You can find all posts of the First Story here. It might help to read that one first, otherwise you might be confused, at least, in the first post of THIS story, for which all parts can be found HERE.
The last thing the rest of the gang heard outside was Kurt’s high pitched scream for help and a sick crunching sound: though they could not see the pair get crushed by the walls, they knew it was too late.
And just as they had done too many times before on this horrible night, they continued on their way through the mansion made of nightmares come to life, Reed quiet sniffles getting overwhelmed by the sound of Shane’s sobs.
Casey’s phone made a sound, and as they hurried away, she read her newest text message. “Hesitation is not your friend. Be certain of your next move, because I certainly am. Miss Lambert, you may want to check your hand.”
Although she never stopped moving, Casey shoved her phone in her pocket before uncurling the fingers of her left hand to see a black spot blooming on her palm. “No...” she whispered.
The maze group continued onward through the dark green twists and turns, until Spencer finally called for a break, needing a rest from keeping Katherine on his back. Casey turned away from the others to look at her palm again, still a little shaky.
“What is that?” Merril asked, seeing her and reaching to take Casey’s wrist and examine her hand. She traced her fingers over the spot, lifting them to find no sign of inky black on the tips. The marked girl handed her phone over to her friends in a way of wordless explanation. “It’s not painted, it just appeared?”
Katherine shook her head slowly. “...Haven’t you ever read Treasure Island? It’s the Black Spot. Just not on paper.”
“I thought we were trapped in a Wonderland-esque nightmare? Why are we getting references to a pirate adventure novel now?” Julian asked in annoyance, still hiding his own injured hand.
Casey rubbed at her hand a little frantically, trying to wipe the spot away. “Why me? I’m certainly not the captain here.”
“Just ignore it,” Spencer advised. “It probably doesn’t mean anything. He’s just messing with us now. We should keep going to get to the graveyard.” He gestured for Katherine to get back onto his back, leading the others through the maze blindly.
“This looks awfully familiar,” Merril voiced hesitantly. “Are we going in circles?”
“Everything looks the same in here,” Julian snapped. “We’re surrounded by possessed shrubbery. It’s all green and leafy. What else do you propose we do?”
“Guys, shut up!” Casey said, coming back from around the corner she’d turned. “Look-” The group followed after her dutifully, peering around the corner at the grey mist that crept from what seemed to be the center of the maze. The graveyard seemed endless as they looked at the unmarked entrance, the fog curling around the edges of their vision.
“What other choice do we have but to go in?” Katherine asked shakily.
At her tentative urging, they stepped forward from the grass onto a path of stones in front of them. The rustling of the bushed behind them made them spin around in alarm, watching as the maze closed their exit yet again, trapping them among the dead.
Spencer’s phone rang. Their host’s amused voice echoed from the speakerphone. “Dead men tell no tales...”
~~~
Derek bolted across the room towards the door, his hand curling around the handle as he tried to pull it open. “Locked!” he gasped at the blond beside him. Logan’s terrified expression was the last thing he saw before he switched off the flashlight in a fit of desperation for cover.
Their breathing was heavy, even as they tried to stifle it themselves. The only other sound in the room was the footsteps getting louder and louder as they came down the stairs. Silence fell, but Derek could hardly tell from the way his heartbeat was pounding in his ears.
“...Who’s there?” an eerily familiar voice echoed through the basement. The sound of a match being lit was the only warning before a candle illuminated the basement, including the strange figure that stood before them.
Derek squinted at him, flicking the flashlight back on to point at the other man. “Adam? You’re alive?”
Adam shielded his face from the bright light of the flashlight, trying to look at them. “Derek? Logan? What are you guys doing down here? What happened?” Other than a few minor scrapes and dirt smudges on his pale face, Adam looked hardly worse for wear. “What do you mean... alive?”
“You disappeared when Wes and Tabitha were killed. We assumed you met a similar fate,” Logan said slowly, eyeing the other boy. He wasn’t sure about the others, but he certainly remembered the few messages from their host about them being betrayed. “We got separated from the others. Where have you been?”
“I... I don’t remember,” Adam said shakily. “The last thing I remember was being in the library... and then suddenly I was in front of this passageway leading downstairs to you.”
The three boys met in the center of the room. “You don’t remember anything?” Derek said, doubt creeping into his voice. “That’s convenient for you. Not so helpful for us.” He turned to Logan, holding the pack of first aid supplies they’d gotten from the kitchen. “Katherine still needs these bandages. And maybe someone else might need this first aid cream or antidote. We have to get back to the others, somehow.”
Logan glanced over at Adam, who seemed a little lost. “Adam, check your pockets for anything useful. Maybe when you blacked out, you still picked up something that could help.”
The Hanover dug through his jacket pockets, pulling out a rusted bronze key with his left hand. “How about this?” he asked, handing it over to Logan to examine. The bow of the key was decorated with a skull, which seemed all too predictable at this point during their horror story misadventure.
Derek took it from his friend, moving over to try it on the door they couldn’t open moments previously. “Aha!” he said.
Logan turned to look as the door creaked open, leaving Adam behind him. “Let’s go!”
The three boys headed into a new room of darkness, but not before Adam glanced one last time over his shoulder at the empty coffin, his fingers closing around the item in his righthand pocket.
~~~
“Why is this happening to us?” Reed cried out as they stumbled through the dark halls, clutching on Shane and Ethan’s hands. “What did we do to deserve any of this?”
Charlie didn’t bother to answer him, and instead lead the group around another corner which led them to a set of stairs... that only led up.
“Attics are very high on the list of rooms in a house to be the site of supernatural activities,” Dwight blurted out shakily. “I don’t know if we should chance it.”
“Are you serious? What room in this godforsaken house doesn’t have a high likelihood of killing us?!” Danny exclaimed. “We have no where else to go.”
“We could go back the way we came-” Evan started.
“-and see if there’s another way down or out,” Ethan finished quietly.
“What do we do?” Shane asked Charlie, the pain from his brother’s untimely death still fresh in his eyes.
..........................................
