The Haunted Mansion

5

"Matt? Dan? Bunny?" No response. The lights flicker back on, and everyone is gone. It's just Pat. All alone in the large room. He looks around, scanning his surroundings, looking for clues to where they could be. Nothing. He sees nothing. Nothing but the creme colored walls that close him in. That prevent him from finding Jen. He slowly opens his fist to reveal the crumpled letters. "I just need to find 4," he says. "Then everything will be ok."

*||||*
"Where are they!?" The shadow man's voice ripples through the air. "You were supposed to bring them to me." 4 looks down at the ground.

"I'm sorry, ok?" He says sadly. "But I just couldn't do it. I couldn't find them. This place is a labyrinth. Isn't there anything else I can do for you to let her go?"

"I'm afraid not. We had a deal. You bring them to me and I let her go. You failed your end of the deal, so I can't do mine." He disappears, and leaves 4 alone in the room.

*Pat*

"There must be something here..." he mutters, feeling around on the wall. All of a sudden, he hears a click and the wall spins around. Inside the newly found room is the shadow man. And a girl with long, brown hair and pretty hazel eyes. She looks terrified.

"Every hour the maze resets," the man says. "So they're all split up now. They'll never find you. You're as good as mine." She stares at Pat, causing the shadow man to look over at what she's seeing. Stealthily, he pulls himself back behind the door, and it closes without a sound. After a few minutes of silence, he hears a knock on the wall. A woman's voice asks "Hello? Are you there?" There's a pang of sadness in her voice, like she's hurting. Her accent is British. Jemma. He frantically scrambles to open the secret door and help her. But it won't open.

"It's ok," he tells her. "Stay calm. I'm going to help you. My name is Pat."

*Dan*

Dan wakes up in a cold dark room. Alone. He rubs the back of his head and stands up, hitting his head on the low ceiling. "Where am I?" He questions, trying to look around. Then, the lights flash on and he is greeted by a sharp, wailing cry. A baby sits in front of him. Luna.

"Dada?" She calls out, looking up at Dan. A tear starts rolling down Dan's face. When she sees it's not her dad, she slowly backs away.

"Luna?" Dan asks. "Come here sweetheart. It's ok, I'm not gonna hurt you. I promise." Luna stands up and hesitantly walks towards him.

He knows my name. She thinks to herself. He must know my dad. Carefully, Dan picks Luna up and sets her in his lap. He uses his shirt sleeve to carefully wipe at the dried blood on her foot. She starts crying.

"I'm sorry Luna," Dan says, panicked. "I didn't know that would hurt so bad. Come here." He pulls her in towards her, and she pushes herself away from him. "It's ok," Dan says. "I'm friends with your dad. His name is Matthias." This time, she lets him hug her.

*Pat...*

The wall door opens, and reveals Jemma, sitting on an old wooden floor. The man is gone. Pat walks up to Jem, crouching down next to her. He looks down and sees patches of dried blood on her wrists. He fiddles with the bottom of his shirt, ripping off two long pieces of it. He carefully wipes the blood from Jem's wrists. She winces in pain, looking up at him. There's tears in her eyes.

"It's ok," Pat tells her. "Your ok. I'm just going to wrap your wrists up, ok?" She nods.

"Where's..... Dan..." she stutters.

"I don't know," Pat answers. "I was with him, before the lights went out." Pat finishes tying  the cloth pieces around Jemma's wrists. "I'm going to carry you out of here," Pat says. "I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"You don't have to," Jem tells him. "I can walk, it's just my wrists......." The lights go out with a bang. When they go back on, a creepy voice is talking to them. The shadow man.

"Hello Patrick. I see you've found someone. Oh look, it's Jemma."

"What do you want?" Pat asks. "You said we were free if we found them, so let us out of here!"

"I said you had to find YOUR wife." The ceiling starts to lower. "Kiss her, Patrick, or you'll both be crushed. And we don't want that to happen now, do we?" Pat and Jemma stare at each other.

"I'm not kissing her," Pat says. "No way. She's married. Isn't there anything else I can do?"

"Times ticking," says the voice.

"Pat," Jemma says. "Just kiss me already. We don't have much time and I don't want to die now." Pat looks around the room, then quickly pecks Jem on the lips. Nothing happens.

The shadow mans voice booms through the speakers. "You call that a kiss? You can do better than that!" The walls start to close in.

"Pat, your gonna have to make out with me. I'm just as grossed out as you are about this, but if you don't do it we're just gonna be crushed. And this isn't how I wanted to die." Pat stares at her. "Just kiss me already!" Jemma shouts, and Pat inches closer to her. The room is almost squashing them.

"Ok," Pat says. "In three... two..." Jemma cuts him off by pressing her lips against his. Pat kisses her back, holding in his disgust. After a few minutes, they push away from each other and the room stops moving. The walls and ceiling move outwards, giving Pat and Jem more space in the room.

"That's more like it." The shadow says, and his voice disappears.

*Dan...*

"Let's find your daddy!" Dan exclaims, and Luna giggles. They've been walking for who knows how long. Luna tightly wraps her arms around Dan. "We'll find him," Dan says. "I promise. And Luna smiles.