"THE MANOR GAME." --A story I wrote for funsies.

One rainy miserable day in the middle of nowhere there was a dark mysterious manor, outside the manor there were five detectives: Sean, Fred, Nathen, Jessica and Rose. The detectives had been sent to the manor to investigate a series of murders and noise complaints that were reported by some hippies camping and some dog walkers. All the reports said they heard screams or laughter coming from a manor in the woods, that was abandoned 35 years ago after the owner of the manor disappeared and left it to their daughter.

When the detectives arrived at the manor they assumed the reports were fake, the manor was covered in vines and roses, and almost all the windows were either broken or cracked.

It looked like it hadn't been entered in decades until Sean pointed out a dim light coming from a small broken window.

Suddenly, there was a blood-curdling scream coming from inside the manor that sent shivers down their spines, they all looked at each other with horror and fear on their faces.

They rushed to the door of the manor, it was covered in vines and the locks were rusted shut. Rose and Fred pulled the vines off the door in a hurry and tried to open the door by throwing their bodies into it, while Jessica and Nathen were looking for something to try and pry the door open, Sean was trying to climb the manor to get to a broken window and climb into opened the door from inside -he failed, miserably.

When Sean fell, however, instead of hitting the ground he hit something wooden, a hatch door.

"Hey!" Shouted Sean to the others, "I found something over here!"

"What is it?" Jessica shouted back.

"Just come have a look!" He replied.

Jessica rolled her eyes and went over to him.

"I'm here, what is it?" Jessica said impatiently, crossing her arms.

"Look at this." Said Sean whilst moving leaves around on the ground to reveal a wooden hatch door.

"Good work, Sean," Jessica said in a surprised tone.

"Thank you-" Sean said proudly just before being cut off by Jessica shouting,

"Hey guys look what I found!" To the others.

"What-?! I'm the one that found it!" Snapped Sean.

"No, you fell on it. I saw it while you were moving leaves like a child looking for his lost toy car." Grinned Jessica. "Therefore >I< found it."

Fred, Nathen and Rose rushed over to Jessica and Sean.

"Did you find something?" Asked Fred.

"A way in, maybe?" Asked Nathen.

"what is it?" Asked Rose.

"Yes, yes and a hatch door.." Said Jessica with that grin remaining on her face.

Sean rolled his eyes and shrugged off his anger. 

"Come on, open it!" Urged Rose "We need to get inside."

Sean and Fred pulled on the hatch door with all their strength.

"Move over, Weaklings."  Said Nathen, pushing them out of the way.

Nathen grabbed the handle to the hatch door and opened it with one pull and strained grunt.

"pfft. show off." Grumbled Sean and Fred.

"Ladies first." Smiled Nathen, with a cheeky smile on his face.

"hop on down then." Replied Rose, crossing her arms.

Nathan chuckled and jumped down in the hatch, next was Fred, then Sean lastly Jessica and Rose jumped down together, trying to use one another as support. Inside the hatch was... nothing, it was pitch black except for the light coming from the hatch door opening. Only the part of the floor under the hatch door was well-lit enough to see. After a couple of minutes, their eyes started to adjust to the darkness. They could start making things out. After a couple more minutes they noticed they were in a cellar, it was empty.

Rose walked around next to the walls to try and make out how big the cellar was and if there was a door, while she was walking something under her foot snapped, She looked down to see a bone under her foot. There was a trail of them leading to a dark corner of the cellar she couldn't make out.

Rose slowly crept towards the dark corner, Rose instantly stopped in her tracks. In the dark corner was a pile of bones, and in the pile was a handle, she looked closer and stared at the pile of bones for a minute and she could start to see something, patches of a door that were just visible through some gaps within the pile.

"Hey guys, I found something over here!" Yelled Rose to the others. "I think I found a door?"

The others all walked over to Rose, carefully- just in case they walked into the wall. Rose pointed to the pile of bones.

"There." She pointed out. "Can you see it? It's just behind this pile."

"Uh... ah! Yes! I can." Sean said happily.

"I can't see it." Replied Fred.

"Of course you can't, you're blind as a bat." Chuckled Jessica. "I'm surprised you can see anything at all, especially in the dark."

"...Is everyone ignoring the fact there is a pile of bones in front of us right now?" Asked Nathen.

"Yes." Replied the others, sternly.

"We see a lot of horrid stuff in this line of work," Sean said calmly. "You kinda just get used to it, you will too soon I'm sure."

Nathen blinked in surprise then just sighed and shrugged it off. The detectives started moving the bones out of the way, Nathen was pasting around the 'cellar looking for clues' but everyone knew he was too squeamish to touch the bones, pussy.

"Nathen!" Fred yelled, "We're finished, you can stop being a scaredy cat now!"

Rose slowly turned the door handle to see if it was unlocked. It clicked and slowly creaked open, a gust of dusty cold wind hit them in the face. The detectives walked through the door quietly, trying not to draw any attention from anyone who could be inside. The door slammed behind them, somehow locking itself. There was now no way in or out anymore- at least not that they were aware of.

The detectives had shivers down their spines.

Sean looked up and saw a filthy window with strips of light shining through it, showing that dust filled the ice-cold air. Sean followed the strip of light with his eyes to the floor under him, his eyes filled with worry and fear as he slowly lifted a foot to see that they were standing in fresh, thick blood.

"Uh... guys, look. down." Sean said in a shakier voice than usual.

Nathen, Jessica, Fred and Rose slowly looked down.

"Is it too late to get an office job?" Asked Nathen.

"Yes." Replied the others, sternly- once again.

The detectives noticed that the fresh blood looked like it was dragged, they followed it with their eyes to see it was going up a flight of stairs. It looked like it was dragged up them.

Sean slowly walked forward following the blood, everyone could see he was shaking, but they followed him, they knew he was either the bravest or the stupidest compared to everyone else- they couldn't decide which yet.

While walking up the stairs slowly following him, Rose and Jesica started to notice there was dried blood almost everywhere, it was on the walls, splodges on the ceiling, and even old blooded hand prints on the railing. Sean stopped at the first door at the top of the stairs.

"The blood stops here," Sean whispered, just in case someone dangerous, like a killer, was on the other side of the door.

A strong metallic smell came from the room behind that door like it was a butcher's back room.

Sean slowly opened the door, it creaked loudly in the quiet, dark, creepy manor.

He poked his head in and looked around the room. There was a chair in the corner with a white dusty sheet covering it, the wallpaper colour was watered down, discoloured and ripped, there was a hideous painting of a clown with blood on its face and the carpet was a bright red, the colour was odd compared to the rest of the room, it was bright, it looked brand new compared to the rest of the room.

Fred Whispered to Sean from behind, "What's in there?" as he tried to have a peak in over Sean's head.

Sean jumped and swung the door open by surprise, leaving the door to make a huge, loud creaking noise before slamming against the wall. Everyone froze in silence for what felt like hours but was only seconds before you heard Jessica form behind Rose trying to hold back her laughter- and failing. Hers was soon followed by Nathens, then Rose's BeFore finally Fred burst out laughing setting the others off to release there's.

"Alright, I get it, ha ha." Said Sean unamused, "I jumped because the thought of Fred being so close was terrifying, he smells like fish."

"Oi!" snipped Fred in a higher tone than he intended, "I only smell like fish because I thought fishes repelled ghosts, so if this place is haunted I'm the only one who is safe, thank. You. Very. Much!" He proudly hung his head high as he finished his sentence, which unfortunately for him, set off everyone's laughing once more.

Once everyone had calmed down, Sean turned his attention back to the room and took the first step in. Squelch, is the noise his foot made against the carpet. It oozed red around his food, the carpet looked so new and vibrant because it was the sauce of the metallic smell, it was soaked in blood more blood than a single human body can hold.

Nathan instantly gagged and did that uncomfortable shiver you do, Rose and Jessica took a step away from Nathan in case he did throw up.

"Jesus," Whispered Rose, "How much blood is in that thing? How many people did someone have to murder and drain in such a short amount of time to get it that soaked and still be fresh enough to not dry?"

Sean lifted his foot, paid his respects to the people who were killed and drained into that carpet, snatched the painting off the wall and closed the door. "I don't know, more than one of them for sure though." He replied.

Jessica looked at the painting in disgust, "god I hate clowns with a passion." she thought, before speaking, "What did you take that thing for?" she questioned, gesturing to the painting.

"I didn't think that anybody, dead or alive would wanna be in the same room as this thing.." Sean answered, "Plus I thought I could chase Nathan around with it in the middle of the night as a joke." He added, with an evil grin forming as he looked at Nathan.

"Pfft! As if I'd be scared of a painting, HA!" Nathan said, trying to act like he didn't just almost throw up from the sight of a carpet.

"Mkay, I love this romantic moment between you too but I'd like to either get out of here or continue to do our job, either way, I'm not standing around to just listen to you two bicker, lovey doves" Complains Jessica.

"Agreed, I think >some< of us would like to get out of here with something more meaningful than your argument, like clues, answers or our lives." Tags in Rose while looking at Fred who somehow pulled out a bag of popcorn from thin air; watching them two argue like it's a movie about the superhero dogs he's obsessed with.

Fred turns his head and looks at Rose confused "What?" He says, muffled from the mouth full of popcorn. "I get snacky when they argue." Shrugging off her daggers, and shovelling more popcorn into his mouth like a vacuum.

"Where did you even-- doesn't matter, I don't care just put the popcorn away before I make you carry this painting back to the office and explain it to the boss all on your own," Sean says holding the painting up ready to pass it to him.

Fred quickly puts the rest of the contents of the bag into his mouth like it's a black hole and shoves the rubbish into his pocket.

After a few minutes of general group bickering about the painting and the magic popcorn appearance they all mutually agree they should look for a way out and look for clues along the way.

"You know, I bet whoever the murderer was got scared off by my amazing muscle strength" Nathan states like it's a fact, flexing his arms while they're all walking back downstairs.

"Uh-huh, whatever you say, buttercup." Replies Rose, not paying him any mind.

"You could only open that hatch because I and Sean loosened it for you, plus I bet you'd scream like a little girl if you saw the murderer and shit yourself." Snicks Fred while he's looking inside old, dust boxes he found next to the stairs.

"leave Nathan alone, you'd be the same. You screamed when we saw a spider in the car on the way here.." Chimes in Jessica, trying not to get her clothes all dusty. "..and it was on the wing mirror, you were in the back."

Sean and Rose roll their eyes and make their way to the kitchen, leaving them three to act like children. Sean searches the pantry while Rose has a look around the kitchen. There was nothing but old rusted cutlery in some of the draws, a few plates, bowls, glasses and mugs in the cupboards, though Rose liked one of the mugs so she decided to take it.

Sean could only find buckets of pasta and a few pots, the only thing he found off about it was that everything but the pasta was dusty.

"AH HA! I'VE FOUND SOMETHING AWESOME!" Screams Fred from the main area where the stairs and front door are.

Sean and Rose rush to the others, to find Fred being tackled by Jessica and Nathan with Fred holding a Key in the air.

Rose hits her face into the palm of her hand and sighs while Sean takes the key off Fred and helps Jessica and Nathan off him before helping him up.

"Honestly, what on earth was that about? Look at poor Fred, he's a stick! you could've crushed him." Scolds Rose before patting Fred's head like he's a not-so-bright child who just got picked on. "There there lil guy."

Fred's face speaks more than any words he could say before moving away from Rose's head pats designed for an old dog and stood proudly like he won the wrestling match for the key. 

Sean walked towards the front door to try the key, as he reached towards the lock with the key there was a loud bang coming from upstairs, then another, and another, and another, getting closer together before becoming a constant banging just before silence snapped in the way of the banging keeping it at bay to the ears. After 5 minutes of silence and the detectives frozen from the sudden noise followed by the immediate silence,

Nathan sighed, "We have to do our stupid job don't we?"

"'fraid so" Replied the others, before all starting to climb the blood-covered stairs, slowly and carefully, one step at a time. Nathan reluctantly followed behind them.

Sean led the way, as he always did. Though now everyone mutually and silently agrees it's stupidity instead of bravery. They crept passed the blooded carpet room, across the creaky landing and towards where they assumed the banging came from

although something was off about it, there was a hallway there instead of a door, they could've sworn there was a door there before. Sean stopped in front of the hallway and turned to the others.

"Rock, Paper, Siscors?" Sean suggested for who goes first.

"what? Why can't you just go first you're in front of us all anyway," Reminded Jessica.

"Yes but I have one blood-stained Jordon shoe and personally, I think it's someone else's turn to possibly ruin their shoe" 

"Oh, then I'm definitely not going first!" Asserted Jessica, "I just got these heels!"

"I'll go first" Volenteered Fred, "I need new shoes anyway" He smiled the biggest and bravest one he could before walking ahead, passed Jessica, Passed Rose and finally passing Sean and into the hallway. A few steps in he turned and looked at the group at the entrance of the hallway.

"It's fine! see?" Grinned Fred holding his arms out and lifting one of his feet to show his shoe, "It's perfectly fine!" He added before the floor under him caved in forcing him to plummet to the ground below.

"FRED!" the others screamed as he fell, they all turned around and rushed towards the stairs, across the creaking landing, passed the room with the carpet and down the blooded stairs and to the pile of wood, carpet and dust that was created from the caved-in floor. 

As the dust settled they could see Fred, they sighed in relief before they realised that most of the rotted wood was piercing though him; fully knotted in him, twisting half his guts out of him and round some of the pikes like tinsel on a tree in winter.

Some of his bones were broken and free; skin twisting around the freed bones like ribbons. His blood painted all but the ones circling him. His eye, the crown of one of the smaller wooden-like spikes. His face is forever frozen in a portrait of pain and terror.

On one of the broken wooden floorboards, there was one of Fred's Badges, It was from one of them superhero dog shows he loved so much.

Rose picked it up and put it on her jacket whilst the others were frozen in shock and a waved mix of sadness and anger that they let him go first in the first place and waved over them as if they were a small lifeboat in the middle of the ocean in a storm.

"I'm so sorry Rose" Whispered Jessica as she wiped her eyes, "I Shouldn't have said I wouldn't go first, he might've not volunteered then" her voice filled with regret.

"I'm the one who didn't wanna ruin my shoes anymore than they were, I should've just gone first" Argued Sean to Jessicas point

"It's fine, he was always like that anyway, he would've gone first no matter what, ever since we were little he'd venture on first down places no one wanted to. Younger brothers are always the stupid ones," Rose chuckled, as it sank in that he was lying there dead.

Rose snapped her back straight, "Right, let's find another way to the noise," She said, "No point in being sad in a place like this, it's still work," she stated while she made her way back to the stairs. Nathan was Throwing up while the other two made their way up the stairs following Rose.

"yup, I'll be up in, in a minute," Nathan said in between gags.

Sean went ahead of Rose and looked in a few rooms to see if any connected to the other end of that hallway in any way, most of the rooms were normal, damp, dusty and empty whereas a few of them had that bright red carpet and some had walls plastered in the same clown painting Sean held. Rose and Jessica went to see if there was a safe way passed the caved-in part of the floor, even if they had to put something over it to walk across. 

Nathan went to find something to cover Fred, mainly so no one accidentally got a glimpse of him like that again. Once he found something big enough he covered Fred and made his way up the stairs and to Sean.

"What are we looking for?" Nathan asked, chewing on 20 mints.

"A way through that hallway without going through that hallway," Sean said, opening another door,

"How are there so many doors in one building? We haven't even gone that far yet" Sean grumbled to himself,

"I don't know, the owner really liked doors?" Chimed Nathan, finally done with his mints.

"omg! Really?!" replied Sean sarcastically,

"Yeah! Proper genius I am, you know" Nathan said proudly and enthusiastically.

"Wow," Remarked Sean, "Just, wow"

"Hey! neandrathals! We found a safe way across! stop looking for a snog spot and come over here!" Yelled Rose, towards Sean and Nathans's Direction.

Nathan and Sean rolled their eyes and made their way to her,

"What's up?" Questioned Nathan,

"We found a way across, the left side of the..hole? Is sturdy-ish" Answered Jessica,

"Sturdy-ish?" repeated Sean,

"Sturdy-ish" Rose Repeated, "As in it's sturdy just -ish"

"As long as no one falls, you know, again. We should be alright" Says Sean before placing the painting under his arm and grabbing Rose's hand with one and Nathan's in the other.

"Dude, I like ya and all but I think we got some mixed signals happening" Nathan said, holding up the hand Sean gripping onto, 

"It's to get across together safely" Snipped Sean, "you're not my type anyway."

"What? I so am!" Protested Nathan,

"Just shut up and start walking," Interrupted Jessica, as she grabbed Rose's free hand and pulled them across the sturdy-ish side of the hole, "See? Told you it was sturdy-ish."

"Just saying, I'm not going back that way if you keep saying -ish at the end of that" Stated Nathan,

"Then it looks like you'll be stuck on this side of the mannor for the rest of your life" Snipped Rose, taking the painting of Sean, "Thought you'd need a break from carrying this all day" She smiled before hooking it under her arm and turning ready to face the rest of the mannor.

As they looked around that side of the mannor they realised it was huge, so much more bigger than expected. The outside seemed so much smaller compared to, the same downstairs but clearly, they were wrong.

"It's probably just the dust distorting my vision," Thought Jessica, reassuring herself that she wasn't going crazy.

"No one else mentioning the clown statute over there that looks exactly like the painting? no? no one?" Mentioned Nathan,

"Wasn't planning on it" answered the rest of them,

"Well I am, it's staring right as us isn't it?" Said Nathan,

"It's making eye contact with me," Joked Rose, adjusting the painting under her arm, "Come on, now I just want to leave more than anything else, quicker we do this, the quicker we can leave and get someone else to come back" She added before she went towards the clown statue and opened the door next to it.

The others followed her.

The entire room was full of the clown statues only they didn't have any blood on their face like the one outside that room or like the painting. After looking around the room and looking at all the statues Rose began to notice something was wrong with these statues, they were all looking at her, not just in one direction but at her when she moved the eyes followed her like she was a glowing dot in the dark.

"Can we leave this room now? It's weird" Suggested Rose more than asking,

"Sure there's nothing here that we need or want to take back to the office," said Jessica,

"Plus there isn't anything in here to help us get out apart from maybe bashing in the door with one of these statues" Added Nathan,

"I still have that key, But I don't think it goes to the front door. It's a lot smaller than the lock on the door," Reminded Sean.

Once everyone left that room Rose decided to move the clown statue that was outside that room to in front of the door, She really didn't like the idea of that room having such an easy door to open.

"Is it a bad time to say I need a wee?" Questioned Nathan,

"Yes," Replied the others,

"Aw come on! It's been hours! Not everyone had popcorn like Fred did" Grumbled Nathan,

"If you can find a toilet then go for it but don't wander off on your own, this place is old and falling apart" Sean said, "Actually it wouldn't be a bad idea to team up and explore this place that way we're not alone and if something happens someones there to help or get help." He adds, quite proud of himself for having the idea.

"Great! I got dibs on Rose" Jessica quickly stated grabbing Rose's arm and pulling her in one direction to explore over there "Meet back at the clown in an hour?" Yelled to the guys behind them without turning around, expecting them to agree.

"Aw come on, don't leave me alone with him! He's an idiot!" Yelled back Sean, "No offence" He said to Nathan,

"The smarter you are the weaker you are, therefore you just called me your dream muscle man" Nathan replied,

Sean looked him up and down and scruffed, "More like I just called you an idiot that spends more time in the gym than in the style shop" Snicked Sean before encouraging himself to look through a few more rooms. After searching through four more rooms He noticed the broken window in one of them, the same one they saw the light coming from outside, except this time the light wasn't on and the only thing in the room was a dusty old torch flickering, pointing towards the wall with the window.

"Well that's not terrifying," Nathan said, looking at the torch, "You think that was what the light was earlier?" He asked.

"I don't think so. Every other room in this place has the lights on, except this one room with a torch. There must be a reason why, I mean you don't need a torch in this place it's already lit up." Sean droned on while he sought his thoughts out loud, "And you wouldn't use a torch's almost full battery just in this one room, especially leaving it on the floor facing a window for a long time. Not unless you were pointing it at something in front of the window? But why would you leave it still?" 

"M'kay, well while you drabble on about.. that, I'm gonna just go look for a toilet, you'll be fine on your right?" Nathan asked,

"I'll come with this is hurting my head a bit, I'm getting stuck in a thought loop, plus you might run into something that'll make you no longer need the toilet and I want to be there to witness that" Grinned Sean,

"No idea what you're talking about, I'm not scared of anything" Nathan asserted, holding his head high as he adjusted his shoulders, rolling them back.

"Uh-huh. Tooth fairies rip out your teeth if they accidentally overpay you," Sean said seriously,

"..You're evil" Claimed Nathan as he covered his mouth protecting it from teeth nabbing faires,

"Come on go find your toilet," Sean said picking up the torch and turning it off to preserve the battery's last bit of life.

On the other side of the corridor was Rose and Jessica back at the room with the clowns.

"You sure you really heard him? You know he's currently downstairs and we just checked in there like 25 minutes ago" Questioned Jessica, Crossing her arms.

"I'm positive, I know I sound crazy but I just need to check, you can wait outside just help me move this statue, it's heavier than before for some reason" Rose Begged,

"Fine," Said Jessica, helping Rose move the statue, "But you only get >one< minute to look then either you're coming out or I'm coming in"

"Thank you, I won't even be a minute!" Rose thanked before rushing in, accidentally pulling the door a bit too much on her way in, closing the door behind her,

"I'm counting! Yelled Jessica through the door, before she sighed

A few minutes went by and not a single word or noise or any sign of Rose coming out of that room or even really being in it has happened almost since she went inside.

"Rose? Are you done? It's been more than a minute!" Jessica yelled through the door,

A few more minutes went by, no answer no noise no nothing. Jessica decided to go into the room and there was nothing, no sign of Rose, just the painting on the floor that Rose was holding, except the longer Jessica looked the more she noticed that the statues that recently had no blood on their faces, most did and the ones that did were now chipped and cracked with blood coming out of the chips and cracks, and even bits of clothe like clothing. They were so similar to the clothes Rose was wearing too.

"How come I didn't notice this before?" Jessica wondered to herself, before connecting a few more dots. 

There was something shiny on one of the pieces of clothe coming from a chip in a statue, as Jessica got closer she realised it was the badge that Rose picked up That her brother wore. It was the exact same one.

"What a weird coincidence" She prayed to herself, trying to believe what she just said, she pulled a bit of the statue away from the chipped bit and inside was a mix of hair, cloth, blood and something squishy and skin coloured. It finally clicked.

Jessica screamed at the top of her lungs as she started to smash into and claw at the statues with now blood on their faces.

Nathan and Sean came running towards her scream and stormed through the door to see Jessica on the floor, holding Rose's jacket that had Fred's badge on it, surrounded by half-broken statues stuffed with the remains of Rose, scattered into each and every one of them. Sean pulls Jessica out of the room. 

"What happened?" Sean asked, carefully guiding Jessica back to the floor crouching in front of her,

"She kept talking about how the statues were all making eye contact with her then when she stopped talking about that she said she just heard Fred yelling from the direction of that room so she wanted to go in and check real quick.."

Jessica continued,

"..She said she was only going to be a minute, she was so silent in there, she didn't even scream or fight or anything, it was like she never entered it in the first place."

Nathan pushed the now even heavier statue in front of the door and turned it to face the door.

"Excuse me," Nathan said quietly before, once again, throwing up. Only this time next to the statue instead of the stairs.

Sean pulled Jessica to her feet and hugged her.

"Come on, the sooner we get out of here the sooner we can give them a proper mourning" He said, hoping to comfort her a bit and encourage her to get out of there.

"I'm good!" Nathan announced with a thumbs up and once again munching on mints like his life depended on it.

"Oh, well I'm glad >you're< okay!" Snapped Jessica, putting Roses' Jacket on and adjusting Fred's Badge to be straight, "I really want to go home now"

Jessica turned on her heels and headed towards the last room on her end of the corridor, Just hoping that there was a magical staircase leading outside and directly to her house, though she also really wished it didn't because she'd then have to live next to this horrid place.

Sean and Nathan followed behind her also hoping the same thing. As they got closer to the least unchecked room Sean remembered why they were there in the first place, they remembered the carpet, the banging and that there was more than likely a murderer in the building,

"How did we forget all that? shouldn't we be terrified?" Questioned Sean to himself, 

"Forget all of what?" Asked Nathan, paying full attention to Sean out loud thinking, 

"We're stuck in an abandoned building, it's been abandoned for 35 years yet the lights are all on. There was a blood-soaked carpet, enough to change its colour completely. We're here to investigate a possible murder and noise complaints."

Sean droned on, sorting his thoughts out loud once again,

"And that scream from outside we heard before we entered, not to mention the banging that happened before that led us to come up here again in the first place. And two of our friends have just died yet after a few minutes we're completely unfazed." Finished Sean, finally.

"I don't think we forgot it, I'm just really wanting to leave, I think we all are at this point" Replied Nathan to his droning,

"Then why are we moving further away from the front door and the cellar we came through?" Sean asked pulling himself to a halt, in front of the last door, "The key might open the cellar door."

"Sean I love that you're really getting back into your thinking and all" Interrupted Jessica, "But if we search the whole house and there isn't a single clue, answer or way out then we'll go back."

"I'm not dying in this outfit, it's not pretty enough" Added Jessica before pushing down on the door handle. It's locked, "great! It's locked!"

"Guess I could try it on this door" Sean mumbled as he got the key out of his pocket and tried it in the door. The door unlocked.

Sean opened the door slowly, it was pitch black. Nathan grabbed the torch from Sean and turned it on, hitting its side to stop the flickering long enough for it to be useful.

"If I trip in the dark because of one of you I'm never making mac and cheese ball bites for you two ever again" Stated Jessica before snatching the torch off Nathan and heading inside the room.

"Not our fault you picked heels" Grumbled Nathan, offended that she'll never make them again, they were his favourite.

Jessica rolled her eyes, pointed the torch ahead of her and walked on, into the room. Sean and Nathan followed behind trying to find a light switch or something to help light up the place a bit more than just a single torch.

There wasn't much in the room, no windows, a few candles on a few units that are round the edges of the room.

Nathan used a lighter he had in his pocket, which he definitely didn't forget about, to light the candles, the room finally became lit enough for their eyes to adjust. As their eyes adjusted they could see a lot better, there was a rocking chair in the corner of the room, it looked old and unused. On the floor was a rug, that was riddled with dust and age. On one of the walls was a family photo, It looked like the old owner and his daughter as a baby. On one end of the room, there was a baby's cot, it was old and unused, but there was an almost brand new-looking teddy in it.

Nathan carefully picked up the teddy.

"Awh, It's a lil' bear." Nathan said, holding the teddy in Sean's face, "bit heavy though"

"Heavy?" Asked Sean, "Your muscles running out of energy from holding up a teddy already?"

"ha ha, No It's got more weight to it than your teddies have." Snicked Nathan.

"My teddies are collectables! Thank you very much!" Sean Snapped as he snached the teddy out of Nathan's hand, "Oh, it does have weight to it" He added, surprised.

"Told you so," Said Nathan,

"Use your overgrown muscles to open it, maybe it's got something inside," Chimed Jessica, suggesting towards Nathan,

"good idea, Jessica," Said Sean, handing the teddy back to Nathan,

Nathan ripped the back of the teddy open and gave it back to Sean. Jessica pointed the torch over the teddy as Sean began to empty it. Inside the teddy, underneath the stuffing was a small metal box with a lock on it. Everyone immediately began to look everywhere they could think of in that room, trying to find something to open it with.

"Ah ha!" Exclaimed Jessica, holding up a small, rusted hammer. 

She rushed over to Sean who still had the teddy with the box inside and handed it to him. 

"That should work shouldn't it?" She asked,

"should do" Replied Sean.

Nathan went back over to them and took his turn holding up the torch above the teddy as Sean took the box out of the teddy's back and put it back in the crib. Sean put the box on the floor, kneeling in front of it and hit the lock with the hammer until it opened. After a few whacks it broke off, He picked the box back up and stood back to his feet.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors?" Sean joked, before opening the box, there was a key inside.

"What's that for?" Asked Nathan

"It's the key to Nania" Replied Sean with a serious expression

"That's amazing! " exclaimed Nathan,

"He's joking, Dumbo" Said Jessica, "It might be to the front door or cellar though" She added,

"Let's hope so" Replied Sean.

They quickly made their way through the corridor, carefully passed the hole in the floor, across the landing, down blood-stained stairs and towards the front door. As Sean went to put the key in the lock, there was a low growl, it wasn't just one, it was many. They turned their heads to see dogs, They were foaming at the mouth and more and more kept coming from the kitchen.

"Since when were there dogs here?!" Yelled Jessica annoyed, She was terrified of them,

"let's slowly make our way back towards the cellar door, which gives us some distance from them. Do not break eye contact" Whispered Sean, slowly backing away towards the cellar door. The other two followed suit.

As they reached the cellar door and Sean turned to use the key the dogs charged towards them,

"Sugar muffins and popping fairies!" Screamed Jesica, "Hurry up!"

Nathan fought off the dogs the best he could while Sean and Jessica tried to open the cellar door, they opened the door and went to call him back to run in. They see the dogs winning, ripping him apart alive but he's still fighting just with fewer and fewer chunks of flesh.

"Hurry up and go!" Yelled Nathan, "I'll be fine, after all, I'm your dream muscle man" He joked,

Sean and Jessica ran into the cellar and closed the door, they didn't want to leave yet in case Nathan somehow made it.

they waited for an hour and thought about leaving,

"5 more minutes," they thought, "Just 5 more minutes" They continued to wait for 34 more minutes before they decided to climb out of the cellar through the hatch door.

"come on, I'll boost you up" Said Sean getting into position.

Jessica took her heels off and threw them up and through the hatch, so she didn't accidentally drop one as she climbed up, she used Sean's boost to reach and climb out of the hatch. She looked down.

"Can you get up on your own? I don't think I'm strong enough to pull you!" She yelled down to Sean,

"Yeah yeah, I got it. Just witness my amazingness," He replied, moving the pile of bones to underneath the hatch's opening and climbing up and out, "See? Amazingness" He said 

"Great, let's get back and tell the boss what happened and everything, I really want to just get home at this point," She said, putting her shoes back on.

Sean closed the hatch door, so no one would fall in if they ever went near the mannor and walked back to the car with Jessica.

Once they got back into the car the windscreen spawned writing on it saying "GAME OVER"

And as the VR headsets lifted from their eyes, they realised they were testing a new immersive game.

"Let's never play that ever again" Agreed, Sean, Jessica, Nathan, Rose and Fred.

"Can't believe I fell through the fucking floor," Huffed Fred.

THE END.