God, I'm such a bad person for not updating for so long! Geez, 9 days what even…
I'm so sorry, guys, so to make it up to you, this chapter is extra long!
The yelp echoed up to you through the darkness. Despite the serious damage it would do to your cool façade, you started to tear down the stairs two at a time, battling madly with the light switch on the flashlight.
"John?" you called, trying to forget about the whole "haunted house" thing. Your call was greeted by a low groan, and the hair on the back of your neck stood up in alarm. The passage seemed colder, the darkness thicker. Why do flashlights have to be so difficult!
A few more steps down, and you had suddenly run into something very hard and solid. Your nose exploded in pain and you stumbled back, tripping on something else—softer, this time—and landing with your head slamming into the opposite wall.
You took a moment to check your sniffer for any serious damage, and to wipe the reflexive tears from your eyes. "Egbert?" You said, going out on a limb, "That you?"
The thing you tripped on groaned in assent.
"What the hell are you doing there? Taking a nap?" You asked, back to your cool, sarcastic self.
"I found a loose board," he mumbled, "And then the wall. Then the floor."
Even though he couldn't see it, you rolled your eyes in accompaniment with your scoff. "Well, get up. We gotta find Harley and Lalonde." You felt around for his hand to help him up.
"Hey, Dave," he said, when you were both up, "You wanna bring out that flashlight now?"
The flashlight. You had dropped it earlier, around the time you had tripped over John. There was no way you were going to find it in the pitch blackness. "I lost it when I ran into the wall, I think. You have anything else?"
John pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and flipped it open, dimly illuminating the small corridor you were in: a flight of stairs leading to a bend—where you had slammed into the wall—a loose board right at the foot of the staircase, and, farther down, the flat area where you had tripped on John.
John shone the weak light all around the floor for the flashlight, but it was nowhere to be seen. "Well," John shrugged, "The girls have one, too. We just have to find them." He continued walking along the dark passage, much to your surprise. You had been expecting him to chicken out or something. In fact, you had been half-hoping he would.
"ROSE! JADE! YOU THERE?" he was yelling, much too loudly for your tastes.
"IN HERE!" came Jade's voice, a little farther down the hall. You and John sped up, and soon you could see the faint glow of a light coming from under a door. John eagerly threw open the door and ran in. You followed in, a bit slower, and peeked in. Indeed, there were Rose and Jade jumping up and hugging John, grins all around, with working lights hanging from the ceiling. You eased yourself into the room and closed the door. As you did so, your ears twitched at the sound of… a fading giggle? You shivered. Ugh, you knew that sound from somewhere, but you couldn't place where… Whatever. You tended to hear things when it's dark, anyways.
Hallucinations or not, you shut the door fairly quickly.
"Dave!" yelled Jade, tearing her attention from John, and jump-tackling you in a big bear hug, bringing you both down to the floor. You laughed quietly.
"Hey, Harley. What're you doing down here?"
She sat up crisscross-applesauce on your stomach and grinned widely. "Well, Rose said we found signs of a… um… a… Rose, what was that word you used again?"
She looked up from a patch of floor that she was examining. "A location of potential paranormal activity. There seem to be—or there once were—several types of supernatural goings-on occurring in this mansion. I also found a place for us to sleep."
John went a bit white, and you made a slight expression of distaste. "Lalonde, you do know how absolutely crazy that sounds, right? 'Oh, this place was/is haunted, and we're going to sleep here'"
"You did agree to this," she pointed out, "And you brought the sleeping bags like I asked. Are you saying, however, that you would like to back out?" She pursed her black-painted lips together in challenge and looked at you, a questioning look in her eyes. You could almost feel her picking apart your psyche, analyzing every fricking twitch of your face.
"No, I'm not backing out. Just pointing out how weird you are." You playfully threw Jade off your stomach and walked over to her. "What're you looking at?"
She moved over for you to see. It looked like a normal piece of wood to you. You stared at it, puzzled, before looking blankly at Rose. She sighed. "Look at that mark there. That's from a sulfur fire. You know what sulfur is used for, right?"
You nodded. "Demon summoning. But how can you tell it's from sulfur? Shouldn't it look like any other burn?"
"I've got enough in my room. I know how to tell." You gave her an odd look under your shades, but made no comment.
"Okay. So how do we know this fire wasn't an accident, and a lump of sulfur just happened to be in the way?"
The look she gave you was withering to say the least. "Do you see signs of a fire anywhere else in this room?"
"Well, no, but-" The lights overhead flickered, went out for a bit, and came back on at half power. Behind you, John and Jade inhaled nervously. You looked at Rose. "In case the lights go out, do you think we should maybe go upstairs? You know, where there's light?" She looked at the sulfur mark thoughtfully before standing up and going over to her and Jade's pack—noticeably lighter than yours—and pulled out a powerful flashlight.
"Come on, guys." She called to John and Jade, "Let's go upstairs before the power outs completely on us." You all followed her out of the room and into the dark passage, led by the bright beam of light cutting through the inky blackness.
You, being in the back, had the hardest time seeing the stairs in front of you, and almost tripped a few times. How in the world did I get down these stairs so fast? you wondered in annoyance after almost tripping for the fourth time. Jade, third in line, was at least five steps ahead of you, and you tried to pick up the pace.
You felt some pressure around your ankle, and you went down, faceplanting on the stairs with a loud Thud! All three of your friends turned in alarm. You picked yourself up and waved their concerned gazes away. When they had all turned back, you looked behind you.
There was a flash of orange in the dark, and you blinked. It wasn't there anymore. It had probably been from Rose's flashlight; when she had turned around, it must have gotten you in the eyes. You hurried up the stairs after your friends.
The light of dusk filtered through the windows. Rose had done some more investigating, but no more evidence of "potential paranormal activity". John and Jade started yawning, and you and Rose had decided it was time to call it a day. She showed you to a bedroom she had found, complete with bug-infested beds and cobwebs hanging from the sides.
You all decided to sleep on the floor.
As you snuggled deep into your red sleeping bag, you thought you heard the giggle again.
You turned over. Stupid late-night mind trickery.
Man, this was a long chapter! Hope you like it! :D
Also, just wanted to tell you all: I got my first flame! Sadly, though, it was just my friend trying to troll me or whatever. (He's the Grimreaper person). LOL not quite sure how I would react to an actual legit flame… Not sure I want to find out :T
So anyways, review this chapter with tips, ideas, comments, improvements, apocalypse theories, anything!