Abandoned

Round 1

Dressed in comfy pants and a t-shirt, you sit contentedly among your blankets and pillows. A storm rages outside. Perfect weather to curl up with a scary book and get lost for the evening.

Thunder claps loudly at the same time your phone buzzes on your nightstand. You startle, sending your book flying. Muttering choice words, you check your phone's screen. A text from your friend, Sam. You unlock your phone and read.

'Hey! Perfect weather, right? So perfect, you should join us in a little excursion to the abandoned house. Joe bet we couldn't stay the night. First one to leave buys the rest breakfast. Sarah and Meghan are already on board. So?'

You glance at the pouring rain outside and consider the chances the old house leaks. You walk over and recover your flung book. Lightning flashes outside. A morbid, black and white sunken face stares up at you from the page. Something in it's melted, grotesque features whispers it'll get you once you look away. You shiver and shut the book, setting it aside.

Another text from Sam. 'So?'

Glancing at the book, you already know you weren't planning on sleeping tonight. Stay in with all the lights on or job your friends and get breakfast after you won? Easy choice.

You text back. 'I'm in.'

'Yes!' Sam replies instantly, following up with directions to meet at the house and bring supplies.

After telling him you'll be there shortly, you fish a backpack from under your bed and look around. You grab the obvious - raincoat, flashlight, utility knife, and a couple snacks. Sam didn't really say what the evening would entail. What are you missing?

A.) It's bulky, but you grab your sleeping bag. It's warm and cushy. It'd be nice to get a little shut eye at some point.
B.) You don't plan on sleeping in an abandoned house. A blanket is lighter and easier to carry. You grab that instead.
C.) Don't see an option you like? Comment below with your course of action. If it gets more likes than the polling options, I'll use it!

Round 2

Grabbing your sleeping bag, you swap out your pj pants for jeans and put on the warm rain coat. Doing one last survey of your room, your eyes land on the book still on your nightstand. You stuff it in your backpack and head out the door.

The abandoned house is about 30 minutes out of town, down a dirt road. It explained a little why no one bothered to fix it up and live there. Well, that and the fact that the last two tennants had made it a week a two before random, unexplained events drove them away. But no one had died in her sleep. Not since little old Mrs. Agnes has died, and she had been 87. Nothing unusual there.

You pull up to the house and feel slightly better about the likelihood of staying dry. The house is in better shape than you remember. The roof looks intact. Other than the overgrown lawn and a shattered glass window in the attic, you would assume someone still lived there.

Sam waves you over from where he stands on the front porch. Joe, Sarah, and Meghan are already there too. Running through the rain, you join them. Sam smiles and Joe claps his hands together, obviously relishing the night's prospects.

"Awesome. We're all here. Basic rules. We all go in together. First one to leave buys us all breakfast in the morning."

Sarah briskly rubs her arms, ready to get out of the night air. "Anything else? Do we need any ground rules for sportsman-like behavior?"

Joe thinks on this, but Sam chimes in first.

"It's all in good fun, right? That's the point, but obviously don't go doing anything that's going to get someone hurt."