"Hoooly shit," Melanie stated. "This place is freaking awesome." The four looked at their surroundings. A long, dark hallway extended in front of them. A blood red carpet stretched across it. At the end of the hallway, a glowing neon sign flickered on the wall, pronouncing 3 AM in large purple-pink figures. Littering the walls were doors of various shapes and sizes. One being perfectly circular, and another being only 10 inches tall. One staircase lead upwards on the right and one lead down on the left.
"This is so strange." Brendon whispered, looking utterly confused.
"RYAN! ASHLEY! WHERE ARE YOU!" Josh hollered. There was no response. "They're totally messing with us. Let's go find them."
Tyler stepped back to the front door and fearfully shook his head no. "I- I want to leave." He struggled to grasp the doorknob with his shaking fingers. He wiggled it and pushed and pulled, only to have the door not budge an inch from its place. "It's not opening. We're locked in here. Oh god oh shit fuck fuck fuck!" He cried.
"Settle down Ty! It's just Ashley and Ryan joking around. Let's go get those two and then we'll leave, ok? Simple. This place isn't even scary. It's a little dark, but mostly it's just plain awesome! I mean look around!" Melanie tried to calm her friend and coax him farther down the hall.
"Besides, Daddy will protect you." Josh gripped Tyler's hand and grinned down at him.
"OH MY GOD SHUT UP JOSH!" Tyler yelped in embarrassment. Melanie and Brendon laughed histarically at Tyler's burning red face and angry scowl.
"Let's split up and go grab Ashley and Ryan. We have a better chance of finding them if we're all looking in separate places." Melanie suggested.
"Ok but I'm going with Josh." Tyler said. The group split, Melanie hastening up the stairs, Brendon trying each door in the hall, and Josh and Tyler heading downstairs.
At the bottom of the staircase, laying out before them was a vast lake of grey plastic balls. "There's a fucking ball pit in the basement! This is so cool!" Josh exclaimed, diving in. Tyler hesitantly waded in after him. The pool gradually got deeper the farther they went.
"I can't touch the bottom, Josh." Tyler scrambled around, waving his arms in attempt to keep his head above the balls.
"Neither can I. I bet if we swim across to those doors we will be able to touch the ground. Its only like 30 feet away." Josh stated. "This is one massive room, isn't it." Tyler warily nodded.
They proceeded to work their way across the seemingly bottomless depths of the ball pit.
On the other side of the room, the balls were only knee deep again.
"See? That was easy. Let's check out what's next. This whole house so far is like a giant abandoned funhouse." Josh pushed open one of the many doors. Inside, the walls were painted with mirrors. Even the ceiling and the floor were adorned with reflection. A few grey balls from the pit spilled in through the entrance.
They stepped inside, Josh excitedly, and Tyler a little more begrudgingly.
"This would be cool to have a bedroom made of mirrors, wouldn't it?" Josh imagined his dream house, mentally aranging furniture to fit his wants. "I guess." Tyler said.
"Check it out! This one makes me look super short! Hey this one makes me look really fat!" Josh laughed, looking at himself in all the different reflections.
"ASHLEY! RYAN! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?" Tyler yelled, interrupting Josh from his childish behavior. He huffed in annoyance when there was no answer. "We'll find them. Or Mel and Bren will. They're playing hide and seek probably. Or something like that." Josh reassured.
A mirror suddenly shattered on the left side of the room.
Tyler screamed and Josh froze in place.
"Fucking hell you guys! Ash is that you? Stop trying to scare us. Geez." Josh relaxed a bit and just casually rolled his eyes.
"Joshie! Nobody is there it wasn't them!" Tyler ran to his boyfriends side and huddled close.
"The place is not haunted Ty. Let's get real here. Who else would it be?" Josh patted Tyler on his head and carried on out into the ball pit and trudged to the next door. "You coming?"
The two entered the next room. The interior was completely empty. Black walls. Black floor. The only object was a single clock on the wall. Tic tic tic. The hands were rigidly directed at 11:56.
"It's almost lunchtime. Good thing we ate those massive burgers so we won't get too hungry anytime soon." Josh pointed out.
Finding nothing interesting in that room, the couple left and returned to the ball pit. They waded their way over to the next door. Halfway there, Tyler tripped on something much larger than a ball. It was buried in the pool.
"What the fuck is that?" Tyler reached down to feel what he stumbled on.
His eyes widened. "What's wrong?" Josh inquired in concern.
No sound or single vibration erupted from Tyler's throat, although his mouth was moving frantically. His gaze was glued to were his hand penetrated the pool of balls.
Josh furrowed his brow and leaned down to Tyler's level. He curiously stuck his hand down to meet what his boyfriend was so shaken from. Josh's jaw fell agape and his skin went pale.
"Fuck."
