By Next Thursday

Chapter Nine

I shivered.

Not from cold, but from pure adrenaline. Or some ghost form of adrenaline or whatever.

Meredith, Jay, and I were standing in the shadows next to Eli Tanner's garage. We were decked out in black, complete with masks and gloves because I had insisted we look the part. After a lot of complaining from Jay, trembling from Meredith, and a few bad directions from myself, we had finally arrived at Eli's at half past eleven.

I pressed my fingers to my lips when we at last heard Eli's expensive car pull into the driveway. He drove into his garage and I was struck yet again with just how much money his family had. My father had money, sure, but he preferred to put it into savings and investments, whereas the Tanner's lavished their son's home with a six car garage, modern architecture, and a vast plot of land that was clearly well maintained.

The lights in the garage clicked back off and the garage door rumbled to life as it began it's decent down. I waved Jay and Meredith to follow me and dove underneath onto the cement floor.

I picked myself up in time to see Jay and Meredith's silhouettes casually duck under the door that was still ever so slowly closing. I could almost feel Jay's smirk and I could vaguely hear Meredith stifle a giggle.

"Hey..." I said, "Just 'cause you guys don't wanna have fun doesn't mean I can't." I stuck out my tongue and, although I didn't think they could see me, I heard Jay snort. I was pretty sure he just assumed my action more than actually saw it, though.

After that embarrassing escapade, we crept through the dark garage, careful not to bump anything loud and warn Eli of intruders. When we reached the door, I cautiously turned the handle and sighed in relief. Unlocked.

Shushing the other two again, to which they responded by rolling their eyes, I cracked open the door and peaked inside. I waved them to follow again and we ended up in a dark hallway. Vaguely I could hear voices but couldn't place where they were coming from.

Jay stepped passed past me and peaked in the first door in front of us. "Basement stairs," he whispered and disappeared through the doorway.

Meredith and I shrugged and followed. Once in, I couldn't hear or see Jay at all, let alone the step we were on, so Meredith pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight. Jay was nowhere in sight so we hurried down, quietly.

"Jay!" I hissed. Nothing.

"Jay!" Meredith whisper-yelled a little louder. Again, nothing. We looked at each other in panic and began to run stealthily through the dark, cavernous basement. It appeared to be finished and some sort of man cave, which we quickly discovered when Meredith stubbed her toe on a foosball table.

"Hey, Kelly!" I heard Meredith whisper from behind me. "Here's a door... And someone's in here."

She knelt down to the keyhole and peaked through. "What the...." She quickly opened the door and was bathed in light.

"Meredith, what are you doing?!"

She put her hand over her mouth and turned to me, her eyes dancing with laughter. "Kelly, I found Jay."

I looked past her and nearly laughed out loud. Jay was reclining back in an easy chair in a huge home theater. Not only was a movie already started, but he was munching a candy bar he must've found in the mini fridge next to him.

"Dude," he mumbled through a mouth full of chocolate, "This guy is loaded."

"Oh my god, Jay. Focus!" Meredith laughed. I shut the projector off  and laughed with her. After scolding Jay, we quickly walked out and checked the rest of the basement. There were no more hidden rooms and my body was nowhere to be found, so we crept back upstairs.