The Quietus

Chapter Three

Damian, being a rather logical person, decided to look around and scope out his new surroundings. The house appeared rather normal, except the fact all the doors that led outside were covered in steel bars so you couldn't use them at all, all the windows were inaccessible and there was no way out.

He discovered six bedrooms and assumed two people where in each room. Females were on the right side of the hallway, and males were on the left side, according to the "Girls & Boys" sign plastered against the wall. The names of the occupants of each room were written on a whiteboard outside each dorm, markers were next to the whiteboards.

The order of the doors started with the girls rooms. Door one belonged to Jordan and Nova. Door two belonged to two boys, Preston and Jayden. Door three was Lindsey and Liberty. Door four was shared between Damian and Jax. Door five held Jade and Hope. The last door read Tristan and River.

Once leaving the hallway with the only bedrooms that appeared to be around the house, you find yourself reaching a staircase, if you go down the carpeted stairs you'll be lead to a living room type area.

The living room was quiet average, two couches sat against the west and south walls with a matching chair placed in the northeast corner. The staircase was blocked by a wall, so it wasn't actually apart of the room. You could enter the room from the west side of the north wall and exit from the east side of the south wall. A table with a lamp placed on top sat in the very south west corner, along with a coffee table. A fireplace sat in the center of the east wall and that was the basic set up if the decent sized room.

Go into the room beyond the living room and you'll find a kitchen connected to a dining room. A table fitting exactly twelve people sat in the center of the dining area with twelve chairs surrounding it. As usual, the windows in the room were blocked off. The kitchen was simple, a stove to the right, the fridge on the left, and counters boxing it off. A calendar showed summer break had been going on for about a week now. In some cabinets on the east wall you would find cups, plates and bowls. The counter drawers below held silverware.

It was a rather basic kitchen, one you'd find in magazines. The fridge was stocked and a pantry held not only spices and bread, but also junk food galore. The people that had trapped the food in their obviously knew that trapping a bunch of teenagers here without anything sweet to eat, would obviously be a big mistake.

After scanning through the calendar, Damian discovered dates like birthdays, big games and anything you'd find on a calendar at home. Everything appeared rather homey, which made everything just that much stranger.

Moving on, he found another set of stairs after stumbling through an office (with a computer, but it was rather useless seeing as there was not Internet or anything. They couldn't get help in any way, shape or form), discovering a couple bathrooms and learning about an indoor pool. The stairs lead to a basement which was transformed into a rather impressive game room.

Damian found his way back to the rooms and knocked on each door. The one labeled Jordan and Nova was empty. He soon discovered  both girls had gone into the one labeled Jayden and Preston. The third room he found both occupants (Lindsey and Liberty) they where still sound asleep. He didn't enter his room, knowing Jax was most likely in there, and he couldn't stand the guy. The fifth room was empty. After knocking on the final door, he found the rest of his housemates inside.

"Who are you?" Tristan questions, knife in hand. He didn't appear very happy with another person in his room and looked about ready to kill somebody.

"I'm Damian. I'm guessing you're either Tristan or River?" He responds.

"Tristan Levitt." He smirks, obviously pleased with himself as if that name meant anything to anyone at all.

"Pleasure to meet you. So that means scaredy-cat is River, druggie over here is Jade and crazy over there is Hope." He says, remembering the insane girl from something he read, he recognized her instantly, of course, it's difficult to forget anything for him.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious idiot," Jade rolled her eyes, seeming a little annoyed, "And I guess you're the know-it-all, isn't that right?" She smirked, feeling proud of her response.

Damian scowls at her. "I thought we already established this."

"Exactly, I'm just reminding you!" Jade chuckles evilly, "Besides, these people must know. Unless they already know you."

"I guess you're correct on one thing here." He shrugs, glancing over at the younger boy cowering in the corner and the girl comforting him. "You don't gotta be so scared kid. As far as I can tell the people here are using us more as an experiment to see how different people react to be around each other for a long time or something, they'll let us out in no time."

The boys response was to push himself deeper into the corner and make himself as small as possible, his small frame shaking. Damian appeared shocked for a second before walking over and sitting next to the kid. "You don't have anything to worry, I promise I won't hurt you."

The boy simply whimpered and refused to look up. "This kids pathetic and I'm gonna have to share a room with him? Somebody obviously wants him to die or something." Tristan snarls, glaring at the quivering kid.

"Shut up Tristan, you're gonna be stuck with him whether you like it or not so you should just try and get him to be comfortable around you so it isn't pure torture."

"Right... I'm outta here, anyone wanna go explore our new home?" Tristan asks, Jade shrugs and follows him out the door well Hope screams something about a ghost and runs back to her room.

"Come on kid, you don't gotta be so scared of everything. I promise you I'll make sure you get out of here alive." Damian says.

River looks up, his large, childish eyes glistened with tears. He wipes them away carefully before responding. "Y-you promise?" He asks and Damian nods, smiling. "O-okay. A-and I'll help you get out of here alive too." The younger boy smiles back and Damian nods.

"You got it kid, we're gonna find out how to get out of here."

"Oh, I already know how. They told me."

"Really? Then how do we escape?" Damian was a bit skeptical.

"Find the murder amongst the group."
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