Not Your Normal Fangirl

Chapter 3

   "Glad to see you're still alive." Adam said when he saw us.

   There were eight of us in the kitchen area. Lizzie, Nick, Corey, and Ashlie were dead.

   "It's terrible..." Shelby said.

   "Yeah." Max agreed.

   "Where could Cassie have put the bodies?" Uni wondered out loud.

   "That's my little secret! Huhu~" Cassie sang, appearing on the island counter of the kitchen.

   "You-" Red started, then decided not to finish the thought.

   "What did you do with our friends' bodies, you little creep?" Max snapped.

  Cassie looked hurt, her eyes widening, then filling with sadness.

   "T-that's n-not nice M-Max..." she sniffed.

   She really is is a small child in a teenagers body... I thought.

   "You're not going to get me to feel sorry for you with waterworks kid. You're a murderer." Max said, remaining indifferent and angry.

   "My friends are happy to stay here." Cassie said, seemingly confused by Max's accusation.

   "You're insane. We're not your friends." Max argued, "and neither were they!"

   Then he stormed off before anyone could stop him.

   "Aww, Max is no fun!" Cassie pouted, "you guys have until midnight tonight until the next round begins, so have fun!"

   Then she disappeared as quick as she'd appeared.

   "Might as well check it out, right?" Jess asked.

   "Yeah." Barney said, "We can search for more hiding places."

   "She knows about most of them, I bet." Red said, "she found ours after a while."

   "Well, we'll have to find a place she doesn't know about." Adam said confidently.

   "Alright then." Uni said, "let's go!"

   "We have to find Max too." Shelby said.

   "Right, it's not safe wandering around on your own in this place." Jess said.

   The seven of us went together, keeping an eye out for Max or anything that could help us live through the next couple of rounds. That's when we found both. Two doors looked the same as every other door we'd seen, except that these faced each other, like double doors. When we pushed the door open, we saw rows and rows of bookshelves. Above us, a large circle in the ceiling revealed a second level. Shelves lined the wall. Max was sitting at a table that had an old computer, and a large book that Max was reading.

   "Uh, hey Max." Barney said.

   "Hey." Was Max's reply.

   "What are you reading?" Red asked.

   Max kept reading, but lifted up the cover. I turned my head sideways to read it.

        A History of Hope Manor

   "Hope Manor?" I asked.

   "That's what this place is- was called according to the book." Max explained, "Place was around back in the freaking 1500's. The Hope family all died in this house closer to our time."

   "Creepy. Are there any pictures of the family?" Adam asked.

   "I think there's one on the next page..." Max said, flipping the page, then staring, "Woah."

   "What's up?" Uni said.

   "Check it out..." Max said.

   We all gathered around the table to see a grainy black and white picture of a family. There was a mother, a father, two older boys that looked like twins, and a girl around fifteen. The caption read:

   The Hope Family: Margaret Hope (top left); Thomas Hope (top right); David Hope (middle right); Daniel Hope (middle left); Cassie Hope (bottom center)

   "It's Cassie!" Jess cried.

   "I can't believe it..." Red said.

   "So the kid's a ghost?" Barney asked.

   "I guess." Max said, "But how does a ghost from a hundred or so years ago become our number one fan? YouTube wasn't around back then."

   "Well, she has a computer..." Shelby pointed out.

   "That's probably it." Uni said.

   "Maybe there's a map in here that we can use to hide..." Red suggested, pointing to the book.

   "Maybe."  Barney said, "I'm going to search the rest of the library while you guys do that."

   "Me too." I volunteered.

   "Me three." Shelby said.

    The three of us spread across the library, pulling out books and looking through them for anything.

   "Hey guys, come here!" Shelby cried.

   We ran to her. She held an unfolded map in her hand.

   "I found it when I pulled out one of the books!" Shelby explained, "it looks like a map of the manor, including little hidey holes and stuff!"

   This will definitely help... I thought.

   We spent the next hour or so studying the map, trying to determine where to go from the library. We also all took naps. After all, we needed to be alert if we were gonna survive.

   I laid down, still in the library, which had become our base of operations apart from the kitchen, and closed my eyes. Like the last time, I didn't dream. There was just an inky blackness. The only difference was that there was. a gray shadow outline of a person, a couple shades lighter than the black around it, with its back to me. I guessed it was a girl, because the gray figure had long hair that was floating in non existent air, and a knee length dress which I only discerned from the persons body because the dress was also fluttering in nonexistent wind. I couldn't move or talk, I could only watch as the girls figure slowly turned her head so I could see the side of her face. Her eye.... it didn't look normal. It was wide, and bloodshot. It was also staring right at me. Then, the iris turned blood red, the rest of the eye growing black. The figure turned toward me, both eyes corrupt. Her face was gray like the rest of her, no details except the eyes and a wide grin that seemed like a white crescent moon drawn sideways on the bottom half of her face. She ran at me, giggling like an little girl, and I screamed.

   I woke up with a start. Looking around, I saw Shelby and Red looking at me.

   "You ok Ross?" Red asked.

   "Yeah, yeah I'm fine." I replied, "I'm going to get some food before the next round starts."

   "Are you sure you're ok?" Shelby asked as I walked to the doors.

   "Yeah, I am." I said, not looking back or making eye contact.

   I walked out the doors, and walked to the kitchen. Uni was in there when I walked in.

   "'Evening." Uni said, munching on an apple.

   "Yeah.." I said.

   It was really close to midnight on my watch, so the round should be starting soon.

   I rummaged around for a minute before I found some bread. I ate a few slices, then started to eat an orange. Something that would actually keep me full for a while. Then, I teleported. I looked at my watch. Midnight was a minute away. I ran, trying to remember the hiding places I'd seen on the map. Looking around, I guessed I was close to the library. I knew where to go. I started running as Cassie counted down.

   "29, 28, 27...."