The Devil's House

Chapter 11

Ryder

   “Help me Ryder!”

    “I’m coming Saavi!” Ryder yelled as he ran through the hallways, trying to catch up to Saanvi. Two demons held Saanvi above their heads as they ran through the mansion, taking her with them.

    Saanvi struggled, but they had a strong grib on her. “Please help me!” She cried, looking at Ryder with tear filled eyes.

    Ryder ran as fast as he could but he started to slow down. He couldn’t keep up with them.

    “Don’t take her! Please!” Ryder yelled.

    The demons suddenly took a right turn. Ryder ran faster and realized that they had went down some stairs. He stopped before stepping down. He didn’t know what was down there. It was too dark to see.

    “Help me Ryder!” He heard Saanvi yell, and he didn’t dwell any longer. He ran down the stairs, towards Saanvi’s cries.

    He reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around. It was so dark that he couldn’t see anymore than two feet in front of him.

    “Saanvi! Where are you?!” Ryder yelled, turning in a full circle.

    All of a sudden, the lights turned on. Ryder looked around once more and realized that the room was huge. It had a tall ceiling and torches hung along the walls, lighting up the room.

    He saw a something walk into the hallway in front of him so he followed cautiously. “Saanvi?” He whispered quietly. “Saanvi, are you there?”

    He turns a corner in the hallway and that leads to a room. He doesn’t make any move to open it.

    He then hears Saanvi's scream coming from behind the door.

    Ryder doesn’t hesitate anymore and slams the door open. “Saanvi!” He yells, turning in a frantic circle to look around the room.

    He stops as a strong, nauseating smell hits him in the face. He pulls his shirt over his nose and tries not to breath. He looks down and gags.

    There are dead bodies littering the floor. He turns his head away and continues to gag. He couldn’t hold it in any longer and he threw up. He clutched his mouth but more threatened to come out.

    Ryder heard another scream and looked around. He continued to hear her screams but didn’t see her. It was a small square room with dead bodies on the floor and no Saanvi. “Saanvi! Where are you?!” He yelled.

    “I don’t know! Please Ryder! Help me! They’re going to kill me!”

    “I don’t know where you are!” Ryder yelled, pulling his hair.

    He looked around and stopped and stared at the wall acros from him. There was a tall rectangle on the wall with a little darker shade than the rest of the wall around it. He slowly crept up to the wall across from the small square room. He was careful not to step or trip on any of the dead bodies. He reached the darker shade of the wall. It wasn't much darker and you could barley tell the difference between teh two shades.

    He placed his hand on it and pushed lightly. The darker shade of the wall moved inward without much effort from Ryder. He gasped and pushed harder to move it out of his way. Inside was a dark and narrow rock hallway lit by few torches. He slowly stepped inside. “Saanvi?” He called out.

    Ryder heard her scream again. This time it was closer… And it sounded like she was in pain.

    Ryder started to run and yelled, “Saanvi! I’m coming! Hold on!”

    The hallway wasn’t that long and after a minute of running, Ryder saw a huge cave infront of him. He slowled to a walk and stepped into the cave.

    It was a massive and it looked beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Ryder gasped at the skulls that covered the rock walls of the cave. The skulls looked so real and horrifying. It seemed like there were thousands of them. In the middle of the large cave was a circle of rock that was seperated from the rest of the floor of the cave. Ryder walked closer and saw lava surrounding the circle of rock. There was a rock pedestal in the middle of the rock circle and Saanvi was sprawled out on top of it. Her arms where tied above her head as her feet were tied to the ends of the rock pedestal. The ropes were tight on her wrists and ankles so she could barely move.

    There were two demons on her side, chanting in a forgien language. He didn't know what they were saying or what they would do to Saanvi. He looked around for a way to get to the rock circle. He saw a bridge that connected the seperated floors. He ran to it but it was far.

    By the time he made it to the bridge, the demons and moved to the edges of the rock circle. They had quieted down by continued to chant in a low voice that Ryder could barely hear.

    Ryder looked in front of him and saw that Saanvi's shirt was torn and she was bleeding from her stomach, wrists, and ankles. Ryder's heart broke seeing her like this.

    He was about to run and rip the ropes off of her and carry her out of the mansion when he saw a dark figure coming from another bridge across of him. It wore a long black silk robe that dragged across the ground. The robe covered every piece of the figure so Ryder couldn't see anything.

    It reached Saanvi who was shaking in fear. The dark figure was tall and it towered over Saanvi. It grabbed a knife long and sharp knife from inside its robe. It held the knife above a torch next to Saanvi and let it heat up.

    Ryder could see the handle of the knife was a bone with a skull at the bottom and top. The dark figure kept the knife above the flame of the torch until it turned orange from the heat. Saanvi whimpered as it brought the knife close to her face.

    Ryder couldn't breath. He couldn't move. He couldn't help Saanvi.

    The figure started to chant in a deep and demonic voice, using what seemed to be the same language as the demons.

    Saanvi turned to face Ryder. Her eyes had become all black. Her bottom lip trembled as she quietly said, "Help me." The figure slowly began to take off his hood with his free hand. Before Ryder could see what the figure looked like, he blacked out.

    Ryder sat up, gasping. He looked around and saw he was in the gigantic bed in Luci's room. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and saw glistening drops of sweat on his hand. He felt extremley hot so he threw the blanket off of him.

    He sat against the headboard and took deep breaths. He shut his eyes tightly, trying to get the image of Saanvi's terrified face out of his head.

    Luci walked over to Ryder and asked, "Are you alright?"

    Ryder opened his eyes and shook his head. His eyes began to water and he wiped them immediatly.

    Luci sat down next to him and asked, "What is wrong?"

    "I-I'm worried for her. I can't imagine what she's going through," he said as he put his face in his hands. "I'm sitting here in this comfortable bed. Relaxing. Not worrying... She could be hurting. She's probably all alone! And I'm not there to help her! I don't even know if she's still alive!" Ryder cried.

    Luci put a comforting hand on his back and said, "I'll help you look for her."

    Ryder looked up from his hands and nodded. "Thank you, Luci. For everything."

    Luci smiled kindly and said, "Of course. How about you rest? After that, we'll look for your friend."

    Ryder shook his head. "No. I need to start looking for her now. I've held it off for too long. I need to find her now. No more waiting." He sat up and took a deep breath. He stood up and winced at the pain in his side.

    Luci got up quickly and argued, "But what about your ribcage? It'll become worse it you keep walking."

    "I don't care! I just need to find her!" Ryder yelled.

    Luci stayed quiet for a moment and nodded. "Ok. Let me change."

    Ryder limped to the bathroom to wash his face. He splashed his face with water then clutched the sides of the sink and looked at the mirror.

    I will find you Saanvi. I hope your ok... I don't know what I'd do without you. I can't even think about you not being there anymore. It breaks me... I will find you no matter what. I promise.

    Ryder dried his hands and face on a towel hanged near him. He limped out of the bathroom and waited for Luci. He didn't care how much pain his ribs caused him. He would get through it, for Saanvi. He was ready to find her... He wouldn't let anything get in the way of him as he looked for her.

    I'm coming Saanvi... Please be ok.