The Dare

Part 4

Robin yawned. She'd been dozing through most of the third movie. 

"Would you mind... pausing it? I need to go to the bathroom." He nodded and pressed pause on the remote. It didn't surprise him at all-she drank about three cans of Coke. She hopped up and scurried out of the room. Jake sighed.

Now seemed as good a time as any.

He started looking around the dark house. He had seen the staircase on his way in-it only seemed logical that she might be up there. He stood at the foot of the steps and looked up into the darkness. 

If Robin came out and saw he was gone, what would he say?

"I was looking for another bathroom," he muttered to himself. He started up the stairs. 

At the top of the stairs was a landing. There were four doors: two open, two closed. There was also one window and a large grandfather clock. The two that were open seemed to be a bedroom-probably Robin's-and a bathroom. He turned his attention to the other two.

The first door he opened was simply a closet filled with blankets and sheets. He shut the door and faced the last door.

He opened it slowly. The room was pitch black. He felt around for a light switch on the wall. Jake found it and flicked it on. The room was bathed in light and-

It was empty. It obviously belonged to someone, but there was no one there. He stepped in to look around when he thought he heard something.

"Jake? Jake?" 

Shit.

He knew she was climbing up the stairs, so he did the next logical thing-he shut the door behind him and flicked the lights off. The room was plunged into darkness.

"Jake? You up here?" He heard her footsteps on the landing, then they retreated back down the stairs. He let out a sigh of relief.

He jumped in alarm when he heard the grandfather clock begin to chime the hour. Damn, what time was it? He'd lost track. He listened to the chimes...

One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six... Seven... Eight... Nine... Ten... Eleven... Twelve.

Shit! It was already midnight. He'd been there way too long. He'd have to leave soon.

He fumbled around in the direction of the door, but he couldn't find the knob. He heard another small noise and decided to ignore it. He grasped onto the handle and was about to pull it when he heard the unmistakable sound of a door creaking open behind him.

Jake slowly reached out for the light switch, flicked it on, and turned around.