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“Invitation to a Halloween party? Ugh… Why? Why do I have to go there? They know I hate scary things!” protested Ashley while holding a letter with an invitation. “Oh c’moon Ash, it's going to be fun. We will eat some candy, watch some crappy horror movies.” Chris tried to encourage Ashley. “But the invitation came from Jessica, you know her, who knows what plan she's got, it won't be as peaceful as Sam’s Halloween parties.” Protested Ashley again. “Well yeah… knowing her it will involve more alcohol and more revealing costumes.” Murmured Christopher and then added: “so I understand where your worries come from… I mean seeing me half naked and in a pumpkin costume would scare not only one person.” At that Ashley laughed and bumped her fist into his shoulder. “What? You're stupid.” she said playfully. His jokes were sort of stupid, but she loved them just as she loved him. “Okay… okay… I guess it won't be that bad after all.” the young woman said. “What? Seeing me half naked trying to look like a pumpkin?” He put a smug on his face. She laughed at that again. “Oh shush it!”
“So… Will you go?”
“Yes, yes I will, geeeez!”
—
“I don't like it Chriiis…” Ashley said and wrapped herself tightly around Chris’s arm. “It… It's gonna be alright Ash, we will just find the others and-” slam of some door in the distance interrupted him from his encouraging speech. “What… what was that?” the scared woman asked quietly. “I don't… I don't know.” The young man admitted. They continued to walk through a dark corridor. The only light in that corridor was a moon light emitted through windows. They went to check the doors which slammed themselves about a half minute ago. Christopher reached for the knob and was stopped by Ashely. “Wait… are you sure you wanna do this? What if it's a ghost or something?” The blonde young man looked at her with eyebrow raised. “What? A ghost? Ash, those do not exist. It must've been someone from the group.” Chris sighed. “Y-yeah… I don't know… it could be Josh or Jess… or maybe all of them.” He looked at his beloved Ashley. She was so worried, so scared, so… fragile. He wanted to make her feel safe, he wanted to make her more comfortable, but the more he tried the more he felt like he tried impossible. But she had to admit that his presence does help her to give her some courage, at least something if not words right?
She took a deep breath. In and out Ash, in and out. The technique which was supposed to help with stress relief. She nodded at Chris, he took it as a sign to open the door, but when he opened them… The room was empty. “Huh? What the hell? Well, heh, must've been our imagination.” shrugged Chris. “What? Chris! We know what we saw! It wasn't our imagination!” snapped Ashley at him. “Oh c’moon Ash, there's nothing in here. Just look, empty room… oh and with a switch!” and a light showed the whole room. Not a single foot nor evidence of anyone being here a few seconds ago. The room had one window and door to who knows where. It seemed that both the door and window were made from the same dark oak. The room had one small coffee table which stood right under the window. Curtains that had the color of fresh grass moved despite the closed window. They both froze and looked at the curtains. “Chrisss…. Chriiiiisss? Lets… go… somewhere else, shall we?” she asked surprisingly calmly. “Yeah… I guess… we can agree on that.” said Chris and followed Ashley to a different room. The room once more had a window with a coffee table on it. Chris started to get fed up with the unknown situation so he got an idea to reach for his phone and give their friends a call. “Ugh, okay… I'm giving up. I’ll call others, hopefully someone hasn't turned off their sound.” But as he reached for it, he noticed that his pocket was empty. “Shit… must've fallen on the way when we ran out of that room with that weird skeleton.” Ashley tried to look into her pockets for her phone, but… she wasn't any luckier. “No phone either. Great, just great… this party can't get any worse. Fuck this party! Why did we even go here? I knew that it’ll be a disaster. Should've not listened to you.” protested Ashley. “I agree it sucks, but hey… at least we're in one piece.” another attempt to cheer her up. He seemed to fail once more. “What do you mean by that? Why should we NOT be in one peace?” asked the red head and her eyes ran through the room. It was very dim, but the moonlight gave enough light to make the wise girl notice the letter on the coffee table. Soon enough, it entirely took her attention. Not only was she a book worm but also a very curious person. Despite her “scaredy cat” nature, curiosity won over most of the time. She took the letter and read it aloud.
“All my friends are in the closet
Find them as they're itchy tasty still
Their blood won't be tasty for too long
Hungery as I am, the bone is lost”
“Umm… that's weird… that's very weird…” commented Chris. “All my friends are in the closet… find them as they're itchy tasty still… their blood wont be tasty for too long… hungery as I am, the bone is lost…” she repeated those words once more as she thought about the meaning. “Thats so weird…”
“Yeah, what does it even mean? Like someone killed our friends?” asked Christopher.
Ashley answered with a way more calmer expression than he expected. “No, no, no… I actually think it's a riddle of whoever is playing with us.” she answered him and still was thinking about the meaning. “All of my friends are in the closet…. That's it! They want us to start there! That's where they want us to look! Find them as they're itchy tasty still… probably means that we shall go there before it's too late!” Sudden thought hit Ash. “Oh my gosh… oh my gosh… what if… what if that someone actually talks about our friends?” She asked him and started to nibble on her nails. It was a bad habit she could not get over even in front of Christopher. “What? And you know that from that riddle? Ash… probably that someone is just playing with us.” Ashley did ignore what he said and focused more on the rest. Her eyes not focused on anything particular. Chris was still looking at his beloved with worry. “Hungery as I am, the bone is lost… oh maybe they were following them but lost track?” Her eyes went to study Christopher's face to see his reaction. Shortly enough their conversation was interrupted by heavy footsteps coming up from different room… they were getting closer and closer…
“Uhhh… Chriis…?” she pleaded. “Y-yeah?” he asked her. “Shouldn't we run?” She pleaded again. The steps were getting louder as they were getting closer. “Um… yeah… definitely.” He tried to think rationally but even him took fear over.
They run through dark corridors hearing heavy steps behind. Their breaths were getting heavier as they kept running. They weren't looking back. They didn't want to know what followed them. As they did not wish to know what was about to kill them.
Their pace was getting slower and slower. Chris tried to look for an escape, but there was none. Each of the doors in the corridor lead to a room and windows weren't even in consideration. One jump would've led to certain death. The thing they both fought so hard till now to avoid.
Ash fell. Her feet stumbled upon something that she didn't have time to look at. A huge fist hit the ground right next to her head and whoever it was, if it was a person even, roared. She screamed out of fear and looked at whoever had such a huge fist. It was a huge monster. The monster looked a lot like a human. The way it was capable of walking or wearing a jacket. The face on the other hand was a certification of that whatever, that it was not human. It had evenly long teeth, sharp blue eyes and lacked skin. You could see each and every muscle on that monster's face. Chris quickly stopped himself and rushed over to help Ashley. The monster went for another strike and if it wasn't for Chris, they both would be already dead. Just a hat and leather suit and he would be like a monster from one horror video game I played last summer, okay and maybe a little face fixing. That was first thought when Chris directly looked at the monster. He held Ashley’s hand and ran for the doors in front of them. As they ran, they noticed a small light emitted through the hole under the door. Maybe that was the exit? Maybe it was the end of this nightmare? Or was it the beginning of the new end?
A sudden darkness embraced their minds…
—
“Bhaahahah, no waayy, no freakin’ way! But hey now seriously…” a happy female voice was interrupted by a more sharp female voice. “You and serious? Please stop pretending.” the other voice seemed upset. “Heyyy! I can be serious when I want to!” and the other voice replied once more. “And since when do you want to be serious?”
“Since never.” said the girl playfully. You didn't need to look at her to know that she was grinning. “Anyway, Em thanks for interrupting me, but it would be lovely dovey if you let me finish what I wanted to say.” said the voice more sharp. Probably tried to imply that she wanted to say something important. “Announcement! Jessica Riley wants to say something important, announcement Jessica Riley wants to say something important!” screamed a male voice. Em and Jess immediately shushed their friend. “Shshhhhh they’re still asleep, Mike.” he got scolded by Jess who sat next to Michael. Right behind Jess sat Emily. Ash and Chris were right next to her. Ash seemed to have her head comfortably on Chris’s shoulder while he seemed to be comfortable by her closeness.
They both Ashley and Chris started to hear the sound of an engine as the voices they heard became more clear. She blinked a few times. “Wh…what?” Ashley asked confused as her vision started to form into her friends and inside of the car. It was very different from the corridors she saw a moment ago. “See?! I told you that you'll wake em’!” Jess said to Mike with a frown. “Heyy… we’re there almost anyway.” protested Mike. “I won the bet.” said Emily and crossed her arms. “Ughh fine…” Jess rolled her eyes in defeat and handed Emily her 20 dollars. “Wait… you did bet on me?” Mike asked, confused. “I mean yeah, it was kind of an obvious and easy win, not gonna lie.” said Emily as it was indeed the most obvious thing in the world. “And don't be offended Jess, you know I am always right.”
“Yeah, yeah whatever…” said Jess defeated. She was a bit disappointed, but not with losing 20 bucks. Who cares about this little cash anyway, right? Or so she thought, but it was more about the principle. Next time, I will win. You'll see Em. Jess thought for herself.
“What… where are we… I mean where are we going?” asked Ash a bit groggily. “Wow, you crashed very hard Ash. You were with Chris studying again till morning hours, weren't you?” Asked them Emily, but when she got no reaction from Chris nor Ash who both waited for the answer as it was the most important thing in their life, the raven haired girl gave them the answer. “We’re heading to the Halloween party we were invited to, obviously.”
“Ohhh… right… that Halloween party.” Said Chris with a way too obvious fake smile. “Whats wrong with you?” Emily raised an eyebrow and looked him up and down. “Um… nothing, we’re… I am fine.” Answered Chris which was not enough to the girl. “Oh cmoooon Em, they just woke up. Let them be.” Jess said gently.
Chris noticed that Ashley was not herself too. She looked at Chris with exactly the same eyes as in that room… And then it clicked to Chris… he nodded. The words were not needed, not only they both had a nightmare, but they both experienced it together. How or why was not sure, but at least something was certain… It made their bond stronger than ever.