A Room Full of Strangers

Door 1 - Door of Sacrifice

They succeeded in completing the seven people condition. Everyone feels like celebrating except for Austin and Rebecca. Both want to go home but having different reasons. Austin can sense danger while Rebecca is worrying about her parents worrying about her. Timothy was about to lead the door-opening but the door creaked open itself. Everybody gets in. The two had no choice. The door closed as soon as all of them are already in. Rebecca walked towards the door to see if it's locked and her suspicion was confirmed. They were locked in.
'Hello? Is anybody out there?' Lindsay called out but nobody answered. Her voice just echoed in the air. She can feel the coldness creeping on her skin. The sensation was familiar.
'I told you, we should've not entered here! Tell me, how can we go home now?' Rebecca said to Felicit. Her voice was trembling. Felicit remained silent.
'Calm down. We all want to go home here.' Aaron said.
'Well I don't.' Brett said making his six companions throw glances at him. Aaron cleared his throat to get their attention before speaking.
'Okay, listen folks,' he initiated. Everybody turned to him. 'Scatter around, look for anything that we can use to get out of here.' All of them nodded.
'Babe, Timothy, help me search for tools.' He further added. Aaron is a good leader. His active participation in camps when he was still a part of the boy scouts had helped him develop his sense of responsibility so whenever he's put in a situation like this, he knows what to do.
They searched the whole place. Several minutes had already passed. They still found nothing.
'You know what? We're just wasting our time and effort here looking for absolutely nothing.' Felicit complained.
'We'll be definitely wasting our time and effort if we will just be doing nothing.' Aaron said.
The room was wide but it's only occupied by a circular table with seven chairs around it. A dim light chandelier was hanging low. There's a bottle resting at the center. Austin noticed it. He picked it up and shook it, hoping there could be something inside it. The bottle ejected a piece of rolled paper.
'Look what I've got here!' Austin announced. The rest of them rushed and gathered around him. He showed them the rolled paper. It was brown and crisp, an indication that it has been there for a long time. He gently unrolled the paper and something was written on it.
'Welcome our dear guests! Warmest greetings from us, the sentinels. Every move you'll make, we'll be watching. This mansion has seven doors. The key to each door is in your hands. You need to pass through these doors in order to get out. If desire and curiosity had led you here, then faith and perseverance will lead you out. Be cautious, be wise for you are surrounded with strangers.' Austin said as he read what's on the paper.
'Where did you get that bottle?' Aaron asked Austin.
'At the table top.' Austin replied. Everyone had seen that bottle but all of them chose to ignore it except from Austin.
'Now how can that stupid bottle help us?' Lindsay said, raising an eyebrow.
'Maybe it's a guide.' Aaron said.
'Or a warning.' Brett said. He received side glances from everyone again. There were a few seconds of dead air.
'It says there the mansion has seven doors, then where's the other six?' Timothy said, after a very long time of silence. He hadn't spoken yet since they had set their feet on the mansion's ground.
'They're maybe hidden somewhere else and we're clueless about what's on the other side of that door.' Aaron said, referring to the main door.

The bottle shook up in Austin's hand but this time by itself. He accidentally dropped the bottle due to the vigorous shaking. Miraculously, it wasn't broken. Another piece of rolled paper was thrown out and again, a message was written on it.

Get the bottle-spinning started
Lucky is the one who gets pointed
For there will be no more truth or dare
He has no choice but to face the nightmare
Don't miss the chance
'Cause you can only spin it once

'It's a spin-the-bottle game!' Felicit said with excitement. She picked up the bottle from the floor and pulled out a chair to sit.
'What are you doing?' Austin asked Felicit with annoyance.
'Come guys, join me. Let's play spin-the-bottle.' Felicit replied with a grin.
'Fel! This ain't the time to play! Have you forgotten already? We are all locked in and playing that silly spin-the bottle won't even help us get our way out here.' Rebecca said, getting pissed off by her best friend's behavior.
'We wouldn't lose anything if we would try.' Felicit said. 'Who knows? Maybe it's the key to the second door.' She quickly added.
'Are you serious? Play to get through the second door? You're really making my ass laugh kid. You must be playing spin-the-bottle when opening your house's doors.' Timothy said, mocking the girl's idea.
'Then what we'll we do? We can't just sit and wait here. We need to do something.' Felicit replied, sounding reasonable for the very first time.
'You know what we need to do? Find the second door and its key. If we fail to find the key, then we'll crash the door open.' Timothy supplied.
'You attempted to crash the front door earlier, right?' Austin said to Timothy.
'Yes I did.' Timothy quickly answered.
'What happened?' Austin said. Timothy didn't respond. They both knew that Timothy's crashing the door didn't work. He felt a shallow embarrassment.
Austin motioned to the table and the rest of them did the same. Once they have all settled, Felicit, who's holding the bottle laid it straight on the table.
'Remember, you can only spin it once.' Austin reminded.
She spun it around and all of them kept their eyes peeled until it stops. The spinning took a long time which is very unusual. Normally, a bottle that is forcefully spun would only take about more or less than five seconds to finish its rotation.
'This is nonesense.' Timothy uttered while watching the bottle spin.
The speed of the bottle was gradually slowing down. They're more eager than ever. The most awaited moment finally came. The bottle came to a halt. The mouth was pointed to Lindsay.
'W-wait, what's the meaning of this?' Everyone froze. Aaron remembered the verse. "Lucky is the one who gets pointed, for there will be no more truth or dare. He has no choice but to face the nightmare"
Nightmare.
He grabbed the bottle and turned it pointing to him.
The chandelier's light started to flicker. They felt the ground shaking. Everyone is in panic. The shaking went vigorous. All of them fell on the floor. Rebecca and Lindsay were sobbing. Aaron reached for Lindsay's hand. They held each other tightly like it's their last.
'I love you Lindsay.' Aaron whispered underneath his breath.
'I love you too Aaron. Please never let go.' Lindsay said in between sobs.
A certain force was dragging Aaron away. Lindsay wept louder. The force was stronger than hers. She's afraid Aaron's hand might slip out of hers.
The force won. She saw Aaron being sucked by the bottle.
'Aaron!' Lindsay screamed.
The shaking eventually stopped. Everything is in chaos. The chandelier was on the floor, shattered. The table and chairs were broken into pieces. Austin, Timothy, Rebecca, Felicit and Brett were still there. Rebecca was unconscious. Austin crawled and rested her head on his lap. The rest gathered into their place and helped him fan Rebecca with their hands. Lindsay was left alone at the corner. She can imagine Aaron doing cardiac resuscitation but she snapped back into reality where there's no more Aaron to save the day.
She slapped herself.
'Wake up Lindsay, wake up! You need to escape this nightmare.' she said to herself. She raised her arms. They are not distorted.
'This can't be real! No!' Lindsay screamed. Her surviving companions all turned to her. Rebecca had regained consciousness.
They heard the door creaking. It was opened halfway but instead of seeing the outside, they got a preview of another mystery and horror they are going to face.
Everyone stood and walked towards the door except from Lindsay. She doesn't want to leave the place. Her hope wasn't dead yet.
'Lindsay.' Austin summoned for her to come. She stood up and glanced at the place for the last time. She saw the bottle underneath the pile of broken pieces of wood. She knelt down to pick it up.
'Lindsay, we need to go.' Austin summoned for the second time. Lindsay didn't listen. She clutched the bottle. Tears started rolling down her cheeks again.
'The time is running.' Austin said. This time, he took her arm and coerced her to follow. And because of her vulnerability, she was easily dragged away. The bottle slipped out of her hands the way Aaron's hand slipped out of hers.
The bottle was broken.

Austin felt a shallow guilt. He wants to take the blame for Aaron's lost. He badly feels sorry for Lindsay. He wants to give her the assurance that everything is going to be fine but sadly, he can't. He'd probably look like a fool when he does. He knows that Lindsay is not expecting for anything better anymore. For now, sympathy is all he can give. Now they are about to enter the second door, he can feel the worse is yet to come. They have six more doors and he is uncertain on what those following doors are going to bring. Is it luck? Misfortune? Or the most terrifying,
Death.
He doesn't know and no one else does.
All along, he was right. This is trouble. He should've trusted his gut instinct. He regrets tolerating his brother. He should've withdrawn or better yet, he should've not agreed to the idea of entering the mansion. He realized, he just proved to his brother that he's coward. He's coward of fighting for what he believe is right. His maturity was defeated by his brother's delinquency.
He feels nervous. He has no idea on who's going to be the next. But if in any case it's going to be him, he'll accept it wholeheartedly. For him, it's easier to die than to witness someone else do.

Rebecca felt relieved. She felt lucky not only because she regained consciousness but also because she didn't see the whole happening. However, seeing how devastated Lindsay is was painful to her.It depresses her to think that after being unconscious, the first thing she saw was sorrow. She couldn't feel any emotion right now other than it.
Sorrow.
Nevertheless, she salutes Aaron for the sacrifice he had made. Only a true lover can do such thing. Love is indeed a sacrifice.
Meanwhile, she stares at Felicit without uttering any word. She wants to blame her but at this point, there's no room for finger-pointing. Everyone is accountable. However, she can't avoid wondering if Felicit had ever felt guilty because it would be an insult if she hadn't.

Felicit is proud of herself. She was able to convince and prove to everyone that playing the spin-the-bottle is the key to the second door. She had finally scored a point to earn Austin's admiration. She likes Austin very much and she'll do anything just to impress him. Well actually, it's not just her who is dying hard for Austin's attention but every girl in the academy; be it popular, brat, nerd or bitch. Austin is very popular especially because he's the team captain of their school's football team. Felicit, being the wisest among those fools, decided to join the school's cheerleading squad even if she only knows little about dancing just so she can be able to watch every game without having the need to cut classes. In school, she could barely make her way to Austin because of the other girls who often surround him but this time around, she promises to stand out and get the guy.
She will get the guy.

Nothing would be more painful than to lose someone you truly love. Lindsay doesn't know how she'd cope up with the pain of losing Aaron. She wants him back. She needs him back. Both of her eyes were swollen due to her relentless crying. She can't help reminiscing about their plans in life. They will finish college, get a stable job, save for their wedding and future children, get married and spend the rest of their lives with each other. But now, all of these fell apart. All of her dreams were broken. Now that Aaron is gone, she can't pursue these anymore.
So if the second door requires another offering, she's more than willing to volunteer. For her, saving her own life has no more value if she will be living it with the worst memory.
She blames the fate for letting this tragedy happen.