Chapter four

A/N: Once again, I apologize for how long it's taking me to write this. I have almost no free time whatsoever. Clue belongs to Hasbro, other characters belong to me. Enjoy!

I had watched David and Peter help Heather on the couch before joining her. I sunk into a sitting position, staring at the now-boarded up window. Everyone else sat around the room, Jackson making sure he was near the middle of the group and Madison with her back resting against the coffee table.

"It-it doesn't make any sense." I murmured, studying the window.

"I know; how could a window that was open, suddenly be locked and boarded up two minutes later?" David wondered out loud.

"It was the gardener, it has to be." Jackson nodded.

"Unless, maybe someone…something, doesn't want us to leave." Peter thought, turning to me. Suddenly something clicked.

"Guys!" I sat up suddenly, a light bulb going off over my head. "Whoever did this, they must know something about this house and what it has to do with us!"

"What do you mean Alex?" David asked.

"Yeah, did you just miss my gardener theory?" Jackson asked.

"No, it can't be the gardener! That's exactly what whoever's doing this wants us to think!" I told them, standing up and starting to pace. "I think we need to go and find out more about this dinner party and what it had to do with us, and to do that, we should split up." I thought aloud.

"No, no, no-no way!" Peter jumped up, turning to me.

"Why not?" I asked him.

"Because, for one, we're in a creepy abandoned dilapidated house, and two, someone just trapped us inside, and now you want us to split up? Nothing good can come out of us splitting up; have you learned nothing from Scooby Doo?" He tried to convince me.

"I'll pair you up with Madison." I whispered to him. "And just think, it'll be you and her…alone in a creepy house, together." His face looked surprised for a second.

"Alright…deal." He whispered back, going and sitting down. I smiled triumphantly.

"Okay, me and Jackson will take the kitchen and the conservatory." David said, pointing it out on the map.

"We will?" Jackson asked weakly. Everyone ignored him.

"Heather and I get the library, the dining room, and the billiard room." Alex nodded, staring at the map.

"Okay, Madison and I will take the study, the hall, and the ballroom." Peter told them, tracing his eyes across the map. I nodded, glad that all our rooms were on the first floor.

"Alright, we'll meet up again in the lounge. Everyone ready?" Alex asked. We all agreed, more or less.

Peter grabbed a flashlight and I took a candle and a box of matches. We both grabbed our own bags that we had brought with us before heading out into the hallway. The entire group stuck together for a few steps before we all reluctantly split up into our smaller groups of two.

Peter took the map out of his backpack, unrolling and shining his flashlight on it. I peered over his shoulder at the blueprint, squinting as I read it.

"According to the map, the study should be…over there." He pointed with his flashlight beam down a dark hallway. We both didn't move, scared to take the first step. I could hear Alex and Heather's footsteps as they walked up the creaky grand staircase to the library on the second floor. David and Jackson were already to far away to hear, the kitchen being on the other end of the mansion. Then, we both glanced at each other nervously before laughing weakly and looking down at the floor.

"Well, I guess we should get going." He smiled at me. I nodded at him, following him closely as we started down the corridor.

I studied the walls as we continued walking, noticing old portraits of people and places that were all covered by a layer of dust. The elegant wallpaper, a red floral design, was torn and shredded in some places, as if it had been attacked by something. The ancient wooden floor groaned as we walked, threatening to give way underneath us.

I felt Peter stiffen, and realized that I had crept closer and closer to him without realizing it. I leapt back, glad that it was dark so he couldn't see me blush.

"Sorry." I sighed, getting a better grip on my candle.

"It's fine." He nodded, his face in a shadow. "I think this is it." He pointed his flashlight into the room in front of us.

"Alright." I nodded back.

We took a step forward, before pausing. Peter shone his flashlight around inside the room without stepping inside it. We were both breathing heavy, and (I hoped) his heart was beating as fast as mine. The room held a window (locked), a large cushioned armchair, and walls lined with bookcases and posters.

As he was swinging the beam of light across the room, something caught my eye on the floor.

"Wait," I touched his arm, stopping him, "Go back over there." I pointed. He swung the light back around, and it lit up the old, half-destroyed carpet that covered the floor. His flashlight found the spot on the carpet that I had seen in a split second, hoping that I had just imagined it.

A dark stain had blossomed on the once-green carpet, forever staining it. It lead a trail into the room before pooling in a large puddle that had long ago dried up.

My blood went cold as I started to shake with fear. This house suddenly seemed more malicious, more threatening, and the darkness as thick as black velvet. A cold sweat broke out on my forehead as I dropped my candle (quickly stamped out by Peter).

He stared with me at the stain, his breathing becoming louder.

"Is that…is that…?" Peter asked quietly, his voice shaking as much as I was.

I could only nod my head as I stared at the dark spot on the carpet. Then, I backed away, feeling for the wall behind me as I tried to breath.

"Madison? Are you alri-" Peter started to ask.

"AHHHHH!" I screamed as loud as humanly possible.

Mrs. Peacock walked fearfully down the hallway, trying to keep her mind off the weapons by studying the portraitsof the Boddy family that lined the corridor. She had known the family all her life, her husband having been close to Mr. Boddy's parents while he was alive.

She shook her head as she glanced down at the rope she held in her hands, wondering what on Earth Reginald had been thinking when he had given them all these weapons. That was why she was walking down this incredibly long hallway right now, to try and find Mr. Boddy and ask him what was going on.

Reginald always escaped to his study, sometimes almost ghost-like. The elderly widow could never quite figure out how he always managed to go in and out of rooms on opposite ends of the mansion so quickly. He knew this house almost as good as the maid, Mrs. White, did, and that was what Mrs. Peacock always told herself to explain this little mystery.

She neared the solid oak door, carved with a forest scene, fearfully. There was something about this part of the house that always gave her the heebie-jeebies; maybe it was because it seemed more isolated from the rest of the house. She already could barely make out the muffled chorus of "sing sing sing" that had been blaring out of the lounge where the other guests where discussing what Mr. Boddy was trying to get at with his little speech.

She hesitated before knocking quietly on the door, clearing her throat daintily.

"Um, Reginald? Mr. Boddy? It's Peacock; I was just wondering if I could possibly…" The door started to open. He had left it unlocked.

The widow stood in the open doorway for a moment, contemplating if she should enter. Then, sighing, she took a step into the room…and screamed.

Mr. Boddy, or rather, Mr. Boddy's body, was laying on the floor, blood seeping into the carpet from an open wound in his head.

The poor lady fainted before she could run away, collapsing on the ground and successfully wrinkling her new cocktail dress.

A/N: Once again, sorry for the delay. You try spending eight hours a day in band class and outside in August in Texas; the sun is seriously frying away my brain. It has gotten harder and harder for me to write these stories, but don't worry; I'll finish them eventually. Review please! (It might help my creative writing skills).