Lethal Confessions
Thirteen

She quickly covered her mouth but the damage had been done. Where ever he was, he had surely heard her and was probably out to get them. But with what was in front of her she couldn't have kept silent.

She felt Cassandra stiffen beside her as they gaped at the what was left of John's body - head, arms, legs- hanging on the wall in the form of a cross, nailed to the wall by what seemed to be deer antlers. Blood dropped from the body parts to the ground in loud drops forming a large pool beneath him.

"This is so cruel." Cassandra muttered under her breath. "How could he?"

"Like you said before, that is not Philip. We have to leave now if we want to survive." She forced herself to tear her eyes away from John's part-corpse and took heavy steps down the next hallway.

She turned back a few seconds later to replace out that Cassandra had not been following at all. "Hey." She hissed. "We've got to move."

Cassandra finally stopped staring and tailed Sophia, regarding her as she did so. She had to admit, she was seriously affected by the sight of John's part-corpse but Sophia didn't look really perturbed. For someone who had an affair with him she should have at least shown some more emotion. It was somewhat infuriating.

Reaching the top of the staircase Sophia paused and waited. Cassandra folded her arms and debated on whether to bring the topic up or not. She chose the former. "What's up with you?"

Sophia was quick to shush her. "Shh, what are you doing? Do you want Philip to replace us?"

"If he wanted to replace us, he would have done so already. We've created enough noise to give ourselves away."

"What has gotten into you?"

"Nothing. Maybe I'm just annoyed to see you're not so affected by John's death at the hands of Philip, or the fact that my cousin - who was once your boyfriend - has turned into a monster -"

"Enough!" Philip had definitely heard her this time but frankly she didn't care. "I don't know what you're implying and I don't think I care. Right now, I only care about me getting out of here alive and you are not going to spoil that for me. So I'm warning you, keep that mouth shut else I'm going to do it for you."

"Is that a threat?"

"Take it however you want. All I want is for you to understand what is at stake here; our lives." Then she turned and walked down the stairs, a miffed Cassandra unwillingly following.

At the end of the stairs, Sophia observed the entrance the basement and then the narrow corridor leading to the living room where the door was just a few metres in her line of sight.

Philip could be in the basement, or in the living room or not in the cabin at all, and she had no way of knowing. She listened attentively over the rain for any kind of sound that felt foreign or wierd. There was none.

"I think the coast is clear." Cassandra announced abruptly and brushed past her, marching down the hallway.

Sophia balled her fists; that girl was really getting on her nerves.

Cassandra walked straight into the living room without a sense of concern and didn't see the movement at her side. The figurehead came out of nowhere and smashed into her face, knocking her off her feet in one strike. Her head hit the hardwood floor with a bang and she suddenly felt her brain on the verge of explosion.

From the corner of the only eye she could afford to open she saw Philip emerge with his weapon, the deer figurehead, its antlers broken off.

Sophia was a few metres behind Cassandra when it happened and she stood still at the sight of him. He looked like a manaic: dishevelled red hair, red and murderous eyes, stony facial expression, messed up and bloody clothes. It was frightening. And the deer figurehead in his hand simply added to the fright. Scared, she slowly took little steps back her eyes trained on him. With every little step she took, he took two, deliberately closing the gap between them.

Halfway through, she immediately turned back and headed for the stairs, dropping the shard in the process. But he was faster, and snatched her hair pulling her back.

She must have known that was going to happen because when she was about an inch away she poked him in both eyes, causing him to lose his grip on her hair.

Then she made a run for the door