Hide and Seek

Chapter 17: Fifteen

I crept around as I made my way to the kitchen. I crouched inside Mrs. Harmon's cabinet where she kept cleaning material. Since there was enough room for me, I closed it. My heart was beating so hard that it'd probably give me away. I had tried to look for Caleb, but he was gone. I even tried looking for Tate and the others, but they were gone, too.

As I sat there alone, I couldn't help think back to the last game I had played with Abby. I remembered something I had thought off during a game with her. Sometimes you had to eliminate those closest to you. This was exactly like that.

The sound of footsteps nearly scared me to death. There was someone in the kitchen scrambling for a hiding place. I heard them breathing very heavily. I listened to a chair move, so I guessed they hid under the table. While I waited, I thought about Violet and what happened to her. She wasn't herself. Not at all. Mr. Harmon had held a book, and I didn't know what it was for or why people had seemed to fear it. What was it about that damn book?

Just then, I felt something lean on my shoulder. It was dark, I couldn't talk, and I was in a house full of nothing but superstition and dead people. Well, they were once dead. I heard a small moan. I felt tears running down my cheek and the other stranger's pulse on mine. As I thought, maybe this could be the murderer, I quickly opened the door. It was a stupid move, but I was just too afraid. When I crawled out, I suddenly stumbled onto something. My hands and knees fell to something wet on the ground. I looked to my side. There was a very still and hunched figure on the ground next to me. Nervously, I touched it and poked it. Nothing. They were dead.

"I found-I found a dead body!" I exclaimed.

The lights immediately came back on. The dead person on the floor was the little boy, about Caleb's age that I didn't know about. I quickly ran to the kitchen and washed my hands. I started to cry again but stopped when I saw her come out of the cabinet I hid in. It was the thing that chased me in the garden. The only reason her head laid on my shoulder is because the body was so twisted and bent. I wanted to puke. She gave me a menacing look that sent me flying back into the front room.

Some of us met back in the front room by the entrance of the mansion. When everyone was present, Mr. Harmon appeared in the middle of all of us. He smiled.

"Magnificent, my dear," he said, looking at me. I gave him the best frown I could. He turned away and looked at everyone else. "So, who do we think it was?" he asked.

Fingers pointed to one another. Some even pointed to me. Most were pointed to the lady that had been hiding with me. I noticed that the old man's knife had blood on it. I pointed to him, stepping closer. Mr. Harmon saw me and smiled the old man.

"Wow, father. I'm so proud of you today," Mr. Harmon said.

The old man looked away. Mrs. Harmon pulled the dead body out of the kitchen and placed it by the entry of the door. Mr. Harmon passed out the cards again. Mine was blank.

"Lights out!" Mrs. Harmon yelled.

The darkness welcomed me once again.