The Lying Game

One

"Don't move." Abbey whispered, her flashlight pointed on a shiny, stringy web.

Lizzy shivered, looking at the arachnid that spun it's masterpiece, "thanks."

"Where are we going?" Kayla asked, stepping over a log.

"It's close." Lizzy answered, going around the web. She moved her flashlight along the tree line, falling on a house. "Ta-da."

"Yes this is the perfect haunted house!" Audrey pulled the door open, coughing when the dust fell. She walked inside, ducking under a fallen board.

"We'll start putting the lights down and you guys set up the lights inside!" Lizzy called and pressed a button on a glowing pumpkin head.

They'd spent months planning this house, going off of what Lizzy told them about the surprise place, and had brought everything they needed for Halloween in two days. It would be the best party ever.

Abbey walked to the back, where the kitchen was, and moved her flashlight along the wall. "Where did she find this place?"

Kayla walked over, pointing her flashlight at a box on the wall. Carefully, she opened it and flipped a couple switches, finding that the last one tired on a generator on the porch.

"We have power!" She yelled through the silent halls, and started flipping g switches. Only a few lights would turn on, so they kept them off to preserve the blessed power.

Abbey took out the bottles of glowing ink, poring them on the countertops and watching them drip to the floor. She splashed some on the walls and spread it on the floor as well.

"I'm gonna look upstairs." Kayla said, walking back to the open front door, where you could see glows of orange floating around through the crunch of leaves.

"Abbey!" Lizzy yelled, jogging toward the open door, "can you call David and ask him to bring the backup generator?"

"Yeah." She said as she dialed, but she doubted he would answer.

Lizzy went back out, sticking glow in the dark pumpkin heads around the porch.

Kayla turned left when she reached the top of the stairs, finding herself in a child's room. She trailed her flashlight across the wall, jumping when she saw a doll. She kept going, landing on a blood splatter. Her law would have dropped to the floor if it could go that far, as she traced the splatter down to the crib, also the point of origin.

A shiver ran down her spine as she picked up the plastic crime scene tape. "What happened here?" She asked herself.

"Everything." Someone said from the door, making Kayla scream and drop the flashlight she was holding. She whipped around, finding a laughing Lizzy leaning against the wall.

"God, don't do that!"

"I looked at it online. The whole family was murdered here. The baby died in her crib, then the twins in the other room. The older brother had to watch the two murderers rape her mom and then the dad came home after a long night shift, snuck upstairs and slid into bed. He tried not to wake his wife, but when he felt the warm, wet blood he removed the covers, finding her already dead."

"That's horrible." She whispered.

"The guys killed the dad after that. The sad thing?" Lizzy asked, "they never found the little girl."

Kayla didn't even notice the other bed.

Audrey found the driveway and started sweeping with the mini broom Lizzy had given her until she got tired of it. By then, she couldn't see the street or the house and her flashlight was running low. A twig snapped and she looked in the direction, butterflies making her want to run.

"Very funny guys!" She called, "almost got me."

She pulled out her taser, even though her hand was shaking, and started walking back toward the house.

Lizzy went back outside to finish putting lanterns up and started slashing glow paint on the walls to look like blood. She was so ready for this party she was shaking with excitement.

They'd come early to finish things up on Halloween and get the food and drinks ready in the kitchen, then all hell would break loose and there would be no one to tell them no. She set a lantern down, expecting it to glow, but it didn't, so she bent down to pick it up again.

She hit it a few times and threw up back down, then moved up. Suddenly, a sharp, electric pain pierced her back and she shook, falling over, her body ridged. She couldn't even scream.

A bag went over her head and she was lifted up in one fluent movement, her vision getting darker and darker. She let out a helpless, weak, scream, and she went limp.

Abbey finished her kitchen and living room, then moved to the dining room that had a big window showing the outside, but it was blurred with dust and fingerprints and nature wearing it down. She put candles on the wooden table, ignoring the blood with all the strength she could muster.

Of course she knew what happened in this house, and she still said yes. It was Audrey's idea to have a haunted house anyway, right, and who could say no to Audrey? Of course, Lizzy took over the project because she went best at planning, and she and Kayla were just along for the ride after that. It was almost a dream, planning a haunted house party.

Like you'd be the coolest kid in school if you did.

She heard a scream come from outside and looked out the door, praying it was another one of Lizzy's pranks. She'd been full of them all week, and Abbey had gotten used to her screaming by now.

She went up the stairs go help Kayla and heard the crunching of quick, heavy footsteps as she did. She found Kayla in the master bedroom, looking at her phone.

"I'm trying my hardest not to scare you." She said, trying to get her friend's attention. "I really don't need to be scared."

"I know, I'm regretting saying yes." Kayla shivered, "it's so creepy."

There were more heavy footsteps running up the stairs, "guys!"

Abbey saw Kayla heave a huge sigh when she recognized Audrey's voice, but she still wasn't breathing.

Audrey appeared in the door, gripping her flashlight so hard her knuckles were white. "There's someone here."