The House of Midnight

Chapter Seven

The Truth About Us

Ray. That name was so familiar. I knew that I had heard it before. He continued to stare blankly at me, and then it faded, and he frowned.
"You.. You said that you wanted to know why you deserved this, didn't you?"
I blinked at him and nodded. His frown got deeper, and then suddenly he laughed.
At first it was a small laugh, then it went to hysterical, then maniacal.
I stepped back, watching him doubled over, laughing, amongst the corpses that covered the floor.
Finally, he stood back up again, and wipe the tears from his eyes. I realised that he was actually crying.
"It was YOU all along." He mumbled.
"W-what?"
He looked up at me and met my gaze. Suddenly, his eyes no longer looked crazy. Instead, they were sad. Betrayed. Heart broken.
"I remember now. The shards of the mirror are all pieced together."
More tears spilt down his face.
"I don't understand." I cried. "That's what all these people have been saying to me. 'It was you'. What does that mean? All I remember is that I know these people. Every one of them. And now they're all dead!"
"Don't you remember anything?" He whispered. "You were everyones friend. You knew everyone. Then you just..killed all of us."
I stepped back again, and leaned against the wall. I tried to remember more. I tried so hard. But all I could remember was torturing and killing those girls. But even that I refused to believe.
"I can't.. I don't.."
White, or now Ray, leaned down and picked up my knife.
"You deserve this." He growled, his voice suddenly angry. "You deserve every bit of this."
"Then tell me!" I screamed. "Tell me what I did! What happened, Ray? Who the hell was I?!"
"You were Lillian. You were a smart girl who excelled in mechanical science and maths. You were also my girlfriend, but you were very possessive. You acted nice to everyone, even to the girls who flirted with me. Even to the girls who said mean things behind your back. One day, those girls mysteriously vanished. The tracks lead back to you. And when the police came to get you..."
He shook his head.
"What? What did I do?"
"You rigged the school with explosives and held everyone hostage for a week. You massacred classes, and you tied me up when they disarmed the bombs, and you held me hostage. And the worst thing was is that you got away with it. They diagnosed you as mentally ill and sent you to an asylum for only 10 years."
I shook my head. I couldn't believe him. I didn't want to believe him. But as he told me, I started to remember everything. I remembered every detail, every feeling I felt.
And I felt nothing.
And that's what destroyed me inside. I had tortured him.
Burnt him and stabbed him and broken his bones and bleached his beautiful black hair white with cyanide from the science lab. And when he cried out "Why?" I smiled sweetly at him and said "it's because I love you."
I stared down at my hands. Slick with blood. Just like when I had finished with him. When I killed him. When I killed everyone at this house. May. Marcus. Izzy. Becca. Cooper. John. Lauren. Everyone.
I felt like I was going to be sick. I hated myself. I hated everything about me. I looked back at Ray, and I nodded.
"You're right. I understand now. I deserve this."
I wiped my eyes, and walked forward to him. I grabbed his hand and pointed the knife at my chest. The tip dug into my shirt, and I felt a small trickle of blood form.
"I understand now."
Tears were streaming down my face.
"I deserve every last hell ridden second. And I don't deserve you. Or May or Marcus or Becca or Izzy or life."
I pressed into the knife even harder, but to my surprise Ray stepped back.
He lowered the knife then stepped forward again, wrapping his arms around me. I hugged him back and I didn't care when he raised the knife and sank the blade between my shoulder blades. It was fair. I did the same to him, metaphorically. But this was literal.
"I was searching for you." He whispered. "I stayed because I wanted to find you. And I wanted to kill you. But I'm not killing you out of hate anymore, like I thought I would."
I looked up and him, and coughed up blood.
"I set all of this up. I erased my own memories, set up my own rules. Split myself into three people: Ring Master, Monster and White. But now I've found you. After 10 years I found you."
He hugged me tighter, the blade going in deeper. I gasped, and coughed again.
"Then what is this then?" I croaked. "What drives this murder?"
He hugged me tighter, and whispered in my ear.
"Love."
I laughed. It was painful, but I laughed. Very, very hard. It was ironic. In the other life, in the other world, I tortured and murdered my boyfriend and my excuse was 'love.'
And now, after experiencing the horrors of this hell house, I finally understood why.
This was my punishment. To be killed by the boy I loved and murdered. I died in his arms, and when the light of life had flickered away, everything around us dissolved away, including him, and including me.
After, after 10 years of suffering in the house, all of my victims souls were laid to rest. 'White' had served his purpose. To avenge all those murdered souls.
But those souls were still restless. They would sleep, but White would wake them up again once more...

I opened my eyes. I was sitting in the corner of a bright white room, tied up in a straight jacket. Slowly, I looked up, and saw the outline of the ghost boy who haunted me for those 10 years.
"I'm sorry." I croaked. "I'm really, really sorry. Please, don't make me go through that hell house again."
The white ghost boy crouched in front of me, his face blank.
"This sentance isn't enough. It's not." He said.
"It's been 10 years!" I screamed. "Ever single day you make me relive that nightmare! 10 years, my sentence should be up!"
I began sobbing hysterically, and the ghost boy smiled.
"I know. But what you did is unforgivable. I will haunt you until the day you die."
"Then kill me already." I growled, wriggling in my jacket.
"Kill me already!"
I screamed again, banging my body against the wall.
"Kill me! Kill me! Kill me!"
A door opened up from inside the room, and the white ghost boy stepped back and watched the doctors inject me with the sleeping medicine.
"No." I sobbed.
"Not again... Not again..."
The ghost boy smiled again.
"I'll see you again soon, Lillian." He whispered.
"The House of Midnight awaits..."