Betrayal at the House in the Woods

First Up (or Down)

Okay, according to Maps, I was 3 hours away. Time to take a deep breath and recap. What did I know so far?

Well, it surely had been a long and crazy week. It started off with this strange text from a guy named Thomas. His girlfriend, Hannah, had been missing for 3 days. But then he received a text from her with my number in it. And then it somehow got deleted from his phone, so he couldn't just go to the police with no evidence.

I knew nothing about this Hannah. Hannah Donfort. He even sent photos, but I really didn't know her. I would definitely remember if I did. But he was sure he didn't get the wrong number.

He then introduced me to his group of friends. Even though I got to talk to each of them — some opened up more than others — I still felt like I didn't really know them. Well, what did I expect, really. It was all just through texts. A part of me related so well with them and really wanted to trust them... But I also sensed everyone had something to hide.

They were a pretty strange group of friends. I didn't even know how they were all connected. Or maybe I sort of did. Thomas was the boyfriend. Cleo was the best friend. Lilly was the sister. Richy was the childhood friend/mechanic. Jessy was Richy's secretary. Phil was Jessy's brother and the owner of the bar they normally hung out at. I didn't quite know how Dan fit in. Maybe through Thomas or Jessy. Or Lilly.

And then there was Jake... I only just found out he was Hannah's half brother, who happened to be a hacker. He had helped me to access Hannah's phone cloud storage. The only one I really wanted to trust... but who was also wanted by the government.

It was all so complicated. The case was somehow linked to a "murder" slash hit and run from 10 years ago, as well as a supernatural local legend, "The Man Without a Face".

And then, there were the threatening calls, signs, and attacks, and also an actual dead body, Phil's arrest, as well as Richy's death...

I sometimes wondered whether this was all legit. But I guessed I was about to find out soon.

I didn't tell anyone in the group that I was coming. Except for Jake just now, but in a vague way. They all were packing to go to this house in the forest to get away from it all. I said I wouldn't go, so I hoped they didn't expect me. I wondered if it would still happen, now that Richy was dead...

Either way, I was going undercover. I've always wanted to do it, but never imagined it would be under such a crazy circumstance.

First things first, my name and backstory... Pretending to be a traveller passing by would always work. Or I could always be a novelist researching a setting for my next masterpiece.

And oh! How suspicious would it be if my undercover name was Agatha? As long as the surname was less obvious, I might be able to pull it off. Agatha... Holmes. That would work if I desperately wanted to get caught. Agatha... Spencer. Yes, that would do. Surely Shawn wouldn't mind. I could even pretend to be a psychic...

And where would I go first? I hadn't had any messages, so I didn't think they even knew about Richy's death yet. Maybe I could pop by to his garage, pretending I had some car troubles.

But if my car really needed a check, I would need to go to Tool Tastic because Richy now wouldn't be around to help. Unless his spirit got so upset that he would come back to life just to win the competition.

I smiled bitterly. That's wishful thinking, Eira.

People were being harsh to Anna from Frozen for falling in love and wanting to marry a guy she just met. Well, I must say, I was way worse. I hadn't even met the guy. AND, there were two of them, not just one.