I was breathing heavy, as I looked around, surveying the second floor. I had to be ready for anything. It was more than likely that someone was going to die on this floor. On the ground we now walked upon, death would soon spring.

Adley snuck her hand into mine, intertwining our fingers. My heart pounded in my ears, but it felt good. Nothing in normal life could scare me. I had faced one floor of the haunted hotel and survived, and I intended to do it again and again. There were still five of us left. I believed that the majority of that five could make it out.

The only thing in this hallway, was a wooden table, with an old phone on it, you know, the kind you had to spin. I started towards it. Maybe we could call for help.

I took one step forward, a sudden surge of confidence ripping its way through me. A click sounded. I stopped all movement, even held my breath.

"Dude, did you just step on a bomb?" Trey asked.

I slowly turned my head to look at them. "I don't know, but that noise didn't sound promising."

"Just take your foot off and see what happens," Kelley rolled her eyes in annoyance, as she spoke.

"What if it blows us up?" Adley asked.

"Then we die sooner than planned. We're most likely going to die anyways, whether it's not or later doesn't really matter to me. Just step off it," Jonah huffed.

I slowly moved my foot of off it, easing the pressure. Nothing happened, for a second. Then, just when I thought it was fine, when I thought we were going to live, a bang sounded, and thick, black ropes flew out of the walls, wrapping around our necks, chests, legs, and arms. They were tight enough to make it hard to breathe, but not tight enough to kill us. Kelley screamed and thrashed, but that did nothing but tighten the rope.

"Stop moving!" I commanded.

She screamed again, trying desperately to get out. "Kelley, stop. You're making it worse. It's going to be okay. Just calm down," Jonah said, in a voice I had never heard before. It sounded as if he actually cared for the girl. He was trying to calm her down, for her safety. He was doing something selfless. I had never seen that side of Jonah before, but you know what they say, a horrible situation brings out the best in people. Just kidding, I don't think anyone says that.

The ropes tugged us back. For a second, I thought we were going to shoot into the wall, like they had come out, but then I smashed into the hard surface. I had never been so happy to bang into something. I looked to my right. Adley was next to me. She gave me a small, forced smile, when I caught her eye. Next to her, was Trey, then Kelley, then Jonah, closest to the stairwell door.

A screen dropped down from the ceiling. A TV screen, in the middle of this ancient building. It flickered on. Then, the scary video from the ring came on. I averted my eyes, knowing what came next. I had seen he movie.

"Don't watch it! It's The Ring!" I yelled. Everyone followed my advice, but Jonah.

Jonah was a horror movie buff. He couldn't not watch a part of one of his favorite movies. He had to witness it. So, he watched it. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for it to be over.

Finally, what felt like eons later, the TV screen went back up, and the ropes released us. We fell onto the floor, clutching at our necks, finally able to breathe normal again.

Then, the phone rang. The shadows seemed to whisper 'Jonah'. He took a step closer to the phone.

"Jonah! No!" Kelley pleaded, screaming, covering her ears, to try to block out the horror of it all.

He did it. He picked up the phone. That nimrod.

"Hello?" Jonah asked, his voice a shaky whisper. I had only ever seen Jonah wear confidence, cockiness, and his signature smirk. Nervous and scared were emotions I didn't think he owned. Maybe he rented them.

"You....will....die....in....seven.....seconds," the voice was deep, a man's. It was supposed to be days, but apparently they wouldn't wait that long.

Jonah dropped the phone. I silently counted in my head.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

A dark figure erupted from the wall opposite of us. We all screamed, as it rushed at Jonah, grabbing him by the neck, then shooting back into the wall. Adley jumped back into me, digging her face into my neck, to hide the horror. I wrapped my arm around her and stroked her hair.

"I don't think he likes that movie anymore," Trey said. No one laughed.

"Jonah, he's dead. Jonah is dead, guys! What are we going to do?" Kelley screamed, tears falling down her face. I could feel Adley shaking. I almost peed myself. Trey was as white as a ghost. Okay, that was a bad analogy. He was pale. We were all in rough shape.

"Teacher in the lobby. Shy girl on the first floor. Bad boy on the second floor. Who's next?" It was the same voice as before, taunting us. Humor was laced into the voice. It was enjoying this. Our suffering gave it pleasure. That thought made me sick. I swallowed hard.

There were only four of us left now. Who was next? I didn't want to die. I didn't want my friends to die. I wanted this to stop.

"Why are you doing this?" I yelled at the ceiling.  There was no answer.

Trey patted my shoulder. "Come on, man. We have to keep going."

I nodded. Adley came out of our hug. "He's right. Let's go," she said.

"I just want to go home. Jonah and I didn't even hook up yet!" Kelley complained. Of course, even after all that we'd been through, that's still all she cared about.

We kept walking. Slowly, it started to get darker and darker, until finally, we were in complete blackness. Adley held on to the crook of my elbow, Trey held her wrist, and Kelley held his arm. We didn't want to lose each other in the inky dark.

"What do we do?" I asked. I had tried to assume the role of the leader, but I just didn't know this time. I couldn't act like I knew what I was doing anymore. I was just as scared as the rest of them.

"Reach out. Does anyone feel a wall?" Adley said.

I did as she asked. I felt something, but it wasn't a wall. It felt rough.

"I feel something, but it is definitely not a wall," I said.

"What is it?" Trey asked.

A flashlight clicked on. It illuminated a clown face. We all screamed and backed up. Unfortunately, Trey back up right into another one. We all screamed again, and Kelley fell to the floor. We yanked her up and ran for our lives. I could feel a clown's hand scrape my back. Its spindly fingers closed around my shirt, yanking me backwards. I screamed, but everybody else was already screaming, so the didn't notice.

They kept running, leaving me behind. Soon, they twisted around a corner, disappearing out of my sight. I screamed again. The clowns held me in between them, each with one hand around my neck, squeezing tight. I clutched at my throat, desperately trying to remove the gross fingers from my body.

I tried to scream but no sounds came out. Then I heard another scream, this time not mine. It was Adley.

"Tucker! Tucker!! We have to go back for Tucker!" She shrieked.

"No! We can't! We'll die! Adley, we can't!" Kelley screamed. I could picture the scene. Kelley trying to hold Adley back, while she flailed around, trying to reach me.

Finally, I suppose, she ripped free of Kelley's grasp. My vision was starting to black around the edges, just as Adley came running around the corner, a determined look on her face, with Trey at her heels. They reached me and, together, yanked the fingers off of me. The clowns almost got them too, but the ducked under the hands, dragging me along behind them. We dashed around the corner and into the light.

I collapsed against the wall, clawing at my bruised neck, struggling to catch my breath.

"Oh my god, Tucker, are you okay?" Adley asked, kneeling down next to me.

I nodded. It was all I could do. I felt like my lungs had collapsed.

I cleared my throat. "I don't blame you, Kelley, for not wanting to go back for me. I couldn't live with myself if you guys died trying to save me. Well, I'd be dead too, but I'd feel guilty."

"No, no. Adley was right. It was good that we went back for you," Kelley said.

"As soon as I noticed you weren't behind me, I wanted to go back. I couldn't leave you," Adley said. She threw her arms around my neck, hugging me close to her. I wrapped mine around her waist.

When she pulled away a little, to look at me, I got so caught up in her eyes that I found myself leaning forward. Forward. Forward. Forward. Until, finally, she met me in the middle, for one glorious, long awaited, perfect, spectacular kiss. I had kissed plenty of other girls before, I was the quarterback, remember, but none of them had ever affected me like that.

The kiss was slow, but passionate. She ran her fingers through my short hair. I pulled her right to me.

"Wow, wow, wow. We don't have any protection, so quit the PDA. Besides, who wants to make out in a creepy, old hotel?" Trey complained.

We broke apart laughing. I pressed our foreheads together, just taking in her beauty. I smiled and tucked a piece of blonde hair behind her ear.

"Ooo, love birds! I totally ship it!" Kelley squeaked.

"But seriously, we have to leave," Trey said.

I nodded, grabbing Adley's hand. I kissed her forehead, then we resumed walking.

I felt on top of the world, like  thing could bring me down, unfortunately something could. I felt like something was watching me. I kept peering over my shoulder, but I didn't find anything.

"Something wrong?" Adley asked.

"No. I just feel like something is watching me."

"In here, I wouldn't doubt it."

As soon as the words left her mouth, a shadow jumped in front of us. Kelley, who was in the front, jumped back, landing on Trey's feet. He grabbed her by the waist and dragged her back.

I realized then how much we all cared for each other and wanted to protect each other, even though it had only been a day. It felt like so much longer. I didn't really know how long it had been, but I assumed it couldn't have been more than thirty six hours.

Trey and Kelley had moved out of the way, leaving Adley in the front, exposed. She looked the creature in its cold, black, soul sucking eyes. Her eyes seemed to cloud over, in a daze. She couldn't look away. The shadow reached out a hand, it's long, skeletal fingers stretching out towards her middle. A white gas slowly started to float out of her chest. It looked like maybe her soul, or something, I didn't  know. It's hard to explain.

I looked at her face. She was in pain. I could tell. Though her eyes were glazed over, I could still tell. It wasn't good. I acted quick and dove at her, knocking her out of the way and breaking their eye contact. The shadow soared up into the ceiling.

Adley and I landed on the floor, her on top of me. I could feel puffs of minty breath on my neck. I looked down at her.

"Are you okay?" I asked. She nodded. I picked both of us up, off the floor.

"What the hell just happened?" Trey asked.

"He just ate my soul, no biggie," Adley joked. Even in serious situations, she kept her sense of humor. I loved it.

"That was weird. Is everyone's soul white?" Kelley asked.

"I don't know!" I said, rolling my eyes.

We approached the door to the stairs. Finally.

"Second floor done. Maybe we can make it after all," Trey said.

We climbed the stairs. This time, they were uneventful. I kissed Adley's forehead, before pushing the door to the third floor open.