"I can't believe you didn't tell me we had to bring extra clothes and our toothbrushes with us." Ashley said looking at Louis in the driver's seat.
"Yeah sorry I left that bit out." Louis looked back apologetically.
"So now I have two toothbrushes." she sighed. "This whole thing is so stupid. I swear Stephanie is only doing this to annoy me."
After leaving the park, Ashley found out everyone else had packed a bag with their clothes. While they had stopped to buy food, Ashley also bought a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste.
"Ash, you know Stephanie loves all these horror things."
"You're right." she looked outside the window and studied the countryside around them.
"You can borrow some of my clothes." Carrie said.
"Thanks."
"And you can borrow some of mine. You like wearing them, don't you?" Louis grinned.
Ashley blushed. She was sure she wasn't going to need too many clothes. One sound, and she was going to be running out the door.
As they drove up north, Ashley started to feel uncomfortable. Besides Louis' and Stephanie's cars, there were no other cars on the road. Every so kilometer in the never-ending fields of dead grass on both side, stood old farm houses. Ashley wondered, was everything abandoned up north? The dark clouds spreading all over the sky weren't making her feel better. Nervous, Ashley drummed her fingers quickly on the arm rest. All sorts of thoughts flooded into her head. She debated whether ghosts were real or not. Ashley noticed her chest was falling and rising at a quick pace due to her hard breathing.
"Ashley!" she heard someone yell behind her.
"What?!" she gasped turning around, stepping out of her deep trance.
"Are you ok?" Harry asked concerned.
"What? Yeah I'm fine." she said panting. She could hear her heart beating loudly in her ears. "Why do you ask?"
"Well you were tapping your fingers really loudly and you were breathing like you had asthma." Carrie said worriedly.
"Oh." Ashley let out a deep breath. She tried her best to calm her nerves.
"You're gonna be fine." Louis placed a hand on her thigh, which made Ashley flinch. "Wow, you're really tensed."
Ashley nervously smiled and placed her hand on top of Louis'. She noticed his hand was warm unlike hers, which was stone cold. She decided to close her eyes because her surroundings weren't being much of a help.
"Here we are." Louis announced, making Ashley open her eyes.
"Wow." Harry said breathlessly.
"Holy shit." Carrie said hovering her hand above her mouth.
A lump was formed in Ashley's throat. Across the street stood a large black Victorian style house. It had several dark windows with no lights peering from inside. There was definitely no electricity. In front of the house there was a long driveway, with a black fencing bordering the property. The house looked quite grand, making Ashley's stomach tie in a knot. There was nothing welcoming about the scene in front of her. Even though it was three in the afternoon, with the dark sky hovering above the house gave the place an eerie aura. Her glace fell on the steel sign that displayed the name of the property: The Van Pelt Manor.
"Ready to go?" Louis looked at Ashley, who had a terrified expression written on her face with a grin.
"Uh..." she twisted her fingers in anxiety.
"Babe, you'll be fine. I am never leaving your side, ok?" he rubbed Ashley's hand in reassurance.
Ashley nodded reluctantly.
Louis leaned in and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead.
Ashley turned back to find Harry and Carrie already disappeared from the car. Everyone was standing in front of the gate. She unbuckled her seatbelt and tried hard to fight her jittery nerves. Once coming around and standing beside Louis, she immediately interlocked her hand with his.
As they both walked up to the group, Ashley noticed another person appearing behind her friends. Once locking her eyes with the individual, she felt her heart stop. It was the same man she was sitting across the bus!
"Hey! Ouch!" Louis flinched.
Startled, Ashley let go of his hand. "What happened?"
"You just squeezed the life out of my hand!" he rubbed his hand.
"Oh I'm sorry!" she took his hand and gently rubbed it. "Louis?"
"Yes?"
"I saw that man on the bus this morning."
"Really? Small world, huh?" he smiled and walked towards the house.
Ashley followed close by avoiding the stare of the male stranger.
"This place is wicked!" Stephanie said amazed. "Way better than the picture you showed me on the brochure."
"It's a real beauty." the man smiled, which Ashley found unusual and surprising. "Is this everybody?"
"Yeah." Stephanie said.
The man took a few moments studying each of them. When it came to Ashley, who was last, she hesitantly looked up to the man. He gave her a casual smile and looked away. From the event that took place earlier in the morning, Ashley found it odd how the man looked more "alive".
"Well let me introduce myself. I am Peter Van Pelt, the only member of the Van Pelt family left. This house behind me, is the only Van Pelt property left standing. While all the others have been destroyed. The Van Pelt Manor is now identified as a historical site but with the stories of spirits and ghosts haunting the house circling the city, I have taken the decision to open the house for attraction purposes. So I want to thank you for being the first guests for entering The Van Pelt Manor in years."
"So there aren't any ghosts? They're just some made-up stories?" Liam asked.
"My friend, I believe in once seeing, is believing."
"Well put." Niall nodded.
"How come you don't have people pay to stay here?" Carrie asked.
"The house needs its old haunted look, so it doesn't need the money. I am also not interested in the money. And I'm sure I would attract more people by not charging them, correct?" he smiled.
"Correct." she nodded.
"Shall we go inside?"
"Yeah, let's go!" Stephanie said excitedly.
Ashley softly grunted. She didn't want to move her feet.
"Hey? Come on." Louis nudged her. "From what he said, I don't think there are any ghosts. It's all an attraction."
Ashley sighed.
Peter unlocked the gate which made a long groaning noise as it was pushed open. The driveway which was covered with gravel was quite long. The large patches of grass on either side was dead and covered with fiery coloured leaves. In fact, the dead leaves were the only thing that brought colour to the area. Almost naked trees stood on either sides of the house. They all walked up to the towering house and stopped behind Peter once approaching the front porch.
"Now I shall explain the rules of the game. There's only one: the last one to survive, is the winner."
"What's the prize?" Zayn asked.
"I think you'll realize what it is once you win."
Everyone stood in silence trying to understand what Peter meant.
The silence was disturbed by the sound of Peter retrieving an old steel key from his long jacket's pocket. The leather oval-shaped tag that had the initials VP carved on it, dangled from the key's handle. He walked up to the porch and unlocked the large door. The heavy door slowly opened, revealing a darkened atmosphere inside. Ashley gulped.
All eight friends followed Peter inside the house with emotions mixed with fear and excitement, except Ashley. She was plain scared and terrified to step foot in the house. Once inside, everyone quietly gasped. The house was so grand. It had a large stairway facing the front door. A huge dim chandelier hung above the front entrance. There was a large room on either side of the stairwell. From the faint light, Ashley looked around taking note of the detailed bordering wall décor. Some furniture was still draped in white sheets. Simply put, the house seemed quite lavish. Peter explained how the only light sources in the house were the chandelier that hung above them, the one in the family room and the tiny lamps in each of the ten bedrooms, which all happened to be dull. The heater would occasionally turn on. Water was available for daily purposes.
As Peter went on, Ashley couldn't help wandering her eyes around. The house seemed beautiful but it wasn't helping with the dim lighting and the covered furniture. Her gaze went up the staircase, where she noticed something move. She was sure she saw somebody. Spooked, Ashley looked away and shuddered earning a concerned look from Louis.
"I think I saw someone at the top of the stairs." she whispered in his ear.
"I'm sure your brain is just playing with you." he rubbed her back in comfort.
"One last thing," Peter said. "Once you step foot out of the house, you will be disqualified. An alarm will ring informing me."
After the rules were explained and some questions were answered, the eight friends brought their belongings into the house. Louis and Stephanie parked their cars in the driveway. Once everyone and everything they brought with them were inside the house, Peter wished them well and walked out of the house.
"Let's go upstairs and choose our rooms." Stephanie said grabbing her bag.
Ashley was unsure of moving away from the chandelier after what she possibly saw. But she also didn't want to stand alone downstairs. As they ascended the stairs and reached the top, a long dark hallway with six doors on each side was the scene that lay in front of them. Niall opened the first bedroom on the left and was pleased. They all looked inside and were amazed. The room was the size of an ordinary living room. Liam ended up taking the room beside Niall's. The door next to it was a washroom and the one after it was a closet. Zayn ended up taking the next room and lastly at the end was the master bedroom, which was double the size of the other rooms and Stephanie decided to take it. Across from Niall, was Harry's room. Beside Harry was Carrie's room. At the end of the right side, there was another master bedroom which Louis and Ashley decided to take, leaving three empty rooms between them and Carrie.
Everyone went inside their rooms to unpack. Ashley walked into the last room still holding Louis' hand. Due to the large windows, thankfully the room was lit up. Ashley didn't like the idea of sleeping in such a large spacious room, which also faced a dark forest that was located behind the house. But having Louis with her shouldn't be as bad.
"I can't believe I'm actually in the fucking house right now." Ashley said.
"I'm so proud of you." he hugged her and kissed her on the lips.
Ashley felt a little relaxed being touched by Louis. He was so gentle and caring, she knew instantly she would be safe in his arms. "So now what? We just wait for some supernatural shit to happen?"
"Guess so." he shrugged adorably.
"Perfect." she mumbled a little tensed and annoyed.