A Night to Remember

The Mansion Begins to Affect the Guys

"Frank!" Ray dropped to his knees to join the shaken guitarist as he knelt on the floor. "It's okay," he added with a sympathetic tone. He knew now that this was genuine; Frank was clearly not faking this reaction.

The still trembling guitarist looked up at him.

"I wasn't making it up, Ray."
"No, I know, I see that now. I'm sorry I didn't believe you," Ray replied comfortingly.

"Are you?" Bob smirked. "That's nothing to how sorry you're going to be!"

"What happened?" Ray asked with so much concern and sincerity in his tone, Frank was able to relax a little.
"I... I saw Bob."
"He's in there?" Ray glanced into the room and then back to Frank as his heart skipped a beat as he realised that merely seeing Bob wouldn't scare his friend unless something was very wrong. "Wh... what... is he okay?" he stammered not wanting to ask the real question.

Frank shook his head.

"He's a ghost, I saw him in the mirror; he was calling out to me."

Ray sat back on his heels, momentarily reserving judgement. The idea was ridiculous, wasn't it? But clearly, Frank had been scared by something.

"In the mirror?"

It sounded suspiciously to him as if Bob had played some sort of trick on Frank. It was of course true, but he assumed that Bob was hiding somewhere in the room. The true elaborate nature of the trick would elude him. Frank nodded.

"I'll have a look," he said as he got to his feet, helping Frank up too. "Do you want to show me?"
"No!" Frank said firmly. "I'm not going back in there."

Frank was adamant and Ray was now even more certain that he was telling the truth.

Frank watched with unease as Ray walked back into the study. He was torn; he knew he really didn't want to go in with him, but neither did he want to remain in the hallway on his own either. He fidgeted and shifted from one foot to another as he decided what to do. Occasionally, he glanced into the room, grateful that Ray had left the door open and he could see him moving about; it made him feel much less alone, even though he was technically in another room. Ray looked at the large bookcase opposite the mirror and frowned. It would be typical, he thought, for a house of this size and age to have secret rooms hidden behind apparently everyday furniture. Had Bob found one and used it to torment Frank? But it still didn't explain how he got out of the cell. If there was one thing he felt he knew for sure, it was that that cell was solid stone – no way out.

Behind Frank, a mahogany wall panel silently slid back and Bob smirked as he saw the obviously edgy guitarist waiting impatiently for Ray to rejoin him. Ray was taking his time. He felt terrible for not having believed his friend and was absolutely determined to find whatever it was that had terrified him so much. But for Frank, every second left alone in the hallway was agony.Having watched Ray moving around in the room for a few minutes without a single incident, Frank had just about reached the decision to join him when his eyes flew open in terror as a hand clamped itself firmly over his mouth as an arm wrapped around him. Strong arms pulled him backwards through the open panel into the passageway beyond. Struggling and trying desperately to cry out through the hand, Frank's muffled cries carried through into the study and Ray spun on his heels and ran for the source of the noise. As he reached the hallway the mahogany panel had already slid noiselessly back into place. Ray looked around frantically; there was no sign of the younger man.

"Frank!" Ray yelled. The hallway was large but Frank had been there, standing right by the door. He had glanced occasionally at him, noticing his unease; it was highly improbable that he would just wander off. In fact it was simply unthinkable. Frank was scared and unwilling to be left alone, but the fact remained that he had vanished. Ray frowned; he had definitely not imagined that cry. Something had happened to him, something very strange was happening and he didn't like it. He had to find Gerard and Mikey; they had to be told.