Outsmarting His Fears

Chapter 4 - The End Of The Party

They all walked into the house and all the lights turned off except for one candle. The kids were becoming stimulated and some of them squealed when the lights were switched off. Francis had a quick flash of a big bird that was swooping down on him but quickly waved it away as he had grown in confidence during the sunset games. It was time for the plan to roll into action.

The master of ceremony started calling out names: 'Martha!' 'Yes!' 'Jack!' 'Yes sir!' 'Mabel Warren!' 'Here!' 'Peter and Francis!' 'Yes!', came 2 voices at the exact same time. 'Joyce!' 'I'm Here!' the master finished off calling the names and started explaining the simple rules of the game. Francis quietly walked backwards towards the big entrance. He thought he saw Joyce staring at him, but it must have been a trick of the light, because when he looked again she was looking excitedly at the master of ceremony. Francis opened the entrance door an inch, and slipped out quietly. Before closing the door, he heard the master of ceremony tell Mabel and Joyce they were the Seekers. He sat down on one of the stairs and looked up at the moon, full and bright as if it were looking down at him and smiling. He huffed loudly and made himself comfortable, he was going to have to wait for a while.

'3...2....1.....Go!', The master of ceremony blew out the candle and they were all engulfed in the dark. Peter raced out of the room and through one of the many doors, trying to find an easy hiding spot where he could be spotted easily but not enough to arouse suspicions. He sat down in his hiding spot, in a corner of one of the smaller rooms and waited the 30 seconds until he heard the 2 girls giggle loudly and call 'ready or not, here we come!'. He heard them running around the hallways then, he heard Joyce say 'Got You Jack!' and giggle once again. Peter could just make out a very faint breathing noise in the same room as his and guessed it was Mabel. He started heaving to make himself heard by Mabel, and sure enough, he saw her look his way and say 'Yes! Got You Pet-...'

'I'm Francis!' Peter called.

'..Francis!' she corrected herself. Peter stood up and said 'Let's go!' he raced out of the room, turned left into a guest room and hid under the bed.

Francis was getting tired of waiting. He guessed it had been at least 15 minutes since the game had started... he was growing very cold and was getting an odd sense of a bitter taste in his mouth.

Peter had waited a few minutes and was growing tired when he heard footsteps, most probably a boy he told himself; he coughed loudly and was immediately tapped on the foot and Jake shouted;

'I got you, Peter!' Peter got out from under the bed cursing rather loudly as he couldn't make out anything else apart from his hands, and had just bumped into a bookshelf. He righted himself and stealthily started running. He was back in the main hall a few seconds later. He looked around to see if anyone was watching, but he instantly told himself no one could see as far as their nose in the dark. He opened the door an inch and whispered 'Francis, you can come!'

Francis stood up, with his confident smile back on and whispered to his brother "Here we go!", and he walked inside after his brother, closing the door quietly behind him. Francis instantly drew a breath, and grabbed his brothers' hand, warm to the touch.

They silently walked together and, going up the stairs, heard a hollow breathing.

Francis smiled, turned and said "Hah! Martha!" and he reached out and poked the small girl who was ducked down looking at them.

She said, "Did I win?"

Francis smiled and said, "You certainly did". He drew a breath and shouted "Mr. Master of Ceremony can you turn on the lights?".

The lights all turned on, almost like magic, and they all went towards the colossal wooden doors. The master of ceremony congratulated everyone and called the parents, who came out of the dining room, cheering, like kids.

They were all beaming as they filed out of the house 20 minutes later. While the adults said goodbye to each other, the children gathered around one last time and were reciting the events of the afternoon. When finally, they walked out of the gates, Francis could have sworn Mabel Warren and Joyce winked at him with knowing smiles on their faces; but when he looked again they were ducking into their cars.