Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)

By: Eboni Ardell

Chapter 1

“Go fish!” AJ McLean, 18, told his band mate Howie Dorough,23, who groaned and pulled yet another un-matching card from the deck. They were sitting at the table beside the window of their tour bus. It was raining fiercely outside.

Kevin Richardson, 24, and his cousin Brian Littrell, 21, were sitting on the couch watching the only movie available to them at the time, an old western. Nick Carter, 16, the youngest of the group, was crashed in his bunk in the back.

The young pop group, The Backstreet Boys, was touring in Europe. It was the first tour for Nick without his mother accompanying him on the account of his being so young. The tour was going extremely well. The boys were well treated, and chased by girls all over the country. They even had a few female surprises hiding in their laundry! By anyone’s words the tour was going well, everything was running smoothly. The only minor set back was when the Boys’ old tour bus broke down and they had to get a new one, and a new driver came along with it.

“Man, I haven’t seen any other cars for hours!” AJ McLean said looking out the window at the gloom outside.

“That’s because it’s raining like crazy out there AJ! All the sensible, sane, people are at home watching TV’s that have more than one channel that works!” Brian said this as he grabbed the remote and tried to change the channel on the television and got the basic static and fuzz.

“Yeah, well maybe, but I also haven’t seen any of the rest of the tour buses either!” AJ said pressing his face against the glass. Lightning struck at a close distance. The Boys travel separate from other parts of the tour like the band, opening acts, etc...

“Maybe they got lost in the storm,” Howie said also looking out the window, thoughtfully, resting his chin on his hands, elbows on the table.

“Or maybe we’re the ones lost in the storm, I doubt that old kook knows where he’s going! ”Brian’s voice was muffled, he was past bored with the TV, and was under the entertainment cabinet digging out Nick’s Nintendo 64.

“Would you guys just settle down? Everything is fine. Our driver knows where he’s going, or else we wouldn’t have hired him,” Kevin said calmly, in his big brotherly tone.

“Yeah,” everyone finally agreed. AJ and Howie sat back down at the table and went back to playing cards.

“Hey Kev, wanna play?” Brian had finished setting up the Nintendo.

Kevin really didn’t want to play Nintendo, it wasn’t his thing, but he would play. He was about to answer Brian when the bus came to an abrupt halt.

Brian flew over the chair he was standing beside and onto the floor getting tangled in the Nintendo controller wires. AJ and Howie grabbed the bolted down table with one hand and reached for their opened sodas with the other. This was a vain attempt, however, soda still flew everywhere. Kevin held onto the arms of his chair.

“What was that?” Howie demanded, he and AJ jumped up from the table avoiding soda puddles.

Kevin helped Brian up, “Is everybody ok?”

AJ and Howie nodded.

“What happened?” Howie began to storm towards the front of the bus, everyone followed. The driver met them halfway.

“What happened?” demanded Howie for the third time.

“Bus broke down, you boys are gonna have to get off,” the driver spoke in a gruff voice. He was chewing on the end of a brown cigar.

“We’re gonna have to get off, in this rain?!” Howie began to laugh, ”You’re joking right?”

The driver didn’t laugh.

“You’re not joking?” Howie asked incredulously, ”You expect us to get out in that?”

The driver smiled showing big white teeth and nodded, “There’s an old place not far from here that will keep you dry. I’ll walk you there and you can stay until I get the bus fixed. You all go pack you up some stuff and wake that youngun up,” the driver pushed this information at them letting them know that staying on the bus was not an option.

“Pack some stuff? How long do you think it’s gonna take to fix the... bus?” Brian might as well have been talking to himself because the bus driver had already disappeared up front.

“Come on,” Kevin said.

In the bunk area everyone was packing things like umbrellas, flashlights, batteries, extra tee- shirts, water, snacks, sleeping bags, etc.

“Sleeping bags? Do you guys think we should pack sleeping bags?- I mean it’s probably just a flat tire or something. We might just be there an hour,” AJ shrugged.

“I don’t know, lets just take them anyway, just in case,” Kevin said rolling up his sleeping bag.

“Hey Nick! Nicky! Come on wake up, we gotta get off the bus,” Brian was shaking Nick awake.

“Huh? Are we there already?” Nick asked groggily.

“No, something’s wrong with the bus and we gotta get off,” Brian started tugging Nick out of the bunk,” I already packed your bag with a flashlight and stuff, come on.”

“Huh?”

It was a short, but wet walk from the bus to the place the driver had wanted the boys to stay. The place turned out to be an old castle. An iron fence, weathered and sagging with age, wound around the villa grounds. The gate was swinging open offering a rather chilling invitation inside the grounds. From the gate, dangled a sign the Boys couldn’t quite read. The rain had died down when they reached the castle, but the thick mysterious fog that surrounded the castle, had engulfed them as well. Funny noises came from inside the fog. Somehow they found the front door...

If Nick had been half asleep during their journey to the castle doors he was definitely awake now. The driver threw open the wooden doors to the manor and Nick’s angry voice echoed off the walls.

“I can’t believe this happened! This is the second time the bus broke down!”Nick yelled pulling leaves and tumble weeds out of his hair.

“That ain’t my fault,”the driver said calmly, smoking his cigar.

“We’re never gonna make the next show!”Brian was saying.

“That also ain’t my fault,”the driver said.

Howie was dialing frantically on his cell phone trying to reach management or one of the other tour buses, all he got was static.

All the boys began to complain at once and the driver silenced them,”Look, the bus broke down. I’ll get it fixed. Y’all just chill here.”

“What??”there was an explosion of protests.

“Man I ain’t staying here!”Brian was fussing.

“Man, this place is messed up!”Nick was saying shaking his head.

“I ain’t staying here! This place is creepy!”Howie was declaring.

“I’ll be back, Backstreet,”with that the driver darted off the front step and seemed to dissolve into the fog. The boys all looked after him, then at each other.

“Man, I say we just wait outside,”Howie said. Then a very disturbing howl erupted from somewhere nearby.

“On second thought, lets go in!”

It was dark and drafty inside the manor. They had entered into what seemed to be a parlor area. They had all scrounged through their bags for their flashlights. There were all sorts of statues and ornaments like you would see in a regular castle, but these ornaments were grotesque. The floor was painted in a huge purple spiral.

“Hey this isn’t a parlor,”Kevin said,”I think it’s a ballroom!” Kevin traced the huge purple spiral painted on the dance floor.

Nick had on his flashlight and was looking at the grotesque ornaments on the tables, he ran his fingers over some of them and wiped the dust trails off on his red jersey,”Man, this place is gross!”

“Anybody find a power switch yet?”asked Brian shining his flashlight around the sallow colored walls.

“Yeah, I think I..”there was a dull humming noise and dim lights illuminated the room,”found it..”AJ finished.

The room they were in was a large ballroom, a great spiraling staircase was behind it, there were two red couches on the far walls, and plenty of ugly figurine antiques, tables, and dust.

“So now what? Do we wait here for the driver?”AJ was putting his flashlight away and looking around.

“Well, do you guys want to explore?”Kevin asked looking around at the anxious, but excited faces of his group.

“Yeah, that might be fun,”Brian said.

“Yeah..”Nick put in, not as certain as Brian,”But.. Only if we get to stick together.” He didn’t want to sound like a wimp, but this place scared him.

“Of course,”Kevin nodded, he didn’t make fun of Nick’s being afraid, but AJ and Brian sure did.

“What, are you afraid there might be ghosts, Nicky?”asked AJ laughing.

“Don’t worry we’ll hold your hands,”Brian joked too. They continued out of the room doing the traditional,”Did you hear something?” “What was that?” routine.

The next room they entered was a library. Well part of it was, as they ventured off further into the dark paneled bookshelves, they discovered a lab too. The library / lab was done in dark blues and greens, there was even a fireplace with an authentic poker. A dried up chemistry set was set up on a table with a book propped up next to it. A collection of ancient torture devices was mounted on the walls.

“Cool,”Howie touched on and caused a shower of dust to fall on him,”Aaah! Nasty!”

“I wonder who used to live here,”Brian pondered out loud.

“Somebody crazy, look what he was readin’,”Kevin nudged the book lying on its face,”Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

“He was also somebody who didn’t know how to clean, or decorate!, ”AJ remarked, wiping his hands on his shirt. He stood by an old phonograph. He picked up an old record, and winced after reading the label,”And had no taste in music, ugh!”

“I don’t know, I kind of like the decor in here,”Kevin put his hand to his chin and looked around,”Come on, lets go check out the next room.”

Nick looked hesitant as something from the next room made a groaning noise. Brian looked back and laughed and grabbed Nick by the arm,”Come on Scaredy Cat.. There’s nothing to be afraid of! Oh no! Casper’s got me! Aaaaaah!”

Nick rolled his eyes, sighed and went on after Brian.

The next room was a dining hall equipt with long worn red drapes, and a worn red carpet with some kind of design faded with age impressed on it. A long table with a ghoulish centerpiece stretched across the room circled with chairs. One chair sat like a thrown at the head of the table.

“Cool,”AJ said walking up to the thrown chair and having a seat. A cloud of dust puffed up around him from the chair’s cushion,”Phooey!”

Nick was walking around the table and stepped on a loose floor board which creaked, he let out a startled gasp thinking it was something else.

AJ and Brian had a field day with that,”Was it Casper, Nicky?”

“No, it was...”

“Would you guys stop it with the scaring Nick stuff, it isn’t funny!”Howie interrupted their taunts.

AJ and Brian had been laughing, then they turned their attention on Howie,”Oh, but are we scaring Nick, Howie, or are we really scaring you?!”

“Alright! All of you knock it off!” Kevin interjected with authority in his voice,”Now we’ve got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow, and we should get some rest. The driver should be back for us in a little while anyway.”

Everyone agreed.

“So, where do we sleep?”AJ asked.

“We could sleep in the ballroom,”Nick suggested.

“The ballroom!”AJ said sounding disappointed,” I was hoping we could check out the upstairs! You know maybe see some of the bedrooms!”

“Upstairs?”Nick squeaked.

“Sleep in the bedrooms?”Howie asked sounding as high pitched as Nick.

Brian and AJ began imitating chickens.

“Stop it you two! We don’t have to go upstairs. Sleeping in the ballroom is fine with me,”Kevin said with a shrug.

Kevin may have stopped Brian and AJ’s teasing, but it had already took it’s toll on Howie and Nick’s manly pride.

“No, no,”Howie shook his head.

“Yeah,”Nick said,”W-W-We can go upstairs.. I-I wanted to see up there anyway. I just didn’t want to sleep in the beds, you know... Who knows who could have slept there!”

“You guys sure?”Kevin asked.

“Yeah.”

Well the upstairs proved to be as un-color coordinated as the downstairs. There was a maze of hallways, and the boys chose one. They went peeping inside of all the doors they passed.

“Oh hey, awesome, a suit of armor!”Nick had ventured inside one room. He touched the blade of the axe the rusty armor held,”OW! That’s sharp! Cool! We should stay in this room!”

“I thought you didn’t want to sleep in the rooms Nick?”AJ asked snickering.

“Well I changed my mind. I say we should stay in this room!”Nick said firmly looking at more of the mediaeval objects in the room.

“Ok, well how about we check out some more rooms first,”Kevin said.

“Ok, but I’m gonna put my stuff down in here so we’ll know to come back to this room!”Nick put his backpack down on the floor beside the room’s door.

“Now this, is a room!”a few doors down AJ had opened the door to a room done richly in red velvet.. Or what might have been red velvet a long time ago. It was faded and worn, but it was still classy,”We should stay here, this room is better than any rusty old suit of armor!”

“Hey! It is not, and we should stay there!”Nick argued.

“No we..”

“Wait, wait, before this becomes a fight... How about we each pick our own rooms to stay in tonight. This way everybody will get to stay where they want,”Howie said, always the peacemaker,”But on one condition. Everybody stay in this hall so we can find each other if we need to!”

“Ok,”Everyone agreed.

Brian had picked an ok room, with what might have been a thrilling view a hundred years ago... Now the view was just... scary. There was a stuffed bear mount on the wall covered with cob webs. The bed was a canopy with a red spread over it. Brian shined his flashlight around, and felt uneasy about being in this room alone, and was now beginning to feel sorry that he had teased Nick and Howie.

He had paused before entering the room after saying goodnight to the others,”Hey, guys maybe sleeping alone isn’t such a good idea... What if something happens?”

“Like what?”AJ had scratched his head.

“I don’t know..”

“You’re scared aren’t you Brian,”Howie instigated.

“NO! But.. But Nick may be.. He’s just a kid you know..”Brian had padded down to Nick’s room a few minutes later and knocked on the door. A half sleep walking Nick opened the door,”Hey Nick, I just came to tell you that if you get scared you can come and bunk with me. I’m just a few doors down the hall.”

Nick had nodded and yawned, he was asleep by now and nothing could bother him, not even ghosts.

Brian went back to his room looking around guardedly, he went to the bed and began to make it up so he could sleep in it. He pulled back the comforter and sheets and spread out his sleeping bag. He crawled into his sleeping bag, and then pulled the sheets and comforter back over him. It was cold in this house! Brian was just beginning to drift off to sleep when he felt something in bed with him. He stilled and waited for it to rub against him again. There it went again, he made a grab for whatever it was. He squeezed something in his hand that felt warm and very much alive. He pulled it up to hold it to his face to see what it was. The thing saw him as clearly as he saw it! It was a Bunnicula! They screamed together in harmony. Lightning outside struck. Brian slung the thing across the room, and it scampered out into one of the various cracks in the wall. Brian shuddered and tried not to think about what else might be in bed with him. He was finally able to drift off to sleep after a few minutes. ( He was that tired! )

Some weird dreams went on that night.

AJ was the phantom of the opera... Only he wasn’t in an opera.. And he wasn’t a phantom! What kind of a dream is this? AJ wore a tailored tux with two long tails coming from the jacket. He wore gloves over his hands, and a silver mask over one side of his face. Why the mask? AJ reached up to touch the mask and felt around it to feel nasty pocks in his skin around that area.. Gross! AJ looked around him for the first time. He was sitting at a long dining table, like the one he had seen earlier with the guys! He was sitting at the throne of the table with beautiful girls in long, old fashioned, red dresses. They doted on AJ’s every word; they were smitten with him. They obeyed his every command.. AJ could get use to this...

Nick woke up in the dark. It took him a few minutes to realize he was in a casket. Was he ever scared! Nobody wanted to dream about being dead, especially not in a place like this! After a few minutes, Nick found out that even though he was dead he could still move around. He used his hands to push open the door to the casket. Outside light poured in, Nick stepped out of his casket, to find that he was in a tomb, and saw that it was not a casket but a sarcophagus. But these are for mummies! Nick frowned and turned to see himself in a large mirror. Oh my. He was wrapped up in a full body cast... except for his face, and some of his hair.. And his face wasn’t one a mother could love! He raised his arms and smiled, nasty! He heard scraping behind him and turned to notice for the first time the two smaller sarcophagus’s next to his. Two girl mummies came out and grinned at him. Now this could be fun, Nick thought...

Kevin was in a lab stirring, cooking, and crushing all sorts of chemicals together. Kevin had no idea what he was doing, he just prayed he wouldn’t blow himself to Kingdom Come! He poured in the last of the ingredients and the mixture smoked pink and fizzed. The final outcome was a pretty red liquid. Now what? Oh no! Kevin watched in horror as his hand came closer and closer to his mouth. He couldn’t fight it... Oh man! This stuff may look like koolaide, but I know for a fact it’s not! Kevin tried to turn his head, no use! The beaker came to his lips and Kevin swallowed. He drank down the whole contents of the glass. A sudden spasm of pain hit his stomach and he dropped the beaker. The beaker smashed at his feet, glass scattered everywhere. Kevin collapsed in a heap on the floor writhing and twisting in painful convulsions. When the convulsions were over Kevin reached up to feel his face, which itched.. One side felt normal, but the other... It felt, scaly, almost reptilian! He looked down at his hands, one was normal, the other was green and covered with scales! Now he knew how Two-Face felt in the Batman comics...

Howie woke up in a coffin. Oh no! He had been buried alive! He began to beat on the wooden coffin door. He seemed to be standing upright, not lying down. “Let me out of here!” Howie felt the door to the coffin being opened. He felt the waft of air, and he heard the creaking wood. He was about to thank the person who let him out, but paused with a gasp. These guys.... they were all maids and one butler, and one really attractive young girl. They were odd. The maids smiled at him with long pointy fangs! THEY’RE ALL VAMPIRES!! Howie looked around frantically trying to figure out a way to escape, he knew what happened when you stand in a room full of vampires. But strangely, the vampires weren’t attacking him. Howie looked down at himself and saw he was dressed very old fashioned, kind of like Lustat, from Interview With The Vampire. He wore a top hat and a gold pocket watch was hooked to his belt.. He wasn’t afraid anymore. He belonged here. These people were his servants, and he was the vampire of the house. Howie reached into his mouth with his fingers to stroke one of his long white fangs.

Brian was howling at the moon, literally. He was itching all over and when he looked down at himself all he could see was hair! He couldn’t believe that all this hair had grown overnight! What kind of place is this? He held out his hands.. Man, his nails looked like that lady on Jerry Springer! How gross! He jumped out of bed with amazing agility to look into the mirror. Who told him this outfit was cute?! He had on a long overcoat, a suit, and a big gold medallion on a heavy chain! He was a pimp, he was a pimp daddy werewolf! He ran his hands through his spiky, stiff, brown hair on his head. Somebody had overdone it with the hair spray, again! He smiled at his joke. EW! Look at those teeth! Is there a tooth brush in the house? Who was he kidding, he needed a knife to get all this butter of his teeth! Oh boy!

Brian woke up with a start and bolted upright in bed, he began beating the hair off his arms and neck.. Hair that didn’t seem to be there anymore... But it had to be, he was a werewolf! Wasn’t he? Brian opened his eyes reluctantly to see skin. Huh? Oh man. Brian got out of the bed and began packing up his stuff and muttering to himself the whole time,”Man, I don’t care what the others think I’m waiting outside for the bus!” Brian slung his backpack on his shoulder and charged out of the room, almost running into Howie who was walking down the hall very quickly.

“Man, Howie, I gotta tell you about this freaky dream I had last night. I was a werewolf and I had hair all over my body,”Brian was telling Howie.

“No way! I had a dream too! I was like this Dracula and I was sucking blood and..”

Kevin came out of his room in front of Brian and Howie looking troubled,”Hey, did you guys have trouble sleepin’ last night?”

AJ burst out of his room, ready to get out of this crazy place, and not wanting to hear I told you so’s,”Man, I had this trippy dream last night, and I don’t know if..”

They all paused in mid- sentence,”Nick!” They couldn’t leave him behind. But no, here he came with all his stuff running up behind them with a big smile on his face. They figured he would be mad, but he had heard some of the previous conversation and he was excited to contribute,”Hey guys! I had a dream too! I dreamed that I was a mummy, and there were these two girls and..”

Forget that!

“Lets just get out of here, this place is haunted or something!” Howie got to the front door and threw it open, and gasped as did everyone else. The bus driver was out there, but he didn’t look like he did before when the boys had last seen him... He was still wearing his uniform and hat, and puffing on that cigar. But now he had red veins lining his face and hands, his eyes glowed, and his ears were pointy. He had turned into a zombie looking monster, and he was holding the steering wheel to the bus!

“Lets go,”the driver said in a low raspy voice.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”

The boys all fell over each other trying to get out of the doorway. Howie kicked the door closed with his foot. Then all the boys jumped to hold the door closed. There was a low wicked noise coming from behind the door, laughter! This guy was laughing, and then the door was moving! It was moving like the boys hadn’t not only been using all of their strength, but their combined weights as well to hold the door closed!

“RUN! RUN! LETS RUN!”

They raced through the house and ended up in the kitchen panting and gasping for breath.

“I SURE HOPE YOU BOYS DON’T THINK YOU CAN HIDE FROM ME!! THIS IS MY HOUSE, AND I WILL FIND YOU... AND I’LL HAVE EVERY ONE OF YOU!!”

“He’s a monster,”Nick was huffing.

“Howie, your cell phone!”Kevin remembered,”Try to call for help, lets try to open the back door.” Kevin went to the back door and began trying to push it,”It’s not moving.” AJ and Brian put their backs into it.

“DON’T EVEN BOTHER ALL THE EXITS HAVE BEEN SEALED!! THERE IS NO ESCAPING ME!!” The evil voice of the bus driver boomed throughout the house.

Chapter 2

“Howie, try your phone!”Kevin said frantically. Now all of them were at the door trying to push it open.

“It’s not working, it’s dead!”Howie was shrieking.

“We’re trapped in here,”AJ breathed wrapping his arms around himself shivering.

“No way, there has gotta be another way outta here!”Brian was yelling. A disturbing howl came from somewhere near by.

“Oh please tell me that came from outside,”Nick moaned.

The howl came again, and this time it was even closer to them.

“OOOOH NOO!!”

“OH MAN! LETS GET OUT OF HERE!” Nick shouted getting up out of his crouch to run, and the others were ready to follow...

“No wait, we need weapons first,”Kevin stopped Nick’s sprint,”Find something in here that you can use.”

Everyone began rummaging through the kitchen for something to use as a weapon. Kevin had selected a broom from the closet. AJ snickered at that,”What are you gonna do, sweep the monster to death?”

“Well you didn’t do much better, look at your weapon!”Howie pointed at AJ’s weapon, a frying pan, and laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding me!

“Hey, you’ve got a rolling pin!”AJ pointed out.

Howie shrugged,”So, I’ve seen what happens in cartoons when you use these things, they’re dangerous!”

“Frying pans are too! Especially number 9's,”AJ twitched one of his eyebrows up and down, looking sneaky.

Brian was holding a miniature pitch fork, he turned to see Nick wielding a large carving knife. He giggled maniacally.

“What?”Nick asked first not getting it, then he looked down at the knife and he smiled.

“And what are you gonna do with that?”asked Brian.

Nick made a face then shrugged,”I don’t know... Hopefully I’ll be able to use it for a bluff... Or I could hit someone with the blunt end..”

They both looked at each other and laughed.

AJ, Kevin, and Howie turned to look back at them,”What are you two snickering about?”

“Nuttin’,”Nick and Brian said looking innocent, then they giggled softly.

“Ok.. Wait... who still has flashlights?”Kevin asked,”I’ve still got my bag, but I lost my flashlight.”

“I lost my bag,”Nick said.

“I got my bag, but my flashlight is busted,”Howie said with a shrug.

“I got my light, but I don’t have anymore batteries,”AJ said,”Howie, give me your batteries out of your flashlight.”

“I got my stuff,”Brian said, he pulled out his flashlight.

“Ok, we’ll use Brian’s for now. AJ put yours away so we can save batteries,”Kevin picked up his broom weapon,”Lets get out of here.”

The castle was even eerier than before. They traveled down the flashlight lit hallway with Kevin in the lead. They walked always looking behind them with their weapons ready. They had the feeling that the madman was not the only thing in the house with them. They were definitely not alone.

After a few minutes of walking Kevin came to a sudden halt and everyone rammed into him,”Hey Kev, what’s the big idea..”

“Shhh... listen,”Kevin nodded his head into the ballroom. Strange up beat music was pouring out into the hallway. Everybody took a peep inside.

There were people in there dancing to the music. They were all doing the same group choreographed dance. Some of the people looked like the angry towns people straight out of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein! There were the farmers and dairy maids, then there were some pretty girls that looked like they were from the renaissance era. All of the dancers looked entranced as they kept repeating the same dance steps in perfect time to the music.

“How did they get in?”asked AJ.

“More important than that AJ- Is how they got in a way we can get out?”Brian said putting his hands on AJ’s shoulders.

“Only one way to find out,”Kevin said looking out into the dancing crowd matter-of-factly,”Come on, we can blend in.. Maybe get a dance in.”

“You’re freakin’ crazy! We can’t go out there! What if there isn’t a way out!”Howie said.

“Well, even if there isn’t a way out through here... this is the only way we can get to the rest of the house,”Kevin said,”Come on. It can’t hurt, we can get to the other side.”

“You’re freakin’ crazy!”Howie yelled after Kevin after he slipped into the ballroom,”He’s freakin’ crazy!” he informed the others on Kevin’s condition.

Brian shrugged he couldn’t let his cuz go in alone, he followed after Kevin, and slowly AJ and Nick followed, and then Howie who muttered,”We’re all freakin’ crazy!”

Cutting into the dance was easy, the people seemed pretty much hypnotized. They wouldn’t have noticed if a tornado had ripped through the room, they probably would have still been dancing until the tornado flipped them off to OZ.

The dance was fun, in fact, it was almost too fun, the Boys got caught up into the dance and forgot what they were supposed to have been doing for awhile.

Kevin whirled his dancing partner around past his cousin Brian, who was as entranced as his partner until he laid eyes on his cousin,”Kevin, what are you wearing?”

Kevin snapped out of his trance to stare at his cousin,”Huh?” He blinked then looked down at his clothes, he was wearing a white frilly opened shirt, bearing his bare chest. He had on black pants... Where had these came from, What happened to my Hilfiger jacket? He looked at Brian,”Look what you’re wearing!”

Brian kept perfect beat with his dancing partner but did take the time to glance down at his new choice of dress,”What?” Brian was wearing a long, white, silk, shirt, with a brown vest over it. Half the shirt was unbuttoned, and he had on black pants,”What’s going on? How long have we been here?”He broke from his partner who didn’t care, she went on to a new partner. He walked to his cousin, who had lost his partner too. Kevin looked down at his wrist to find his watch missing.

“I don’t know, my watch is gone,”Kevin said,”I think we may have been here for a while, I don’t remember... I think we were hypnotized or something...”

“Yeah, like these people... I wonder what’s doing it?”Brian wondered.

Kevin reached in and pulled Howie out of a dance with a girl. His partner didn’t mind she just danced on like Howie was never there. Howie still looked entranced; he tried to turn and get back into the dance, but Kevin held him in place.

“D, snap out of it!”Brian clapped his hands in Howie’s face. Howie blinked, then looked angry,”Man, what’s the big idea! What happened to you guys!”Howie began to laugh at Kevin and Brian’s choice of dress.

“Us? Look at you! You look like a reject grape from Fruit-of-The Loom!”Brian cracked. Brian and Kevin laughed at Howie’s expense. Howie gasped and looked down at himself. He was wearing a purple silk shirt with black pants, his brown curly locks fell freely into his face,.

“Whaa...? Who put us in these goofy clothes? How long have we been here?”Howie was asking.

Brian and Kevin snagged AJ and Nick from their dances. They were very grouchy as they watched their pretty partners dance away with other guys.

“Man, what’d you guys do that for? And what’s with the crazy getups?”AJ and Nick laughed.

“Look at yourselves!”Howie raised his arms.

“Huh? Hey! Who took my clothes man!”Nick demanded angrily looking to see himself in a long sleeved, white, silk, shirt with a long gold vest over it, and black pants.

“Man, who took mine?- that was my Tommy!”AJ griped. He was now sporting a sleeveless, white, silk, shirt topped with a black vest, he wore tight black pants.

“How long have we been in there?”asked Nick.

“I don’t know,”Kevin said,”But we still gotta cut through there.”

“Go through that again?”Howie asked incredulously.

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“We have to get to the other side,”Kevin said,”and this is the only way I can see. Come on, we’ll run this time!”.

They took a breath and ran through the dance, they ran into numerous amounts of people. The people noticed nothing , they kept dancing.

“Whew!”Brian exhaled,”Hey, our clothes are back!”

“Weird!”Nick exclaimed,”Brian, your backpack’s even back!”

“So’s my watch,”said Kevin,”We been dancing for two hours straight!”

“No wonder why my feet hurt,”Howie said,”Anybody mind if I take off my..”

“Keep your shoes on D!!”Everybody yelled at once.

“Fine..”Howie muttered,”So, now where do we try??”

“WHY DON’T YOU BOYS TRY GIVING UP!! YOU CAN’T ESCAPE ME!!”

“IT’S THAT CRAZY BUS- DRIVER- ZOMBIE- MONSTER THINGY!!”Nick shrieked,”Lets get the hell out of here!!”

“Whoa Nicky, we don’t where he is, we can just be running into him!”AJ held Nick down as he tried to scamper away.

“I DON’T CARE! I’m not waiting around here!”Nick’s voice was cracking hysterically,”Let me go! When I get out, I’ll send someone back for you guys.”

“Now that’s cold man,”AJ said, still holding him down.

“Man Nick calm down!”Brian slapped Nick across the face.

“Ow!”Nick yelled, he stopped fighting AJ,”What’d you do that for?”

“Sorry, but that’s the way they always get people to calm down in the movies,”Brian smiled sheepishly.

Nick looked at Brian darkly and rubbed his cheek,”Sorry, but I wanna go.”

“We all wanna go Nick. We’ll find a way out. Come on,”Kevin said. They traveled down the hall in a close clump, stepping on each others feet. After about fifteen minutes of traveling that way...

“Um guys, not to be rude or anything.. BUT I NEED MY PERSONAL SPACE!!”AJ burst out.

“Oh, sorry,”everybody moved apart a little bit.

“Hey what’s that?”Nick asked walking over to a table against the wall. On it was an old fashioned looking lantern.

“Nick don’t... touch it,”Howie began in vain,”Well it didn’t hurt you. Does it work?”

Nick ran his hands along the lantern and found the screw. He turned it a few times and a bright glow came from the lantern,”Yup, it works...”Nick said shielding his eyes from the light.

“Good,”Kevin said,”You come walk up front now.”

They traveled down they hall bumping into each other, letting out startled little yelps, then shushing each other again.

“Hey,”AJ paused,”Did you guys hear something?”

“Oh man, AJ, don’t start that again! It’s not funny!”Howie complained rolling his eyes at AJ.

“I’m not being funny, I really did hear something!”AJ argued.

“Oh yeah AJ, what was it, a......”

“A what Howie?”AJ asked rolling his eyes waiting to hear the stupid joke Howie was going to make,”A what Howie? Howie?”

“Howie?”asked Kevin.

“Howie?”called Brian looking around.

“Man, Howie, this ain’t funny,”Nick said beginning to sound hysterical again,”Come on out Howie...”

“Howie!”called Kevin and AJ,”He was standing right here!”

“Howie!!”Brian yelled.

“We all think you’re funny Howie,”Nick said beginning to laugh,”Joke’s over, come out.”

“He’s gone,”AJ said in a daze.

Chapter 3

“Oh, he’s just hiding,”Nick said with a funny little laugh.

Kevin looked at Nick oddly,”Nick, are you ok?”

“Ok? Of course I’m ok, why wouldn’t I be... except for the fact that we are trapped in a house with a crazy-bus-driver-zombie-monster-thingy-that probably ate Howie!”

“Nick be quiet, it might be able to hear you!”hissed AJ.

“Man, that thing knows where we are! Who’s it gonna snack on next... NOT ME! I’m all.... all.... Non- appetizing and stuff!”Nick called to the monster.

“Nickolas!”Brian snapped,”Do I have to slap you again!?”

“No!”Nick shrieked and held his cheek.

“So now what do we do?” asked AJ pacing around.

“Now we gotta find Howie,”Kevin said.

“We?”asked AJ,”Uh-uh, I think I’m gonna be with what Nick said before... We’ll go, and send someone back for you Kev..”

“Peace and love, cuz,”Brian said joining AJ.

“I want my mommy,”Nick said joining AJ and Brian,”Oh, here Kev, you might want this lantern now so you can see when you’re...”

“You guys ain’t going nowhere,”Kevin said,”You guys are gonna just leave Howie hanging like this?”

AJ, Brian, and Nick all looked at each other, then at Kevin and nodded guiltily,”See ya.”

“You guys! You know Howie would risk anything to save you!”Kevin said,”If he thought you were in trouble...”

“He would have left sooner than us!”A.J. said.

“Well,”Kevin thought about it,”Man, come on guys, I’m the oldest here and I feel responsible for you guys. We gotta find Howie. Then we can go. We’re all gonna stay together.”

“Oh, like we were gonna split up...”A.J. and Nick laughed,”We’ve learned something from watching Freddy Kruegger.”

“Man, I hope he’s not here too!”Nick whined.

“How are we gonna find Howie, Kev?”asked Brian tugging on Kevin’s jacket.

“I don’t know, maybe we’ll hear him scream or something..”

“Hello, if he’s screaming, why are we gonna burst in there? That’s just like saying ’Kill us please.’ ” A.J. said in frustration,”I’m telling you we cannot handle this ourselves... We need to get out of here and find help! Maybe the bus is still out there somewhere..”

“The steering wheel,”Nick reminded.

“Oh...Man! We can hitch hike!”

“No cars,”Brian reminded.

“Damn!”A.J. cursed,”So, what now?”

“Howie!” Kevin began to call.

“Oh great, just tell the monster where we are!”A.J. threw his arms into the air.

“What’s that?”Nick wandered on ahead of the group. It was a door! Maybe it was a way out! Nick jogged to the door. He inspected it first. Then he gave it a good tug. It wouldn’t budge! He began to push and press on the door with all his strength, “Hey guys I found a door, but it’s stuck!”

“Man, get off that! What are you stupid!?”AJ yelled, he and the others started to walk to Nick.

“I think it might lead to outside, if only I could...WOA!!!” The door had swung open suddenly and sucked Nick in and then slammed close again.

“NICK!”

“Oh man,”AJ said as they got to the door,”You think the monster got him?”

“GET ME OUT OF HERE!”came Nick’s yell from inside.

“Nope, I think he would sound a little more whiny than that,”Brian said.

“Nick, are you alright?”Kevin called in.

“GET me OUT of HERE!”

“He’s fine,”AJ said, he pushed on the door,”It’s stuck.”

Kevin rammed it with his shoulders,”Not gonna open this way.”

Brian looked behind him,”Look, there’s a table. Maybe we can use that.”

They walked over to the antique table,”Okay, pick it up on the count of three!”

“1,2,3!!” GRUNT!

“Ok, now, we gotta carry it to the door,”Kevin said with strain in his voice.

“Carry it?”Brian asked,”Oh man..”

AJ, Kevin, and Brian staggered with the heavy table’s weight over them,”Ok, on 3 we ram the door...” It actually took longer than the count of three to get the door open, but it eventually budged.

CRASH!!

The door cracked and splintered into pieces. The boys dropped the table; the table went skidding across the ice on the floor of the room. Ice? The room was sub-zero! Snow and ice were building up in every crevice of the room and creating ponds on the floor.

“Nick?”called Kevin.

“Nick, if you can hear us, answer us!”Brian called.

“Nicky, if you’re still alive, answer us!”AJ echoed Kevin’s call.

“AJ!!”

“What?”

There was a muffled noise coming from deeper in the room.

“What’s that?”asked Brian,”Shhh..” The noise sounded familiar. Someone was screaming, and something was roaring...

They stepped closer to the source of the noise and there was more clarity to the sounds.

They all froze in their tracks.

“AAAAAHHHH!!”

“It’s Nick,”Brian said. He looked around behind him trying to find another make shift weapon. Kevin and AJ did the same. Brian, located a 2 by 4, AJ, a pick axe, and Kevin, had found a spear.

“Lets go!”Kevin ran towards the distress wails and Brian jogged after him. AJ followed reluctantly.

They entered an ice cavern. Icicles clung to the roof reflecting the colors of Kevin, Brian, and AJ’s clothing,”Look.”

It was like Antarctica in the cavern. There was snow covering everything the eye could see! In the center of the room was a pond... strangely enough, the water didn’t seem to be frozen, though it looked cold and frosty as ice. It also seemed stiff. But this wasn’t what they were looking at. Near the end of the pond was Nick, he was frantically trying to pull himself out of the water onto a small snow island. He kept looking back desperately afraid of something.

“NICK!”Brian called to him.

Nick looked over to see them and he began to shake his head violently and wave his arms at them signaling them to go away, this caused him to lose his balance and fall back into the water.

Kevin, AJ, and Brian looked at that, then shrugged. They began to come closer to Nick trying to find a way to get to him the fastest.

“GO BACK! GET OUT! IT’S COMING!”Nick yelled.

“It?”AJ asked. Then they saw “it”. It was a massive, colossal, squid. It was sleek and black and its body looked like it was made of liquid nitrogen. The thing roared and a massive tentacle slapped down into the water breaking Nick’s small snow island in half. Nick tried to hang onto what was left of his island, he was making small little noises, almost whimpers. Brian and Kevin started forward, AJ, again, followed reluctantly.

“We gotta do something! We need a distraction!”Brian yelled, he dropped his 2 by 4 and began making massive snow balls he started hurling them at the monster with painful accuracy. One snow ball hit the monster square in the eye. The monster squealed and roared and turned to face Brian. It had eight unblinking eyes of obsidian; its mouth was a huge gaping hole in it’s face.

“Um Bri? Now that it’s distracted, what?”AJ asked.

Brian looked at the monster and shook,”RUN! RUN! RUN!” Brian trekked off across the snow desert. The monster was big and slow, it couldn’t follow Brian very quickly. AJ took the cue from Brian and also began hurling snow balls at the beast. The beast squealed and went after AJ, who ran in a different direction than Brian had gone. Brian was doubled over his knees panting, the frosty air was torture to breathe. He looked down into the snow and saw glistening, icicles! Brian began to dig up chunks of sharp ice and included them in his painful snowballs as he continued to hurl them at the monster.

While A.J. and Brian were distracting the beast, Kevin was making his way to Nick, who wasn’t moving much anymore. He was probably going into shock from the cold. He got to the frigid pond’s edge,”Nick,” he called out, but not too loudly, he only wanted Nick’s attention, not the monster’s.

Nick was startled, he had been watching AJ and Brian, he hadn’t been paying attention to Kevin, “Go back Kev, you can’t help me!”

“I’ll can get you... Can you swim to me?”Kevin kneeled by the pool.

Nick shook his head, he clung to his snow island”I don’t think I can. I’m kind of frozen.”

“Ok, I’m gonna come in for you,”Kevin said, he reached down to start taking off his shoes.

“NO!”Nick yelled suddenly,”You won’t be able to get back out! This water’s like jell-o or something! I fell in and can’t get out!”

Kevin froze listening to that, he had to think. He looked down at the long wooden end of his spear thoughtfully,”How far do yo think you can move Nick?”

Nick looked uncertain,”I don’t know...”

“Well try to come as close as you can,”Kevin stretched his spear out across the water holding the sharp end towards himself. Kevin watched Nick staring at him through the snowflakes on his lashes. Finally he began to slowly and unsteadily make his way across to Kevin. There was a furious bellow from the squid, he sounded close by.

“KEV LOOK OUT!”

A huge tentacle flopped down by Kevin, The impact jarred the ground and made Kevin lose his balance. He lay on his stomach still stretching out the spear,”Keep coming Nick, I’ll get you!”

“I can’t move anymore! I told you!”Nick was yelling in a shrill voice. “Calm.... WOA!” The squid slapped down another tentacle that knocked Kevin flat. The tentacle kept swatting at Kevin. Kevin kept dodging it. Kevin glanced down at his spear and waited for the tentacle to come down again, he stabbed. The monster screamed with pain and rage and came at Kevin, it hoisted its massive body out of the water. Kevin screamed and dove and ran. His spear was in hand, dripping with black monster blood. Brian took over Kevin’s job of trying to get to Nick. Brian had found his two by four again and he was stretching it out across the water to Nick.

“Nick!”Brian called to him,”Do you think you can reach this?”

Nick called back,”I don’t know... Can you let it out some more?”

Brian stretched the beam out even further, and he watched Nick slowly making progress towards the lumber. There was a sharp scream from the squid. AJ had hurled his long forgotten sharp pick axe at one of the squid’s eyes. When the beast turned to AJ, Kevin stabbed yet another one of it’s tentacles with his spear. The squid was so angry it couldn’t decide who to kill first!

Brian was beginning to notice something. The only person the squid seemed to actually be interested in eating was Nick, though Kevin and AJ were making it furious! Brian wondered if..

“It didn’t try to eat me until I fell into this stupid freezing jell-o pond! It lured me in here!”Nick said, as if he had read Brian’s thoughts and was answering his question.

“Maybe it can only eat what’s in the water,”Brian said.”So all we have to do is keep out of the water, and...” Uh-oh... Brian felt something behind him.. Something big, very big, and cold. He knew it was the squid, he turned around slowly. Now it was probably going to push him into the pond so it could eat him too. The squid towered over Brian raising its tentacles high above its head. Brian closed his eyes. Then the squid was squealing, shrieking, shrinking in pain. It squirmed and writhed and crumpled to the icy ground wailing and thrashing revealing AJ and Kevin on its back with a spear firmly embedded into its flesh. The beast let out one last cry and was still. Kevin and AJ slid down off its back drenched with smelly black monster blood.

“Wow, now this is a smell I will never be able to get out of my clothes.. I’ll have to burn them!”A.J. said jokingly, he helped Kevin up. Kevin wiped a stain of monster blood off his face.

“Thanks you guys,”Brian said looking at them in amazement.

“Don’t mention it.. Hey Nicky, you ok?”AJ called out to Nick.

“I’m freezing!” he got back.

“He’s ok,”Brian smiled, he retrieved the two by four. AJ, Kevin, and Brian stretched the beam out to Nick as far as they could go. Nick was able to grasp it. It took all three of them to fight against whatever it was holding Nick in the water, to pull him out. Brian held Nick under the arms as he shivered violently. AJ took off his jacket and put it around him.

“You ok, Nick?”

“Fine, just cold!”

”Let’s get him out of here!”

Chapter 4

Once out in the hallways the boys all slid down on the floor. The revelation of what they had just done finally hit them.

“Woa! We killed something! We killed something big!”AJ was saying.

“It was awesome,”Kevin was agreeing.

“You guys were great! You were all like super heroes! And you saved my life, thanks..”Nick was saying in awe of the three around him.

“Now Nick, I have to ask- Just how did that happen?”Brian was dusting snow out of Nick’s hair.

Nick blinked and shook his head causing a small snow storm,”I...I was pushing on the door and it just flew open and closed, and I couldn’t get back out. I figured you guys couldn’t get in, so I tried to find my own way out. I found the squid, and well, you can guess what happened next,”Nick’s words shook and chattered along with his teeth. Kevin gave up his jacket and put it around Nick too.

“Come on...”Kevin said,”We gotta find someplace in here to get you dry and warmed up. And we gotta find Howie.”

“Man, are we still on that Howie thing?”AJ demanded looking dismayed,”I thought we had forgotten about that crazy idea!”

“But AJ, after what happened with Nick and all. What if it’s happening to Howie now?”Brian said,” We gotta find him.”

A.J. was quiet,”Ok. Lets find Howie.”

“Cold, cold, cold,”Nick was chanting as the Boys walked up and down endless monotonous hallways.

“Nick!”Brian snapped,”We know you’re cold! We’ll get you warmed up in a little while!”He slung his arm around Nick’s shoulder,”That better?”

Nick nodded. “Cold, cold, cold.”

Brian sighed.

“Man! We need to give this up! It’s pointless! We are not going to find Howie! We should be trying to find a way out, so we can go to the police! They will find Howie! They can do more than we can!”AJ said turning on Kevin.

“By the time we get to the police it could be too late! Besides, we can do a lot! I mean, after killing that squid, I feel like we can do anything!”Kevin said, he looked lost in reverie,”I didn’t know I could stab something like that!”

“I didn’t either,”Nick was saying in adoration,”Maybe you should have been the one with the butcher knife.”

AJ let his shoulders slump after awhile,” Look, I’m sorry for acting like this guys, but I’m scared, I’m tired, and I’m hungry... that is not a good combination for me.”

“Yeah...”Brian said,”I could really go for a burger right about now..”

“Quarter pounder,”A.J. drooled,”Hey , maybe after we get out of here we can... guys? Guys? Oh no DON’T GO PULLIN’ NO HOWIE’S ON ME!! COME ON!!”A.J grunted. Damn! AJ took a deep breath and checked out his surroundings again. He didn’t remember seeing that ugly painting, he was in a different section of the house! “How did I get here?” He wondered. “And where did the others go? How dare they go off and leave me!” Oh well, he had his flashlight. AJ set his bag down on the carpet and began to dig around in it. He didn’t need those stupid, disappearing...

“Hello A.J...”

“Howie?”A.J. slowly turned around, to see his friend standing behind him,”Oh man D! You don’t know how scared we’ve been. How did you just disappear like that? I thought... Hey Howie, what’s wrong man?”

Howie stood in the same spot and didn’t return A.J.’s embrace. A.J., slowly pulled away from Howie and stepped back, his skin felt cool. Not icy like Nick’s skin had felt, but cool. A.J. stared at Howie, he looked pale to AJ,”Howie, are you ok? You’re not sick are you?”

Howie simply continued to stare at A.J.

AJ noticed two mysterious looking marks on Howie’s neck. They almost looked like... Bites?

“Um, Howie... You know it’s been nice seeing you and all... but uh... I gotta go find the guys, they’re...UH... probably worried... Being that I’ve just disappeared and all. I’d just better... Go. Yeah..”

Then Howie smiled revealing long milky white fangs,”AJ, you’re not going anywhere..”

A.J. started shaking his head,”Oh Howie....” then he tore off down the halls at warp speed.

A.J. found a room at the end of the hall and threw open the door. He closed it quickly behind him and began to barricade himself in with furniture. He leaned on his barricade and kissed the cross around his neck,”I can’t believe Howie’s gonna play me like this! I’m supposed to be his boy, not his dinner. We are going to have a long talk when we get home.”

A.J. got bored waiting for Howie, he stood and started to examine the room. Long, red, or used to be red curtains hung from what were probably windows. It was similar to the dining hall downstairs except their was.. Food!! AJ rushed to the set table. Gross food... ew. Busted melons, rats, eaten chicken, and cob webs! Yuck! He got deja vu being in this room. He recalled something familiar. He got an odd tingly feeling. Almost like downstairs in the ballroom, like he was under a spell. He knew where he was now. He felt for the mask on his face, at first it wasn’t there. Then he felt the familiar metal over the scared tissue of the left side of his face. He looked around his table to see his faithful lady followers seated around him, at the thrown of the table, where he belonged.

A.J. McLean ceased to exist.

Chapter 5

“AJ? Where’d he go?” Kevin was whirling around searching for AJ’s lanky form.

“A.J.!! Man A.J.! This Howie crap ain’t funny!”Nick was calling.

“Man, Kev, he’s gone... And he was right. We can’t handle this,”Brian said. He looked beyond scared now, he was biting his nails,”We need to leave, get the police, or somebody that can help!”

“Brian, I thought we already went through this..”

“Kevin, open your eyes! Howie disappeared, Nick nearly got killed, and we all nearly got killed trying to save him, and now AJ’s gone missing! Who’s next Kev? We need to get out of here!”

“Brian..”

“No! We can’t handle this! Look, Nick is freezing his butt off, he probably has hypothermia or something!”Brian was holding onto Nick’s shaking shoulders,”He’s already sniffling!”

“Ok, fine...”

Brian wilted with relief, Kevin had finally come to his senses.

“You and Nick go on, I’m gonna stay,”Kevin said, nodding them on.

“What??”Brian was furious,”We can’t leave you here! Are you crazy?!!”

“But you can leave Howie and AJ?”Kevin asked looking at Brian pointedly.

“No. But... It’s not the... oh never mind!”Brian gave up, he sounded exasperated,” Nick, you doing ok?”

Nick nodded,”Yeah, I think I’m ok... W-we should stay Bri.”

Brian grimaced, he looked from Nick, whose lips were blue, to Kevin who had a grim determined look on his face, then sighed”Oh fine, we’ll stay. But if he gets pneumonia, Kevin, you’re going to be the one who explains it to his mom.”

They walked up and down the hallways aimlessly. They peeked into rooms occasionally and got unwanted surprises. Finally they found a bedroom. Inside Kevin went to the bed and yanked off the bedspread. He and Brian wrapped it around Nick, who wasn’t saying much anymore. Kevin and Brian didn’t think it was just from cold, he was terrified. A fine tremor ran through out his body.

“I think he’s going into shock or something. Let’s get him out of these clothes, they’re frozen,”Brian said,”I think I’ve got some shirts, but..”

“I’ve got a pair of sweat shorts,”Kevin said tossing his poor mistreated backpack beside Brian’s and leaning over to go through it.

“Ok, lets hurry up and get him dry,”Brian said.

“Come on Nicky wake up,”Brian was saying rubbing Nick’s hands trying to generate some heat into his frozen compadre. They were no longer worried about the monster of the house getting them, they were worried about Nick. He seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness.

Kevin looked scared,”Um Bri, you guys were right. He needs help, now. We should be trying to find a way out of here, and send someone back for Howie and AJ. We need to leave before anyone else disappears... or...”he looked fearfully at Nick,”Come on Nicky, you gotta wake up so we can go.”

Nick stirred softly.

“That’s it, come on,”Brian said rubbing faster, curses to this drafty haunted house!

Nick’s eyelids fluttered and slowly opened, he looked from Brian to Kevin in a dazed manor, they looked funny to him. They were both all pale and fuzzy,”You guys ok? You look weird!”

Brian and Kevin both laughed weakly as relief tickled their stomachs,”He’s fine!”

Nick sat up slowly with Kevin’s help,”You ok? How do you feel?”

“Like I’m in New York in the winter time without a parka...”Nick shivered,”But that’s better than before... Before I felt like I was in Antarctica in my underwear.” He sneezed.

“Great, now he’s gonna get sick,”Brian groaned. ”Kev, don’t forget what I said before, you are the one who’s gonna talk to his mom!”

Kevin chuckled and stood up to gather up all their things.

“YOU BOYS HAD BETTER GET A MOVE ON, IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE POSTPONING THE INEVITABLE..BEFORE THE DAY BREAKS, YOU WILL ALL JOIN ME!! HA HA HA HA HA HA!!”

“Great, the crazy-bus-driver- zombie-monster-thingy-that probably ate Howie and A.J. is giving us advice,”Nick said,”We should get out of here.”

Brian put another shirt over Nick’s head first and pulled it down,”Both Kev and A.J.’s jackets are soaked from being in contact with you. This will have to do.”

“Thanks,”Nick told Brian, Brian gave him a hand in getting up.

“What time is it Kev?”Brian asked looking back at his cousin, who was gathering up his bag and the lantern.

“Huh?- Oh um... Hey, that’s strange..”Kevin’s brows furrowed together.

“What?”asked Nick, he and Brian came closer to Kevin.

“I think my watch is busted,”Kevin muttered, taking it off and shaking it,”Look at the hands.”

Nick and Brian took Kevin’s watch and held it between them, both hands on the watch were spinning like crazy.

“Um Kevy,”Brian began,”I don’t think broken watches do this sort of thing.”

“Maybe its possessed.. By..by.. The..”

“Crazy-bus-driver-zombie-monster-thingy-that probably ate Howie and A.J.,”Kevin and Brian said for him.

“Yeah,”Nick nodded.

“We’d better get out of here,”Kevin said ushering the others out the door and handing Brian his backpack. Kevin picked up the lantern and crept towards the door, he peeked outside and saw no one, “Come on guys, we can’t worry about the watch now. It’s not important. We gotta get out of here. The coast is clear, I hope.”

Back to the halls. They seemed darker and eerier than ever. The windows showed them an endless gloomy night outside. The light of the lantern was beginning to dim and fade.

“We need to find more oil for this thing!”Kevin said, then added lightly as a joke to lighten up the mood of his companions,” Man, too bad Howie isn’t here. We could wring out his hair to replenish the supply .”

He got fragile smiles from the other two.

“Ok, I don’t think we’ve been down here. There’s bound to be more oil, or another lantern somewhere.. The first one wasn’t to... guys? Nick? Bri? Hello?”Kevin stopped dead in his tracks. He shined the lantern’s dim light around to find the faces of his solemn companions gone. Where was he? He really didn’t remember coming down this hallway, and he had been keeping track! Oh no... He had probably just disappeared like AJ and Howie to the others. Kevin fearfully shined the light on up ahead. I should have listened to AJ! We should have been trying to find a way out, not looking for Howie. We can’t help... It was a little late to be thinking that way now though.

Kevin sighed, Nick’s crazy-bus-driver-zombie-monster-thingy- that probably ate Howie and A.J. was probably going to eat him too now. Kevin wandered down a long hallway all alone, with no signs of Nick or Brian. He heard someone clear their throat, Kevin jumped around at the sound. He whirled around to find himself being confronted by AJ!

“Running would prove to be extremely imprudent,”AJ said in a cool clinical voice.

“AJ? Is that you kid? Hey, it is you!”Kevin bounded up to AJ,”Where’ve you been? How did you get away from the monster? What’s up with the getup? And what happened to your face?”

“Silence!”A.J. roared, he flared the tails of his over coat .

AJ was wearing a perfect, black, tailored tux with long tails in back. He wore ivory gloves on his hands. He looked very elegant and poised. He wore a silver mask over one side of his face covering some horrible disfigurations, that Kevin didn’t quite recall being there before. AJ didn’t answer Kevin’s questions, he only stood there with a superior look on his face.

“AJ? What’s wrong with you?”Kevin said taking a step back from him. Kevin bit his lip and, and assured himself that it was just AJ, then said,”Look AJ, I’ve lost the others, and we need to find them... So come one, we can...” he broke off to look at AJ again, “What is wrong with you?” He demanded, he took a step back from A.J. Kevin had seen into A.J.’s brown eyes, they were empty bottomless voids...

There was something odd about him. It was like he wasn’t A.J, but that was impossible because. “A.J., it’s me Kevin. Listen I’ve lost Brian and Nick, and I need to..”

“Shhh!”A.J. shushed Kevin gently,”Do you hear the music?”

Kevin was slowly shaking his head, ok, A.J. had lost his mind, and he was really scaring Kevin,”I don’t hear anything A.J. What’s happened to you?”

“Listen you fool!”A.J. ignored Kevin’s question.

Kevin listened, out of fear of what would happen if he didn’t. He didn’t hear anything... He felt A.J.’s hands on his face,”Hear it...”

Kevin was frightened, he stood still in AJ’s hold... but what was that? Kevin concentrated. Music! Kevin did hear music! It was a sweet, almost classical sounding melody, played by a harp. Kevin was lost in the beauty of the sound, he slowly began to lose awareness of where he was and who he was with. The music enthralled him, bewitched him, into a deep slumber.

Chapter 6

“Do what, Kev? Kev? Kevin?”Brian couldn’t believe this,”Not again! NOT ANOTHER ONE! KEVIN!”

Nick placed his hands on Brian’s shoulders,”He’s gone Bri..” he was saying calmly,”Bri.. He’s gone.”

“No, no, he’s here! We can find him! We can!”Brian had a funny brightness to his eyes, like he was losing it.

“Ok, ok, we can find him...”Nick said softly,”But, lets sit down first, before we look.”

“Yeah,”Brian sat down hard letting his pack fall to the floor. Nick slid down beside him. Brian put his head down in his hands, he felt light headed. Kevin was gone! AJ was gone! Howie was gone! Who’s next? He felt Nick’s cool trembling hand on his back. Brian raised his head slowly, clearing it, “I’m ok... It looks like its just you and me, Frack..” Brian managed a weak smile,”Let me see if I can find my flashlight.”

“Man, have I already said I hate this place?”Brian exclaimed,”I hate this place!” He and Nick had been wondering around the house for what seemed like an eternity. The figurines and paintings they passed seemed to be getting more grotesque and horrible as they went along,”Hey Nick, have we been down this hall yet?” Brian gave Nick’s shoulders a small shake.

Nick was basically sleepwalking,”Hmmn?”

“Oh man, Nick! Listen, I know you’re tired, I’m tired, and I know you probably don’t feel good, but you gotta help me out here!” Brian said sounding desperate, his voice almost a whine.

Nick’s sleepy blue eyes looked at Brian’s long, weary face, then he looked down the hallway trying to wake up a bit and focus,”I don’t think we’ve been down this hall yet.”

Brian nodded, he appreciated Nick trying to participate, but he knew he really couldn’t take what Nick said too seriously. He had been mostly asleep walking down the halls, and wouldn’t have noticed if his own mother had been in one of them. They walked down the hall, hmmn... Nick had chosen well, Brian really didn’t remember some of these ugly pictures.. He hustled Nick on down the hall with him. At the end of the hall there were double doors,”Good choice Nick!”

Nick murmured something unintelligible.

Brian cautiously approached the door, he was remembering the last time someone had gotten excited about a door. He put his ear to the door. He heard nothing going on inside. He stood a distance from the door and kicked it open. He grabbed Nick’s arm and pulled him inside with him. Now where had Brian seen this room before.. It was the library they had explored when they first came in,”Nick look! It’s the library!” Brian jostled Nick to wake him up again.

“Huh?... Oh hey, we’ve been in here!”Nick said, he yawned and shook his head as if trying to clear it,”Hey, if we’re all the way back here, that means we’re not too far from the front door!”

“Yeah,”Brian sounded excited.

“But.. But.. Wait... What if.. What if the crazy-bus-driver-zombie-monster-thingy-that probably ate Howie, AJ, and Kevin is there waiting for us!”Nick said,”We’re lost.”

Brian hadn’t forgotten about that, though he wanted to. He didn’t want to agree with that out loud, but he felt that way too. He walked around the library with Nick following closely behind him.

He heard something.

“Did you hear something?”Brian stopped suddenly.

“Man, Brian, I thought you had given up on that game! It’s not funny,”Nick said sounding annoyed.

“No, it’s not a game, I really heard something!”Brian said,”Shh.. Listen! You hear that?”

Nick was frozen in place, he did hear something! It was the sound of footsteps, tiny, running footsteps! He grabbed Brian’s arm,”I hear it! Do you think it’s them?”

“Yeah, it could be,”Brian said sounding excited,”Whoever it is, they’re close.”

“Wait, what if-if it’s not them? What if it’s another monster?”

“Either way they’re still close, it’s just the ‘they’, may not be the somebodies we want to see!”

Nick groaned,”So what do we do?” he let go of Brian’s arm, and Brian was grateful. He had been cutting off his circulation.

“I don’t know Nick,”Brian scratched his head, he looked around the library, and tensed as he heard the footsteps again,”I think it really might be them, and if it is, then they have to be looking for us! We should...”Brian was getting excited, he glanced to catch Nick’s eye to see if he was as excited as he was, and saw that Nick had gone to sit at a wooden table and had laid his head down,”I should go check to see who’s out there. You should stay here.”

“What?! NO!”Nick was up in a flash, he grabbed onto Brian’s tee-shirt,”There ain’t no way I’m staying in here by myself, and you’re not going anywhere in this place by yourself!”

“Nick, I’m only gonna go out for a few minutes. I won’t go far,”Brian assured his trembling friend.

Nick looked panicked,”But what if the monster comes and he gets me, or you while you’re out alone!”

Brian shook his head,”I’ll be right back.”

“That’s what Kevin thought! And AJ! And Howie!” Nick was freaking out, and so close to his breaking point it was scary. He was hyperventilating, and he had broken out into a light sweat. Brian put an arm around him and

sat him back down,”Calm down Nick. You’ll be fine here. I’ll be back in a second. I just want to peep out and see. Here, take this..”Brian picked up a fireplace poker and handed it to Nick. Too bad there wasn’t any wood to be found, he’d make a fire to finally thaw this kid out, “If anybody comes you know what to do with that. And yell for me, I’m not going far. Just sit here.” Brian had made it all the way to the door before turning back one last time to remind Nick,”Stay here!”

Brian was gone after that.

Nick sat and shivered, he wanted to go home. Home is a place where monsters aren’t real. He wanted to get in his nice warm bed, with a cup of nice hot chocolate, and go to sleep. He wanted everybody to be back and ok, and for him not to be alone. This place was dark and it made funny noises. Nick began to hum to himself and shuffle his feet. There was a sound near him.

This place made funny noises. Nick sat stiffer and stiffer as he listened. One noise was especially disturbing, and it sounded like it was in the room with him. Someone, or something was here. Nick rose to his feet slowly, he held his poker in a battle position,”Who’s.. Who’s there?”he asked timidly. He really, really, hoped no one would answer him. And if someone did answer, he sincerely hoped it wasn’t the crazy-bus-driver-zombie-monster-thingy-that probably ate Howie, A.J., and Kevin, and was planning on eating a Nick sandwich next!

“I’ve already told you I’m not very good for eating. And I’m pretty sure you’re full from eating Howie and Kevin.. I mean, no offense to AJ, but you probably used him to pick your teeth. Don’t be a pig, I know you want to keep your trim figure...” Nick heard more rustling noises, ok, I don’t care what Brian said. He said he wasn’t going far, I can meet up with him easy. Nick scanned for the exit, but then...

“Nicky..”someone whispered.

“Yeah...”Nick looked around, then his eyes enlarged as he realized something in the room had spoken to him,”Bri? Is that you?”

“Nicky..”came the hiss again.

“Kev?”Nick picked up his poker and he began to creep around the room. He really was looking for the way out now. He felt positive he could find Brian himself. Maybe he had found somebody.

“Nickolas..”

“Kevin? Kev, if this is you, I am in no mood for playing games!”Nick said heatedly, he spun around to see a figure clad in darkness. It was tall and slim. An odd light shined on the man. He was turned to the side. He looked like something out of a Dickens’s novel, he wore a mint colored, long coated suit, with a vest, and a fedora. He looked as if he could have just stepped out of a carriage. He wore thin wire framed glasses. Very suave and sophisticated, and also very familiar. Nick lowered his poker.

“Kevin?”He asked uncertainly, but then he squinted and looked again,”Kev!” He dropped his poker with a clatter to the floor. He was overjoyed, he ran up to Kevin, who thought they had lost forever. “Brian just went looking for you! Have you been here the whole time? I’m glad you’re ok!”Nick was going to hug Kevin but he stopped cold. Kevin didn’t move or speak to Nick, instead he stayed positioned in that same odd angle that only revealed half of him.

“Kev... You are ok aren’t you?”Nick asked, now starting to lose some of his enthusiasm towards finding Kevin.. Or rather Kevin finding him.

“Yes, of course I’m ok Nickolas, why wouldn’t I be?” Kevin spoke with an accent. He smiled slowly, a smile that only showed on one side of his face... but then he began to turn. He was turning to show the rest of his face. And oh no Nick did not need to see that! The other side of Kevin’s face was all green and scaly. His hand...”Kevin what happened?”Nick asked quietly, fighting back a gag and backtracking at the same time, his hand! Looks at his hand! It was moldy and...

“Nickolas... Why do you walk away from me..?”Kevin asked with an odd accent.

“Because you’re all green and scaly and you’re talking like that guy on Masterpiece theatre! “Nick backed straight up into a bookcase, he gasped. The shelves rattled.

“But Nickolas, there’s no need to run... Come to me... He will have you too. Resistance is futile, join me, join us..”

“Man!”Nick took off running he wove in and out of bookcases going under tables and chairs. He broke clear across the library. “I can lose him!” he thought to himself. He ran around a suit of armor. He cursed himself venomously for dropping that poker! Kevin’s gone coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs! He also needed some lotion for that skin problem of his. Shoot not even lotion, a whole dermatology research center! Nick heard a sound behind him,”Kevin?” He turned just in time to see the very poker he had dropped being brought down on his head. The world went black.

“Man, I didn’t find anybody!”Brian complained crashing into the library looking disappointed,”Nick? Nicky? Hey wake up kid! I hope you had a good nap... Nicky? Nick? Oh man, don’t play this! I told you to stay right here!”Brian didn’t see Nick anywhere. His breath began to come quicker. He began to look around the library, he couldn’t be hard to find. In the condition he was in, he undoubtably had passed out somewhere. No Nick... Brian sank to his knees, how could he have left him? Brian blamed himself... Nick was just a kid! Brian wanted to cry, because now he was all alone. Brian stood after a while and he began to walk around and nearly tripped and broke his neck over something. He caught himself before he fell. What did he trip on? Brian shined his flashlight on the object on the floor. It was the poker he had given to Nick. There was something on the other side of it. Brian picked the poker up, it felt warm in his grasp. Nick couldn’t have been gone too long, the handle was still warm! Brian was excited but then as he turned the poker over his excitement turned to dread... On the other side of the poker was blood... Red blood.

Chapter 7

Brian had tucked the poker away in his bag. He knew it was a gory thing to do, but he needed a weapon. He had lost all his various ones. Brian wiped a tear stain off his face, his friends and cousin were all plausibly dead.

“DO YOU WANT TO GIVE UP NOW BOY?? ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS ARE WITH ME NOW.. YOU MIGHT AS WELL JOIN THE PARTY! HA HA HA HA HA HA!”

Brian had, had, enough,”No!” He started running blindly, scenery around him swirled and swooned, suddenly Brian was aware that his surroundings had changed. He was in an underground chamber. A tomb, or something. There was a large sarcophagus standing against the wall, with two other smaller sarcophaguses around it. Brian rolled his eyes,”What now?” Then he thought, Hmmn.. I wonder how much money I could get if I walked out of here with one of these things? He tried to find a way out of the basement area, there was a door. It looked locked though. Brian started towards it when he heard the scraping of something heavy being moved. He turned to look behind him quickly, and saw the door to one of the smaller sarcophaguses opening.

He began to try to open the door again, except this time more urgently, “Come on, come on...”

Brian peeked behind him, and saw a mummy-girl getting out of her big stone coffin. She was wrapped in gauze all except for the eyes and mouth, and a blond ponytail. Brian giggled, what a joke. He had been scared of this? The other small coffin creaked open, and out popped another mummy girl, this one with a brunette ponytail. They both looked curiously at Brian.

“Um hi, I don’t suppose you girls know the way out of this crazy place.. And maybe where I can find 4 guys... One’s real tall with black hair, that’s my cousin, and then another one’s scrawny with a baseball hat on, and a big mouth, that’s my friend A.J, and then a little short one with big curly hair, loves to talk., and a tall blond guy, with...”Brian’s voice trailed off as the mummy girls turned their backs on him and went to the large coffin, and began to open it.

Brian gasped,”Oooh-kay, thank you girls, I’ll be going now.”

Brian went back to desperately trying to get the door open. He kept glancing back at the coffin opening behind him. Finally he stopped struggling. The big coffin was opened. A male mummy stepped out. He was wrapped similar to the girls except instead of a ponytail, tufts of blond hair hung loose from the bandages. It was Nick!

“Dang, Nick, where’d you get that costume from?”Brian looked Nick up and down with a laugh, then he got serious when Nick shrugged like he didn’t recognize Brian, ”Now knock it off! Where did you go, huh? Didn’t I tell you to wait for me in that library? And then you go and leave that bloody poker for me to find? What was I supposed to think, Nick? Come on, we gotta find a way out of here. Do you know it, since you do look like you’ve been down here awhile? Well?”Brian looked at Nick impatiently. Nick looked back at Brian through his wrappings just as blank eyed.

“Nick stop playing around,”Brian reached out to grab Nick’s arm and Nick swatted at him,”Ow! Fine, but still come on!”

Nick looked to his two girlfriends, and they looked at Brian, all three looked kind of hungry.

Brian blinked and stared,”Nickolas Gene Carter, you are not funny. Now you say good bye to your little girlfriends here and lets go. And while you’re at it, take off this dumb toilet paper, man! You look stupid!” Brian reached out when Nick did nothing to try to rip the toilet papery stuff off. It wasn’t tearing. It was almost like... like... plaster. “How’d you do this?” Brian tried to tear at another piece that wouldn’t budge. Nick stared at him. Brian looked back at Nick.. His skin looked weird.. Kind of grayish green.... The last time Brian had seen Nick he wasn’t grayish green. Maybe kind of blue... but not gray... And definitely not green too!

Nick took another swing at Brian.

Brian ducked and looked angry, “Ok Nick, I’ve had enough..”

“Well that’s good, so have we.. Lets eat girls,”Nick said casually, he and the mummy girls all smiled at Brian... Gross.. Their teeth!

“Nick, man, when was the last time you brushed?” The three wrapped teens advanced on Brian, and began taking steps backward,”I... I’m gonna tell your mom if you try to eat me, man! I mean it! Don’t think I won’t! Man!” Brian charged to the door again and began beating it again with all his might, this time the door swung open. Brian scrambled out and slammed the door behind him. He found something to block the doorway for the time being and took off running,”Man.. Teenagers, you give em’ an inch, they try to eat you!”

Brian ran up the stairs and found himself in a dining hall, like the one he had seen earlier. There was a party going on. A whole lot of pretty girls in long elegant red dresses were sitting around a table, having dinner, or breakfast... or lunch.. Who knew what time it was anymore? All Brian knew was that he was hungry! The girls at the table still hadn’t noticed him yet, he looked to see who was at the head of the table. It was A.J.! Would you look at the get up he was wearing! A.J. looked like a real phantom of the opera. He wore a black tux with long tails, and half his face was covered by a silver mask. He looked very serious and even elegant himself. He wore white gloves over his hands, and he appeared to be speaking in a very sophisticated manner. The girl seemed to be doting on his every word.

Brian walked to the head of the table,”Hey A.J, nice suit. You think you can hook me up with some eats?” Brian looked down the table,”Uh... never mind. Gross man. What is this stuff? Busted fruit, bones, spider webs, rats! Is this even wine man, it looks rancid... Ugh! It’s blood!” Brian tilted a wine glass. A.J. looked at Brian in a cold, analytical way. He held his perfect gentleman composure.

He raised his hands, and the girls at the table rose.

“Hey, I like the power thing man, but uh... Come on. Nick’s gone koo koo and tried to have me for dinner, and I have a sneaky feeling the others are around here too. After we find them all, we can go and...untie Nick... and then get out of here.” Brian was going to say tie Nick up, but, he already was tied up. Hmm...

The girls began to close in on Brian.

“Fresh meat tonight girls,”A.J said in a deep voice.

“Well that sounds tasty, I think I might sit down and have some myself,”Brian said,”Do you mind if I take this seat right here. Since you’re standing and all- Oh!! You guys want to eat me! I’m the fresh meat! What is it with you kids today, and trying to eat folks? First Nick, then you... Oh man!”Brian broke through the crowd and ran from the girls.

“After him girls,”A.J.’s voice said smoothly.

“Oh man!”Brian was being chased by the girls in a curved path around, and around the table, while A.J. sat at his head chair at the table looking on,”Help! A.J. call them off! A.J.!”

There was a door, Brian took a detour, and dove under the table, then ran for it. It was stuck! No! Brian began banging against it. These doors needed oil!! The caretaker of this place should be drug out into the street and shot! Or maybe something in here ate him. Open, open, open! The door exploded open. Brian tumbled to the other side and shut the door quickly. He spotted a hammer and nails, he grabbed for them and began nailing the door shut along with a few of his fingers.

He slid down the door when he was done breathing heavily. He could feel the girls banging on the door from the other side. Man, what has gotten into these kids lately? Trying to eat people and all... Nick had it wrong, it wasn’t the crazy- bus-driver-zombie-monster-thingy that probably ate Howie... It was probably Nick who ate Howie, or A..J.! Stupid greedy kids! If they were that hungry they should have eaten before we left the bus! Brian wiped the sweat from his forehead, then he looked up to finally examine his surroundings. It was dark in this room. It was done richly with lots of velvet. A red velvet carpet led to... to... a coffin... Oh man! Brian had had it with coffins! If he saw Nick again today, and he tried that eating thing again, Brian was gonna karaticize his behind. Brian got up and crept quickly by the coffin, he didn’t want to wake up whatever was inside of it. And as it turned out he didn’t have to. What looked like a whole brigade of undead maids and one butler came out of one door. Brian dove under the table and pulled a chair infront of him. The undead maids dusted around the coffin, they fluttered around the room. Then oddly enough they left... Weird, Brian thought, he came out from under the table. He decided to inspect the coffin. He still held the hammer he had used to nail the door shut. He looked and there were nails in the coffin, nailing it closed. Hmmn... Brian didn’t have to worry about whatever was in this thing, it couldn’t get out through all these nails unless it was inhumanly strong. Something began to bump around inside the coffin. Brian jumped and stared at the thing. Slowly one by one the nails began to fall out. Brian watched in horror then made the quick decision that he didn’t want to know what was inside, so he got his hammer and started hammering the nails back in. The nails started coming out faster than he could hammer. Brian hammered frantically, but for every one nail he hammered back in, 2 more popped out. Brian was still hammering when he heard the creaking of the coffin opening, and he heard the door to the room opening, he dove for his hiding place under the table with the chair.

Bam! The lid to the coffin fell off, a short vampire guy got out. He was dressed all in black, like something from a Dickens’s novel. He had a gold pocket watch hanging from a gold chain on his pants. He wore a top hat, and he had long hair, this dude even had a cane... He was.. He was Howie! Howie is a vampire! Oh man, I suppose he’s gonna try to eat me too! Brian rubbed his temples, think Brian, how are you gonna get out of here? Brian saw his escape, he could crawl out from under the table and get behind the large red drape, he could travel behind that to the door, and no one would notice him. There was a scraping noise and then Brian was looking at a pair of glowing eyes,”Uh, hi... Juicy Fruit?”

He was pulled out roughly by one of the undead maids and set on his feet again, “What shall we do with him?”

“Lets not drink him, he is a pretty one. We can make him one of us,”a beautiful girl in red stood next to Howie, she looked pleading with him,”Please my love, can’t we keep him?”

“Yes, yes, I’m a pretty one, lets not eat me... we can.. What? No! I don’t wanna be no vampire!”Brian was all smiles, then all terror.

“I will be the only pretty one here,”said Howie,”We shall feed on this one.”

“Oh, I see how it is,”Brian said rolling his eyes,”I knew I should have listened to AJ when he said we should leave, but no, I agreed with Kevin,’ we should stay and look for Howie!’ ‘ We have to save Howie, he would do the same for us...’ And here you are trying to eat me!”

Howie cocked his head at Brian,”He is a stupid one! He may give indigestion.”

“Um... That’s right! I give gas, bad gas! And I didn’t bring any Tums with me, so you see, you can’t eat me. I’d... I’d get stuck in your fangs, man! Why don’t you go next door and eat A.J. and his stupid girlfriends.. And while you’re at it, get toilet paper boy and the toilet paperettes too!”

The vampires crowded over Brian, hissing and showing their long white fangs, as Brian backed up and up, and up, until,”WOOOOOAAAAAA!”

A secret passage way in the wall, coolness! Brian let out a whoop of joy, he had escaped being supper once again! Supper for his own friends.. That is a shame. He stood up and looked down the dark passage, his poor flashlight was gone. Brian began to feel his way along the walls. Gross.. The walls were all slimy. Brian was lost, all his friends had turned against him. They had all tried to eat him! Gosh, I mean, Brian knew he looked good enough to eat and all, but this was taking it a bit too far!

The end of the passage came quick and Brian found himself in a laboratory. There were bubbling noises coming from the back area. Brian saw lights and lots of colors. He stepped inside and quickly ducked behind something. He didn’t want to be seen. Someone was in here. Brian knew he couldn’t stay hidden there forever, but for right now it seemed like a good idea. He saw an old fashioned dressed man; that was in serious need of an exfoliate... aloe or something, and another hairdresser, that electric pink on one of his head just didn’t go. That was just tacky. That was just gross. That was just his cousin, Kevin. Oh man, Kev. Brian had learned his lesson from the first three tries. He didn’t want his own flesh and blood pining after him to eat him as well. That just wouldn’t sit right in his mind. What was wrong with everyone? They’re all monsters! They disappeared and became what they are now. They didn’t appear to remember Brian at all. They were totally in character. Brian was so tired and scared he decided to chill in his hiding place a little longer than he had planned on staying before. This was no time to sleep, but Brian needed rest... Disturbing thoughts came to Brian while he was resting. He recalled that dream he had had the night before. The one where he was a werewolf, a pimp daddy werewolf! Man, he had needed a tooth brush and some dental floss! Shoot who was he kiddin’ he needed a jack hammer to get all that cheese off his teeth!

He remembered something weird that made him wake up. After he came out of his room heading for the front door he had ran into Howie. He told Howie about his dream, and Howie had told him about his. In Howie’s dream he was a Dracula... Like now, only it’s real.

And Nick mentioned something about having a dream that he was a mummy, and two girls. How strange. Both Kevin and A.J. had had dreams too, only they didn’t describe them, besides A.J. saying his dream was a trip.

Brian really wondered. Did Kevin dream about being that monster he is? Brian peeked out to see the horrible monster Kevin had become and saw the other half of his face, normal... Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde . Kevin had looked at that book in the library! He could have dreamed it. And A.J. probably had a dream about being a phantom.

Oh man! That means if that crazy bus driver were to catch Brian, he become that nasty pimp werewolf with the bad hair and halitosis! Oh no way! Brian had to find a way to get out of here. He didn’t know how to help his friends, or if they could be helped for that matter. He had to get himself out. He was filled with purpose, he crawled out from behind the brown couch, and slunk across the room, behind Kevin’s turned back. He almost made it too.

“Stop right there,”said Kevin with an accent to his words,”Come here lad.”

Chapter 8

Brian blinked, well at least he didn’t say I’m going to eat you cooked medium rare. Brian stayed where he was to be on the safe side.

Kevin laughed frivolously,”Oh don’t be scared bloke, come here.”

Brian took small cautious steps toward Kevin. Brian grimaced when he got closer to Kevin and saw the deeply imprinted scales and green skin on one side of his face. The other side of his face, was the one of his cousin’s. Brian shook his head, If you had only let us try to leave when we had wanted to.

“Stir that mixture over there lad,”Kevin gestured to a glass beaker.

Brian shrugged and picked up the stirring rod.

“Gently now old chap, don’t want it to get unstable. I’m still working on that potion you know,” Kevin chatted with Brian as if Brian had just been there yesterday sitting in the parlor having tea and discussing things.

“Potion?”Brian looked at Kevin and looked back regretting ever glancing over. He couldn’t stand to look at his cousin’s ruined face.

“Oh yes, the one that is supposed to cleanse the evil and impure side of human nature out of ones system,” Kevin said.

“Um... No Kev... You know that stuff doesn’t work right?”Brian said.

“Kevin? Oh lad, you know that it is not proper manners for a boy of your age to be calling me by my first name, Dr. Richardson.”

“Boy? I’m 21! And you’re 24! Kev, snap out of it! You’re my cousin!”

“Is that mixture almost done old chap?”asked Kevin ignoring Brian.

“You better not let him drink it Brian,” said a voice.

“Yeah I know Nick, but how am I... Nick? Crazy mummy Nick? Man, I done already told you, that you ain’t eating me today!”Brian whirled only to see nothing beside him where the voice had come from... But I thought....

“Pass that beaker here my boy,”Kevin held out a green scaly hand to Brian.

“Don’t do it.”

“Nick, where are you?”Brian demanded.

“Talking to yourself dear boy? Tisk, tisk, I’ll have to tell your mother. I can suggest a very good doctor for you my boy. Now be a good lad and pass that beaker here.”

“Toss it, man.”

“What?”Brian was looking around.

“My beaker child,”Kevin shook his hand impatiently.

“What.. Oh... Uh... I think its unstable. I stirred too fast look..” Brian shook up the ingredients.

“Oh my, luckily I have spares.”Kevin chuckled to himself,” I am a scientist my dear boy! Now you just observe. I don’t have any volunteers so I will experiment on myself.” Kevin reached under his laboratory table into the cabinet. He casually swatted a rat aside and took out a red vile. He poured the contents in his chemistry set, let it gurgle with the other ingredients and poof. A pink puff of smoke, and liquid began to pour from a glass pipe into a wine glass,”Bottoms up old chap.”

“Nice going hot shot! You’ve got 30 seconds to get out of there... Back door’s open.”

Brian watched his cousin drink the mess in horror, then he did as he was instructed, he ran for the exit. He could hear his cousins horrible moans and groans and glass breaking. Then he heard animalistic snarling and something getting up and beginning to run with pounding footsteps. Brian quickly made it to the back door and slammed it. He bolted it closed.

“Good work Rok, only next time when I tell you to drop something, DROP IT!”

“Nick? I’m through playing invisible man, where are you?”Brian was turning around in circles. He felt something cool on his back, he turned as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He slowly turned around to see Nick standing behind him, smiling. Nick dressed in the clothes he came here in. Red jersey, blue jeans, neat hair. Brian felt something strange about him, but still he was so happy to see him. He threw his arms around him. His arms met each other. Brian gasped and stepped away from his friend, who had lost his smile.

“I’m not really here Brian,”Nick said softly.

“But you are, you’re standing right in front of me, but I can’t touch you. Are you- you..?”

“I’m not dead,”Nick said firmly.

“Are you..?”

“I’m not a mummy- man either,”Nick said,“That’s just a manifestation Chiros made.”

“Chiros? Like Mexican food?”asked Brian scratching his head.

Nick gave Brian a “come on” look, ”No, Chiros, as in demon of the house! He lured us here, Bri. He needed 5 young people and that’s just what he got... Well, he hasn’t gotten you yet.”

“Five young people? Demon? Nicky, what are you getting at?” Brian asked.

Nick sighed,”It’s hard to explain, Bri. I don’t even know how I know this stuff. But this guy is like an old demon and this territory is his. There hasn’t always been a castle here. He used to lure young children to these woods and he would take them and drain away their life force to feed his own, and they would become his followers.”

“What?”

“Let me go on, hopefully it will make more sense this way. Um.. He made this castle after the years went by to lure travelers here, and he would drain their life force and he would take them as his own followers. Those people in the ballroom, the mummy girls, A.J.’s girlfriends, Howie’s servants... All people taken by him long ago.”

Brian sat down,”Keep on Nicky.”

“He stopped getting travelers a few years ago. People started thinking the place was haunted and cursed and they boarded it up. Chiros had to find someway to get fed, or he would perish. He found a way, he went into the industry. He became a cab driver, he took the long way across the country side, had car trouble. People ended up here. He played a hitch hiker. He played a tour bus driver.”

“To get us,”Brian said quietly.

“We’ve got til day break to get out Bri. It’s basically an almost endless night in this place. That’s why Kevin’s watch was out of control, but there will be a day break. I think we still have time if you hurry.”

“Hurry to do what?”Brian asked and looked at his friend.

“Hurry to get us out!”Nick said.

“You guys, but how do I... you’re like?”

“We’re alive. Well alive right now. Chiros has us locked downstairs in a room together. It’s like we’re sleeping and all dreaming those funky dreams we had last night. Except now they’re real, and I think it’s what we’ll become if you don’t get us out before time is up.”

“So Kevin was right not to leave!”Brian said.

“We couldn’t have left if we tried. He wants you Brian. You’ve angered him by getting away from him so much. He doesn’t know I’m talking to you now, so you have an edge,”Nick’s image flickered.

“Woa, are you ok?”Brian asked looking at Nick’s image again.

“Yeah, it’s hard work holding this together. I’m dreaming myself as a mummy, because Chiros is making me, but I’m also fighting to dream this too. Whatever you dream in this place is real, Bri!”

Brian stood up,”Ok, lead me to you guys.”

“Chiros might be there Bri. It would actually be better if you just worried about getting yourself out. I can show you the way. Chiros never guards this exit, because it’s virtually impossible to find- for someone who doesn’t know where it is.”

“No, Nick,”Brian said with a heavy sigh, and a sad smile, “I guess Kev and I really are related, we’re both idiots who never do anything for our own good. Well, half the time anyway..”

Nick’s image slumped a bit, with dread,”You sure?”

Brian gave him the look, and Nick sighed and shrugged,”This way Bri, but you can’t say I didn’t warn you, and I can’t protect you.”

Chapter 9

“Hey Nick, I gotta ask you this?”Brian asked.

“Yeah?”

“How come I can’t touch you, and you can’t touch me in this dream- But in that other dream where you look like you the Stay Puff Toilet Paper Boy, you were as solid as me?”

“That’s because Chiros controls that dream. He’s much stronger than I am. I can barely hold this together, and now you want touch added? And you guys call me the brat!”

“Aw shut up,”Brian said, “I wish I could smack you like I normally would.”

“You’ll get to do that in a minute,”Nick said his voice more distant.

“Nick?”

“Sorry,”Nick was louder this time, “We have to hurry!”

Brian followed Nick’s ghostly form around halls and twists and turns, Brian had never been through, until they reached one particularly dark scary hallway, with an odd mist coming from it,”Let me guess. This way!”

Nick couldn’t laugh at Brian’s joke, he looked straight up terrified for Brian’s sake,”This is as far as I can take you. It’s not too late, you can still turn back! I can tell you how to get out!”

“I’m getting you guys!”Brian said firmly,”As Kevin said before, we leave this place all togther.”

Nick’s form began flickered in and out, Nick looked off toward the gloomy hallway, his eyes wide,”Oh no...”

“What? What’s wrong? What’s happening Nick?!”

“I have to go! I can’t hold this and the other dream anymore, Chiros will know! You can find your own way from here, can’t you?”

Brian looked to Nick,”You’re leaving? You can’t!”

“Just go straight,”Nick said softly, his image slowly fading.

“Nick, you can’t just go and leave man!”Brian said getting whiny.

“Chiros can smell your fear. Don’t give him a reason to come after you right away. Remember, your dreams are real here...”

Nick was gone. Brian was alone, again! Brian wiped his face and let out a breath. He had to calm down. He chose to come this way, and now he had to follow through. They were counting on him! Once he had slowed his pulse rate and his breathing, he slowly but surely began to walk down the hallway. He was careful not to make any loud noises. At the end of the hall was a black mist and a pad locked door. Brian almost groaned, how was he supposed to get through this? Where was Nick when he needed him? But then... Brian looked at the padlock, “dreams are real,” Nick’s whisper tickled in his ear, then he saw the key. Brian reached out to take it in his hand,“Thanks Nick.”

Brian entered the room silently, leaving the door open a crack. He tucked the key into his one good pocket and prayed it would stay there until he got ready to use it again, if he had too. The room was lit in an odd light. Brian ducked the low ceiling of the room, until he came into a high ceilinged room. There were five beds, four were occupied, by Kevin, A.J.,Howie, and Nick. Brian had done it! He had found them! Brian tried to run to the beds, but something was stopping him. He heard the laughter, that maniacal laughter...

Brian turned to face Chiros. He had lost his bus driver apparel and was now wearing a long black robe. He held a large scepter and he was still puffing on that cigar,”So you have come to me, though I do not quite know how you found my lair.”

Brian stood still, not moving not breathing.

“Wise choice in the end. People seldom make it easier on themselves, they all insist on fighting me. I always win in the end. But don’t get me wrong, the fighting is the best part of the fun!”Chiros laughed, he looked over to Brian’s friends, and laughed,”Young and stupid. That’s what I like. Your friends put up very good struggles, but in the conclusion, they gave in. I tried to pick off the weak and scared first. I took the curly haired one that likes to talk, Howard. He was easy. I tried to take the youngest, Nickolas, next. But you kept him from me. I retrieved young Alexander shortly afterward, and Kevin. They proved to be excellent new editions to my collection here in the castle. Did you enjoy my monsters? Did you enjoy the dance?”

Brian looked dazed.

“I hope you did, because you are going to be with us a very long time. Now it is time for you to come...” Chiros began to puff more on his cigar causing a cloud of confusion around Brian making him very drowsy. Brian began to lose sight of where he was and who he was. He was sooo tired, all he needed was a little sleep... Just a little.

Brian awoke to Chiros laughing, he was itching, when he looked down he saw that he was covered with fur, werewolf fur!! Oh no, he was that tacky werewolf! He tried to scream, but howled instead. NO! What had he done, he had gone to sleep, and let his friends down!

“No, you haven’t! There’s still time, you’re not fully asleep yet, you’re not fully under his control! You’ve still got control of your dream. Dreams are real. Do something Brian...” Nick’s voice came into Brian’s head, he looked up to see a transparent image of Nick looking down at him with pleading hope in his face.

Brian looked at Nick’s face, he looked back and saw the slumbering forms of his friends on the beds. It was this, that made Brian take control. He growled. He saw Chiros. Chiros had his back turned, he hadn’t heard Nick or seen him, and he wasn’t paying attention to Brian anymore. Brian bowed his head for a charge. He charged Chiros. Chiros wasn’t expecting this and was thrown off his guard, “Foolish mutt, I’ll teach you. My monsters come to me.”

The mummy Nick, vampire Howie, Phantom A.J., and Hyde Kevin appeared. They began to combat with Brian as well.

Chiros aimed his scepter and opened fire on Brian, who used his new werewolf agility to get out of the way of the deadly beams and from the false versions of his friends. Brian roughly decided not to direct his attacks at Chiros, but at his scepter. It seemed to be his source of power. Brian only hoped he was right. Chiros laughed as he fired on Brian, one beam did land. Brian fell out on the ground sizzling from the wound. Chiros towered over him,”And now, it ends...”

This was his chance, Chiros raised his scepter and Brian went for it. He used his uninjured hind leg to kick the scepter out of Chiros’s hands and onto the floor beside him.

“No! YOU FOOL!”Chiros screamed, but that scream was in vain,”You imbeciles, get my scepter away from that beast!”

A.J., Nick, Howie, and Kevin all leaned towards the scepter, but...

Brian smiled a wolfish grin at Chiros, “It looks like I win.” Brian bit the scepter in half with his massive werewolf teeth and strong jaws.

A flash of bright light erupted out of the scepter along with lots of smoke and vapors. Brian hid his face. When it was all over he sat up. The hideous mockeries of his friends were gone... Dust. He looked at his arms, the fur was gone. He felt his face for fur and felt none. He tested his leg, no burn! He jumped up, “I’m not a werewolf! I’m not a werewolf! Guys!” Brian ran to the beds, where his friends were strapped down,”Guys wake up! Guys?” I hope I’m not too late, he began unstrapping them from the beds. He wasn’t. Howie stirred first, “Hey Brian. Man, I was having the weirdest...” he sat up, “Where are we..?” Then it all seemed to settle in on him,”Oh.. Oh...”Howie sat up and shook his head,”Man, I was Dracula... and tried to bite you man, I’m sorry...”

Brian was hugging him, then pulled back,”That’s right! You did try to bite me! I don’t know if I should hug you again or hit you!” He hugged him.

Brian and Howie shook the others awake.

Kevin, A.J., and Nick all woke up slowly. Nick was rubbing the back of his head and wincing.

“Are you guys all ok?”asked Brian.

“Yeah, thanks to you, Bri,”A.J. said,”This guy is a hero!”

“Yeah, there should be a comic book about you!”Nick agreed whole heartedly.

Brian blinked and looked at Nick incredulously,“About me? You mean, about you, don’t be humble! If you wouldn’t have helped me out, and brought me here... Then you told me what to do when all looked like it was lost..”Brian looked at Nick,”He did it.”

Nick shook his head,”It was you Bri, you had the courage to do it. You could have left. I would have just as easily have shown you the unguarded way out of this place.”

“Nick, Brian, what are you guys talking about? Nick was lying here with us,” Kevin said looking confused.

“Yeah, but he came out and talked to me too.. He like dreamed a second image of himself out to help me,”Brian said,”Chiros didn’t even know!”Brian smiled with pride.

The others looked back at Nick in awe, “How did you manage that Nicky?”

Nick shrugged,”I wasn’t even sure if I could do it. I don’t know what gave me the idea to try.”

Everybody thought about that, and punched Nick in the shoulders, their way of saying, “Way to go Nick!”

“So Howie, what happened with you when you first disappeared, man?”asked Kevin.

“It was like one minute I was talking to A.J., and the next minute this hand covered my mouth and pulled me through the wall. I kind of blacked out then, and when I woke up I was Dracula. And I had the feeling of having orders to do. I went to get A.J.”

“Oh yeah, that’s when you came trying to get a midnight snack,”A.J. said,”I was walking with you guys when you all just vanished and I was all by myself. And then Howie came along, but he was acting stranger than usual. Then he showed me those choppers and I had to show my masculine side.”

“Masculine side? As I recall, the only side I saw of you was your back side when you went running down the hall yelling don’t bite me, and you barricaded yourself into a room,” Howie laughed imitating A.J. running down the hall covering his neck with his hands.

“Yeah.. Well, you would have too!”A.J. defended his actions.

“Well, I was walking with Nick and Brian, and I turned to ask them a question and they were gone. I was thinking about how stupid I was when A.J appeared. Dang, you should have seen how he was looking... He stared me down, and he talked in this real spooky calm voice, and gave me orders. Then he told me to listen to music that wasn’t there. The funniest thing was, I heard music. And then I woke up and I was Jekyll and Hyde. It was like I was living the book. I was Hyde, in my library when you and Nick came in, Brian.”

“I remember... “Nick said, he continued to rub the back of his neck, then the memory came to him,” You hit me!”

“What?” everybody looked at Kevin and Nick.

“Brian and me went to the library, and Brian left telling me to stay put, he wanted to check out some noises. After Brian left, psycho Kevin came out and chased me, and then when I thought he was gone... He knocked me out with a fireplace poker!”

“That explains the bloody poker I found on the floor of the library!”Brian exclaimed.

“Bloody?”Nick raised an eyebrow and removed his hand from something damp and sticky in the back of his head. He brought his hand to his face and saw the red blood,”Oh man, Kev!”

Kevin began to examine the back of Nick’s head.

“Kev, that’s child abuse,”A.J. laughed.

“Oh shut up, its not bad, it’s just a bump... All that blood’s coming from a cut next to it..I think I may have scratched you with the poker harder than I hit you,”Kevin picked up a sheet from the bed they were all sitting on and began stanching the blood.

“You guys know what?”Howie stood up slowly.

“What?”

“Lets get out of here!”

“Yeah!”

Then the whole castle shook.

“What the..”

“I WILL KILL YOU ALL FOR CROSSING ME!!”

“Uh-oh..”Brian said.

“Bri, I thought you killed him!”

“I did too!”Brian said,”I mean, I broke his scepter in half, and it blew up and he was gone...”

“Oh man! Don’t you read comics?”Nick demanded,”You didn’t kill him, and now he’s ticked! We gotta get out of here!”

Chapter 10

They all ran from the room and back out the way they came in. They got all the way to the ballroom, the dancers were gone.

“They’ve probably been set free, since you broke the scepter Brian,”A.J. said, his tone was bragging, like: Look what my friend did!

“Yeah,”Brian nodded looking pleased, he had felt sorry for the eternal dancers .

“YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!”Chiros screamed, he appeared in a flare of blue white flames and fury.

“Woa!”BSB jumped back.

“Looks like somebody’s been going heavy on the jalapenos..”

Chiros fired flames at them and they jumped out of the way,”You still think you can win! You can’t! You made me lose my slaves, but I will have you! I can drink you and still live. I can rebuild my fortress and use you five as examples..”

“You can’t do that!”Brian shouted.

“You! You were the one who ruined everything!”Chiros’s body charged with a strange blue light,”I will have you first!”

“No!”BSB yelled. Chiros stomped his feet and the floor rattled and shook, the poor walls began to crumple, everyone flew everywhere scattered. A.J. lay sprawled beside the ruins of the antiques, he looked unconscious. A heavy piece of plaster ceiling was beside him.

“It wasn’t him!”Nick yelled over all the ruckus, his arms were straight down by his sides with his hands clenched in fists ,”It was me! I told him how to beat you! I outsmarted you!”

Chiros turned his crackling presence away from Brian to Nick,”You... YOU!!! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN SOMEONE WAS HELPING THE OTHER! YOU AWFUL LITTLE BRAT! I SHOULD HAVE HAD YOU FIRST! AND NOW I WILL!!” Chiros fired the blue fire at Nick, he jumped, and the fire struck.

“NICK!!”

There was smoke and no reply, the air around them sizzled with heat.

“You monster...”Howie began in a cold choked voice, he grabbed a ragged piece of glass and tried to charge Chiros. Brian got to him and grabbed him from behind.

Kevin was kneeling beside A.J. who still lie sprawled on the floor on his stomach.

“I will finish you all, just as I have finished him, and then I will have you... It’s still not dawn yet. I can still prevail!”

Howie was crying,”No, he can’t win. Let go Bri... He just killed Nick! I’m gonna be the brave one for once!”

“Oh yeah, what are you going to do to me?”Chiros laughed,”Come to me. I can make it painless for you.”

Howie broke free of Brian with a warrior yell and went barreling at Chiros, Brian chased after him yelling equally as loud. Kevin was yelling at the both of them, as he held A.J.’s head on his lap, he was gonna protect him the best he could. Chiros’s body took on a bright blue glow as he posed to fire on both Howie and Brian. This was an odd moment and it was almost like slow motion. Chiros spread out ready for his attack, Brian was grabbing for Howie, Howie was lunging at Chiros... and the sun was starting to break through the night, and there was a hand rising behind Chiros, there was a glint of silver. It came down. A silver blade sliced clean through Chiros’s back and pierced through his heart, it glittered and protruded out of the other side of him. Chiros was sputtering, choking on syrup colored blood, and shock. He sunk down to his knees to reveal Nick standing behind him holding the hilt of the knife. Chiros gasped and began to howl in pain and rage, his hands went to his chest, his back, trying to pull the blade out. Chiros wailed, and somehow managed to turn his head and glare at Nick, his foul blood splattered hand reaching for him,”I can still win,” Chiros choked,”I can have you!” Nick plunged the knife in deeper still, and Chiros wailed in pain, made a violent, desperate, grab for Nick, and then the first ray of dawn sparkled in though a large hole in the wall, “NO! NOOOO !! AAAAAHH!” Chiros bellowed as the sun seared his skin like fire. Beams of light struck through his body like spears made of lightning.

Brian was lying over Howie both shielding their eyes, as was Kevin, he covered A.J.’s eyes for him. Nick, the last time they looked, was still behind Chiros holding the knife in place.

Chiros let out one final wail before his entire body became engulfed with the light and he combusted. It was like an enormous crystal prism exploding! Every color of the rainbow rained throughout the house. The megaton force of the explosion shattered everything in its disastrous path.

Brian sat up slowly, painfully, he was covered with plaster, dust, and chalk, some of the roof had collapsed, and helped Howie up under him,”You ok?”

Howie nodded, looking around fearfully”Nicky?”

There was a groan and then there was Nick, a little singed, battered, and plaster covered, but ok. A nice hole had been burned through the middle of the shirts, he had borrowed from Brian. Nick stumbled towards them, Howie and Brian grabbed him and tried to crush him to death hugging him. They couldn’t quite believe this guy was still alive! They checked to see if he was hurt, Nick swore that Chiros had just grazed him. The blood running down the side of the shirts and pants told them a different story. Brian took the top shirt off and raised the second shirt to inspect the wound.

Howie called for Kevin and A.J.

“We’re here,”Kevin called, “A.J.’s out cold.”

Howie helped Kevin bring A.J. over to where Brian was wrapping up the huge scrape across Nick’s stomach. It seemed that he had told the truth, the fire had grazed him, but he had landed hard and skid across the ragged concrete on his stomach. He was knocked out a minute or two, then he woke up, and saw the long knife. It was the knife he had earlier that no one thought he would use. How ironic was that? He had crept up, plunged the knife clean through Chiros, and kept pushing, and held on until the sun got him, and he was thrown again. That time he landed on his side skidding out of control. His middle resembled raw meat!

A.J. lie on Howie’s lap now. Howie had found his bag in the wreckage, and Brian and Kevin were making a compress with a torn shirt and bottled water for A.J. Howie dabbed A.J.’s head with the compress until he finally came to.

“What happened? Did I kill him?”A.J.’s eyes opened slowly, then he closed them due to the bright light,”Man, who did the redecorating in here? The skylight look isn’t happening for this place...”

“I think he’s ok,”Brian nodded, feeling the back of A.J.’s head for a bump,”Here’s where you got hit..oh no, that’s just the shape of your big head...” He laughed.

A.J. narrowed his eyes at Brian,”You just wait til I get..”A.J. tried to sit up and strangle Brian,”Ow... Dizzy..” He sank back down onto Howie’s lap.

“You need to lie still for awhile A.J.,”Kevin told him, patting his stomach.

A.J. sighed and shut his eyes again, without opening them he said,”So, you guys never answered my question.”

“Which one?”asked Brian, rewetting the compress and applying it to A.J.’s head again.

“Uh.... Umm..”A.J. couldn’t remember,”Oh yeah! Is it dead?”

“Yes.”

“Did I kill it?”A.J. asked now seeming excited, he tried to sit up again and got pushed back down by Kevin and Brian.

“No, Nick killed it,”Kevin said, still blinking over that.

“Nick killed something?”A.J. couldn’t believe it, he turned his head to look next to him. Nick was sitting Indian style gazing serenely at him,”On accident?”

“No, he stabbed him.. Right through the heart man, from behind!”Howie said with pride.

A.J. groaned,”And I missed the whole thing?”

“Yup,”Everybody said, then laughed.

“So guys, how are we gonna get out of here?”asked Nick, he scratched at his stomach, and got his hand smacked by Kevin.

“Don’t irritate that!”Kevin scolded.

‘Sorry.. But it itches!”Nick complained patting at his stomach and sides now.

“Ok... Nick has a good question. How do we get out of here? Nick stop scratching that!”Howie looked thoughtful.

“You know, people are bound to be out looking for us... Maybe they’ll find us,”Brian said hopefully.

“Well, do we want to wait here for them to come, or do we want to try to find someone to help us out?”

“Someone? But there aren’t any people around here for miles and miles,”A.J. reminded,”What about the bus?”

“The steering wheel,”Nick said flatly.

“Oh.”

“What about Howie’s cell phone?”

“Man, the monster ate it!”Howie said,”And I hadn’t even used up all my free minutes!”

“Well, I can go out and see if I can flag somebody down from the road. People are bound to be out driving now that it’s day and not raining!”Kevin said standing up.

“I’ll go!”Nick wanted to join him.

“You’ll stay,”Kevin said,”The way you’re looking right now, you’d probably scare off any chance of roadside assistance.”

That got a laugh out of everybody, but Nick who pouted.

“Man, I did forget to ask you.... What happened to that shirt?”A.J. sat up slowly with Howie’s help.

Nick glanced down at the shirt with the big burn in the center,”Got shot at.”

A.J. blinked,”You didn’t get hurt?”

Nick looked at A.J.,”That guy couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn!”

“Yeah, but look what Nick did to make up for not being burned,”Brian raised up the remains of the shirt.

“Aw man! That’s gross!”A.J. grimaced,”It looks like lasagna... Ooh, man, some lasagna... I am so hungry. Man, right now if I were back at that table where I was the phantom... I would really go for some of that busted melon!”

“Ew!”

A.J. shrugged, he was hungry.

“How long do you think it will take for someone to get here?”asked Nick, he reached to scratch at his middle again, and two hands, Brian’s and Howie’s readied to smack him. Nick froze in his tracks.

“I think it might take maybe an hour... or 5 minutes..”A.J. ended with five minutes because right when he had started talking the roar of a loud engine could be heard.

A tour bus pulled up into the rubble of the castle. Kevin jumped out the door first followed by Nick’s parents, A.J.’s mother, Brian’s parents, Kevin’s mother, and Howie’s parents. There was a big fuss going on. Everything was mixed up for awhile. Everybody’s parents were fussing over their kids and asking what happened.

Of course at first they were stupid and tried to tell what had really went on that night... Everybody thought they were delirious and wanted to take them to a hospital to get checked over. Mr. and Mrs. Carter threw a fit when they saw Nick’s badly scraped skin over his stomach and sides... Ms. McLean fussed over A.J....

They hoarded their kids onto the bus and had the driver take them to the nearest hospital. At the hospital A.J.’s concussion was treated, Nick was given a shot and was wrapped up in saline gauze. They were all treated for cuts, bruises, exposure, and exhaustion.

Chapter 11

The story that the police had come up with that everyone assumed was true, was that the boys’ new bus driver was a lunatic. He had faked a bus accident in order to get the boys to his hide out where he was going to hold them hostage to get money from their parents. ( They had proof to back this, because there was evidence that this man had driven many a bus or taxi, and his passengers were never seen again.) The old castle wasn’t as sturdy as it used to be and in the storm it was struck by lightning and the roof caved in. The driver was killed, and the boys were alive... and like they were in the hospital... tired, hungry, and delirious.

“I told you they weren’t gonna believe us!”A.J. was saying to the guys. They were all in A.J. and Nick’s room visiting.

“Oh really, you did... I do recall you being the first one to bust out and say.. ‘Mommy there was a big monster and he tried to eat us!’ ” Brian mocked him.

“Oh man, I was delirious, then.. I do have a concussion,”A.J. said trying to sound sophisticated.

“Oh come off it A.J.,”Kevin said.

They’d been in the hospital a total of 2 days, they were going to be released soon, after they all talked to the hospital psychiatrist.. Groan! The doctors had wanted to keep A.J. and Nick a little longer since they were the ones who were actually hurt, but parents had talked them out of it. The Boys wanted to go home, the rest of the tour had been postponed.

“I wonder what they’re going to do with that old pile of ruin now. Are they just gonna leave it there?- Or what?”Nick spoke up from his bed on the other side of A.J.’s. Both he and A.J. were under strict orders to stay in bed, or else they wouldn’t get released with everyone else.

“Who cares, as long as I never have to see it again!”Howie said, he was sitting on Nick’s bed.

“Ow man!”Nick grumbled, when Howie accidently shook the bed upsetting the blankets and rubbing Nick’s sore skins.

“Oh, so now it hurts,”Brian commented.

“Man, it didn’t start until they put that junk on em’”Nick raised his blankets to look under his hospital gown at his gauze covered middle area,”Man, now I’m starting feel like the mummy-man again!”

They laughed.

“We can’t say that too loud. They already think we’re crazy, and if we go on talking about this our parents are gonna have us committed,”Kevin said looking guardedly out the open door. He waved at Nick’s mom who walked by the door and peeked inside occasionally.

“Man, we can’t just forget that it happened!”Nick said.

“No, we can’t,”Brian agreed,”But our parents don’t want to hear it.”

“We’re being treated like children!”Howie grumbled,”I mean, I can see them treating A.J. and Nick like kids, because they are. But us?”

“Hey, they’re just looking out for us,”Kevin defended their parents,” I for one am glad they are. And I am also glad that they showed up when they did. I was limping up the road and they sped past me, then stopped and came back. They jumped all over me, huggin’ and kissin’, then demanding to know where you guys were. They had talked to authorities and done this full scale search for us. You guys remember that last diner we ate in, before we went to the castle?”

“The ones with the cardboard chicken?”Nick asked scratching under the gauze and getting his hand smacked.

“Yeah. They reported seeing us going down the old road,,, that’s how they found us,” Kevin concluded.

“Man, I bet they were scared, maybe even as scared as we were,”Nick said,”Ow Howie, get off my bed!”

“Sorry,”Howie said,”I won’t move around anymore. Besides you’re scratching it, how does me moving around hurt it?”

Nick shoved Howie off the bed, and went back to finding another way to get under the carefully tapped gauze and scratch.

“So, guys... What are we gonna do?”asked A.J.

“What are we gonna do about what?”asked Brian.

“Well, we were trapped in a castle all night, terrorized by a..a..”

“Crazy-bus-driver-zombie-monster-thingy-that tried to eat all of us,”Nick supplied with a smile.

“Yeah,”A.J. smiled back,”And we danced with zombies, and got turned into monsters, and he tried to suck the life out of us, and Brian broke his magic wand and made him mad... Then Nick stabbed him, and the house blew up! We can’t just act like it didn’t happen!”

“We’re going to have to,”shrugged Kevin,”They’ll think we’ve lost it for good if we keep on with this story. But you know what, it kind of gives me an idea. A musical idea. I mean, maybe we can’t use it now, but maybe later when Backstreet Boys get big... We can make a video, all about our night in the castle.”

“Oh get real Kev, that’s crazy!”Howie said and laughed it off.

But Kevin had a dreamy look in his eyes, that was catchy. The bug of creativity bit Nick next,”Hey maybe we could. We could make our own Thriller, like Michael Jackson!”

“Guys, yeah right! Now you know if you were to ever tell anyone the truth about where this video came from you’d get put in the psych ward of a hospital!” Howie said.

“Hey, that might be a fun place for a video. We can play five crazy guys in a mental institution and...”

“Nah!”Everybody said at once,”Now that is stupid!”

“Back to the monster video...”

”Now get off of that! Who’s gonna go for something as stupid as that? A monster movie video! What song would we make in the future that would go with that!?! It’s ridiculous! We couldn’t get anywhere with it!”

“And coming in at number two for MTV’s top summer videos out of 100, Backstreet Boy’s “Everybody ( Backstreet’s Back )” announced Carson Daly from the beach of the Jersey Shores.

“And the Kid’s Choice Award this year for favorite song goes to.. Backstreet Boys ‘Everybody ( Backstreet’s Back )’!” shouted Rosie O’ Donnell into her microphone.

“And the 1998 MTV Music Award for best group video goes to the Backstreet Boys “Everybody ( Backstreet’s Back)”..

The crowd was screaming, Nick, Brian, A.J., Kevin, and Howie all stood up amiss them, hugged their families, each other, and ran up stage to collect their award.

They hugged the presenters of the award and shook hands, then they turned to face the screaming audience. Brian took the microphone to make the first speech. And Nick bumped Howie and leaned over to whisper in his ear, “And you said we couldn’t get anywhere with this!”

Howie bumped him back and smiled,”So I was wrong!” Then he stepped forward to take the microphone from Brian and began to make his speech.

When asked on how they came up with the idea for “Everybody” the Boys always say, ‘“Oh, it just came to us one night when we were traveling.”’ ‘“It came to Kevin first. Then Nick’s imagination blew it to pieces....”’

That’s what they tell people, and sometimes now they even believe it... But we all know now what really happened.... Don’t we?

The End?

Please let Eboni know what you thought of her story!