The two teams instantly made a break for the living room, meeting back up with one less person for each team. Tony set candles around the room and used matches to light them.
"Are you guys okay, I heard a scream." Reece asked.
"It was me." Vinnie said. The remaining four sat down on the couches, huddling close.
"I take it Alexa disappeared? Axel did too." Kaya said shakily. Vinnie and Tony nodded.
"When I was grabbing the candles something, no someone, touched my shoulder. There is definitely someone else in here doing all of this." Vinnie said.
"Reece, what happened with the back-up generator?" Tony asked.
"It's dead." Reece sighed.
"What do we do now?" Kaya asked quietly.
"We can look for them." Reece suggested.
"If we split up again it'll just happen again." Vinnie protested.
"Then we don't split up."
"But we didn't have to split up for this to happen. It went the same way right? Everything goes dark and then someone disappears." Kaya said.
"Then what are we supposed to do? Just wait for the sun to come up to look for them?" Vinnie sighed.
"They could be hurt. We don't know who's in here." Reece added.
"We should have never come here." Vinnie whimpered.
"We don't have time for 'should have's and 'if's. We need to do something we can't just sit here doing nothing." Tony spoke up for the first time.
"If they are in the house, I think I might now where they are." Reece said. He glanced down at his phone, checking the time. 11:30, half an hour left of Mischief Night.
"Grab a flashlight and follow me." Reece said, flicking on a flashlight and leading the pack down the hall into an office.
Vinnie sneezed and Tony coughed, the room was caked in dust. Reece walked up to a bookshelf.
"The same trick is what gets into my dad's office at home." He reached out to a shelf and pulled on an old leather volume titled '------'. Same exact book from Rasco's office in Bridgeport. A hidden door screeched open, showing a secret staircase.
"Could this get any creepier?" Tony hissed.
"Probably." Kaya said, following Reece and Vinnie into the stairwell. Tony pulled the door shut behind them.
-------------------------
"Is this the attic or something?" Vinnie asked, as the reached the top of the stairs, an old wooden door stood before them.
"Yeah. Used to be a meeting room for the council." Reece said, fiddling with the door.
"Is it locked?" Kaya asked, leaning around Tony to see. Reece slammed his side into the door and it popped open.
A single bulb hung from the ceiling, unlit. The four flashed their lights around the room and stopped on two bodies on the ground.
"Axel!" Kaya and Reece cried.
"Alexa!" Tony and Vinnie yelped. They all raced to their side. The old door slammed shut and they jumped.
"Are you guys okay?!" Reece asked. Tony held Alexa in his lap and Kaya was prodding at her boyfriend.
"For now." Axel groaned, sitting up.
"I'm sorry but is no one taking notice of the door shutting?!" Alexa squealed.The group of six huddled together. Something very close thumped beside the door.
In a sudden the single bulb turned on, illuminating a tall masked figure. Everyone screamed and the figure started laughing.
"We're going to die!" Vinnie cried, hiding behind Reece. Who sighed in annoyance.
"I know that laugh." He mumbled. As the group cowered in fear, the man pulled off his mask. A tall pale man, with red hair and black eyes stood before them.
"Cedrick what the fuck!" Reece yelled. Everyone else paused in confusion. Cedrick doubled over laughing.
"That was amazing. You guys should have seen your faces!" He laughed. Reece let go of Vinnie’s hand and stalked up to the man, throwing a punch at his face. He ducked easily but Reece pinned him to the wall.
“What the hell is going on?!” Kaya cried.
"This asshole is from the council." Reece snarled. "Now tell me, what are you doing here?"
"Well I heard you talking to your daddy about your little trip and well, it is Halloween. Thought I'd have some fun and scare you little punks. Hey Vinnie." Cedrick said, winking at the white-haired girl. Reece's grip on his collar tightened.
"So...there's no crazy killer?" Alexa asked. Tony sighed in relief.
"Nope. Just lil' ol' me."
"So in the hallway?" Alexa said.
"Me."
"All the banging and thumping noises?" Tony asked.
"Moi."
"In the store room. Something touched my shoulder." Vinnie said.
"Oh yeah, that was me too."
"You fuc-" Reece started.
"What about the power?" Axel asked, cutting off Reece.
"That was just perfect coincidence." Cedrick shrugged.
"That was fun. Let's do this next year." Cedrick grinned. "By the way Vinnie, you oughta wake up, something you aren't gonna like is happening right now."
"Wake up? What are you-" She was cut off by a loud chime. The clock had struck midnight. Mischief Night was over and Halloween was here.
Out of a nightmare and back into real life. Or the real nightmare? Happy Halloween.
