Out of the Darkness

54

We had just made it back inside the room, when Kian started freaking out. "Did you HEAR that??" "We all heard it Kian. Chill the fuck out so we can talk about it," JC replied, grabbing Kian's arm and pulling him down next to him on the bed. "That was insane. We've had encounters but HOLY SHIT!" Sam replied, running a hand through his hair. I reached up to do that myself, but caught myself and put my hand back down. "Are we sure it wasn't someone fighting somewhere close by on the ship?" I asked, letting my eyes dart around the room. I was looking for Anna. She was nearby and I knew it. I could feel it. "No. There's no way. It was too loud, too clear. That scream was a scream of pure pain. I wonder if it was one of the murder victims that have been on the ship." Sam's eyebrows furrowed and I knew he was going through the research in his head, trying to piece together anything they knew with what had just happened. I had to talk to Anna. To see if she knew anything about what had happened, and if she was okay. I stood up suddenly making everyone jump a little. "Shit, can you move a little slower Crockpot. We've just been traumatized," Kian said, putting his hand over his heart. I grinned just a little. "My bad bro. I'm going to take this backpack to our room and use the bathroom. I'll be back in a few minutes." I walked out the door, without waiting for an answer from anyone. Once I was back in my own room, I threw the backpack onto the foot of the bed, and sank down onto it, putting my head in my hands. I had to clear my mind for just a moment. To think straight...but I needed to know that Anna was okay. "Anna?" I said her name softly, looking up around the room. "Colby," I heard my name spoken softly, her voice shaky. "Are you okay?" I asked, looking around for the shimmer or her form. "I don't know," she replied, her voice coming from close to my right side. I glanced in that direction and saw her form barely come into view. She was sitting on the floor, her back against my bed. She was holding her arm close to her chest, her face grimacing in pain. I came off the bed and sank down next to her. I reached out to take her arm, but her emerald eyes met mine as she held her arm close. "You won't be able to," she whispered, looking down at my waiting hand. "I'm okay. I think," she replied, watching my hand lower. "What happened? What was going on down there?" I asked, wondering how she was hurt. She was a ghost. I didn't think that ghosts could get hurt. "The lady. The one that I told you about. She came back and she tried to hurt Sam. I couldn't let her do that." Her eyes met mine again, full of ghostly tears. "He means so much to you," she whimpered, moving her arm so that I could see the goldish color seeping from it. "Oh my God, Anna." Did she jump in front of Sam to keep him from getting hurt by this ghost? I didn't understand why she would do that. For me? "There are others. She's in charge of them all and sent them after you guys. You have to leave this ship. Now. I can't fight them. I don't know how." She started to sob then, and my heart clenched, causing physical pain. "Okay," I whispered, looking up and around my room. How long would it take malicious ghosts to find us? My heart thudded in my chest, fear and anxiety creeping up my body. Yeah, we had been in scary ghost situations before but this was different. I had an inside view of what could happen, of what was coming. It sounded like this lady was pretty strong. I didn't want to risk it, not even for YouTube. I stood up and automatically held my hand out to her, to help her up. She only looked at it, then floated up until she was standing. I sighed, looked at the door, then back to her. "I need to tell the others, but I'm not sure what to tell them. Sam especially. He's not going to want to leave. Not when we just got so much evidence of the-" My sentence was cut off with screams from the room next to us. Kian and JC's room. "Shit," I exclaimed, then rushed out of the room to the one next door to me. I tried the knob but the door wouldn't budge. I didn't have a key for this room. I started to bang on the door with my fist. "Yo what's happening?!" I still heard the screams, full of terror, bangs and thuds added onto the sounds. The door flew open then, with Kian almost running over me, JC right behind him. "FUCK THIS!" Kian yelled, jogging down the hallway, away from their room. JC was breathing hard, leaning back against the wall. I ran inside, needing to see if Sam was okay. "SAM?!" I yelled, not seeing him when I first ran in. The panic flew up my spine, making my body explode in goosebumps, as my eyes scanned the room. "IN HERE!" I heard his voice coming from the bathroom. As I ran to the door of the bathroom, random things started flying at my head. The TV remote missed my jaw by an inch, and I saw the blankets being ripped from the beds out of the corner of my eye. I made it to the bathroom door, and started to try and open it. It was locked. I beat the palm of my hand against the door, hard. I grimaced as pain shot up my wrist, but I banged again. "OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR SAM!" I yelled, shoving my shoulder against it. "I'M TRYING!" he yelled back. The knob jiggled in my hand, then I heard Sam yell, and a thud against the door. "SAM!" I yelled, fear taking hold even harder. Finally, the door swung open and Sam darted out. He grabbed my arm, then yanked me with him out of the hotel room. "We're leaving," he stated firmly, rubbing his forearm. I noticed there was a huge red mark and a scrape there. "What happened?" I asked, looking around at the three of them. "We'll talk about it in the car. We should leave. I want to leave," Kian replied, his eyes darting nervously around the hallway and back to the closed room door. "We didn't unpack," JC muttered, staring at the door. "But our things are in there. We have to get them." I closed my eyes for a second, hating what I was about to say but it had to be done. "I'll get them," I said, resignation in my voice. This was easier than I thought, getting them to leave. I just knew that I was going to have to argue with Sam about it. Guess whatever happened really scared the shit out of him.