——

Emelina sat in Twinkie as John B started to throw out random things off their checklist. She looked down at her black clothing that she borrowed from Kie since her quick bag of clothes didn't contain dark clothing.

"Let's go get rich, guys." JJ said and Kiara cheered, "Yeah. Hell, yeah."

John B started the open the slide door. "Go, boys." Sarah urged them and Kiara looked back at her, "And girls."

Once the door was open, John B told them to wait a moment and everyone put themselves in halt and looked at him for answers. "I wanna say thank you, guys. Seriously. It means a lot to me that you're here tonight."

Kiara rolled her eyes with a smile. "Always."

"Of course, man." Pope said and the two of them did a quick handshake. "My man." John B smiled. Emelina gave him a nod and squeezed his shoulder in comfort.

"All right, we done with the circle jerk? Can we go do this?" JJ looked at them all with a tied up rope hanging on his shoulder. Emelina looked at his blonde messy hair laid lazily on his head and her eyes traveled down to his rings on his fingers. "Yeah,"

"Let's get that wheat in the water." Pope said and hopped out of the van. "Weed? I'm up for weed." JJ raised his eyebrows. "Wheat. I said wheat." Pope corrected.

Emelina was the last to get off the van and with the help of JJ's holding hand, she jumped off in ease. "Thanks."

She ran up to Kiara and Sarah near the old stone wall they were at two days prior. "After you," Kiara said and motioned her hands outward. "Ladies first." Sarah remarked and Emelina led the group away. She climbed over the wall and jumped right back down on the other side.

Her flashlight trained itself to the floor, giving her better access as she guided her friends in the dark night. The stood in front of the Crain House, staring right at it. Until, the lights flickered on. "Shit!"

All of them cursed under their breaths and ran to the nearest bush to shield themselves from the light. "Flashlights!" Kiara panicked and the group quickly turned theirs off in a hurry.

"Shh," John B brought his finger to his lip to signal silence. "Okay." Pope took off his mask, "Okay, so she has motion sensor lights." he breathed out.

"We could, uh... move really slowly, maybe?" JJ suggested. Emelina furrowed his eyebrows at him. "I don't think that's how it works, dumbass."

"Oh, shit. Let's throw a rock at it." John B whispered. Pope gave him a look, "What?"

"That's a really good idea, actually. Let the axe murderer know that we're here." Kiara replied sarcastically. "Throw a rock at it?" Pope repeated with a judging tone.

"Okay. Well, guys, you have a better idea?" John B asked, shrugging. Kiara pressed her lips to a thin line, "Literally anything but that."

"What about the breaker?" Sarah jumped in, "In the circuit box on the porch."

Emelina nodded at the memory of her childhood. "Oh, yeah! As kids, we used to play hide-and-seek here." Emelina said. She remembered when there was a time when nobody had silly drama and kids were just kids.

"Yeah. And if we were brave enough, we'd go all the way up to the porch. I've seen it." Sarah finished.

"No, no. You're not going in the house alone." John B said to her. Sarah scoffed, "Watch me."

Then she turned to Emelina and grabbed her wrist, pulling her closer. "Emelina will go with me, right?" Sarah asked and she had no choice but to oblige. "Yeah, I'll go."

"No!"

Every head snapped to JJ after his outburst. He quickly cleared his throat, "I mean, Crain chops people into pieces."

"If you believe that, but she's like what, 85?" Sarah asked. "Yeah, somethin' like that." JJ nodded. "She's probably barely still kicking." she continued.

Pope looked at them, "Okay, we'll wait for your signal."

"Hey! Be safe." John B told the two of them. They stood up, still crouching down, and started to walk away from the group. "We will."

Emelina walked next to Sarah, her flashlight shinning around as they quietly try to avoid the house light as much as possible. "Hey, I didn't mean to force you to come with me but I haven't had the chance to talk to you yet." Sarah whispered.

"Yeah, what's up?" Emelina asked. "I just wanted to make sure that everything is good between us." Sarah answered.

Emelina slowly nodded, "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, we used to date the same guy." she said. "No, I think it'd be good for us to be friends. Topper is in the past." Emelina told her.

Sarah let out a sigh of relief, "Thank, God. I thought you hated me for the longest time..." She took a pause, "I used to envy you."

"Envy me? Why?" Emelina inquired, curious. "One, you had Kiara and I could see how close you guys were getting. And two... I always knew Topper still loved you even when he told me he didn't." Sarah replied.

"Oh." Emelina gaped, taking all this in. "Yeah, oh." Sarah sighed and then turned to the brunette, "But it doesn't matter now, right? We're all friends?"

"Yes, Sarah. Friends." Emelina gave her a genuine smile.

Sarah's lips curved upward and quickly shined her light to in front of them. "She must have a generator plugged into the main power supply."

"Okay, this is where it gets creepy." Emelina said as she followed Sarah up the stairs to the porch. She started getting vivid memories of her as a kid, running up these steps like no problem. 

"Shh..." The two of them reached the top of the porch, their light shinning on the circuit. "Here it is." Emelina said and opened it up, but what they were looking for wasn't there.

"Where are the breakers?" Sarah whispered. Emelina peered upward to follow the wire. "Shit, Sarah. It goes inside."

"No, no, no, no, no." The blonde girl sighed. Emelina tugged her arm, "Let's go."

Emelina opened the screen door, and slowly she opened the front door. She was surprised it was opened in the first place, but slowly they made their way inside as quiet as possible.

Their flashlight roamed around the main room that they stumbled upon. So much furniture and junk were dispersed throughout the house and Emelina found herself stepping over random items. A cat yowled, causing the two to yelp backwards.

"Hey," Emelina whispered with her eyes glued to the ceiling. The wire that belonged to the circuit was in her sight. Sarah followed her eyes and nodded, "Yeah, yeah."

They started to follow the wire until they came across the circuit. The two of them chuckle in victory. "Okay," Emelina sighed and with the help of Sarah's flashlight, she read the labels of what belonged to what.

The switch clicked twice before the generator powered down. "You did it!" Sarah beamed. "Great, let's get the hell out of here." Emelina said, but the sound of whirring made them stop at their tracks and gasp.

Soft thumps from above them rang through their ears. Wheezing and coughing followed shortly after.

"Sarah, I think we woke up Granny." Emelina panicked.

"Shit." Sarah muttered.

The thumping became more and more clearer. Suddenly, a voice called out, "It's—it's late, Leon. Too late." The woman coughed.

Emelina and Sarah pressed their backs against the wall, trying their hardest to keep their breathing steady especially when Mrs. Crain started to walk right past them with her cane. "I can hear you, Leon."

Emelina gulped in fear, but soon realized that the woman must be blind not to see them that close. Until she screamed out, "I've been waiting all night!"

Mrs. Crain turned around and her white eyes sore into theirs. Her messy hair and yellow teeth frighted the girls to the point where they screamed and sprinted away from the elderly woman. "Go! Go! Go!"

Emelina was now panting and the two of them separated to find any type of exit. She found the front door but it was boarded in with wood. "Fuck!"

Mrs. Crain's voice screaming out Leon didn't make her anxiety any better. She turned around and the elderly woman stood there and started to aggressively yank the fire poker around. Emelina gasped and tried her hardest to avoid the violent throws. "Help!"

Mrs. Crain hit some plates that fell to the floor in a loud crash. On mid swing, Sarah appreared and got ahold of the fire poker and let it clatter to the ground. "Oh, my God!" Emelina cried out and got up from the floor, running up to Sarah.

Sarah grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the violent woman. "Come on, this way!"

They reached a room and closed it immediately. The fire poker goes through the wooden door and the girls duck their heads, gasping. "Shit! This way! It goes underneath the house!"

Emelina followed Sarah, ushering her to go faster. They found a door that led down the basement and in a flash, their feet were clambering down. "Go, go, go, go!" Emelina pushed her. "I'm trying!" 

"Guys!" Both of them call out and Emelina grabbed Sarah's hand to guide her over to the well. Pope, Kiara and JJ stand there holding the rope. "Woah, woah. What's going on?"

"Mrs. Crain! She's up there!" Emelina answered Pope, completely out of breath. "She tried to kill us with a fire poker."

"Yeah, we gotta go. We locked her in the parlor, but we gotta go!" Sarah said with her hands on her knees trying to take in the next wave of oxygen.

"Okay, code red." JJ said and all five of them begin to pull the rope but it was too light meaning John B wasn't where he was supposed to be. "Let's go. John B! Get back on, man!"

"JJ!" John B's faint voice called from below. It was hard to hear.

They started to pull the rope on three, but they call fall to the ground at the lack of weight. "Jeez." JJ gasped and Emelina pushed his body off of her. "Get off!"

"Where the hell is he?" Pope asked as they all started to get back up. They stood on the edge of the well and started to call out John B's name, urging him to get back on.

John B's muffled voice yelled from below and none of them caught onto what he was saying. "What's he saying?" JJ asked. John B's voice echoed, "JJ! Pope! Kie! Lina!"

"Yo, he's drowning! We gotta pull him up!" Sarah said and the rest of them get back to their position at the rope.

"Hey, John B! Get back on the rope. We're gonna pull you back up, okay, buddy?" Pope said loudly. He went back to where the group is.

"Come on! Pull!" Emelina told them all and they do as instructed. The weight of the rope got heavy meaning John B was back on. The rope started to scratch at Emelina's skin and pain seeped into her body by the aggressive pulls, but she tried her best to ignore it.

All of them groan, using their every bit of strength to pull the rope. Then, the sound of a gun firing caused Emelina to gasp and turn her body away, running away from the area. "Shit!" Kie yelped and pulled her hand so they could find a temporary shelter.

Emelina's heart was thumping like crazy once she sat down near a divided wall. Sarah and Kie were next to her breathing heavily. "Holy shit."

"She can't aim for shit." Emelina said and Sarah nodded rapidly, "She can't see! She's blind."

The gun fired again but this time toward them. Quickly, they run out of their spot and fled away from the basement. Emelina's legs started to hurt the faster she ran and another gunshot flowed into her ears, making her nervous for the boys that were trapped in there.

Emelina winced in pain when she dashed through the lawn due to the thorns on the overgrown plants that nicked her skin. "Come on!"

She climbed over the old stone wall after Sarah and Kiara and ran to the passenger side of the van. "Get to the car!" She got in and sat there, exhaling and inhaling sharply.

Kiara and Sarah sat in the back and Pope joined them shortly after. JJ sat in the driver's seat and started to drive away as soon as another gunshot was fired.

"Why are we always getting shot at!" Pope yelled. Emelina put down her window and poked her head out and found John B running after the van. "Wait, wait!"

"Get in!" Kiara yelled and John B was able to catch up, throwing himself into the back seat of the van. "Oh, my God!" Emelina turned her body around to find him covered in mud and that alone stunk up the van.

"JJ, drive!" Sarah yelled. "Go, man!" Pope said. JJ started to laugh, "Oh, my God!"

"John B! Are you okay? Are you shot?" Emelina asked from the front seat. "No," he answered. "I'm good."

"I think I'd know if I was shot, right?" Kiara asked and her hands were placed on her chest. "You look disgusting." Pope told John B.

"God, you smell like ass." Kiara chimed in. Sarah took another deep breath in, "What the hell just happened?"

"All-time Pogue Hall of Fame, baby." JJ said and Kiara pat his shoulder, "That bitch is possessed."

"That bitch can't aim." Sarah remarked. "How does she move fast? I don't get it." Pope threw out a rhetorical question. "She's possessed. She's blind." Kiara said.

Their voices chatter in the back and JJ side-eyed Emelina. "You okay?" he asked her quietly. She nodded with a forced smile, "Yeah. You?"

He shrugged, "Been better."

"What is that?" Kiara's voice struck them from their tiny conversation. "No, you didn't!" Sarah gasped.

Emelina turned her whole body around to get a view of what they're talking about. In front of her laid a shiny metal in John B's hand. "Is that...?"

"We did it, baby!" John B cheered. "No, you didn't!" Sarah repeated.

"I did it!"

"Oh, my God!" JJ shouted at the top of his lungs. Every single one of them screamed, a heavy weight lifted off of their shoulders. They did it. Everything they worked hard for payed off.

"Wait, wait! Guys, we're gonna be rich!" Kiara said and the group quieted down after their screaming session. "Full Kook!" John B shouted. "Like Kook rich!" Kiara and Sarah said in unison.

"Full Kook! Full Kook! Full Kook! Full Kook!" Everyone repeated at the same time and beamed in excitement.