• Prologue
    “Whaaaat! But mom!!” I whined. My mom glared at me.
    “I’m sorry but what’s done is done,” replied my mom a little bit harshly. When my mom saw that I didn’t look any happier she sighed.
    “Sammy, honey I’m sorry but I don’t like this either but we have to move,” my mom said in a softer tone. I continued glaring though I knew I already lost this fight. I stomped out of the room like a 6 year-old (I’m 13), sat down on the carpet in my room and stared into my huge mirror. Now don’t get me wrong and think I’m one of those prissy girls who cry to get what I want. I don’t usually throw tantrums, but moving? Hey, nobody likes leaving their friends behind.
    If you want to know more about me here are the facts. My legal name is Sammy, not Samantha, or Sam, but Sammy. And yes, I am a girl though I’m a teensy bit of a tomboy. I had a thin and small structure for someone who is fourteen. I had naturally straight black hair that went down to my waist and huge hazel eyes. My nose was a bit flatter than normal and my friends said I was the modern Einstein, for I was smart for my age. I enjoy drawing manga and playing basketball.
    I lived in a small house with my mom and my brother named James who is 16. James had messy longish black hair and dark black eyes. All the girls went for him. Not only was he naturally smart, he had an aptitude for basketball and was great at videogames. James was outgoing when he was with me or his friends, but shy around strangers and parents. On a sadder note, my dad past away last year when he was fighting in the army, so that leaves my mom to take care of my brother and me. I vividly remember someone knocking on our door and asking to speak to my mom. My mom was crying and my brother was looking shocked but I couldn’t understand what was happening. When my mom and brother finally managed to calm down enough to talk they told me the disaster. I remember the sinking feeling in my stomach and how I couldn’t move. To me, right after I heard that my dad was gone, life was over, love disappeared, and I couldn’t even remember why I was alive. It took me some time to recover from that.
    “Sammy? Sammy? Are you all right? Are you sure your okay with this?” Hearing my mom’s voice made me snapped out of the horrible flashback I was having. I turned around to see my mother’s worried face staring at me.
    No I was not. I absolutely was not. I had a life in New Jersey. I had friends. Instead I said “I’m fine, whatever.”
    All of a sudden I felt a little ashamed and guilty that I threw that tantrum. It wasn’t my mom’s fault we had to move to a whole different state and I’m sure she didn’t like this anymore then I did. I shifted under my mom’s concerned look uncomfortably. How I missed how things were before, when my dad, brother and I used to play together carefree and content. How my mom would call us inside for lemonade and how my dad eyes sparkled when he heard the word “lemonade.” But that was all over now. When my dad died we had to move to the house we are living in currently. Apparently we have to move again.
    “Does James know?” I wondered
    “Yes he does, honey, I told him Saturday.”
    Huh. So that explains why he was so gloomy this week. I sighed.
    “When are we moving?”
    “This Sunday.”
    “Oh, that means I have to cancel some plans, you should have told me earlier,” I pouted. Three of my friends and I was supposed to see The New York Horror this Monday. According to the people who made it, it was a true ghost story. According to the people who watched it, it was awesome.
    “I’m sorry Sammy, it was one of those last minute things” my mom said sadly.
    “Its fine mom, where are we moving?”
    “New York, we’re going to live with some cousins. They rent parts of their house to other people though.”
    “Oh. Okay. ---Wait! New York?!!” I said surprised.
    “Sammy? Is something wrong with New York?”
    “It’s okay,” I muttered. What a coincidence I thought. Of course that just shows you how bad my luck is. If I moved there earlier then I could’ve watched it being filmed. Then again there was no guarantee that that was the exact place the movie was filmed.
    “Sweetie can you go pack your suitcases and bags now?”
    “Sure thing, mom”

























    Chapter 1
    “Ha! I just kicked your butt! Again!” laughed James. I groaned; my brother and I had been playing Mario Kart (DS) for the past hour on our car ride to New York.
    “C’mon I replied let’s not be a poor sport now,” I snickered hiding my disappointment, “How ‘bout I kick your butt at Tick Tock Clock?”
    “Oh it’s on now!!!” replied James. So we began battling. The prize, like always, was being able to humiliate the loser.
    “NOOOOOOOOOO!” I cried after crossing the finish line in 2nd “How’d you pass me so quickly?”
    “I’m a pro.” James smiled mockingly at me. “‘Sides I know a secret to it.” I scowled at him and he laughed.
    “How about you two do something that won’t kill your eyes and look at the scenery,” my mother suggested. All she got in response was silence while I passed Mario on my second lap.
    After 10 more losses and only 3 wins my mom announced we were almost there. I sat up interested and looked outside. Where we used to live, in Jersey City, New Jersey, it was more of an urban place with tall buildings and that stuff. Here in this part of New York it was very suburban place and well, to put it bluntly, plain. It was not at all what I expected. When you hear of New York you usually picture sky scrapers and cities and that sort of stuff right? Call me weird but I certainly do. The place we arrived at had a lot of trees and mostly nice houses (a few weren’t that attractive), not at all city like and the highest thing there was the high school. We drove a few more blocks and turned into an isolated street.
    After a while more of driving and ogling we stopped at one of the houses, it was actually kind of prettiful (and yes I make up words, you have a problem with that?) and kind of big. It had an eerie affect on me and I felt the adrenaline in my blood hit max. Surprised, I recognized this feeling. I was scared. The thing is I was never scared. Not when I broke an arm or went on the Tower of Terror when I was six in Disney.
    “Home, sweet home” James mumbled sarcastically.
    “This place gives me the creeps” I told him. The instant I said that I knew I made a huge mistake.
    “Awwww the poor baby girl is scaaaaaared,” James teased me in a sweet baby boy voice.
    “Shut up,” I replied annoyed, punching his arm. You can sure see the love between us.
    “Why don’t we go in?” suggested my mom. So that’s what we did, half because we were curious, half because my mom was the boss and we had to do everything she said. Well not everything but you get my point.
    My brother started to cut across their lawn, but then remembered this wasn’t our house and began walking up their driveway. Not that it would’ve mattered: their grass was unkempt and needed to be mowed. When we got to the door I fidgeted impatiently as I watched my mom ring the doorbell once (I’m the type who would have kept pressing it until someone came). We only had to wait a few seconds, and somebody came to the door.
    “Omygosh” the woman who answered the door said. All of a sudden there was a bunch of teary hellos and I missed you so much flew all over the place. Three other people had joined the woman while I was standing there bewildered and wondering what the hell was going on. Then much to my surprise I was being hugged and someone was yelling “Sammy! Sammy! I missed you!” I stared at her and then realized who she was. My cousin Krystal AKA my best friend. She had beautiful shoulder length black hair and hazel eyes. She was 12, one year younger than me and was as tall as me. I haven’t seen her for two years.
    “Krys!!!” I cried happily, “I’ve missed you too!”
    “Ooooo, you’re so cute” I cooed when the hug was over and I saw her baby brother. Her brother frowned.
    “I’m seven!” he announced “I’m a big boy now, so I’m not cute!” he added
    “Of course!” I responded instantly “You’re very, very handsome.” He smiled at me angelically and my heart melted. “What’s his name again?” I whispered to Krystal as the little boy ran off to greet James.
    “Max, what’s your brother’s name?” she inquired
    “James, he’s 16 and frankly he’s an idiot.” I replied “Your brother is like so much sweeter” I said wistfully.
    “You’ve never seen him when he’s angry,” she answered shaking her head. “He makes the devil look sweet,” she said breaking into a smile. I laughed and we hugged once more.
    Once we settled down a bit, Krystal’s parents ushered us inside. I slipped of my shoes and I surreptitiously looked around to wondering where I should them. I wasn’t a very good ninja however, for Krystal’s mom smiled and told us to just leave it on the mat or put it on the rack (it’s the first thing on the right you see when you come in). Then Krystal showed me where to hang my coat.
    The inside of the house looked beautiful and strange at the same time. I looked above us and saw a crystal chandelier hanging high above us. I sighed; if my other friends were hear we’d be sharing 99 ways how we could survive if the chandelier fell on us. Of course all the ways we’d come up with would be impossible for any human to accomplish.
    “We’ll give some time to change and unpack, you guys get half of the downstairs” said Krystal’s mom after we finished hanging up our coats. “I’m sure you’re tired.”
    Even though we didn’t get the full first floor (we were sharing it with another family, they were out shopping at the moment) we still had a lot of room. The moving truck delivery guys’ thingamabob still didn’t come yet, so we had nothing to sleep on at the moment so I was going to share Krystal’s bed. James and my mom weren’t as lucky as me; they were going to sleep on the couch. By the time we figured all this out it was nine o’clock so I went to go take a shower. It’s hard to keep track of time in the summer.
    I don’t know anything about you, but for me, showers were my safe haven. I could just stand there under pounding cascades of water and think. I remember once when I was younger I went to take a shower and stayed in there for two hours. My mom was hysterical with worry that I had drowned or something silly like that. My dad was the one who calmed her down and called for me to get out of the shower. A sharp pain suddenly cut through my chest. I gasped unable to breath for a few moments. Pushing the thought out of my head I stood under the water and rinsed the rest of the conditioner out of my hair. Reluctantly, I got out the shower and dried myself off. I wanted to stay in longer, but I didn’t want another Sammy Drowning incident.
    “Honey, I’d like you to meet Jake. Come downstairs,” she called after she heard the shower turn off. I grudgingly threw on my PJs. Hopping down the steps two at a time I reached the first floor. I noticed that everybody else was there including Krystal, James and even little cute Max.
    “Hey, watsup?” said a voice next to my right. Turning around, surprised, I stared at him.
    “Oh, you must be Jake,” I said dumbly. What? So I don’t always have a comeback handy. Plus he was soooooo cute. He had cute blackish brownish hair that was spiked up at his hairline in a cute way. He could have dressed like a hobo and I still would have thought he looked cuter than Bradley Cooper. The most adorable part was his eyes. They contained that mischievous sparkle that I immediately loved.
    “Did you just figure that out?” he said in an offhand tone. Well I may have been dumbstruck the first time, but I was not, by any stretch of the imagination, just going to stand there and get insulted.
    “Well I figured out your name before you found out mine,” I shot back.
    “I guess you are naïve enough to think I didn’t know your name, Sammy,” he retorted. I was so surprised he said my name and my heart skipped a beat.
    Krystal’s mom cut in quickly before an argument would start. “Well, it seems like you two are getting along pretty well, why don’t you, James, Krystal, Max and Jake go upstairs and play in Krystal’s room for awhile.”
    “Last one upstairs is a constipated hobo!” shouted Jake. We all took off as fast as we could and ran upstairs. I could feel not only my parent’s disapproving looks, but the looks of the other parents’ look too.
    “What… what is… constipated hobo anyways?” asked Krystal trying to catch her breath once we were all in her room. We were all sitting in different spots and Max had a proud look on his face. Kristin had made it last. Only because she was a caring sister and let Max purposely pass her. Meanwhile my brother elbowed me out of the way and laughed when he passed me.
    “It’s what Sammy happens to be.” Jake replied
    “I never knew constipated hobos were beautiful, smart, amazing girls,” I shot back.
    I could get into how the whole argument went but I rather not. I’d probably be filling up six pages with insults and words we should not have used. So let’s skip to the part when we were making plans for tomorrow.
    “Hey, there’s an abandoned house near here wanna check it out tomorrow?” Krystal asked excitedly.
    “I wanna go!” cried Max
    “Sure, why not?” I said with the same amount of excitement as Krystal.
    “Boring,” James said in an uninterested tone.
    “Snore,” added Jake seconding James vote. I had a feeling they would be very, very good friends.
    “Well, how about the ones that aren’t mindless sissies go,” I suggested innocently.
    “Can I come? I’m not a mindless sissy!” Max demanded more than asked.
    “You’re too young,” replied Krystal in a worried tone.
    “But I’m a big booooooy! What if mommy says yes?” whined Max
    “I guess it would be okay then.”
    “Yay!” I watched as Max scrambled out the room happily, and ran like a little tornado full of energy, eager to get permission from his mom to go with us.
    “He never listens. Mom will probably say no, but Max will probably manage to convince her somehow.” Krys sighed.
    “Maybe he hypnotizes her,” said Jake suggested ridiculously.
    “Get real Jake,” I scoffed “By the way, Krys, why don’t you want him to come is the house dangerous?” Krys paused a moment and there was an uncomfortable silence.
    “Do I look like I’m real?” asked Jake rhetorically to fill up the silence.
    It took a moment for me to realize he was talking to me. “Hell, no” I answered. “You look like Satan himself.”
    “Well, you certainly don’t look like an angel,” he snickered.
    “Do you guys do anything but fight?” interrupted Krys impatiently.
    “No,” we answered at the same time. We glared at each other; teasingly of course, I don’t really hate anyone.
    “Okay, okay, either way I don’t want Max to go because the house is haunted.” Krys said. I stared at her for a moment waiting for her to say “Just kidding” but she stayed quiet.
    “You’re joking right?”
    “No, it’s the truth,” she said annoyed. “Did you ever see the movie The New York Horror?”
    “I was planning to,” I replied.
    “Well, they planned to make the movie at the abandoned house on are block, but things got a little to creepy for them.”
    “How creepy?”
    “People started disappearing, things began moving by themselves, the director went missing and they found him in an underground tunnel, scared out of his wits, he was never the same again They needed to find a new director.” We were all silent for a moment, each thinking our own thoughts. We heard the door open, breaking the silence and I screamed. However, it was only the parents. Mortified, I hid my face while Jake and James teased me for being such a sissy. The parents ended the embarrassment by telling us all to go to bed. Just like Krys said, Max got his way and was allowed to come with us.

















    Chapter 2
    Yawning, I glanced at Krystal. She was sound asleep snoring quietly on her half of the bed. It was one in the morning and I couldn’t fall asleep. It was either dopamine or because I wasn’t used to sleeping in her room. Actually I think it was because this house was scarier at night. I tossed and turned, but I was still unable to sleep. Finally, giving up, I got off her bed and started walking toward the bathroom when I saw a face in the hallway. I jumped back in fright and stifled a scream. Then I realized it was only Max. Except he didn’t look like Max, not at all like the cute little always happy Max I knew.
    “Hi Sammy,” said Max. “I have a secret.” Now it may not see mysterious when I put it all down in writing but at the moment Max was creepier than the house itself. He looked super scared and very solemn. His eyes were huge and untrusting.
    “Is that so,” I said warily. “What is it?”
    “You can’t tell anyone,” he stated.
    “Okay,” I agreed.
    He stared at me for a moment and then started reciting something that sounded somewhat like a poem. “Trapped forever, the bodies that shall be switched, the lights that won’t ever shine and together they fall.” I looked at the little boy, there was something strange about him, and he looked different, not humanlike.
    “Max?” all of a sudden I heard of voice behind me. I whirled around and saw Krys standing behind me. “Max? What are you doing up so late?” Krys asked with a note of concern and something else that I couldn’t identify in her voice.
    “Oh hey Krystal,” Max said cheerfully returning to this normal self.
    “What are doing up so late?” scolded Krystal.
    “I’m sorry,” apologized Max, “Can you come with me to my room?”
    “Okay, come on little guy,” Krys said, lovingly ruffling his hair. I watched Krys bring Max back to his room. There was something strange about the conversation I just witnessed; beneath all that sibling stuff there seemed to be something else. Then there was the fact that Krys completely ignored me.
    I turned around to head back to Krystal’s room but something stopped me. It was another face. This time a face I didn’t recognize. The face was human more or less, except that it was translucent and apparently attached to a floating twig. You know, like from old movies, you see a guy hang himself and there’s a string attached to his neck and a tree. Excluding the fact that the guy usually had eyeballs, this face just had the sockets. He had a body of course, not the type of body every person wishes to have. Half the top of his body was burned and you could see the bone and flesh. His pants were ripped and out of fashion.
    I didn’t scream, I couldn’t scream. All I could do was stand there scared and all alone. Coming back to my senses, I ran quietly as possible to where James was sleeping. “James!” I whispered. “James!”
    “Whaaat?” he asked groggily. Then his eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped. Oh no.
    “The monster’s behind me isn’t it?” I asked timidly. He nodded. “Oh god help me,” I whimpered unable to move once more.
    “Get on the sofa next to me,” James whispered still unable to stop looking at the horror that was behind me. I obeyed subconsciously and climbed on next to him. He wrapped his arms around me and we both stared at the thing coming toward us, floating toward us. Then out of nowhere it disappeared, just vanished. James and I let out a shaky breath simultaneously. “Maybe you should stay with me the rest of the night,” he suggested pointlessly. I wouldn’t have left his side no matter what. Not even for a million dollars.
    ***
    I opened my eyes and the first thing I realized was how much my back hurt. The second thing I noticed was that I wasn’t on the sofa anymore. Sitting up and looking around I realized I wasn’t even at my- Krystal’s house anymore. At least not any part I’ve seen.
    “You’re awake,” said someone behind me. Too frightened to see who it was I screamed.
    “Shut up already!” said another voice. “You might wake something!” I screamed again.
    “Relax it’s just us,” said a third voice. A familiar voice. I turned around surprised, and saw James, Jake and another girl. She had long, tangled dirty blond hair that looked like it hadn’t been brushed in days and hazel eyes. I instantly recognized her as the person who told me to shut up. She just looked like that type of girl. The thing that made her most different from the rest of us was that she was dirty and emaciated. Also talk about bad hygiene, this girl stank to the extreme.
    “What? Who are you? Where are we? How did we get here? When did we get here? Why are we here?” I asked frantically all in one breath. I think I covered all the five W’s.
    “She’s Cam,” answered Jake.
    “Cameron, if I may,” she scowled at Jake. “We’re here because we know too much, I have no idea how you got here, nor do I know when, but I do know we’re under the abandoned house.” Jake smiled after Cameron finished answering half of my questions. All of a sudden I felt angry, not at the people who got us here, but at the girl. No I was jealous. I didn’t like her flirting with Jake. Pull yourself together, I thought to myself this is no time, to let your feelings get in your way.
    “So Cameron, um, how long have you been here?” I inquired. “And what do you mean we know too much?”
    “For some time,” she said. “I dunno, days? Weeks maybe?” She glanced at me and continued. “Did Max tell you anything before and call it a secret?” My heart stopped for a moment.
    “Yeah,” I answered cautiously. “What’s it got to do with you?”
    “Oh it’s got everything to do with us,” she answered.




    Chapter 3
    “Krystal! Where are Jake, James, and Sammy?” Jake and Sammy’s parents asked worried, bursting into Krystal’s room.
    “I don’t know!” Krystal said putting on her best oh no I’m so worried face.
    “No! Maybe they went to the abandoned house without us!” cried her master. Krystal glanced at Master confused. She thought that his plan was just to leave them there and drive them insane like the director. Maybe he’s going to give them chance she thought perplexed; but the question was why would he do that?
    “Are you absolutely sure?” her parents asked, playing along with Master’s wicked plan against their will.
    “Yes, they told us yesterday they were going to the house,” lied Master solemnly.
    “Then they should be okay,” Krystal’s parents said reluctantly.
    “Can we go after them? I wanna go see the haunted house too!” Master whined, pretending to beg. He already knew the answer would be yes no matter what. Now Krystal’s parents looked confused too.
    “Sure,” they replied looking at Krystal. She shrugged at them, showing that she had no idea what Master was planning either. As soon as all the other parents left, Mom and Dad kneeled down and asked Master his plan.
    “Oh you’ll see, I got bored so we’re gonna play with them this time,” Master said his eyes sparkling with malevolent joy. His lips curled up in a way that truly made him look like the devil’s son. “This is going to be fun, mommy, can you pack for Krystal and me? Just the usual, please,” Master sneered.
    “Of course, Max,” Krystal’s parents replied.












    Chapter 4
    “Everything?” I asked confused.
    “First tell us what Max told you,” James prompted.
    “Um, it was some sort of poem,” I answered. All of a sudden I remembered what Max told me, every single word. I didn’t feel like myself as a dutifully recited what Max told me.
    “Interesting. That’s the same as my clue,” Jake said.
    “Huh? What clue?” I was more confused than I had ever been in my life.
    “The whole reason we’re here is cause we know a clue that we shouldn’t have,” explained Cameron. “James and my clue go something like this; the light was bright, but it left no mark, cursed in form, cursed in shape, mine forever, no matter how much you endeavor, let the one, friend of the sun, break you free, if they succeed.”
    “What?” I screamed frustrated. “That makes no sense!!!”
    “Shut up!” Cameron said again. “You’re gonna wake the Guardians!”
    “Guardians?” I asked, noticing what was around me for the first time. We were in some sort of room that looked just like a jail cell. Except this was one hundred times worse than a jail. For one, there was no place to do your business. Two, fungi lined one side of the wall and a repulsive pile of decomposing organs and bones in one corner. As I looked around some more, I realized that the worse thing was that there was no way to get out. “I don’t see any sign of life. What are Guardians?” I whispered.
    Jake glanced around, and said “Guardians are humans, animals or chimeras who are taken over by evil spirits of the dead, they guard this place. They’re in the secret underground tunnels; remember what Krys said about the director? He also knew too much for his own good.” I shivered. Were we going to end up like that poor director? Or maybe it would be worse for us. I glanced at the pile of organs and bones and wondered if it was once a human. I immediately felt faint. We’re going to survive I tried, unsuccessfully, to convince myself.
    “Oh. So, um, how are we going to get out of this place?” I asked.
    “Easy,” whispered Cameron. “We’ll use the tunnels.”
    “Forgive me for being so unobservant, but now I see the doorway out,” I said.
    “Apology accepted,” Cameron replied not catching on to my sarcasm. Jake sighed, exasperated, apparently he had caught on.
    “Take a closer look at what’s behind the pile of guts,” Jake said. Seeing my unbelieving and disgusted expression, he added in a more commanding tone, “Just do it!” Wondering what was so interesting about the pile of guts, I took a longer look at it.
    “So? There’s a crack behind it that’s connected to another crack that’s connected- Oh!” I cried suddenly realizing. “It’s the doorway out isn’t it? I asked enthusiastically
    “What don’t you get about the phrase shut up?” Cameron asked annoyed. “You’re gonna wake the Guardians!” I immediately flushed scarlet at her comment. This girl had no shame.
    “Sorry,” I said lowering my voice to a whisper. I didn’t want to get on Cameron’s bad side; she seemed a touch more lethal than most girls I know. “When are going to get out of this place?”
    “As soon as the Guardians fall asleep,” Cameron responded. “Now, shhhh”
    “How do you know when they fall asleep,” I asked annoyed. Not only did this girl seem lethal, she didn’t know how to give a straight answer. Sighing, she pointed her finger toward her wrist, and I realized she had a watch. “Oh,” I said feeling like an idiot
    “Yeah, they fall asleep at seven a.m.,” she said, “We’ll wait until then.”
    ***
    “Soooo, who wants to open the door of freedom and be a hero?” James asked at seven o’clock.
    “How ‘bout Sammy?” Jake cheerfully volunteered me.
    “Whose Sammy?” asked Cameron. “Oh, her.” I suddenly understood that the girl didn’t care enough about me to ask my name. “Well, if your all gonna be a bunch of spineless wimps I’ll handle this,” she said sighing. I watched as Cameron stepped over the pile, like it was a pile of stuffed toys or something, and pushed secret door gently. When it didn’t budge she pushed it with more force but the door stayed firmly shut.
    “Damn it, there goes our only chance of escape,” I said, irritated. Just after those words left my mouth, Cameron gave the door one more gentle push and it opened.
    “Never doubt me,” Cameron said smiling. “C’mon lets go.” This girl really had a way of lowering other people’s self-esteem. Nevertheless I crawled into the tunnel after Cameron with Jake and James following behind me. The tunnel was about 6 feet high, plenty of space for me to stand up.
    “How much longer?” I asked after walking aimlessly around for what felt like hours.
    “No idea,” Cameron answered. “You tell me-MOVE,” she yelled, out of the blue, pushing me out of the way. “Looks like some of the Guardians are awake,” she said lowering her voice. “I’ll fight ‘em” she added.
    “I can fight too,” I said infuriated.
    “It’s alright,” Jake whispered to me. “She really cares about you in the inside so don’t be too harsh on her.” I nodded annoyed that Jake took Cameron’s side, but before I could say anything else I felt a sharp pain on my leg.
    “Oooooow! Ow!” I cried surprised. Everybody turned around to see what was wrong immediately. “Oh, it’s ok, a dog just bit me, the wound’s not too deep,” I said relieved. I was used to getting hurt so a simple wound like this didn’t bother me. When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw a little puppy running away from us.
    “Just a dog,” Cameron said. With sudden comprehension, she whirled around and screamed “It’s a distraction, watch ou-” Before she could finish her sentence however, someone, no something, punched her in the face.
    “Kekeke,” it laughed evilly. “Look at all those little piggies.” Turning around quickly, I saw an ape. Then I abruptly realized it was a talking ape. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but last time I checked apes didn’t laugh, because they couldn’t laugh. “You’re mine now little girl,” he (or she, I really didn’t care at the moment) said.
    “Run!” yelled Cameron frenetically, waving one hand widely in the air, and the other covering her bloodied nose. We all submissively obeyed her and ran for our lives.















    Chapter 5
    “Okay, are we all here?” I asked in between breaths.
    “Present,” said Jake, flashing me a smile.
    “I’m fine,” James added. I waited for Cameron to say something that would make me regret asking, but I heard nothing. Attempting to figure out what was going around I looked around for her. She wasn’t in my line of sight.
    “Cameron?” I asked tentatively. “Cameron, where are you?” I asked raising my voice.
    “Yeah, this isn’t funny, Cam,” Jake added. After a while we all were 100 percent sure that Cameron wasn’t anywhere nearby, we decided to retrace our steps to where we met the ape, or apelike creature.
    “I think we’re suppose to turn left here,” said James uncertainly.
    “No look,” I replied. “There’s blood over there, I might’ve left a trail,” I said, nodding toward my injured leg. Hmmm. The bite wasn’t that bad, but I was losing blood pretty quickly. The place where I was bitten was slightly swollen. Jake saw me checking out my wound, so he ripped a part of the bottom of his pajamas off and threw to me.
    Then he continued arguing with me. Typical. “That blood could be from anything,” Jake answered edgily.
    “Do you have a better idea?” I countered, wrapping my swollen ankle up. The cloth was already getting bloody.
    “Well no, but-”
    “Then let’s go,” I said ending the conversation quickly. After following the trail of blood for a while, I became unsure and worried that it was a trap. My doubts soon faded away, for we had come to a place with a pretty big blood splatter on the wall that was undeniably the site where we met our good friend, the ‘kind’ talking ape. I shot Jake an ‘I told you so’ look, and Jake looked innocently up at the ceiling. I tried to smother a giggle and it came out as a snort. Luckily, no one noticed. I couldn’t believe that I could even think about laughing at the time like this. Oh the amazing things love could do.
    “So, which way now Ms. GPS?” Jake asked
    “Follow the other trail of blood, the one Cameron might’ve left,” I answered
    “And where exactly is this other trail? Five miles west perhaps?” he teased.
    “No,” I said only half annoyed. I glanced around, but couldn’t see any red besides the giant splatter from our little battle with Mr. Talking Ape.
    “Over here!” James yelled. “Looked, Sammy’s right! Here’s another trail of blood!” he exclaimed joyfully. Now that sounded weird, especially since James was the type of person who hurled at the sight of a drop of blood.
    “Coming,” I yelled back. “C’mon Jake,” I added. I ran toward where James’s voice was coming from, and sure enough there was a fresh trail of blood.
    “How do we know its Cameron’s blood though?” I asked. I stared as James stuck his finger in the bright red trail of blood and lifted it to his mouth to taste it.
    “Yup! It’s Cameron’s blood alright,” he announced. Jake and I were both gawking at James with disgust and curiosity written all over our face.
    “Um, does he normally do this?” Jake asked intrigued.
    “Uh, not really,” I answered. All of a sudden this was just too fishy and suspicious to me. “James, did you win your last basketball game?” I asked.
    “What? I don’t remember,” he replied. Jake was just looking at me, then at James, confused, not knowing what was going on. “Why?” he asked. Now there was definitely something strange about James. He scored the winning point for his team and had the most assists; they had a party to celebrate their victory. There was no way he would forget that so quickly. He kept reminding me about his win and telling how me awesome he was nonstop last month.
    “Get away from us you monster!” I cried, kicking James squarely in the chest. I’m not really that strong but with adrenaline pushing me onwards I managed to make him fall to the ground with a great thump.
    “Wha-” James said standing up quickly with a bewildered look on his face. Jake looked like he was ready to take James’s side and attack me.
    “He’s a fake!” I yelled. “He’s not real!” Sure enough once you got a closer look at him, he looked a bit different then the real James. Realizing that his cover was blown the fake James kicked me hard and I fell on top of Jake.
    “Bye,” the fake James said smiling and in a blink of an eye he disappeared.
    “Gerrof of me,” Jake said spitting out some of some of my hair.
    “Ah!” I said embarrassed. “Sorry,” I apologized quickly getting up.
    “S’Okay”,” he said red-faced. “So what was all that about?”
    “Fake James, they probably took my real brother when you were busy calling me Ms. GPS,” I said trying my best to hold in my tears. Now that the fight was over I realized that James could be hurt right now or worse.
    “So, where do you think the fake James disappeared of to?” he asked. Sensing my anxiety he added, “I’m sure he’s is okay, your brother’s strong.” Believe or not, that statement pushed me over the edge. I fell to my knees started and bawling like a baby. The worst thing was Jake was here to witness all this. “Hey what’d I say?” he asked looking troubled.
    “It’s nothing,” I responded sniffling, trying to dry my tearstained face with my sleeve. Every time I got it remotely close to dry a new batch of tears would tarnish my face.
    “It’s gonna be okay,” he said, putting his arm around me. I sobbed openly into his shoulder until I had no more tears to shed. Finally, getting a hold of myself, I stood up shakily and realized what just happened. I had to turn into a 6 year-old (again!) and waste valuable time we could’ve used to find James.
    Almost as if he heard what I thought Jake said, “It’s okay, you haven’t been crying for long, we’ll be able to catch up to him. “By the way I’m not going to let you forget about this,” he added. Blushing, I realized that part of his pajamas were wet from my tears.
    “Well we better go and find James,” I said changing the subject quickly and walked a few steps walked forward. Somehow, I managed to trip over my own feet and fell. My head hit the wall and there was a little scraping noise.
    “SAMMY!!” cried Jake his eyes wide, “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”
    “Ow, no I don’t think so,” I replied. “Oh look! I cracked the part of the wall!”
    “What? “That’s impossible! Wasn’t that there before? Is your head even hard enough to do that?” he said, eyes wide open in disbelief. “I’m pretty sure that was there before,” he repeated.
    “Stand back,” I ordered. Staring at me, he shook his head, but obeyed anyways. Summoning all my strength I kicked the wall. To my surprise, a hidden door opened, revealing another tunnel. The strange thing about this was that there were a lot of grunting noises and words that should not be used when children under 9 are present, echoing down this newly found tunnel.
    “Shall we?” Jake asked.
    “Let’s,” I agreed smiling. And then we both walked bravely down the tunnel toward the source of the racket.