In the far corner of the room, the Reverend Pem sat olding his knees to his chest rocking back and forth. He looked up, "Cain? Is ... is it really you? That thing keeps pretending to be each of you just to torture me. "Help me up .... please."
Cain reached down and grabbed his hand. "There's some weird...copies of you running around...they're..evil, Pem, evil. Hurry, we've got to get out!"
Pem clasped the young man's hand. As he did, the Reverend's fingers stretched and twisted around Cain's arm holding him tightly as the door to room 13 slammed shut. An ancient cackle came from Pem as his body grew dark and indistinct. "They're leaving without you Cain," said a voice from within the shadows. "It's too late. Here, have a drink." A fully stocked bar was now in the corner of the room.
"No!" shrieked Cain. He had fallen for it. He was so stupid! It was so obvious..and yet, he had gone against all common sense. That was always his problem, doing what felt right, never what made sense. Just as it felt right to drink until he couldn't stand, and then drink some more. But this would be one drink he wouldn't take. "Get off me! What do you want? Why are you terrorizing us? In the name of God, get away!"
The shadow creature fell apart. A voice whispered in Cain's ear. "Why? You really want to know why? Remember when you were young and used to burn ants with a seeing glass? You are my ants."
Mr Browns body is roasting away in the furnaces used to power the ships... how truly unfortunate. I wonder who will find him The lifeboats are now floating away on the sea. Armel seems to have vanished. Mr. Brown is dead
Mouse stepped out of the lifeboat just before it was lowered into the darkness. Roger and Dana called after her, but she was already following Cain to room 13. Mouse arrived just in time to look through the doorway and see Cain taking Pem's hand. The reverend was sitting in a corner and appeared shaken. But just as she was about to enter the room the door slammed shut. "No! No, you can't do this!" Mouse screamed, trying to twist the knob open. The cold metal suddenly became the color of hot irons, a bright red that seared the flesh of her palm so quickly that it branded her skin before she even had a chance to let go. The pain was excruciating, but Mouse wasn't giving up. She kicked the door once, twice, then backed up as far as she could and rammed it with the force of her body. The wood surrounding the heated doorknob splintered and cracked, allowing the door to creak open. The Pem creature turned its grotesque head to meet Mouse's gaze. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the little ragdoll who burned me not so very long ago. Speaking of burns, little Mouse, how's your hand?" He asked, breaking into gales of laughter that would have spooked even the most pious of men. Mouse was shaking, sweating from every pore of her body, it seemed, as the palm of her right hand throbbed painfully. "Now you know what it feels like," he said, grinning humorlessly. "Let us go, okay? Why do you need us anyway?" Mouse asked.
Dana bit his lip. The little girl and dark-haired man were gone now. He turned to Roger, who sat silently in the lifeboat, staring blankly out at the sea. They were in the water now, and there was no way to get back up. Oh well. Dana seized the oars and began rowing. He had no idea where they were or where they were headed, but he wanted to get away from that ship. He needed to. The blonde boy watched as the Narcissus slowly faded into the distance. He still wonders what happened to the little girl and the dark-haired man. ((Crap, but I didn't wanna just disappear. I'm all outta ideas >.< ))
"Need you?" The Pem creature asked, still smiling its humorless grin. "I don't need any of you. You yourself could have chosen to escape. You could have chosen to stay on that life boat with Dana and Roger," he said. "But you didn't." Mouse's eyes grew wide as he opened his mouth to reveal row upon row of razor sharp teeth. His tongue was like that of a serpent, forked at the end, and his eyes began to glow a crimson color. He lunged at her then, so fast that she hadn't a prayer of escaping. The Pem creature bit into the flesh of her throat, slicing through Mouse's jugular vein and esophagus at once. She choked, desperately trying to breathe as blood spilled from her neck and filled her lungs. The sensation of drowning overtook her for several moments until finally the light of the world began to dim into darkness. Come dance with me, she heard her mother's voice call. Your father's not here yet, but we can still dance. Mouse could still hear the echoes of the Pem creature laughing as she joined her mother in a field of flowers.