It all happened so fast.

  The walls shook with such force that it sent an old picture frame tumbling to the ground, filling the room with the sound of glass shattering through the darkness.

  “What’s happening?” Nicolas sprung up, rubbing his eyes to wake himself. As soon as he was on his feet, there was another crashing sound, so violent it shook the whole apartment.

  “Nicolas!” Ash’s voice pierced through the dark room.

  “I’m here,” he replied.

  “What’s going on?!”

  Nicolas just started to reply, when the room began to flood with that uncanny coldness that he’d felt right before every other kako encounter.

  “They’ve found us.”

  “Nicolas,” a voice hissed, sounding as though it came from everywhere at once, clouding his mind with vibrations like a sentient migraine. “You can’t run from us forever.”

  “We have to get out of here,” Nicolas shouted over the sound of something shattering nearby.

  “My thoughts exactly,” Kevin agreed as a white glow appeared through the darkness. He spoke in his real voice, pointing the flashlight to the ground as he shoved a backpack toward Nicolas. “Here, take this.”

  The backpack was heavy, and Nicolas realized then that it was because of the sword resting safely inside a built-in sheath. “Quick, to the window.”

  Kevin moved faster than Nicolas had ever seen him move. He half-expected the aging man to have a hard time running, but now, Nicolas stood corrected. Kevin was at the window in a millisecond, sliding the blacked-out glass up and sending rays of sunlight erupting into the shadow-infested apartment.

  “Go,” he whispered, throwing the flashlight to Ryan. Neither he, Ryan, nor Ash hesitated as another crash shook the walls so viciously that Nicolas could feel it in his chest.

  Kevin practically shoved Ash toward the window, and at first, Nicolas didn’t notice the ledge that ran around the building. It stood out only about five inches, but it seemed like just enough for them to stand on: And there wasn’t time to pray that it’d hold them, because Ash was already climbing through the window, and Nicolas was right behind them.

  He squinted his eyes as a cool, summer breeze blew through the open window, making his hair blow into his face. He carefully moved onto the ledge, stepping to the right and pressing himself as close as he could to the wall behind him, trying not to let himself think about the four story drop below his feet.

  Ryan had just joined them when there was another crash; this time, Nicolas could hear the wood from the door shattering into splinters:

  The door he and Ryan had carefully opened and shut countless times.

  Before Nicolas knew what had happened, there was a gasping noise, and Kevin’s body was being forced out of the window.

  Nicolas closed his eyes, first thinking that maybe Kevin had simply jumped, to avoid the kako. But when he opened his eyes, Kevin was still there, being held out by a single, black tentacle wrapping around his throat as it dangled his body out of the window.

  Nicolas heard Ash let out a terrified breath, and he quickly moved his hand toward their mouth to stop them from screaming. The kako was inside the building, and they were balancing on a window ledge: And since they couldn’t see the kako, the kako likely couldn’t see them, either.

  “Where’s the boy,” a voice spat, each word seeming to echo in Nicolas’ head for just a second longer than it should’ve.

  Kevin grabbed at the kako’s arm, gasping for breath as his feet hovered over the ground four-stories below.

  “Where is the child?” the kako demanded again, shaking Kevin slightly as he spoke.

  “He started back to Portland this morning,” Kevin managed to answer in between his gasps for air. “He’s probably getting on the train as we speak.”

  There was a moment of silence that felt like a century, as Kevin’s struggling slowed, his face turning red from asphyxiating.

  Ash struggled to move Nicolas’ hand, which was firmly pressed against their lips. Their face was burning with heat, as if they had a fever.

  “The mother thanks you for your cooperation,” the kako said after a long time, sounding almost polite.

  Then, another dark tentacle flew out of the window as fast as a bullet, colliding with Kevin’s chest. Nicolas’ mind almost didn’t even register the sickening sound of ribs crunching as the tentacle forced its way through Kevin’s body like a spear.

  Nicolas tightened his hand on Ash’s mouth as they tried to scream, a warm teardrop touching the top of his hand. He forced their head to turn away from Kevin, and almost managed to turn his own eyes away before the kako released him, and his dying, bloodstained body fell to the concrete below, hitting the ground with a sound that Nicolas would never unhear.

  Ash let in a quick, distressed gasp, grabbing at Nicolas’ hand that still covered their mouth.

  I’m sorry, he told them in his head, hoping their little psychological connection actually worked. Ash’s lips felt hot, and their tears were running down Nicolas’ hand, while his ears seemed to re-hear a phantom version of Kevin's body hitting the ground again.

  I’m so sorry.

  "Search the building," the kako hissed, which told Nicolas that there were more than one.

  Following his commands were more crashing sounds as multiple kako ransacked the apartment room.

  We have to go, Ryan mouthed the words, though Nicolas wasn’t sure Ash even saw him.

  At first, he wasn't sure if there even was anywhere to go; but then, he saw what Ryan meant.

  The ledge they were standing on continued on, coming to another window, one leading to a different room.

  "Ash," Nicolas whispered as quietly as he could, moving his hand away. "The window."

  If they heard him, they didn't show it. Their face had turned completely red, and it almost sparkled as sunlight reflected off the tears still falling from their eyes.

  Nicolas carefully tapped their shoulder, before whispering again, slightly louder. "Ash.”

  They turned their head to look at him, their expression making his heart hurt. Their face was soaked in tears, their eyes red and filled with an emotion Nicolas knew all too well by now. He felt it every time he remembered Sam.

  Amazing Grace…

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  How sweet, the sound…

  The old hymn would forever be ingrained into his memory, though it hurt every time the lyrics appeared.

  I once was lost, but now I’m found…

  Was blind, but now I see…

  "We have to get out of here," Nicolas whispered again.

  Ash blinked, and a teardrop fell from their lashes, sliding across their face like a comet across a cloudy, night sky.

  Finally, they slid their feet a few inches. Nicolas moved too, hoping it could convince Ash to continue moving, the way a car tailgates another in hopes of speeding things up.

  Ash was moving now, but only barely. The kako were destroying the room behind them, and it’d only be a matter of time before they checked the window, to find them balancing on the side of the building.

  "We need to hurry," Nicolas pleaded as Ash slowed, before completely stopping again, their eyes staring numbly toward the distance.

  “Please, Ash.”

  Something shattered inside the hotel room, and Ash forced in a deep, shaky breath.

  Then finally, they moved again, sliding closer to the open window beside them. Nicolas still gripped firmly to the backpack Kevin had given him, the weight of it making it feel like it was trying to pull him off the edge.

  He stayed as close as he could to Ash, knowing that they couldn’t afford to stop again.

  Thankfully, Ash didn’t slow down this time, though there were a few times when Nicolas thought they might.

  The crashing inside the hotel room only got louder and more violent with every second that passed, as the kako destroyed the room they’d just spent countless days in. Nicolas’ heart was pounding in his chest, and his lungs felt like they had gone completely numb by the time they made it to the window.

  Nicolas grabbed Ash’s arm as they almost continued right on past, their eyes seeming to look nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

  It’s like they're not even awake anymore.

  The window made a high-pitched screech as Ryan slid the glass up, so they’d have more room to climb through.

  Nicolas went first, crouching down and stepping backwards to place his feet on the hotel room floor. He still held his grip on Ash’s wrist, scared they might not follow him, or worse, that they might fall off the ledge.

  But thankfully, they followed, and he didn’t release their hand until Ryan had climbed through also, closing the glass window behind them, sliding it all the way down until it made a clicking sound, canceling out the last remaining bit of light.

  “Now what?” Ryan asked quietly, turning on the flashlight Kevin had given him, the white glow lighting the room in seconds. Particles of dust danced through the air, covering the floor in a thin layer of silver, cobwebs clinging to the ceiling-fan which looked as if it hadn't moved in a century.

  “We have to get out of here,” Nicolas replied.

  Ryan moved the light around the room in search of a way out, the white glow illuminating the brown, mold-covered walls. The main door had been piled with old junk, making getting through nearly impossible. It was like someone had intentionally blocked the room off, by piling as much junk as they could find in front of the door. But if someone blocked the door from the inside, then shouldn’t there be another way out?

  A glass picture frame was hanging on one of the walls, it looked to Nicolas like an old family portrait. A long crack separated the youngest one from the others, before forking into two and cutting off the boy’s head also.

  “Look,” Ryan said, and Nicolas’ gaze followed the flashlight to the dust-covered floor, and the trail of large, fresh footprints leading to the vintage wardrobe pressed against the wall. “Someone’s been here recently.”

  Another loud crash shook the whole building with so much force that the picture rocked on the nail it was hanging on, turning sideways, but Nicolas’ eyes were still following the footsteps, and how they seemed to disappear once they got to the wardrobe.

  Another way out.

  “There,” Nicolas whispered, pulling Ash behind him as he moved toward the wooden box.

  Ryan followed without question, which was a relief, since they didn’t have time to be asking any. Because the paint-covered window they had just climbed through was now shattered to pieces as a long, black tentacle pierced the glass.

  We have to keep running.

  The wardrobe door made a creaking sound as Nicolas opened it, shoving Ash into the wooden box: And as soon as all three of them were inside, he pulled the door closed, trying to keep himself from comparing the wooden box to a coffin as Kevin’s murderer crawled through the window after them.

  ***

  Nicolas’ head ached as his blood pulsed through his whole body with fear and panic.

  We’re going to die.

  The sound of Kevin’s body hitting the concrete below echoed in his mind once more, the sound of blood splashing as the air was shot from his lungs.

  “Nicolas,” Ryan whispered, so quietly that he almost didn’t hear him. Nicolas turned to see what Ryan was pointing at.

  It was a small, square cut in the wood. Ryan pressed his fingers against it, and the wood fell out, revealing a two-foot-wide hole, cutting through both the wardrobe, and the wall on the other side.

  Nicolas suddenly remembered Kevin; always hiding in that tiny old bathroom; how they never saw him leave.

  He had secret passages all throughout this place.

  They crawled through the tiny hole one at a time, and when they made it to the other side, they found their way out.

  “There!” Ryan exclaimed, pointing at something reflecting brightly on the end of the room.

  Granite.

  They sprinted to the glowing object, which was resting on the air-conditioner underneath the window.

  Nicolas threw his backpack over his shoulder, sliding his hands through the straps as Ryan slid the black window open, light cutting through the darkness once more.

  A rope had been tied from the air conditioner, and the other end sat in a long bundle at their feet.

  Kevin worked out a whole escape plan?

  “We’re gonna have to climb down,” Nicolas told them as he picked up the rope, throwing the other end out the window. It fell almost all the way to the ground before stopping, hovering about ten feet above the pavement below. "Hurry!"

  Ryan stepped over the window ledge, his fingers gripping the rope so tightly that his knuckles began to turn white. Then, he started climbing, disappearing down the side of the hotel like Rapunzel escaping her castle.

  "Ash, go," Nicolas grabbed Ash’s hand once Ryan was far enough down, but Ash jerked their arm away, taking a step backward.

  "No," they replied numbly. "I can't."

  "Ash, they're going to kill us!"

  "Kevin is dead," their words were almost a whisper. “I can’t run anymore.”

  Nicolas knew how they felt. When Sam died, Nicolas felt broken, abandoned, lonely: It felt like the only person holding him together had disappeared, leaving him shattered into broken pieces, sharp and pointy.

  "You can," Nicolas replied hopelessly.

  "I won't then!" Ash cried, rubbing a tear off their face. "I should have done something."

  "You would have both died," Nicolas reached again for their hand, but Ash took another step backward.

  "So what?!" A tone of anger appeared in their voice. "It would have been better than running like cowards! He's dead, and I can't say I tried to save him, because I didn't!" They were shouting now, a mixture of brokenness and rage burning in their eyes.

  Nicolas never heard them cry like that.

  “He saved me countless times before, and the one time he needed me, I did nothing.”

  Nicolas blinked away the tears forming in his own eyes, and tried not to let himself think about his own life, no matter how close to home their words were.

  Two flowers, on the grave of a friend who Nicolas thought could never be alone.

  I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you forever, Nicolas. He still remembered the words on the paper, as if Sam had spoken them directly. He could hear his voice in the handwriting.

  “I shouldn’t be alive.” Ash’s voice had lowered back to a whisper, bringing Nicolas back to the present.

  “That’s not true,” Nicolas spoke softly, hoping it’d calm them enough to follow him. “Everything Kevin did was for you to be alive, he wouldn’t want you to give up and just let the kako kill you.”

  “Would he want me to just watch him die?”

  Nicolas wasn’t sure how to answer them.

  What if it was Sam?

  Another crash shook the building as a kako smashed something in the room they were in just a moment before.

  They’re going to kill us.

  “Ash, we need to hurry!” Nicolas reached for their arm again, this time grabbing them before they could step backwards.

  “Nicolas! I said I’m not going!” They jolted their wrist backwards, pulling away from Nioclas’ fingers. “I’ll die fighting them if I have to.”

  Nicolas turned back to the open window, where Ryan was climbing down the building completely unaware that they weren’t following him.

  You can’t run from your problems forever, Nicolas.

  He turned back to Ash; their eyes beaming with grief: And his mind returned to the last words Sam ever wrote down.

  Fight for me, Please.

  “Fine,” Nicolas whispered at last, his fingers wrapping around the sword hiding in the backpack Kevin gave him. “Then I’m fighting too.”

  Thank you so much for reading!

  ~Ellie Wallace