Awaken

Forsaken

Every child

Taken

Scott sat by his sister's bed, holding her hand in a tight grip. Across town, Gia Davenport did the same, but the hand she held was her daughter Gracie's.

Shari's hair is lively and fiery, soft and spread out across her pillow, her eyes closed softly, unaware of the fear he was experiencing.

"Shari, I need you to wake up soon." Scott said to his sister. "Our family is broken... The doctor said you should be awake in a few days. You've been out for two nights, and he said you could wake up any minute... I need you to do that."

Diana appeared in the doorway, holding two foam coffee cups. "How is she?"

"Still the same. They said she's stable now, and she's gonna take a short while to come around. She nearly died." Scott explained, taking the coffee gratefully. "Thank you."

"I spoke to Prue yesterday." Diana said, sitting down on one of the chairs. "She seemed a little shaken from what happened."

"I heard," Scott said with a nod. "Gia's been a warrior. Honestly, she's so strong."

"Typical Gia." Diana said in agreement. "I'd love to be as strong as her one day."

Shari stirred, murmuring in her state of unconsciousness. Scott sat up, his eyes wide and hopeful but Shari remained silent.

He sank back into his chair with a disappointed sigh.

It was late now, around 2.30AM on Monday night. It was at that moment when Diana's iPhone began to vibrate. She pulled it out of her pocket and answered it.

"Hey Tobias, how are-"

Diana paused, looking concerned. "No..."

"What is it?" Scott asked.

"Tobias, hold on as long as possible!" Diana cried and hung up.

"What?" Scott repeated.

"The boarding house, someone's been killed." Said Diana, picking up her bag swiftly. "I need to go get help."

Scott nodded but Diana had already gone to see his gesture. She sprinted out of the room and down the corridor, heading for the elevator.

She almost collapsed into the elevator and punched the buttons, panting for air. The doors closed just as she pulled out her iPhone and speed-dialled Logan.

"What is it?" He muttered. Diana could hear the distant sound of his Xbox buttons clicking.

"Okay gamer boy, time to get moving. Get on your ghostbuster costume and meet me at the boarding house." Diana said quickly, pushing her hair back.

"Wait what?" He said, almost mumbling.

Diana sighed. "A girl has been killed at the boarding house."

"Um... okay." He muttered and ended the call.

As the elevator descended, an eerie silence took over. It wasn't the kind of silence that was peaceful, but the unnerving kind - the unnatural kind.

Diana focused on the floor numbers going down - currently on floor 4.

And then the elevator jolted and came to a quick halt. Diana's heart began to beat fast - it's probably just a fault?

The elevator lights began to flicker, throwing Diana in and out of darkness like a game of ping pong - and she was the ball.

"What the hell is happening." Diana muttered to herself, clicking the ground floor button several times. All of a sudden, the lights hissed, sparks raining from the top of the elevator. Diana screamed out and jumped aside, avoiding the specks of electricity. And then, the elevator exploded into darkness, so dark Diana couldn't see her own hands in front of her.

"Help me!" Diana yelled, pounding on the metal walls. The pounds echoed up through the elevator shaft and into oblivion.

Diana felt about her clothes, anything that could be useful to help her escape the elevator - but a mini skirt, thigh high boots and a jacket would do nothing to help.

She was stuck.

"Fuck!" Diana yelled out, as her iPhone signalled no signal.

However, at least it was some source of light.

She lit up her torch on her iPhone and began looking around for an emergency button. Guided by the light of her iPhone, she found the red emergency button and reached out, to touch the button. Another hand already there.

Diana screamed.

The elevator jolted as a pair of bony bloody hands pinned her by the throat to the metal wall, lifting her from the floor in a choke.

Her iPhone fell to the floor, the torch light shining upwards to illuminate the elevator, revealing the face of her attacker.

It was a woman's distorted face, as if she was deformed. It was the face of a rotting body, worms and spiders crawling out of her empty eye socket from her brain and maggot falling from holes in her cheek.

Diana sobbed, trembling in fear as the claw-like fingers clenched tighter around her throat. The old woman laughed, almost like a scream, in Diana's face, spraying maggots and insects onto her.

The light exploded into illumination and Diana fell to the floor, gasping and weak, the entity nowhere to be seen.

She wriggled backwards, smacking the spiders, worms and maggots from her body.

The elevator began to move again and the doors opened at the bottom, to reveal the security team.

"What the hell happened? Where did the bugs come from?" One of the security members said, flabbergasted. Holding her neck to hide the marks, Diana ran past them, panting and scrambling forward, out of the automatic doors and into the night.

***

Shari Davenport's eyes shot open. The room was empty, so eerily silent that it hurt Shari's ears.

"Damn... My stomach hurts." Shari muttered to herself, shuffling upwards in the bed.

A nurse entered and lit up when she saw Shari had awoken. "Shari Davenport. Good, you're awake."

"I-I was shot? Why aren't I dead?"

"We almost lost you, in fact." The nurse replied, smoothing out her sheets. "Luckily, we stabilised you, removed the bullet and you've been out for the past couple of days. You're gonna have to rest, however."

Shari nodded. "Can I get some water?"

The nurse nodded, seeming happy to be able to help, and disappeared out of the room.

Shari immediately ripped herself free from the wires connected to her and staggered out of the room, down the opposite direction the nurse walked away in. Her stomach hurt like hell, but Shari trudged on, determined to put a stop to the darkness that was rising within Sachem Bay.

***

Diana slipped between the trees, the darkness and shadows masking her in the middle of the night. Logan wouldn't be there for a good ten minutes, which seemed inconvenient - one exposure to the entity and Diana was sure she'd be obliterated. She had texted Prue, to also meet her by the boarding house - and she was, waiting in the shadows, by the edge of the woods.

"Prue!" Diana whispered. Prue turned, and gave her a wave, beckoning her towards her.

Diana crept over, joining her behind the large tree trunk. The spirits had surrounded the boarding house, all of them in a ring around the property, locking those inside from escaping.

"Is Ben okay?"

Prue nodded. "Bit of a random question, but yeah. I'm all yours. The little Bennie is asleep, Ryan is there if he wakes up. We need to get rid of these things, before they hurt my son, who knows which kid is next?"

Diana opened her mouth to speak but froze, eyes wide.

"What is it?" Prue asked, scanning her eyes around.

Diana pointed to the darkness in the trees, and saw the shadows moving, stretching into a large figure, the phantom directly facing the two girls.

"Prue." Diana whispered, taking her hand. "Don't move."

Prue nodded, holding her breath. Diana could feel her trembling as she held on to her hand tightly.

And then the entity soared towards them, like a gas moving through the air at high velocity. It hit Diana, sending her soaring backwards, into the clearing and soaring through the air. Diana hit the grass hard, rolling a couple of times and choking on her air.

"Diana!" Prue screamed, running out into the clearing, kneeling at her friend's body.

Diana brushed the hair out of her face, her eyes squinted and feeling dizzy. "P-Prue..."

Diana's eyes rolled back, diluting into a jet black colour and then they reversed and Diana's face faded to blank.

"Diana... What happened?" Prue murmured.

The ghosts had retreated away from the boarding house, forming a large circle around the clearing.

Lorelei Devereux, Tobias Loren and another girl came out of the boarding house, looking concerned and confused.

Prue made eye contact and shook her head in warning, but it didn't seem obvious what she was signalling.

Shari's truck came groaning up the road, and she came to a halt and staggered out of the vehicle, barely standing. She had a crutch under her arm.

Logan slid out of the other side, along with Gia and Scott in the back.

"Diana!" Shari yelled.

Diana grunted, coughed and got to her feet, smacking her hands together to get off the dirt.

"Diana, are you okay?" Prue asked, feeling shaky and concerned.

"Yes." Diana replied, sounding empty and hollow. With that, her fingers clamped around her throat and she lifted Prue into the air, choking her. Prue's legs kicked helplessly as she gasped for air.

Many of her friends set off running to her aid, but it was too late. With a swift swing, Prue's neck snapped and Diana dropped her body to the floor carelessly, landing on the ground, lifeless and wide eyed.

Shari dropped her crutch to the floor and fell, landing hard on her knees. Her heart seemed to fall with her, her throat filling up and clogging with the essence of her broken heart.

Gia screamed, hands clasped over her mouth in shock and horror, shaking her head in denial of the tears that raced down her cheeks. Beside her, Scott held on to his wife, attempting but failing at comforting her, and all he could do was cry along with her.

Logan's face would have thought to be unbothered, unless you looked deep enough to see the breaking in his eyes, the blood that has trailed a little from the biting of his lip and the white colour of his pale face, forcing himself to not cry and remain strong.

Tobias had his hand over his mouth in shock, wide eyed and pale, with the girl beside him looking away from the body, disturbed and unsettled. Lorelei Devereux kept her head down, her eyes closed - it seemed she was in pain.

Diana, however, stood in the centre of the clearing, a slight smile upon her face.

"Diana!" Shari sobbed through the tears. "You can beat it!"

Diana smiled, almost amused. "There's no turning back for her now."

Silence had overcome the clearing, nothing but the gentle movement of the wind dancing through the trees could disturb the atmosphere.

And then, Diana looked down at Prue's lifeless body, nudging her with her boot. "Say hi to Gracie for me."

Scott tensed up, feeling his rage building, only for Gia to calm him down again.

Diana walked away into the trees and disappeared into the dread of the night.