It was a cool day. The clouds were the perfect shape, the sun wasn't boiling skin, and the perfect amount of wildlife was out and about. Despite all of this, she was unhappy with everything. Mimi, a young lady aged at around twenty two years old. She'd lost her entire family in a car accident just six months ago, and she hasn't been the same since then. "Damaged, that is what I am…" is all she could think about herself. She was failing out of college, nearly getting kicked out due to her most recent failing grade. She couldn't concentrate on her home life, either. Her best friend, who was away for the weekend, had to take all of her pets so they could survive. Mimi even needed her friend Victoria to come over and clean for her. The girl was a total mess, and everything was about to be thrown away.
She had finally made it home with Victoria after unsuccessfully making a trip to see a therapist about her problem. As the two made their way inside of Mimi's home, Victoria locked the door behind them and began to walk off. "I have to make a quick phone call hun, stay safe while I'm gone." Victoria said as she slowly walked away from the depressed girl. Mimi slowly walked into her kitchen and opened a drawer where she kept several utensils. Inside of the drawer was a kitchen knife which was six inches in length. She glared at her reflection on the knife as she gripped the handle and pulled it closer to her throat. She lightly pressed the tip against her throat with slight force before hearing a scream behind her. "No!" Victoria screamed at the girl before grabbing her arm and jerking the knife from her hand.
"What the hell is wrong with you? You do not need to do this!" Victoria had started crying as she screamed at her friend. "I know you are hurting, but you still have a wonderful life ahead of you…" Tears slowly slid down Mimi's face as she turned to face her friend. "I… I am… sorry Victoria…" Mimi's eyes watered up as she apologized only to receive a big bear hug from Victoria. "It's alright sweetie, it's alright." After a couple of minutes of holding each other in their arms, the girls had calmed down enough for Victoria to tell Mimi about the phone call she had made. "That was Scott; I went ahead and told him we'd be going with him to get the extra credit. I could use it a little bit more, but you really need it to stay in school." At first Mimi wasn't too happy about this, but she decided that a little time away from home would do her some good and she needed the credit.
"When will they arrive?" Mimi softly asked Victoria. "He had to pick up the others, so it'll probably be another ten minutes." Victoria responded to Mimi's question and then continued to speak. "Megan, Ronald, Ed, Rachelle, Mick, and Martin, along with both you and me, we'll all be going on this extra credit assignment with Scott. We should both get ready." Mimi nodded slowly as she headed upstairs to her room to change. Whilst she was gone, Victoria decided to slip into some different clothes downstairs. She couldn't stop thinking about what Mimi almost did, and she was dead terrified of her attempting it again. She slipped on a black sweater while wearing a white tank top under it and a pair of blue skinny jeans. She had flowing brown hair falling down her back over her sweater.
Just a few minutes after that, Mimi had returned back downstairs wearing a blue jean skirt that went down to just above her knees, a matching jacket, and a white T-shirt under it. She had medium length black hair which went half way down her neck. The two walked towards the door as Victoria unlocked it and then locked it back once they exited the house. Victoria watched Mimi and could tell the girl was still mixed up just by looking at her; she would need to keep a good eye on her during this trip. Before the girls knew it, a large black van approached Mimi's driveway. It held seven people in it and would also be holding the both of them. In the driver's seat was Scott: he had short blonde hair and was wearing blue jeans and a white and black striped shirt. The girls crawled into the back where four were already seated.
One of the four was wearing an all black dress with black hair pulled into a bun. Her name was Megan and she was a friend of Mimi and Victoria's. Sitting next to her was a guy who had short brown hair and was wearing a tight white T-shirt and a pair of blue shorts. His name was Mick and he was a friend of Scott's. Sitting next to Mick was two other guys: one with long black hair that stretched halfway down his back who was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a button-up black shirt and the other who had no hair and was wearing a white tank top and a pair of black jeans. Their names were Ronald and Ed, and they were also friends of Scott's. The two girls didn't know any of these three guys, but they did know the guy and the girl who were sitting up front with Scott. Rachelle and Martin, they were in a relationship and were mutual friends between both of the girls along with Scott. Rachelle had blonde hair that went just past her shoulders and was wearing a pair of white shorts and a blue sleeveless shirt. Martin was wearing a pair of ripped up blue jeans and a dark blue T-shirt.
The group was traveling to an old and abandoned castle just outside of the town they all lived in. Their goal was simple: while staying at this castle, they had to disprove the rumor that it's haunted. They were all spending the night inside of the castle and they were each expecting this to be an easy assignment, all except for Mimi. She didn't know how difficult this task would be, and she was hardly prepared for anything. But as the group approached the castle, she was ready to follow her friends into the corridors of this eerie looking place. Each person stepped out of the van and gazed at the incredible building. Unlike most castles seen in movies or in fairy tales, this castle had a door. Scott slowly approached the door and cracked it open which allowed some of the sunlight to shine inside of the castle. He could see that it was pretty dirty inside and also spooky, but opened the door completely and proceeded in anyway.
One by one, the rest of the group followed him inside of the castle. It seemed as though they had walked right into the living room. There were several pieces of furniture which were covered by sheets, and empty fireplace that looked as though it hadn't been used in years, and several portraits lined across the walls of people who were long dead by this point. "Well, we're here guys. I guess just spending the night will be enough to prove that it's not haunted." Scott spoke out as he threw his bag of supplies on a dusty chair with a sheet over it. "We will need to explore this place and make sure it's not haunted or else we'll be fakes." Mick replied to Scott while also putting his bag down. As Mick walked through a doorway, Rachelle, Martin, and Ed followed him. Scott and Victoria walked through a different doorway while Megan and Ronald were sitting on the old furniture and talking to each other.
Mimi, now pretty much on her own for a bit while inside of the castle, decided to take a look around and see what the castle had inside of it. She opened up a large door and walked through it, closing it on the other side. She'd found herself in a bedroom with a huge bed that had been previously made. The blanket was full of dust, but that didn't surprise her; the entire room was covered in both dust and cob webs. She approached the dresser in the room which contained an un-opened jewelry box. She lightly lifted up the box, only to find a pendant lying in the center of it. The pendant looked exactly like the one her mother used to wear, but this one obviously didn't belong to anyone so she picked it up and placed it around her neck. She took a liking to it rather quickly and tucked it under her shirt so nobody would see her wearing it. She then exited the room through a different doorway.
As she left, the ghostly white image of an old woman could be seen standing right beside the jewelry box, only to disappear within seconds. Mimi headed down a very long hallway, looking at all of the portraits hanging on the walls. She then came to two very large doors and became curious about what was behind them, so she slowly pushed them open. She crept inside, unsure of what was in the room, but was surprised when she saw several dining tables. "This must be where the people who lived in this castle ate their meals," she thought to herself. As she slowly walked further into the room, suddenly a pair of hands came up from behind and a loud yell could be heard behind her. Terrified, Mimi quickly spun around and pushed the person away.
"Hey! Watch it!" The voice of a man yelled at Mimi. She recognized him as Ed, who had apparently followed behind her in secret just to pull this prank on her. She slapped him on the chest and yelled at him "you jerk!" She then turned around and stormed off while Ed simply watched her walk away. Ed couldn't help but laugh about the whole thing, but in almost an instant, his expression turned serious as he proceeded through a doorway which led to the kitchen. Ed blankly stared at the kitchen as he moved further in, finally approaching a window which had long and dirty curtains by it. He pulled the curtains off and stepped up on a counter where he then tied the curtain around a hook that had been stuck in the ceiling and then tied the other end around his own neck. Without hesitation, Ed jumped from the counter and simply hanged there until his own death.
Mimi was still angry at Ed but decided to turn back around and ask him where the others were. She walked back into the dining area but didn't see Ed anywhere. Finally, she walked towards the kitchen and entered, only to scream at the sight of Ed's dead body hanging from the ceiling. Mimi quickly ran back to the living room where they all first entered. When she got there, both Scott and Victoria had already made it back. She ran into Victoria's arms while tears ran down her face. She managed to mumble out "Ed killed himself" before bursting into tears once more. Victoria could only stare at Scott in awe, not knowing why Ed would do something like this. Scott ran off to see if he could find Ed, following the trail of opened doors that Mimi had left. After just a couple of minutes, Scott returned with a gloomy look on his face. "Ed is dead; it looks like he hung himself. I don't know why he would do this, but he did. I don't want to stick around here and find out why he did it, so I'm going to go start the van and get out of here." Scott rushed out of the castle as soon as he finished speaking.
Mimi continued to cry in Victoria's arms while Scott prepared them to leave, meanwhile, the other five were all still walking around in the castle. Megan and Ronald were still together and talking to each other. "So how do you know Scott?" Megan asked Ronald. "Oh, we met because of a mutual interest." Megan stopped walking so Ronald also stopped. "A mutual interest? And what would that be?" Ronald clearly didn't want to tell her, so he made up a lie. "We… uh… both work out at the same place." Megan thought about it at first, but she decided to just go with what he said. The two continued walking while in another area, Rachelle, Martin, and Mick were walking in a group.
Mick was in front while Rachelle and Martin were walking beside each other. Mick had noticed that there were several candles on the walls so he decided to start lighting them with his lighter as the trio moves down the hallway. Rachelle and Martin were holding hands and talking lightly about what they planned on doing after they both get out of college. "I want to move to Italy and study the area around there." Martin started talking passionately about his plans after college. "I would gladly come with you if I could, but my future job will probably require me to remain near a Hospital." Rachelle was aiming to become a doctor whereas Martin wished to travel the world.
Martin knew that, with their choices in life, they probably wouldn't be able to stay together, so that's why he decided to make their time count. They continued onward and separated from Mick who was several feet ahead of them lighting candles. As he continued lighting them, he stopped to see if Rachelle and Martin were still following him but noticed they were gone. Mick decided to continue on by himself. Meanwhile, outside where Scott's van was, Scott was trying to get it fixed but was having no luck. The battery had died so they would have to wait several hours for it to charge. He couldn't pick up cell phone service at their location, and Scott started to get angry at himself for bringing all of these people into this mess and someone ending up dying.
Mimi and Victoria were still inside and Mimi had finally stopped crying. Victoria laid her down on one of the nearby couches before heading deeper inside of the castle to locate the others so they could leave. Before she knew it, she heard a girl's scream coming from the direction of Ed's body, so she took off running in that direction. Mimi and Scott had also heard it, and Scott rushed inside to Mimi's location to see if she was okay. "Mimi! What was that scream?" Scott said while worried. Mimi looked at him and responded "I don't know, but it must be Megan or Rachelle." Scott grabbed Mimi's hand and quickly ran through the opened doors towards Ed's body, only to discover a trail of blood leading into the dining area.
"Oh no… not again. Please… please tell me… nobody else has died." Mimi started to tear up again at the thought of another friend dying, but Scott wouldn't let it happen. "Mimi, if we want to save our friends, then we need to find them and get them out of here. So pull yourself together and help me!" Mimi looked at him and then nodded slowly and started running with Scott once again. Before they could make it far enough, a bleeding Megan jumped out in front of the two as they were running and landed right in Scott's arms. "R-Ronald…" Megan barely managed to speak before Scott cut her off. "Save your breath Megan, you stay here with Mimi and I'm going to see what happened with Ronald and Victoria." Scott took off once again and left the two girls where they were. Mimi simply held Megan in her arms and removed her own jacket so she could stop Megan from bleeding.
Scott burst through the doors to the dining area, which had been closed since he was last there. He could only see more blood and Ronald's body lying on the ground in a puddle of blood. "Ronald!" Scott quickly made his way to Ronald's body and turned it over. Ronald was still alive and Scott was relieved. "Where's Victoria? She took off in this direction!" Ronald pointed to the kitchen and faintly whispered to Scott "she's dangerous…" Scott put Ronald's body down and made his way towards the kitchen where he saw blood splattered on the walls and Ed's dead body once again. He could see a large puddle of blood leaking out from behind one of the counters and slowly walked to where he could see where it was coming from. Finally he saw it. Victoria's limbs were sliced open and bleeding, her chest had a knife sticking from it, and her eyes were lifeless. Victoria had committed suicide.
Scott couldn't understand why someone like Victoria would do such a thing to herself, but he didn't have the time to stop and think about that. Ronald and Megan were seriously injured and he had to get them some help. He made his way back to Ronald's body and lifted him up and placed his arm around his head so he could walk with him. Scott managed to carry Ronald out of the dining area and back to where the girls were sitting. Mimi watched as Scott carried Ronald but she didn't see Victoria. "Where's Victoria Scott?" Scott just looked at Mimi with a cold look in his eyes and she knew what had happened. Mimi started to cry once again and Scott couldn't do anything but say "I'm sorry Mimi."
Mimi managed to control her tears just long enough so that she could carry Megan back to the van and they could leave. Scott stopped, pulled his shirt off, and wrapped it around Ronald's wound so the bleeding would stop and then he laid him down on one of the couches. Mimi didn't understand why he was laying him there when he needed to be in the van so they could take him to get help. "Scott… what about the van?" Scott looked over at Mimi "the battery is dead, so we aren't going anywhere until it has a few hours to charge." Mimi couldn't believe the bad luck that they were having, but Scott was being optimistic about the situation. "We need to find Mick, Rachelle, and Martin so we don't end up having to search for them when it's time to leave." Scott calmly said to Mimi.
Mimi nodded and stood up, while Scott walked over by her and looked back at the injured Megan and Ronald. "We'll be back, stay safe you two." Scott said as both he and Mimi walked through a doorway and down a hall and Scott pulled out a flashlight for each of them. Mimi knew that they weren't in the kitchen or the dining area, so they didn't even both checking there. Scott opened up another doorway and it seemed to lead to a string of bedrooms. The two decided to split up and locate their friends by checking these rooms one by one. Mimi started with the first door on the right while Scott started with the first door on the left. They had no luck at all and finally made it to the end of the hall. They walked past the door at the end of the hall and noticed that the hall split in two directions, one going left and one going right. "You go right and I'll go left, Mimi." Scott said in a stern voice. The two split up and went down their own halls.
Scott had made it to the lavatories where he heard a slight noise coming from deep inside. He could also see light coming from deep inside and decided to see who it was. As he approached the light and the noise, he found himself being punched in the face by an unknown person. Scott had been knocked off of his feet by the blow to the face, but almost immediately after, he noticed a hand reaching out to help him up. He looked up and seen Mick standing over him and then grabbed his hand and pulled himself up. "What did you do that for?" Scott growled at Mick. "I didn't know it was you, I thought it was someone else. I heard a scream coming from somewhere so I got a little paranoid." Mick defended himself while Scott stared at him with sadness in his eyes. "Mick… both Ed and Victoria are dead… and they both committed suicide." Mick was in shock due to Scott's words. "Come on, we need to get back to Ronald and Megan." Scott started to walk back and Mick followed him.
Meanwhile, Mimi was walking down her hallway and came across what appeared to be a large ballroom. She could see a balcony held up by several stone pillars and a large empty floor. She walked out onto the floor but didn't spot Rachelle or Martin. She walked over to another door she'd noticed and proceeded through it, only to find herself in another hallway. But she didn't have to go far to find Rachelle and Martin. This entire hallway had been lit up by candles, and at the end was bother Rachelle and Martin. She called out to them and they both walked towards her. "Rachelle, Martin, we need to leave right now!" Mimi said in a scared tone. "But why Mimi? Why must we rush out so quickly?" Martin asked while puzzled. "B-because Martin… Victoria and Ed committed suicide and Megan and Ronald are hurt…" Mimi barely managed to keep herself from crying again. Both Rachelle and Martin were shocked, but both followed closely behind Mimi as she returned to where she'd come from.
It wasn't long before both Scott and Mimi met up in the hallway where they separated. The five friends quickly made their way back to Ronald and Megan who were still in the living room and injured. "The van might be charged enough to get us out of here." Scott said to everyone else. They made it back down the hallway of rooms and finally back to the living room where Ronald and Megan were. However, what they saw when they arrived was horrific. A bloody mess with Megan laying over Ronald's body and crying, Ronald had slit his own throat with a knife he'd taken from the kitchen. Megan had to watch him do it because she was unable to stop him due to her condition.