Erica Mitchell

"Ah!" Erica gasped, taken aback by the abrupt absence of light. Her eyes scanned the room, desperate for anything she could see, but there was no light source. The room was pitch-black, and the unusual darkness made her heart palpitate. She hated the feeling of suffocation and blurted out, "Eric! Bergoth!"

The response Erica got was silence. She tried turning her phone on, but the screen remained blank, so she called out again, "Eric! Stop pretending you're not here! Guys, if this is a prank, I tell you, it's not good! It's scaring the shit out of me!"

Nobody answered Erica, and the only sound she could hear was her deep breathing. She wanted to trace her way to the light knob, but she was afraid to hit something and hurt herself. Maybe her best option was to wait until the light came back, she thought, her hands still busy tinkering with her phone. Again, she shouted, "Guys! Do something! Speak or scream or maybe just hit something to let me know I'm not alone - "

A crashing sound of broken glass at the front cut her off. Erica gulped, afraid to find out who was responsible for it. Now, she knew someone was with her inside the room, and her body became tense. But she was still a bit hopeful that her brother was playing a joke, so she exclaimed, "Eric...please stop if it's you. I'm serious; this is not a good joke and - "

Crash! Crash! Crash!

One on her left.

Another on her right.

The last one was behind her, and she could feel some chips or pieces hitting her back. Three successive noises of a glass breaking gave her the final verdict that it was not Eric and Bergoth.

Erica sat still, not knowing that her back was sweat-drenched. Her breathing quickened unknowingly, and she could even feel her trepidation. Her brain knew what to do, but her body was not cooperating. Fortunately, she was rational and easy to calm, so before fear could overcome her, she slapped her face and muttered, "No, I have to get outta here.." She mustered her strength and stood up, grabbed the chair she was sitting on and shoved it forward to let her know that something was not blocking her way. "I need to reach the wall, dang it! Be calm, Erica. Just reach the wall and move until you reach the door and get your ass outta here!"

The sound earlier reminded Erica that she could be wounded, so she treaded her way, careful enough not to step on any sharp pieces, until the chair hit something hard and exclaimed, "Boone bless me!" With both hands on the wall, she moved to where she thought was the right direction, praying that her intuition was correct. But before she could go further, the light came back.

The red wall came into Erica's view, realizing she was at the backmost part of the room. "Thank Boone for the light!" Erica blurted as she giggled in relief. Her actions might look stupid, but she was glad everything was over. She turned around but what she saw made her shiver because she was not alone. Instead of Eric and Bergoth, two ladies were sitting in their position. And those females looked exactly like her.

Same dress. Exact body. And both ladies were staring at her with mocking smiles on their faces. Then the light went out again.

Now, giggles were echoing across the room. Erica never knew her voice could be so creepy, and she wished that silence would return. But reality betrayed her, and the giggles became cackles, penetrating her ears. Suddenly, the light came back, but her look-alikes were not in their previous place.

One was on the right across the door. Erica was sure she saw her holding something, but she was not interested to find out if it was sharp or not. The other one was on the right wall. Luckily, she was empty-handed, but their facial expression remained the same. It reminded Erica of how she smiled in pictorials.

Erica tried memorizing the room's layout, just in case, it became dark again. At least she would not be helpless. She grabbed her chair and whispered, "Whoever you are, ghost or anything, taste this chair sandwich if you wanna take a piece of my ass."

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Erica's fears came true. It became pitch-black, but the light returned after a minute, and her doppelgangers were closer by a meter. She tightened her grip and raised the chair, but the power went out before she could do anything. To ease her emotions, she counted from one up. True enough, after reaching sixty, the darkness was gone, and the ladies were closer to where she was, but what she witnessed made her almost scream.

Both of them were hanging upside down at the ceiling. The familiar hairs became longer and dangling, almost reaching the floor. Then darkness came.

"I swear, if you come near me, I'll hit you like there's no tomorrow..." Erica's voice almost quivered when she muttered this.

The lights turned on.

She counted from one to sixty.

The lights went out.

A cycle of power interruption happened inside the room, but Erica became more nervous as the ladies got nearer. This time, it was different because the room was still pitch-black after counting to sixty. Her body felt chills when a warm breeze touched her cheeks, followed by a scratchy voice asking, "Do you wanna play with me?"

"Hell no!" Erica bellowed and started smashing the chair against where the voice was. "Fuck you! Play with yourself! Fuck you, bitch!"

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Eric Mitchell

"What a rare experience..." Eric chuckled when the room became dark. As far as he could remember, this was the first power interruption he had experienced in the university since he taught Archaeology classes five years ago. He looked around and could not see any silhouette, so he took out his phone, but it did not work. "Weird..."

"Indeed," Bergoth agreed. "My phone's not working."

"That's why I said it's weird. Mine's not functioning either."

"Don't tell me they're affected by what's causing this power interruption."

"Hah! Now, that's funny. You're starting to become a comedic iceburg, Ice Berg," Eric paused for a few seconds, remembered something, and reminded her sister, "Erica, stay still. Be calm, okay? Your older brother's here."

Bergoth ignored what his friend just said and refuted, "No, I'm serious. I think something's affecting our phones. I know mine's fully charged before I came here."

"Now, that's scary. You're starting to become a horrific iceburg, Ice Berg," Eric laughed as if amused by his wits. After his fits of giggles, he said, "I know what you're trying to say. Coincidentally, I just finished charging mine. And it's acting like it's freshly busted."

"Well, talking about Boone's relic will help us waste our time positively. I think the light will be - " Bergoth stopped talking when Erica bellowed, "Eric! Stop pretending you're not here! Guys, if this is a prank, I tell you, it's not good! It's scaring the shit out of me!"

Eric was amused by what he was hearing and retorted, "Erica, what are you talking about? I'm not responsible for the power needed to run the lights in this school. I don't even own a promoss company, or I'd not touch a free food stub. And to answer your question, there's no prank at all."

"Guys! Do something! Speak or scream or maybe just hit something to let me know I'm not alone - " Erica's voice became tenser until she stopped talking.

Bergoth inserted, "Did she take a hypnotic gas for lunch?"

"I dunno...heck, I wanna have a taste of that if that's the case," Eric bantered, yet his attention never left his sister. He leaned closer and asked, "Do you think so?"

Before Bergoth could reply, Eric heard Erica's voice again, saying, "No, I have to get outta here...I need to reach the wall, dang it! Be calm, Erica. Just reach the wall and move until you reach the door and get your ass outta here!"

Eric laughed heartily and said, "Erica, you're monologue's getting worse, okay. What play are you practicing now? Is it 'The Wall and Your Ass?"

"I think there's something wrong with her," Bergoth remarked. "Better check on her to make sure. She sounded terrified."

Eric nodded, but before he could do anything, the light returned. But his eyes widened when he saw Erica hugging the wall like a lizardo, her face against it while saying, "Boone bless me! Thank Boone for the light!"

"Uh, I don't even know what to say..." Eric whispered before adding, "Boone bless you, I guess." He met Bergoth's eyes, who was puzzled by his sister's posture, and joked, "I swear I'm not part of it."

Bergoth raised his eyebrows but opted to close his mouth.

Then, the room turned dark again. After a minute, it returned to normal, but Erica was visibly flustered, her hands tightly gripping the chair and threatened, "Whoever you are, ghost or anything, taste this chair sandwich if you wanna take a piece of my ass."

Eric was sure that something was wrong with Erica right now. As far as he could remember, she never did a prank as serious as this. If she was only acting, then she deserved an award. And he was afraid she might hurt herself, so he needed to stop whatever was causing this. He winked at Bergoth and said, "I have a plan."

"What is it?"

"You stop her from moving. I'll take the chair away from her."

"Simple enough."

"Let's go."

Eric walked toward the left area while Bergoth headed in the opposite direction. They moved forward slowly while the power turned on and off at a minute interval. When they were only a few meters away from Erica, they heard her speak, "I swear, if you come near me, I'll hit you like there's no tomorrow..."

Eric could not help it anymore and sprint as fast as he could, but Erica was quicker and screamed, "Hell no!" She started smashing the chair against Eric and added, "Fuck you! Play with yourself! Fuck you, bitch!"

Eric felt the rushing pain when the chair hit his left shoulder and lost his balance with his back against the floor. Stunned, he saw Erica repeatedly hitting the wall with a chair like a lunatic. "This can't be happening. No, I should stop her." He nodded at Bergoth, who was also visibly shocked. Luckily, his friend seemed to understand what he wanted to do and hugged her tightly on her back. He did not want to miss this chance, so he pulled the chair with his right hand and threw it away from them. With her disarmed, he grabbed her shoulders and asked nervously, "Sis, are you alright?"

Erica was flustered when she became aware of what she had just done and cried out, "Bro, I'm sorry. I thought you're a ghost..."

"It's okay. I'm not hurt. I'm stronger than you think," Eric assured her while ignoring Bergoth's inquiring gaze and asked, "What ghost?"

"Ah! My hand! It hurts!" Erica clutched her right wrist and screamed in agony.

"Sis! What's wrong?!"

"Let's take her to the hospital," Bergoth suggested as he loosened his grip on her.

Eric nodded and grabbed her wrist, but the first thing he observed was the fresh mark carved on her skin - a number '2'.