Calum cracked his eyes open, expecting to awaken in his own bed in the comfort of his own house. My, he had just had the mist insane dream about him and all of his friends. He can't wait to tell all of his friends about it, especially Luke. He'd get a crack up.

He looks around and sees a dirty room, water creaking out of the corners, and a giant window covered in cobwebs. He also sees all of his best friends sleeping soundly on the floor. What the hell?

Then, everything came back to him. It wasn't a dream.

Calum begins trembling in fear, visions of last night painted in his mind. He remembers how he tried to be strong for everyone else, and held in any breakdowns until everybody was safe. It was then that the fog came in, and his world was enclosed by darkness.

But nobody can see him now, can they? Everybody was still caught in a discomforting slumber. He was practically alone.

Remembering seeing Luke's dead and bloody body in Rocky and Ashton's arms, his eyes prickle with salty tears. Then he remembers how Luke spoke to them a bit, and Calum didn't say anything. Calum was too afraid and in shock of what had just happened to make out words, and he lost his chance.

His teary cheeks turn into sobs, rocking his whole body and making him fall back onto the floor. He holds tightly onto his knees, letting all of his held up fear and grief come out.

"Cals?" he hears distantly, but chooses to ignore it. He feels a hand rubbing on his side comfortingly, causing him to bolt up. He sees his sister Blaise kneeled in front of him, quickly moving her hand.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," she says, her eyes sad and traumatized.

Calum doesn't want to speak, embarrassed by how it sounds when he speaks during a sob session and knowing that he will rant forever if he does. So he pushes himself up and wraps his arms around her, crying into her shoulder. She holds the sobbing boy into her chest, rubbing his back in comfort. 

She chooses not to tell him that it will all be okay, because she knows very well that it is not. Lying to him will just set him off more. She expected him to have a break down sooner or later, which isn't surprising on quarters of circumstances. When you see a dead body, it damges something in you. Everytime you close your eyes, that's the only thing that you're able to see. It's even worse when you see and hear them die, watch the life exit their eyes and the pain and anguish that they feel during it. You have repetitive nightmares replaying the scene, a haunted memory that you can't escape. And I'm not even going to speak about how it feels when that person was your best friend.

"I can't believe I acted like that," Calum mumbles. 

"Acted like what? You acted amazing actually, I didn't even expect you to be so emotionally strong," she says, pulling back a little to look him in the eyes.

"I didn't even say anything him, when it was my last chance," Calum says quietly.

"I didn't say anything either, it was scary. Seeing all that does a lot of damage to you, and when you're not used to seeing that it can bring you into a state of shock. You know Luke is one of the most understanding of all of us, he would understand. You didn't do anything wrong, Calum," she says.

Calum slides a bit back against the wall, his bawling dying down a bit. He stares blankly, wondering how everyone else is still asleep.

"Remember when our dog died back when we were twelve? And how we had to be brave so that he wouldn't be upset that we are hurt, and that we had to find comfort in each other?" Blaise says, sliding against the wall as well.

Calum nods.

"Well, we are going to have to do that again. Luke wouldn't want us feeling this way. And we have each other," she says.

Blaise was actually terrified; she just wanted to hold onto Michael and never let go. She couldn't shut out the thoughts that they all would die. But she knew that Calum would shut himself down and lose it if she didn't go through this with him, and she couldn't have that. 

"I love you Blaise," he says.

"I love you too Cals," she replies.

¤

It was about twenty minutes later that everyone else had awoken, which had been a period of assorted of strong emotion. Everyone was confused or grieving or traumatized or angry or terrified or speaking of how everyone was going to die, and some were reacting the way Calum had while some were angry about everything and practically murderous and everything was just a big mess.

"Guys, we need to quit it. I get that we're all panicked and grieving and that makes perfect sense, but it is just going to make everything harder. We need to find a way to get out of here alive, and then we have permission to go as mad as possible. For now, we need to get the act together, for everybody's sake," Liam says, silencing everyone.

"Liam's right. Panic doesn't do anything. We should be thinking of a way to get out of here," Robin says.

Everyone is quiet for a minute, silently agreeing and trying to get themselves together.

"Man, I didn't know you could break someone's rib by squeezing him," Ashton sighs, spreading himself out and wincing everytime something touched his torso.

"I doubt someone can, he wasn't even trying that hard. It was that thing that was with it, which wasn't fucking human," Michael scoffs.

"Then what is it, a unicorn?" Michael says.

"I felt that force field force me across the room. Care to explain that?" Michael replies.

"You act like she's never pushed you before,"

Everyone turns around and see a girl about their age standing in the hall, whom they haven't recognized. She seems to be quite interested.

"Who are you?" Louis asks, trying to figure out if she's a victim as well or part of the whole thing.

"So, I get up and find these people in my place and they have the nerve to ask who I am? I don't remember seeing any of you around," she replies.

They are about to reply when she continues speaking.

"I really don't know how I haven't noticed you before. When did you die?" she asks.

"What are you talking about, isn't it kind of obvious that we're alive?" Zayn asks.

"Alive? No kidding? Damn, it's been over twenty years. No wonder everyone's so riled up. Hey, you must be the ones who came with the new kid!" she says.

She suddenly clasps her hands around her mouth. "Shit, I didn't mean to say that. Forget I said anything."

The conversation with the strange girl is cut off by an old screen blinking on in off in the room. The gas mask man appears on the screen.

"Hello, my darlings," he smiles.

"What is this, Saw? At least have some originality," Louis laughs.

"I can see you've all met Jazlyn," he says, causing the strange girl to smirk and wave.

"Right. Get to the point. What do you want with us?" Niall asks. 

"Moody are we? Basically, you are currently sitting in the attic. Now, your goal is to get back to the front door, and you're free. Got it?" the man says. 

"On what condition?" Aria asks.

"No condition. I said it like it is. I suggest you get started as soon as possible, " he says,  the screen growing dark again. 

"Is he serious?" Aria asks the strange girl, who is apparently Jazlyn.

"He's full of shit. The journey from here to the front door has death written all over it.  But if you don't go, you'll just stay up here and starve to death. You don't have a choice. Believe me, your friend with the freakishly long legs that looks like the blue haired girl got it easy," she says, her eyes empathising.

"How do you know Luke?" Rocky asks.

"New kid was talking to me all night. However, information on him is confidential. We might as well get this over with, yeah?" she says.

Rocky furrows her eyebrows, angry yet remaining cool.

"And how do you know so much about this?" Ashton asks.

"Because I was killed in it forty years ago. Now I'm just an escort for the poor souls that get stuck in here. Get used to me, I'll be around a lot," she says.

"That's not possible," Ashton says, confused.

"Well perhaps the truth is that you've gone insane and I'm apart of your imagination. But you can choose what to believe. Are we going?" she says.

"I guess we have no choice," Michael says, standing up. 

"I think you have a lot of explaining to do about those two freaks yesterday and my brother," Rocky says.

"Hmm, maybe that will come along on the way," she says.

And that's when it all began.

A/N:

Boring chapter I know, but introduction to Jazlyn and the journey was very important.