Chapter 1
On a dark road, the Civic hit pothole after pothole and Emily was afraid that one of the tires would blow. Jenny was wide awake and had her hands on the door handle, clutching it as if it was her life raft.
"Sorry Jenny, I think we took a wrong turn," Em said to her friend.
Just then, lightning flashed across the sky and thunder echoed throughout the outside, making the car rattle. Emily decided to stop the car and take out her iPhone. "Dammit, there's no signal out here," Emily cursed.
"What's that?" Jenny asks, pointing to something in the distance.
Emily couldn't see it, but she could tell that there was something there in the darkness. More lightning flashed and now both girls could see it was a big structure, like a castle or a big mansion.
"Jenny, this is going to sound crazy, but we should go to that castle and ask the people for directions," Emily said to her, but Jenny's body began to quiver. "I know you're scared, but we need to get the city and our lives will change for the better."
Jenny's head was buzzing with fearful questions, she was afraid that the castle might actually be the home of lunatics or worse. She was also afraid that someone there might attack her or kill her and her friend.
"There's no need to fear," Emily said and shows Jenny a hunting knife in its sheath. Emily pulled out the blade, it shined under the flashes of lightning. "I took it in case we run into crazy people," she adds and puts the knife back in its sheath. "I promise I will protect you," Emily said.
"You will?" Jenny asks, still quivering.
"Cross my heart," Emily answers and places the knife in her jacket pocket.
Emily drives her car toward the gate, where a sign with big black letters said ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!
"Maybe we should turn around and go back and then get a signal," Jenny said to Emily.
"Jenny, this won't take long, I'm just going to ask for directions, and then we'll head out," Emily replies and steps out of the car to open the gate.
Once it was open, Emily drove her car in and closed the gate. "I don't want anyone to see the car on the road," Emily explains and more lightning flashed across the sky. They then noticed motorcycles up on the driveway, which they found quite odd.
Suddenly, rain began to pour on the girls just as they stepped out of the car. "Oh no!" Jenny cries out.
"Shit!" Emily curses as they hurried up to the front door. They were both drenched and Jenny began to shiver.
Emily rings the bell, it let out an odd sound, nothing they heard before. Then someone unlocked the door and it opened.
A man with a hunchback appeared before them. He had long blonde hair and dark eyes.
"Yes?" he asks in a low voice.
Jenny clutches her friend's arm. "Um hi, we're a bit lost, we were wondering if you can give us directions back to the main road," Emily said to the man.
The didn't answer and instead looks at the two girls. "You're wet," he said.
"Yeah, it started pouring when we drove up the driveway," Emily adds.
"Can't let you stay out here and shiver," the man said and adds, "Come in."
The two girls look at each other. "Emily, let's not go in," Jenny pleads.
"Calm down Jenny, the guy is just being generous," Emily reassures the poor girl and the two went in.
They entered in the foyer where it had a display of stuffed animals that were covered in cobwebs and dust.
"Um, do you own this castle?" Emily asks curious.
"No, the master does," the hunchback replies.
"Well, it's a nice place," Jenny said before Emily did.
"Nice place she says!" a woman's voice calls and they noticed a maid with a dust feather on the stairwell. "Nice place! The master sure does have a nice place!" she shrieks, making Jenny quiver.
Emily points to her jacket and Jenny calms down. "Is your master having a party?" Emily asks the hunchback.
"Indeed, to celebrate a breakthrough in his experiment," he replies.
"Oh, he's a doctor?" Emily asks, again.
"Of sorts," the hunchback answers and leads them to the main room. It was full of people in black and wearing party hats.
Jenny felt their eyes on her. She thought they were looking into her soul and she was afraid.
"Fresh meat!" someone shouts and everyone goes crazy.
Just then, the two girls were pulled into a wild dance and the people brust into laughter and song.
Jenny's ears went numb and thought the world went silent, despite the loud noise. Someone was twirling her around in circles and she felt sick to her stomach.
"Please...stop..." she whimpers to the person, but he didn't seem to hear her.
"Let go of me, bitch!" Emily shouts at the woman who was dancing with her. Emily pulls away and tries to reach her friend, but she was taken by another party-goer.
Jenny's legs quiver with fear as she was dragged around and she wanted to push away these strangers.
Finally, Emily was able to get away and comes to Jenny's aid. She pulls away from the wildness as it began to die down and the people began to slump to the ground.
"Jenny," Emily said, "I think we landed in an insane asylum."
From the author: I decided to press on. There will be no singing as I am a terrible song writer.
It appears the girls have gotten into a weird situation. What will happen? Find out next time!