Page 14 of Love You To Pieces

Wiping at my face, I stop only long enough to check for a pulse, fingers slipping in his blood. I don’t know exactly what I’d do if I found one, but when I don’t, it’s almost a relief. He’s gone, and no longer in the kind of pain he was suffering in since before I was able to get free.

“Sorry, Scotty,” I whisper. “I really wanted to help you.”

And I really don’t want to be alone.

I don’t say the second, selfish part out loud. Even thinking it makes me feel guilty. Instead, I step away, leaving him there, strapped to the table like a half-butchered animal. The comparison makes my skin Hilll, and I turn away from him, unable to keep looking now that I have such a dreadful mental image.

“Okay. Okay.” I reach up to run my fingers through my hair, probably smearing blood on my forehead and through the strands without really caring. “Ariana has to be here somewhere. Right?” I look at Pearl, who doesn’t answer. But this time, I don’t hesitate. I doubt I have much time left before the man comes back, and I need a better plan than the one I have.

Which, for the moment, consists of don’t cry and find Ariana.

The third wall of cells remains un-searched, and I cross my fingers that she’s in one of them, strung up like I was. Surely I hadn’t been knocked out long enough for her to already be⁠—

Swallowing the thought and bile, I edge around the table Scotty is strapped to and trip up the three stairs to that side of the basement. Part of me, the distant part that’s clearly in shock, wonders where we are. It isn’t a house. There’s no way this place isn’t industrial, with a basement this large and set up like it is. Even if it is in disrepair and clearly hasn’t seen a cleaning product in decades.

This time, I don’t let myself hesitate or give myself the time to be cautious, when I know I’m on the clock. I grab the handle of the first door, jerking it open, and glance inside, expecting to find old stains and not much else.

“Ariana!” I gasp, when I see her slumped on the floor, leaning against the back wall. “Oh fuck, Ariana! Thank fuck I found you. Come on, get up. We have to go.” Quickly, I step into the room, leaving the door open, intent on helping my friend so we can get the hell out of here and leave this nightmare behind.

CHAPTER FIVE

Ariana doesn’t move. She doesn’t look up from where she’s slumped, but I swear I can see her breathing. Pearl pushes past me into the cell, though she stops halfway to Ariana, going stiff as she sniffs the air.

“Ariana?” I murmur, quieter this time. Carefully I edge across the room and set down the knife. Could she be asleep? Still knocked out, like I was? Though she isn’t tied up as I had been, which makes me less certain and more cautious.

But this is my friend, I remind myself. The last fucking friend that I have in the world. With the thought driving me forward, I close the distance between us and kneel, extending my hand to grab her shoulder. “Ariana?” I whisper, shaking her slightly. “Hey, come on. We need to go⁠—”

She jerks like she’s been shocked, gasping, and when she lifts her head, I recoil.

Her eyes are gone. Both eyes are completely gone and look like they were removed with the same fucked up precision as Scotty’s eye was. When she opens her mouth, blood bubbles to her lips and Ariana wails, the sound ringing off the walls and through my skull.

Belatedly, I realize why her mouth looks so strange, and I have to swallow back bile that sears my insides as it Hillls down my throat. Blood continues to stream from her lips and Ariana’s empty gaze reaches me, all while she tries to form words.

But it’s difficult, given that part of her tongue is gone.

“…Me.” She mouths the word, though it’s garbled and slurred. Choking on blood, Ariana coughs, lifting her hands to her face, though she can’t bring herself to touch any part of it.

“What?” I whisper, forcing myself to Hilll forward. “What did you say?”

“Ll’me,” she tries again, though my brain can’t work out what she’s trying to say.

“Ariana, I’m sorry, I can’t⁠—”

“Kill me!” she screams, her teeth biting into what remains of her tongue and sending blood pouring from her lips. Then she slumps back, sobs wracking her frame, having used up the last of her energy to struggle through those two words.

“No.” She doesn’t respond. Doesn’t even lift her head when I say it. “N-no. Ariana. No, please, I—” Hot tears run down my cheeks, burning my eyes and dripping to land on my thighs. “I can’t. No, I’m going to get you out.”

But how? That cold, detached part of my brain demands. How are you going to help her?

“I can’t,” I whisper again. “Please, Ariana.” Reaching forward, I graze my fingers over hers, though I pull away when she flinches back.

“Please don’t leave me alone.”

She shudders once more before going catatonic, like I found her. But I don’t move. This is as far as my plan had gotten me, and the more I stare at her, the more likely it is that I’m going to end up just as fucked up and, pretty soon, just as dead.

Pearl’s low growl drags me out of my thoughts, and I look up, trying to get myself together. Footsteps sound on the stairs, heavy and unhurried, and for a few seconds I just sit there. Frozen.

I’m going to die here.