"Look at us, we're in," Lizzie said. "Now let's go."
She attempted to run away but Andrea grabbed her by the arm.
"Not until we find the kids," reminded Andrea through her teeth.
"Alright, we're not going to find them all at once," declared Madeline, "so let's split up into groups. Preferably of two. So Andrea, go with Debbie. Skye can go with Lizzie. And I will go with... Aw, heck, no."
Sean chuckled slyly. "I guess it's fate."
"No, it's my brain fart kicking me in the back."
"Doesn't matter," said Skye. "As long as we find the kids, we let each other know and get the frick out of here."
"Yeah, alright. Andy, Debbie, you two go upstairs. Skye and Lizzie, stay this floor. And me and... Sean will go see if there's a downstairs."
"Sounds like a plan," Lizzie consented. "I just want to let you guys that I love you, I wish you all the best and I hope--"
Right there, the front door slammed close, darkening the living room slightly more and making the gang a bit jumpy.
"Oh, screw you guys! I'm gonna pee on myself! Come on, Skye!"
Lizzie ran towards Skye interlocked her arm with hers before pulling her out of the living room into the open door across the group. Skye muttered, "Ow!" as the frightened Lizzie forced her away.
So Madeline and Sean searched for a door to a basement while Andrea and Debra went upstairs into the top level of the gloomy mansion.
"Leroy," Debra whispered. "Leroy. Are you here, Leroy?"
"Why are you whispering?" asked Andrea.
"I don't want to disturb any... disturbances."
"Girl, there is no such thing as ghosts."
"Then where is Leroy and the girls?"
"They probably had to use the bathroom. Small teens have small bladders, you know."
"Why would they use the bathroom together?"
"I don't know. There's probably another-- Oh, heck, naw! That better not be happening." Andrea marched toward a closed door in the plain hallway. "Is this it?" She forcefully kicked the door open, not injuring her strong foot. "Linda, are you in here?" she yelled into the silent room.
Debra stepped closer to Andrea to get a peek of the room as well. But the only thing that came out of the room was tons of smoke that almost blinded the girls. It kept coming and coming, blowing the girls' hair back like crisp wind.
"Go away!" moaned an old man's voice.
The girls stood solid until Andrea became brave enough to reach for the doorknob and close the door. She turned around to face Debra who had a face of shock which matched hers.
"The man thinks that we should go away," she repeated calmly.
Meanwhile, Lizzie and Skye searched the dining room, unaware of what was happening upstairs. They walked around the dinner table, calling the kids' names.
"Lisa," whispered Lizzie, "Christina, are you guys anywhere?"
"Those are not their names," Skye mentioned.
"So what are you? Are you like a corpse or something?"
"I'm Gerard Way!"
"Is he dead?"
"No, this is how he used to look."
"So he's a zombie? Like that guy from Warm Bodies?"
"No. You guys are getting my nerves, not knowing who Gerard Way is. He is famous!"
The girls' attention turned to the dinner table which snapped at its two legs on the end. The table fell and the objects on top, including plates and utensils, slid down and off it, shattering on the hard wooden floor.
"Why did you break the table?" asked Lizzie.
"I didn't touch the table," Skye looked at her friend.
"Then why did it break?"
"I don't know but if you haven't noticed, there were cobwebs all over the half-eaten food. My guess, a family ate this dinner, left to eat better dinner and never came back in thirty years."
"So what you're saying is that a family lives at a restaurant now?"
"You know what? Maybe I did break it. So let's just leave it like that and continue our search."
Skye walked pass Lizzie so Lizzie had to follow her. Skye opened the door on the right side of the dining hall and just a second after pulling the door towards her, a flock of bats shot out of the door and flew over the girls' heads. They ducked, listening to the squeaking of the sudden, eerie bats. Lizzie screamed and flailed her arms until every bat possible was out of the next room. They all flew out of the dining hall to never be seen again.
"Oh, my God!" Lizzie said. "I'm going to pee on myself."
"Just relax, Lizzie," demanded Skye. "Just calm down."
"No, Skye, you don't understand. I'm gonna pee on myself. And I'm wearing a latex suit tight as a day so you know the pee won't settle right."
"Listen, the house is obviously old. Of course it would have a few bats chilling somewhere."
"Few? A few? Skye, you can make a marching band with those bats. I didn't need to count them to know that that was just not 'a few'. Okay, this place is haunted."
"This place is not haunted. Haunted houses do not exist."
Lizzie's eyes widened as she witnessed a chair from the broken table moving by itself around the girls. Skye turned her head when she saw Lizzie focusing hard on something else. The chair slowly progressed into the next room; the door closed with nobody touching it.
Skye quickly turned her head to look at Lizzie. "Some days I'm wrong."
Lizzie shut her eyes tightly. "Like a good neighbor, StateFarm is there!"
"What are you doing?"
"Calling for help."
"Liz', just--" Skye didn't bother saying anything else. She just grabbed Lizzie's hand and ran out of the dining room with her.
In the meantime, Madeline and Sean found the basement in the gloomy mansion. They searched high and low for the kids. Sean was nothing but excited to be spending time with Madeline. Madeline, on the other hand, was not looking forward to it. He was right behind her as they roamed.
"Krista! Linda! Leroy!" Madeline called in a sweetened voice. "Where are you? Please come out and don't take your time."
"Hey, what's the rush?" asked Sean.
Madeline glanced at him. "You know the rush."
"I'm gonna check that lamp over there."
"Okay."
Sean walked over the lamp he was able to see that stood against the wall. He dug into the shade to feel for a switch. Once he found it, he turned it on. The light that shined from the bulb was weak but useful. It was strong enough to show the message, "Get out or else" written in blood on the wall. White with silent terror, Sean turned the lamp off. He walked over to Madeline who looked at him in confusion.
"Why did you turn the lamp off?" she asked.
Sean shook his head then lied, "We don't need it."
Madeline patted on Sean's arm once she was a wiggling chair turned to its back. "It's the kids," she whispered.
The two walked closer towards the chair.
"Alright, the jig is up," she said louder. "It's time to go home, Leroy."
Madeline quickly turned the chair which was awfully light. Immediately she spotted what was sitting in the chair which was a moving realistic skeleton, rotting at the bones and dust falling off of them. Madeline shrieked and quickly zipped into Sean's arms.
Sean petted Madeline's back and hair. "It's okay, Maddie. It's okay. It's so okay."
Madeline tried to pull away but Sean held on very tightly. She managed to break loose and push Sean on the chest to keep him away.
"Get off me, dude," she said with a glare. She fixed her blazer by pulling it down. "You smell like corn chips."
The two looked at the bag of bones which stood up and tried to walk like a baby's first steps. Madeline's fear came back, running through her veins, and she ran into Sean's arms again. She shrieked again as the skeleton, moving its jaw up and down, approached them.
Sean pushed the skeleton away when it was arm's length. "Get away from her, man," he ordered.
The skeleton jumped back but still continued to walk forward. Sean pushed it again then balled his hand into a fist and bopped it on the head. The skeleton fell apart, snapping at every joint. It descended into a pile of helpless dusty bones which puffed a cloud of dirt.
"Stupid skeleton," Sean commented. "Can't even fight back."
Still holding Madeline, Sean turned around so the two could walk back. But right in front of them was another skeleton with the same bone structure. The two yelped as the second skeleton raised his arms and like a zombie, approached Madeline and Sean who backed up away from it.
"We're gonna die!" said Madeline, about to cry. "I'm too fabulous to die."
"I know you are," Sean agreed.
"I never got to be an actress or a lawyer or the first female president of the United States. Everybody knows I'm better than Hilary."
"I never got to play the guitar in front of thousands of people. I never even kissed a girl."
"How old are you?"
"Seventeen."
"Oh, poor shame."
"Give it to me."
"What?"
"Give me my first kiss."
"No way, Kid Rock. I don't like you."
"It doesn't matter. Besides, we're gonna die anyway and I would like to experience the suction of the fleshy lumps on a woman's pure face."
"This is why I don't like you. It's because you say stuff like that."
"Please, Madeline."
Madeline glanced at the bag of bones which was moving faster, coming closer. "Can you hurry up, skeleton?"
"Madeline--"
"I would like to die today, please."
All the way upstairs, Debra and Andrea ignored the voice and smoke that expelled from that room. So they carried on with the search. As they made quick steps down the endless hallway, a cane, carved for an old man, began hovering from its case which included a few umbrellas and feather dusters. Steadily, it drifted down the hallway, following the girls. It flew faster to catch up with them and when it had gotten close enough, the cane hooked on Debra's ankle, making her trip. She put out her hands before hitting the ground so she wouldn't hurt herself that much.
"Ow!" she uttered. "Andrea, you tripped me."
Andrea stopped walking. "I did not trip you."
"I felt your foot on my ankle."
"Listen, don't get all cranky with me. We're gonna find your playboy of a brother. So find your safe place or whatever it's called."
"You're just taking your anger out on me because you don't trust my brother hanging around your sisters all by themselves."
"That is not true. I don't trust your brother so that part is true. But other than that, I did not trip you. Alright, I'm sorry you even fell."
The cane hooked itself on Andrea's ankle and pulled backwards to make her stumble the way that Debra did.
"Geez, Debs', I said I was sorry." Andrea quickly lifted her head up to look at her friend.
"That wasn't me," Debra said.
The girls looked behind themselves to see the cane just floating in the air. It took a while but the girls looked at each other and screamed. Andrea bounced up and planted her feet on the floor to run with Debra. The cane bolted towards the girls and eventually threw itself at the back of Debra's head. The impact made Debra tumble down, causing Andrea to cease and help her friend in need.
"Are you alright, girl?" Andrea asked, putting her arms under Debra's arms from behind and lifting her up.
"Yeah, I can take a hit," Debra reminded. She helped herself up as well by getting her feet flat on the floor covered with a long, ugly rug.
"You know, when it comes to situations like this, we got to stick together."
"I totally agree. If one of us goes, the other has to go."
"That's what I'm talking about."
Instantly, the door next to them popped opened. And lots of smoke expelled out before a tall man in a coat, with the look of an age past 100, walked out and gave the girls a heart-stopping stare.
"Who are you to disturb my humble abode?" he asked in a deep voice; his voice echoing off the walls.
"Uh, she did," Debra responded quickly before pushing Andrea towards the ghastly man. She ran off into the hallway as fast as she could.
Andrea almost slipped but she didn't fall. She began running in the same direction as Debra, almost as fast as her. "Hey! Hey, don't leave me here!" she hollered into the hall.
"Girls! Leroy!" Skye shouted inside the den. "We know you're in here! Just come out!"
"If you stop hiding," started Lizzie, "we'll give you Trix. We hear it's for kids."
"Leroy, if you come out right now, I'll let you touch Lizzie's butt."
"What?! No! That's pedophilia. Or reverse pedophilia if he's doing it to me. Either way, nuh-uh!"
"Well, we got to think of something to get them out of here."
"We can draw them out with candy."
"Something a pedophile would say. Do you even have candy?"
"Yeah." Lizzie stuck her fingers into her catsuit and pulled out a mini candy bar. "Some of the guys in the neighborhood gave me some when we took the kids trick-or-treating."
"Okay, if some of your candy come in small plastic containers, don't eat those." Skye swiped the chocolate bar out of Lizzie's talon-manicured hand. "Plus, the kids already have tons of candy. They're probably in the closet eating all of it right now."
Suddenly, a butcher knife shot out of nowhere and stabbed the piece of candy out of Skye's hand. The knife and candy got stuck on the wall behind the girls like an arrow shot from a bow.
"Does that mean they still want it?" asked Lizzie.
"L-Let's-- Let's just get out of here."
Skye grabbed Lizzie's hand and pulled her towards the door. Once she opened it, a mysterious wave of cherry colored blood splashed upon the girls, drenching their faces and the front of their costumes.
"Yep, that's the last straw," Skye said calmly with her eyes closed.
She dragged Lizzie out of the room and blindly into the hall on their right.
"I don't think ghosts like candy," shared Lizzie.
Down in the basement, Madeline, who in Sean's arms, and Sean, who enjoyed every minute of holding her, were still facing the intimidating, live skeleton. They kept backing up until they hit the wall behind themselves. They felt like that they were at the end of a tunnel with no way out. And that bag of bones kept coming closer and closer.
"I just want to let you know that I love you, Maddie," confessed Sean.
"And I want to let you know that I don't," Madeline admitted.
"I guess this is it."
Madeline turned her head to the right. "Not quite."
She wiggled her arms to loosen herself from Sean's tight grip. She leaped over to the dirty broom that leaned against the couch. She picked it up by the stick and held it over her shoulder. She then jumped in front of Sean and swung the broom at the skeleton like a baseball bat hitting a ball. The delicate skeleton shattered and burst its bones all over the floor.
"Wow, that was really awesome, Madeline," Sean remarked.
"Thank you," Madeline rested the broom on her shoulder.
"You must be really good at baseball."
"I'm not sure about that."
"Have you ever made it to third base?"
Madeline held the broom by the end of its handle and pointed at Sean's face. "Shut up or I'm gonna poke you in the eye with this broomstick."
"Understood."
"Listen, I'm done with the basement. The kids cannot be here so let's go wait in the living room."
Madeline threw the broom across the basement and began to head for the stairs. Sean sprinted up behind Madeline and tried to get as close as he could. With Sean in the back, Madeline walked up the stairs. They were pretty silent until she met the middle and a really loud creaking noise was heard. When she hit the seventh step, the center of the stairs caved in. Madeline dropped as her leg got stuck in the new hole of the step. She screamed once she fell but screamed again when more steps broke, making the hole bigger and Madeline's lower half of her body sank in. She hung onto the sturdy steps in front of her in case she felt like she was really going to descend.
"Sean, help me!" she begged.
"Oh, Madeline, I will never forget you."
"You won't have to if you help me. Help!"
"Okay, just let me... step around for a second."
Sean began walked around the hole in the stairs by sticking his feet in the rails. He gradually walked up the railway, pulling his feet out from between two rails and sticking them into the next set of rails. Once he got near the second step from the hole, Sean carefully landed on the step.
"Hurry up!" Madeline demanded, shutting her eyes very tightly. "I'm about to drop in an endless pit of nothingness."
"Stop making falsifications."
"Just help me already!"
Sean crouched down and gripped Madeline by the wrists. She held onto his wrists as well for a firm clutch.
"Now pull me up," she said.
"You know, when we touch, it's like thunder."
"I'm about to strike you like thunder if you don't pull me up."
Sean rolled his eyes then used all of his strength to hoist Madeline from the dark hole in the stairs. For more than a minute, Sean pulled Madeline out enough for her to get her feet on the sturdy steps near the top. She then ran up the stairs with Sean following and the two made it out the door.
Madeline stopped and turned around to hug Sean compassionately. "Oh, thank you, Sean. Thank you so much. You saved me."
"Am I your hero now?"
"Yes."
"Can I kiss you now?"
Madeline pressed her hand on Sean's lips. "I'll find a way to thank you."
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