Sacrifices of Fire: Escaping Murder Manor

Chapter 2

When they enter the manor, the door closes by itself. Thomas walks back over to it and tries to yank it open. It doesn't budge. "Shit!" Thomas yells, "It's locked!"

"Well," Ellie calmly says, "at least we have all our supplies with us."

"Yeah, I guess. We better find a place to set up."

"Okay, let's find the living room." They walk around the manor until they find the living room.

"I'll stand guard," Thomas says, "while you set up. You're better at this kind of thing."

"Alright," Ellie responds, "I'll tell you when I'm done." She starts to set up their equipment. It takes her about fifteen minutes to set everything up properly. "Okay, I'm finished. Let's see..." Thomas walks over to her and looks at the computer screen.

"That sure is a lot of activity," Thomas states as he looks at the screen, "this place must be haunted."

"Yes," Ellie whispers, "it definitely is. We just have to wait until nighttime."

"Well, since we have to wait...want to play cards?" He holds up a deck of cards.

"Um, yeah. I'm going to beat your ass, just like I always do."

"Bet."

She rolls her eyes. "Bring it on!"

They start to play cards. It isn't long before Ellie wins the game. Eventually Thomas says, "You're cheating! There's no way you could've won the last game!"

"I'm not cheating!" Ellie states, "You're just a sore loser!"

"Ugh!"

"You really suck at this game!"

"I know! That's why I hate playing this game!"

She sticks her tongue out at him. "Sucks to be you!" They continue to play card games. Eventually Ellie looks out the window and sees that it's dark. "Hey," she says, "it's dark. Let's get ready."

Thomas nods in response. They get up and prepare for the worst. Soon after they're finished preparing, the house starts to creak and something jumps out at Ellie. It knocks her over. "Oof!" she yelps. She falls backwards and hits her head on the ground.

"Get off her!" Thomas yells. He wacks it with a pry bar and it disappears. He looks worriedly at Ellie. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," she replies, "I hit my head, but I think it's okay." Thomas gently puts his hand to her head. She pulls away. His hand comes back red.

"Ellie, you're bleeding. Hey, let me look at it." He carefully parts her hair to look at her head. "Oh, that doesn't look good. Hold on, I'm going to try and bandage it." He grabs the first aid kit and pulls out some gauze. He carefully wraps the gauze around her head. "There. That should help some."

"It'll do, at least, until we can leave," she says.

He nods. "That was definitely a ghost that attacked you."

"We need to find its bones and burn them."

"Yes, well, that's not exactly possible. We're kind of stuck here."

"It is possible. Its bones are probably in this house."
"Okay, how do you know that?"

"I'm assuming that it was killed in this house and no one ever found its body, so the body has to be here somewhere."

"Alright, we need to look around. No splitting up. It's too dangerous."

"Agreed."

They start to look around the house. "Hey, Thomas?" Ellie calls out.

"Yes?" he answers.

"I think I found..." She falls through the floor and lands on her stomach. "Oof!" She slowly stands up. Once she's standing, she bends over, trying to catch her breath.

"Ellie? Hey, are you okay?"

"I...I..." She doubles over in pain before violently retching.

Thomas hears the noise and calls out, "I'm coming down, okay?" She doesn't respond. Thomas jumps through the floorboards and lands on his feet. He rushes over to Ellie, who's bent down and breathing fast. "Hey, what's wrong?"

She groans softly. "I...I...landed...on my...stomach..."

"Oh...stay here okay? I'll try and find a way back up."

"Okay..." She slides down the wall and sits on the ground. She pulls her knees in and lays her head on them. Thomas leaves to look for a way back into the house.