A Dare

Chapter 1.

"HELP!" Xandria Noelle screamed, slamming her fists into the plain white walls of the room she stood in. tears streamed down her face, smearing mascara on her pale cheeks.

"SOMEBODY HELP!" she cried. 'I'm going to die here,' she thought. 'Nobody will find me and I'm going to die of thirst.'

She floated down to the ground. A black dress encased her body with small, flowing ruffles that reached her knees. Why had she been so stupid? She knew she shouldn't have accepted the dare to venture into the house no one else even thought of entering.

She had been at a party. Her date - a shy boy like her called Kyle - her two best friends - Chyra and Elisa - and their dates decided to get outside and walk around the neighborhood, which was small and secluded from the rest of town.

Xandria wanted to get away from her friends to be with just Kyle. They were holding hands - just starting to drift from the others - when Chyra shouted, "Xandria! Over here!"

Xandria moaned and went back to her friends. Her feet were beginning to ache after wearing her three-inch heels for an hour. Kyle trailed a few feet behind her.

"What is it, Chyra?" she asked, annoyance in her voice.

"Look at that house."

"It's just a house."

"Not just a house," Elisa said. "Nobody's lived in there for thirty years."

"And your point is?" Xandria was highly irritated by now and wanted to have more alone-time with her boyfriend.

"Go in it."

"What? No. There'll just be spiders and termites in it, I'm not going inside," Xandria said firmly. She was about to grab Kyle's hand and drag him far away from their friends, but Chyra said rather loudly, "What, are you scared it's haunted or something?"

Xandria pursed her lips. "You're in ninth grade, Chyra, grow up!"

"Oh, so you are scared!" Elisa giggled with Chyra. "I dare you to go in there. Go in every room there is."

"You know what? If you want me to go in there so badly, I will! Just to show you how stupid you are, I will!" She almost screamed her word out of just pure frustration and marched to the house. Kyle raced after her.

"No, Xandria, don't!"

"Kyle, it's fine, I'll be back in fifteen minutes." She kept her eyes on the house and stormed up the front steps. She turned quickly to look at her friends. They were giggling and holding each other for support.

'They've come up with some sort of sick joke,' she thought. She placed her hand on the doorknob and firmly turned it, but it wouldn't open. She spun around to face the others again. "It's locked."

But their faces had turned from giddy and fun to horrified. Confused, she turned and saw the silhouette of a person, much taller than her, arms outspread, ready to grab her. She cried out, but the thing had already gotten hold of her and pulled her into the house.

And it was all just a dare.