They had already written their names and dropped a few drops of blood on their respective papers and set their lit candles on said sheets outside the front door when they were waiting for the right moment to begin their summoning. Curiously enough all their watches and the huge grandfather's clock in the lobby had the exact same time, so whenever an hour would pass, the clock would ring, informing them how much time is still left. Francis thought it eerie, because even the seconds were right on time. "It's like it's destined for The Midnight Game to be played here," he said to Antonio, to which the latter let out a scared gurgle from the back of his throat. Not knowing otherwise, Gilbert thought Francis had a plan to scare their friend during the game and he approved of it, having thought the exact same thing. He was anxious, he admitted himself that much, but he wasn't as scared as Antonio was. "Then again, it could all be a magnificent ruse to set us off," the Prussian thought to himself. "As far as we know, Antonio could be bluffing. Maybe he has something up his sleeve and just acts scared to not arouse any suspicion." The more he thought about his friends, the less he seemed to understand their ulterior motives. They had all agreed to set off in different directions at first and travel together if they met up. The mansion was huge and guessing it had a lot of corridors, secret tunnels and closed rooms, they thought they wouldn't meet up that easily. "We must not shout," Kiku said and everyone nodded, "because it may provoke The Midnight Man. In any case, if we meet, we should whisper." When it was exactly 23:59:00, they gathered in front of the hard wooden door. When their clocks hit 23:59:38, they began knocking. The monotone and slow knocks were eerie and seemed to echo across the dark valley. They ended their final knock exactly at 00:00. They blew out their candles, stepped in and closed the heavy door behind them.
Inside, they immediately relit their candles. "Remember not to check your phones for the time," Arthur reminded them with a whisper. "It'll glow and show light, breaking one of the rules. Remember - no torches allowed. Just shine some candlelight on to your wristwatches." He nodded to them and was the first to set off along the left corridor. For a few moments the others watched him walk along it, until he took a sharp right and was gone, the following candlelight slowly fading. With a heavy sigh, Francis was the next to take up the courage and venture deeper into the impenetrable darkness with his small flickering light. He climbed up the stairs and took a last good look of his friends. "Don't try to act tough. Flee when you have to," his whisper was heard clearly through the stinging silence and he went further up along the the creaking stairs. For a little while they could hear the sharp steps on the old wooden floor, but soon they faded also when he must had stepped on a huge carpet. Gilbert and Kiku nodded to each other and went their separate ways: Kiku also headed upstairs, but turned right on the foot of the stairs; Gilbert went forward past the stairs and entered a small alcove in the far left corner. Antonio swallowed in fear and cursed Gilbert for pushing him into this stupid game. As reassurance, he patted the lighter in his back pocket and headed for the corridor running along the right side of the mansion.
Arthur was aimlessly wondering around the corridor. He thought it strange that he had already walked for a good five minutes and the hallway still hadn't ended. "I'm pretty sure I haven't climbed down or up a slope while walking," he muttered to himself and thought that this corridor couldn't possibly be that long so it would go around the first floor that much. He suddenly stopped and looked back and forth. "Around..." he repeated to himself and with a break in his heartbeat he darted his eyes back and forth along the hallway. It was completely straight, no turns, which meant there was no way it went around. "Am I even in the house anymore?" he breathed heavily and tried to pierce the surrounding darkness with his gaze. He checked his watch. It showed 00:23. Arthur cursed under his breath and pondered what to do next. He decided to head back - maybe he'd find the way back to the mansion, he was certain he wouldn't want to spend the rest of his miserable life walking around aimlessly in a creepy innuendo. Just as he had taken a few steps, he felt a chill run down his spine. He gasped and looked behind him. Nothing. But it was freezing. He could see his breath in the candlelight and vigorously tried to tell himself that it's just the smoke of the candle, suspiciously emitting only when he exhales. He turned around, but dropped his candle with a sudden cry. "Shit, shit, shit!" he cursed, stumbling around the pitch-black hallway, looking for his fallen candle. He found it and lit it again. "Stupid piece of shit," he cursed while sucking on his finger - the hot wax had suddenly spilled onto his hand. He was wondering which way he should go when suddenly the candle went out again. "Damn," he thought to himself while taking out the lighter from his pocket again. "I must have blown it out myself." The moment the tap took flame, he managed to drop the source of light again. But this time he was in shock, starting to panic. The first thing he had seen after relighting the damn thing was a tall, slender and dark figure, a shadow, right in front of him. During that second when the light was still on, Arthur had felt that the thing had stared at him intensively, almost like from immense longing or hunger. Feeling tears forming in his eyes, he searched for the candle with shaking hands. „There's a reason why I hate this kind of stuff!" He started to panic when he heard a voice so distant, yet so close to him count with a dead and silent voice. "4... 5... 6..." Feeling the wax tube under his hand, Arthur immediately snapped his lighter and lit his candle. He looked around, gasping for air. There was no sign of the thing that had encountered Arthur. He sat along the wall, panting, and buried his face to his free hand. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and stared at his clock. It showed 00:19.
Arthur was frantically running down the hallway in the opposite direction from which he saw the Midnight Man. Not caring whether the candle would go out or not, he put his legs to full use and darted along the corridor, the candle in his left hand and the lighter in his right. Miraculously the candle didn't go off and Arthur thought it weird. "Must be a guardian angel or some shit like that," he muttered and instantly remembered how his grandmother used to kiss his forehead when putting him to bed and saying that as long as she still lives, nothing bad would ever happen to him. He smiled when thinking of his grandparents and thought that as long as he has a positive attitude, he should be fine. His claims were proven correct to himself by himself when he made a sharp turn to the left and found himself in the lobby they had met just a half an hour ago. Arthur rummaged through his bag and having finally found his water bottle, he thankfully drank the lot of it. As he sat on one of the steps, he heard creaking coming from upstairs. Since he was pretty certain the Midnight Man wouldn't give out sounds as obvious as that, he decided to check it out in hopes of meeting up with Kiku or Francis. He didn't want to wonder around with neither Antonio or Gilbert, since Antonio would probably pour a ring of salt around him the instance he sees, hears or feels something out of the ordinary and Gilbert just seemed too eager to play the game, so he wasn't sure about what he'd do when they encountered their "guest" again. Slowly but steadily he headed up the steps and prayed that he would survive the rest of the night without any more scares.