𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃 | 𝐣𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐣𝐢

𝐈𝐕. 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐬

When the five of them arrived, Fridge was the one to knock. However, the last time Roni checked, Spencer wasn't an old man.

"Grandpa Eddie?" Fridge asked.

"Anthony?"

"Yes, sir," Fridge nodded his head, "it's me."

"Anthony! How are you?" Grandpa Eddie asked before motioning the group inside. "Come on in. Come on in."

"How you doing?" Fridge asked.

"Oh, getting old sucks," Eddie retorted, "Don't ever let anybody tell you any different."

"Oh, this is Martha, Bethany, Matt and Roni," Fridge introduced the group, "This is Spencer's grandfather, Eddie."

"Martha?" Eddie asked as he pointed toward Martha, "You're the little girlfriend."

Martha opened her mouth to awkwardly object, but wasn't given the chance.

"Morning!" Another elderly man greeted them as he stepped around the corner.

"Morning, sir," Fridge greeted him in return and offered an apology. "Sorry to barge in on you."

"You're not barging," Eddie corrected, "He's barging."

"Milo Walker."

"Wait, Milo?" Fridge raised an eyebrow as he made the connection, "Like—Like Milo and Eddie's."

"Pleased to meet you," Milo smiled as he shook Fridge's hand.

"Man, my dad said you guys had the best restaurant in town." Fridge chuckled. "We were just there. Well, it's called Nora's now."

"Nora's." Eddie scoffed. "It's barely even a restaurant. It's more like a breakfast place now. Were you with Spencer?"

"No," Fridge shook his head, "we came here looking for him, actually."

"You all hungry?" Milo asked. "Eggs on the griddle."

Fridge clasped his hands together. "Might have to take a look."

"Hey, man, you can do more than take a look at it." Milo motioned for Fridge to follow.

"All right, all right. My man."

Roni rolled her eyes as Fridge followed Milo back into the kitchen. Always thinking with his stomach first. Spencer's grandfather started to follow after them, but in the process ran into the living room table and knocked over a lamp. Matt moved to his side as Bethany and Martha made their way upstairs. Roni made her way into the living room to take a seat on the couch as if making herself at home.

"Do you need a hand?" Matt asked.

"Do I look like I need a hand?" Eddie snapped.

Matt quickly raised his hands defensively and took a step back. Roni snickered from behind him and he glared. Once Eddie "safely" made his way into the next room, Matt took a seat beside Roni.

"You were uncharacteristically quiet at the restaurant," Matt noted, "Normally you'd have some input to add."

Roni deflected. "Yeah, and what about you and your cousin? What was up with that?"

He frowned, but surprisingly didn't give in to the argument. "He's just annoying, alright? He's been showing me up since we were kids."

"He is a kid," Roni scoffed, "He's like eight."

"Fourteen."

"Oh, so much better—"

She froze and a chill ran up her spine at the steady sound of beating drums. Her heart matched the rhythm and as she turned to look over at Matt, she could tell that he heard it too. They both stood from the couch and met with the others at the staircase.

"You guys hear that too... right?" Matt hesitantly asked.

Roni nodded her head in unison with the others and they inched forward toward the source. Fridge ever-so-slowly pushed open the basement door and the entire group stood frozen in place as the drums grew louder as if summoning them into the darkness below. Roni gulped, but unwilling to get rid of her street cred, she flipped on the light switch and marched down the stairs.

"Are you coming or not?" She asked, realizing no one had followed.

The next thing she knew, they stood huddled around the device that they had hoped to never see again. Bethany was the one to break the silence.

"How did it even get here?"

"I don't know," Fridge said, refusing to take his eyes away from the box. "Maybe he—I don't know, maybe he went back for it or something?"

"That would be insane," Roni shook her head.

"Is he trying to fix it?" Bethany asked.

Fridge finally looked up. "Why would anyone try to fix that thing?"

"I don't know. "Bethany shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he went to buy parts or something?"

"Okay, I'm calling him again," Fridge said, pulling out his phone, "I'm sure everything's... fine."

Everyone slowly turned their heads at the sound of something vibrating. Martha approached the couch and pulled Spencer's phone out of the coat hanging over the armrest.

"Fourteen texts and four missed calls." Martha shook her head. "I don't think he went out. I think... I think he went back in."

Fridge immediately started to pace. "No, no, no."

"What?" Bethany's eyes widened, "No. Why—"

"Okay, maybe he is insane," Roni muttered as she took a seat on the couch.

"Come on. Remember what it was like?" Fridge asked.

"Why would he do that?" Bethany asked and exclaimed, "I got eaten by a fricking hippo!"

"I got killed by a piece of cake!"

"As opposed to being eaten by a Jaguar?" Matt added his own input.

"Guys, guys." Martha called for their attention. "How is he gonna get out?"

"He's gotta take the—" Fridge explained the rules, "The green jewel—"

"And stick it back in the statue thing," Bethany finished with a shrug.

"By himself?" Roni raised an eyebrow, trying to get them to realize how ridiculous it sounded.

Martha nodded her head. "We gotta go get him."

"Are you crazy?" Fridge asked, now in hysterics.

"I'm coming with you," Bethany volunteered.

"Are you out of your minds?" Fridge asked again.

"We can do this," Martha insisted, "We've been there. We know what to expect."

"I gotta stop hanging out with white people." Fridge shook his head and muttered. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with me."

"She's right," Roni nodded in agreement, "We played before and we won."

"We barely survived," Matt corrected her.

"You know he would do it for you," Martha said before looking around, "For any of us."

Fridge shook his head, but it was obvious he agreed as he took a step closer. Martha turned toward the game and reached out to grab the controller.

"Be careful," Fridge warned, "It looks pretty busted."

As Martha touched the controller, it sparked and she dropped it, startled. The television to their right fizzled and the static temporarily stopped to reveal the loading screen of the game.

"Welcome to Jumanji."

"What Stephen King novel did we just step inside?" Roni asked before looking down at her hands.

"What...?" Fridge was just as confused, "We haven't even picked our guys yet!"

"Okay, okay. Here we go," Martha muttered to herself, "Oh, I hate this part. All right. Okay."

As they were sucked into the game, Fridge screamed, "This is not happening!"

It was the last thing that Roni could remember before her vision blurred and she was suddenly surrounded by the cold.