La Basement

Produced by Zeebumba Co.

Chapter 1: Bullies

ames was wheeling down the street in his wheelchair. Of

course, wheeling down the regular street to go to school
was a typical day in his rather horrendous life. Wheeling
down, many thoughts swam around his rapid and
wonderfully amazing brain. He was wondering whether it was
even worth going to school at this point. The only thing he
learned was how to submit to the bad kids in school and how to
get beaten up daily. Wow, he thought, what a wonderful life he
had. Of course, being in a wheelchair constantly made him
rather unpopular. Most people thought of him as the weird kid
that the popular girls didn’t like. “Popular girls,” James thought,
what a wonderful path that his sister, Alicia, had decided to take.
Constantly bossed around like a complete idiot unknowingly
told to do things to become one of the “Popular girls.” Well,
James thought, he wasn't that much of an idiot. At least he knew
when people were being exploited and when they weren’t. She
was such a flouter of cash as well, constantly buying the latest
fashion items for her ‘friends,’ if you could call it that. They were
using her for her money and kept on egging her on to take her
mother’s credit card to spend on a day at the shopping mall.
James remembered fondly about the time when his mother
found out that a large amount of money was gone from her
bank account, so large that even her mother managed to
notice. Alicia instantly blamed him, as always, but one quick
check on the bank account history and Alicia was grounded for
two weeks. James continued to push his wheels quicker and
checked his watch. Goodness, gracious! He was late! He
pressured his wheels quicker but he wasn’t a wheelchair athlete.
Late again, he thought.
 James left his classroom after an interesting lesson, with
detention under his belt. He had sassily replied to the teacher
when he arrived late, much to the delight of his class. They had
all wanted to give Ms Smith a well-deserved roast. Most people
gave him a high-five, but the jocks and the cheerleaders gave
him a cold glance before leaving. Well, James thought, that was
a typical response from the brain-dead popular of the school.
Right then, Alicia’s ‘gang’ swooped in front of him, and began
bullying him like usual. A large flaw in the school system, James
thought, but right then, a boy charged in front of James and
stood in front of the girls.

“Well, if it isn’t Silly Samuel.” laughed one of the girls

devilishly, and all the other girls laughed with her, though it
wasn’t exactly because they thought it was funny. It was more of
a: ‘She’s laughing so I’m going to laugh with her so I don’t look
stupid’ kind of laugh.

“Shut up Malorie,” said Samuel quietly, facing the girls with

a kind of fire dancing in his eyes.

“Why would you want to protect a loser like him, that idiot
hasn’t the power to walk two steps down the hallway.” sneered
Alicia.

“The fact that I have the heart to even protect someone

means that I have a soul, unlike you, who derives pleasure from
hurting people daily. Is that what you eat? Other people’s
emotions?” said Samuel quietly, staring at Alicia, with cold fury
etched around his entire face. The girls looked slightly taken
aback, they had not expected Samuel to talk to them like that.
They had been provoked. One of the girls did a stupid thing and
slapped Samuel. Hard. In the face. Well, it wasn’t a very smart
thing to do, slapping a taekwondo champion right in the face.
Before Samuel completely broke all 206 of their bones. Luckily, a
teacher was walking by, but not before Samuel gave a punch to
all of them. They were all given detention, and James grinned at
Samuel.

“Thanks for saving me,” he muttered to Samuel. Samuel

grinned shiftily and they went to their next lesson, Samuel
pushing the wheelchair for James.

Chapter 2: Detention

They were given lines. Five hundred, to be precise. In their

best handwriting. “I must not be violent.” Well, James thought, he
had an easy solution for that. He picked up a ruler with ten
small circles to insert pencils in it. He inserted a pencil into it
and one line became ten. In ten minutes, it was finished. He gave
Samuel a grin and passed him the ruler. The girls gave him a
furious look and gestured for him to give them the ruler. James
gestured no. The girls gestured that if they didn’t, they would
make sure that he would be in the principal’s office. James
gestured that they were already in the principal’s office. The
girls gestured to him to just give it. James gestured to them
asking when they were going to act like normal people. The girls
gave him a very rude gesture. James ignored him and left the
room, having finished his things. Samuel ran up to him, having
finished in nearly five minutes, and helped him down the
staircase.

“What about the other girls? Aren’t they going to be sad,”

said James in a sarcastic pouty tone

“I don’t think they will,” said Samuel seriously, having not

understood the sarcasm. James just sighed and Samuel
continued to push him down. Samuel’s blonde hair flew in
separate directions, the wind was so strong!

“Damn, the wind’s so strong!” said Samuel.

 “No need to state the obvious,” replied James.

They decided to grab a quick bite at a nearby cafe, before

meeting a tall boy there.

“Hello,” said the boy. “Who is he, James?”

Samuel frowned and replied, “I think I’d ask him the same
question. Who is he, James?” James gave a grin and spoke,

“That’s the wrong question. The right question is, why are
both you asking me instead of each other?”

“I’m Ken. Ken Roberts. I share a surname with James,

considering that I’m his brother. I don’t think you know that,
judging by your question. Perhaps you’re too befuddled in your
simple means in life, and don’t have a moment to process the
situation.” said Ken, all in a single breath. Samuel’s mouth went
slightly ajar before shaking his head a little and replying.

“Don’t be so quick to judge, just because I don’t know your

name doesn’t mean you should call me Simple Samuel. And yes,
my name is Samuel. Don’t call me that, I’m a taekwondo
champion and I’ll break your nose right now if you weren’t
James’s brother.”.

Ken stood up slightly and stared at Samuel. “So you think

that I’m not a match for you? Just because you’re a taekwondo
champion doesn’t mean that you’re allowed to boss me around
like I’m some dirt on your shoes. I’m still a human being,
unfortunately, you aren’t worthy to hold that title. I would call
you more of a…” he paused for a moment. “an idiot.” Samuel
turned red at that point and whispered to James,
 “I don’t think I like your brother that much,” he whispered.
James grinned and whispered back.

“He has a condition which makes him change his attitude

often, it’s kind of like dementia, except it isn’t dementia. My
parents know of this but they don’t have sufficient knowledge to
discover a new cure for him. They can’t hire a new scientist as
well, as they don’t have millions of dollars lying around. They
might be well-off but they aren’t exactly Jeff Bezos.”

They ordered and were just about to eat when the girls
swooped in.

“I’ll take that, thank you!” said Alicia, swiping a piece of

bread from Ken’s plate.

Ken looked slightly mad.

James frowned, “Don’t be so cocky, we’re not in school

anymore. We don’t have silly rules to control us. So if you dare to
even try to bully us, I can beat all of you up in three minutes and
you know it.”

Alicia paused for a moment, before replying coldly, “I think I

have the power to meet my useless brothers for a while. Ken,
what’s happening? Wanting new friends?” She gave a
high-pitched laugh and the other girls laughed with her.

“Just stay out of this Samuel,” said Malorie, “you don’t have
the authority to talk to us like that.”

It all happened in a flash of fists, and all of them were

floored instantly. Malorie was sporting a bleeding nose, and
Alicia howled in pain as she rubbed her sore cheeks. Samuel
went for the other girls but they had run away like cowards. Not
cowards, more like chickens. A few customers ran to them and
helped them, before snarling at Samuel to ‘not hurt a lady,’ and
‘irresponsible behaviour.’ Samuel just grinned at Ken and James.
They finished their food and went back home, feeling slightly
better about themselves.

Chapter 3: Sleepover

“Mother, can my friends come for a sleepover tomorrow?”

begged Alicia, as Mrs Roberts was applying face cream.

“Do you remember the last time your friends came for a
sleepover? You know they wrecked the house, right?” said Mrs
Roberts, staring at Alicia disbelievingly

“Mother, I will monitor them and make sure they won’t trash
the whole place,” said Alicia, begging her mother and even
getting down on her knees like a priest.

Mrs Roberts snorted loudly and began to apply lipstick on

her lips, “You can barely be trusted to be alone in the living
room, how am I supposed to trust you to monitor your friends?”
snorted Mrs Roberts.

James and Ken were watching the entire conversation, and

Ken pushed James’s wheelchair to their mother.

“Mother, can Samuel come for a sleepover tomorrow?”

smirked James as Ken giggled behind him.

“Of course! At least I can trust you James!” chuckled Mrs

Roberts, now applying mascara.

James smiled at Alicia annoyingly, and Ken mimed slapping

Alicia, while Alicia looked furious.
 “Mother, why can James get Samuel to come, while I can’t?”
complained Alicia as she stormed around the room angrily.

“Well, for starters, you stole my credit card yesterday to buy

Gucci for your friends, who are using you. And also, last time you
had a sleepover unless my memory is faulty, you ripped all the
living room furniture into pieces to make a new gown, according
to you,” replied Mrs Roberts smartly, who was now walking out of
the room. She slammed the door right in Alicia’s face, and her
head rammed against the door and she howled in pain. Ken and
James were outright laughing now, and Alicia was about to slap
them, when they had run away, now howling in laughter.
The next day, Samuel arrived at the house with his sleeping
bag, and Mrs Roberts greeted him warmly. They sat down at the
living room table, while Samuel stared around in awe, the abode
was so big! Ken showed Samuel where he and James would
sleep for the night, and Samuel began tottering around and
started to set up his camp bed. They began to play some simple
games. Then, there was a knock on the door. Samuel answered
it. There was Alicia and her gang of girls.

“What the- I thought you were not allowed?” said Ken,

looking incredibly surprised

“Oh puh-lease, when have we ever listened to our mother?”

laughed Alicia,” All we had to do was send a letter to mother that
she won the “Best Suburban Lawn Competition.” They won’t get
back until tomorrow! Such a well-thought-out plan!”

James wondered how their parents would react when they

found out that there was not a ‘Best Suburban Lawn
Competition,” but his thoughts were interrupted by Samuel.

“You- you do realise I can just call them, right?” said Samuel
uncertainly, as if he could not believe someone could be this
stupid.
 Malorie and Alicia turned red, as well as the rest of them. A
blonde-haired girl named Monica stood forward and spoke to
Samuel, “We will make sure that you won’t!”.

Samuel’s mouth went slightly ajar, and thought, how can

someone be this idiotic? He spoke, “You- you still do realise that
I’m a black belt in taekwondo right? Um- your well-thought-out
plan was not a very well-thought-out plan after all”

“Oh, we’ve thought about that. We’ve brought Samantha, a

black belt as well. You can’t boss us around unless you want to
get hurt.” laughed Malorie maliciously, and the other girls, once
again, laughed as well.

The three boys gritted their teeth angrily but knew they
couldn’t do anything about the current situation. They accepted
their situation and began to play another game.

At night, when the three boys were all sleeping, Alicia and
the girls sneaked into their room and shook James and Ken
awake. Unfortunately for Alicia, Samuel awoke as well.

“What the ruddy hell do you want Alicia? I just want to

sleep.” yawned James, quite annoyed at Alicia.

“We want you to help us pick the lock for our basement. You
know, the basement which our parents banned us from using,”
smirked Alicia.

“No! We are not doing that! Anyways, you aren’t even

allowed to go in there. We’ll tell mother and father about what
you and your friends did,” replied Ken
“Do you remember a saying? I’m pretty sure you did.
‘Snitches get stitches,’ I’m sure you’ve experienced this before
and I am still sure that you don’t want to experience it again.”
laughed Malorie cruelly

“I’ll stop you-” said Samuel loudly.

“In case you’ve forgotten, we have a black belt girl with us.
So it’s either you do it or you do it. You can pick.”

“You’re gonna get into trouble and trouble gets you

grounded and getting grounded means no technology for you!”
Ken reminded the girls.

“True, but we’re willing to risk it for the biscuit for an hour in
the basement below. So, James, you’ll help us pick the lock
downstairs. You follow us. Then maybe we can use you as bait
for anything that went wrong.” smirked a ginger-haired girl.

“You wouldn’t kill us anyway,” James said. “Mother and

father would kill you too!”

Alicia yawned, “We won’t kill you. But you might find that we
might accidentally push (Alicia mimed pushing) you down the
stairs.”

Two rather hefty girls took Ken and James down the stairs.

“Hey! Stop!” shouted Samuel angrily, and tried to punch the

two girls, but Samantha pounced into action and kicked Samuel
in the face. He massaged his bleeding nose, and some other
girls picked his hands and dragged him down the stairs to the
basement.

It took nearly five minutes for them to get to the basement.

James was given a needle to pick the lock and James looked
rather offended.
 “This isn’t how you pick a lock! You need a curved needle to
pick it! Are you giving me a single needle because this is how
you see it in the movies? You ignorant little b-” shouted James
before Alicia gave him a hefty punch.

Mumbling darkly to himself, James bent the needle slightly

and began to pick the lock. It took nearly a minute to finish, and
the basement creaked open. Malorie whipped out a flashlight
and passed it to James’s trembling hands. He turned the
flashlight on and shone it around the basement. He wasn’t
going to be like the movies, saying: Hello? Because that way,
you’re introducing yourself to the things in the place. Instead, he
flashed the flashlight around and found a small row of stairs.
Teeth chattering, he slowly rolled himself down the stairs (it took
him five years to learn how to do this with a wheelchair) and the
girls followed. Malorie seemed hesitant but she followed Alicia
anyway.

Chapter 4: La Basement

As they stood in front of the rusty old door, James used the
bent needle to pick the lock. He pushed the door open with his
other hand. The door flung open and creaked in an ugly
manner. There was a green and dark light shining on their faces.

“Hey, what is this?” Malorie asked.

“I have no idea..” murmured Alicia, gazing at the room

around them.

The girls were beginning to look scared. They had not

intended the basement to be this creepy.

“What do your parents even work as?” a short girl asked.

 “Don’t be so thick.” said Alicia impatiently, “I already told
you multiple times that I have no clue.”

There were confidential papers scattered everywhere on

the floor. But, they were too shocked to notice the papers’
presence. As they walked around the room, exploring it, they
suddenly saw large canisters. They were green. And had-

“Animal organs,” said Samuel grimly. Some girls screamed.

Malorie walked up to the organs and tapped the glass

smartly with her knuckles. Nothing happened. Suddenly they
heard a groan in the distance. The girls screamed again. All of
their breathing became faster, and they began to pant. Not a
tired pant, a scared pant. They began to shiver and one of the
girls fainted.

“Such strong girls you brought with you, Alicia.” shot James
angrily at Alicia, “Now we have to drag her back.” Alicia ignored
him.

They assigned Malorie and the short girl to drag the girl
along during the journey in the basement. Malorie seemed
grumpy about it but when Samuel threatened to ditch her, much
to the surprise of Alicia, Malorie agreed. Alicia looked like she
was about to have something to say about it, but when she saw
how fierce Samuel was, she kept herself quiet.

They decided to explore the room more, and they found

another canister, but it was open. The animal organ was floating
eerily. This time, a blond girl walked to it and after almost ten
years of education, she decided to put her hand on the organ.
She reached for it and took it, it began to move and then she
shrieked. It was uncoiled and its tentacles grasped onto her
hands tightly and Samuel saw that it was a brain. Samuel ran to
her and tried to yank the brain off, but it seemed to tighten its
grip. The girl was positively howling now. Suddenly, the brain flew
off and landed on the floor with a disgusting squish sound.
Everyone ran away, except Samuel and James. Samuel wheeled
James to the girl and both looked at where the brains had held
her. Her skin had been completely burned off. James froze and
realised that if it hadn’t let go, her arms could’ve been
completely burned. The brain was squishing away now and left
them alone.

She was still shrieking in pain as Samuel and James

quickly looked for a first-aid kit to treat her burnt arm. Her
“friends” had completely ditched her and were now screaming in
separate directions. Samuel and James spotted one hanging on
the wall. James immediately ran to it and snatched it from the
wall. Samuel opened it and applied ointment for her burning
skin and wrapped it with a bandage. She calmed down and her
arm wasn’t hurting anymore. The girls came back like cowards
after everything was done. So, they continued to find the exit to
escape from the creepy basement.

As they continued to find the exit, they saw many items and
weapons around. Malorie picked one and was about to try it out
when Samuel stopped her.

“We don’t know what it does. We can bring it for defence but
don’t go testing it out until something dangerous happens,”
said Samuel.

Everyone pocketed a weapon, except Samantha. She

claimed that her fists were weapons on their own.

Chapter 5: The Monster

They went across a room of frozen animals kept in large

canisters and they had faces which looked scared. The people
around them were scared too. Get scared later, James told
himself.

“What- what is that?” trembled one of the girls.

“Mother and Father probably made these for their

experiments,” Alicia said.

“Oh yes, Mother and Father probably made these for their
experiments. I’m happy to say that ten years of education have
provided you with plentiful knowledge about the obvious,” said
James silkily, “Other than Alicia’s incredible comment about
experiments, I realise that our parents have mutilated things
that are not meant to be mutilated. They have changed the
fabric of our realms, and have dug deeper than any person
should ever dig.”

Alicia rolled her eyes at James and folded her arms. There
was a particularly big canister in the middle of all the canisters,
containing one huge four-legged creature with the head of a
tiger and the body of a spider with four legs. They went forward
to get a better look at the floating creature who was likely in a
deep sleep.

Alicia went the closest to the creature. She knocked on the

canister to see what would happen. Suddenly the fierce eyes of
the tiger’s head opened and were staring straight into Alicia’s
small eyes. She immediately stepped back to the others. Samuel
and James swore loudly, most of the swears directed to Alicia.

“Alicia! Your little piece of- well- you screwed up!” screamed
Malorie, finally seeming to have some sense knocked into her
head.
 All of them drew their weapons, and Samantha seemed to
regret not bringing any. She decided to take cover behind
James’s wheelchair.

“Wuss,” muttered James, “right guys, on the count of three,

you will all shoot your weapons and we will run for it. Except me,
but Samuel will push me.”

They clutched their weapons with sweaty hands, and they

started to shake.

“One,”

They clutched their weapons even tighter

“Two,”

They looked like they were about to faint.

“Three!”

When James said three, the monster burst out of its cage,
right on time, its fangs baring. All of them fired. Explosions
sounded everywhere, and James barely had any time to wheel
away. Samuel frantically pushed James, and James was
screaming, “Go! Go!”

When the smoke had cleared, there was a casualty. And the
casualty was a monster with a tiger head and a spider body
with four legs. Everyone cheered, and even James looked happy.
Ken, however, was standing there, without a single sweat on his
face.

“Are you guys going to sit there, or are we going to escape

this place? Monsters, organs, whatever! I’m out!” said Ken
scathingly.
 “Oh well, his condition probably hit him hard,” Alicia stated
in a matter-of-fact tone. “Anyways, let’s continue.”

But everyone else seemed highly hesitant to follow her, they

all seemed to have enough. Even Malorie was avoiding her
looks.

“What? Aren’t- aren’t we going to continue exploring?”

asked Alicia, slightly crestfallen.

No one answered. They began to walk back to where they

came from, and Alicia ran after them.

“Hey wait, WAIT!” she screamed frantically.

“I reckon it’s time to go as well,” whispered Samuel to James,

and began wheeling him out.

Alicia was shocked, she had never been refused like that
ever, always being the boss. She chewed her tongue for a while.
Samuel pushed James towards the top of the staircase.

“Get out of the way, Alicia,” said Samuel roughly.

Alicia was stunned. She walked out of the way, staring at

Samuel with her mouth open as if she had never seen a person
before. Ken didn’t follow them. He stayed in the room. Alicia
didn’t see him. She walked up the stairs, still stunned, but
halfway through, she collapsed down and began to cry heavily.
Ken appeared up the stairs and grasped Alicia’s hand.

“Come on,” he muttered, “We have to go.”

 Alicia hiccoughed for a moment, before standing up,
wiping her face with her pyjama sleeve, and walking away from
the mighty temptress of adventure.

Chapter 6: The Girls’ Comeback

As Ken helped Alicia up the stairs, she seemed to be having

a mental breakdown as tears were flowing down her face. Some
were shuffling upstairs, and by the time Alicia left the basement
and into the living room, Malorie and the girls had packed their
bags.

“Wha- Aren’t- Aren’t you staying?” asked Alicia, as if petrified

of the answer.

“Of course, we aren’t staying! Who even wants to be your

friend anymore? With parents like a mad scientist, if we were
caught in your presence, we would be embarrassed!” Malorie
responded scathingly, walking towards the exit door just right
outside the room, “And, sister, were you too thick to see beyond
your nose? Because we only wanted you for cash. Shouldn’t you
have noticed that?

“Hey, stop bullying her! Who was screaming for their

mother?” mocked Samuel, glaring at them.

Alicia stared. He- he defended her? After all that she had
done to him? She felt a surge of respect for Samuel.

“How dare you!” shrieked Malorie furiously, “Samantha! Go

after him!”

Samantha didn’t budge. She looked at Malorie scathingly,

and replied, “No. I won’t. I’m tired of you bossing us around, it’s
time we show you who’s boss.”
 And with those words, Malorie was as shocked as Alicia.

“We want Alicia back. We never used her for her money, you
did! You treat us like dogs, Malorie. At least Alicia is nice.”

More girls chorused what Samantha said, and mutterings

ensued, about how they never liked Malorie in the first place.
They dropped their bags and folded their arms defiantly. They
made a gesture for Malorie to leave.

“Ugh, I hate all of you! Don’t come running for me in school

then,” Malorie said, picking up her bags and heading towards
the door.

“We’re sorry Alicia, for-you know, following Malorie,”

Samantha said.

“It’s okay, and- I’m sorry for releasing the monster, too,”
Alicia responded, looking at her brothers, Samuel and the girls.

Malorie was still standing at the door, looking stunned at

the previous events. Alicia suddenly glared at her.

“GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! I DON’T WANT TO

LOOK AT YOU! I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOUR UGLY FACE
LOOKING AT MINE! I DON’T EVEN WANT YOU TO STEP FOOT
ANYWHERE WHICH I BELONG! OUT! OUT!” bellowed Alicia
furiously, her face turning red as all the blood flow to her brain.

Malorie’s face twitched a little as if about to shout

something. But she just stormed out of the house, holding her
bag while muttering something.

Chapter 7: Monster 2.0

 GRRR! There was a sound coming from the basement. It
sounded like a lion’s roar but much louder.

“Wait what? What sound is that? It’s coming from the

basement,” Alicia said.

They stared at the basement, feeling quite spooked out.

Alicia hesitated before beckoning James, Samuel and Ken to
follow her down. Samuel questioned the girls whether they
wanted to follow them. Of course, they didn’t, they were literal
cowards. They closed the door and fled off to the living room as
they waited for the boys to return (maybe they wouldn’t) after
battling the unknown terrors that awaited them there.

The boys cautiously walked down the stairway leading

towards the basement, and breathed slowly, as if afraid of what
they might see. Suddenly a creature appeared and smiled
devilishly. For a moment, they thought it looked like Santa Claus,
but they saw it had five eyes. It was thin and looked like a
human, except it couldn’t be human. There was something weird
about its face, about its thin smile, about his gloves with blood
on it and about his ears which looked like an elf.

“Who- who are you?” whispered Samuel, terror etched in

every wrinkle on his face

The creature stood there, staring at all three of them. Then,

it moved like a whip and suddenly, everything went dark. They
seemed to be sinking into the floor, like quicksand, but in
moments they were standing on a solid surface.

The creature didn’t move. It just continued to stare at them

blankly. Then, dawning apprehension appeared on its face, and
a cruel leer appeared where its mouth was. For the first time this
night, it spoke.
“What.” he hissed, “Are you doing here?”
 Alicia stammered before James cut in.

“We were here to- to learn more about our parents'

occupation. We- we didn’t know about it, and we wanted to find
out more-”

James was interrupted by the creature. Once again he

spoke.

“So,” he hissed, a devilish leer appearing where his mouth

was, “You decided to look into this. Well well well, you shouldn’t
have pried into matters which were not meant to be learnt by
mere children like you. Why should they? You’re just simple
children, befuddled, wrapped around your silly matters to put
your head to this. Unfortunately, I know that you will stop at
nothing to halt this operation. So, we’re going to play a game.
This is my territory, and these are my rules.”

He snapped his fingers, and they found themselves in a

dark room with seven doors, each of them identical to the one
next to them.

“Pick a door, and each of these will have something

different. One of them will consist of another seven doors. The
other six,” he paused for a moment, “will be slightly different.”

They walked to a door, and hands trembling, they opened

it. It was empty, and the room stared blankly at them. They had
opened the wrong door. They walked to another door and
opened that door instead. This time, it included a purple
glowing shell, that seemed to be beckoning toward them.

They walked to the shell, and Samuel picked it up. He was

about to pry it open when,
 “Stop that.” said James sharply, “We don’t know what it is, or
whether it’ll be dangerous towards us.”

“It’s just a shell!” Samuel retorted. Ken, however, seized the

shell and opened it. A brilliant flash of green light appeared and
a small screen appeared above the shell. It wasn’t exactly a
screen, but it looked like one. It read,

“One of us will die tonight,” whispered James, absolutely

petrified.

They began to look at each other slightly differently as if

they were different people when put into this kind of situation.
Each of them held a similar dark thought in their minds,

‘What if I’m the one to die tonight, what if I am the one who
dies?’

Only time will tell.

They left the creepy room and opened another door. This
time, the door led them to seven different doors. James let out a
light groan and they crept up to a door at the right. Samuel
opened it, and he let out a scream. A large monster had
appeared, ten times scarier than the one they had fought with
the girls, ten times more vicious than a terrifying tiger. A
slithering serpent emerged from the ground, hissing and
snarling as it slithered towards them.

They panicked, all of them ran in separate directions, and

they found themselves cornered. They saw a sharp piece of
metal at the side and seized it, as it was their only weapon.

“I’m the best fighter, I’ll use it,” whispered Samuel, and Alicia
passed her the sharp piece of metal.
 The serpent slithered towards them, hissing and spitting
even louder. Samuel threw the piece of metal and the snake, and
it hit it right in the side of its body. The snake writhed and
thrashed about, and it slumped limp onto the floor. Samuel gave
a grim smile as he walked to pick up the metal, but as he did so,
the metal cut his finger. It wasn’t a very deep cut, but when he
picked the entire piece, it was covered with poison from the
snake, and it seeped into his cut. Samuel gasped in pain as he
dropped the metal, and desperately tried to squeeze the poison
out of his finger, but the damage had been done. James gaped
and wheeled to Samuel and heaved him up from the floor. He
gazed at his cut, and how his hands were turning blue by the
moment.

“Is there- is there any cure?” asked Alicia, as if knowing the

answer.

James stared at Samuel’s handsome wasted face, which

was now turning purple.

“There is nothing to be done,” he said quietly.

Alicia gave a dry sob and Ken gazed open-mouthed at

Samuel.

“One of us will die tonight.” Ken quoted, his breathing

shallow and staring at Samuel.

James sobbed, and shook Samuel.

“Don’t die, Samuel, don’t die!”

Samuel gave a small smile, gave a last twitch and he was

still.