"HELLO cHiLdReN, i'M tHrEe A.M."
•••
"I sEe YoU fOuNd YoUr AdOrBLe LitTLe FriEnd!" The man pointed at Ryan and smirked slightly. "Where did you come from?" Josh ignored him and bravely stepped closer. "Hm. I MaY aSk ThE sAmE fOr YoU?" Three AM shot back as he inserted his hands into his suit pockets calmly. "Are you going to kill us?" Tyler whined nervously. "Aw, pReTtY bOy iS sCaReD! Is iT bEcAuSe Of ThE LiTtLe PrEsEnT dOwNsTaiRs?"
"Let us out of here and we will leave you alone." Melanie tried to sound powerful but it came out like a breathy plead. "wHy WoULd i Do ThAt? ItS fUn HaViNg yOu HeRe!" The man grinned exidedly.
"What the fuck is going on? Who are you? Do you live here? Why won't you let us go?" Josh pressed on. "We didn't do anything. We're sorry for trespassing but if we could just get our friends back we'll be on our way-" "nOnSeNsE!" The mans mouth stretched even farther and contorted into a strange, implacable expression. "sTaY hErE aNd We CaN gEt To KnOw EaChOtHeR. iLL sTaRt! LiKe i SaiD, mY nAmE iS tHrEe A.M. YoU aRe JoShuA dUn. ThAt SLutTy TwiNk iS tYleR jOsEpH. ThE cLoWn GiRl iS mElaNie MarTinEz, aNd My PerSoNaL fAvOriTe Is My gOoD fRieNd RyAn RosS."
Ryan looked afraid. "We're not friends." He whispered
"How do you know who we are?! Why aren't you letting us out? Please! I'm so confused as to what is happening I feel like I'm going to throw up. We're all so scared just give us back our friends and let us go!" Melanie cried. Her forehead glistened with sweat.
Three A.M.s face suddenly darkened out of the blue. "nEveR."
His lips lifted to a smile again. "AnYwAy, NoW tHaT wE kNoW eAcHoTheR, i ShOuLd Be On My WaY! aNd I'm TaKiNg My FriEnD bAcK. sEe YoU aT 3 shArP tOmOrRoW mOrNiNg FoR mAndAtOrY fUn AnD gAmeS!"
Boom.
The man was gone.
Ryan was gone.
All that was left was a cloud of smoke, three shaking children, and a flickering neon sign.
•••
"Ryan's gone again!" Tyler sniffed.
"We will find him again Ty. What we should be worrying about is finding a way out. Anything. A window, a door, then we can go find Bren and Ash and Ryan and make a B-line for the exit before that insane magician guy says he's coming back." Josh nodded and smiled. "How do you guys act so calm about this? It's like, woah dead body! We're fine. Woah, best friend found tied up and gagged! We're fine. Woah, psycho old man magically appears and takes best friend again! We're fine. Let's just casually go get the rest of our friends, which we already failed at, then we'll be on our way shortly... NO!! How are you like this? I'm freaking the fuck out!" Tyler exclaimed.
"Josh and I are freaking out too. I'm so fucking worried about Ashley. Do you think I'm fine with my girlfriend and the love of my life being missing in a crazy guy's haunted mansion? No. Do you think I'm not worried at all about my two bestest friends in the whole world being missing too? No. I'm so scared Ty. But we need to stay calm. A lot has happened and we haven't been here that long. We need to keep ourselves controlled in order to stay alive, okay?" Melanie sniffled and rubbed her friends back.
"Tyler, we love you so much. I'm so scared and confused and I'm freaking out too but we just gotta hold it together a little longer okay?" Josh sweetly kissed his boyfriend on the cheek.
"Okay. I understand. But that man, Three AM... what's his deal? Is he going to murder us?"
"I hope not. My guess is he comes out at 3 every night and he is probably keeping Bren and Ash locked up. And he's got Ryan now too. We just need to get them before it's too late." Josh said. The other two agreed with him.
A rumbling sound came from Melanie's abdomen.
"We also need some food." Josh laughed.
"We should get some sleep. Let's make a plan in he morning. Tomorrow we will rescue our bros and get the fuck out of here yeah?"
"Yeah."
And so the three of them curled up on the floor and closed their eyes.
It was impossible to fall asleep under the circumstances that they were in, but they tried. About 4 hours later each of them decided to get started on the day ahead of them. They would be tired, but it's better to start as soon as possible.
•••
"Ok. number one, we need food. Number two, we need medical supplies in case one of us gets injured. Number three, we need weapons to defend ourselves against Three AM. Upstairs is like a Walmart. Every room is stocked with different random objects. It will be easy to find what we need. Next we should go look for an exit and a quick way out. Once this is done, we can start looking for Brendon and Ashley and Ryan. Got it?" Melanie repeated the plan for the 5th time.
"Got it."
"And what happens if we get separated?" Melanie quizzed.
"Meet at the neon sign."
"Correct and what happens when the man comes out at 3?"
"We assemble our guns and knives and only attack if threatened."
"Are we ready to begin?"
"Yes."
"ALRIGHT! FOOD! LETS GO LETS GO LETS GO! GET ANY SNACKS YOU CAN! PSYCHOS HAVE TO EAT TOO THERES GOTTA BE SOME SOMEWHERE! GET 'EM BOYS!" Melanie shouted like a drill sergeant. All of them took off up the stairs. They checked every door. Each room up there was stuffed with something. A taxidermy room, a paper towel room, a curtain rod room. Anything you could think of. Ah! A canned food room.
Tyler scooped up cans of soups, corn, beans, everything he could carry, and dumped it in the hall. Josh came out of another door with 2 sacks of potatoes in each hand.
"Bravo, guys! That's enough for now." Melanie looked at her list (created with paper and pens found in the writing room). "Next is medical materials! Bandages! Sterilizers! Anything useful! GO!"
The boys hurried back through doors and continued their search.
Josh was the first to bring out 7 boxes of adhesive bandaids, and 5 rolls of wrap bandages. Tyler found alcohol and peroxide.
"Great! Weapons! Guns! Knives! Anything that can kill someone! GO!" Melanie yelled. This was pretty fun actually. Everyone forgot about the body, their lost friends. They just had fun running around searching for whatever Melanie screamed at them.
Tyler brought 3 pistols, a revolver, and a machine gun from the gun room. Josh found a crossbow, 2 daggers, and a long midevil sword that he thought looked sexy.
"Gather all objects and bring them to the front door!"
This took the next hour.
They finally finished and sat down.
"Next step is to find everyone." Tyler said
"Yep. Are you ready?" Melanie asked.
Tyler and Josh nodded. "Let's go get those bitches and blast."
