A/N 1- You know, since it's around that time of the year (Halloween people) I thought that I would just do a little one-shot here. How it evolved from something so serious to something so god damn hilarious, I have no clue! No romance in this one, but it hints at DuCaine somewhat (of course).
In the happy (hah) little one-shot, we have Alexx (just cant get rid of her), Eric, Calleigh, Horatio, Ryan, Natalia, and Frank. :)
Anyway, enjoy!
Summary: With Ryan being the youngest member of the team, don't think that they don't have some sort of initiation to welcome him to the group. Some CSI haunted house fun!
~Ryan Gets His: Haunted House Style~
Ryan plopped down on his couch after making himself some lunch. It was his day off, thank god for that too, because he had heard some teenagers found a body in a haunted house while trekking through it. They soon realized that it wasnt a prop, it was in fact their friend, and they called 9-1-1.
He never liked haunted houses. Scared the crap out of him to be honest and he was glad that he didn't have to go in. Turning on his television, he took a bite out of his sandwich, and his phone vibrated in his pocket.
Setting the plate down on the table in front of him, he grasped his phone, swallowing the piece of sandwich he had in his mouth before answering.
"Wolfe."
Glad you answered, Ryan. Horatio needs you down here.
"What's wrong, Delko?"
There isn't just one body. There are two.
Ryan shivered. He really didn't want to go into the haunted house, but it was still daylight, so he figured it would be okay.
"Two? Well, you got it Delko. Which haunted house?"
The one the crime scene is at genius.
"Well I don't know my way around the-Ugh! He hung up."
Ryan placed his phone back in his pocket and got up from the couch. He made sure to grab his badge and his gun before exiting his house. Getting in his car, he backed out of the driveway and headed to the crime lab.
He hoped that someone there could at least give him directions.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
By the time Ryan had gotten the directions to the haunted house and actually found the thing, it was past five in the afternoon. Pulling his car up the long and rocky driveway, he kept glancing over to the horizon. The sun was dipping lower and lower, and Ryan did not want to be caught in that haunted house after dark, crime scene or not.
He pulled his car up alongside one of the Hummers, parked it, and got out. He grabbed his badge, shutting and locking the car door, leaving his gun in the passenger seat. Ryan was definitely out of it.
The front doors to the house were open and there were lights on, Ryan thanked whoever was up there watching him for that.
"Hello? Guys?" He asked, walking in the front door to the haunted house.
He stood in the middle of the foyer, going no further, while he surveyed his surroundings.
"Horatio? Anybody?" He called.
He didnt realize the front doors were closing until he heard them shut with a resounding 'bang'! Whipping around, he ran to the doors and jiggled the doorknob, realizing that they were locked.
"Damn it," he swore, fumbling for his gun, but feeling his empty holster.
He looked down at the holster, smacking himself in the forehead when he realized that his gun was still in his car. He placed the palm of his hand on one of the doors and sighed.
"This is not my day. Now I'm talking to myself. Great." Ryan muttered.
He could see outside the windows of the house. The sun was setting rapidly, as if it knew what kind of predicament Ryan was in. Ryan pulled out his phone, trying to call Eric, Calleigh, and even Horatio. Nobody answered, and he didn't hear any of the phones ringing.
"Horatio always answers his phone," Ryan muttered, looking around.
From the foyer, directly across from the front doors was a long and narrow hallway. He could head down there, looking in every door until he found something or someone at least, if anyone was in here. To the right and the left of the hallway were stairs. The stairs went up and then they met directly above the hallway, where he could either go into a doorway, straight, or turn and follow the banister down two different other hallways on the second floor.
"Choices, choices," Ryan muttered.
When the sun was no longer visible through the window, one by one the lights began to shut off. Ryan squeaked in surprise, fumbling with the flashlight that was clipped to his belt.
"Aw shit. Oh man. Shit."
Ryan Wolfe was terrified of haunted houses, even more so in the dark. Turning on his flashlight, he swung it around to look throughout the room. Breathing heavily, he rested his back against the front doors. Ever since his parents dragged him to haunted houses when he was younger, he had been against going to them when he finally had a choice.
"Guys?" He called out meekly.
He swung his flashlight in the darkness of the foyer again, his eyes starting to play tricks on him in the darkness.
"Alright. Time to be a man, Ryan. Think of...the team. Yeah." Ryan gave himself a pep talk.
Taking a few steps into the foyer again, he wondered which way he would go; up or down? Snorting to himself, he started climbing the stairwell on the right.
'That's a no brainer. Why would anybody want to go down the hallway where there might be, uh I don't know, a basement? Scariest place in the whole damn house.' Ryan thought to himself.
The stairs creaked quietly as he climbed them, and he kept his flashlight trained ahead of him the whole time. When he got to the top of the stairs, he could either go straight into the doorway or down two different halls on the right and left.
Walking forward, he grasped the doorknob and turned it. Opening it, he stepped inside, making sure to leave the door open. With his flashlight scanning the floor and furniture of the room, he noticed that this seemed to be a torture chamber. Dead bodies littered the floors, but they were made of straw and random pieces of clothing.
"How could anybody believe that?" Ryan wondered.
Pulling out his cell phone, another beautiful light he could use, he dialed Eric's number again. This time, he heard his ringtone. And it appeared to be coming from the room that Ryan was in. With his stomach twisted in fear, Ryan aimed his flashlight to cascade the walls in the light. It was there, that Ryan found him.
On the wall, there was some sort of spike bed. With his lifeless eyes staring straight at Ryan, Eric's body had been pinned up there. Someone had shoved him; hard. Spikes were protruding out of his body from his feet all the way up to his neck. Blood had cascaded from his wounds, leaving a big puddle of the red mess on the floor under him.
"Eric?" Ryan asked, scared for the life of him and the rest of the team that happened to be in the house.
Ryan ended the call to Eric's phone, and began walking backwards, refusing to look away from the body on the wall. When he had finally shut the door to the room, he immediately dialed 9-1-1 on his phone.
9-1-1 operator. What is your emergency?
"M-my name is CSI Ryan Wolfe. I'm at the haunted house where our crime scene was previously at, and I have found CSI Eric Delko murdered. I don't know about the rest of the CSI team."
S-sir? I cant...you're breaking...sir?
"Help me."
Looking at his phone, it told him that he had no service in the house. Swearing again, he chose to head down the hall to his right, shakily of course. When he took another step, something crunched under his foot. Bending down and picking it up, he muttered an, 'Oh god' and twirled the object in his fingers.
He had stepped on Horatio's sunglasses.
Straightening up, he put the sunglasses in his pocket and continued into the doorway. There was a trail of what seemed to be blood, and Ryan followed it with his flashlight. It led him to an empty room, and the blood trail just stopped cold. He shined his light across the room and noted the other doorway. He realized that if he had chosen the left hallway, it would have circled him here as well.
An annoying creaking wouldnt get itself out of Ryan's head, and he scratched his eyebrow in annoyance. Fear embedded itself in his body, as he stood there, frozen. He hadn't looked up. Taking a large gulp of air, he shined the flashlight up. His eyes widened as he found himself staring into the lifeless eyes of Natalia Boa Vista.
The creaking noise was the sound of her body swaying back and forth, as she hung from the beam. The chains that hung her rattled and Ryan backed away slowly.
"Oh my god...Natalia...Eric...who else?" Ryan wondered.
He whirled around and ran out of the room, heading back down the stairs quickly. He messed with the door knobs on the front doors again, banging on the door.
"No..." He whispered.
"R-Ryan?" Someone asked.
Ryan turned around and pointed his flashlight at who had talked.
"Calleigh," he breathed, relieved that someone was alive.
"Tell me you have your gun," she begged.
"No Calleigh, I don't. I'm sorry." Ryan whispered.
Tears ran down Calleigh's cheeks as she clutched her arm in pain.
"What happened?"
"I-I don't know. It all happened so very fast. We were processing the scene, it's down in the basement, and Eric said he was going up to get more lights. He never returned. So we sent Natalia and Alexx, and when they didn't come back, well, Frank, Horatio, and I...we got worried, Ryan. All of us went up at the same time. One minute, Frank was behind us. The next minute he was gone.
"I've never seen Horatio so frightened in all my life, Ryan. Frightened for our team, and for myself. He told me to run; hide, so I couldn't be found. I could hear screams..."
Calleigh closed her eyes, sobbing softly.
"It's all right, Calleigh. We'll find Horatio and the others and get out of here." Ryan said.
"How many have you found dead?"
"Calleigh, I don't-"
"How many?"
"I found Eric and Natalia upstairs."
Calleigh covered her eyes with her free hand. Her other hand was clutching at the wound on her arm.
"Why did you come out of your hiding place?" Ryan asked.
"I could hear you calling for us. I think I'm the only one left Ryan. Have you seen Horatio?"
Ryan shook his head. "I stepped on...his shades."
Calleigh leaned against the wall, slipping down into a sitting position.
"Let me see your arm," Ryan whispered, crouching down to her level.
"It's just a scratch," Calleigh said, pulling her hand away from it.
Ryan ripped a piece of shirt and tied it around her wound. Helping her up, he gripped his flashlight.
"We have to see if we can find Alexx, Horatio, or Frank. One of them should have a gun." Ryan said.
They stepped towards the hallway across from the front doors and something came at them from the darkness, smacking Ryan's flashlight out of his hand. It rolled across the floor and the room was engulfed in darkness.
"Ryan!" Calleigh screamed.
"Calleigh, it's okay! I've got it!" Ryan called, grabbing the flashlight and shining it around the room.
"Shit. Calleigh." His light shined on her body.
She was lying on her stomach, her eyes staring at nothing in particular. There was an axe shoved right in her back, between her shoulder blades.
"Calleigh," Ryan said, fighting back tears.
He ran a hand through his hair. "Oh shit. God damn it. Why her?!"
Ryan squeezed his eyes closed before opening them again. He headed down the hallway, opening the doors that lined it. All he found was a couple of bedrooms, bathrooms, and a laundry room. When he reached the end of the hallway, he found a kitchen. He shined the light around the kitchen, and that was where he found his next body.
It looked like Frank had been tortured. He was chained to the table, in shackles that were damn near unbreakable. He had oozed blood out of multiple cuts and stab wounds he had received from the killer. Whoever killed Frank, took his sweet time with it. Ryan gagged at the sight of one of his friends just lying there, dead.
He took off for the foyer again. There was no way in hell, Ryan Wolfe would go down in that basement. He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a moaning coming from one of the bathrooms. He had yet to find Alexx and Horatio, so the question remained. Be a man or run away scared?
Taking a deep breath, he entered the bathroom. Pulling back the curtain, he gagged, covering his mouth. Alexx was lying in the bathtub. It was filled with blood.
"Ryan, honey? Is that you?"
"It's me, Alexx."
Ryan got down on his knees.
"Oh god, Alexx. What happened?"
"That's not important, Honey. The evidence will find that out. What's important right now is that you get out of here. Did you find Calleigh?"
"She's dead, Alexx. Whoever did this...he got her."
"A-and Horatio?"
"I haven't found him yet. I'll find him, Alexx."
"What about the others?"
"They're all dead, Alexx. I'm sorry."
"Wasn't your fault, Sweetie. You need to get out of here, Ryan. And fast. Whoever is in this house is mad as hell. He won't stop and talk."
"I'm not leaving you, Alexx."
"If you get out, you can call. The sooner you call, the sooner help will arrive. Just listen to me and go."
Ryan furrowed his eyebrows, but he eventually nodded.
"I'll be back, Alexx."
"I know."
Ryan closed the door to the bathroom slowly and quietly, hurrying down the hallway to the foyer again. His light caught someone standing over Calleigh's dead body.
"H?" Ryan asked.
Horatio turned around. His eyes showed his pain and confusion.
"She's dead, Ryan?"
Ryan nodded.
"Why, Ryan?"
"I don't know, H. Some people are just messed up."
"Why did you do it, Ryan? Your CSI family; my wife?"
Ryan was taken aback. "H...I didn't do it! Eric called me because you wanted me here. I found everyone like this."
"I heard her scream your name," Horatio growled.
"We were coming to find you!" Ryan pleaded. "Someone knocked the flashlight out of my hand, and when I got it back...she was like that."
Horatio advanced on Ryan, and his back hit a wall. Grabbing him around the throat, Horatio leaned in to whisper in Ryan's ear.
"Gotcha."
Ryan was dumbfounded. "What?"
Horatio laughed and clapped his hands. The lights came on in the house, and Calleigh rose from the floor, taking the fake axe out of her back.
"How ya doing, Wolfe?" She asked, winking and laughing.
Alexx came out of the bathroom, completely blood-free. Soon enough, Eric and Natalia came down the stairs, laughing and talking.
"What...how...huh?" Ryan asked confused.
Horatio put an arm around Calleigh, and all of them stood there chuckling at Ryan's confused state.
"What happened here?" Ryan asked.
"There was no crime scene here, Wolfe," Eric began. "We set you up, and we got you good."
"There was a dummy hanging from the beam that looked like me. I was one of the 'dummies' lying on the floor of the torture chamber." Natalia said.
"I accidently scratched myself, so I just came up to you and began talking. Horatio stepped out of the darkness and helped me put the fake axe on." Calleigh explained.
"There was a dummy on the spikes, and I just put my head where it needed to be. Aw crap. My phone is still on that dummy." Eric said running back up the stairs.
"Animal blood was in the bathtub, honey. Plus, I was wearing a suit so my clothes wouldn't get blood all over them." Alexx said.
"I followed you around the whole time, hiding in the darkness," Horatio said, shrugging.
Eric came back down the stairs, and they all laughed again. Horatio unlocked the front doors, and all of them filed out.
"Let's reconvene at the lab, huh?" Horatio asked.
They all nodded and got in their cars. Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. His friends weren't really dead after all. He followed Horatio's Hummer with his car as they all parked their cars at the lab ten minutes later.
Ryan counted heads. Something was wrong.
"Hey, guys?" He called, before they got in the elevator.
"Yeah, Ryan?" Eric asked.
"Where's Frank?"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Frank snorted, waking up from his sleep. He remembered that Horatio had strapped him to the kitchen table, and he was expecting Horatio any second now. The lights were on, which meant that Ryan had found out about the joke. Frank chuckled when he remembered that it was Horatio who came up with it.
"Crazy, that lieutenant," Frank muttered gruffly.
He pulled at the chains, sighing when they wouldn't come off on their own.
"Horatio! A little help here?" Frank asked.
Silence.
"Uh, Horatio? Anybody?"
The lights shut off one by one, leaving Frank in total darkness.
"Damn it, Horatio. You forgot about me didn't you?!"
~Ryan Gets His: Haunted House Style~
A/N 2- Aha. What did you think about that right there? I think I had a little too much fun typing this. I mean, I'm listening to music and I'm so in the zone with my typing, my music scared the crap out of my when I turned it on.
I am such a dork.
Anyway, so yeah. Nobody died. Yay! And aw...Poor Frank. Horatio and the team forgot about him.
I like that ending. XD
And of course I had to include my DuCaine. How could I not? It's like my drug. O.o
Review and accepted and appreciated!
Out!
And Happy (early by sixteen days) Halloween!
~iiWishUponAStar