Nightmare on Third Street - Chapter Fourteen

The reflection in the mirror forced me to back up a step. Elrick looked puzzled for a moment, and then looked at the mirror, as all of his attention had been on the door. Now he stiffened, seeing a glimpse of what was coming in. As the door opened completely, Elrick was gripping the knife so tightly that his knuckles were white. "I'm guessing that's what you saw," he murmured to me. Surprisingly, his voice was calm. I could only nod, for my voice had left me. How could he be calm at a time like this? I was freaking out! How could he be so calm?

Elrick pushed his way into the room. Yes. Elrick from the kitchen. The 'dead' Elrick. His eyes were still glazed in death, blood still covered him, and his chest was still torn open. But he was coming toward us. He was moving. 'Oh God,' I thought, my eyes wide. 'This isn't happening. This can't be happening. What's going on?'

Elrick stared at his dead look-alike. "Okay. This is different. Wasn't expecting this. Still think that's me?" He was joking at a time like this? I could only stare at him and splutter out a few incoherent words. He smirked and moved toward his look-alike. "Hmm. Different, indeed. I expected you to do something while I was here, but I didn't expect this. This is new," he said to his look-alike. "This was unexpected, I have to give you that." I stared at him, so very, very confused.

His look-alike laughed. I shivered and clenched my eyes tightly closed, for it was the voice. That stupid, annoying voice. The dead Elrick was the voice. When I opened my eyes, the voice was looking at me with those dead, sightless eyes. I choked back a strangled sound, taking another step back until I hit the bathtub. I could back up no further. "Elrick, Elrick, Elrick," the voice said, shaking his head. "You should have expected something like this."

"I expected to be attacked," Elrick said. "I never expected to be looking at my dead body. But I have to say, nice job. You got me down, right to the last feature. Kudos. But this is low, even for you."

The voice shrugged. "Yes. It is. But it was fun. You should have seen his face." He laughed. "He thought I was you."

"Well, if I didn't know that I was me, I'd think you were me, too," said Elrick. "You can leave now. Your damage has been done."

"But I'm not done yet," he laughed. "I was going to kill you while you were in the shower, but he came home too early. I had to devise a plan. So I gave him the illusion of that scene in the kitchen, along with your body. I have to say, it worked out perfectly. But you got out of the shower too quickly, and he recognized the noise when it turned off. Now, sadly, I have to kill you both."

Elrick gripped the knife even tighter. "You can try," he said. "But I'm not going down that easily."

The voice shrugged. "I've been meaning to kill you for years, just never got around to it. But now you've gotten into the middle of my plans, and I can't have that. Now you both die." He looked at me. "Shall I start with little Bryan?" I stared.

"Have to go through me first," Elrick said with a growl. "No one steals my image and kills it. If you want Bryan, you'll have to kill your twin first."

The Elrick look-alike nodded, glazed eyes looking at us. "Very well. This won't take long," he assured me. "You'll be next." He lunged forward, toward Elrick. I stiffened, but Elrick was ready. He darted forward at the same time as the voice, and they clashed. Elrick sliced across the voice's bloody chest, and then fell back, gasping in pain. I stared, confused.

"What the...?" Elrick hissed out, clutching is chest tightly. "What did you do to me?" He glared at his look-alike. I watched on worriedly, looking at his chest. There didn't appear to be any blood, so he wasn't hurt, so...why was he acting like something was wrong?

"I did nothing to you," the voice laughed. "You did it to yourself. I had to steal some of your essence, you see, to take on this form. When you cut me, you felt the pain. How does it feel?"

Elrick only growled for an answer.

"No need to be rude," the voice assured him. He looked at me. "So. Ready to die?"

"I'm still here," Elrick said, putting himself in front of me again. I stared. What was he doing? He was going to get himself killed! I did NOT need to see two dead Elricks in one day. That was just too much. It was bad enough the one from the kitchen was walking around and talking, but I couldn't have the real Elrick turn up dead, too.

"Have you got a death wish or something?" the voice snickered.

Elrick startled me by his answer. I honestly hadn't expected it. "I've been wishing I was dead for a long time," he murmured, glaring at his twin. I stared at him, unable to understand what I had just heard. He wanted to die? What the hell was wrong with him?! Was he crazy? "Let's end this." He stepped forward, toward the voice, gripping the knife tightly.

His look-alike shrugged. "Okay, but you're only hurting yourself." He lunged forward at the same time as Elrick did, and they stumbled out of the room and into the hallway. I rushed after them, my heart beating around wildly in my chest. 'Please let this turn out okay,' I silently pleaded. 'Please.'

Elrick, the real one, was trying to slice the voice, while his look-alike was throwing punches. Elrick slashed the voice across the stomach, and then hissed in pain, forcing himself to stay in the fight. I frowned. He was hurting himself. 'God damn it,' I thought, 'He's going to get himself killed. And then I'll be all alone.' I darted forward and closed my eyes as I jumped onto the 'dead' Elrick's back. He froze for a minute, and then started trying to get me off. I clung on tightly, wanted to help as much as I could.

The look-alike of Elrick was powerful, and grabbed my arm, throwing me off. I hit the wall hard, and he came toward me, pulling out the knife he had gotten from the kitchen. I stared as I saw it. I should have grabbed it, I kept telling myself. I should have grabbed it, but I hadn't wanted to touch his dead hand. He got ready to ram it through my head, when Elrick cried out my name and lunged toward him, knocking him away from me.

I struggled to my feet, shouting, "Elrick!" in warning, for the look-alike rounded on him with the knife. However, my warning had been a second too late, just a second, and the knife sliced through Elrick's stomach, forcing him back a step as he gasped in pain, clutching his bare, bloody stomach. I raced toward him and slowly pried his hands away from his stomach. "Let me see it," I told him slowly, and checked over the wound, grimacing as I did so. I wasn't sure how bad the cut was, but there was a lot of blood, more than I wanted to see him lose. What was I going to do about this? He could bleed to death. God, I had to do something...but what?

"Look out," he hissed through clenched teeth, shoving me aside. We both went tumbling to the floor. I looked up to see the look-alike swiping his knife through the air, right where my back had been. I stared for a moment, and then hurriedly glanced at Elrick. He was turning pale, his face etched in pain.

"...Elrick?" I whispered worriedly, moving toward him. He was lying on his side, gripping his stomach tightly, his eyes knitted in pain. He blinked his eyes open as I placed my hand on his shoulder, frowning down at him in concern.

"Behind you..." he murmured weakly, weakly pointing. I spun around quickly, just in time to see the look-alike as he lunged toward me. I rolled away from his attack, and stared, wide-eyed, as he darted toward me again, bloody knife in hand.

I gulped and inched away from him, before my gaze darted toward Elrick's stilling body. He wasn't looking so good. I couldn't just leave him open for attack; he couldn't defend himself. I moved sideways until my body was in front of Elrick's, and then glared at the look-alike.

The voice laughed. "I don't know why you care what happens to that pathetic excuse of a-"

"He's not pathetic," I growled, cutting in.

He shrugged. "Whatever you say." He lunged forward suddenly, tackling me to the ground. He aimed the knife at my throat and forced it down, with me struggling to stop it. With the knife so close, it only had a few inches to travel before it would pierce my throat and end it for me.

Before he forced it through my hands, however, he was thrown off of me. I stared as he flew away, and then looked over to see Elrick looking down at me as he sat on his knees, breathing heavily, sweat beading his forehead. "Elrick," I said, sitting up and moving toward him. He shouldn't have done that, he was weak enough already. "Are you crazy?" I asked.

He smiled faintly. "Maybe...just...a little."

I smiled at his effort, and then shouted as the look-alike came toward us again. He glared at the two of us, and then murmured in a low whisper, "This isn't over. We WILL meet again." And then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone. Gone. Just gone, he wasn't there anymore. I stared and couldn't believe what I had just seen. 'What?' I thought.

I shook my head and looked at Elrick. He went down a little, the palms of his hands holding him up as he sat on his knees. "Elrick, hold on, I'll help you," I said, getting to my feet shakily. Had any of this been real? It didn't seem like it now. I wandered to the kitchen, though that was the last place I wanted to be, and looked around slowly. There was no blood anywhere. No blood, no gore, no nothing. It hadn't been real, after all, just an illusion.

I hurriedly grabbed a few towels and a wet cloth, and then rushed to the phone to call for an ambulance. I told them to hurry, for if they didn't, I wasn't sure Elrick would live. They assured me they would hurry, and then hung up. I returned to Elrick, lying in the hallway.

"Hold still," I said, grabbing his hands, prying them from his wound. He was lying on his side again, his eyes glazing over. 'No,' I thought. 'I won't let this happen.' I grabbed the wet cloth and took to cleaning the wound. The cloth quickly turned a crimson red, soaked with his blood. I swallowed thickly, and then placed the towels over the wound, applying pressure. 'Please let this work.'

He looked at me for a long moment, and I thought he didn't recognize me. Then, he murmured, "Bryan?"

"Yeah," I said softly. "It's me. I'm here. Hold on, okay? Help's on the way."

He closed his eyes, letting out a breath.

"Keep your eyes open," I said, applying more pressure. He winced slightly, and I quickly apologized. "Stay with me, okay? Help's on the way. Promise."

"Okay," he murmured faintly. "Whatever...you say."

I frowned and silently begged the ambulance to hurry. I couldn't have him dying. Again.