Chapter five
A/N: Only about two more days of summer band…then school starts. Ugh! My excess writing time is gone; what little free time I have is spent on trying to finish summer reading for English and fighting my sister for the computer. Anyways, I don't own clue, only the six teenagers, the creepy gardener, and the sweet neighbor. Alright, continuing on now.
I jumped as a bloodcurdling scream sliced through the house's silence. David glanced up in surprise. He turned around, starting to run in the direction the scream had come from.
"That sounds like it could be Madison." He muttered as I tried to keep up with him. We could hear Alex and Heather as they pounded down the stairs.
We all met up outside the study, Peter holding Madison as she shook, pointing at a spot in the carpet that they were both staring at. I turned to look and almost screamed myself at the large bloodstain. I heard David and Heather gasp, and saw everyone's eyes grow as big as apples at the dark spot.
Alex was, as usual, the first to get a hold of herself, and she started to herd us back down the hallway to the lounge again. Once we had all mechanically sat down around the candle-lit room, the silence became almost unbearable.
"There was…there was blood on the carpet." Madison muttered, her face still pale, "Did you see it?"
"Yes, Madison, we all saw it. It was an old stain, nothing to worry about." Alex told her sternly, trying to get her to calm down.
Madison took a shaky breath, resting her head in her hands. I saw Peter try to sneak up next to her, a hand hovering over her shoulders as if he couldn't decide whether to touch her or not. I had my hands clutched into fists and was biting the side of my mouth, trying to stay calm. This night wasn't getting any better.
Heather had been pacing the room, studying the bookcases, when she noticed something on one of the shelves. She leaned in closer, peering in at a spot on the bookcase.
"Guys," She waved us over, "Come here, I've found something!"
David, Peter, and Alex joined her as her fingers pried something out of the bottom of the shelf. There was a loud creaking noise as a plank of wood came loose, revealing a cavity that contained something. I stood up with Madison as the others glanced at each other.
"What is it?" Madison asked, coming closer. Alex pulled out a black box gently, blowing a layer of dust off of it. I wiggled my nose as the cloud of dust floated towards me, but ended up sneezing loudly.
Alex smirked, handing the box to Heather and pulling out another, this time one for Peter. The next box was for me. I looked down at it, seeing that it was labeled with Mrs. Elizabeth Peacock. Looking around the group, I saw that everyone else had gotten boxes that were labeled with their ancestor's names.
Alex's box was last; then we stood still. Finally, Alex gave a sigh and a half-hearted smile.
"Guess we should open them." She shrugged, starting to take the lid off of hers. I gulped, staring down at my own box. Finally, I threw the top of the box off.
There was a collective gasp as we all realized what we were holding. Heather dropped her box, which held an ornate dagger. David was staring at an ancient revolver, and Alex had picked up a rather bulky, tarnished candlestick. Peter set his box down, a clunky wrench inside. Madison ran her fingers over a heavy pipe as I stared into my box at the archaic rope inside, already tied up into a noose.
"Hehe, weapons…" Heather tried to laugh, sitting down heavily. "How perfect…"
The nervous guests had barricaded themselves inside the lounge, as far from the body as possible. They had all had a fright at the sight of their host, dead on the ground. Mr. Green was currently pacing around the floor, staring at the ground tensely. Finally, he spun on his heel to face the group.
"One of us must've killed him." He sighed.
"You're a regular Sherlock, aren't you?" Mrs. White replied sarcastically. The young entrepreneur turned his fiery eyes on her.
"You seem rather calm tonight White; Do you happen to know who bumped him off?" Mr. Green asked.
The grey-haired lady shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know from nothing."
"Really? I'm starting to think that you double-crossed him yourself!" The young man grew closer to her, the anger rising in his voice no matter how hard he tried to disguise it.
"Please! Stop beating your gums and let's call the police!" Mrs. Peacock pleaded desperately
"Sorry Peacock, that wouldn't be very keen. If the police get here, one of us would be left holding the bag. No, I say we try to figure this out by ourselves first." Mr. Green told her harshly.
"And how!" Mustard agreed, standing.
"I say we split up and try to find some clues." Green explained.
"But, how do we know if the crook won't be on the lam as soon as we split up?" Scarlet asked, wringing her hands.
"Fine, we'll split up into groups of two, alright doll?" Green asked her coldly. Ms. Scarlet looked at the ground, nodding. Prof. Plum was the only one to notice how she seemed scared of Green.
"Alright, I think we should go back out there, try again." David said, standing. I saw Jackson shaking his head vigorously and smiled despite the situation.
"What? We happen to find out that someone was severely hurt in this house, and that it was probably one of our great grandparents, and you just want to split up again?" Heather asked him.
"Look, we're trapped here anyway. We might as well figure out what happened here." David told her. They stared at each other for a long moment before Heather finally glanced at the ground, nodding sullenly.
The groups started to leave the room, all armed with their own weapons this time. I turned to Madison who was fingering her lead pipe gently, fearfully.
"Madison? Look, we don't have to go back to the study. Let's go check out the ballroom, alright?" I asked her. We were the only ones left in the room now, the candle light playing off the walls. She nodded at me, sighing as she took up the lead pipe and her candle before following me down the dark hallway.
Halfway there, she stopped me, kneeling on the ground and going through her bag.
"Hang on a sec, I need some comfort food." She told me, bringing out a bag of Oreos. I smiled as she twisted the top off of one, crunching the dark cookie in her mouth. I sat next to her, going through my backpack as well.
"You know what you need to go with Oreos?" I asked her with a smile.
"Milk?" she asked, muffled from a full mouth. She swallowed, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry."
"No, not milk." I laughed quietly, bringing out a jar of peanut butter. Her eyes grew as wide as her smile as I unscrewed the top off of the jar.
"Oh, that's perfect!" She giggled, scooping a cookie in, offering me one as well. "Wait a minute,"she paused, "What are you doing with a jar full of peanut butter in your backpack?"
"Come on, peanut butter goes with anything!" I told her, making her laugh as she covered her mouth with the back of one of her free hands.
We were quiet for a moment, our chewing being the only sound. Finally, she sighed and started to put the half-eaten bag of cookies back into her backpack.
"This house creeps me out so much, I don't even know why." She told me, glancing around nervously.
"I know, it's just from everything that's happened so far." I told her, starting to stand.
"Do you ever get the feeling that something bad is going to happen?" She asked me as I helped her up. She was still studying the foyer we were in, so she didn't see me staring at her.
"Like right now? Yeah, I think I have." I tried to sound light-hearted, but failed.
"It's just…I feel like this mansion is…I don't want to be here anymore. This sounded like fun until we got here." She said shakily.
"Hey, it'll be alright Maddy." I told her.
"How can you be sure?" she asked, shivering despite her huge brown coat that trailed practically down to her knees.
"It'll be alright." I told her when I saw tears in her eyes reflecting the candle light. Without meaning to, I pulled her into a hug, pressing her head into my shoulder. "I won't let anything hurt you." I murmured.
"Thank you…" she whispered, her shoulders relaxing.
Then, I happened to look over at the boarded-up window close to us. Through a small slit that let in the darkness of the night outside, I saw a shadow move quickly out of the way so that it wouldn't be seen. Someone was out there.
A/N: I'm hoping that that last part was creepy. I don't think I'm doing all that great of job building suspense yet, but tell me if I'm wrong. Hopefully the next couple of chapters will seem a bit more suspenseful than this one. Review and I'll give you an Oreo!