The Enigma Of Dead Man's Avenue

Locked In

5 minutes. 5 minutes everyone was stood there, looking at the picture in fright. There was not that long left, and time was running out, and quick. This picture was simply another clue to finding Damon. Nicholas stated, "Ok guys, let's go back to the living room." And as he said this, everyone began to walk out, with terror splashed all over them. They thought, who would do such a thing? Who would trap 7 kids in a house and then just kidnap one of them? They were so petrified, no one could even speak on the whole walk back to the living room.
3:49. Everyone was back in the living room, slumped on the sofas. There was pure silence until 3:53. Nicholas got up to say, "Look guys, I know what we saw was shocking, but at least we got proof." MJ got up then asked, "Proof of what? That Damon is gonna die?"
"No, MJ, that he's alive."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Well, MJ, I got a feeling."
"That's it, you just have a feeling? And is a feeling gonna get Damon back?"
"Look, MJ, we will get him back. And we will get out of here."
Dahlia walked in to interrupt, phone in hand, "Guys, it's 4:00."
4:00. The 4th hour starts, now.
Everyone went off to go search. It was now 4:02. Dahlia went over to Nicholas, "Hey, umm, may I talk to you?" He replied, "Yes, you may."
"So, umm..."
"Well, go on."
"It's just, Aurelia has been looking sketchy lately."
"And, why?"
"She just has. I mean, she practically darts out of the room. Maybe she's working with the host."
"Nah, she wouldn't do that to MJ, she's too loyal."
"Look, think about it. She has got a really good motive."
"Hmm, I guess I'll be keeping my eye on someone tonight."
He began to eye Aurelia, scratching his head.
"I'm gonna go talk to her."
"Bro, are you mad? She'll immediately suspect you."
"She's not that smart. She's practically a lap dog to MJ."
"Hmm, okay, just don't make it obvious."
Nicholas began to walk up to Aurelia, searching in the kitchen. He tapped Aurelia on the shoulder and then she immediately turned around, frying pan in hand. Nicholas then said, "Woah, calm down."
"Whoops, sorry."
"It's alright."
"So, umm, I need to talk to you, come with me upstairs?"
"Oh, alright."
They both walked upstairs, an eerie feeling blowing around them. They walked into a room. Nicholas and Aurelia sat on the bed. There was a silence for 10 seconds, before Nicholas worked up the courage to come forth with, "Ok, so, umm...", but he was interrupted with the door slamming shut. Both of their heads immediately turned to the slammed door. Nicholas immediately got up to check the door. He twisted the knob a few times, before realising, "Umm, the door is shut." Aurelia got up and observed the door, "Well of course, genius." Nicholas started breathing heavily, as if he was having a panic attack.
"Look, Nicholas, breathe." Nicholas's breathing started to go even faster.
"Look, Nicholas, look at me. Breathe. In through the nose, out through the mouth." Nicholas listened to Aurelia then started to breathe, in through the nose, out through the mouth. After 1 minute, his breathing began to slow down. Suddenly, he was calm. He was leaning against the wall before he noted, "Oh, sorry, it's just I don't like it when I'm locked in. I start to really panic."
"That's alright, but how are we gonna get out?"
4:16. Storm was in the bathroom. He was singing whilst washing his hands, "When I'm not with you I lose my mind, give me a siiiiiiiiign, hit me baby one more time! Oh baby ba-" but he was interrupted when a key fell on his head, from the ceiling. He screamed, "Ouch!", before picking it up and putting it in his pocket. Suddenly, the lights went out, and Storm screamed, "AAAAAAHHHH!!" A creepy voice then spoke, "Hello, Sébastien."
"What do you want?"
"It's not what I want my dear Sébastien, it's what you want."
"What do you mean?"
"Ok so..."
4:22. Nicholas and Aurelia were still trapped in the room, and Nicholas's breathing had returned to a normal pace. The room had an eerie feeling in it, and a draft blew around the room. Aurelia stood up to say, "Look, we need to get out of this room. Let's try and search around the room, see if there's a key, or something like that." Nicholas replied, "Ok."
They both got up to search around the room. Nicholas looked under the bed, and saw something there. He shouted, "Aurelia! Come help me pick this up. Aurelia heard from the other side of the room, and then ran over to Nicholas to pick this mysterious thing up. She then inquired, "Well, where is it.", as she put her hands under the bed, trying to find this mysterious thing. Nicholas took her hand and put it on the thing. They made eye contact for 5 seconds. After the 5 seconds, they looked away, as Aurelia stuttered, "Umm, uh, um-" They both picked up the mysterious thing and slammed it onto the bed. Aurelia asked, "Well, what is it?"
"It's a typewriter, genius."
"Well, why was it so heavy?"
"Maybe because it's a typewriter."
"No need to be cocky. What do you think it's used for?"
"To write stuff, genius."
"Wait, maybe it's what the host uses to write the letters."
"That's actually a good hypothesis. But anyways, let's search around some more."
They both got up to search around some more. They began to open wardrobes, and drawers. Aurelia came across a big, heavy drawer and begged Nicholas, "Nicholas, please help me pull out this drawer." Nicholas went over to Aurelia to pull out the drawer. Aurelia stated, "Ok, on 3. 1..."
"2..."
"3!"
And on 3, they both yanked the massive drawer out, resulting in it falling on the floor, whilst they both moved their legs out of the way. They began to examine what was in the drawer. But it was something out of the blue. It was just paper. A big stack of paper. Nicholas and Aurelia held a shocked look on their faces, before Nicholas remarked, "Well, it's paper."
"I think we can see that, genius."
"Yeah, but, it's just a random stack of paper."
"Maybe everything in this room has a link, like we found a typewriter like 5 minutes ago, and now we just found paper."
"So?"
"Don't you know what this means?"
"Umm, no?"
"This is probably like the room where the host writes the letters for us."
"Hmm, ok, remember that for later."
"Alright. Wait..."
"What? What is it?"
Aurelia checks the time on her phone."
"It's 4:35."
"Oh shit. We gotta get out of here."
"First let's search some more."
Nicholas and Aurelia went back to searching. As Nicholas was searching, a masked silhouette appeared behind him. Aurelia was busy searching through drawers at this stage. The silhouette suddenly spoke, "Boo." Nicholas turned around in fright, but the silhouette had disappeared. Aurelia went over to him, to ask, "What was that?"
"I don't know, but we need to get out of there."
As they approached the door, Aurelia spotted something on the wall. Nicholas was about to break the door down, but then Aurelia stopped him, "Wait, don't!"
"Why?"
"You see this wall right?"
"Umm, duh."
"So as you can see, it's in a square pattern, right?"
"Of course."
"But look at this square."
Aurelia pointed to the square.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"It looks different from the other squares."
"How?"
"So look at the other squares."
"Ok..."
"Then look at this square."
"Ok..."
"Well, did you spot it?"
"No, what is it?"
"Ugh, ok so look. This square that I'm making a deal about really is different. Look, it looks like it's been ripped off, and glued back on. Maybe there's something behind this square that can give us a clue to finding Damon. Wanna try and rip it off?"
"Umm, alright then."
They both gripped the square.
"Ok Nicholas, pull!"
They began pulling the square as hard as they could.
Earlier...
4:18. Dahlia walked in to use the toilet, but then saw the key on the floor. She picked it up, put it in her pocket then walked out.
Now in the present...
4:44. Aurelia and Nicholas were still trying to pull this square off. Aurelia spoke, "Come on, try harder!"
"I'm trying Aurs, it's not coming off!"
As they were still trying to pull this square off, they released the square and they fell back, with the square still stuck on the wall. Aurelia and Nicholas got up. Nicholas stated, "Well, it's not coming off."
"Well, thank you, genius."
"Look, it's almost the final hour, we need to get out of here."
"So what should we do?"
They both hear someone walking up the stairs.
"I don't know Aurelia, bang on the door?"
"Alright then."
They began to bang on the door. They both shouted, "HEY, WE'RE LOCKED IN!! LET US OUT!!", as they repeated the same process. Bang on the door and shout.
4:52. Dahlia and Storm were talking on the stairs.
"Look, Storm, I need some space."
"For how long?"
"Well..."
They were interrupted by the shouting, "LET US OUT!!"
"NOW!!"
"HELP!!"
"Hold on Storm, give me a second."
Dahlia ran to the door. She shouted, "Hello? Who's in there?"
Nicholas called, "IT'S ME NICHOLAS!!"
Aurelia yelled, "AND ME, AURELIA!!"
"WE'RE LOCKED IN DAHLS, GET US OUT!!"
Dahlia began to kick the door, then she remembered. The key from the bathroom, it was still in her pocket. She pulled the key out of her pants and put it in the door. She turned it and the door opened. She took the key out of the door and shoved it back into her pocket before Nicholas and Aurelia stumbled out, and ran over to Dahlia. They both squeezed her in a tight hug, suffocating her. "Umm, guys, thank you but I need to breathe." They released Dahlia from the hug, and they proceeded to go down the stairs. It was now 4:55 . As they both went down the stairs, Dahlia followed behind, very slyly. They went into the living room and sat down. Storm, MJ and Charlotte were just sat there, tired as ever. They were so desperate to get out of there they could barely move. Dahlia, Nicholas, and Aurelia slumped on the sofa, more sleepy than a sloth. Storm worked up the courage to ask, "So, how did you get locked in?"
Nicholas replied, "The door shut behind us, and then we couldn't open it. Talking about that, Dahls, how did you unlock the door?"
Dahlia replied, "There was just something jammed in the lock, I just took that out and that was it."
"Oh alright, Dahls."
"Yeah umm, Nicholas, I need to talk to you."
"Alright then."
They both exited the room. They decided to go into the entertainment room. They both sat on the pool table, as Nicholas started fidgeting with a cue. He worked up the courage to inquire, "So, umm, what did you wanna talk to me about?"
"Well, you know how I said there was something jammed in the door and I just took it out right?"
"Umm, yeah."
"Well, I didn't." Nicholas held a shocked look on his face.
"Look, what I mean is I opened it with a key."
"Huh?"
Dahlia explained, "Look, basically, earlier, I had to go piss. But then as Storm came out, I saw something fall out of his pocket. So when I went in, I saw what fell on the floor, and it was that key. I quickly shoved it in my pocket then I walked out."
"Well then why did you lie in front of the others?"
"I didn't want anyone to suspect me. Oh and by the way, it's now the final hour."