[-Opening Song: Otonoke – By: Creepy Nuts]

A young teenage girl ran through the halls of a large, well-maintained mansion. Candle-light fixtures lined the baren halls, with large windows spacing out each candle, all the while the young teenager looked as if she sorely did not belong there. Not even in the slightest. The red carpets and the Victorian-era wallpaper did not match her appearance—or anything the girl could have ever achieved in her lifetime.

Sweatpants and a shirt were all that she wore, and with how greasy and messy her hair was, it was clear that she hadn't seen a shower in well over three weeks. Sweat and dirt clung to her face as she breathed heavily, running as fast as she could.

"I need to get out of here! I need to leave! I need to get out of here!" The girl thought, closing her eyes tight, running with reckless abandon. She had no idea where an exit was, and frankly, she was extremely close to just throwing herself out of a window.

If it meant freedom, then so be it.

But from this high up, she'd surely die. If she could just make it to the stairs, she was home-free. That much she knew. She had been stuck here for so long… all she wanted to do was see her family. That was it. See her little brother. Her Mom. Her Dad. Her friends….

All because of something stupid. That was why she was here. Because something stupid happened.

But right now, she had a chance. A chance to escape! A chance to run free! A chance to go see her family! All she needed to do was find an exit, or get to the stairs, or find something to get out. But as she ran, she tripped over her own feet and fell face-first into the carpet, a panicked grunt forcing itself out of her mouth as she scrambled to her feet.

"No! You idiot! Behind you!" The girl thought, looking over her shoulder. She tried to spot if her captor was still chasing her, but was confused to find nothing. There was only the same empty hall that she had been running down—nothing and nobody was there. Almost as if her captor had never chased her, to begin with.

But, that wasn't the case. She knew she had been followed. So why was there suddenly nothing there? "Huh…? Where… But they were just… where did they go?!"

Unbeknownst to the girl, something was in fact pursuing her. She wouldn't have been able to see it, though. It loomed behind her, its yellow, human-like eyes narrowing down at her. It had a frown on its dark green lips, and, to be blunt, it looked like it was made out of various things all haphazardly stitched together.

Its body was composed of every colour of the rainbow, but it had a specific leaning to dark purple, primarily around the face, chest, and feet—half of its face was purple, and a large portion of its midsection that was bleeding into the upper and lower torso was also purple. Its feet up to its ankles were purple, too. Everything else was as sporadic as a three-year-old painting project.

Finally, surrounding its entire body was a thin layer of dark green vines, with those vines each having red spikes rather than the standard green to match the colour of the vines. The girl walked backwards, panic in her eyes as she scanned the area around her.

If only she could see what was behind her. But that was an if, not reality. There would've been no saving her, even if she could see the thing that was behind her.

The creature reached out and grabbed the sides of her face with both hands. She felt the grabbing sensation, along with the stabbing that came from the thorns. Before she could scream, her body began to liquify. It looked as if her skin was slipping off of her body at a rapid rate—as if sulphuric acid was being poured on top of her. Not too long after her skin began to melt off, so to did her clothes, muscles, and bones.

Her final scream for help became gargled and jumbled—like someone calling out for help whilst drowning under a thick viscous liquid. As soon as she was nothing more than a pile of mud on the floor, the creature began to sculpt something out of the mud-like substance that the girl had become—but she wasn't dead. She was conscious enough to process everything. She could feel, hear, and see, but she couldn't call for help.

The creature, with perfect accuracy, reshaped the mud-like substance into a faceless butler—it even looked to be wearing a black suit, matching black pants, and a white tie with a black undershirt. The only thing that didn't make it look like a person was the lack of a face and hair.

With a soft shove, the creature pushed its creation forward, and off it went to maintain the house. After all, that was a butler's job. To maintain the household of the individual they were serving.

Forever and ever.

[XXXX]

"So… where are you going?" Camila asked Luz, who was slipping on a pair of cream-coloured tie-up shoes. Along with that, she was wearing a similar shirt from yesterday, although instead of blue shorts, she wore black shorts this time along with a pair of cat-themed red knee-high socks.

A part of Luz didn't want to go, but, at the same time, it was either she went or Amity showed up here. The last thing she wanted was for her mother to worry about her being in trouble. Her mother was already stressed thanks to her job. She didn't need anything else adding to it.

"Don't worry, Ma. I'm just going to a friend's house," Luz said as Camila frowned.

"Not to be rude, mija, but you don't have any friends," Camila replied as Luz sighed, standing up from having previously been crouching to tie up her shoes. She looked over to her Mom with a frown to match her mother's.

"Well, what if I said I made a friend, huh?"

"Well, I'd want to meet them first," Camila answered, crossing her arms as Luz pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Look, Mama, trust me, okay? It'll be alright. She's from the school. You know, Amity? Popular cheerleader? Literally runs the cheerleading team that I tried to join?" Luz said as Camila raised an eyebrow.

"The same one that called you an idiot for not following the overly strict guidelines?" That caused Luz to flinch. She wasn't wrong, though. The guidelines to join the cheer team were intense. You needed to be under a certain weight, and you needed to have good upper body and lower body strength—all of which she met. The only issue was that she wasn't as fast as the rest of the team. It caused her to mess up the whole routine, and so ergo, she wasn't permitted to join.

"Well… just because she said one thing doesn't mean that I can't be friends with her," Luz said as Camila's frown was persistent. "Look, Ma—"

"Whatever. Look, just… be safe, mija, okay? If you trust her, then fine. I'll relent," Camila said as Luz smiled. She didn't feel good about lying to her mom, but she didn't need to know that she was actually going to meet her at the school to discuss what she was supposed to do to apologize. "But next time, I want to meet whatever friend you make. You know how scary the world can be, especially boys."

"I know, Mama, I'll be fine. Be back soon," Luz said, before turning to walk out of the door. When she did, she looked at the time on her phone. It was 2:00. She had half an hour to get there. Given that it was a ten-minute walk from her house to the school, it wouldn't take very long to get there.

As she left, she glanced back at her house, then to the forest behind the house, her frown returning. "One of these days…" She noted, before making her way down to the school. The walk from her house to the school was quiet. There were no pressing issues she had on her mind, aside from the general nervousness of, well, having to talk to Amity Blight of all people.

It wasn't just that she was talking to Amity Blight. Well, actually, no, that was the entire problem. Amity was… intimidating, as one would put it. But more than that, there was something else that Luz felt regarding Amity that was a little embarrassing to admit.

Amity was… well, since the 7th grade, Luz had a slight crush on Amity. Considering she was about to start her 10th grade at high school, having a slight crush on someone for a little over 2 years caused perspective changes.

Most people saw Amity as a jerk—which, to be fair, she was a little mean. But the worst thing she had ever done was kick someone for being a little too snarky. Which, again, would make her a hypocrite because she was the snark queen, but she guessed even then some people had their limits.

Amity wasn't your typical nice girl, either. She had an attitude that could only be matched by some of the jocks at the school. She was aggressive, she didn't give a damn about other people's opinions, and like most popular girls at high schools, she had a bunch of groupies following her.

Chief among those girls was Boscha Drake—a sassy, disrespectful, downright cruel ginger who basically hung off Amity's right arm since day one. Amity didn't seem to mind, but she had to reign the girl in from time to time. She also had a third eye tattooed on her forehead for whatever reason—from what Luz overheard, it was her punishment for failing a dare that one of her other friends threw at her.

Of course, there were others like Skara Winters—a silver-haired African-American teen who was most known for joining the school's female football team and absolutely clearing house last year. She was that year's top quarterback, and considering that she was going to rejoin the football team, it was probably going to be the same thing all over again.

Then there was Lunar Scotts—a black-haired, pale-as-the-moon emo girl who was a part of the school's band. She was probably the only one there that, at least from Luz's assumptions, Amity considered a friend since they were seen together more often than not. She had a huge thing for goth clothing, and she always had one side of her face covered with her typically chin-length black hair.

And that was about it. Aside from other miscellaneous facts that Luz knew about Amity—like the time that she had accidentally fallen face-first during a track run and scraped her knee pretty badly—Amity was mostly a mystery to her.

Making it to the front of the school, Luz looked around and saw that Amity wasn't there—which made sense, she was technically early so she didn't expect her to be. Bringing out her phone, she scrolled through Twitter to see if there was anything interesting going on. Much to her annoyance, aside from a few new art pieces posted by Kishibe Rohan and an indie artist she followed named Dana Terrace, there was nothing new.

"Ugh, what a bore…" Luz thought, looking up from her phone as a black limousine pulled up to the front of the school, and stopped only when the passenger door was in front of her. The door opened, as Amity positioned herself back where she once sat. "Huh?"

Amity was dressed in a black dress that reached down to her ankles, with half sleeves that started at her elbows and went down to her wrists. Across her neck was a golden necklace that featured a large B and I—most likely standing for Blight Industries, which was a leading Technological and Pharmaceutical company that popped up in the early 1990s.

"Well, get in. I'm not going to talk in the public eye. Contrary to popular belief, I like to keep my opinions to myself, along with other things that regard my life. Now hurry up, you're letting the air conditioning out," Amity said as Luz faltered for a moment. Was she being serious? Well, given the expression on her face, she had to have been.

So, without further delay, she got into the car and was shocked. There was colourful blue lighting surrounding the car, and as she closed the door around her, she was offered a drink by Amity that had more than likely been pulled out of the tiny mini-fridge next to her.

It was a closed can of sparkling grape-flavoured water, with a picture of an anthropomorphic grape holding a glass of water that said "Grape" in a large speech bubble. "Go on, take it. It's only fair I show my guests some form of respect. Even if our little get-together was for negative reasons, I'm not petty enough to the point where I won't treat someone with common decency."

Luz took the can from Amity, quietly said thank you, and opened the can before taking a sip from it. It tasted surprisingly good. When she took the sip, the limousine began to pull away, and just as she was about to reach for a seat belt, via what sounded like a bunch of whirring machines, a belt slowly crawled its way around her lap. "Whoa…"

"Developed by Blight Industries, if it wasn't obvious. We're testing automatic seatbelts for everyday vehicles to use, but for now, we're testing them in our own cars to see if they're reliable," Amity mentioned, leaning back against the door on her side of the seat, facing Luz the entire time with a small smile on her face. "It's quite the marvel, right?"

"Y-Yeah," Luz said, taking another sip from the sparkling water. "So… uh, about yesterday—"

"That can wait until we get to the estate. Right now, I want to know more about you," Amity interrupted, crossing her arms, her expression turning neutral. "All I know about you is that you tried out for the cheer team and… well, I'll be honest, I was a little rude to you. My apologies. I was having a rough day and you just happened to show up at the wrong time."

Confusion quickly took over Luz's expression. Why was Amity so interested in finding out more about her? The apology was great and all, but… for some reason—and she couldn't quite pinpoint why—something about this just seemed… off. She didn't make it known that was how she felt, though. She kept it to herself.

"Well… What's there to really say? I'm just… average. I don't have any outstanding hobbies…. I mean, I like to edit AMVs for shows I like, and I have an obsession with The Good Witch Azura series," Luz answered, taking another sip of the sparkling water. "Uh… and I guess… I talk to my cousins a lot. But that's about it."

"The Good Witch Azura…. I remember reading the first book when I was ten years old," Amity admitted, shrugging. "I never got the appeal of it. But that's just me," Amity said as Luz nodded. "Hmm… Are you sure that's everything? I feel like there's something missing."

"Nah, that's all. I mean, I used to have a passion for theatre and dramatics—I'm sure you saw that god-awful play I was in at the school. Unless you were busy or something, but yeah… it wasn't my best performance. It actually got me to drop the whole thing entirely," Luz answered as Amity frowned.

"While I never saw that play because, as you said, I was busy, you shouldn't let one bad performance knock you down, you know. That's a sign of weakness," Amity commented as Luz hesitantly nodded. Maybe Amity was right, but either way, that didn't stop the second-hand-embarrassment from kicking in. She looked down at her feet and felt her face begin to heat up.

"Y-Yeah… I guess you're right," Luz muttered as Amity smiled.

"You know, you're not nearly as bad as I thought you'd be. No offence, but our first real meeting didn't give me a good impression of you," Amity said, sighing, turning to look out the window. "Then again, I doubt you thought very kindly of me when you first met me. Like I said, I apologize for that. But, at the same time, I had a public reputation to keep. Between you and me, I'm not that much of a jerk—well, personally anyway. Opinions are subjective, but Mom says it's best to keep the "vultures" away…."

There was a bit of a sad undertone to that. Luz didn't know how to describe it but… from the sound of things, it was almost like those people she hung out with were only there because of her money. Or, her Mom set her up with those friends.

Regardless, that wasn't what Luz was focused on. She was focused on what it was she said. "Well, I don't think you're a jerk. Like. At all," Luz noted as Amity raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

"I-I—I mean, uh, well…" Luz faltered, feeling the sudden urge to clear her throat which she did before continuing. "If, uh, the whole "jerk" thing is an act, it's not a really good one. I… I guess you can say I have a sixth sense. I'm really good at picking out someone's true feelings and true opinions. It's why I don't have many friends. Everyone in town that I've met so far has been either fake as hell or just gives off bad vibes. You're one of the only people who I've come across who hasn't…"

"Interesting…" Amity muttered, covering the lower half of her face before looking away for a second, and then promptly turning back around after clearing her throat. A smile was on her face, having replaced the neutral expression she had on a moment ago. "Thank you, Luz. That… was nice of you to say."

The car came to a stop, and as it did, Luz looked out the window. What she saw was a massive, looming mansion the likes of which she had only ever seen in 1900s horror movies. Large, black peaked roofs, with massive windows and a very Victorian-era aesthetic. The exterior of the house had a darkish red colour, and the rows of hunched-over spruce trees gave it a very… haunted feel.

Stepping out of the car with Amity following close behind, they entered through the front door, and when they did, Luz was greeted by a large, expansive foyer, with a huge set of stairs a few feet ahead of her.

The whole floor was carpeted—every inch of it. Paintings of the homeowners were some of the first things that she noticed, with three smaller paintings sitting just beside the stairs. There were two on the left side with people who looked to be twins with light blue eyes and green hair, and the one on the right side was Amity. At the top of the stairs was a brown-haired, yellow-eyed man's portrait, and beside it was a green-haired blue-eyed woman—presumably the mother and father of the Blight Family.

To the immediate right and left of Luz were two large openings that Luz assumed took someone to another part of the house, but aside from that, and aside from the staircase, there was nothing really going on in the foyer, aside from the massive chandelier on the ceiling.

Although, if there was one thing that was notable, it was that the house was huge—which, given it was a mansion, was to be expected. But even still, she hadn't expected it to be this large.

"Feel free to explore the mansion to your heart's content. By 5:30, I'll have one of the butlers go get you so that we can discuss a means of apology. Oh, and just so you know, my family is away on a business trip in New South Wales, and won't be back till the end of summer. So it'll just be me, you, and the butlers in here," Amity said, walking past Luz and into one of the hallways nearby.

As she did, Luz couldn't help but feel a little nervous. She didn't know why, but the moment she stepped inside the building, something felt… wrong. Very, very wrong. There was something off about the mansion that she couldn't quite put together.

Luz looked around, an uncomfortable frown taking up her visage as she made her way up the stairs. As she walked through the long, basically empty halls, all Luz could think about was that off-putting feeling she had when she stepped inside.

There was just… something about it that didn't feel right. Maybe it was the drab atmosphere. Maybe it was the carpets and the colour of the walls. Maybe it was just how… silent the place was. It gave off a sense of eeriness that she hadn't experienced before. Sure, she'd seen plenty of horror movies and the like, but she'd never been in a place like this, let alone ever want to be in a place like this.

And just now, when Amity said that it was just them and the butlers—whom she had not seen since she began walking down the big, creepy, borderline ugly hallway—it didn't make her feel any better. The mansion was just an endless space of locked doors and large windows with candles in between each of them. The only thing that she could give the place was that it was nice and cool given the warm summer heat.

After what felt like an hour of wandering from room to room, each door being locked, she finally came across a room that wasn't. Opening the door, she was greeted with… well, it was interesting, to say the very least. If there was one thing that she hadn't expected a house of this calibre to have it was an entire room filled with guns.

Pistols, shotguns of all varieties, rifles, automatic assault rifles, semi-automatic assault rifles, attachments in cases, and ammo for days. It was a gun enthusiast's wet dream. Personally, Luz was disturbed by it. She hated guns—loathed them even. Despite being an American-born citizen, she never understood the craze around them.

And while she disliked guns, and had a general distaste for them, there was one weapon that had caught her attention. One gun in the entire room had drawn her eyes like a fly to a fly trap. In a room filled with modern weaponry, it stuck out like a sore thumb with a blister on it.

It was a revolver. An old-western style revolver. The metal was sleek and well-maintained, and the glass case kept anyone from getting to it. There was a single gold star on the handle welded into it, and while it looked a little worn from use, that wasn't what had caught her attention. Typically, Luz didn't care about guns. No. It was the information attached to the gun that had caught her attention.

Looking down at the piece of paper that was lamented to the underside of the glass, there was a name printed in clear Times New Roman that made her eyes widen.

The revolver belonged to Jonathon "Johnny" Joestar.

"That's… that belongs to my family. Why is it in here!?" Luz thought, looking around to check for security cameras. When she noticed that there were none, her eyes narrowed. "This doesn't belong here… it shouldn't be here…" Luz's train of thought continued until she heard footsteps approaching behind her.

Turning around, she was greeted with what she assumed was one of the butlers. They wore an animal mask—specifically a tiger—and were dressed in a black suit with matching pants, a white tie, and a black shirt underneath. They had both of their hands behind their back, and it looked as if they were watching her.

She didn't know why, but she felt like something was off.

Looking down at the time, she noticed that it was only 3:45 pm, which only furthered her confusion. "Uh… can I help you?" Luz asked, to no response. The butler just stared at her. A dreary feeling muscled its way through her body, as she felt a sense of dread kick in. "Uh… sir?"

The butler began to approach her, and as she did, the tension she was feeling didn't get any better. She took a step back and looked at the case. She could probably break it, but that could set off an alarm. All of the other guns looked like they were simply there for display. But that gun… it looked real as real could get. One simply didn't just get a fake version of her ancestor's gun.

The butler reached their hand out to her, and her fight-or-flight instincts kicked in. She swung a sloppy right hook to the butler's face, knocking off the mask from his head, as he stumbled to the ground, and what she saw made her gasp.

The butler had no face.

Luz screamed as the butler frantically looked for their mask, patting around on the floor, and in a moment of clarity, Luz kicked the mask as far away as she could from the butler-creature-thing. Her first thought was "monster" but then she realized something else. Something that explained the feeling she was getting.

"This… that thing… it has to be like what Stuff Is Way is," Luz thought, looking over to the glass case. She frowned. While she had intended to take the gun, that didn't mean it made her feel good about doing it. But given the scenario she was in, and given what was more than likely going to happen now that she attacked one of these things, more of them were likely going to come and investigate.

If there was one thing that her mother always taught her, it was that she was to respect her host. Respect the people who bring you into their house. But, should that host have dubious intentions, then it was best to defend yourself in any way you saw fit.

And for Luz… If she was going to defend herself, it would be in the old-fashioned American way.

Summoning Stuff Is Way to her side, the tiny finger-sized stand placed a hand on the glass box. The moment it did, Luz whispered in a hushed tone "Stuff Is Way revert that glass to its original state," and that was exactly what happened. The glass rippled, and it transformed into a large pile of sand, which slopped its way to the carpeted floor below.

Taking the gun off its rack, Luz scrambled around to look for ammunition, and when she found some, she slid out the revolving chamber, loaded six bullets in, and took a bunch of ammo for safekeeping—having shorts with pockets was a blessing, especially in situations like these.

While she had never used a gun before, it didn't matter. All that mattered was that she aimed and shot at whatever hostile thing came at her.

As she finished loading the firearm, the butler put the mask back on their face, and as they rose, it looked like something out of a dramatic Saturday night cartoon—what with how they were hunched over and their arms drooping down, and their masked face awkwardly tilted to look at her as if they were a drone.

Luz aimed the gun at the Butler, sweating bullets all the while. Her aim was shaky because she wasn't going to lie, she was scared—no, she was terrified.

She was right to have compared this place to a horror movie set.

Because it essentially was one.

-To Be Continued-

[-Ending Song: Cloud 9-]

For those who want to know where to find the opening song, it's not officially released yet. It's the Dandadan opening song, which will come out more than likely in October. You can find it on Twitter or on TikTok. Follow my TikTok page under the same username, and you'll find it in a repost I did.

Anyway, that's all for now. See you in the next one! Peace!