The Unknown

Chapter III

MACKENZIE

Music: Kiss My Feet! from Gokujou Parodius

As soon as we hear that laughing noise, everybody's bodies go stiff. My arms feel chills the likes of which I have never felt before, and I stop breathing for about a second. Every one of us now has the same terrified expression on our face; even Mia.

"Let's get out of here," Shanna suggests, talking quickly.

"Agreed," Sam says.

With that, we all stand up and run like hell toward the front doors. Mia gets up and runs with us, but isn't very happy about doing so. "Guys, that might have just been the floorboards creaking. Just relax." However, I can tell that she doesn't sound so convinced herself.

"Mia, do you REALLY think that's what floorboards sound like?" I sigh. Mia just rolls her eyes.

We make it to the front door in a matter of seconds, but then we're faced with a massive problem. Avery grabs on the doorknobs and pulls with all of her strength, but the doors won't budge.

"What's the holdup?! Let's move!" Elle urges.

"Damn it, the doors are locked!" Avery cries out, letting go of the doorknobs.

"What?! How?! They were unlocked when you checked earlier!" Shanna exclaims in disbelief.

"Maybe it was just the wind?" Sean suggests, shrugging.

"The wind wouldn't have locked the doors," Heath replies. "The only way these doors could've been locked is if somebody did it themselves."

"Well, it couldn't have been any of us," Sam says.

"Then that means that there's someone else here, and they locked us in. And if I had to guess, they probably know we're here too."

Just Heath saying that is enough to make me tremble.

-

Music: Gloomy Galleon from Super Donkey Kong 64

It's been roughly fifteen minutes since we tried to leave. Sam and Heath offered to check around the house and see if there's any alternate exits, and the rest of us have been silently sitting around the dining room table, waiting impatiently. Mia's spending the time by glancing around the area and continuing to take notes. She's my sister, and I love her and all, but sometimes that girl just doesn't behave the way you'd expect her to.

When the two guys finally return, Elle asks them, "Did you two find anything?"

"Every other door we found is also locked," Sam answers.

"And all the windows now have bars on them," Heath adds.

"Great. Just great," Avery sighs.

I pull out my phone to see if it's worth trying to call anybody. No bars. Probably should've expected that. "I'm not getting any cell signal," I tell everyone.

"The storm must've knocked the phone lines down or something," Shanna shrugs. The storm has calmed down a little bit, but it's still raining heavily, thunder is still booming every few seconds, and a tree just fell over from how hard the wind has been blowing.

"Well, we're in for the long haul," Mia says, a bit too cheerfully. "Who wants to play a game to pass the time?"

"Mia, nobody wants to do that right now," Avery mutters.

This response clearly pisses Mia off, but before this can escalate into an argument, I stand up and suggest, "Listen, I'm sure if we look hard enough, we'll find a way out of here. There's a chance you two might have overlooked something earlier."