Gonner, I'm a Zombie

5: When a Prank Goes Too Far and Gets a Kid Sent to Limbo

(A/N: ... I officially have no excuse besides a monstrous mix of hyper fixation on other fanfics/stories, school, and the age old issue of writers/artists block. So bad in fact that I couldn't even do a full, proper illustration of the character we're about to "meet". A sketch will have to do, but I am going to do my best to add other illustrations when necessary.

On the plus side, we have three chapters left after this one—unless the story requires extension, which at this point I'm 90% certain will happen.)

All she could hear now, despite the loud banging of her footsteps, was her accelerating, pounding heartbeat. Panic tearing through her still small body as she stared wide eyed at the old wooden door that she was simultaneously slamming her fists into.

"Jimmy! This isn't funny! Let me out!"

Her pleas fell on deaf ears just as they had for the past five minutes.

Maybe it was because the last time Jimmy and his friends did this, everyone turned out fine in the end. Except for them being spooked by a bunch of "props", probably only called that to make them feel better. But they'd decided that this prank was funny enough to repeat.

Hannah had fallen for it again. But in her defense, she thought that Scary Godmother and everyone taught them a lesson and that they wouldn't do it again. Heck, one of Jimmy's friends later apologized on his own and admitted that they were already feeling guilty for locking her in that spook house and were wanting to override Jimmy's "authority" to let her out.

So why, then, was she locked in an old, somehow scarier house again?

Maybe in their eyes time made it funnier?

Maybe they assumed it would go better because Hannah was older?

Or, maybe...

Crack.

Hannah paused briefly to catch her breath, seeing her fists trembling while her breathing was uneven and desperate. She could faintly register thin tears coming down her face.

This place wasn't the same as the one she met her friends in. She had some strong feeling that this place was actually worth being afraid of. It was in her gut, almost. And her uncle Billiam always told her to "trust your gut".

But how could she trust her gut when she was being held inside a place against her will?

Creeeek.

She started up again, paying no mind to the noise that came from her immediate action against the door.

In her haste and desperation to leave the old house, she failed to notice how her banging was pushing the wall supporting the door, not just the door itself. Her cries also muffled the loud, imposing creaking from the weakening ceiling.

Until, finally...

SNAP!

The girl only had the time to spin her body around and look up. Met for only a second with big, heavy, sharp beams of old wood floor.

AAAAA—

When Hannah opened her eyes again, she was cold. Very cold.

But otherwise fine.

She was held down by a lack of energy, or simply a lack of wanting to move. And that cave-in should have at least caused her to pass out. But, surprisingly, she had the strength to pull herself into a sitting position. Someone must have gotten her out from under the rubble when she blacked out. Only, shouldn't that person have been standing over her? Talking to her?