Perched on the back seats of a minivan Sarianah, a young brunette with naturally lightly tanned skin and hazel eyes, and Lilith; an Italian girl with black hair tied in a neat bun, and apricot brown skin, stared at their intoxicated friends with wandering eyes.
Their ears burning along with their noses at the sounds of their friends singing groggily while swinging their bodies from side to side like broken pendulums to some incomprehensible music on the broken radio at the front.
A few beer cans glistening on the floor while others tilted upwards when another thick swig was taken from one. To celebrate a friend's birthday they had decided to have a few drinks, however it soon turned into a pub-crawl in a matter of hours, and then a late night road trip to god knows where.
Unbeknownst to both girls, however, they were being driven closer to an old house which was once a famous attraction for people who loved to be frightened and surprised.
"Where are we going?" Sarianah asked, examining the dark sky outside the moving vehicle.
"To the next city over!" their hammered driver yelped in a groggy fashion.
"Why did we let him drive?" Lilith enquired, feeling just that little bit more uncomfortable when he downed his fourth can of alcohol and tossed it out the window carelessly.
"Why we got into the van, is a better question." Sarianah stated, running a frustrated hand through her brunette hair. Her feet being kicked out along the bottom of the van to get comfortable.
After about an hour both girl's voices died down, their bodies inching closer to the right-hand side just so that their hazel eyes could get a better look at the large ominous house they where nearing.
"Where are we?" Sarianah asked, furrowing her brow.
"We decided to put on a bet." their wobbly friend explained, taking a drink of vodka from a green bottle.
"You what?" she uttered, sitting up with a confused look.
"That house there is a famous haunted house, which was built on a burial ground, apparently." another spoke, pulling open the door once he plucked his head out from the open window, and away from the girl's face.
"Why would we go in there?" Lilith questioned, refusing to budge from where she sat.
"In fact, why should we go?" the raven haired girl asked more to the point.
"If you go in, we get to the end, you'll get fifty-quid." the drunkest of the group stated, unfastening her belt while she was not looking so that he could drag her out of the van backwards.
Struggling out of his grasp Lilith stood beside Sarianah with a disgruntled growl, her body tense as she glared at him staggering towards the other two guys.
"I'm not going in there, not even for fifty dollars." Sarianah uttered, folding her arms over.
Looking at each other the three drunk teenagers put their heads together for a moment, their groggy voices muttering to one another.
"Alright," one spoke after finally coming to a conclusion. "one-hundred quid." he stated, getting a nod of confirmation from the other pair behind him.
"The answer is-" Lilith began, being cut off by one of the men suddenly yelling.
"Great! See you when you in the morning!" He called, lunging into the van as it suddenly screeched to a start.
"Hey!" Sarianah shouted, chasing after the van as it kicked up dust and picked up speed.
"Those bastards!" Lilith yelled, slowing down to a halt.
Looking at one another, and then around them, both girls turned to look at the house behind them.
"Do we have a choice?" The raven enquired, checking her phone for a signal.
"It's either we walk home, or we wait here till morning, when they come back for us." Sarianah replied, considering the latter since they had no clue where they were.
Plunking themselves down for the long haul, at the front of the door to the mansion, they both glanced around the empty environment quietly. A soft shudder passing down Sarianah's spine when the temperature outside began to drop slowly around them. Glancing back at the door the raven haired teenager stared at it.
"Maybe we should go inside, to keep warm. It's getting really cold." She uttered, looking over at the brunette.
"I guess, but keep the door open. I don't like the look of this place." she replied, getting up with Lilith to head towards the walls of the building.
Creaking open the large heavy door the pair coughed in unisons while Sarianah rubbed the rushing dust from her eye.
"This place hasn't been touched in years. Why the hell did they leave us here?" Sarianah groaned, stepping inside the dark narrow corridor.
"Drunk stupidity, I guess." the raven retorted gently while heaving a sigh, the end of her shirt being used as a rag to try clean her glasses.
Heading a little further into the building after drawing some curiousty from the pit of her stomach Sarianah glanced at the wooden walls around them. They were surprisingly well kept, despite the very place seeming abandoned.
"At least it's warm." she commented, leading them towards what they expected would be a large lobby further in.
"It's getting darker, we should probably stop." Lilith spoke up, turning to look at the door behind them which was now gone.
"The door's gone." she uttered with shock, turning completely now to try find it again.
"I think the corridor curves around." The brunette replied calmly, placing her hand on one of the walls.
Yelping with surprise Lilith pushed herself backwards, whereas Sarianah turned around quickly to look as a large metal gate came down from the ceiling to seal them both inside.
"I must have hit a switch." the brunette blurted out with shock, her hand being pulled away to allow her fingers to release a panel which was digging into the wall under her touch.
Releasing the pressure completely the dank light which was once around them went out altogether, plunging them into blind darkness.
"Shit, I can't see." Sarianah spoke, swinging her arms out in an attempt to find the wall before hesitating for a moment; what if there were more traps imbedded in the wall?
"Where the hell are we going?" Lilith asked with concern, grabbing onto the back of what she presumed was Sarianah's coat.
"I don't know." the brunette replied with a mild stammer, and a look of great confusion.
For a while they walked in a straight line, hoping to find a light that was not going to come, and as they walked Lilith could feel something faintly brush against the top of her head, and bounce off of her bun before disappearing into the darkness again.
Whatever it was it did not seem to spook Sarianah however, and as they kept moving the mysterious object seemed to go missing, however it was not gone. Hearing a bone chilling scream Sarianah almost jumped out of her skin, while Lilith felt as though she was about to have a mild heart attack.
"Oh god!" Sarianah yelled, bouncing backwards and knocking them both over onto the hard floor.
"What?" Lilith asked in a loud voice, swinging her head from left to right to try locate where the sound had come from. Squinting her hazel eyes, as if it would give her night vision, Lilith finally stopped frantically twisting and turning to look in front, and above, herself.
Examining the only slightly visible shape of something hanging above them the girl let her crinkled eyelids increase, above them was what she could only describe as a wooden tiki mask. "A mask?" she enquired in disbelief, being hauled up onto her feet by the always hardy Sarianah.
"Sorry, it took me by surprise when it screamed in my face." the brunette apologised, knocking on the rim of the mask so it would scream again.
"Who would tie masks to bits of rope?" Lilith grumbled, looking at all the different ornamental masks.
"This was a haunted house, so it's not surprising." Sarianah commented, dipping and swerving past the masks that got too close.
All around them the masks hung like decorations, each finely carved and put together with care, and a handful of experience. Some were bigger than others, while some were far creepier than most.
"I'm surprised this is all still in good nick." Lilith uttered, peering around. "Is this place really abandoned?" she then enquired, stopping with her friend to see that they had found a dead end.
"Now what?" Sarianah asked, peering around for a way out since they were unable to get through the gate back at the start. Wandering around the room the girls began to grow restless, concern passing through their minds as they began to ponder the chances that they were trapped in the house permanently.
"I have an idea." Lilith finally stated, looking at the ceiling.
"I think one of these masks will open a door, so tug on them." the raven explained, yanking at the mask so it snapped from the roof.
Pulling down one after the other each mask wailed as if it were in pain, the screams echoing through the room and corridor eerily.
"There's only two masks left now." Sarianah stated, while Lilith gave them an uneasy examination.
"One's probably a trap." the raven spoke, pushing up her glasses slowly.
"Like a proper horror film, huh?" the brunette said with a light smile, attempting to break some of the tension in the dark room.
"Which one should we pull?" Lilith asked, hesitating to touch the largest mask of the pair which had a mane made of straw and fangs poking out from a screaming expression.
"That one?" Sarianah suggested, pointing to the smallest one.
"You do it then, I'll look for the door." Lilith replied, starting to run her hands over the icy walls and step slowly around the room.
Tugging on the mask the screeching object snapped from the ceiling, and as its screams began to die down the room began to take its place. Rumbling and starting to move both girls became surprised and started to lean against the wall as the room began to tilt.
"You said it would open a door!" Sarianah stated, beginning to slip as the room tilted further.
"I guessed!" Lilith retorted, watching the masks begin to slide across the floor towards the other side of the room.
Finally tumbling the girls fell towards the new floor, while the masks dropped with, and around them. Putting out her arms Lilith hit the floor with a heavy thud, followed by Sarianah.
"Nya!" the brunette yelped, sitting up almost instantly to try figure out where they were now. Rubbing her back Lilith sat up as well, a deep groan passing her lips as her nerves screamed for salvation.
Close by a new door had shown up, with the strewn masks leading the way across the old worn down floor.
"Oh my back." Lilith complained, attempting to get back up.
"Who the hell would make a room that goes upside down? Someone could get hurt, or worse!" the brunette snapped, kicking one of the masks across the ground.
"At least there's a way out now…" the Latina relied, attempting to make light of the situation.
"This house is more dangerous than it is scary." she grumbled in reply, heading towards the wooden corridor which led into, unsurprisingly, more darkness.
"It got the uninviting part right, at least." Lilith uttered, wiping the dust from her clothes.
Heading down the cold corridor the girls came across a spiralling staircase, the metal railing creaking as they tested if it would hold up. Certain it would not fall, at least not too quickly underneath their weight, they began to step on each moaning panel which took them down what was apparently a tight cylindrical tube towards the bottom.
"Does anything in this house -not- make a sound?" Sarianah uttered, leaning against the railing to take her weight off of the unsteady steps. "This is probably not the safest fun house I've been in." she added, looking down at the near invisible floor below.
At the bottom their feet soon touched stone, which was silently approved of by both of them.
Coming to yet another dead end they glanced around the stone corridor.
"Another dead end?" Lilith enquired, not wishing to find another switch to test.
"Need some help?" a mysterious voice asked, causing them to turn and look at the corridor behind them.
From the shadows a tall pale man stopped, his long black hair flowing down his back elegantly.
"Who are you?" Lilith questioned, looking the obviously handsome man up and down, from head to toe, cautiously. Up until now they had been alone, and up until now they presumed they were the only ones who had been here in years.
"Madara." He smoothly uttered, stepping a little closer.
"How did you get down here, are you trapped as well?" Sarianah asked, beginning to blush under his heated stare.
"No." He calmly replied.
"So you work here?" Lilith enquired, but her question was ignored completely as he walked right past her to stand in front of the brunette.
Putting his hand on the wall by her head a smile crept up his face, while his almost red eyes seemed to glow faintly in the darkness.
"You wanted a way out of the corridor?" he asked gently, allowing the warm edge of his breath to pass over the shell of her ear and push her hair back.
"Yeah." Sarianah stammered, while Lilith began to glare.
"I hope you're not here to just seduce Sarianah." She commented with some annoyance.
"Sarianah?" the raven haired man spoke softly.
"What a beautiful name." he murmured, looking into her hazel eyes.
"Did anyone ever tell you how beautiful your eyes are?" he asked, observing the green standing out against the brown.
"Excuse me." Lilith stated firmly, interrupting their little scene.
For a moment Madara allowed his smile to slither away, his head turning slightly as he narrowed his eyelids, his strange crimson-tinted orbs gleaming as he bore holes into Lilith from the corner of his eye.
"Yes?" he asked coldly.
"You said you knew a way out?" she uttered, crossing her arms expectantly.
Standing up straight he nodded once, his head turning back so that he could gently observe Sarianah, who was standing below him, one more time before hitting a switch which caused her to fall back and slip down a chute.
"Oi!" Lilith yelled, attempting to go after her. The door however shut quickly before she could do anything.
"What the hell did you do?" she enquired angrily, unable to open the panel again.
"Separating you." He plainly replied.
"Why?!" she yelped, turning around to chase after him.
"You're in the way." he answered with a shrug, his heel being pressed against the floor to open up a trap door at her feet.
Yelping with surprise Lilith fell through the narrow gap and plummeted down as he watched with a smirk before disappearing with a whip of his open cloak.