A deserted house in the mountain

About three hours on foot

From Marston City.

No one knows how long it has been there

or who used to live in it

Rumors say that it was... haunted.

A group of friends were walking up the path to where the house is. A man with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes looked at the brunette man, worried. "Vincent, are you sure we're going the right way?" He asked. "I'm sure, Jeremy. This path leads to the house and I'm sure we'll find the house." Vincent replied. "But... What if it's not even here?" A man with orange hair and green eyes said. "Well, I guess we'll just have to find out." Vincent said.

A woman with short/long pink hair with purple highlights, and browns eyes then saw the house.

The others saw the house too. "Well, what do you know? It's really here." Vincent said.

"I thought it was just a rumor." Sara said, her arms crossed.

"Yeah. I never thought we would actually find it." A man with short, brown hair and black eyes, almost the same as Vincent said. "It has such a desolate feel to it. Not bad." A man with dark skin said. A man with blonde hair and purple eyes looked down and rubbed his arm. "I don't think it's very interesting, though." He said.

"Me neither. Can't we just look at it from the outside and then go back?" Sara asked.

"Oh, come on. After all the trouble we had to find it? Come on, let's just go in for a little while. It'll be fun." Vincent said, smiling. The blonde man looked at Vincent, uncertain.

The group of friends then went inside the house. They looked around.

"Hmm... It's cleaner than I thought." Vincent said, impressed. He expected the house to be dusty and old, but from the looks of it, it looked like it was brand new. The blonde man looked around, anxious. "H-Hey. Can we go now?" The man asked. "What's the matter, Kevin? You scared?" The brunette man asked, smirking. Then, they heard something like glass breaking. Kevin jumped in fright. "L-Look, we really should go now." He said, frightened.

"Oh, don't be silly. It's not like there are any ghosts or anything. Where is your common sense?" Sara then walked to where the sound was.

Kevin looked at Sara. "Apparently out the freaking window." He thought. A man with spiky, black hair and brown eyes grabbed Sara's wrist. "Wait... I don't think you should go alone." He said.

Sara looked at the man and nodded. "Alright." She said.

"If the rumors are true and there really is something in this house, then maybe we should investigate as a group. Maybe all of us should go with you." The ravenette said to Sara.

"Good idea." Sara said.

The others nodded. Kevin looked at the dark skinned man, a nervous look on his face. He held Kevin's hand in a comforting manner and smiled warmly. Kevin smiled back, beginning to calm down. The group then walked to where the sound came from.

They went in the kitchen and saw a broken plate on the ground.

The brunette man looked at Kevin. "It's alright, Kev. It's just a broken plate." He said. He picked up a small shard. "Careful, Mike! It's sharp!" The man with the green glasses said to him. "It's alright, Scott. I'll be careful." Mike said, holding the plate shard in his hand. "How sharp do you think the plate shard is?" Jeremy asked. "Hmm..." Mike looked at the plate shard in his hand, then he gently poked Jeremy with the plate shard. "Careful, Mike!" Jeremy said.

Sara sweatdropped as she crossed her arms.

"If you want to try out the plate shard, go try it on the wallpaper or something." The dark skinned man said. "I don't know, Anthony. If someone is living in that house, I don't think he or she would be happy about a bunch of kids breaking in and vandalizing the place." Scott said.

Sara nodded.

"Well, it looks pretty sharp. I could stab someone with this if I want to." Mike said. "Mikey, no." Jeremy said.

"Mike, no. Please." Sara said.

"Sheesh, I was just joking." Mike said. "Still, it's not funny." Fritz said.

Sara nodded.

"Sorry..." Mike said and put the plate shard in his pocket.

"Anyway, we should get out of here. My parents might be wondering where we are." Sara said.

"Yeah. We should." Mike said. The others walked out of the kitchen and went to the door. Vincent tried to open the door, but... it wouldn't open. "What the...?"

"What's wrong?" Sara asked.

"Um... Guys... The door won't open." Vincent said. "What?! Here. Let me!" Mike pushed Vincent out of the way and tried to open the door. It wouldn't budge.

"What the hell is going on...?" Sara thought, her eyes were widened in shock.

"Oh god... Can someone find something to break down the door?!" Mike asked, frightened.

Sara ran down the west corridor to find something, but saw a large blue ma-.....No...DEMON, standing and looking at a door. Her eyes widened as she began to shake. But she stayed calm. She hoped the blue demon wouldn't turn around

The blue demon opened the door and went inside the room.

"Wh.... What was that just now...? I... Maybe I'm getting tired..." Sara thought. She went in one of the rooms and saw a crowbar. She ran out of the room and ran back to the others. "Here!" Sara said, giving Mike the crowbar.

"Thank you!" Mike said. He put the hook of the crowbar in the crack of the door and tried to pull the door open. However, all that had accomplished is Mike falling on his butt.

"How in the hell..?" Sara thought, looking at the door.

"What's going on? I-It can't be locked..." Fritz said.

Sara began to shake, she was terrified. TOO terrified.

Mike noticed this and hugged her. "Hey. Shh... It's okay... I'm sure we'll find another way out." He said.

Sara hugged back, calming down.

"Alright. Maybe if we look hard enough, we can find a secret passage out of this house." Mike said.

Sara nodded.

"Alright, but keep your eyes open. You never know what could be lurking there." Scott said.

"I did saw this... Thing though..." Sara said.

"What?! What did you see?" Anthony asked.

"There was this... Large blue... Thing.... It was looking at one of the doors in the west corridor and it went inside the room..." Sara said, shaking again.

Everyone's eyes widened. "Oh my god..." Anthony muttered. "That gives us great motivation for us to get out of here!" Kevin shouted.

Sara nodded, continuing to shake.

Mike hugged her again and started to rub her back. Jeremy watched the whole scene in fear. His heart was pounding in his chest and sweat was dripping from his forehead. Then, he heard something walk down the hallway. He slowly turned around and saw the large, blue demon Sara saw earlier. His eyes widened and he started to shake. "Um... Guys...?!" He started to say, his voice raised.

Sara saw the large, blue demon, making her eyes widen.

Everyone looked at the demon and their eyes widened as well. "O-Oh my..." Vincent whispered quietly before Kevin started to scream. "RUN!!" Mike shouted.

Sara grabbed Mike's hand as she and the others started to run.

The demon started to chase after them with astounding speed. It almost caught the others off guard as they ran. The demon reached for Vincent's shirt collar, but Scott pulled him away from its grasp.

Sara grabbed the crowbar and threw it at the demon.

The crowbar hit the demon in the face and he roared. That gave the opportunity for the group to run away.

Later, the group stopped to catch their breath. "W-What the hell was that thing?!" Mike asked.

"T-That was the thing I saw earlier!!" Sara said.

"I-I knew it was a bad idea to go inside!" Kevin said. "Calm down, Kevin! We'll find an exit and we'll all get out of here." Mike reassured him. Kevin looked around, expecting Anthony to be here, but... he didn't see him. Not only that, he didn't see Vincent and Scott. "Uh... Where's Anthony, Scott and Vincent?" He asked. "Wha- huh?" Mike looked around frantically and saw that they weren't there. "Wha? But, they were right behind me a minute ago!"

Sara began to shake very heavily, like she was gonna have a panic attack. She fell on her knees.

Mike noticed and hugged her, her head on his chest. "Y-You don't think that they..." Fritz started to say, but Jeremy stopped him. "Don't worry. I'm sure they're okay." He said.

Sara began to calm down, taking deep breaths.

"Are you feeling better?" Mike asked.

Sara nodded.

Mike smiled. "That's good." He said, kissing Sara's forehead.

Sara blushed a little.

"Anyways, we should probably look for them." Kevin said.

Sara nodded.

Everyone started their search for Scott, Vincent and Anthony. Mike went into one of the bedrooms and saw something laying on the bed. He went towards the bed and saw that it was Scott's phone. "Is this... Scott's cell phone? What is it doing in a place like this?" He thought to himself.

Sara walked beside Mike and noticed Scott's cell phone. Her eyes widened a little. "Is that..." She started to say.

"Yeah. It's Scott's cell phone." Mike said. "W-What's it doing in a place like this?" Jeremy asked. "I don't know. I think Scott might have dropped it." Mike replied. "I hope Scott and the others are okay..." Fritz said.

Sara nodded in agreement.

"I hope so too." Mike said, putting the phone in his pocket. "C'mon, let's keep going."

"Alright." Sara said.

The group continued their search for Scott and the others. Eventually, they went into a room where Sara noticed that the closet curtain was closed.

Sara looked at the closet curtain, she slowly went to the closet curtain and opened it.

Inside the closet was Scott. He was hugging his knees and he was shaking. "S-Scott!" Mike said.

"S-Scott! Are you okay?" Sara asked.

Scott didn't respond. He just continued to shake.

"Scott, where's Vincent and Anthony? Mike, go find some water to calm Scott down!" Sara said.

Mike nodded and ran out of the room with Jeremy following him. They ran into the kitchen where Jeremy found a glass on the counter. "Here you go!" He said, giving Mike the glass. He turned the handle on the kitchen faucet, but no water came out. "Dammit... We need to get water somewhere else." He said. "Well, where are we supposed to get water?" Jeremy asked. "I think I know where." Mike said. They all ran down the hallway to the bathroom. "Please work..." Mike thought as he turned the faucet. Luckily, water came out of the faucet and poured into the cup. "Ah, thank god. It doesn't seem to be broken." He said. "C'mon, Jere." Jeremy nodded and they all left the bathroom, went upstairs and went back to the room where Sara, Fritz and Kevin is still trying to comfort Scott.

"Here Scott. We brought you some water. Drink it and try to calm down." Mike said as he gave the water to Scott. "Here. It's not filtered water though..." Scott brought the cup to his lips, his hands shaking as he drank the water. He stared at it suspiciously for a few seconds before he looked at Mike. "Is that... really water?" He asked him. "Judging by its clarity... probably." Mike replied. "I see... Anyways, sorry for falling apart like that. I feel much better now thanks to you guys." Scott said as he stood up.

"No problem, Scott." Sara said.

"So, where are the others?" Mike asked. "I'm... not sure. At any rate, we ran for our lives... And those two went in different directions... I think. Sorry, just... give me a moment to pull myself together." Scott said.

"Okay." Sara said.

"Are you sure? Do you want us to keep an eye on you?" Fritz asked. "No, it's okay. I'll be fine on my own. Besides, if the Thing shows up again, I'll hide in here." Scott replied, pointing to the closet. "Alright? We'll go look for the other two. Try to get some rest." Fritz said. "Sorry... Oh, by the way, I found this while I was running. Maybe it can be of some use to you guys?" Scott asked, pulling something out of his pocket.

"What is it?" Sara asked.

"It's a key that I found. I don't know which door it unlocks, but I was hoping maybe it could help you guys?" Scott said as he gave the key to Sara.

"It will. Thanks, Scott." Sara said.

Scott nodded before he walked back inside the closet.

Sara looked at the others. "Now that we found Scott. We need to find Anthony and Vincent." She said.

"Yeah... I hope they're okay." Fritz said.

Sara looked at the closet curtain, she was worried for the others getting hurt by the demon, or Scott getting found by the demon. She was getting way too worried at this point.

"Do you want some of us to keep an eye on Scott while we go find which door the key belongs to?" Mike asked.

Sara nodded.

"Me and Jeremy will keep an eye on Scott. You and Mike go see which door the key belongs to." Fritz said. "Okay. You guys be careful." Mike said. "Don't worry. We will, Mike." Jeremy said, pulling out his shurikens.

"I'll be praying for your safety." Sara said.

"Good luck." Fritz said. "Thank you." Mike said as he and Sara walked out of the room.

Sara held Mike's hand as she looked at him. "Ready to go?" She asked.

Mike nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be." He replied.

"Alright... Let's go." Sara said.

Mike nodded and they began to search the house. They tried the key on every door they could find. None of them worked. Eventually, they reached one more door. Mike held the key in his hand as he breathed deeply. He turned the key and sure enough, it unlocked the door. He and Sara went inside and saw a library. For a moment, Mike thought he saw something pass in front of them.

Sara blinked as she tightened the grip on Mike's hand tightly, but not too tightly.

The two of them walked slowly through the library, looking around to see if anyone is here. They saw no one. Mike thought it was odd. He just saw something a minute ago. "No, Mike... It's probably my imagination... But... Sara and the others saw the monster too... It might not be my imagination..." He thought. As he thought that, he saw something on the table.

Sara looked behind, shaking a little, but she calmed down and looked at what's on the table.

On the table was a single riceball. "T-This is... an ordinary riceball." Mike said.

"Well, we could take it." Sara said.

Mike slowly picked up the riceball and carefully put it in his pocket.

Sara looked around the room, feeling uneasy.

Mike felt uneasy too. He grabbed Sara's hand and began to run out of the room. But, a large hand grabbed Mike's neck and slammed him against the wall.

Sara saw the blue demon from before. Her eyes widened, but she kicked the demon off of Mike.

Mike fell to the floor, gasping for breath.

"Mike! Are you okay?!" Sara asked.

"Y-Yeah... I-I'm okay." Mike gasped.

Sara ran to Mike and helped him up, then looked at the large blue demon.

Mike glared at the blue demon, his large black eyes started to dilate. Mike knew he was going to attack, so he pulled out his two laser guns and started shooting the demon.

Strings came out of Sara's finger tips as she started to stab the demon.

The demon hissed as it slashed at Mike and Sara. "YoU... WOn't... ESc... aPe..."

Sara held her arm that had a slash on it, bleeding, blood running down her hand. She glared at the demon.

Mike continued to shoot at the demon a few times. Black blood splattered all over the floor as the demon stumbled.

"Mike, we need to get out of here!" Sara said.

Mike nodded, grabbed Sara's hand and ran to the door. However, when Mike turned the knob, it wouldn't open. "W-What the...?!" Mike remembered the key that Scott gave to Sara. He reached into his pocket, but he couldn't find it. "T-The key... Oh no... I think I dropped it somewhere!" He said frantically to Sara.

"Get back!" Sara said, she then started to try to kick the door open.

Mike looked and saw the monster coming towards them. "Don't worry, Sara. I'll get the key!" He said as he started to shoot the demon again.

Sara then kicked the door open. "The door's open! Come on!" She said.

Mike followed Sara out of the library and closed the door.

"W-What the hell was that thing?!" Sara said.

"I-I don't know, but... we have to find the others as soon as possible." Mike said.