24 hours||5SOS horror/paranormal

Chapter Thrity Five

I never thought I'd say this, but I hate Calum Hood.
I know, how is it possible to hate a boy who you used to love over the span of about 17 hours?
I don't know.
So many things that I didn't know were possible, suddenly are. And being able to hate Calum Hood with a passion wasn't something I ever wanted to happen. Especially in only 17 hours. Well, maybe 17 hours, I don't know time.
Time matters so much to me right now yet, I don't know what hour we're on. I think it's like, 5:00 AM? Ugh, I forgot.
Good job Adele, you officially cannot do anything right.
The phone buzzes, sitting on the center of the table.
Calum, Michael, and Luke sit on the couch across from the one me and Ashton sit on. Ashton is the only one in this whole house who doesn't hate my guts momentarily, and the only reason he doesn't hate me is because he's drugged. He can't smack that cute, innocent smile off his face even if his life depended on it.
So, when Ashton comes back to normal, I'll be walking through the rest of this game solo probably.
"You read it," Luke mumbles, nudging Michael's side.
Michael, looking paler than usual in the light, grabs the phone and sighs. He then blinks his eyes that are bloodshot from not sleeping, and starts to read.
"Now that we are all gathered in this humble living room of ours, we'd like to introduce the game to you guys. This game, like I said earlier, is called 'Your Choice'. The reason you have not heard of this game, is because it has been made up by us. It's nothing complicated, you have played games extremely similar to this, so don't worry. In this game, one player will ask any other player they want a question. There question would be like a would you rather question, accept, they would phrase it like this: 'Michael, hold your breath for 20 seconds or stab a fellow opponent , your choice'.  That was an example of something you could potentially do. Pretty simple, right? There are only a few rules. Rule one, your two options must be doable. You cannot give someone an option that is not physically doable in this house. Rule number two, there is no limit with picking doable things. You can go to the extreme, in fact, we'd encourage it greatly. And the last but not least, no cheating. No backing out of options, or not doing the task you chose. Now, this game will finish once each player goes 5 times. The only exception  for a player not going that amount is if one of their choices they picked lasts until the end of the game. We don't advise you do that, but if you would want to please do. If these directions confused you, re-read, and figure it out. But, if they did not, let's continue. How about we have the smartest member of the group go first, shall we?"
Michael then looks up from the phone slowly, making direct eye contact with me before turning and looking at Luke.
"I'm confused," Ashton blurts out, making this situation a little less tense.
"What's to be confused about?" Calum snaps, "Luke you go first."
"W-What?" Luke stutters.
"You. Go. Start," Calum fires.
"Me? Why me?" Luke cringes.
"Yeah, why him?" Michael grumbles.
"Luke, it's obvious you're the smartest. Now please don't force us to compliment you on all you heroic acts so you can play convinced. Just go," Calum says, obnoxiously furious.
I hate to admit this, but Calum's right. Luke is the smartest out of all of us. Which really sucks saying he's my enemy momentarily. I would never be able to plan so far ahead like he does.
"Uh-Um-Ah-Okay....." Luke hesitates, before then clearing his throat.
All eyes are on him, even mine. And in the light, the color of his eyes suddenly pop making me angry.
I don't think I like blue eyes anymore.....
"Luke, will you please say something sometime during this century?" Calum says sarcastically.
"I'm going! Calm down..." Luke snaps back, "Ashton, uh...sit next to....me or Michael, your choice."
Michael snorts while letting out a laugh, "that was pathetic," he mumbles.
"Shut up," Luke groans.
Ashton looks at me with a worried smile before getting up, and walking over towards the other couch.
"Alright, maybe you're not the smartest...." Calum sighs while nodding his head.
"You know what, would you rather me have killed one of you? Because if so I'll make sure to make it an option next time," Luke growls.
Ashton slowly sits down next to Luke, a little paranoid about what he just said. But, he shakes the worried look off his face and smiles again, shrugging at me when we lock eyes.
I scoff, causing both Luke and Calum to look at me and glare. To tick them off, I lift my legs off the ground and stretch them out across the couch. I then give them a sarcastic smile, making sure they can sense my confidence.
Well, you actually have no confidence momentarily....so fake confidence. Yeah, that's a thing, right?   
Calum rolls his eyes at me before slouching back in the couch and looking away. Luke just keeps staring at me with the same pitiful glare.
"Okay, Michael you go," Ashton says, moving this game along.
"Right," Michael sighs. He then looks at Calum and then at me, smiling widely before he speaks.
This can't be good.
"Calum, tell us what happened to you while you were gone, or sit next to Adele. Your choice," Michael smirks.
"You guys have got to be kidding me," I say.
"What? It's not as horrible as Luke's," Michael fights. I can sense that he's annoyed with me, even though I did nothing to him.
Of course Luke has to then go and start a rumor....
Calum clenches his jaw before slowly turning his head and looking at Michael. He then sighs and looks foreword.
"I-I-I can't," Calum spits out.
"What? That's not an option asshole, pick," Michael says confused.
"I know it's not an option, and don't call me an asshole. I've already been called it enough today," Calum fires back. "I meant, I can't tell you what I was doing."
"Why?" Michael asks.
"I can't tell you why either..." Calum mumbles, looking to the ground.
"Alright, that's really weird and makes me not  wanna trust you anymore but, oh well," Michael shrugs.
Calum then groans as he stands up.
"This is the most immature thing I have ever seen in my life," I mumble under my breath.
But of course, someone hears me.
"You wanna know what else in immature Adele? Kissing four different guys in the span of one day," Calum snaps.
"How many times do I have to tell you I didn't kiss Michael!" I yell frustrated, moving my legs off the sofa before Calum can move them himself. I then scoot my whole body over the the edge of the couch as he sits down.
"Okay, well then how about this? Adele, kiss Michael or go on a search mission for the fucking knife that messed with us all, your choice," Calum hisses.
"Calum, stop it!" I shriek, not knowing what else to say.
"Stop what? I'm not doing anything. I'm just playing the game!" Calum responds, slouching down on the couch.
"Cal that was fucking stupid," Michael mumbles as his cheeks turn red.
I have never been so torn in my life.
If I kiss Michael, I will be the ultimate slut of all sluts. I didn't mean to be a slut in the first place though, I'm new to all this. I'm new to kissing, and how it all works, and boys liking me in general. I don't know what I'm doing! I don't know how to stop what from happening, or how to pick! When an attractive, older, famous guy kisses someone as innocent as me, they're not gonna pull away! People like me don't know how to pull away!  I'm confused!
And they know that I'm confused....yet, they continued to kiss me...
I can't blame this on them, but I want to.
I never kissed first...but does that even matter?
The only time I did kiss first was when I was dared to kiss Luke...
The thing is, if I pick going on a search for the knife, I will die. There's no way that I'll survive all alone while looking for a weapon that can play such vivid tricks on my mind. I wouldn't  even come close to surviving, especially since time is running out. We're so close to the end, the ghost are probably  just waiting to kill us at any chance they get.
So, what do I choose? Humiliation and a destroyed reputation, or death?
It's not like you'll ever see these boys again if you make it out of here....
"Calum hood, I hope you rot in hell," I whisper.
I then stand up.
"Have fun searching for that knife, we'll miss you," Calum says sarcastically.
But I don't walk out of the room, I stay in it. I sit down next to Michael and turn his face so he looks at me.
"Fuck no," Luke gasps.
"Oh my gosh! They're gonna kiss!!" Ashton squeals.
Michael looks away, eyes watery.
"Michael," I whisper, but he doesn't dare to look into my eyes. "Michael, I'm sorry."
He then looks up when those words escape my mouth, and slightly nods.
And for the first time in a while, I kiss first.
I lightly place my lips on his and give this gentle human a fragile kiss. Nothing magical happened, no butterflies in my stomach, just a simple kiss. 2 seconds and it was over. No kiss back, no major reaction, nothing.
When I pull away, I give Michael a forced smile, and he does the same for me.
"Thanks," I say, then awkwardly standing up.
The first person I glance at is Calum, who seems to be in complete and utter shock. His jaw has dropped and he is left thinking about what just happened. Before I can even look over at Luke and Ashton though, Calum laughs.
"You kissed Michael," Calum says in shock. "Congratulations, you are officially the most infuriating human being alive."
"I try."
"Oh I know you do," Calum chuckles, extremely overwhelmed.
"Calum why would you dare her to do that?" Luke asks angrily.
Calum glares at Luke for a long time before finally spitting out an answer, "So that now I can finally say, she's kissed 4 guys in the span of 24 hours, and have it be true."
"You know Cal, it doesn't matter anyways," I shrug.
"Doesn't matter? Doesn't matter that you-"
"I might not even live to tell," I snap through gritted teeth.
Calum looks so mad he's gonna burst. He takes a deep breath before scratching the back of his neck.
"Is that why you did it? So you could tell all your friends?" Calum taunts.
"No! And even if it was do you seriously think they'd believe me?" I snap.
"I don't know if your friends are a stupid as you then maybe," Calum mumbles.
I ignore him, knowing that what I'm about to do next is better than a bad comeback I could come up with, "Calum sit in the mirror room or the bathroom upstairs for 10 minutes. Your choice."
Calums jaw drops, once again. He then nods his head no in denial, "No, you can't do that."
"Actually Calum," I say, walking over to the couch and sitting next to him, "I can."
Calum then raises his hand as if he was about to slap me. I shield my face with my hand as my heart begins to beat fast.
"Cal!" I hear Michael yell, "calm down."
"Don't tell me to calm down! Shes trying to kill me!" Calum yells.
"No I'm not!" I shriek, then moving my hands away from my face. I force a real bitchy smirk, "I'm just playing the game."
"Adele shut up! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Michael now snaps at me.
"Yes Michael. That's exactly what I'm trying to do right now. Who wouldn't wanna be killed by all their enemies?" I say sarcastically.
"Adele, I'm trying to help you and you're making it real hard," Michael exclaims.
"Then dont! Don't try to help me! I don't need your help!" I yell angrily.
What the hell! Why did you just say that? You need Michael! He's willing to help you and you blow him off? Youre such a fucking idiot!
Michael's face goes from agitated to sad in the midst of seconds.
"Fine," He whispers, "I won't help then."
I then look to the ground as my cheeks heat up in embarrassment.
"Calum, can you please just pick already?" I snap. By now Calum has put his hand down and is just non stop glaring at me with his arms crossed.
"Sorry, are you in a rush to go somewhere? Because last I recall we were all locked in this house- which is your fault by the way-"
"No it's not."
"And have 24 hours to do nothing but play games!"
"Calum," Luke calls calmly, trying to control his friend from a distance.
Calum then rolls his eyes, "I'll be in the mirror room if you need me."
"Great choice!" I exclaim.
"Adele?" Calum says as he stands up, "Just know that if I die, it's all your fault."
My smile fades as he walks off and out of the room. The rest of the boys stare at me in anger, well, all except Ashton of course.
"Whats going on between you too?" Ashton asks. "I mean, big deal. You kissed some other guys. Kissing means nothing. It's just a kiss," Ashton shrugs.
"Ashton, Shut up," Luke and Michael say at the same exact time. They then both look to each other and glare.
"Let's just move on," Luke hisses.
"Ashton, it's your turn," Michael says.
"Ugh, finally," He giggles. "Okay, Luke. I have a good one for you. Either, be locked in the bathroom for 20 minutes by yourself, or in the basement for 10 minutes with Adele."
Luke groans, "Ashton I-"
"Your choice."
Luke then looks to me angrily before looking back at Ashton, "Why are you so difficult?!" He yells.
Ashton sulks down, "Luke...calm down," he squeaks.
Luke then abruptly stands up, "Let's go," He says looking at me.
"What?"
"We're going to the basement," Luke says sternly.
I then look at Ashton with wide eyes, before standing up and following Luke to the basement door. He harshly pulls the door open and walks in, leaving me to be the one to dramatically slam it.
The basement lights aren't on.
This leaves the basement to be dark, cold, and a whole lot scarier than it was up in the living room. I shiver when I first enter, my bare arms become covered in gooesbumps.
Luke sits on one of the steps and I sit on one two above his. We both uncomfortably sit in the dark of the basement, listening to the quietness that surrounds us.
I wish more than anything right now, that Luke didn't hate me. If Luke didn't hate me, I'd be less scared. He'd be cracking some joke, or telling me some theory of his, or just doing anything to distract me from the darkness. He'd make me feel safe.
Now that is the opposite though, he makes me feel unsafe.
"Is it true?" Luke says.
"What?" I ask.
"Did you make out with Calum after the time I caught you two."
I sigh, "Yes...."
Luke then becomes quiet again. I cant tell because of the sudden darkness messing with my eyesight, but I bet he's forming his hands into first, bawling up his anger inside and out.
That when my throat starts to feel stachy.
Don't you dare cry....
"I'm sorry," I whisper.
"What?" Luke grumbles.
"I'm sorry," I say a little bit louder. "Luke, I-I don't know what I'm doing. I'm so overwhelmed and so out of control I-I don't know what to do," I admit. My voice sounds like how it always does when I try to hold in tears. It sounds scratchy and hoarse, I don't like it. "I'm so confused about what love is, and what happiness is, and was sadness is, and was anger is, and-the list just goes on and on. I don't understand feelings...I'm not used to having too understanding them," I whisper.
Great, not only did you get Luke to hate you, but now you're crying to him about your mistakes? Could this get any worse? Could you humiliate yourself any more than this?
"What do you mean when you say you're not used to understanding them?" Luke questions, also in a more hushed tone.
I look towards him, only seeing minor details of his face because of the dark. His hair somehow through all of this, still sticks straight up. I wonder how he keeps a quiff like that so maintained in such violent times.
"I mean that...I just don't really do it that much," I say.
"Do what?" Luke mumbles.
I pause for a second, trying to think of how to say what I want to say correctly. "Um...I don't know, I just don't analyze my emotions. They've never affected people to the point where I had to think about them," I say. "Like, if I was sad, I would be sad and it wouldn't mean anything to anyone. If I was happy no one would be affected by my happiness. And love, I-I don't even think I know what that is," I cringe.
Luke scratches the top of his head near his hairline before looking back at me, "I don't think I know what love is either to be honest," He admits.
I furrow my eyebrows, "You don't?"
"I mean, I say I love people all the time. I said I loved my ex girlfriends, I said I loved the girls I meet a parties but then leave the next day, I mean, I even said that I loved you at one point. But really, I don't think I understand love. And if what I think is love, is love, I'm kind of disappointed," Luke says.
"What do you think love is?" I ask.
"It's embarrassing...." Luke mumbles.
"Just tell me," I whisper, "It's not like I have anyone to tell."
Luke sighs, "I just- I like to kiss girls. But not just any girl, certain girls. And then when I kiss those certain girls, it makes me happy. So you know I just figured...If I'm happy while kissing a girl, then that's love right?"
I think for a second, "How many of these certain girls have you kissed?" I ask.
"Um..Well, all of the girls I've kissed uh.... have been those certain girls. I've never not been happy when kissing a girl. They all just have this same happy affect on me," Luke mumbles.
For some reason, I start to feel even sadder than I already am because of Luke saying this.
"And when you kissed me for the first time, I felt so happy. And I needed to feel more happy then because I was scared," Luke continues.
I nod, biting my lip and resting my back against the cold brick wall. "I don't think you've ever experienced love before Luke,"  I whisper.
"I don't think I have either," Luke responds.
I then let a tear escape, but I quickly wipe it away in embarrassment, "So-am I just like all the other certain girls? They make you happy and all but in the end...you just end up drifting apart from them?" I ask, but not in a defensive tone. More as if I was curious, because I am.
"I-I mean you're different, kinda," Luke says. "For starters, You're the first girl to ever tick me off and get me angry and jealous of another guy. And, I really do like you, Adele. Not just when it's romantic, but when we're just talking, and planning things and, I don't know. Doing stuff. I like you as a person."
It then gets quiet for a bit as I soak this all in. I've always assumed these boys were experts on love. That they have fallen in love so many times, and they've had their hearts broken, and they know how to do everything right, and they just thought as love as another emotion. But really, they're just as confused as I am. Confused, but in a different way.
"Maybe we just have a crush on each other...but don't really love each other?" I suggest.
"A crush? Like the ones you have in grade school?" Luke asks.
"Yeah, maybe we're just crushing on each other," I whisper.
"Yeah...maybe we are," Luke responds.
It gets quiet again.
Another tear trails down my cheek. I'm not crying because of what's happening right now, if anything, this is good. This is clearing tension out of the air, and is helping both me and Luke grow. I'm just crying because I've been wanted to cry ever since Calum and Luke started to gang up on me. Now that I'm sitting in the dark, they can't see me cry. So I let it all out.
"Why are you crying?" Luke asks.
I laugh while sobbing, "B-because everyone hates me."
Luke sighs, "That's not true...."
"Yeah it is, and please don't deny it. Ashton has always hated me, so when this drug on him wears off I'm screwed. Michael now hates me because I forced him to kiss me, you hate me because I messed up badly and Calum....Calum hates me so much. And I really wish he didn't," I whisper.
Even though I hate Calum more than anybody in the world right now, I still have feelings for him. I don't understand why, or how that even works, but it does.
"I-I-I don't wanna hate you but you did something that was really fucked up...." Luke says.
"And I'm so sorry. I know that it was wrong, and thinking back I don't know how I didn't feel guilt sooner. Luke, I'm sorry," I apologize once again.
"Stop apologizing," Luke mumbles, looking down.
"B-But that's the only way to make things right," I say.
"Adele, things aren't ever gonna be the same between us again. I thought you were over Calum, like way over him after I accidentally pushed you down the stairs. And then you kissed me in that weird game of truth or dare, remember? I thought that kiss was one of those certain kisses, and I thought you had a thing for me...But, it turns out I was wrong," Luke says.
"I-I didn't mean to hurt you Luke you know that-"
"Yeah, but you did. You hurt me, and I'm mad that you hurt me," Luke pouts.
It then becomes quiet again, my stomach fills with guilt and anger and sadness all at the same time. How did I manage to get 4 people to hate me in less that 24 hours? How is that even humanly possible? Especially saying my goal here was to be friends with them. Instead, I hurt them. I hurt all four.
"If you could right now, would you kill me?" I whisper, holding in tears again.
Fear rises in me as there's a pause. A long, scary pause before Luke answers. It's not the silence that scares me, it's the fact that Luke had to think about this in the first place. Debate about my life or death.
"Of course not," Luke says. "I'm mad at you, but I would never kill..."
"You sure about that?" I mumble.
"I couldn't kill anyone without feeling an incredible amount of guilt, which is something I learned today. After the incident with Calum, I'll never forgive myself," Luke whispers. 
This surprises me, I thought he felt like he had reason to try and kill Calum. I guess he feels just as guilty as I do about kissing 4 guys in less than one day.
Suddenly, breaking the silence and quiet talking between me and Luke, a scream erupts from upstairs.
Luke springs to his feet and starts to breathe heavily. I do the same, knowing exactly who that scream came from.
"Calum," Luke breathes, "CALUM!" He now yells.
He runs past me and up to the door, trying to open it by using all his strength. But, the door won't budge. We then hear another scream.
"CALUM!" Luke calls again.
Abruptly, I look down and see in my hand rests the phone. I then quickly swipe and read the text that appears.
You and Luke have two minutes before you can leave....
Of course.
Two whole minutes.
"Luke we're trapped in here for two more minutes," I say quickly.
Yet, another scream erupts from the first floor.
Luke then turns around leans in close to me, "If my bestfriend dies I hope you know that it is all your fault, and that you're the reason we're going to all die in this house," Luke threatens.
I almost stop breathing because of my fear.

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Guys, I'm finally satisfied with my cover. I would like to thank majesticaluke for satisfying me. She's the amazing creator of my cover so thx you 💕💕

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I think  I'm gonna release another book soon....would anyone read it

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