HELLo

CHAPTER FOUR

Bria Smolder:

I froze after Jake finished reading.

"Chocolate? Why would Pieces hate visitors and why is Unknown sending us chocolate?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"I don't know. But Pieces definitely killed Em, I mean, just think about it, his name, what he did to her. Pieces." Jake said, eyeing the note as if it might blow up.

"Let's get going. We need to find that safe." I said.

I felt immense pride when everyone agreed with me. I noticed the door in the corner of the room and headed towards it.

"Bria stop." Champ said. I whirled around.

"Why?"

"Because Pieces could be waiting to kill the first one of us who exits, and if we crawl up the hole, the creepy cloaked dude that we all think is Unknown could still be there." Champ reasoned, stating the facts as if I should have thought of them.

I nodded, giving in to him. Jake began constructing a plan. He and I were going to go through the door, armed and waiting to attack or run from Pieces, to distract him, while Champ and Curt would go upstairs and look for the safe.

"Well Jake, I'm glad we aren't splitting up. I mean, if you look at all the horror movies ever created people always split up and die." Curt said gleefully. I nodded in agreement. The plan sped into motion before I was mentally ready. Jake had found three chef knives and armed me with two, him with one.

"Ready?" he whispered.

"Ready." I whispered back.

We waited until Curt and Champ were gone, we all had some chocolate in our pockets. I took a deep breath and swung the door open.

No one was there. I stepped into the hall. No sound. No one was there. Jake stepped in beside me and I noticed something. The lights at the end of the hallway were flickering. Turning off and flickering the next ones. I had both my daggers in hand.

A figure stood under the dark lights. Frozen in place. I looked closer. Someone stood with an axe in their hand. They had a black cloak on and its head was cocked to the side. But its face...

I gasped. The things' face was two button eyes, no nose, and what looked like a knife had been dragged across its face where a mouth would be, to create a large gash in the shape of a smile.

"Pieces?" Jake asked, his voice trembling ever so slightly.

"Jakieeeeeee!" It whispered, "Come play!"

"I uh- don't want to." Jake said, his voice stronger.

"Briaaaaaaaah!" It whispered again, "Come play!"

"Play what?" I asked in fear.

"My game! It's called Pieces, named after me!" Pieces said happily.

I looked at Jake. His face was excruciatingly pale. He was shaking his head at me vigorously.

"Okay," I asked cautiously, "how do you play?"

Pieces looked delighted. He walked towards me. His head still cocked to the side.

"We don't need to play Pieces. Do you have chocolate?" He asked me. I nodded and reached into my pocket, pulling out the small baggie of chocolate.

"Can Pieces have some?" He asked, his face turning ever so slightly less gruesome, becoming... cute?

I handed Pieces the chocolate, and he ate all of it faster than I had ever seen someone eat chocolate. The only disturbing thing was that he ate the bag too.

"Bria, can Pisces be friends with Bria?" Pieces asked, his malicious grin changing to pure curiosity.

"Okay." I said.

Pieces carefully approached me. He reached out and dropped his axe at Jake's feet. Jake picked it up, and held it like a baby.

"Pieces, did you kill Emily?" I asked him, staring down.

"Pieces didn't kill Emily. Scythe did because Emily didn't have chocolate and Pieces asked nicely, but Emily still said no to Pieces. Scythe is Pieces's friend too."

"Is there anyone else dangerous in this house we should know about?" I asked cautiously.

"Well if by dangerous you mean Dice, Hammer, Wrath, and Havoc, then yes," Pieces said cheerfully, "oh, and don't forget Scythe."

"Thank you Pieces. You can go, if you want." I smiled at Pieces.

Pieces grinned at me. He spun towards the wall he came from, and bolted. Once he reached the wall, he slowed, pushed a panel in the black boards, and disappeared.

"He left his axe, maybe that's a warning?" Jake questioned. I wasn't sure if he was talking aloud to himself, or if he was talking to me, so I stayed silent.

Champ Reynolds:

I ran. Something human height, lean, and fast in white robes was chasing Curt and I. Curt was much faster than me, as he was a libero, which made me push to run faster. We rounded a corner. I smacked into a wall that hadn't been there before. I spun on my heel to face the thing in the robe.

Its dagger raised, poised above my back, had writing on it. The thing let me read the writing:

"Wrath." I whispered. I watched the blade come down.