''Dude, are you sure we didn't go too far?"

"I'm sure, Reese; Marilyn knows how to take a joke!"

"But faking disappearances?"

"Ok, maybe she'll be a bit pissed...but it'll be perfect for setting her in the mood for the attraction!"

"I guess, Man...but was blocking the exits from the outside really necessary? I mean, what if there's, like, an emergency?"

"Like what? You know the whole 'faulty wiring' thing was just a joke."

"I know, but I'm worried, Man..."

"Just relax. It's 6 am and we're almost there. That's when we'll head inside and tell Marilyn everything."

"I guess you're right..."

Reese and I were silent for the rest of the car ride over to Candy's Fright. I began thinking about what she said, about taking the 'vanishing' prank too far. Sure, Marilyn can be gullible, but she knows how to take a joke. I'm sure she'll be fine.

We finally pulled up to the attraction and walked to the entrance, which had a metal bar across it, locking the door.

"The building's still in one piece," I told Reese in reassurance. She slowly nodded in response as she adjusted her shades.

I pulled the bar off and opened the door. My original plan was to call out to Marilyn in a weird voice from this end to freak her out. Instead, I gasped as I saw a familiar figure lying on her back with her eyes and mouth open...and wasn't moving.

"MARILYN!" I screamed as I ran towards my friend.

I bent down next to her and shook her. Her eyes remained open, her mouth remained open...and her chest wasn't rising. I put my fingers on her neck, desperately looking for a pulse. I felt mine rise when I couldn't find her at all.

"Oh, shit! Shit shit shit shit!" I screamed as I stood up and turned towards Jeremy, who was staring at our friend with hie jaw on the floor, metaphorically speaking.

"She's not breathing!" I told him.

"What do you mean she's not breathing?!"

"I MEAN SHE DOESN'T HAVE A DAMN PULSE!"

"What happened?!"

"I'm not a doctor, dumbass! How should I know?!"

Reese then hustled over to Marilyn and looked at her closely.

"Are those bruises on her neck?" She finally asked as she raised his shades a bit.

I looked and, sure enough, there were large purple areas on her throat that looked pretty fresh. Too fresh...

"Did someone come in here and strangle her?!" Jeremy suddenly gasped.

"How could anyone have gotten in and put the bar back on the door from the outside?" I replied with a pounding heart.

"Well, there aren't any windows, the exterior ventilation is too high up, so what else could it possibly be?"

"Well, the only other solution I can think of is there was already someone here before we locked it..."

"But, Dude, we locked it at midnight, right after she went in!"

"Look, Jeremy, I don't know what happened, but-!"

I then stopped and looked past him. At the end of the hall, standing high and mighty, was the rat animatronic we found at the beginning of the week. Only now, it seemed to be missing its mask. And I could see a human skull mixed inside of the metal head.

"What is it, Man?" Jeremy asked.

He then looked around and saw it, too. He froze when he looked at the disturbing sight.

"What the...?" He whispered.

"I thought Elena didn't fix it," I whispered in response.

"Same here, Man...let alone make it look terrifying!"

Suddenly, it slowly walked towards us, with its footsteps seeming to boom as it got closer.

"Dude...I don't like this!"

"Me neither!"

I then stopped. Something didn't smell right. And that's not an expression; something literally didn't smell right.

"Reese...?"

"...yeah, Jeremy?"

"...do you smell that?"

"You mean the sweaty smell? Sorry, Man, that's just me..."

"No, I'm talking about the...smokey smell."

I looked back towards the hallway and saw what looked like a small bit of light near the robot's leg. It took a second to realize it was a flame!

"It's on fire!" I gasped. "It's burning!"

The machine then stopped and looked down at itself, as if it could hear me... It then started swatting at the flame, trying to extinguish it. Unfortunately, all that happened was the fire spread to the hand!

I might've been imagining things, but I think it started screaming! It was low-pitched and almost demonic, but it was definitely sounding like some sort of howl.

That's when I saw a spark from the fire fly off the robot...and onto one of the drawings! Seeing as how this is paper that's 30 years old...it's dry and REALLY flammable! The fire quickly built up and spread to the other drawings next to it!

"Oh, shit!" I screamed. "Let's get out of here!"

"What about Marilyn?!" Reese asked in reply.

"She's dead, Reese! There's nothing we can do!"

I then ran out the door and into the parking lot. I looked and saw Reese right behind me, closing the door behind her in the process. Normally, I'd ask why, but it's fairly obvious she didn't want that RAT thing following us out...for obvious reasons.

"Why couldn't we have just installed a damn sprinkler system?!" I asked nobody in particular as I pulled out my phone to call 911.

"Dude..."

I looked up and saw black smoke pouring out of the ventilation shafts up top. The fire was really spreading fast; we made it out just in time!

"Well, this is perfect," I murmured with a sight watery feeling in my eye, and not from the smoke. "My friend is dead because she couldn't leave, and the business we put so much into is on fire..."

I put the phone to my ear and waited for the dispatcher to answer. This was going to be fun to explain.