The first gunshot of the night reverberated across the walls of the mansion and into the ears of everyone in the radius.

In the dead silence of the night, probably the radius of Rivertown.

It might have been just a sound, but the thought that came with it struck me harder than it would've if the bullet went through my heart.

I pushed Rose; something that felt so damn surreal that my mind couldn't comprehend still.

Rose was alive.

Rose tried kissing me against my will.

My will refusing a kiss from Rose.

Pushing Rose.

If my four-years-ago self witnessed this, it would've laughed and thought it was a joke.

It wouldn't even pass as a joke because it was simply impossible.

In a blur, I thrashed through the screaming crowd. It was in vain. They were running in each and every direction that made it impossible to pass through without knocking them down left and right.

Which I did.

Every passing moment made my heart race faster. I shoved away every thought of something bad happening to Raiden.

I shouldn't have given him the gun.

I shouldn't have left him alone.

He did not shoot himself.

Raiden wouldn't do this to me. He wouldn't do it to himself.

I helped murder him.

What irony was it to save him if I was helping him get killed.

When I finally reached the main doors of the mansion, it was after shoving at least twenty people.

Without thinking, I hurried to my bedroom. Raiden does know any room but that one.

The stairs seemed endless. They used to take a few seconds to get through them, why were they feeling a lot longer than mere seconds?

I thwacked the door and stormed inside to find no one. I checked the closet and the bathroom; nothing.

As I went back and on my way out of the room, I saw what I dreaded.

The scene traumatised me with the flow of negative thoughts.

A splatter of blood decorated the wall. Fresh bright red blood gleamed from the faint lights peering into the room.

I cursed silently. Then louder. Then louder.

Then destroyed most of my bedroom in a fit of volcanic pressed anger.

I dropped to my knees and passed my hands through my hair. Could it get any whiter?

Confusion, heartache, and agony led me to my car. I sat behind the wheel not knowing what to do with myself. In the background you could hear the screaming of the people. High society people scream the same way is lower ones.

I hated that I knew how people scream when they're terrified.

For a moment I thought about driving myself over the edge of the cliff. I was devastated to that extent; doing what I've been trying to make Raiden not do.

The passenger seat door opened, breaking my reverie. My tears dripped on the steering wheel.

With the hast and the blur of what was happening, it took me a couple seconds to register who climbed into my car.

Red dress, puffy brown hair, and an equally red mask. Luna took off her mask and yelled "Go!".

I didn't know why I was listening to what she was saying, but I didn't waste any time revving the engine and driving top speed out of the mansion grounds and into the night air.

She threw the mask out of the window, sending it flying.

"Where are we going?" I asked, flustered at the state of not knowing.

"Do you want Raiden?" she asked, equally exasperated. It wasn't a question that required answering. "Then drive."

She took a deep breath and said, "The Devil's Alley".
---------------
Raiden's P.O.V.

My eyes opened, two thin slits of light appeared in my vision, and I found myself face first into a powerful light bulb that annoyed me upon first sight.

I was so disoriented and in pain that I couldn't register the voice I heard at first.

"I know, it's been bothering me for God knows how long." Aiden said through a raspy dry voice, like he hasn't drank water for longer than what you'd call thirst.

"Where are we?" I muttered, which he thankfully heard because I didn't have the urge to repeat what I said.

"Beats me. If I know."

When my vision cleared, I finally saw Aiden. He did not look like Aiden. My twin did not look like this.

The person in front of me looked like a rag doll that had been given to a rabid animal to tear and claw at.

"Lord, what did they do to you?!" I gasped, if we could call it a gasp. It was more of a shriek.

Aiden smiled, he always does. "We're identical again." he joked, but it was anything but funny. He was hiding his pain and stifling a cry. They broke Aiden.

A shadowy figure appeared in the room as if it passed through the wall. I could tell it was a boy, our age or a bit older. He was wearing all black, and what was showing of his skin was a ghostly white.

Masked face, only his eyes showing. Grey cold eyes which held so much pain. His eyebrow had two slits, adding to his macabre look. If death was a human it would be this guy.

He was wearing some sort of sleeveless black tattered robe atop of his clothes.

He worked his way toward us, my mind racing with thoughts as to what he might do to us.

Something told me he's not gonna untie us and let us leave.

He stood between us, and then kneeled next to Aiden.

From underneath his robe he pulled a hip flask, like those whiskey ones. I immediately panicked that they might be drugging Aiden someway.

I grunted some incoherent words. My mouth was trying to speak but my mind didn't know what to say.

Aiden downed everything in the container and thanked him in every non-Aiden-like way.

To my surprise, the guy pulled out a paper towel and dried some of Aiden's blood from a couple cuts on his right pectoral.

He winced at first but then seemed to feel better.

I was lost for words.

The whole thing was in a matter of seconds, and after that it was as if nothing had happened.

The masked boy turned to me and for a flicker I thought he was Thomas. My mind was harassing me with hallucinations of him on other people's faces.

I had totally forgotten about Thomas amid the mayhem of what happened after I fled the masquerade and into the mansion.

I mean, could you blame me?

I saw the person who made me believe I could love again and that there are people worth falling for, kissing his long lost dead girlfriend, got confronted by my long lost torturer and abuser of an ex, shot him in the arm with a gun, and got kidnapped in the back of a car trunk while knocked out cold.

Add to that the shock of seeing my brother after three days of being missing, and being dumb enough to not call the cops or file a missing report.

Instead I was enjoying a damn charity event while my brother was being beaten up and torn apart in this torture basement.

"Hey, Hey, look at me," Aiden snapped. He always knew when I was having a mental fight with myself. "We'll be fine Rai."

The masked took a seat in the corner of the basement, speaking nothing of what had happened, and carved aimlessly on the wall with a pocket knife.

Until we all jumped in our seats- if you can call it a jump- when we heard the gunshots upstairs.

More soon x.

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