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“Yes!” Eli states in triumph, removing his hand from the pack. He holds up a crowbar. “Thank you, Jayce.”
He stands and moves past Lucien and me before he tries to pull the gate open.
“Jayce really is prepared for everything, isn’t he?” Lucien asks as Eli swears a little as he works.
“That he is,” I reply as Eli whoops in celebration. It’s weird not having my third boyfriend here with us but for once, I’m a bit glad. He’d be ready to run the other way for good if I coaxed him into a creepy, dark cave in the woods. Especially one that could be filled with a dead body.
“Got it,” Eli states as he turns toward us with the rusty lock in pieces in his hands. “Are you sure that you want to go in?”
I nod, taking Lucien’s hand in mine as Eli wrenches the door open. It groans as he finally gets it to move from its resting place.
We all cough as a plume of dirt greets us.
“Raven,” the voice calls again.
“I can’t see you. Where are you?” I ask, wiping the dust from my eyes.
“Raven,” this time it’s Eli talking. “I want you to back out, there is nothing here you need to see, doll.”
“What? Why?” I question, wishing for some water to get the rest of the dirt from my face.
“He’s right.” Lucien agrees. “It’s like a scene from a horror movie.”
That piques my interest, Lucien definitely chose the wrong wording. I am that horror movie-watching girl.
“I’m not leaving. Whatever it is, I want to see and I have to check that Pandora isn’t here,” I tell them, wiping my eyes with the bottom of the inside of my shirt.
I blink a few times, my eyes finally focusing on the room we’ve stepped into.
In front of me, there are a few tables draped in clear plastic, heavily rotting corpses on each. Each still has their head but limbs are missing. Some flesh and bones can be seen through the rags that used to be clothes. Chains line three of the four walls with a few hands dangling from them. Only one full skeleton has chains on its hands and feet. The desk on the last wall has papers and blood splattered over it. Something went down here and someone gave the monsters that did this a run for their money. I have a little hope that it was Pandora. She wouldn’t go down without a fight.
But then the reality hits me. This is a literal torture chamber and even if she fought, her last moments were likely pure pain and fear. No one deserves that.
A tear rolls down my cheek as I near the closest table. I send a silent prayer to the powers that gave me my ghostly gifts and ask to be able to talk with those that were killed in this room.
I reach a hand out and place it on the skull on the table, closing my eyes as I speak, “May you have the rest you deserve.”
When I open them up, a teen boy is standing next to me, a light smile on his lips. “Please, remove me from this room and set my remains to rest. My parents and boyfriend need closure. I want them to know it wasn’t their fault this happened to me.”
I nod, “Can you tell me your name?”
“Todd Windsor,” he replies with ease.
“You have my word, I will tell them and we will make sure that you are buried properly,” I say as I remove my hand from his skeleton.
“Did you see him?” Eli asks as he and Lucien step closer to me.
“Yes, he told me his name and a message for his loved ones,” I tell them as I move to the next one.
“Do you need more time down here before we call the cops?” Eli asks. Already, he’s making a note in his phone, likely the details I just gave him.
“I would like that, if I can connect with them, that will be helpful to the police and their families. You two don’t touch anything. I will only touch the heads that are left, keep my prints to a minimum. I would touch each bone here if it wouldn’t mess with the police’s investigation,” I tell them as I move to the next table.
This makeshift bed is covered in more blood than the first one, I do just as I did with the other and pray before touching it.
This time, an older woman stands before me. Her lace-edged apron shifts in the nonexistent wind as she stares around her in surprise. The sadness emanating from her has a wave of nausea going through me.
“I guess he got me,” she sighs. It wasn’t a question, the view around her is answer enough. My heart breaks for her as she turns slowly, taking it in.
