Trapped In A Dead Man's Mansion

First Night: On The Road

First Night: On The Road

   "What's the time?"

   "4:30am," the first thing I saw when I awoke was Aaron's sky-gazing face, above mine. I soon realized that I'd fallen asleep and he'd set my head on his lap.

   I sat up and looked around to find my surroundings to be a colorful room with three, side-by-side beds. "Where are we?" I whispered, rubbing my head.

   Aaron looked at me with genuine surprise. "We just left New York City, I suggest you get something to eat. We're on a 39 hour drive."

   "Ugh," vertigo hit me as I swayed, trying to stand. Aaron caught me before I fell. "Wait, you said that we're in a car, but it looks like a house..."

   He chuckled. "I know, you were shocked when Melony first showed us the transportation. There's 6 rooms in this "bus": Two three-bed rooms, two bathrooms, a huge kitchen, and a theater room."

   "Mel went totally overboard," I sighed, fully awake.

   "I agree, let's go to the kitchen," Aaron helped me up and led me down a narrow, arching, beige-brown hall and into a pure white, wide kitchen with two windows stretching the sides.

   Mel and Dylan sat at the round table in the middle, across from each other. Dylan was reading a map of Nevada while Mel was drinking what looked like Starbucks coffee in her Shop-o-holic mug.

   "Good morning, we could see you were still sleepy," Dylan rarely talked, so when he looked up from his pamphlet to glance at me, I was genuinely surprised. For some reason he looked oddly happy instead of his usual expressionless face.

   "Hi guys," I yawned and sat beside Mel. "Where's James?"

   "Ha," Dylan chuckled.

   "He's trying out the theater," Mel smiled against her mug.

   "Aaron," I said.

   "On it," Aaron spoke cheerfully and approached the door we'd come from. As soon as he  left, I noticed that Dylan had his pamphlet smothered in his face as if he was trying to stop himself from laughing and Mel had her lips pressed together tightly.

   "Hahahaha!" Mel had broken first and exploded in laughter. Dylan followed quickly after.

   "What?" I asked in distaste. I didn't like  it when people laughed at something I didn't understand.

   "No, it's just, Aaron is so LOVESTRUCK!" Mel whispered loudly.

   "What? That's seriously not true," I told them truthfully.

   "You should see yourselves in our view, it really does look like he loves you," Dylan said, laughter still in his voice.

   "We're just really close, that's all," I closed the conversation quickly before it affected my mood. Feeling down in the morning wasn't exactly my favorite feeling. "And Mel, I'm going to need the bus floor plan so that I can scold you later."

   "Got it," Mel knew I was joking but I would need the plans later on.

   The door reopened and we all turned to find James brushing his hands through his hair, Aaron followed closely behind him.

   "What is it? I was just in the middle of The Ring." James came awake quickly but squinted in the bright kitchen light.

   Everybody took a seat at the table: Me by Mel, Mel by James, James by Dylan, Dylan by Aaron, and Aaron by me. "I know we are more than 30 hours away from the mansion, but we need to get the final plans down."