I was back in the fucking dark hallway again, although this time, it was significantly less dark than it had been. It was dim, as though several of the lightbulbs had burned out, rather than being plunged in utter darkness, but it seemed as though the shadows on the walls were alive with movement.


    That wasn’t nearly as concerning as the fact that the last thing I remembered was lying back in the bathtub. Liam had drawn me a warm bath, and sinking into the water felt like heaven. All of my muscles had relaxed nearly immediately, but now, with the sudden reappearance of the hallway, it seemed like there was a solid chance that I had relaxed a bit too much. I thrashed in my chair, trying to wake myself up to no avail.


    This time at least, I hadn’t been injured, which I took to be a good sign. The bad sign was that, once again, I couldn’t move anything except my head.


    “You had to interfere,” a voice thundered from behind me. I turned my head as far as I could, but all I could see was the long, empty hallway behind me. “We could have had him, but you had to interfere.”


    “I’m not going to let you take my friend,” I said, struggling against my invisible binds. I could feel beads of sweat start to pop up on my forehead, which I couldn’t help but ring as odd - should I be able to feel such a small detail in dreams? But then again, the boundary between wakefulness and dreams had always been skewed in this hall.


    “That’s fine,” a small, calm voice said from directly in front of me, and I whipped my head around to see the little girl. She was in a pink, velvety dress, with her hair perfectly coiffed into long, brown curls. As I met her dark brown eyes, she lightly turned her head, looking at me with a sense of confusion. “We can take you in his place.”


    “No!” I yelled, pulling against the chair again. The wooden feet of the chair wobbled lightly on the floor for a moment but then stopped, as though an additional pressure had been added. “You can’t have any of us.”


    The little girl blinked. “But we already have you,” she argued. “You’re here with us.”


    From behind me, I heard the sound of something heavy dragging against the floor. I fought myself for a moment, trying to decide if I should keep my eyes on the little girl or the sound behind me, before trying to turn around again.


    “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the little girl said in a sing-song voice. “He’s already mad that he couldn’t have him. You wouldn’t want to make him even angrier.”If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    “Who?” I nearly yelled into the open space of the hallway.


    “Me,” said a deep voice immediately from in front of me. I whipped my head back around, but even the little girl was gone - in front of me was just the long hallway with so many doors.


    “Come out and talk to me, you coward,” I pleaded, tears pricking the corners of my eyes. “I can help you! I can get you back to where you belong.” As I talked, I started to feel a weird sort of tugging directly behind my belly button, but I ignored it as best as I could - nothing in here seemed to transfer to the real world, anyway.


    “There’s no more talking. There’s only coming with us,” the little girl’s voice chirped. I looked around, unable to differentiate what direction it was coming from, but she was nowhere to be seen. “You’ll never see your friends again!” She giggled, the sound of it echoing through the halls in some discordant symphony.


    “We can get this figured out!” I yelled again, as the tugging in my stomach got heavier and heavier.


    “Can we?” A familiar voice said, and I froze, my eyes glued toward the nearest door on the left side of the hallway. From inside, I saw a shred of movement. “Can we get this figured out, or are you going to get distracted by your boyfriend again?” the voice said with an obvious hint of disgust.


    Out of the doorway, Liam stepped, his eyes trained on me as he walked slowly toward me. “You came here for a job,” he accused, “and yet you caught feelings for the first dipshit that gave you a lick of attention. How pathetic.”


    “Liam, please,” I begged, not really sure what I was begging for. For him to let me go? For him to stay with me? A little bit of both?


    “Liam, please,” he mocked. “That’s all I’ve heard since you first found us.” He reached behind his back and pulled out a small knife. “Without you, this would have all been over in a matter of weeks.”


    “Just let me go, Liam,” I said quietly. I felt tears fall down my cheeks, unaware of the fact that I’d actually fully started crying. “I’ll leave, and you and Luke can go back to the way you were.”


    “It’s not that simple and you know it,” he said, throwing the knife up lightly and catching it, the muscles of his hand flexing in a way that, even in that state, I couldn’t help noticing. “You came here and fucked everything up, and now you’re going to have to pay for it.”


    The tugging in my gut increased by so much that I wanted nothing more than to rest my hand over my stomach. I tried to will it away, focused on what was happening, but I couldn’t. “I was just trying to help,” I said quietly.


    “Yeah, well, you didn’t,” Liam said, his face annoyed. “And now, we’ve all got to deal with it.” He raised the knife and I flinched, waiting for the final blow that I assumed was coming. But instead, Liam took the blade and ran it across his own throat. Blood started spurting out immediately, along with small bubbles as he tried to breathe.


    “Liam!” I yelled, flinging myself against my bonds again, but it was no use. Between the pull of the chair and the pull in my stomach, there was no way I could go to him.


    “This is all you,” he managed to gurgle, the bubbles of blood popping obscenely on his neck. His shirt was soaked immediately, as droplets started falling to the floor. After another couple of seconds, Luke dropped to his knees, never breaking eye contact me with.


    “I’m sorry,” I sobbed, finally stopping my struggle against the bindings. Even if I freed myself now, there would be nothing I could do to help him. I finally averted my gaze, unable to take the sight anymore.


    “You should be,” he said, perfectly normal again. I started to look back, but before my eyes could lock with his again, the internal pull got too strong, and I could feel myself moving against my own volition. Probably to hell, I thought, but after that, what could hell do to me?