House Of Echoed Screams (Completed)

Chapter 3: Lost

     The laughing continued for about five minutes, in which Ryan, Nikki, Sean, and Lauren huddled together in terror. Once the laughing died down, everyone stood by the door, each afraid to speak. Finally, Ryan broke the silence. "Hey guys, let's try opening the front doors. Maybe we can get out of here." He slowly walked toward the front door, followed by everyone else, who were moving together in one small group, watching each other's backs. Once he reached the door, he stopped, and since everyone else was too busy looking around, they all ran into him, tripping over each other until they were in a pile on the floor. "Could you idiots stop freaking out and focus on getting out of here for a second," Ryan shouted, as they all stood up.
     "Y-yeah," said Lauren, and Nikki, surprisingly, smacked her across her face. "He's right, quit stammering, and man up!" Sean stepped forward, and said loudly, "Yeah, Ryan. You're the only one who's focused. We could learn some things from you. Now, let's find a way out. Ryan, you try the door like you were going to, Nikki, look inside the room behind that door on the right and see if there's any exits around this floor. Lauren, you head up that staircase," he pointed to a large winding stairway leading up to the second floor. "and see if there's a window or something we can escape from. Now me, I'll see if this place has some sort of basement, and whether or not that basement has an underground tunnel or something. "
     After his speech, Ryan headed off down the hallway beneath the stairs, Nikki walked toward the door to their right, and Lauren slowly walked up the staircase, leaving Ryan alone in the darkness. He waited for a moment to see if he'd hear signs of Sean's plan going wrong, but there was nothing but silence. He decided to try opening the doors again, and reached out with his hand. Grasping the doorhandle, Ryan pulled with all of the strength he had, but it wouldn't budge. "Dammit," he muttered, "why won't it budge?" He tried kicking the door, but knew before his foot even hit the wood that it wouldn't work. They were trapped here by some psycho who wanted to pull a sick prank on them, or something.
     Meanwhile, Lauren was investigating the second floor halls, flashlight in hand. The silence unnerved her, because her footsteps now seemed to echo down the long, dark corridor she traveled down. She couldn't get that demonic laughing out of her head, and the marks all along the wall where it looked like something had ripped apart the walls, along with the few darker stains on the floor that she hoped to God that wasn't blood, didn't help her forget it. The hallway continued for about ten long, silent minutes, until Lauren stopped. "This hallway just continues on forever. I should just turn around and tell Ryan that there was nothing. I mean, who makes a hall without any doors, anyway?" She was about to turn around, when she heard a floorboard creak behind her.
     Lauren spun around as fast as she could, and started waving her flashlight around. She made sure to stand perfectly still, so she could hear any sign of something sneaking up on her, but there was only silence. Lauren looked around wildly, covered in a cold sweat, until she heard another creak behind her. Spinning around, she shone her flashlight forward, and her light fell upon the smiling face of her friend, Addie, along with a taller Arabian man, who Lauren could have sworn she'd seen around before. "Hey Lauren, sorry about that, but we've been here for an hour now, and we figured we could give you a good scare, but it looks like you caught us instead," said Addie. "Um, Addie, who is that," asked Lauren, hoping Addie could help with her confusion. "Oh, him," said Addie, pointing toward the tall guy with her thumb. "This is Becker. He's Ryan's friend, teammate, and greatest rival." "Oh," said Lauren. "Now I remember you! I see you around Ryan all the time!"
     Becker nodded, stuck out his hand, and said, "Nice to meet you." Lauren stuck out her hand as well, and gave Becker a handshake. "Now, this' some party, huh. I haven't seen the host, or anyone else since we got here!" "Yeah," replied Lauren, "that's because this was all a trap. Some psycho is pranking us, and we're all locked in!" Addie had a puzzled expression on her face. "Wait, you said 'we', who else is here?" "Ryan, Nikki, and Sean are all here. We're all supposed to meet up in the main hall, so you guys could come with me, and meet the others!" Lauren said cheerfully, secretly happy to have company again in this strange place. Addie and Becker nodded, and Lauren turned around to lead them back to the entrance.
     Just like on her trip down the hall, the walk back seemed to take another fifteen minutes, but it could have just been because of he nerves. She could have sworn, however nervous she was, that someone was watching them, lurking in the shadows, just out of her sight. Eventually, Addie spoke up. "Are you sure we're going in the right direction? I mean, I would think we would have seen a staircase by now. Maybe we ended up getting turned around down the hallway when we ran into you." Now, Lauren was both confused and scared. "Maybe," she said. "But I was pretty careful to keep track of where I've been, and I've definitely seen this part of the hallway. Let's go a little further, just to see if the staircase is up ahead a little bit."
     No one objected, so Lauren speed the way further down the hallway for about another ten minutes, and just when Lauren was about to suggest turning around, her flashlight shone on the dusty railing of the grand staircase. "Guys," Lauren shouted. "I found the staircase! It's right up ahead!" Inside, however, something was bothering Lauren. She could have sworn that the first trip down the hall took a lot less time, but she ignored this thought. They were back at the entrance, where Ryan was, and maybe everyone else too!
     She rushed down the stairs, followed by Addie and Becker. When she reached the front doors, she saw Ryan and Nikki waiting for them. "Guys, I brought company!" Lauren called, getting Nikki's attention. "Addie," she said, full of excitement from seeing her friend here. "You were invited too?" Addie walked up to her, smiling, and said, "Yeah, and so was Becker." At the mention of his friend's name, Ryan looked up, noticed Becker, ran up to him, and tackled him to the ground. Standing up and brushing off the dust on him, Ryan then offered Becker a hand to help pull him up, saying, "Hey, you made it here too, huh?" Grabbing Ryan's hand, Becker pulled himself up, and said, "Yeah, good to know I'm not the only cool guy at the party. Hey though," Becker continued, turning toward Lauren. "I thought you said Sean was at this party too? Where is he?" "I'm not sure," Lauren said. "He must still be looking around." Just then, everyone stopped dead, for they had all just very clearly heard, from deep within the old, broken- down house, a single, bloodcurdling scream.