Prologue

"DON'T GO IN THERE YOU OLD HAG! DO YOU WANT TO DIE?" I yelled at the top of my lungs, earning quite many disapproving glares from the surrounding people.

"Calm down Addy or we're going to get kicked out," Brandon smirked from beside me.

I glared at him. "Of course. You just want to win the damn bet," I said, pretty annoyed at how the things were turning out.

"I am the King of Bets, you know," he kept his stupid smirk on his stupid face.

I huffed and turned my attention back to the screen, where I could see my doom approaching me.

Apparently, my dear best friend had challenged me into watching a horror movie with him since no one else was willing.

To add to that, he insisted we place a bet. The bet being that if the protagonist died, the person who bet for it, could challenge the other person to do any one daring thing.

And there was no backing out.

Naturally, I followed a safer side to bet that the protagonist will survive. Since in most of the movies, the bad thing always gets defeated. Grudge being an exception.

But here the movie wasn't turning out to be in my favour and I was dreading it because Brandon's bets were really over the top.

Last time he placed a bet with our other best friend Sydney, he made her sneak into the principal's office and steal his Spider-Man boxers from his mini-cupboard wearing a clown costume.

I internally shuddered as I thought of the things he could make me do. The last time I had lost a bet against him, I had to go flirt with a bald guy and ask him if I could kiss on the top of his shiny head.

Yeah, so he was ruthless.

And the worst part of betting against him was that he always won. There was not even a single time that he had lost a bet.

Maybe I should've thought about it before betting again. But oh well.

I covered my eyes when the protagonist spoke. "Is anyone there?"

Asking that, he stupidly followed the harsh noise that was coming from somewhere else.

Isn't it a universal rule that no one is supposed to follow the sound of this kind of noise, especially at night?!

But of course the saying 'Curiosity killed the cat' had to be taken from somewhere, right?

But apparently this guy wasn't aware of the saying.

"Please! You'll save me my dignity of you don't open that door!" I nearly pleaded to the protagonist.

But did he listen?

The answer to that can be taken from the loud cackling from beside me. I groaned as my head fell into my hands.

Why? Just why does this have to happen?
***

"I'm gonna guess Brandon won," Sydney concluded as I walked with a slumped figure.

We had gotten kicked out. Yep.

Even though the movie was almost over, the guard threw us out and it was all because of the old hag behind us. The lady wasn't old but hey, did she have to get us kicked out?

I mean I think we both had made the movie time pretty hilarious with our comments. She should've been grateful because I could see that she was close to pissing her pants when she got jump scares.

"You had to see her face when the guy died. It was hilarious!" Brandon burst out laughing and I glared at him.

I turned my gaze to Sydney. Pointing at Brandon, I said,"Please ask this ass to shut up otherwise the next thing he'll see is my fist."

She just laughed.

Sydney Pelt was the third member of our group. She had dirty blonde hair and was really pretty. Her actual hair colour was light brown, though.

She had come into our group in grade five when she moved here to live with her cousin Aunt.

Her mom was Alyssa Pelt, the world famous singer and her dad was Aaron Pelt, the captain of the national soccer team so they didn't want her to be exposed to the spotlight.

Before her, it was just Brandon and I. But she came and it kind of completed our group. She was like my very own sister.

And no one except for us knew her secret.

"Ready for your dare, Addy-boo?" Brandon teased and I tried to hide my expression at the mention of the dare.

Sydney looked at him excitedly and I gave her a pointed look. "Don't get so excited. If you weren't a scaredy cat, we both would've been suffering."

"Not a chance. I would've never bet with you," she replied, making my jaw drop.

"You, my lady, are no longer worthy of my friendship," I faked an expression of betrayal and making a sad -almost on the verge of crying-face, turned away from her.

"You know, if it wasn't for the overly-dramatic dialogue, I literally would've believed you. You really know how to act," she said and I grinned at her.

Acting was my passion and being complimented on it gave me great sense of pride.

"You're forgiven," I said and she chuckled, shaking her head.

"Hey! You should be glorifying me right now. I won the bet, not her!" Brandon interrupted and I burst out laughing.

"Okay fine. What do you want me to do, oh great Lord?"

"Now that's what I like," he grinned. "So, dear Addie, you are going to...."

He paused for a dramatic effect and dread pooled in my stomach. Even Sydney leaned in with curiosity. My eyes widened when he said what I had to do.

"...spend an entire night in the spooky mansion!"

Doom? Where are you?

Oh that's right. You're waiting for me in the spooky mansion, on Saturday night.
****

So... How is it? This was the prologue of Maven. I hope you guys like it. And here's the CAST of Maven.

Addison Woods

Adrian Carter

Sydney Pelt

Brandon McCallan

Courtney Moore