Chapter Text
Piling into the car, the group collectively sighed with exhaustion. Kevin and Dose made their ways into the back of the car, immediately passing out again. Whatever that creature did to them drained their energy. Other than that, the two seemed fine.
Grant offered to drive everyone back to the motel. Everyone was shaking and terrified from what happened but Grant felt he was the strongest of the group, physically and mentally from his time in the army.
Josh sat next to Grant in the passenger seat. He set up the direction on the GSP then turned to stare out the window for the drive as he tried to make sense of everything in his mind.
Eddie, Mully, and Gaege took the middle row with Gaege sat in the middle of the other boys. He was so tired mentally, emotionally, and physically. His thoughts were spinning and spiralling around in his head. He wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible. He wanted to leave this demon and these ghosts here. He announced to the house before getting in the car that nothing is allowed to follow him home in the name of God. The rest of the group agreed and repeated his words.
Mully rested his head against the window and closed his eyes before the image of Gaege with his face peeled off popped into his mind. Mully jumped, eyes snapping open. He looked to the normal Gaege sat next to him. He studied Gaege’s face, making sure it wouldn't fall off. Fuck, Mully was so tired. He took out his headphones, not wanting to talk to anyone, and tried to close his eyes to rest again.
“You good…?” Eddie asked as he looked at Gaege, placing a hand on his knee. Gaege responded with a slow nod as he eyes were fixated forward. They were wide and tearing up from Gaege not blinking.
Eddie didn't want to push Gaege to talk too much. He just sat back in his chair and tried to get some rest as well. As time went on, Eddie's head slowly made its way to Gaege’s shoulder where it would sit while the man slept.
“Hey buddy…” Grant looked at Gaege from the rearview mirror. “How ya feeling?” Gaege’s eyes had dark circles under them, his eyes still staring forwards. Grant got a hummed response from Gaege.
“You gonna try to rest? We still got about an hour and a half…” Grant spoke softly as he was extremely concerned about his friend. Gaege hasn't told anyone in the group what he experienced that night, if he experienced anything at all.
“I uh…um…” Gaege blinked slowly.
“Just try and close your eyes for a little…you've been staring at nothing…”
“No, I…” Gaege rubbed his eyes with his hoodie pulled over his hands.
“You wanna talk about it…?” Grant asked after a beat of silence. He glanced back at Gaege.
“Fucking…” He starred in a quiet mumble. “Ever since…house in the…fucking..” he rambled, Grant not really being able to understand him. He glanced back again, seeing Gaege’s head resting on top of Eddie’s, his eyes closed.
“Alright…rest up bud..” Grant smiled, he reached over to the radio and turned up the volume slightly enough for him to hear but to not wake the others.
Gaege sat there, resting against Eddie. His mind was quiet as his body soaked in sleep. He took in a deep breath before hearing a low rumble of laughter from behind him.
Gaege snapped awake, eyes opened as his body jolted up. He looked around the car, seeing Grant putting the car in park in front of the motel. Grant turned back to Gaege.
“You okay?” He asked, Gaege nodded as he cleared his throat. The movement from Gaege made Eddie wake with a groan. The sun was just starting to rise when Eddie looked around.
“We’re here!” Grant told the group as he turned off the car, retracting the keys.
Slowly the group woke up and dragged their bodies into the motel rooms. They booked three rooms for the group to share. Almost each person getting their own bed.
Josh and Mully mumbled their good nights and went to their room. Kevin and Dose just waved as they walked into theirs, leaving Grant, Eddie, and Gaege to pile into the last room.
Grant was going to take the spare couch while he let the other two take the beds. His head hit his pillow right before the man quickly fell into a deep slumber. Eddie laid under his blankets, pulling them up close to his shoulder. He looked at gaege who sat up in his bed, staring down at his hands.
“You wanna talk about it…?” Eddie asked quietly, not wanting to wake Grant.
Geage slowly turned to Eddie, most of the lights turned off except for the two in between to the beds.
“Um…i…don't know where to start…” Gaege started, ringing his hands through his hair. “I was in the bedroom…talking to…someone? Then it felt like…something…took control of my body…” Gaege’s eyes started to tear up as he recalled the memories to Eddie, who sat up to listen to the other more.
“It…it made me move to the closet…and it…like trapped me there...i couldn't move…i couldn't talk to call out for help. I tried…I screamed but nothing came out of my mouth dude…” Gaege used the heel of his wrist to wipe his tears.
“How did you get out…? How did you kill it…?” Eddie asked, leaning close to Gaege.
“It made me watch…I closed my eyes and I would see out of its eyes…I saw the terrified look you guys had when looking at me…”
“No, dude, it wasn't you…” Eddie interrupted, waving his hand.
“You're right…it was whatever that thing was…I could hear you guys from where I was. I could hear grant…” Gaege’s eyes drifted too look at the sleeping grant. “As he screamed at me..”
“Not you.” Eddie repeated sternly. He stepped out of his bed and moved to Gaege’s, sitting across from the other.
“at..it….” Gaege corrected. “I heard everything from the closet but I could see it like I was there in the room. Like I was it…after watching and screaming for it to stop…i guess i…won power over it? I was able to start moving. Once I saw it chase mully upstairs i was able to completely move again” Gaege let out a soft chuckle, rubbing his face again.
“I grabbed the first thing I saw after leaving the closet. I…fuck…I ripped the fucking leg off the chair and went to go stop whatever was hurting you guys…”
“You killed it? Mully said you stabbed in the heart.” Eddie nodded.
“Yeah…yeah I uh…I killed it…” Gaege nodded, trying to believe his words but somehow he still felt like this thing was alive. That it went back to being a ghost or demon or fucking something!
“I killed it and now it’s fucking dead…” Gaege sighed, rubbing his eyes dry.
“Fuck yeah you did!” Eddie cheered, lightly punching Gaege’s arm. He chuckled in response, rubbing his arm.
“Yeah…” Gaege’s eyes left Eddie’s as he looked off to the side. “Um…” There was a beat of silence.
“Are you ready for bed? ‘Cause fool, I’m fucking tired!” Eddie laughed, trying to lighten the mood.
“Fuck, dude, yeah im exhausted…” Gaege smiled, he watched Eddie stand and walk back to his bed. Eddie got himself comfortable, wished Gaege a good night and turned off his bedside lamp.
Gaege laid down. He didn't want to turn off his lamp but knew he couldn't sleep with it on. He laid in bed trying to rest with the lamp on but the light still bothered him, making sleep practically impossible.
“Eddie…?” Gaege asked, eyes stuck to the ceiling.
“Hm?” Eddie hummed, turned away from Gaege as he was half asleep.
“I'm sorry…for everything it did…”
“It’s m’kay…” The tired Eddie mumbled back.
For everything we did…
Gaege reached up and turned off his lamp, plunging the motel room into darkness. He made himself comfortable, laying on his side as he faced Eddie. Gaege blinked slowly until his eyes finally closed. He took in a deep breath, taking in the scent of the shitty motel room.
After some time of not being able to truly sleep, Gaege opened his eyes and reached for his phone to check the time. It was six thirty in the morning. The sun was casted out of the room from the dark out curtains. Gaege looked around the room, seeing where the sun was peeking in.
He followed the sun rays across the popcorn ceiling of the motel room and down the back wall. The ray stopped at the top of the wall next to the bathroom. His eyes continued down the wall. Gaege squinted, not sure what he was seeing.
A shadow, standing in the far corner next to the bathroom. Gaege instantly sat up, turning on the lamp just for the shadow to disappear from the light.
“Who's there?!” He called out, earning a grumble from Eddie. Gaege looked to his sleeping friends. Fuck, his mind was playing stupid tricks on him. He’s all amped up from ghost hunting, from being stuck in the closet. Its just his fucking mind wanting to have fun.
Gaege laid back down, eyes stuck to the corner. He definitely wasn't turning the lamp off nor was he letting his eyes leave that fucking corner.
So Gaege stayed like that. Eyes glued to the other side of the room as he recalled the event from the night. As he tried to excuse seeing the shadow as just his tired mind. Guilt fell over Gaege as he thought about how his friends must have felt. He kept telling himself that it wasn't him that did all those horrible things but those memories were from his eyes. It was hard saying that wasn't him when that's what he saw in current times.
Gaege didn't sleep that day. His friends woke up and got ready to leave as Gaege laid in bed with his eyes fixated on that area of the room. Grant joked that he was just sleeping with his eyes open. Eddie didn't fully believe Grant but also didn't want to disturb Gaege in case that was the case.
Grant loaded his bag into the car, Eddie adding his.
“Do you think he’s doing okay?” Grant asked Eddie.
“Juicy?” Eddie asked, closing the car trunk. “I mean, we talked a little after you went to bed…he seemed okay…He was convinced he did all that…not whatever demon that was…”
“Wait really?” Grant asked, arms crossed over his chest.
“Yeah…He said since he saw it from his eyes…he must have been the one doing it…”
“What do you mean he saw it from his eyes?” Grant shifted his weight onto the other foot.
“I don't know…When Juicy was explaining it to me it sounded like the demon cloned his body and made Juicy watch from the demon's eyes… but he heard everything from where he was in the master room closet…” Eddie explained, scratching at his chin.
“huh…That's why it didn't want us to go into that room!” Grant's eyes widened with realization.
“Shit…” Eddie’s expression mirrored Grant’s.
“What y'all talking about?” Mully asked, walking over from the other car.
“Uh, just talking about how Juicy’s feeling after last night…” Eddie said, turning to his friend.
“Fuck…” Mully huffed. “So all that did happen…was hoping it was just a bad dream…”
“Yeah…same…” Grant nodded.
“Where is Juicy?” Mully asked.
“Still sleeping, thought we should let him rest…” Eddie said, jerking his head towards their motel room.
Back in the room, Gaege was laying in the bed. Last night played back in his mind. He watched as his friends looked into his eyes with such an abundance of fear. His friends probably thought they were going to die that night…
What if Gaege never got control back…? What if he didn't stop the demon…? Would his friends still be here today..? Would Gaege still be here today?
He blinked his eyes, tears rolling down onto his pillow. Gaege wasn't crying but he felt like sobbing.
He heard as the room door slowly creaked open, spilling sunlight in.
“Gaege?” The voice asked. “It's time…” The voice walked closer. Gaege slowly let his eyes leave the corner as they drifted towards whosoever voice that was. He accepted Grant by how low it was.
He looked to the door, turning his head over his shoulder. What he saw made him jump. Not what, but who.
It was Gaege. Himself, wearing a black suit and black trench jacket. He stared at himself. This clone having those bright yellow eyes with the slitted pupils.
“Let's go…” It told Gaege with a wide grin as it hissed on its S’s, similar to a snake.
“What's wrong?” Gaege heard from beside him.
His head turned quickly. There, kneeling next to his bed, he saw a very concerned Grant. Gaege’s eyes snapped back to the door, this time seeing an equally concerned Eddie.
“Hey, hey, dude it's just us…” Grant placed a hand next to Gaege on the bed.
“Yeah…just coming up to tell you we are heading out…” Eddie stepped closer, speaking to Gaege in a calm and soft voice.
Gaege gulped, glancing between his two friends. He nodded and took a breath. Quickly he left the bed and walked to the front door, Eddie blocking his way.
“Gaege…” Eddie started, placing his hands on his friend’s shoulders. Gaege stood there with his head hung low, pressing it into Eddie's chest. “What did you see…?” He asked in a caring tone.
His friend didn't respond. No words were spoken from Gaege. The only thing breaking the silence was a short hiccup from the man which turned into a deep sob before he gasped for a breath. Eddie lowered his arms around his friend, pulling him into a strong hug.
Grant gathered all of Gaege’s things into his bag for him and once he was calmed down enough, the two walked Gaege to the car.