"Floor Four" - A Novella of Horror (Haunted)

Chapter 2 - R.S.V.P.

Doug and Kyle got Brandon to go along with their plan—a little peer pressure can go a long way. The plan was for them to lie to their parents and say they were staying at the other's house for the night. To fool their parents, they would actually stay at a relative of Doug's. Brandon was the least sure of the idea, but went along, trying to fit in. The noises they heard earlier at the old hospital were forgotten, as the excitement about the party grew.

The sun faded into the western sky, and darkness consumed the town. Kyle and Doug were at his cousin's house and waiting to hear from Brandon. They were getting excited about crashing the party and finally getting to go up to the famous fourth floor. Kyle worried that Brandon would screw up their plans.

"Maybe we shouldn't have let Brandon know what we were going to do. He might tell on us, and we'll all get in trouble," said Kyle.

"He'll make it. He wants to check it out as much as we do." Doug didn't have faith in Brandon showing up either, but he wasn't going to let Kyle know, or he might back out too.

Brandon sat at home, nervous, and had a bad feeling about the party. He looked forward to his first year of high school and didn't want to ruin it by getting in trouble, but at the same time, he didn't want to lose his new friends in Doug and Kyle. He still had a little time to decide before his mother would get suspicious and start asking questions. The hospital was only a five-minute ride on his bike, just in case he wanted to meet them there later.

Russell and the rest of the partygoers showed up around nine that night after Russell and Jesse set up a couple of pranks for later. They had a couple of friends drop them off with the keg of beer, coolers full of food, flashlights, candles and whatever else they needed for the party. The friends parked their vehicles just down the street at the twenty-four-hour grocery store, then walked back.

Jesse made it to the door first and saw the chain and lock.

"Damn!"

Russell walked up behind him. "What's wrong? Door locked?" Russell began to laugh.

"What's so funny? We can't get in now."

"I figured the old man would do something like this. I expected it. But, I know another way in," Russell said, with a smile.

"What? Another way?" Jesse had never known of any other way to get in.

"Yeah. Not many know about the entrance in the delivery area. You have to go down some steps to get to the door."

"And you never told me?" Jesse seemed offended.

"I never had a reason to tell anyone, as long as we could always get in through here," Russell said as he tapped on the lock with his flashlight. "Besides, my older brother told me about it, and made me swear to not tell anyone."

Without another word, they walked back to their friends. Jesse wasn't satisfied with the explanation, but it didn't matter right then, it was time to get the party started. As they got back to the group, Russell was all smiles.

"Looks like we have to use Plan B."

They grabbed their things and headed down the steps to the delivery area on the lower floor.

They made it through the lower entry, just as Russell had told them. Their climb to the fourth floor was a little bit of a walk, but no one complained. They were there to have a good time.

Doug checked the time, it was getting late. "He's not coming. I don't care what he tells you on those text messages," Doug said, "we're gonna have to go alone and hope he doesn't get us in trouble."