The Murder Manor

04 - unsteady ground and a small town

Tristan Reinkey. Tristan was his name, I figured that out when Cherry was mapping out a plan of how to get out without, yaknow, getting murdered. Although we didn't live in the same small town, he lived in the town that borders mine. There might be a huge rivalry between the two towns, but I didn't care. Not when it came to him.

While Cherry was busy making a plan, he had pointed out that my face was still bleeding. I didn't realize how bad it was until he pulled out his phone and took a picture. I took his phone from him and examined the picture. A couple little cuts littered my freckled face. A deep slice was located right on my lip. How attractive.

I must've groaned out loud, because he asked me what's wrong. Everything is wrong. I'm stuck in a haunted house with dead half animals and blood curdling screaming with two people who I don't know, although I don't mind the company of Tristan.

I look up at him and I see that he's already looking at me. A slow blush starts to creep up into my cheeks and I'm hoping it won't show. His eyes scan mine and I immediately start to feel self conscious of my appearance. I clearly didn't think I would have to face a cute boy who looks like a model. I didn't wear any makeup today, and my long curly black hair was thrown up in a messy high ponytail. I had on leggings and a deep red tank top. I wish I would've brought a jacket, because it's freezing in here.

I had asked for Spencer's jacket, but him being the asshole he was decided to keep it to himself. I can't control the weather, Jade. Maybe you should've brought your own." He had said. Ask me how I had ever dated a total douchebag like him, I could never tell you the answer because I didn't know why myself either.

We had started dating in freshman year of highschool. We went all the way through sophomore year, which ended a couple weeks ago, so the breakup was pretty recent. He's still mad at me even though he was the one who broke things off. I'm glad, though. We really needed a break from each other. I was starting to rely more and more on him. It felt just wrong not to be with him. I wasn't really my own person without him by my side. I know now that he loved that I couldn't be without him. Now that I don't need him, obviously he's been lashing out at me. Either suddenly or pretty obvious. I wish he would move on, though. It's pretty hypocritical of me to say that since I haven't really moved on either. But if he really wanted me back with him so bad he would ask. Instead he has to be so damn stubborn. That's a trait we both share that lead to our breakup. The sad part is that if he asked me to be his again, I would say yes in a heartbeat. He was my first boyfriend. And my first for pretty much everything else, sadly. When I first met him it wasn't like he was a different person, he was always the same Spencer. The bad boy that treated everyone like shit and walked like he was a God. But you know what? To me he was a God. He was kinda like my Savior. Even though I can't stand him now he shaped me to be the person I am today. If it weren't for him and his 'tough love' then I would still be letting people walk all over me. I would still be that nerdy, quiet girl in the back of his geography class. So in a messed up way, the way he treated me helped me out in the long run.

Once again I was lost in my own thoughts, and didn't notice he was still staring until I looked back up, again. He was still examining me and in any other situation I would've loved the attention of a boy who looked like he was sculpted by Michelangelo. But today I wasn't in a great mood, especially since every step I took I could still here something squishy underneath my boot from that animal. I bit my lip in concentration. I pretended to be interested in the old, moldy, creaky floor which was covered mainly in some kind of dark green and yellow substance. I didn't even want to know what that was. I shivered.

When Tristan saw that, he said, "Do you want my jacket? It's really cold in here, so..?"

I looked at his jacket. It looked like a Letterman jacket, I saw earlier it had his last name on the back of it. My cheeks started getting red again and before I could embarrass myself further I whispered a weak 'sure'.

He took the dark blue jacket off of himself and placed it over my shoulders. It engulfed me in his warmness, and a strong smell of peppermint. A smile was painted onto my lips when I told him a faint 'thank you'.

We were still in a weird position. When he had pointed out the cuts on my face he had insisted on bandaging it up with Cherry's first aid kit. She was always prepared, he had said. So when he stood by an old counter and patted the surface, I went over and sat on top of it. As he worked on my face I had watched him. It was hard not to since he was so close to me. He stood between my legs, but it didn't seem to phase him. A couple minutes passed as we watched Cherry writing in her notepad. Finally she spoke up.

"It's done."

A lopsided smile found its way onto her smug face and she clapped her little hands together. When she clapped, she had done a little jump. And when she jumped, the floor caved in on her side. One moment she was there, the other she wasn't. It was completely silent until we heard a scream, this time we knew it was from Cherry.

Before I could even process anything, our side of the floor caved in. Everything went black.