Chapter 12: Chapter 12

Robert had no idea what was going on, although a strange urge for a bar of chocolate had gripped him for no noticeable reason. Suddenly he found himself on the floor, his throat flared with agony where he had been dragged into the Haunt. He managed to get up, his legs quivering like jelly underneath him as he struggled to breathe.

The first people that he saw were Belinda and Edward. He saw that they both looked very scared and, although he was not sure what the danger was yet, he could understand why. He was sure he was going to cough up blood. Whoever had grabbed his neck had a grip like a vice.

The other people around Belinda and Edward were a mixture of demonic and human faces. They all leered with equal loathing at the newcomer and Robert had a sudden feeling that everybody here was out of their depth. He still had not seen the face of his attacker and was aware of a presence behind him. He slowly turned round to see just what he was dealing with.

His attacker was examining a broken fingernail when Robert saw her standing there. She decided eventually to disregard it and finally gave them her attention.

“The gang’s all here!”

She looked at the three prisoners.

“Well not quite but you kids will do for starters.”

Robert suddenly realised that he was a lot closer to her than Edward and Belinda were and didn’t like this little fact. He started to take some steps backwards, hoping that she didn’t move forward and finish the job of choking him.

“Is that…?” Robert asked, his voice croaking out the words and pain shooting through the front of his throat.

“Yes!” Said Edward. He didn’t have to say anything else.

Isabelle beamed a smile at them all. It was a little disarming because, for a moment she did not look psychotic in the slightest.

“The thing that really hurts is that Gary lied about what he did for a living. That’s really bad, don’t you think?”

Nobody answered her.

“He’ll have to be the next person I kill…” she put a hand to her mouth melodramatically. “Sorry, I mean visit!”

“You know David’s going to find us, and he’s going to be pissed!” Belinda finally had the courage to say.

Isabelle smiled again, this time in a more suitably psychotic way.

“Will he? You told him you were coming to this place specifically? He might take all night to find you three. And I’m not sure he’ll ever find all of you. There might be bits missing. Vital bits! Like you’re fucking head!”

Belinda felt that she sensed a little discomfort under the words. She was sure that Isabelle, or whatever had taken control of Isabelle, still had the common sense to fear David. She decided to use this to her advantage. She moved forward a little, now slightly ahead of the retreated Robert.

“You don’t scare us!”

Edward moved forward and put a hand on her shoulder, to pull her back. But the damage was already done. Isabelle flashed a very dangerous smile at them.

“Oh don’t I? Well we’ll have to change that.”

Suddenly Isabelle charged forward, pulling out a very sharp looking knife, seemingly from nowhere.