As a group, they started to move about the house, first heading to the kitchen. It took a lot to keep from stumbling over furniture and each other, as the candles did not provide a whole lot of light to see.
"You don't think anything will really happen, do you?" Carter whispered to Laynie as they followed behind the boys. She clutched the small candle in her shaking hands and glanced around anxiously.
Laynie shrugged. "Probably not. But you never know." She threw a mischievous glance over her shoulder.
Before Carter could answer, a creaking sound could be heard upstairs. "No, no, no. I knew we shouldn't have done this." She quickly scurried to hide in between Wade and Peter. "Wade, go find out what's making that noise," she ordered.
"What? Why me?" He looked at her incredulously.
"This was your idea. Now go."
"B-but," he started to stutter through an excuse, but was silenced with a scathing glare from not only Carter, but Peter too. "Fine." He pulled his candle closer to his body and clutched the can of salt in his hands, before leaving his friends to investigate the mysterious noise.
Carter, Laynie, and Peter watched as Wade carefully ascended the stairs. He was almost all the way up, when he called down to them, "Are you sure you guys don't want to come with?"
"It's all your's buddy," Laynie answered quickly.
They heard a quiet whine and then the sound of him stomping up the stairs.
They waited a few minutes for Wade to return. Growing somewhat worried they walked into the living room to look up the staircase.
"Wade?" Peter called nervously. "Wade, I swear, you better answer me."
There was another creak, like heavy footsteps, but no reply.
Peter let out a heavy sigh, careful not to blow out his candle. "I'm not coming up there!" he shouted.
No reply.
"Somebody has to get him," Laynie said. "Come on, rock paper scissors."
They all set their candles down. Laynie and Carter went first, and Laynie lucked out, snickering. Carter nervously proceeded with Peter. Her scissors were crushed by his rock, and so was her soul.
Laynie gave her friend a salute as she shoved her candle into her hand. "You will be missed."
Peter pushed her to the bottom of the stairs as she refused to move after Laynie handed her the candle.
She looked back at the two backstabbers she used to call best friends with a fearful gaze in her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she started slowly up the stairs. "Wade," Her voice cracked. "Please answer. I don't want to go up there."
No answer.
And so with a heavy heart, Carter resumed her trek up the long, dark hallway. Eventually she made it to the top and turned down the hallway toward Peter's room, walking right out of Laynie and Peter's line of sight.
"Wade," she hissed. "Come here so I can strangle you."
A draft came from a doorway as she passed it, and her candle flickered. Carter gasped and huddled around the little flame. Without reason, it continued to sputter, and died out.
She started panicked as she got the lighter out of her pocket. The ten seconds continued to run down as she struggled with the candle. Eventually she gave up and starting pouring a circle of salt around herself. She flopped down gracelessly and searched the hallway in terror. "Wade, you idiot, get out here now." She whispered harshly.
Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head when the toilet flushed down the hallway. Wade threw the door open a second later, holding his candle in his teeth as he swore at his belt buckle.
"Waaade!" Carter shouted. "Look at what you did to me!"
He stared for a moment, then laughed so hard he almost blew his own candle out. Using his own sputtering flame, he brought Carter's to life and reached down to help her up. "C'mon, it won't hurt to bend the rules a little."
"Wade, are you sure?"
He nodded, an easy smile on his face. "It's just a game, remember? It's not like some evil spirit is going to punish you for breaking the rules some nerd on the Internet made up."
"Alright," Carter sighed nervously. "Come on, Peter and Laynie are probably worried."
Wade nodded and pulled Carter along with him. They headed back downstairs and found Peter and Laynie in the kitchen.
"Wade, you're alive." Laynie whispered excitedly.
"Yeah, me too. Thanks for noticing." Carter pointed out.
"Oh, hey best friend!" Laynie smiled and hugged Carter.
Carter rolled her eyes. "You're such a great friend." Looking over at Peter, she asked. "So, what's been going on down here, anything strange?"
"Well our candles went out," Peter answered, shuffling his feet nervously.
Laynie nodded, a little spooked. "What was upstairs Wade?"
"A whole bunch of nothing!"
"Lies," Carter hissed, "My candle went out and then I couldn't get it lit again, so I had to sit in a circle for like five minutes, waiting for this doofus to get out of the bathroom. Now that Wade has sufficiently given us all a heart attack, can we go sit down somewhere?"
"Nooo, that's not how the game works. We have to keep moving. C'mon, let's see if there are any ghosts in the basement."
"Are you crazy? Okay wait, don't answer that. We aren't going in the basement." Laynie cradled her candle as it started sputtering. "I think there are enough ghosts up here, thank you."
Peter's house was pretty small, so they ended up walking between the kitchen and the living room, with the occasional excursion upstairs.
They still had a little bit more than an hour until 3:33 and the end of the game. Their candles had flickered and sputtered frequently, though they didn't go out again.
Carter groaned. "How much longer?"
"Too long," Peter muttered.
"Ah, you're a bunch of sissies. We're almost done."
"Seriously though, when I have to explain why my legs are so sore, I am blaming you," Laynie warned. "Would it kill us to sit down for a minute?"
"Yes," Wade answered seriously.
Peter's candle wavered and died. His little tea light's wick was running out. He fumbled for a match while Wade counted for him in the background. Laynie and Carter both shouted "Nope!" and ran for the kitchen.
Peter sighed a breath of relief when the candle was lit again, and he was not in a circle of salt. "That was freakin' close, Wade. I don't like this game very much."
"Almost done. Hey! Why don't we go down to the basement?"
"Wade, we are not going to the basement!" Carter yelled from the kitchen.
"Carter," They heard Laynie hiss, "be quiet."
Wade put a finger on his lips and tip-toed into the kitchen with Peter in tow, unwillingly cooperating.
Wade grabbed Carter from behind, easily putting her into a headlock with only one arm. "To the basement!" He cried.
"No, no, no!" Carter screeched, "Let me go, Wade!"
Wade slapped a hand over her mouth, "Sh... wouldn't want to alert the midnight man of our presence." He whispered ominously.
Peter slapped him on the back of the head. "Stop that. She's freaked out enough, you jerk."
Wade rubbed his head and shot Peter a glare. He stuck out his tongue and continued to stumble down the stairs.
Laynie took up the back of the small party, eyes up in the back of her head in a permanent eye roll. "I'm going to be a very angry spirit if we all die down here," she muttered. "Hey Pete, this basement is probably where the ouija board guy died."
Carter bucked harder against Wade's grip. "This is not okay! Very nope!" she shouted.
She broke free of Wade's grip and ran upstairs, gripping her candle tightly. "Come get me when it's over!" she called over her shoulder.
"Come back, you baby!" Wade shouted, about to run after her.
Peter stopped him, "Leave her, we only came down here because you wanted to, so lead on, oh fearless one."
"I will," Wade said boldly, trudging down the stairs.
"We'll be right up!" Laynie shouted. With her free hand, she latched on to Peter's shirt and squinted into the darkness. It was hard to see beyond the bright drop of light the candle provided. "Oh look there's nothing down here! Let's go!"
"Oh, don't tell me you're scared too," Wade groaned.
They stepped off the staircase and into the crowded basement. They could just barely see the boxes that were piled high around them.
"Well of course I'm scared. What human being wouldn't?"
"Wade, I'm taking Laynie upstairs," Peter announced. "Have fun getting killed in the dark, I won't come looking for your body until morning."
"Fine! I don't need you guys to go exploring anyway. You know what?" Wade, standing in the middle of the basement, blew out his candle. "I'm going to find the midnight man. And when I don't, I'm going to smear it in your faces."
Laynie ran up the stairs, not wanting to hang around for another second.
"You're stupid," Peter said, protectively sheltering his candle from Wade. "I mean, you're my friend and all, but you're stupid." With that, he turned and followed Laynie, leaving Wade to pout in the dark.
Peter found Laynie on the couch, staring at her candle angrily.
"I'm sleepy," she grumbled. "And Carter's ignoring me. She's probably just ticked at Wade."
"Yeah." Peter nudged her leg with his socked foot. "C'mon, we should go find her. And stay as far away from the basement as possible."
Laynie got up with a groan, following after Peter and calling Carter in a stage whisper.
The searched the kitchen and the living room and were about to head upstairs.
"Carter," Laynie called quietly, "Where are you?"
Slowly they crept up the stairs, calling Carter's name.
The searched the bathroom, Peter's bedroom, the guest bedroom, and Aunt May's room.
Laynie was starting to panic. "Oh my gosh, where is she? This is not a particularly large house, Peter."
That's when they heard a rustling in the closet at the end of the hall.
"What was that?" Peter asked with wide eyes. He started inching toward the closet.
Laynie shook her head wildly. "Don't do it, Peter."
"It's okay." He said with a shaky voice and stepped closer to the door.
She grabbed his sleeve. "Peter, remember that movie we watched last month? This is that scene where the girl dies," she hissed. "Do not open that closet. Carter wouldn't go in there for a million dollars anyway."
Peter gave the closet a conflicted look.
"Don't even think about it. Do not use horror movie logic, okay?"
Peter looked back and forth between Laynie and the door anxiously. "I've gotta know, Laynie."
"Peter, don't you dare," Laynie hissed.
He hesitated for a moment before flinging it open. Laynie yelped and held her candle up in front of her face, hoping it would somehow protect from any angry spirits.
She was surprised when she heard Peter chuckle quietly. "What are you laughing about?"
"Carter wouldn't go in here, huh?" He stepped to the side, allowing Laynie to peer inside.
There Carter was, leaning up against the wall, fast asleep. Her candle sat in front of her, still lit.
Laynie blinked a few times. "That little traitor." She kicked Carter's shin, just hard enough to wake her. "C'mon, the game's almost over. We have to go rescue Wade from the basement."
Carter swatted at the air, re-adjusting herself. "No. Go get him yourself."
"Carter! Come on!"
Carter whined profusely as Laynie and Peter dragged her to her feet. Laynie, with complete disregard for the rules of Wade's "game", carried Carter's candle for her as they walked down the stairs.
Halfway down, Peter complained of being cold. Three quarters of the way down, Carter shouted and pointed at a vague shape in the darkness. At the base of the stairs, all three of them shouted as their candles died out.
Over the sound of rain beating against the sides of the house, the three teenagers could barely hear shallow breathing. Peter struggled to pop the top off of a container of salt.
The breathing increased in speed and finally, there was a terrible scream that seemed to come from every corner of the house. The front door opened, wind and rain came in. Laynie's alarm went off. 3:33 AM.
"That wasn't Wade, was it?" Carter asked, voice trembling.
Before anything else could happen, the three teens jumped into action. Peter ran to shut the door while Laynie and Carter scrambled for the lights.
Though before they found the lights, the basement door slammed open with a bang and all three of them screamed like banshees and quickly huddled together expecting the worst.
What they weren't expecting was the high pitched screech that came in response to their own screams. Which in turn, only made the scream even more.
As Wade came skidding into view, they realized it had been him screaming in the basement, "Peter! I regret everything! The Midnight Man's gonna kill us!" Wade's voice rang out over all of the screams of terror. "He was down there!"
Peter, Laynie, and Carter were soon tackled to the ground by a panicked Wade.
"Wade! You're okay!" Carter said in relief.
Laynie removed herself from underneath Wade and quickly turned on a nearby table lamp, returning light to the dark house.
They all felt a little better, but were all made uneasy by the still dark corners of the house. Wordlessly, Peter and Laynie ventured into the darkness and found lights until the entire house was lit up like a Christmas tree. When it was done, the four crammed themselves onto the couch and basked in the light.
"Say it again, Wade."
"Say what?"
"That part where we were right about the midnight man and you were dead wrong."
Wade elbowed Peter, who laughed and returned the favor.