Blaise's Rule One for Horror Stories was "Never go upstairs when being chased." The person being chased by "the killer" always got caught. She'd always called the killee stupid for even going upstairs because there was never an appropriate exit, and one could only hide for so long. There was always a perfect exit right before the killee ran upstairs. Of course, now that Blaise was in the killee's place, she was sorry she ever called the kille stupid for running upstairs. Blaise had chosen to run upstairs when she was perfectly capable of running out the front door to her left, but no. She just had to run upstairs, didn't she?
Running down the shadowy hallway illuminated by only a few torches, Blaise took notice to the many doorways, but most of all, she noticed the walls. Even though she was running for her life, she noticed the delicate hand-painting of the walls. It appeared to look like the road Blaise walked to get to Malachi's house. It had tons off trees and blushes that were just shadows against the night sky. But when a...creature popped out from behind one of the trees she was looking at, it made her stumble a bit. The little creature (Blaise had no idea what it was) made a face at her. She didn't even have time to blink because as soon as she closed her eyes or looked away, the creature disappeared. Just as she was about to stop and look, she heard the heavy pounding of paws that reminded her she was being chased.
Blaise yanked and pulled on a few doors as she ran, but she should've known better. They were all locked. Aw, crap. I'm as good as dead. The footfalls were louder now, and she was probably within the creature that chased her's sight. Her lungs we on fire as she took in each panting breath. Her muscles ached from running for half hour. She had given up.
Something groaned again. Blaise almost ran face first into the wall. Just now she noticed that wood paneling covered the walls from the floor up to about her hip. What a nice thing to notice before you die. She pressed her back against the wall and stared into the eyes of the beast as it approached her. Standing about eight feet tall, the beast had the head of a wolf and the body of a lion. Its black fur looked soft enough to pet; Blaise dared not to. Especially that red stripe that raced from the tip of its muzzle straight back to the tip of its lion-like tail. Sharp teeth came out as the beast snarled at Blaise.
She bit down on her lip hard enough to draw blood to hold back the scream that was building inside her. She knew she was going to die. The beast's teeth were just inches from her. The pounding of her heart roared in her ears as a single tear trickled down her cheek has the beast's muzzle opened. As she saw the inside of its mouth something snapped inside her. Before she registered what she was doing, she cocked back her fist and socked the thing in the nose.
It reeled back on its massive hind legs and howled in pain (or fury?). Blaise stood there and watched in shock of what she had done. She snapped out of her daze when she heard its growl. Oh, crap its pissed. Just over the gowl she heard Malachi cry, "What are you doing?!" And there he came, appearing almost out of no where with wind-blown hair. Just as the beast narrowed its red eyes at Blaise he yelled, "Ridley! Heel!" The beast complied, backing up a few steps, growling quietly under its breath. He crossed his arms at Blaise. "Now that was a disappointment. Why would you hurt Ridley?"
"R-Ridley?" Blaise stuttered. "It has a name?"
"Of course," Malachi scoffed. "And Ridley is a she not an it."
"It - She tried to eat me!" Blaise cried.
Malachi rolled his eyes. "No, she didn't. She was just following orders, weren't you, Rid?" Ridley snorted as if in agreement. "See? She meant no harm." He stared adoringly at Ridley and knelt down to pet her. "Who's my good girl?" he cooed.
Blaise was outraged. "You mean, you told her to chase me down this God forsaken hallway?! What the hell is the matter with you? I thought I was going to die!" Angry tears flooded her vision as she glared at them. "You had no right doing that. And to think I was starting to trust you. And you-" she pointed at Ridley, "should have known better. I know that you knew I was scared to death, and yet you still followed his orders."
Ridley whimpered and stared at her with sorrowful eyes from her spot on the ground. Malachi patted her comfortingly. "Do not take this out on Ridley," he said."It isn't her fault. She is trained to follow my every order. You already hurt her twice today because of me. Remember when she chased you to my house? I'm sorry, Rid." She grunted. "When I found out that scream was your reason for being in the forest, I only wanted to hear it again. It had no affect on me, unlike Ridley." He saw the look of shock spread across Blaise's face. "Yes, no affect on me whats-so-ever. It was marvelous. It didn't sound like a scream to me. It sounded...pleasant. I only knew it was a scream because of Ridley's reaction. Yes, I saw that too. I just wanted to hear that lovely scream again. Do not take it out on my baby girl."
Blaise frowned as everything clicked into place. This whole time she was being used. Hurt washed through her. "I'm out of here." She stomped back down the surprisingly not-so-long hallway. Even as she heard Malachi tell Ridley to go to bed and when she heard him sprint to catch up with her, she didn't slow her pace. She felt mortified. Absolutely mortified. All this time she was being used. She should have known better, known better than to trust an almost-complete stranger. Reaching the bottom of the stairs she just clomped down, she felt Malachi's grip on her upper arm. "Let go of me. I'm leaving," she said through gritted teeth, not looking at him.
"No, not until you let me explain."
