Bully Trials [Remake]

Chapter Sixteen

XVI: Fear Rises Lethally 

Lola

Exploring the rooms in the mansion with Marina turns into one of the most interesting yet scariest experiences. She has a high kill count compared to Jacelyn when she told us how she boiled 200 bodies alive last challenge. She is on a whole other level. The mansion hallway smells like sulfur, and the dust is so dense that it acts like gray snow, enough to make me sneeze, eyes itch, and cough constantly. Marina is unfazed by the dust. We explore the rooms. The rooms are stuck in anachronistic luxury with thick silver curtains, 1700s dresses, and pictures of oily paintings instead of actual photographs.

"Check out this room and try to find some of the past people here," Marina orders, bored. "I will explore the room next one over."

"Jacelyn told us to stay together," I point out. "You and Jacelyn seem oddly close despite knowing each other for a few rounds, and you are just disobeying her orders now."

"I am just going in the next room. She also said to be fast. Spirits can become hostile to us at any moment."

"Fine."

Marina quickly leaves the room, leaving me in complete darkness. The power and water don't work. This place has been abandoned for a long time. I smile when I think of Ghost Stories when Hajime left Momoko behind in a cemetery. Yep, I can relate to Momoko now. How is the town going to sue a house because it is abandoned? Sue the ghosts? I wander this room, touching everything. I open the vanity drawers. I find some more paintings hidden in the drawer. There is a woman in a pink and white dress. Her blonde hair is put up in a pale floral hat. Blonde curls go down at the front. She has green eyes. She is smiling in the painting. There is also a name written in black ink: Deanna Aldison.

"Mother!" A faint boy echoes behind me, causing me to turn back. No one is there. He must be calling out to his mother. She is not here...it seems.

I turn back and open the closet door. My eyes widen, and my jaw drops in amazement. The white lacey dress is covered in jewels that still shined after many years. I look at the door. Marina is not here. She has very silent footsteps. I have difficulty hearing them even when she is next to me. I smirk. She is not here, so she can't tell me what to do.

I unhook the dress from the hangar. I put it against myself. It fits my height well, but I don't know the size. If I can keep what I stole from the Bully Trials, I will use this dress for my wedding day, maybe for Aaron. We have been together for over a month. Of all my boyfriends, he lasts the longest and keeps going strong. It's like we are made for each other. I unzip and undo the dress as I get together. A silk and a netty texture wraps around my body. It feels tight. Once I am fully set up, I look in the mirror in the bathroom, which looks less pretty and modern than mine. I put a hand on my side, pretending I am a fashion model.

God, I look amazing! I thought. I do some amazing patch-ups by moving the dress around my body to make it look perfect. I should've worn this during that round at the confession stand. I was meant to be in this status.

"Lola?" I hear Marina's voice as I turn around to see her.

"Did you find anything, Marina?" I ask.

She isn't smiling. Her face is flat, and staring daggers into my heart. "No," she answers coldly. Her eyes never move in the slightest. "I'm sure you did."

I nod my head up and down with an excitable smile.

She goes into her pockets and takes out a blaze. She stomps her way towards me. "Marina, what are you doing?" I ask nervously as I back away into the desk.