They were going to force me to take the mask off. I couldn’t do that and keep my sanity.
"She's fought it for so long. Even went through tremendous pain and hurdles to refuse what she knew was true, but it's time to confess to her. Show her exactly what she's been denying for so long, and we'll make it stop," Twin B said. The music beat louder in my eardrums. The room grew warmer, to the point where I could barely breathe through the mask.
Twin A clicked his tongue.
"Every night for years, she has had nightmares about the man in the mask, coming to hurt her. They had to manipulate her brain just to alleviate some of the deep-rooted fear, and yet you stand here, allowing her to go through it all again! Tell her!"
I spun around and dropped the axe to the floor. Laney looked up from her knees and stared in horror as I took the mask off, revealing myself as the true monster ofher nightmares for all these years.It was no masked man who had done those things. It was me.
Rule 50 - Delaney
Mazes are not your friend, final girl.
"Priest?" It didn't make sense. How could it be? Priest wasn't the one who murdered Marco or Moth. He didn't come into my hotel room and— "No."
I stood. My feet wobbled on the floor, and I stepped back. I couldn't take my eyes off the man in front of me, dripping sweat. His chest heaved, and the familiar green eyes bore into my soul. It couldn't be. Not Priest.
A sharp flash ran through my brain, and I cringed as the memory returned to me. Priest, grabbing the mask from the end table right before going upstairs. It had been him. I had known, when they told me about what happened to Marco, I had known who’d done it, but I couldn’t accept it at the time.
It all came back to me in one hard rush. Every last bit. I’d been an inconsolable mess. Every night, I'd cry and scream and demand they tell me where they took my brother. I had to be sedated more often than not just to not lose my voice and mind. They'd made me forget just how attached I was to him before...
I reached out, and Priest leapt back as if I were the dangerous one. His body began to shake and his eyes rolledinto the back of his head. I pressed myself to the wall and watched him twitch for a long moment before he stiffened and then drew himself back to a normal stance.
"Laney," Priest's voice came out in a low growl. Without taking his eyes off me, he lowered himself and slowly picked up the axe he had dropped. My blood ran cold. What was he doing? "Baby, love of my life."
I looked around for the door. I had to leave this room. I wasn't sure exactly what was going on.
"Priest, please," I begged.He put his hand up and stepped toward me.
"You interrupted me." His eyes were cold and chilling. This wasn't the Priest I knew and confessed my love to just nights ago. No, something had come over him. Something sinister. I sidled to the door and turned the handle, and thankfully, it unlocked. Priest's expression changed so quickly that it startled me. He was almost two different people. He lifted his empty hand. "Nothing's going to happen."
I opened the door and fled down the hall. I glanced back to see Priest coming after me, seeming to struggle with his walk. He lifted the axe and glared at me, his face back to the monster from before. "Well, now I might just have to slice you through the middle. Right in fucking two!" he screamed and began to run.
I flew down the stairs, past the second floor, and then past the first as well. I kept going until I reached a door that was labeled the boiler room. With each step, I could hear Priest's heavy ones behind me. I turned the knob and ran inside, slamming the door behind me. I took a moment to breathe, but a large thump against the door got me moving again. It was dark, and the roll of the boiler terrified me, but the man with the axe scared me more.
I found another door labeled as an emergency exit and pushed it, setting off the alarms. I didn't concern myselfwith the loud alert, I blinked, shuddered from the cold, and took off running into the night. There was nothing but snow on the ground, but I kept pushing through. I turned and saw Priest storming out into the weather. My legs ached from the running, and my body shivered from the cold, but it was literal life and death, and I wasn't going to die this way.
The maze was visible and I turned toward it. It was uphill. I fell over and over, my knees stung from the snow, but finally, I made it to the maze, and steeling myself, I went inside.Moth's frozen body lay at the end. I wasn't going to let mine be the same.
"Laney," Priest called to me through the maze. I couldn't place where his voice was coming from, so I drudged forward. My legs were beginning to weigh me down, and soon each step was laborious. I turned a corner and hit a hedge wall head-on. I stumbled backward, but something grabbed me through the bushes and pulled me forward and tight to the wall.
"Stop!" I screamed out. The hands latched onto my wrists and squeezed, holding both of my arms firmly inside the bush.They ran something across my pointer finger and then poked it sharply. I gasped.
"Let me go!" I whimpered, and then suddenly, Priest was behind me. I felt the warmth of his breath on my neck. I could smell the familiar scent of his cologne mixed with sweat. The hand that reached out to touch my hip was one I knew all too well.
"Priest." My body trembled with fear. I couldn't see him enough to know his intentions. "Please, let me go."
"Laney, I warned you, didn't I?" His voice wasn't his. It was, but the tone, the cockiness, that wasn't the big brother I knew and loved. "I told you not to run."
"Priest, something's not right. Please let me go!" I tugged on my arms and felt the knife on the other side dig into my palm. Hot tears slid down my face as I fell forward into thehedge wall, defeated. The pain was too much. I couldn't fight anymore. I closed my eyes and accepted my fate. I was to be one of them. A victim of the Vincent Hotel.
Priest's hands slid down my hips, cupping my ass through my skirt. My legs were pressed together and he pushed his knee through them and then kicked them apart, splaying me for him..
"What are you doing?" Instinctively, I pulled away and the person gripping my wrist yanked me back, stabbing me again, causing me to scream out. The knife went deep, hitting the bone. I bit down and tried to contain the screams as best as I could.
"You like to run and hide? I like to play games too, Laney." Priest bent over me, and I felt his cock against my ass. "Little sister isn't so little anymore, are you?"
"Priest," I sobbed. "I'm stuck." His hands lifted my skirt and yanked on my panties. They tore and fell to the snowy ground. His cold fingers probed my lips, sliding inside with ease.
