The Connection (House Of Anubis)

[Chapter Thirty]

"Alfie get out of there," Amelia yelled as a small pain built up in the pit of her stomach. She couldn't tell if it was just her personal fear that Alfie was going to get hurt, or if it was the house telling her something was about to happen. All she knew was that they needed to get Alfie out.

Dirt started to fall around Alfie as he struggled to continue on, "Alfie please, just turn around," she begged. The others finally started to yell for him, but the pain in Amelia's stomach was blocking everyone else out. She looked down into the tunnel and started to sob when she realized they couldn't see him behind the wall of dirt that was piling up. She was completely petrified, her sobs growing louder as Alfie started to cry out for help.

"I can't see him," "Is he gone," "Shut up, he can't be gone!" "Guys, I think the tunnel caved in; he's trapped!" "Oh, Alfie this is all my fault," Amber cried. Amber got on the floor and started to crawl into the tunnel, "Alfie I'm coming to get you." "What," "Amber," "No," "Amber wait, come back!" "I'm coming," Amber sobbed. "There's bugs Alfie, bugs."

Some dirt started to fall in front of Amber, causing her to scream. "Please help me!" "Amber please just come back," the others yelled for her. "Help me," she screamed." "Okay, I'll go, I'll go," Fabian volunteered. "Amber, Amber, calm down, calm down, come back," Fabian told her. "Be careful Fabian," Nina told him.

"Amber I'm going to get you out alright. Come backwards, come backwards," he instructed. She was hesitating, as Alfie let out another cry for help. "No, come on, I need you to move. Nina help me please," Fabian asked her. Nina reached her out for Amber to grab, "Come on Amber. You're okay; you got it, you got it." Amber backed out of the tunnel. Nina pulled her up and into a hug.

Alfie let out another scream, causing Amelia to cling onto Patricia. "Shh, it's okay Amelia. Fabian's going to get him out of there." Amelia watched as Fabian pulled the dirt away from where Alfie was trapped. He scooped most of the dirt away, giving Alfie room to back out. "Now come back," Fabian backed out of the tunnel, Alfie right behind him.

As soon as they got out of the tunnel Amber started apologizing. "Alfie I'm so sorry," she cried, grabbing onto him and pulling him in for a hug. Once they pulled away, Amelia latched onto him, not wanting to let go. "I was so worried! Don't ever do that again; I can't lose you," she cried into his chest.

Once everyone had calmed down, they headed out of the tunnels and up to the girl's room. They all sat down, each of them taking a moment to think about all of the events that had just taken place. The girls, minus Amelia, were all sitting on Nina's bed, while Amelia and the boys sat in front of them, on the floor.

Alfie decided to be the first one to speak up. "So, I'm claustrophobic." "And I'm definitely bug-phobic," Amber mentioned. "Yeah, I didn't really say, but I'm really bad with worms. I'm not phobic, I just hate them," Fabian cringed. "It's like the tunnel knows." "That would mean there are skulls there," Nina shuddered. "And feet," Patricia cringed.

They all turned toward Patricia, "Feet?" She shook her head and the others laughed while Amelia stayed quiet, not wanting to admit her fear to them. "Anyone else want to go back to hitting a dead end?" The three in the front turned around toward the others, making a small circle.

"No, look there's nothing else forward. If we want to continue, we're going to have to get over our fears." "It can be done okay? I mean there's all sorts of behavioral therapies that tackle this stuff now." "Ooo, I love Psychology," Amelia finally spoke up. "They mostly use exposure," Nina informed them causing Amber to scoff. "I'm not taking anything off!" "No, exposure to the thing you fear. It's gentle exposure; just a little bit at a time until you're cured." "Cured sounds good."

"Uh, well we've got bugs in the Science lab." "Yeah and there's plenty of places in the house I can build up the tolerance to small spaces." Patricia looked around at all of them, "Okay nobody is coming near me with feet! I'm telling you right now!" Both Alfie and Amelia lifted their feet up toward her, causing her to fling herself back onto the bed.