Screech. Screech. Screech.
A high-pitched sound was heard coming from the direction of the basement door.
"Do you hear that?" jumped, scared, a teenage girl who was sitting on the couch next to a twenty-something guy. He had similar features as hers.
He calmly replied, "Relax, Eden. It's probably just a mouse." He was sitting comfortably with his hands behind his head watching his favorite movie, Silent Hill.
Screech. SCREECH! SCREECH!!
The sound was getting louder. "Owen," Eden breathed nervously and covered herself with the mustard-colored throw, peeking at the door, "I don't think that's a mouse." Then she whispered, "It sounds like someone's scratching the door."
Owen was nervous too, but he didn't show it like Eden. He was feeling a bit sweaty. "Oh, for the love of God!" He stood up and called, "Who's there?"
It was 2 AM. All members of the house were supposed to be asleep. The door slowly opened, creaking. The suspense was killing the two siblings.
"Boo!" I quickly stuck my head out the door, causing my brother and sister to flinch.
"Ellen," my brother resentfully stated with a low voice. "I should've known."
My sister placed her hand on her chest and released a sigh of relief.
"Haha!" I laughed as I happily skipped down the stairs. "Whatup, bitches?"
Owen ignored me and sat back on the couch acting all cool as always. He resumed watching the movie.
"You're evil," Eden glared at me as she removed the throw from her body. "Ugh, I can't believe I fell for your stupid pranks again. You're wicked."
As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I commented back, "You mean wickedly awesome!" I shrugged, "And I'm not evil. I'm creative. Oh, McFries!" I blurted, reaching to the table to get my hands on the only food that I would sell my soul for.
"Hey, these are my fries!" my sister yelled at me.
"Not anymore," I said with a provoking smile as I snatched the fries and enjoyed eating them. I was the neglected middle child. I learned to draw my parents' attention to me by being annoying as hell.
I was expecting my sister to protest and attack me. I always pick a fight with her because I was jealous of the way mom and dad treated her like a baby angel. Surprisingly, she just sighed and avoided the fight this time. However, my brother didn't let it go.
"Now you're just being a bully," he said without moving his eyes away from the screen.
"And you're just mad because I scared you," I teased while nomming on the fries.
"Pfft," I laughed and almost spat the food out of my mouth. I really annoyed him. He was slightly shaking his head. "Seriously, you guys need to lighten up and learn how to play the game as good as I do," I proudly said, lifting my shirt by the shoulders and letting go of it while I walked around them with a swagger.
"I would be careful if I were you," Owen said, trying to scare moi! "Karma is a bitch, you know?"
Suddenly, before I could talk back to him, he stood up and furiously yelled at me, "OK. That's it!" He approached me and pointed at me, "What did you do to my movie?"
I furrowed my brows and said, "What the fuck are you talking about? I didn't touch your stupid mo-." I was cut off when Owen shoved me. "HEY!" I yelled.
We were too busy arguing about the frozen video frame when Eden timidly said, "Guys."
Owen raised his voice at me, "I told you not to mess with my stuff. You know what's your problem? You think everything is a game."
Eden called louder this time, "Guys!"
I rolled my eyes and told him, "Dude, chill. It probably broke because of the insane number of times you watched it already."
We didn't listen. So, she shouted, "GUYS!"
We stopped arguing and saw the shock expression on her face. Once she caught our attention, she pointed at the screen and said, "Alessa's repeating something."
"What?" Owen said while turning around to face the screen. He looked confused when he said, "That's not part of the movie!"
The movie froze on that scene where Alessa was flaring fire from her arms. playing back over and over. She was whispering something. We all sat down, trying to figure out her words. Owen turned the volume up. Strangely, it was still a whisper. Only a tad louder.
Owen focused his eyes, tilted his head and asked, "What she sayin'?"
I did the same. Then I heard it. "I think she's saying: Wicked. Wicked. Wicked."
Suddenly, I stood up frightened and shouted, "What's happening?"
The light grey walls started to fall like burnt pieces of papers and darker walls replaced them. And sirens. Loud, noisy sirens went off.
"Yeah, right," Owen scoffed. "Nice try, El..en..." His voice faded.
"Listen. Don't tell me you don't hear that!"
Owen and Eden didn't answer. I looked around and they were gone! There was no sign of the couch and the TV as well. The place didn't look like our basement anymore. It was so dark and chilly. So, I turned my phone's flashlight on and examined this place.
Hey, I know this place. How did I arrive here? my blood ran cold from the horrific discovery.
I jumped when I heard laughter. Not just any laughter. It was my brother's laughter.
"Phew," I breathed out. I raised my hands up acknowledging defeat in my own game and declared, "Ha-ha. You got me, guys. I don't know how you did it, but you got me."
Next, my sister's giggle echoed.
I said, "Guys, come on." I rubbed my shoulders trying to keep warm. "I can hear you." I walked around in an effort to find them. "The joke's over."
The place looked like an old school. It was so damp that I could smell the rusty iron everywhere. The walls were the color of dried blood.
I froze and chills ran down my spine when I heard:
Screech. SCREECH! SCREECH!!