Mansion in the Forest

THEY GOT MY BROTHER!

"Dude, you slow as fuck." Denver chuckled dryly as he bent down on his knee and picked up Lei's head. He wanted him to laugh, to giggle, to say that this was all a big joke. No such luck. He had passed on, this was not his brother but a corpse. Denver touches his skin, so cold, his eyes are open but they are dead. "You should stop pulling a prank in this kind of situation, brother."

"Denver." Lexi called, putting her hand on top of his shoulder and squeezed it lightly.

"Tell him that this prank is too much."

"I'm sorry, Denver." Lexi said instead and she looked up and nodded her head to Siena and Iris. They let out a lungful sigh before they padded over Denver. Siena strokes his back to console him but Denver still laughing like this is all a joke.

His brother is dead but he couldn't accept it. It was as if he couldn't see the sword in his brother's neck that took his life instantly. Everyone felt sorry for him, they know how much he loves his brother and it was the part that they needed to stay for a moment and let him grieve for his loss.

"Come on, we should get going now, just stop t-this.." Denver's voice started to get low and cracked. "Lei." He mumbled as he bowed his head to hide his tears from everyone. "Mama will scold me if I go home without y-you."

Sadness engulfed them, starting to feel hopeless at the moment, regretting every decisions in their life, being greedy for wealth leads them in their situation where with each passing day, someone dies, someone get hurt, and they don't have assurance if they still could make it for the next days, weeks or even months and till how long they will stay inside the mansion.

Fear crawled up to them, they are starting to question themselves, why did they take the offer? Why didn't they look for a decent job to earn the money they needed for their purposes? How do they end up in a situation where there was no certainty if they could still go home to their houses? Where there are people waiting for them and hoping that one day, they would appear in front of their door and announce their arrival?

"I want to go home." Jisu mumbled and wiped her tears behind her thick eyeglasses.

"We will, don't worry." Lexi tells her. "All of us will go home."

"You hear that Lei? Lexi said that we'll go home. Come on brother, say something." Denver sobbed while tapping Lei's face lightly.

Iris looked up to Lexi, as if asking the latter if it's time for Denver to hear the truth. Lexi nodded her head and she turned around quickly, not because she doesn't care, but she knows that she'll tear up once Iris tells Denver that Lei isn't doing a prank.

Iris heaved a deep breath and she put her hand on top of Denver's shoulder. "Ver, you have to let him go." She paused and took all the courage she had in her to continue. "He's dead."

"He is not. If I believe you, then he'll laugh at me and call me a loser for falling in his trap."

"He's really dead, Denver." Siena said, tears already streaming down on her face.

"He's not!" Denver snapped out, swatting away Iris' hand from his shoulder. "He's not dead! He can't be dead! We have to get out of here and say sorry to our mom for coming home late!"

"Ver.."

"Mom's birthday was the day we accepted the offer to join here, thinking that it would only take a day and once we got the money, we're going to buy our mother the fanciest cake that she hasn't had in her life and we're going to celebrate her birthday. If Lei is dead, how am I going to explain it to our mother? She'll get mad at me!"

"You can't do anything about that. If she'll get mad, then you have to face it, but you have to accept that Lei is dead and he won't be able to go home physically, but he's still with you no matter what." Iris said to convince Denver that it's time to accept the reality of losing one of the most important people in his life.

They didn't get any response from Denver, but his shoulders started to tremble violently, shaking his frail body and his cries slowly began louder until he was almost screaming. They watched him cry and let him out all of his tears because if not, it'll poison him; such open heart surgery without anaesthetic takes real bravery. He needs to do it though. And they are just waiting for him at the finish with an assurance that everything will be fine after this and they all could go home.

The night has fallen, they are trapped inside, waiting for Denver to overcome the pain, though it won't gonna happen over a day, but still, they have to continue their journey. They have to escape and leave everything behind, save themselves and go home.

"Keep fighting buddy, we'll get out of here." Lexi tells Trevor when she noticed her best friend's pale face and almost bluish lips.

"I know, I trust you." Trevor chuckled but he winced when he felt a pang in his wound. "But Lex, if ever that I didn't make it. I want you to stay alive—."

"Don't speak like you're going to give up." Lexi cuts him off and pulls his arm and wraps it around her shoulder. "We're both gonna make it and I promised that I will introduce you to my mom."

"How about me? I'm your girlfriend." Jazen asked while pointing at herself.

"Of course, you and Trevor, and everyone in this room. I will tell her that these fighters are my friends." Lexi said and they all smiled except for Denver who's still sitting next to his brother's corpse, hugging his knees across his chest while sobbing silently.

"We should go." Chantelle said after she checked the room. "But we should be more careful now." She added as she extended her arm behind her, as if asking someone to hold it, specifically Jisu. So the latter reached for it immediately.

"I'm not going to leave my brother here." Denver said without moving to his spot.

"You have to." Trevor said while looking down to Denver. "Your mom lost one of her sons, you don't want her to lose both of her sons and celebrate her next birthday alone, right?"

Denver didn't reply, but he turned to his brother with sad eyes and even if it is painful as it was, he has to go and leave Lei's body.

"Let's go." Iris offered her hand to Denver. The latter stared at it, then back to his brother before letting out a devastated sigh. He bent over to kiss Lei's head, finally acknowledging the sword in his neck because he removed it after before he reached for Iris' hand and stood up.

As they continue their journey with heavy feelings, Denver still couldn't believe that Lei wasn't on his side anymore, but he needs to move forward.

"I think this is it." Siena said when they reached the end of the room and there's another door that would lead them outside. "We're going home." She added and was about to reach the doorknob but she remembered what happened to Iris, so she took off her shirt, leaving her in a sports bra then wrapped it around the doorknob and twisted it open. There's a stair leading down but Siena shut it closed again which confused the others.

"What's wrong?" Iris asked.

"We can't go down." Siena said while shaking her head.

"Why?"

"It's already dark outside and there are monsters scattered around."

"Then let's wait for tomorrow." Lexi suggested and they all agreed, thinking that it was safe to stay in the room. They all find a spot to take a rest, while Denver chose to stay in front of the door where he could see his brother.

It's been an hour and it was the first time they're having a peaceful night since they arrived at the mansion.

Or so they thought.

Because after another hour, the bricked door vibrated and started to slowly open. Denver froze in his spot when he saw sharp claws then the monster's face appeared in front of him.

"f**k!" He yelled and he quickly stood up and was about to run towards Lei to get his body but Blake ran towards him and their body collided. He quickly recomposed, gathered himself and stood up again, but by the time he was about to run, the monster was already standing next to Lei's body. "No no no!" He exclaimed.

The monster smelled Lei's blood and just before Denver could reach his brother, the monster grabbed Lei and he ran off. Denver still tried to run after the monster but he was startled when a lot of monsters were standing in front of him.

"Denver!" Lexi yelled, standing at the door. "Get back here!"

"They got my brother!"

"Let it go and get back here!" Lexi shouted again, but Denver didn't have a plan to retreat as he wanted to get his brother back, so Lexi left no choice but to get Denver. She ran to him with Iris and they both grabbed Denver and dragged him back to the room before Siena slammed the door just before the monsters could get inside. There was nothing in the room to block the door so Siena, Jisu and Jazen, even Blake, used their bodies.

"I need to get my brother!" Denver shouted and he tried to get out of Lexi and Iris's grip. "Let me go!"

"Stop! You're going to die if you try to take his body!" Lexi shouted at him.

"I don't care!" Denver shouted back. Trevor forced himself to stand on his feet and padded over Denver and without saying anything, he punched him with all the strength that was left on him.

"Trevor!" Lexi gasped.

"You f*****g i***t! Think of your mother and not your dead brother!" Trevor shouted at his face, he could feel the pain in his fresh wound but he ignored it and fisted Denver's collar. "If you want to die, then go, get out of here and take back your brother! But you have to think because once you open that door, you'll put everyone in danger!"

Denver stopped from fighting and he weakly dropped on his knees and started crying again. There was really no other choice but to let those monsters eat his brother or else, they're all gonna die and Trevor won't let that happen, if it means punching Denver for him to realise that it's not a good decision to run after his dead brother's body.

There's a sudden banging at the door behind them which made all of them look at the other door, then they heard growling and snarling behind.

"We're trapped!" Siena exclaimed.

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