It remains

Part 1

"Guys! Wait up you're going too fast!" I yell at my friends while I pedal faster on my bike trying to catch up.

        " well maybe you shouldn't go so slow then Cassie! You're worse than a turtle stuck on it's back!" James yells back at me as I struggle to catch up.

        " I cant help it! I get tired unlike you freaks of nature!" I have never understood why it seems like they can ride forever without even breaking a sweat and I feel l like my lungs are going to explode after 30 minutes. I watch as my friends pedal over the crest of the hill. They escape from my view as they cruise down the other side.

        Pushing myself harder I pedal faster and rise up the hill. With every spin of the crank my bikes pulls me closer and closer to the top until finally I make it to the highest point. I pull my brake lever and begin to slow and finally stop just before my bike rolls past the point of no return and rolls down the hill.  As I catch my breath I scan the area for my friends when finally I notice a bit of movement near the old rundown house at the very end of the street. It was the last house in the neighborhood, The first house built and at the back of the subdivision where all the oldest homes lay. No one had lived there for over 20 years.

        James and Brianna begin waving at me, signalling for me to come down, so I begin my decent. As my bike cruised down the hill it went faster and faster and I could feel the wind wrapping around my face as I tore through the air. I felt like a speeding missile as I zoomed down the street towards my friends. When the earth finally evened out and I reached the bottom of the hill I pulled my back brake. I began slowly coming to a stop and when I finally quit moving I was directly in front of my friends.

        James and Brianna were siblings, but no one could ever tell. They made quite the pair when they were together, James being tall standing at 6 feet, with jet black hair and tanned brown skin and Brianna being small and petite at just under 5 foot, Brianna had pale skin with beautiful red hair. They were both older than me, James was 17 and Brianna 16. 

        " I'm glad to see someone finally caught up!" James said with a sneer.

        " Yea well maybe if some people weren't such total douche bags and would slow down just a little I wouldn't have to!" I yell back. James could be cruel and infuriating at times, which often lead me to wonder why I continued being friends with him.

        " whoa whoa, guys calm down, you don't need to argue! Cassie I'm sorry we left you behind I promise we will try to do better next time." Brianna says. She is always to be the peace keeper and keep us as one happy family.

" Yea, whatever." James says while rolling his eyes. He turns towards the house and stares at it.

        I look to Brianna. " So what are we doing here anyways?" I ask. " No one ever comes here, that house is bad news, I've even heard its haunted."

        James turns towards us as he begins to laugh and says " exactly my dear friend! A haunted house! What better way to get into the Halloween spirit than a haunted house! Someone here is gonna spend the night in this house."

        I turn to Brianna. " Is he crazy or just stupid?" 

        " Honestly after 16 years of living with him I've Begun to think he's 50 percent crazy and 50 percent stupid." says Brianna. We both laugh while James glares at us, his face growing red with anger.

         " Oh yeah, haha you guys are just so funny aren't you? well we'll see who's laughing when one of you are spending the next night in this house." James snarled.

        " What makes you think either of us will agree to this idiot idea of yours? I for one enjoy my bed and don't want to stay the night in a creepy, rundown, cold and possibly haunted house." Brianna asked.

       " Oh yeah, did I forget to mention the prize? Who ever wins the draw, if they stay the entire two nights "they get to keep whatever candy the 3 of us get while trick or treating."

        " I'm in." I state. " I mean, getting both of your bags of candy and all i have to do is stay in an old run down house for the night? That's too easy. The house probably isn't even haunted. There's no such thing as ghosts." 

        " I guess I'm in, Cassie is right there's no such thing as ghosts and 3 bags of candy is a great deal." Brianna says.

        " Then its settled, Brianna go get 3 sticks that are about the same size but not quite, we'll throw them in my back pack and each of us will close our eyes and choose one, whoever gets the smallest stick has to stay." James says. I don't like the look in his eyes as he watches Brianna gather the sticks from the front yard.

        When she returns we throw the sticks in the bag and shake it. " Cassie you draw first." James commands. I reach into the bag praying that I choose one of the bigger sticks, 3 bags of candy is good and I'll stay if I have to, but like Brianna said I would much rather sleep in my own warm bed at home. I pull out my stick, It isn't big, but not small its at least 6 inches. 

        " I'll go next." James says. He reaches into the bag and pulls out a stick at least a foot long. " well, I'm pretty sure this is the biggest one, I don't think anything bigger would fit in my bag." James says while grinning, clearly ecstatic that hes not the one who has to stay. 

        " I guess its between us now huh cas?" says Brianna as she reaches into the bag for the last stick. She pulls it out and its clear I lost, Her stick is only 2 inches smaller than James.

        " I don't like cursing." I say. " But fuck!" 

        " Hard break Cassie, but rules are rules you have to stay. Here use my phone call your parents and tell them you will be staying the night at our house." James says.

        " Aye aye, captain!" I say as I take his phone and dial my moms number. Ten minutes later I was finally off the phone and I looked to Brianna and James.

       " The suns starting to set we should probably go." says Brianna.

        " Don't worry Cassie we will be back at sunrise tomorrow to get you, if you're still alive that is!" James says with his usually glare.

        " Are you sure you can do this Cas?" Brianna asks.

       " Of course I can!" I exclaim. " I'm no coward and its just one night! You guys just better be prepared to hand over your candy on Halloween!" I say. 

       " You better head in there Cassie, we'll wait out here for 5 minutes after you enter just in case you chicken out." James states.

        " Whatever." I say trying to sound brave as I walk towards the front door. " It can't be that bad, its just an old empty house." I think as I open the door and walk in. The first thing I see when I enter is dried red paint that had ran down the walls, it was in the shape of two words that read in all capital letters " IT REMAINS." I brush it off thinking that it must of been a few teenagers trying to make the house more creepy. I start exploring the house, walking towards what appears to be a coat closet at the end of the hall.

        As I walk I notice more red paint on the floor in a trail going towards the closet door. When I reach the door I reach to open it hoping to find a blanket to help me keep warm during the night, I was expecting to find a bucket of red paint and a brush spilling into the floor. 

        when I open the door my brain does not immediately register what I'm seeing, when it does I scream and run back towards the front door. What I've seen on the walls and across the floor was not red paint, it was blood and what I thought would be a bucket of paint in the bottom of the closet was not that but a rotting corpse lay in its place, his head laying beside its feet, his eyes missing. 

       I try opening the door I had just came through, tears rolling down my face. The door wont open no matter how hard I push or pull. I'm locked in. I know that I'm screaming James and Brianna's name, but I cant hear myself. All I can hear is my friends fading giggle as they bike away. It had been 5 minutes and they were going home, the door was tightly shut and wouldn't budge, it must be jammed. I slide down the door and sit with my head in my hands and cry as I realize I'm alone in a rundown, abandoned house, with a dead body until morning unless I can find another way out.