((Hey- thanks to all of my wonderful reviewers! You're the best!!! Here's chapter 2- a bit spookier and hope you like it!!!))
Chapter Two: The 2nd Floor
"Freddy..." Katie mumbled before waking up suddenly in her bed, sweating.
"Shit..." She cursed beneath her breath. Why did she keep dreaming about him?! Why?! I mean, it wasn't like they had even ever loved each other. That much.
They had only thought they had once! Once!!! A semi-drunk late-night once! So why did she keep dreaming about that night? Why did she keep thinking about him at all? Romantically, anyways...
It was so hard just to be Katie, the tom-boy/best friend/arguing partner/bass player to him. Especially after that. And especially when he kept going on about him and that slut-for-brains girlfriend! Gah! If Katie heard one more detail about him and Courtney, she would probably barf!
Either that or just go and hunt the girl down and make sure that she stayed away from Freddy.
But Katie was too nice to do that. I'm probably not 'bad' enough for Freddy, too. Well, if he wants a bitchy, slutty, bimbo for a girlfriend, I don't care!!!!
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"So lend me your ear... of corn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Dewey rang out the last few words to one of his new, crazed songs (this one had been about a guy in love with a girl on a farm). "Yeah! That was great guys! You can pack up and leave or just chill around, but me and Miss Manager here have to call somebody from somethin', somethin' to get a big gig!"
And with that, Dewey grabbed Summer and raced out of the door, dropping his guitar with Zack.
They put their instruments on their stands, leaving them in the Jam Room.
A few of the band, Eleni, Michelle, Billy, Marco, and Lawrence, Frankie, Tomika, and Marta left for their cars. It's Saturday at 7 and they had better stuff to do than hang here, Freddy guessed as he headed for the Food Room.
He searched through the shelves for something to munch on, but all he could find was an empty bag of chips.
"Hey Spaz, the others sent me in here to see if you wanted to play Foosball." Katie's voice rang. Freddy turned around to see her behind him, and a silent lurch went through his stomach.
Best friends. Maybe more. They had been more than best friends that night exactly seven months and twenty days ago. Freddy had been keeping count. Sadly enough.
Of course, they had been bored, alone, drinking, and talking and things had gotten... out of control... a bitsy...okay... a lot...
They realized how stupid they had been, and Freddy had found Courtney a week later and the rest was history. Except for the fact that every time he was with Courtney he was imagining it was Katie.
But Katie seemed completely unaffected by everything. So... he'd just have to deal with it. Somehow.
"Sure. After I find some decent food in this place!" Freddy exclaimed, smiling. Katie rolled her eyes.
"You're looking on the wrong shelf- that's why! Duh!" Katie whacked him lightly on the side of the head. Freddy turned to the other shelf where cookies, chips, and other junk food was piled.
"Oh..."
"Blind..." Katie laughed.
"I resent that! Want any?" Freddy asked, offering her the crinkling bag of chips.
"No. Hurry! Our team was losing when I left!" Katie grabbed his arm and began to drag him to the reck room.
"Hey- I got a better idea!" Freddy's light bulb went off above his head.
Katie looked at him blankly, and to where he was now dragging her. "Oh what, now you're going to show me that the way to the reck room is actually the technology room?"
"No, Posh! We are going to steal the digital camera Gordon keeps hidden and we're going to go up to the second floor!"
Katie looked at him blankly.
"How much stupider can you get?! It's off limits- hello!" Katie exclaimed.
"Exactly! And if we take pictures we can prove that we were the first ones to go up there!"
"To prove what? If the ceiling collapses on us or we fall through the floor or something I will kill you."
"Not if the ghosts kill you first. I sense a little desperation in dear Katherine's voice. Is little Poshy Woshy scared?" Freddy asked in a little kid voice, playing the one card that he knew would get Katie to do this. Katie, though very witty, sensitive, humorous, and low-laying most of the time- if pride was measured in water; she had a whole ocean. Freddy didn't want to play foosball when he could be exploring the spooky building. ...With Katie...
His tactic seemed to work, because Katie's soft brown eyes seemed to tense up with competitiveness.
"Oh yeah... me, scared. Yeah, right." She laughed; visibly attempting to sound relaxed when really she was revved up. With a smile and a proving look, she ordered, "Let's go."
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Creak, creak, creak, went the steps as their flashlight's beam shone up the stairs at Katie's will. As Freddy held the camera in his right hand, Katie was clutching the flashlight in her left, and- much to Freddy's enjoyment- her own right arm linked close to his left.
Pride can only go so far, Freddy thought, though I'm not complaining...
"I can't believe we're doing this..." Katie whispered for the billionth time.
"Oh, what happened to Miss Fearless?" Freddy hissed back. Who knew why they were talking in hushed voices? Freddy guessed it was because they felt that if they talked too loud up here, the entire settlement would just crackle down around them. They didn't want to risk it, not matter how unlikely...
"She started up these stairs. It's so creepy!" Katie cried.
"Yeah. Hey- the stairs end here. Second floor, here we are." Freddy stated, walking out of the stairway.
"I wonder where the stairs to the third floor are..." Katie wondered aloud.
"Yeah... now, can you get off my arm and shine the flashlight up so I can take pictures?" Freddy pressed.
"Yea..." She gulped, shakily removed her arm from his, letting the light flow into the small, square room they were now standing in. Six doors were spread out across the walls. Who knows where they lead to?
Flash, click. Picture One, taken.
Reeaaaaaeerrrrnnn...
Katie let out a yelp and hopped over, leeching onto Freddy's shoulder. Freddy felt his own heart skip a beat at the sudden noise in the quiet, but had to remain the fearless one of the two. I mean, come on? What is there? It's not like a vampire's gonna pop out or somethin...
"What was that?" She managed out.
"The floor boards squeak, Mighty Mouse. Duh. God, you're more jumpy than paranoid cat that just was bitten by a rat, chased by a dog, and fixed all in the same day." Freddy rolled his eyes.
"Well, sorry I'm nervous, okay? It's only a billion year old creepy dark building..." Katie let go, the warmth going with her.
"Which door should we open first?" Freddy asked finally.
"How bout that one?" Katie asked uncertainly, motioning to the one directly in front of them.
"Deal..." Freddy said, walking up to it. Somehow, he just could not bring himself to touch the old, graying metal doorknob. "Ladies first."
"Oh that's gentleman-like." Katie snorted, also refusing to open it.
"Fine." Freddy growled. With all the courage he could muster (scolding himself silently for having to do so), he reached for the knob. When he grabbed it, it felt as any warmth left was sucked out of the room in a vacuum. It was like ice.
Freddy twisted it open to reveal a similar room with four doors. It was like a maze of rooms...
Only this room had something to it. A portrait on the wall. Katie's light shone on it.
Flash, click. Picture two. Flash, click. Three. Four. Five. Different angles of the room all in a few simultaneous seconds. As Freddy brought the camera down to his side once more, he looked up at the portrait- which had Katie's eyes transfixed to it. But before he could get a good look, the flashlight began to flicker... fade... out.
Katie let out a whimper and clung to Freddy.
"Freddy- the flashlight died." She whispered. Freddy could hear his own heart beating quicker and quicker. This is nothing, he told himself, heck, that haunted house in sixth grade was worse than this. Now calm down and get Katie and yourself downstairs again...
"Relax, Captain Obvious." Freddy tried his best to be witty, failing fantastically. "Let's just go..."
Freddy reached for the door, and as his eyes adjusted to the shadows, it did not take a genius to realize that the door was now closed.
"Freddy?" Katie frantically asked. "Who the hell closed the door?"
"I don't know!!!... I... Fuck... Wait..." Freddy fumbled for words as he fumbled for the freezing knob, pulling them into the first room again, slammed the portrait-room door shut, and as he looked for the stairwell, he looked into... light?
He stopped and looked at Katie, who was looking back at him. Then, they both looked down at her flashlight, which was now resurrected from the land of dead batteries. It seemed as though it was shining brighter than it had before. And not only was the light stronger, but suddenly heat seemed overpowering in the room.
Neither said a word as they made trembling eye contact, and together raced down the stairs..., through the hall, into the jam room, and collapsing finally in the reck room. Goosebumps were covering Freddy's arms, and Katie seemed frozen. The rest of the band was staring at them, paused mid-second in their foosball game.
Freddy didn't care, though, as he looked down at his sheet-pale hand, all he could wonder was, What the hell just happened?
((So how'd I do??? Review, please, and let me know!!!))