Chapter Nine
Strange Findings
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Justin felt like screaming again when the darkness enveloped him. He could
barely take this anymore. Now he knew why Teri had been so scared, this was
pure hell. He slammed himself against the door again and tried turning the knob,
it was no use the though, the door wouldn’t budge. He sighed and sank down
onto the step and decided to wait for someone to find him. He hated being in
the dark though, unknown to what might come after him.
......................
Brian, Teri, Emily, AJ, JC, and Chris headed off to the right while Kevin and the
others went to the left. They were all nervous about doing this though Teri was
still the only one among the group that believed this place was haunted. They all
entered the large living room and looked around.
“Well, nothing in here!” AJ announced and started to leave the room. Brian
grabbed the back of his shirt and forced him back. “Hold it AJ, we’re checking
out every room thoroughly. You never know where Justin might be.”
AJ glared at him and said, “This place is not haunted, I don’t care what you say.
He probably is just playing some dumb ass trick on us and is sitting laughing in
his room right now.”
Teri stared at AJ in disgust. How could he be so cold hearted? First he said she
imagined everything she had seen and now he was accusing Justin of playing a
trick on them? She has enough from him.
“AJ, shut the fuck up!!! You’re being an annoying asshole right now. If you don’t
want to help, fine! But don’t go accusing people of anything!” Teri was pissed
and AJ could tell.
“Watch it Teri,” JC said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“Oh whatever. I’ve just had enough of his smart ass remarks.” Teri replied,
glaring at AJ.
AJ backed up slightly, surprised at Teri’s outburst. He stayed quiet, unsure of
how to respond.
“Um...well...” Brian said, trying to break the uncomfortable silence, “let’s keep
looking.”
They all searched the room but found nothing. “Ugh...he’s not here. Let’s check
out another room!” Chris said.
Emily walked over to the other side of the room and looked into the next room.
“I think this is some kind of sitting room.” They all stepped into it and looked
around. There wasn’t much furniture in the room and dust lay thickly
everywhere. An ancient looking TV stood in the corner and a few chairs stood
around it. The windows curtains were drawn shut and, naturally, candles were
scattered around the room.
“What is with the candles around this place?” Chris said, looking around.
They all started searching the room but could find nothing at all. No trace of
Justin anywhere.
“Ok, there’s nothing in here, let’s move on,” Brian said. Before any of them could
move, the candles flickered slightly and with a crackle of static the TV flashed on.
All of them jumped back, staring in fright at the TV.
“Wha...what the hell?” AJ said, then his jaw dropped open and his eyes widened.
They all stared in horror at the TV. Red lettering was slowly being scrawled on
the screen and what it said gave them a chill. ‘Time to play The Game. Time to
Die!’ With a zap the TV flashed off and the room was left in silence.
......................
Kevin, Laura, Lance, Nick, Howie, and Joey had just wandered into the kitchen to
try and find Ms. Calhoun. Laura had a funny look on her face and seemed to be
off in her own little world. Nick noticed and nudged her. “Hey Laura, what’s
wrong? You seem to be a little out of it.”
Laura looked up at him. “It’s nothing, nothing.”
Nick could tell she was holding something back. “Come on Laura, you can tell
me.”
Laura sighed. “I’ve just had this really bad feeling for a while and it hasn’t gone
away. Ever since Teri was found and told us what she saw down that hall. I keep
thinking that she may have seen something and that maybe we might be all in
trouble if we stay here.”
Lance turned around and looked at Laura, having overheard her. “Don’t worry
Laura, it’ll be fine. I bet Justin just got lost and that Teri probably did imagine
that. Nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah, that’s probably it, thanks Lance.” But that feeling still wouldn’t leave her.
Kevin was looking around the whole kitchen but could see nothing. “I wonder
where she could be,” he said aloud.
“Where who could be?” a voice said behind them, making them all jump. The
group turned around to see Ms. Calhoun there, setting a candle down on the
counter, with a look on her face like she had been expecting them.
“We were looking for you,” Howie said.
The old woman smiled slightly. “Oh were you? Well, here I am. What do you
want to see me about?”
They all looked at each other before Joey finally spoke up. “We wondering, is
there anything different about this house that we should know about? I mean,
our one friend went down one of the other halls on accident and told us she saw
something weird down there and now another one of our friend’s is missing....”
he trailed off.
Ms. Calhoun looked at all of them with a solemn face before starting to laugh a
bone chilling laugh. She finally stopped and scrutinized all of them. The group
shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. After some silence, she finally spoke.
“Well, you have now entered The Game,” she said, making it sound like a good
thing.
“Excuse me?” Laura said.
“I said, you have now entered The Game and there is no way out of it.”
“What “game” are you talking about?” Kevin asked, unsurely.
Ms. Calhoun started to explain. “As soon as you entered this house, you started
The Game. Now all of you must now play it. Each of you will be thrown some
kind of thing, I do not know what though. The Game ends as soon as the sun
rises fully in the sky tomorrow. Either you win or you lose. You win by
overcoming each thing thrown at each of you. But let me tell you, rarely does
anyone ever win, which means you lose, by losing your lives.” she started to
laugh again while they stared at her in horror.
“There is no way out of it so don’t even try to think of a way out. And the doors
are already locked and don’t open again till the sun rises. Have fun playing The
Game!” Ms. Calhoun laughed and with a gust of wind, she disappeared from
view.
The group looked at each other, not believing what they had just seen. Could
they really be caught in such a deadly game?
......................
Back with the other group, they had finally just gotten out of their shock at what had been written on the TV screen.
“That did not just happen,” AJ said.
“Oh God, please no! Don’t let this be happening!” Teri cried as she sank to the
floor.
The others were beyond words. Finally Emily said something. “Guys, we gotta
get out of here, NOW!”
They all expected AJ to make some comment about it not being true but he was
silent, too shocked by what had just happened.
Come on guys, let’s go look for Justin,” JC said.
Brian walked over to Teri, who was crying on the floor. “Come on Ter, let’s go,”
he said quietly while he pulled her to her feet. Teri just collapsed against him,
scared beyond belief. Brian put his arm around her and the group walked into
the next room to look for Justin some more.
They walked into a room that sort of looked like a bedroom. It had a bed in it
but that was basically it. On the other side of the room was a door.
“I wonder what’s on the other side of that door?” Emily wondered aloud.
“I really don’t wanna know,” Teri said, shaking her head.
......................
Justin’s head shot upward. What was that he had just heard? There were voices
coming from the other side of the door. He stood up on shaky legs and put his
ear to the door.
“I wonder if Justin could be on the other side? He might be,” Chris’ voice filtered
through the door.
“Oh my God! It’s them! They found me!” Justin thought happily to himself.
He started pounding on the door and yelled, “Guys!! It’s me! I’m behind the
door! Help!”
“Did ya hear that?” JC said, “it sounded like Justin!”
“Oh God! It better be!” Teri said.
“The door’s locked! I can’t get out!” Justin yelled again.
“It is him!” Emily exclaimed, “come on guys, let’s open the door.”
They rushed over to the door. AJ grabbed the handle and pulled the door open.
Justin collapsed on to the floor. Teri rushed over to him and gave him a hug.
“Oh God Teri! I’m soo sorry, you were right! This place is haunted! We need to
get out of here now!” Justin said.
“What did you see Justin?” Brian asked.
Justin shivered slightly, remembering. “I’d rather tell when everyone is here.
Where is everyone else?”
“They went to go find Ms. Calhoun.” Chris said, “come on, let’s go find them.”
They others all agreed. Justin got up off the floor and they all left the room to go
find everyone else.
Chapter Ten - No Way Out
Go back to 'The Game'