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The three of them walked down the stairs into the basement, once they got down there, a loud noise greeted them followed by an item flying out of a nearby cabinet, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!!!" Chris shouted, "You have got to be kidding me!"
"What the hell is going on?" Ashley shouted, her face in her hands, her skin pale, it was like the life was scared out of her. She turned around and saw something in her view, she screamed as she saw it.
"What!" Lucy shouted, scared by Ashley's scream.
"That- that scared me!" She pointed out a rocking horse that was slowly rocking.
"You- you ran into that, right?"
"I don't.... I don't think so? I mean- I don't know! How did everything get so freaky around here? Doors slamming and candles lighting up out of nowhere? And that specter- or whatever it was?"
Chris rubbed his head slowly, letting out a small sigh, "Ashley... I think you're kinda ignoring what's really happening here..."
Ashley glared at Chris, clearly upset and didn't want to be called crazy by anyone, "Don't tell me you didn't see that translucent white figure just passing right by us?"
Lucy and Chris exchanged glances, "We- we could be seeing things," Chris said quietly, he was doing his best not to upset Ashley any further.
"I am not imagining things!"
Lucy took a step forward, "Okay... You two have seen some shit... I mean, you watched Josh die! I saw Jessica get snatched up by some- some thing or someone..."
"You know what I'm really worried about?" Chris looked over to Ashley, "I'm worried about Sam, what's happened to her if there's some maniac out there! She could be dead to!"
Ashley gave him a look, this upset her a lot more, "Don't say that!" She brushed him off as she walked towards a door, she stopped, looking down at where the handle would have been, she looked over her shoulder at Chris and Lucy, "There's no handle."
"Dead end," Lucy sighed, rubbing her arm tenderly, she turned on her heels and walked towards a dollhouse that was set up, she leaned down a little, looking through the windows. "Wow... You can see through the windows."
"See what? Tiny furniture?" Chris seemed to snuff at Lucy, not wanting to talk about dollhouses in a time like this.
Lucy was staring at a scene, there were dolls in a room, "No, it's like a whole scene... There's dolls and everything..."
Chris looked down now, this seemed to peak his interest, "Yeah?" He watched as Lucy pointed out a keyhole, "Huh... i guess you need a key if you want to play around in there," As he spoke to Lucy he pulled out his phone, looking down at the screen, Ashley let out a gasp, hitting Lucy and Chris on the shoulders, "Chris! Chris! Lucy! The ghost!!"
Chris quickly spun around and Lucy stood up to look over in the direction that she was pointing, "What!" Chris shouted, trying to see whatever she was seeing.
"Didn't you see it?"
"No..." He said softly and Ashley noticed the phone in his hand.
"You were looking at your phone, you dip! What are you tweeting? Hashtag there's a freaking ghost after us?"
Chris put his hands out a little, trying to calm her down, Lucy just gave her a strange look, "There is no ghost... Who- who could it be?" Lucy said to her, Ashley gave her a look, "You're just freaked out because of Josh-"
"You guys are not paying attention! I saw it, I saw a ghost and it looked like Hannah! It looked like her!"
"Wait... Wait, wait, what!?" Chris quickly jumped back in the conversation, looking more shocked than ever.
"O- or maybe Beth?"
Chris looked over to Lucy for a second, "Jesus," He said quietly, "Ash, do you think they followed us up here from the séance?"
"Wait a fucking second, séance? Are you guys messing with séance boards and shit in here?" Lucy took a slow step back, laughing quietly, "Do you guys have any idea how fucked up that is?"
"Okay, look, they didn't follow us up, ghosts don't exist, okay, guys? They do not exist!" Chris tried to make anything sound reasonable, and that was the only thing that he knew was reasonable.
Ashley wasn't having a second of it, she just wanted to be right and prove it, "Okay, then who was talking to us at the séance, Chris?"
"I don't know..." Chris started to speak, but then there was a scream, shortly after this, a picture fell of the wall, Lucy jumped, gasping as this happened.
"What did that!" Ashely shouted, pointing at the now broken photo that flew off the wall.
"How does a picture just fly off the wall like that?" Chris seemed a little more shaken up, he started to believe Ashley now.
Lucy noticed a key that fell to the ground that was behind the photo, she walked towards it, picking it up, she showed it to the other two, "Here we go," She said, pointing at the dollhouse, she approached it, but was stopped in her tracks when Ashley gasped again.
"Oh my god! There, look, there!" Lucy quickly spun around, noticing the last few seconds of someone or something running down the hall, "Guys, you can't tell me you didn't see that!"
"Wow... That's..." Chris struggled to form a sentence.
"See? You do see it!"
"That's- I don't know- I... I just... This is fucking crazy," He itched the back of his head, he ran down the hall, it was like he was looking for it.
Lucy leaned forward, putting the key in the hole, Ashley and Chris stood behind her now, looking down as the dollhouse popped open, reveling a scene, Lucy felt her spine tingle with fear as she saw this scene, "Oh god, it's like-" Ashley started to speak.
"Ash, it's not like anything... That's us," Lucy said quietly, pointing out the specific dolls, "That's us hiding and waiting for Hannah," She pointed out her own doll, right behind the chair, "Last - last year..."
"But- it's so accurate," Ashley leaned forward a little more, "I mean, that is exactly where I was sitting," She pointed out the doll in the closet, "And that's where Matt was..."
Chris stepped back, "This was set up by someone who was there..."
Ashely turned around, looking at Chris, "Or someone, or something that was watching us."
Chris shrugged, "Maybe it's a warning, I think someone- someone put this here to mess with us."
Lucy stood there, staring at the scene, "No, it has to be the ghost, it's trying to tell us the maniac killed Hannah and Beth!" Ashley suggested, Lucy shook her head slowly.
"It has to be the maniac, if he knows this much about us, then he's been watching for a while... If he did kill them... He's just trying to fuck with us."
"Why would he set this all up?" Ashley looked back at the dollhouse, trying to figure out Lucy's reasoning.
Chris sighed, "He's trying to tell us he's going to come after us all too."
As the three of them stared at the oddly accurate scene, each of the dolls heads turned to the side, their eyes opening, Lucy let out a gasp and jump back, Chris and Ashley doing the same, "Shit!" Lucy shouted as this happened, once the dolls moved like this, the top of the dollhouse popped open, there was a diary inside. Lucy stepped forward, picking it up, "Hannah's diary?" She whispered, she flipped it open to a page, reading the front of the book, she looked up at Chris for a second before she read out loud, "I really think Josh is doing better now that he's out of the hospital... I saw him today-" She paused for a second, trying to figure it out, "This was a couple months before... We all came up," She furrowed her brow, then she looked back down to the diary, reading on, "I saw him today and he seemed better... He's pretty upbeat, but, he talked like he's been doing therapy for such a long time. Guess I didn't know, mom and dad never let on. Funny how you can not know your own brother... I kinda need a good cry, thinking about how lonely he must feel..." Lucy looked up at Chris and Ashley, they were listening intently, waiting for her to read something else, she nodded at them, getting the hint, she flipped to the last page, she cleared her throat, "Everyone being together here on the mountain is gonna be so awesome, cozy fires, hot tubs, and omg Mike... I am so psyched to spend some time with him..." Lucy closed the diary quickly, she shook her head, "I can't fucking read this, this is terrible."
Ashley nodded in agreement, watching Lucy put it back in the dollhouse, the door down the hall creaked open as this happened. "What was that?" Ashley turned to look down the hall.
"It came from down there," Chris pointed out. The three of them walked towards the door, then there was a loud noise, scaring the three of them after Ashley entered, Chris went to run to see what it was, but the door quickly closed, separating Ashley from the other two.
"Shit!" Lucy shouted as she watched it happen.
"Oh, Lucy, Chris!" Ashley shouted at the door, she started to bang on the door, Chris managed to get it open. Reuniting them in seconds. The three of them started to wander through the basement more, Ashley started to pick things up and look over things as they did so. As they continued searching for Sam, the lodge shuddered, "Uh- what was that?" Ashley looked up at the ceiling, then around at the walls.
Chris walked over towards a door, "There is a whole 'nother room through here, it's mammoth," Chris said to them. Ashely let out a shaky sigh, clearly not wanting to go on any longer.
"Chris, I don't know if I want to keep going..."
Chris walked down the stairs, going to a hall of another area, Chris seemed shocked to see this, Lucy looked around, she had no idea there was so much to this lodge, or that there were secret tunnels, "Where the hell are we?" Lucy questioned them.
"Are you kidding me?" Chris looked around, trying to figure that out for himself.
"Did you know this was here?" Ashley questioned him as they studied their surroundings.
Chris shook his head, "This? This is like a whole 'nother hotel, I had no idea that this was here..."
Lucy noticed a bracelte on the floor, she picked it up, once she got a good look at it, she noticed it was Sam's, "Fuck," Lucy said quietly, Chris and Ashley turned to look at her.
"What? What is it?"
"This is Sam's bracelet, has anyone ever seen her take this thing off?"
"No... Man, we gotta find her..."
Ashley stepped forward, looking at her two friends with big, terrified eyes, "I don't think I can take any more of this, guys..."
Chris looked at her, nodding slowly, "Yeah, I'm about at my limit here too."
Lucy furrowed her brows at them, trying to figure out why they were just going to give up, "All I wanted to do was forget last year ever happened."
Chris itched the back of his head, "To be honest, I'm not sure what Hannah thought she was doing..."
Lucy was shocked at what she was hearing, "Yeah, well, you know how it is when you're crushing pretty hard on somebody... Right, Lucy?"
Lucy hit her limit at this, she scoffed, "What? What the hell are you guys even saying? We put our vulnerable friend in a terrible fucking situation and she ran off and we never heard of her again!"
Ashley looked over at her, shrugging her shoulders slowly, "It takes two to tango..."
Chris gave Ashley a strange look, "Sorry?" He seemed to be on Lucy's side with this after Ashley managed to drag her into it.
"I mean, it was embarrassing, but, come on... She didn't have to run into the woods half naked, it's not our fault what happened..." Ashley said to the other two, Lucy stepped forward, looking Ashley dead in the eye.
"I may be at my limit here physically, but, I am not afraid to have to shut you up, do not talk about her like that, anyone would have done the same, she was vulnerable and scared, she trusted us all and we did that to her. It is all of our faults," Lucy said through her teeth, she kept her eyes on Ashley, even though her vision was partially blurry and her head was still pounding.
Chris didn't get involved he just stepped back a little, as he did so, a wood plank fell onto his head, he gasped, "Jesus, what the fuck!" He shouted, drawing Lucy and Ashley's attention to him.
"Are you okay?" Ashley asked him, rushing to his side, gladly to get away from the stare of Lucy, more importantly, to get away from her hostility.
"I hate this place... Let's go," Chris rubbed his head and they approached some stairs that led lower underground, Lucy stepped forward and looked down them, Ashley stopped in her tracks, crossing her arms.
"You know what, no!" Ashley protested as she looked down the stairway.
"Ash-"
"No! I've had enough, I'm not going down any further into this- this nightmare, Chris!"
Chris took in a deep breath, Lucy just stared down the stairway, she was worried about Mike and Sam, she knew that they had to do something, Chris looked over to Lucy for a quick moment before he turned back to Ashley to try to reason with her, "I understand, okay? I'm really freaked out too... So is Lucy, right?" Lucy looked over as he said this and nodded weakly, "But if Sam's down there all alone with a maniac and we leave? We're basically killing her ourselves."
Ashely stood in silence for a moment, then she let out a huff of defeat, "Goddamit," She groaned.
Lucy started down the steps, "Come on..."
As they started their journey down the stairs, Ashley let out a small sigh, she was rubbing her arm nervously as the three of them walked, "Guys... I'm getting a really weird feeling from all of this..." She said quietly.
Lucy kept her eyes on the stairs as she walked, "What do you mean, Ash?" She asked her.
"So... We're saying that the same guy who made the newspapers also set up the camera, right?"
Lucy shrugged her shoulders, Chris nodded, "I think so," Chris was the one to reply first.
Ashley furrowed her brow, not feeling good about the answer, or the things that she found as the three of them searched the lodge, "It's just- it feels like he's constructing the whole story for us... Then watching us run around, freaking out, seeing what we do... Like it's some sort of fucking experiment!"
"That- makes sense," Lucy said quietly, Ashley only nodded in agreement. They started to search around in the new lower level. As the three of them entered a new room, the door slammed behind them, causing them to jump once again. "Fuck!" Lucy complained out loud. She turned around and noticed a dead pig hanging from the ceiling, she grimaced as she neared it, "This is fucking disgusting..."
"This can't be for eating," Chris said once he looked at the pig.
"Why the hell is it here?" Ashley asked him.
"It's like a goddamn grindhouse in here..."
Lucy neared a table, she noticed photos of everyone laying out on the table, red pen all over them, "Jesus... That's all of us..."
Chris looked down at the pictures, "What is this? Like a fucking hit list?"
Lucy let out a small nervous sigh and she looked at Ashley as she opened a door to a smaller room, a projector was set up in it, she pressed the button and it started to play. She watched the footage, it was from last year. It wasn't just any footage, it was from the prank, "Oh my god," Lucy said quietly, "It's from last year, it's the stupid prank..."
Chris watched the footage, growing more and more uncomfortable, "This- this is a little uncomfortable..."
"I've never seen this video," Ashley's voice was quiet, it was clear how nervous she was, "She's just so-"
"Full of life? Clueless on what is about to happen to her?" Lucy spoke up, her eyes still glued to the video.
Ashley covered her mouth as she noticed herself, Chris looked over to her, "I forgot you were such a willful participant..." He said to her.
Ashley let out a small scoff, "Well, we all were."
"You seem like you were enjoying yourself," Lucy said under her breath and Ashley turned to look at her.
"I didn't know what was going to happen! It was a dumb prank, guys! And maybe we shouldn't have done it, but it's not like I personally made her run into the woods!"
Chris shrugged his shoulders lazily, "Kinda splitting the hairs a little..."
"Look, she chose to do that, it's not our fault she did that!" As Ashley said this, a face appeared on the screen, screaming, Ashley gasped out in fear as this happened, "Oh! What is going on!" Ashley turned to run out of the room, Lucy and Chris followed.
"Ash, slow down, okay!" Chris called after her.
"I can't handle this, ghosts- these videos- everything flying around!"
"Calm down, listen to me for a second!"
Lucy let out a small groan as the two of them shouted back and forth, she just kept going, she approached a door, it was smeared in blood, Lucy felt her heart pounding harder and harder now, "Fuck- blood... Could it be Sam's?" Lucy drew Chris and Ashley's attention back to her.
"Blood?!" Ashley cried out, still upset.
Chris stepped forward, he went to open the door, "Here let me open that..." He groaned as he did so, "Damn this thing is heavy..." Lucy watched as it opened, he slid through and tried to keep it open, allowing the two others to get in.
Ashley stopped in her tracks, she noticed a figure in the next room, "Oh, Chris, I think I just saw Sam over there!" She pointed over the direction that she saw the figure.
"Are you sure?" Chris turned to look.
"I don't know, but, come on, I think we should check it out..."
Chris let out a small sigh, nodding in agreement, "Whoever's bleeding came through here, okay? Let's go."
They started to walk together, they noticed a dummy hanging from a hook above them, "Holy shit, those are Sam's clothes!" Lucy quickly pointed them out, "God that is sick!"
"That psycho has to be down here..." Chris said quietly, Lucy and Ashley exchanged glances for a moment. They continued their search, each being quiet and careful with their surroundings.
"No! Please no!" The three off them overheard Sam shout.
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