7 The Gravekeeper on B4

Rachel and Faith made their way back down the path they had come from to get to the door to continue forward. Though this time around there had been an awkward silence between the two. Rachel had her reasons, but Faith on the other hand she couldn't help but think back to the conversation from earlier, and… The deal her and Zack made earlier. Faith couldn't really understand exactly what Rachel was thinking in her head.

She was a year younger than she was, and she still couldn't believe she was having such thoughts in her head.

"Hey Rachel?" Faith soon said, "Is it alright if I ask you something?"

"I don't mind." Rachel replied as she had looked ahead, "What is it?"

Rachel noticed that Faith had been hesitant as she looked a bit nervous about something. Finally she spoke up.

"Why… Do you want that guy to kill you?" She asked as she had struggled to look at her.

At this, Rachel had stayed silent, though Faith didn't really pay mind to it or pester her for an answer. Instead they both stayed quiet, as only the sound of their footsteps were heard.

"Why do you ask?" Rachel soon asked her.

"It's just that…" Faith started to say as she started to fidget with her fingers, "... It sounds wrong to me, and probably to Kristen too, asking someone to kill you like that… I mean… Even after if…" Faith stopped herself for a moment, biting her bottom lip before she had picked it back up again, "... When we got out of here… You'll end up--"

"Faith." Rachel said, cutting her off, as she had finally looked at her, "I understand your concern. But it's like I told Kristen before. This is my choice. I want this."

"Even so… Don't you think it's wrong to wish for something like this?"

"No. Besides… If I stay alive… God wouldn't forgive me."

Faith had been taken back at this as she had stopped for a moment, processing her words. She was honestly surprised as Rachel kept walking forward; she still couldn't believe the fact that a girl of her age would be into this sort of stuff. Though at the same time she couldn't help but feel intrigued by it.

"You are an interesting person." Faith said to herself.

This time, Rachel stopped in her tracks as she looked at her. "Did you say something?" Rachel asked as she didn't quite hear her.

"Oh, nothing! Don't worry about it!" Faith said awkwardly as she shook her head vigorously.

"I see." Rachel said, turning to move forward again.

Before Faith could follow she noticed Rachel had stopped again. She noticed that she bent down to pick something up.

"Rachel?" Faith soon asked, "What is it?"

"It's another letter." Rachel soon replied as she stood back up.

Faith had been taken back by this as she approached, looking over her shoulder. It had indeed been another letter, with the same orange flower. "It definitely wasn't here when we came here." Faith said softly, only earning a nod from Rachel.

Rachel soon proceeded to read the letter aloud.

"There's nothing to be confused about. You know my wish and yours are perfect, don't you?"

***

CLICK.

The lights around them suddenly went out, leaving the two of them in the dark. Zack didn't seemed fazed by this as he appeared to be only annoyed by this. Kristen on the other hand, turned as pale as a ghost, and her body started to shake. Zack had been taken back when Kristen let out a terrified shriek.

"The fuck!?" He exclaimed.

She sank to the floor as she was now in a fetal position. Zack heard her let out uneven breaths; if he could see in the dark, he would've seen Kristen sweating up a storm and on the verge of tears. "Hey!" He called out in the direction where he heard her, "The hell's wrong with you!?"

His body soon flinched a little when he heard the sound of a child's giggle. It seemed to have echoed throughout the room.

"You grave ruiner…"

Zack got his composure as he readied his scythe in the direction of the voice. Little did he know there had been a child no more than eleven standing just a few feet in front of him. His entire face was covered with a mask, as he had on a plain white t-shirt with baggy overalls and a red scarf. Over his shoulder he had a shovel as he looked at Zack with emerald green eyes.

"Hey there, Zack."

Zack's eye twitched at the sound of the boy's voice; he spat off to the side looking to where he had heard him.

"Hey little shit." Zack said.

"I went to all the trouble of making a grave for you." The boy said, "Why would you destroy it? Are you crazy?"

Zack merely chuckled at this, "For all the trouble you went through, you really did a shitty job."

"That's cause I was in a hurry." The boy said, putting his shovel over his shoulders, "On the bright side, I can keep the gravestone the way it is right now. It's a perfect match."

"I'M GONNA PUT YOU IN A GRAVE FIRST YOU LITTLE BRAT!" He soon yelled.

Zack swung his scythe in the direction where he was, though the boy was quick to jump out of the way as he landed on the ground with a laugh. The boy had landed near where Kristen had been; though he didn't touch her or anything, Kristen let out another scream as she found herself falling back onto the floor.

"N--NO!!" Kristen shouted hysterically as she scrambled, eventually hitting another broken tombstone, "DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!! NOT HERE!!"

"Hmm?" The boy said intrigued, his face close to hers as she cried not even taking note of his presence, "I guess even adults have tiniest fears like this, huh? Funny I didn't expect that from someone like her."

"GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU LITTLE SHIT!!" Zack yelled aggressively as his grip on his scythe tightened; he didn't know why, even though he shouldn't care about her, he hated the fact that the boy was in close proximity to her.

The boy seemed to be annoyed by this, as he made a face under his mask; though he turned to him, putting his hands behind his head as he stood, "For your information, my name isn't brat or little shit. My name is Eddie. Try not to wear it out."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!!" Zack shouted as he took the swing, only to have the boy named Eddie duck again.

"You ruined their graves too." Eddie complained as he ducked from his blade again, jumping back from it, "I'm gonna have to remake them again."

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?" Zack yelled and went to attack again.

Eddie once again avoided it, keeping his distance from him as he felt gleeful at a certain thought. "You know something…" Eddie started to say, "... That girl Rachel… I fell for her the moment I saw her."

"The hell are you on about!?" Zack yelled at Eddie.

"The only thing I ever did was make graves for people who had already been killed." Eddie began to say, "If I had to be honest I was getting bored of it.I like making graves, but I felt no affection towards who goes in them. There's no beauty in that. I want to make the perfect grave for Rachel. I can do the same for the people she likes too. Rachel's close to my age, and above all, I can relate to her. Love and being loved… Mutual love."

Under his mask Eddie let out a smile at the thought of it all, "It must be far more beautiful than one sided love for a messy corpse." Eddie giggled at this, "Of course I don't mind it being messy, if that's what she wants…"

"Quit talking like a sick freak!" Zack told him.

"She's a perfect fit with my aesthstetic." He heard Eddie say, "Even her friends seem so too!"

When Eddie turned to Zack his expression seemed to have changed from underneath his mask, "Which is why… I'll be the one to kill them."

Zack couldn't help but feel ticked off at that; he had no idea why but he did. He charged in the direction where Eddie had been. "GET OVER YOURSELF YOU BRAT!!" He shouted, swinging his scythe with more strength than before.

Eddie merely laughed as he jumped away; Soon enough Zack heard his laughs echo throughout the room, before the lights came back on by the sound of a click.

"WHERE ARE YOU!?" Zack yelled as he looked around, "COME OUT AND FIGHT YOU NECROPHILIAC!!"

Despite the lights being turned on, Kristen had still been on the floor hyperventilating. She fell on her side, hugging herself as tears began to fall from her eyes and onto the stone cold floor; she started to struggle to breath as she tightened the grip around herself.

"Damn it!" Zack said, "Hey Red Eyes, we gotta--"

Zack stopped himself as he had finally noticed the way Kristen looked. He didn't know why but at that moment…

He started to panic.

"Shit! Hey!" Zack said as he ran over to her, dropping his scythe; he slid on his knees, stopping just at her side, "The fuck's wrong with you!?"

"Ple--please…" He heard her say, "... N-No more. I can't take it… I-I do-don't want to be here… I don't want to be a-alone… P--please… Do--Don't leave me…"

"Get a hold of yourself!!" Zack shouted as he started to shake her, "You can't go crazy on me now!!"

She didn't seem to have heard him as she stared to claw at her bare arm, which Zack himself had been taken back by the way she had been acting.

"Don't leave me here…" She said hysterically, "I don't want to be alone…"

Zack gritted his teeth as his own body shook at the way she had been acting. He'd never seen anyone like this, even the people that he's killed. Sure, he's had many of them cry on him before he killed them, but never like this, never this way.

"Hey, can't you hear me!?" Zack soon said as he shook her again, to his surprise he found his own voice shaking, "I'm talking to you, ya know!?"

"Ple--please…" He heard her say as the tears kept coming, "Ple--please…"

"You can't hear me, can't you?" He said, "Damn it…"

He clenched his fist, hitting onto the ground as he felt angry and he could swear he felt a little fear, as he kept his other hand on her shoulder. For a moment her turned to the open gap in the wall, where Rachel and Faith had gone before looking back to Kristen.

"... What the fuck do I do now…?"

***

Rachel and Faith managed to get back to the reference room, and they saw that the door in the back had been green. Faith went to the door and with a turn of the knob it opened with a click. "Well we were right." Faith said with relief, "I was worried we would have to go find another trigger."

"Hopefully we won't have to deal with that again." Rachel said.

Faith opened the door and up ahead they saw up ahead the hall had been darkened. There had been no light ahead, as it had been nothing but a dark abyss.

"I can't see anything." Faith said.

Rachel soon looked to one of the shelves nearby and saw something that could be of use to them; A flashlight.

"This might be useful." Rachel said as she took the flashlight from where it sat.

"Huh, where did that come from?" Faith wondered.

Rachel got the flashlight on and walked ahead lighting the way. Faith stayed in close proximity of Rachel as they proceeded forward. Eventually they had reached what appeared to be some sort of water pump room, judging from the controls they had seen with the help of the light. They saw there were more pools of water though it had a smell to it.

"You gotta admit something…" Faith said, "... Whoever is the resident of this floor, really took their time and effort to take care of all of this."

Rachel nodded in agreement before she noticed something in the shadows; she shined the flashlight towards it and saw it was another letter with an orange flower. "Another one of these?" Faith said as her body shivered.Rachel picked it up and started to read what was written on it.

"There is nothing to worry about. You and I want the same thing."

Faith couldn't help but look at the letter curiously, as she looked to Rachel, "Hey, you don't think that this person means…"

The two of them jumped slightly when they heard the sound of a child's laughter again. "Who's there?" Rachel said as she looked around the room.

"I don't like this." Faith said fearfully as the giggles continued.

Whoever had been laughing, soon spoke up. "Hey Rachel?" The voice said, "I'm going to grant your wish for you. But I have a wish of my own."

The light in Rachel's hand had soon gone out, taking the two of them by surprise.

"Yeah, I REALLY don't like this." Faith said as she shrunk a little.

"Let's call Kristen." Rachel suggested as she quickly got the walkie out of her messenger bag. She got the walkie on but they were met with static. She pressed the button provided, "Kristen, can you hear me?" Rachel and Faith soon noticed that when she tried to speak into it, the static seemed to have continued.

"I can't get through." Rachel said to Faith as she let go of the button.

"Something on this floor must be blocking the signal!" Faith quickly concluded with panic in her voice.

The voice soon spoke to them again, "I'd like you to entrust yourself to me. Mutual love is great, don't you agree? I understand you well. You want to die, right? So… Tell me yes."

Rachel flinched when she heard a bang sound just next to her, that quickly followed with a thud.

"Faith?"

She didn't realize the fact that Faith was on the ground at the moment unconscious by whatever had hit her. Just as she was about to check on her, her body froze when she realized someone had been behind her.

"We finally met Rachel." He said cheerfully, "My name is Eddie. Sorry about knocking out your friend, but I wanted to talk to you alone."

Rachel turned to the boy named Eddie as she backed up a little. "Don't be afraid." Eddie said gently; Rachel realized that he was next to her and got distance between herself and Eddie quickly putting together that he could see despite the fact that the lights were off.

"I won't try to kill you or your friends out of the blue like the others do." Eddie continued, "Especially that Zack guy. He's so messy when he kills people. He has no aesthetic at all. Don't worry, I know you and your friends very well. I know what happened between Faith and her older brother, what Kristen's life was like before she was framed for that terrible crime. I know what happened to your mom and dad and what happened to everyone else around you. I even know about the relationship with you and the person you cherish most."

"Do you really?" Rachel asked as she was intrigued by this.

"Yep!" Eddie replied, "So there's nothing for you and your friends to worry about."

"Than…" Rachel soon said, "... Can you tell me, why am I here? Why Faith, her brother and Kristen were brought here? And what do you mean by a person I cherish?"

Eddie seemed confused by this, "Do you guys not remember?"

Rachel nodded her head in reply.

"Well, if you don't remember than that's fine." He said, brushing it off.

"What do you--"

"More importantly, I can give you and your friends a painless death, and I can even make a perfect grave for the three of you! I'll make your wish come true, and the best part is, if you want to, I can give them a peaceful death too! It's a win-win set for all of you!"

Rachel looked down at her feet at this, as if she had been giving thought to what he was saying, if he had been telling the truth or not. "What's wrong?" Eddie soon asked legimently worried as to when she didn't answer right away, "Why aren't you saying anything?" He stepped forward a little causing her to back up.

"Come on, please Rachel… Just tell me yes."

***

Thunder continued to roar across the skies as the child tried her best to move. She didn't know how or why, but she found herself in a different location of the house. She couldn't tell where as her vision had still been weak; the energy in her, still fleeting. The view of the clouds and rain became more clear, but only by a little.

The only difference had been, instead of her being on a cold hard floor, she found herself on something rough, yet soft texture, underneath a blanket that didn't cover her body entirely, but was enough to keep her warm.

She still struggled to keep herself awake, as her vision tried to clear up. She didn't even know there was someone beside her; she only seemed to know when she felt water poured into her mouth, and it dripped down her chin.

She looked up to whoever it had been, yet, she still couldn't tell who this person was, or this person's gender.

She coughed a little causing some of the water onto the ground. Though she still breathed hoarsely it sounded a little better after a couple of sips. Soon enough the person who had been by her side, took out what looked to be bread.

Breaking off only a small piece, the person went to place it in her mouth.

"Eat." She heard the person say; their voice sounded a bit distorted to her ears.

The child tried her best to chew on a piece of bread, though she didn't have enough energy to do so as the piece fell out of her mouth. She couldn't really speak as she let out a groan as if to apologize to whoever it had been.

Whoever it was let out a sigh, as the person took the bread before the person popped it into their mouth.

If the child had energy at the moment, she would've been very surprised when she felt the person's lips connect with her own with the piece of bread still in their mouth.

***

Kristen started to come too, as she soon found herself back on floor B4. She felt her eyes a bit itchy from her tears, as she went to rub them.

"What… What was that…?" She said as she touched her lips lightly.

Kristen soon came to realize that she wasn't on the ground; she instead found herself against something surprisingly warm.

"Wait, what…?" She said, confused.

"Hey, are you finally up Red Eyes?"

Kristen flinched slightly at the sound someone familiar. She looked above and jumped when she saw Zack, staring down at her. She turned red a little when she realized that Zack had her in his arms as he had been sitting on the floor with his legs crossed.

She let out a scream as she scrambled out of his grip,slapping his face making him fall over on his back.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" Zack shouted, "WHY DID YOU HIT ME!?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, WHY DID I HIT YOU!? THAT SHOULD'VE BEEN OBVIOUS ASSHOLE!" Kristen yelled back, as her face was red, before putting her arms over her chest, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING YOU PERVERT!?"

"HEY!" Zack shouted, "I'M NOT CRAZY ENOUGH TO DO THAT KIND OF SHIT WHEN SOMEONE'S UNCONSCIOUS! IT'S SICK!"

"SAYS THE SERIAL KILLER!"

"ASSAULTING AND KILLING ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS YA KNOW!?!"

"ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE NOT MAKING THAT UP!?"

"DO I NEED TO KEEP REPEATING MYSELF TO YOU!?"

Kristen let out a sigh as she brought her arms to her side as she stood up from the floor, brushing herself off. "Seriously though, what happened?" Kristen asked as Zack stood from the floor, "All I remember was that we were talking and the lights suddenly…" She stopped herself as shievered, before she picked up the sentence, "... Went out."

"That little shit, Eddie I think was his name came by here after the lights turned off." Zack explained, "My guess is, he's in charge of this floor. You started to say weird stuff even after the lights came back on and I couldn't get you to snap out of it. I didn't know what else to do, so I grabbed onto you and you fell asleep in my arms shortly after you stopped crying."

Kristen had been taken by this as she noticed Zack avoided looking at her; honestly she was surprised he would do something like that for her. She couldn't tell the look he was making, though she brushed at the thought of the person on the floor with them. The person named Eddie.

"Where did this Eddie guy go?" Kristen asked.

"That's the problem I was trying to tell you while you were busy having your mental breakdown!" Zack told her, as he picked up his scythe and finally turned back to her, "He went after those two to kill that creepy little girl!"

Kristen's eyes widened at this at the thought of Rachel and Faith's safety.

"Oh my God!" She exclaimed as her eyes widened in horror and realization. She quickly ran to where she put the walkie earlier and got it on.

"Rachel! Faith!" She said as soon as she flipped the switch, "Can you hear me!? You have to come back now!"

When she let go of the button, her panic rose a little when all she heard was static.

"Something's wrong!" She told Zack, "I can't get through to them!"

Zack clicked his tongue and ran towards the gap before he yelled, "FOUR EYES! BRAT! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!!"

His voice echoed through the hall, though they didn't get a response. "Damn it, they can't hear me either." Zack said.

"They must be too far in to hear us!" Kristen said as she clenched her head, "Fuck! Think! Think damn it!"

"That little grave-digging bastard!" Zack cursed, "Is he trying to one up me? I can't have that little bitch dying on me yet!"

Kristen let out an annoyed groan as she couldn't come up with a good idea; right now she had fear, the kind of fear for someone else. "We gotta get to them!" She said to Zack with panic in her voice, "They could be in danger!"

"Calm down will ya!" He told her, "Just think of a way to--"

Zack soon stopped himself when his eyes widened in realization, which Kristen quickly took notice of. "What?" She said, "What is it?"

"That girl…" Zack soon said, "... She said there was a room inside and to the right didn't she?"

Kristen looked at him surprised before she responded, "Yes! She did say that!"

"Than what are we doing standing here!?" Zack told her, "Grab your gun and let's get moving!"

Zack ran ahead of her before Kristen could react; she was able to recover quick as she quickly grabbed ahold of her gun and hoodie, before she went to follow his lead.

***

Rachel continued to back up till she hit a wall as Eddie approached her, though Eddie surprisingly maintained his distance. "What's there to be unsure of?" Eddie asked, sounding patient, "Come on, try saying your wish out loud."

Rachel looked to the ground again as her expression softened a little.

"I want to die." She said.

"See?" He said, "I knew it! I'll be the one to kill you and your friends if you want… So just say yes."

Though her expression bared no life, Rachel looked unsure by what he had been asking of her. She began to give it some thought as she had felt conflicted about it all.

"Oh!" Eddie soon groaned, "This is so infuriating! Is it because of that guy Zack?"

Rachel seemed to have flinched at that as she looked at the boy. "Why are you guys with him anyway?"

"Because he…" Rachel began to say, "... He said he would help Kristen and Faith to escape and… He promised he would kill me."

Eddie thought, "Well, I don't know about escaping, but… If you want to die, I'll kill you in his place."

"He won't be able to get out of here otherwise if all three of us aren't together."

"That's not a problem at all! Who cares what happens to a guy like him?"

"Still…"

They were soon drawn to the sound of knocking behind the wall as they couldn't help but find it odd. Than a familiar voice came through it.

"Rachel! Faith! Are you two in there!? One of you answers me!"

"Kristen?" Rachel said as she turned her head to where she heard her voice.

"Oh, she recovered from her shock." Eddie said.

A second voice soon came through the wall.

"FOUR EYES! LITTLE MISS HORROR SHOW! YOU'RE BOTH IN THERE SOMEWHERE AREN'T YOU!?"

Of course, the two of them recognized this voice to be Zack, much to Eddie's dismay.

"Ugh… Why did she have to bring him with her? His voice is absolutely grating." Eddie mumbled before he said to Rachel, "Anyway, you pick! Do you want me to kill you or him?"

Rachel felt conflicted again as she started to think as Eddie got on one knee, holding his hand to her.

"My beloved Rachel…" He said, "... For you… I'll give you a beautiful place to rest. All you have to do… Is say yes."

The child still gave it some thought as she considered what he had been offering to her. She wished for Faith and Kristen to go free, and she knew if she died, the person who had promised her death would most likely lose his chance if she suddenly passed on. Yet what this boy promised her was a peaceful death, a place where she could rest eternally.

At that moment, she thought of her decision. The letter she had been holding from him fell out of her hand as she reached out to Eddie, bringing joy in his eyes as he smiled underneath his mask.

"RACHEL!!" Kristen soon yelled from the otherside making her stop, "DON'T LISTEN TO WHAT HE'S OFFERING TO YOU! I TOLD YOU I'D RETURN THE FAVOR TO YOU DIDN'T I?! HOW CAN I DO THAT IF YOU WERE TO DIE HERE AND NOW!?"

"Kristen…" Rachel said, sensing the panic and worry in her voice.

"Don't worry, okay?" Eddie soon spoke up, "I promise I won't make her death hurt."

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M CONCERNED ABOUT!!" She yelled.

Soon Zack spoke up through the wall.

"YOUR CALL AT AESTHETIC IS PRETTY DAMN VAGUE!" He shouted, "YOU'RE SERIOUSLY GONNA KILL SOMEONE WITH THAT BORING LOOK! ARE YOU A MORON!?"

Eddie felt annoyed by the sound of his voice. "Keep it down will you?" He said, "I'm talking to Rachel right no--"

"I WASN'T TALKING TO YOU, YOU GRAVE DIGGING BASTARD!!" He yelled, cutting him off, "HEY! YOU CAN HEAR ME CAN'T YOU!?"

"Do you mean me?" Rachel asked.

"WHO ELSE WOULD I BE REFERRING TO!?" He shouted, "DON'T THINK I'M GONNA LET YOU OR THE OTHER TWO GO OFF AND DIE! THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE THAT ARE GONNA WANT TO KILL YOU! BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE THAT I'M GONNA BE THE ONE TO KILL YOU WHEN THE TIME COMES!!"

Rachel at first didn't seem to have been interested as she only thought she had to be useful however, only four words from him, made up whatever she had been thinking.

"I swear to God."