HELLo

CHAPTER THREE

Champ Reynolds:

I spun around to see that Emily was gone.

"Uh guys?" I asked,

The group turned and also noticed that Emily was missing. Everyone began calling her name desperately, when the door shut on us. The lights abruptly shut off. Someone bumped into me and I gripped their arm.

"Hello......" someone whispered. I spun around.

"Welcome to my game. The first player has been eliminated. Find the library. Don't be last." The voice dissipated into the air, leaving the ghost of a laugh behind. The lights turned back on.

"Wait, so Emily..." Bria mumbled. I realized it was her who bumped into me and I pulled her close, comforting her as she buried her face in my shoulder.

"Is gone. We should work as a team from now on. Emily wasn't fast enough to get inside in time clearly, and we all saw her take her sweet time in getting here." Jake said through holding back obvious tears.

We all made our way to the elevator which I had spotted earlier and pointed out to Jake.

"Uh Jake let's not go down in that thing, it's always the basement where people die in horror movies." Curt grumbled.

"Right." Jake said, stepping into the elevator.

Jake Newt:

I stepped towards the elevator, cautiously. I didn't want to make a fool of myself and trip over something, so I stepped in casually and gestured for the others to follow. Curt stepped bravely towards me. Bria pulled away from Champ and shuffled beside him. Champ came last, a terrified look on his face. A pool of blood trickled out of the elevator, already beginning to dry.

I waited a moment. No one came closer. Matching terrified looks on all their faces. Curt inhaled sharply. Footsteps ran across the floor upstairs. Champ yelped. Bria gasped. I remained unmoving.

"You coming?" I asked them nervously. I saw Champ back away talking gibberish. Bria followed suit.

"Jake, you're bleeding," Bria whispered, "there's blood in your hair."

I touched my hair. It was wet. I pulled my hand away and looked at my fingers, slicked over with fresh dark blood.

"That's not mine." I mumbled, confused.

"Jake. Don't look up..." Champ whispered.

I looked up. There. Hanging from the ceiling. Emily's head. Her hair was drenched in her own blood. Her eyes open and staring. I jumped out of the elevator and pressed the down button, so I wouldn't have to see her anymore.

"He killed her." I whispered. The elevator door was closing. Curt gripped my shoulder.

"I'll kill him. He has no right. NONE." I said loudly, shaking.

"It's okay Jake. We'll survive, and we'll all get out." Bria said from behind. She put her hand on my other shoulder and pulled me into a crushing hug. Everyone piled in for the hug. We broke apart and walked further down the hall, glad we would be able to see if anything was coming.

"He said to get to the library, so let's do that. Before anyone else dies." Champ whispered. I nodded and wiped my eyes. We began our work of checking every door and hall, every corner and everything.

"There's nothin' on this floor." Bria announced when we all met up again. We walked quickly back to the front door, Curt in the lead. He stopped. We all ran into him like a cartoon movie.

I looked around him to see what was in the way. I gawked, my mouth hanging open. Someone in a black cloak stood at the end of the hall, it spoke:

"Wrong floor."

I almost yelled when the floor beneath us opened like a giant mouth, about to swallow us whole.

Curt Farling:

I held my breath as we fell, down and down. I counted to thirty. The fall was too long. We were going to die. I didn't want to die.

I swam through the air and scraped my nails against the wall, looking for something, anything to grasp on to. I found a small ledge and held on with all my might. Bria fell screaming close to me. I grabbed her wrist, she grabbed Jake, and Jake missed Champ.

"NO!" I screamed calling out to Champ. We heard a loud thud and I winced. The slight movement made my hand slip.

"No..." I whispered. My hand gave way, and we fell, about two feet onto a mattress. Jake burst out laughing. We all fell into a chorus of laughter, until I realized I had landed on not a mattress, unlike Jake and Bria, I had landed on Champ. He was alive, laughing beneath me.

"My goodness that was traumatizing." Champ wheezed from under me. I crawled off of him, grinning ear to ear. We all stood and brushed ourselves off, looking around. Surrounding us were multiple walls of books, couches, tables, computers. A library.

"WE MADE IT!" Bria screamed, throwing herself gratefully onto the couch.

"Not necessarily," Jake said, his smile quickly fading.

I looked over at him. In his hand was another note, this one had a plastic bag attached to it, with an assortment of chocolates inside. Jake read the note aloud:

"My my! You made it! All except poor Emily. I'd be careful if I were you, you need to get to the safe, before Pieces finds you. He doesn't like visitors. Take some chocolate. Do NOT leave any."