House of Anubis: House of Horror

House of Venture/House of Dishonor

Joy tiptoed out her room with her flashlight in hand. She was sneaking past the rooms and towards the front door when Alfie came out the kitchen.

"What are you doing up?" they asked eachother at the same time.

"Nothing," they both replied, at the same time.

"Are you sneaking out?" Alfie questioned.

"Keep your voice down, and yes," Joy whispered. "Would you care to join me?"

"What about the others?"

"I don't have time to wait for the others' decision. Please, Alfie?"

Alfie stared at her pleading eyes. "Ok."

He followed Joy outside, and Joy quietly shut the door. Joy had to make several attempts to prevent Erik from following them, and eventually she did. Alfie followed Joy's lead into the forest. Now that Joy had a flashlight, it was easy to see the details of the woods. Especially the trees which looked rotten and black; they were probably dead, just still standing. She finally made it back to the pond which had greenish-grey water. Movement at the surface was idle at the moment, but Joy was positive something was down there.

"Do you plan on going in or something?" Alfie whispered.

"I'm not that crazy," Joy looked at him. "Come on, let's explore some more."

Joy decided to go around the pond and continue forward on the other side. If she travelled in a primarily straight line, it'd be easier to trace back to the house.

After some time walking, there was a rustling in the forest. Alfie tensed up. Joy tried to show no fear even though she was growing a bit nervous herself.

"When are we heading back?" Alfie shuddered.

Joy didn't answer. She stepped in something mushy and stopped, Alfie right behind her. She looked down with her flashlight, seeing the ground soaked with a thick liquid.

"Could it be-"

"-probably," Joy responded, knowing what he was going to ask."

"Can we go back now?"

"Ok."

They casually turned back around. Then they began running. As they ran, it almost felt as though something were right behind then, chasing them. The air turned cold and thin.

Alfie was a bit ahead of Joy. Joy yelped as she tripped down and the flashlight bounced into the lake. Alfie helped Joy up. They couldn't really see anything considering their eyes weren't well adjusted to the dark. They began feeling around the trees, hoping they could make their way around the pond accurately.

Once they felt as though they'd gotten around, they felt their way further through the forest. Their eyes just began adjusting. The outlines of shapes became more definite with each passing minute, but they weren't certain of where they were.

"Are we lost?" Alfie asked after a while of walking. "It seems as though we've walked to much to just be going back."

"No, no," Joy reassured. "We're on the right track." Under her breath, she muttered, "I hope."

Their eyes had fully adjusted after while, and they realized they didn't know where they were. Honestly, the entire forest looked the same, making things that much harder.

"That's it! We're officially lost!" Alfie yelled.

"Alfie, no we're not-"

"-you don't have to keep telling me that!" Alfie exclaimed as they stopped walking. "I'm a man, not a baby. I know bad things happen."

"I wasn't babying you. Ok, so we're lost. I'll just call the others...Actually, I don't have my phone. Do you?"

"If I did, I would've used my flashlight on it."

"No need to get smart," Joy sassed.

They both sunk down into the ground, their backs leaning against trees. They tried to calm themselves down and think something through.

~~~~~
They'd fallen asleep in those spots. In the morning, Joy felt a pressure on her leg. She mumbled in her sleep, "Alfie. Alfie stop. Alfie!"

Joy woke up and realized it was Erik, the life-saving dog.

"Alfie!" Joy shouted much louder, making Alfie jump.

He spotted Erik. "Is that the dog?"

"Yeah. He's saving us. Come on, Alfie!"

Joy rose onto her feet and ran behind the dog. Alfie scrambled up and followed them, not wanting to get left behind. When they arrived to the house, Fabian, Patricia, Jerome, and Amber were standing on the porch.

~~~~~
"How could you go out there?!" Fabian exclaimed, outraged. "It's dangerous!" Honestly, Fabian was overwhelmed and cranky because of the situation with Nina, which was slowly driving him crazy.

"Someone had to," Joy responded.

"I agree with Fabian-what if you got hurt?" Patricia added. "What if something bad's out there?"

"As you can see, we're all very mad." Amber folded her arms.

"Just don't do anything like that again. We don't need anymore people getting hurt," Fabian breathed.

He exited the kitchen where they'd been discussing it. Joy and Alfie were the only ones sitting. Patricia left after Fabian, and then Amber. All who was left standing in there with the guilty two was Jerome.

"You understand, right bud?" Alfie questioned.

"No, Alfredo, I don't. And I don't wish to hear any explanation from either of you," Jerome stated sternly. "I'm as angry as the others right now. We don't know what's out there. We don't know much about anything here. If you're going to take risks like that, make sure it's okay it's all of us."

As Jerome limped out, Joy tried to call his name, but it couldn't come out. She knew it wasn't the time to be thinking about this, but working with Jerome was still very hard for her. And to be told off by him, even if it was towards her and Alfie, really just made things feel worse.

~~~~~
Here's yet another chapter! Hope you readers enjoy this, and I'll update as soon as possible for the next one!

Have Alfie and Joy really lost the trust of the group?

How do you think they can regain it?