. Why would you put yourself in danger like that when you know I hate it when you do things like this for me?"

He didn't answer. She was right. He would do anything for her, and that was the very reason why Elec pulled away. "You know what? I could have gone in there by myself as I planned and would have seen it for myself," she seared.

"Whoa... what?" Irsia and I asked in unison. Aiden was in awe again. I think it's something that happens when you had been with someone from your very childhood.

"I know how freaking demented you are, Elec. I know you would do it on your own and possibly jeopardize yourself. I obviously didn't want you to be in danger when I leave town for college," Miles flared up.

Irsia let go of Elec and poked Elec with the truth. "You know what? He's right. You would have done that."

Well, I had to tell the truth from my side. "Uh... Irsia.., I think your statement needs a little bit of a correction." I cleared my throat. It was getting coarser. "You both would have gone in there sooner or later."

Irsia scoffed, but backpedaled with a slight shrug.

When Miles stood up the swing on the porch moved. It screeched with a sound that scraped the insides of my ears. Some part of me wanted to turn and look, but I didn't. We walked like two steps and Miles grumbled, "oh... damn." He felt his pockets and declared, "I left my phone inside."

"How did you hit your head?" Irsia asked.

"I don't remember," Miles muttered. He was already at the doorstep.

We stood outside. Elec looked like she wanted to go inside with him but she didn't. She stood at the doorway. The swing was still swinging back and forth with a low screeching sound. My neck turned involuntarily to the direction of the sound.

"I don't know why. I feel a great disquiet rising."

"Don't say that," I whispered, and looked at Irsia for assurance. But she looked more mystified.

"What is it, Irsia?"

"Something doesn't add up," Irsia conferred her turmoil.

"I thought so too." Aiden looked at the porch and I was sure we all had similar grisly, foreboding thought.

"How did the door open, Aiden? You said it was locked from the inside?" Irsia queried in a contemplating cadence.

"Yeah, I thought it was locked...," Aiden dragged, "I'm not so sure anymore."

I sensed my breathing go up and down deeper. As we looked at the porch together, the swing kept moving. Elec asserted, "I'm going in."

Elec walked to the porch. Irsia warned her not to go in. "There is someone else inside and we all know that. Elec, don't you dare step a toe inside."

Elec leaned into the doorway and yelled, "Miles... come out."

"One second," came his voice.

A minute or two passed, and there was no sign of him. Elec took a step further toward the door. "Miles, what are you doing?" she vacillated.

There was no sign of him. In a split second, she swifted in, leaving us no choice but to bustle behind her.

"Elec," Irsia yelled.

It was dark inside. Irsia, Aiden and I - we were together. Elec disappeared into the dark. It was unnaturally dark. My eyes didn't adjust to the darkness. I could see nothing but blackness. Irsia found the switch and turned it on. The lights didn't turn on. There must have been something wrong with the power supply, since no one had been living at the damned house for over a year. Aiden turned on the flashlight in the phone and it still wasn't sufficient. It was as if the darkness engulfed the light.

"Is it just me or is my phone's flashlight dim?" Aiden asked.

"Oh... thank God. I thought something was wrong with my eyesight."

"Wait. I'll turn on mine," declared Irsia. As she turned it on, I swear... I saw someone in the corner of the room. Someone was standing near the huge window. I didn't know if I should tell my friends or gesture to them to look at that person. I had goosebumps on my nape, followed by a shiver that ran down to my feet. I swallowed whatever was building up from my stomach down to my feet.

"Margo, are you alright?" Aiden asked, giving me a nudge, and I almost jumped.

I didn't answer him but kept looking at the person near the window. Did I imagine things or was someone really there?

"Miles, is that you?" I asked.

There was no answer. I realized that the person went deep inside the darkness and maybe dissolved in it. I couldn't find that person there anymore, but I kept looking there.

"Margo, who are you talking to?" asked Irsia, confused and irritated.

I didn't answer her either. Aiden gave me another nudge. I turned to my left. I could see his face. Well, the shape of his face. It was vague, but I knew it was him.

"Elec," Irsia called out.

Just then, Elec screamed from somewhere. I was certain it was her. It came from upstairs. We ran toward what appeared to be the stairs. Aiden ran ahead of Irsia and I. I think he climbed two stairs at once. As we reached the hallway upstairs, I heard Elec scream again. I think Elec shouted that the door was stuck. Her voice was illegible.

"Elec, where are you?" Irsia shouted back.

I was too busy checking if that person followed us or if I was imagining things. I heard Elec rattling the door. It was coming from one of the rooms that was on the left side of the hallway from the stairs. We rushed to the room and my guess was right. It was locked.

"Elec, are you in here?" I called out.

She called out for Miles. From what I heard, she was shouting that she couldn't open the door. It was getting worse by the minute. Aiden pushed the door with his knee and then his shoulder.

"Elec, can you unlock the door?" Aiden yelled. "Is it locked or it stuck?"

"I couldn't," she yelled back.

"Stay back from the door." Aiden handed me his phone and took a few steps back. I knew when my right ear tingled that someone was close by. I turned to my right, flashing the light, and I found a shadow moving swiftly back into one of the rooms. I still wasn't sure if I was inventing things because I was high with the darkness. Aiden hit the door right and it swung open.

"Elec, are you ok?" Irsia rushed in.

I was still looking at the other room. I didn't even see Elec. Miles wasn't with her in that room. Suddenly the lights in the hallway flickered and came alive and I felt relieved. So, why didn't the light that Irsia turned on didn't work? Was something wrong with the lights downstairs?

Elec was standing on top of a chair.

"Did the door shut itself?" I asked, stepping inside the threshold of the room. "And what are you doing standing on the chair?"

She pointed to the cupboard and instantly covered her left ear with her left palm, and her flashlight-turned-on-phone was over her right ear. There was a big roach. I squealed embarrassingly, and I ran out of the room upon seeing it.

"Are you kidding me?" Irsia shouted, and she stormed out of the room. "I am out of here."

Aiden's guffawing echoed too much, seeing me run and Elec jump at the sight of the roach. "Aiden, stop enjoying this so much," I growled from outside the room. "Irsia wait... don't leave me here." Irsia stood near the stairs. "Stop laughing, Aiden. We need to find Miles," I whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" Irsia asked in a squeaky displeased tone from near the steps. She held the flashlight in her hand even after the lights came alive.

"I don't know. This place is weird. Makes me do all kinds of stupid stuff for no reason." I still had Aiden's phone in my hand.

"You do know that I am afraid of the dark, right? I'm still keeping it together and you two are just.... God! why is everyone so intolerable today?" And the lights went off. "Awesome," she muttered.

I was looking at the other end of the hallway. The darkened end. The one beyond where Irsia stood. Something told me to look for Miles in the room at that end of the hallway.

"Electra, just get down the chair and come out of the room. It won't fly over to you." Aiden was having the time of his life taunting Elec like that. "I'd mince your jesting tone, Aiden. Miles..." Elec hooted his name again and there was no answer again.

I took a step further and I saw that there was a smoky shadow behind Irsia. She held her phone high, flashing the light on me. My eyes were fixated on it and she waved her hand at me, asking, "what are you looking at, Margo?"

Damnit. I couldn't answer her. The shadow faded when she wiped her hand in the air as a gesture for me to snap out of it, and I wasn't sure if I saw anything there anymore. Again. Elec jumped off the chair and fell down.

"Irsia, help me up... I think I sprained my ankle." Elec kept making the situation much worse. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

Aiden tried helping Elec and she refused, and he still hadn't stopped laughing.

I was certain this time. I saw someone at the end of the hallway, where it was dark. The question was, how did that person go there without me noticing because I kind of saw a person with the same proportions downstairs. While Irsia helped Elec get up and had got her out of the room, I was already walking toward the dark corner of the hallway. I held the phone's flashlight high and walked. I knew Elec and Irsia had just got out of the room. I increased my pace, matching my racing heart, and as I took every step further, I knew I was being dissolved into darkness. When I reached the end of the hallway, the flashlight didn't help me. In fact, it was useless. It was dark, like I could feel its thickness and touch the darkness lacing around me, but I still didn't stop.

"Walker," bellowed Elec.

"Margo, what are you doing?" called Aiden. "Where are you?"

I heard clamoring voices of my friends calling me just when I stepped into the room that looked the darkest of all.

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