Betrayal at the House on the Hill Shorts

Lost

     What a wonderous thought it is of the possibility of multiple worlds and realities.  A far-flung dream for many, but what if it were true?  What if two worlds collided...and what if one wasn't friendly.

     Gerald pushed his full wait against the door to the right of the entrance, stumbling in as the junk behind it gave way.  Rather ungracefully, he caught on to the nearest shelf, his hand coming to rest on something else.  His eyes turned to see a skull grinning at him from underneath his hand, a few teeth missing from its mouth.

     "You alright?" Mabel asked, poking her head in and looking at the skull in his hand.  "Nice trinket...."

     "Kind of weird, though," Leigh supplied, shining his light at three other doors.  "Wonder what's beyond here?"  A girl behind him, Rachel, moved to go through the door beside the open one and walked in.  

     A bearskin rug lay on the floor in front of two chairs, various heads of animals hung all over the walls.  Her light shone around the room as she spun in a circle, doing a double take when looking at the door.  A dark fog had appeared where the foyer had once been but it slowly disappeared to reveal the backs of her friends.

     "Weird," she said, grinning a little while she eyed the new doors.  Tentatively, she opened another door, briefly seeing what was inside before her flashlight went out.  

     "Rachel?"  Leigh asked, going out of the junk room and looking at where a door used to be that he thought Rachel was at.  He'd heard a surprised squeak and didn't know what had happened.  "Rachel?!"

     "Over here!"  her voice rang out to him from across the foyer.  "I'm alright.  My flashlight went out.  Anyone over there got any batteries?"

     "I got her," Gerald said, reaching into his bag as he walked towards her voice.  Leigh carefully stepped over the junk towards the door directly in front of him.  His light fell upon old pots and pans hanging from the ceiling...along with a wooden mask.  It was a grotesque face with some semblance of sharp teeth carved into it.  He picked it up and spun on his heel as a note broke the uneasy silence.  

      "What the hell is-," he said, looking through the other open door and being cut off.  A giant pipe organ dominated one wall of the room and another door was open on the opposite side.  Fredrick, who had followed Mabel, had pressed one of the keys to see if they worked and had jumped back when it did.  "Nice one, Fred...."

      "I didn't think it was going to work," Fred said defensively.  "This house is ancient so why would it work?"  He made a good point, but not in the way they thought it was.  "Has anyone been upstairs?"

     "As far as I'm aware of, no," Leigh said.  "We do need someone to check up there, though, if you want to try...."  He immediately left to tramp upstairs, followed by Mabel who went to explore the other side of the house with Rachel and Gerald.  Looking towards the other door in the junk room, he forced it open and stepped back at what he saw.

     Statues glared down at him from different angles but something else glared at him.  Leigh noticed an unusual patch of slime on the wall, watching as it bubbled and brought forth a creature.  It looked at Leigh before rushing him with a roar that made Leigh shudder but then it was gone.  "I'm going to need some therapy after this."  He continued down the hall turning a corner before slipping and sliding into the darkness below.

      "Looks like this door leads back outside," Rachel said, turning a knob and opening a way out onto a patio.  The moon was still high up in the sky, illuminating the figure of two skeletons, one much smaller than the other, and embracing each other.  Something about seeing that did something to Rachel's head, making her feel uneasy and scared.  Gerald came after her and stood looking at the pair, stunned but not effected in the way she was.