The sound of multiple fireworks could be heard. The sky was lit with sparking flashes of light dispersed across the dark sky, giving radiance to the ground below.
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"Woohoo!!" James danced to the electronic music, which reverberated across the open field, almost tripping into the ignited flames at the center of the field—it was a college bonfire night.
"Hey, buddy, take it easy." Jones gripped James, who was inebriated and seconds away from turning into dark coals.
"Le... Leave me aloone." James struggled to break free from the grip of his college mate and best friend.
"Nah, not gonna let you do that, mate," Jones said, dragging him to a corner where he laid him down like a lifeless log of wood.
"You know he's an alcoholic, and you brought him over here," a voice uttered.
Jones stuttered, turning backwards. "Oh! My God, it's you." He placed his hands on his chest. "You scared me there for a moment," he said to Mary.
"You've always been a scared cat," she replied.
"Cats are skillful, not scared," he grunted as he struggled to reposition his bag containing some drinks and a few clothes.
"Let's go for a ride," Mary subtly proposed.
"A ride? To where?"
"Remember that creepy house with the sign 'Keep Out'?"
"Hell no! There's no way we're going back there," Jones said, waving his hands in disagreement.
"Ouch, my head hurts!" James said, holding his head as he regained consciousness.
"The drunkard is awake," Jones playfully said.
"The scared little cat is talking," James retorted.
There was a sudden outburst of laughter. Both boys turned in response to the voice—it was Mary's.
"You sound like a hyena," Jones jokingly lashed out at Mary. She always got on his nerves and was fond of picking sides with James.
"Alright, so I heard your little chit-chat while I passed out. I think it's a great idea."
They both stared at Jones while smiling, waiting for a response.
"Alright, alright. You guys win," he gave in, raising both hands in submission.
They all drove downtown in an old truck to a lonely road surrounded on both sides by thick vegetation. On arrival, James stared at the tall, creepy building.
"There's a sign at the door," Jones pointed towards the entrance door.
"'Keep Out,'" Mary read it out. "Last I remember, it was on a signboard situated right where we're standing. Well, it's just a sign," she added, shrugging her shoulders.
"Yeah, but it wasn't there when we visited a few weeks ago."
"The cat's starting to get nervous," James cut in.
"Not funny," Jones replied. He opened the door and walked in, while the rest followed behind.
The creaking floorboards suddenly broke, absorbing Jones, who landed on his back in a small dark enclosure. He coughed as dust seemed to cloud the whole atmosphere.
"Guysss? Maryyy? James?" He waited for a response but was answered by echoes of silence, conveying the harsh grazing sounds of a raven.
"Come on, guys, jokes apart." There was still no response.
He heard a rattle behind him. He swiftly turned around and saw an obscure image that blended with the darkness. It took the form of a human. He swiped his face down with his hands, squinted his eyes, and slowly approached the image with a little help from a ray of light that shone through the broken floorboards into the enclosure.
He suddenly heard a loud thud behind him. He turned around, away from the image, and gasped, "Who's there?" All he could hear was nothing but silence.
"Ja... James, is tha... That you?" His voice shook. His mind flashed back to the image that had previously caught his attention. He turned towards it, but it had vanished.
"Jesus Christ!! You must be f*cking kidding me," he whispered in fear. He frantically searched his pockets, brought out his cellphone, and turned on the flashlight. He shone it right in front of him, towards the image, but saw nothing but a door. He rotated the light in a circular motion, and all he saw were multiple doors. On the body of each was a sign: "Keep Out." His heart skipped in fear while regret flooded his mind.
With the aid of a ladder, he managed to escape the enclosure through the same opening he had fallen into.
He reached for his cellphone and dialed 911...
"Hello, um, please, my friends are missing, and it seems like there's... there's someone or some... something around here."
The receiver on the other end of the call responded...
"Slow down, mister... What's your—" "He—Hello... I can't hear you." The network had tripped off.
"Shit," he added as he tried to put a call through to Mary. His trembling hands made it difficult to input her number on the screen.
"Come on," he said as he kept trying to input the digits until there was a sudden strange noise outside the entrance door—it was the sound of a chainsaw.
He silently stepped backwards, away from the door in front of him, but the floorboards creaked with each step taken.
The door silently opened. Every part of Jones’s body froze as he saw a masked figure standing in front of the door. It wore an all-black ensemble, a pair of hand gloves, and a mask similar to the one in the popular movie series Scream. He had a chainsaw, which he hung right above his shoulder.
Jones fearfully chuckled, "James, you guys gotta stop this. It's not funny."
There was absolute silence as the masked figure gazed directly into Jones’s soul. He lifted the saw off his shoulders, revved the engine, and ran towards Jones.
"Oh! No, no, no," Jones screamed as he rapidly paced backwards before tripping over an object behind him. He fell to the floor, scrambling backwards.
The masked figure plunged the chainsaw at Jones, who rolled over to the side, narrowly missing his target as the chainsaw got stuck in the wooden floor. Jones seized that opportunity and fled upstairs, hiding in a wardrobe.
It wasn't long until footsteps slowly approached the wardrobe. Jones peeped through an opening within it—it was the masked figure. The footsteps stopped in front of the wardrobe, then a voice called out...
"Pussycat."
He recognized the voice—it was James.
He pushed the wardrobe open, pinned James to the ground, and attempted to throw a punch at his face before Mary intervened out of nowhere.
"It's a prank, you're gonna kill him, jeez!"
Jones was so infuriated that he glared at both of them, breathing heavily without uttering a word.
They eventually drove off...
Jones sat in the back seat, James in the passenger's, while Mary drove.
"Hey, dude... I'm really sorry for what happened back there."
"Why would you try using a chainsaw on me in the name of a prank?!" Jones angrily broke the silence.
"Chainsaw? What the hell, man!" he exclaimed. "I wouldn't go to that extreme."
"You didn't?" Jones was surprised by his response. "So you guys weren't at the dark enclosure underneath the main floor?"
"Nah, as soon as you fell into it, we seized that opportunity to hide and plan our tactics. What happened back there, Jones? I heard some noises."
"Nothing," he replied. They wouldn't believe him anyway. His ordeal was like that of a perfect fictional novel everyone read in the library.
"You know, it was all Mary's idea. I suggested we check up on you 'cause of the weird noises we heard, but she said it was just you being a pussy as usual... We had to—" James went on and on, but all he said was inaudible to Jones’s ears.
Jones flashed back as he began to put pieces together—the strange thud he heard at the dark basement, the weird image that took the shape of a human, and the masked figure with the chainsaw. Perhaps the "Keep Out" sign wasn't just there for no reason.
Whoever or whatever was in there definitely wanted him dead, and he knew this.
They kept driving down the silent road, underneath the stormy clouds and the incessant cries of ravens, while Jones silently stared into thin air, reminiscing, amidst the inaudible explanations of his friend, James.