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Welcome to the House Chapter 1 - Let the Games begin The limousine pulled through a large, rusted, iron gate and up a long road ornamented with tall, deceased trees. Inside this overly long car were twelve people and the driver who seemed to be sweating heavily as they neared the house. Rona was sitting next to the only door in the back of the limousine. She was in her early twenties and was dressed entirely in black. A large silver medallion hung over her T-shirt, which revealed her muscular arms. Her boots nearly came right up to the bottom of her leather skirt and shined brighter than her medallion, as if she had just bought them. Next to her was Rick who seemed younger and about the same height, which was very short for a twenty-something year old. Covering his short hair was a red baseball hat with a fancy 'B' on it. His green shirt fit somewhat grotesquely tight in places on his slightly overweight body. His jeans were held around his waist with a belt that resembled a car's seatbelt. It looked very real and even had the 'Jeep' symbol on the release button. Sticking out of the tattered bottoms of his pants were green sneakers that looked as if he had them for quite some time. Although they were old they seemed almost able to give off their own light. Next to Rick was Kurt. Although their age was the same, their clothes were not. While Rick looked as if he belonged in a skateboarding park, Kurt looked as if he had jumped out of a Gap ad on the television in the limousine. His navy blue shirt, like Rona's, revealed his muscles. It was tucked in to his perfectly fitting khaki pants that came to the tops of his black shoes. Three girls were sitting next to each other with their backs to the driver. One was about ten years older than the others were. She was Margaret and was about thirty years old. Her long blonde hair fell over her red sweater. Her jeans had holes in the knees, but were repaired from the inside with black fabric. Although she was tall she was wearing thick-soled white sneakers on her feet which brought her knees to her stomach. To Margaret's right was another blonde. Her hair, however, was short and in a ponytail. While Margaret was the oldest of the girls, Lena was the youngest at age eighteen. She wore a pearl necklace that rested on her baby blue tank top, which allowed her right skinny arm to be bare in the hot sun coming in through the window causing it to turn a slight pink color. Her legs were also barely covered by a pair of shorts that looked to be a few sizes too small. On her feet were a pair of white sandals which showed her neatly painted blue toenails. To Margaret's left was Isabella. The most noticeable thing about her was her hair. Although it was long she had it up in Princess Leah buns. The left side of her hair was royal blue and the other side was the color of red Hawaiian Punch. If a person saw her from a plain they would most likely think she was a walking Pepsi logo. She wore a black tank top under a plaid shirt. She wore jeans with untended holes in the knees. Like Rick, her black Doc Martin shoes stuck out through the shredded bottoms of her pant legs. On the left side of the limousine were two men and a naturally redheaded girl. Her name was Kate and her long hair fell over her chubby face that was smothered by freckles. It was amazing that she was able to find a sweater so baggy that made her look so pretty. It was just an ordinary light blue sweater, but it made her shiny hair seem to shine more. She was also wearing a pair of jeans that fit her nicely and blue sneakers that seemed to blend into her jeans. On of the men beside her looked to be the same age as Margaret. Harold had short, wavy, black hair. Both his maroon T-shirt and jeans had numerous holes in them. Like some of the others, his shirt revealed his muscles. His large feet stuck out of the bottoms of his pants wearing black sneakers. Although at age thirty Margaret was the oldest women, Harold was not. The other man next to Kate, Jeff was in his fifties. His gray hair was parted to his right. Over his large stomach he wore a button up white shirt with a collar. The bottom of his shirt was tucked into a pair of black dress pants. To complete his outfit he wore black shoes over a pair of black dress socks. In the back of the limousine was a girl with her arms around the last to guys. She was the prettiest of the girls and had a name to fit. Jem had long brown hair that she let flow free. Her green T-shirt had a simple dark green star in the middle of it. Her pants, like many of the others', had holes in the knees. She wore green and white sneakers that matched her top. One of the men she had her arm around was a tall, twenty year old read head. His short hair was messy, but looked good on his head. He was wearing a white T-shirt with the words, "Smile... You've all driven me crazy" in blue lettering across his chest. There was a reddish stain on the bottom of his shirt that looked like an ink blot of some kind. His jeans had no holes in the knees, which made no sense since he looked so messy. His feet were wearing the same black sneakers Harold had on. Jem's other arm was around a skinny, short, nineteen year old boy named Tony. He had heavily gelled brown hair that was slicked to the front. His blonde bangs, also looking as hard as a rock, stuck straight up from his head. Tony had a gray shirt tucked into the same 'Gap' style pants that Kurt was wearing. His shoes were the same style as Kate's, but were gray rather than blue. Above his head in the limousine was a small camera that moved from left to right by itself. As they were going up the long road to the house, Rick asked, "Do any of you know why we are coming here?" Other than the shaking of heads his only response came from Jeff. The old man said all he knew was that they were all from Massachusetts and had the chance of being on TV. At the sound of the word 'TV' Lena looked up from the floor with her eyes bugging out and said, "What we're going to be on TV? That's so cool! Maybe we'll be in one of those made for TV movies!" "God, girl, shut up! We're gonna be on-" Rona started. She was cut off by the scream of the sweaty driver whose voice was louder than the screeching of his breaks. The twelve people in the back began screaming as the limousine began to swerve coming close to several of the trees. "Did you see that?" the panicking driver shouted. "There was someone hanging from that tree back there!" The thirteen people got out onto the cobblestone street. All of Lena's hair had fallen out of the ponytail accept for a small clump. Isabella's hair was also awry after this near death experience. Steve had been the first to get out the limo's only door and walked back behind the it to look around and the camera in the car had zoomed in on his heavy body and then fuzzed out into thick annoying snow that one would get on a channel they didn't pay for. The twelve people walking in a row neared the enormous mansion. The whole yard was fenced with forest. The wide brick path to the tall front doors was lined with short square shrubs. A man was on the stairs in front of this door. He introduced himself as Jon Matthews and then ran his hand through his short brown hair and straightened his red and gray Hawaiian shirt over his khaki pants and black shoes. "Where is the limo?" he asked. "The guy went psycho. He said there was someone hanging in a tree," Kurt began explaining. "There definitely wasn't though. I went and checked," said Steve. Rona then added, "It took him a while, but the guy got back into the limousine, turned it around, and took off with all our suitcases." "That's okay we have your clothes. I'll explain later," Jon said as he turned to take the pad lock off the front doors. As he slipped the key into his pocket, a chain fell from the enormous snake-shaped handles of the door. He then pushed open the doors to reveal a hallway with a huge staircase and many doors. In awe as they walked in the only noise from the twelve people was Lena's sandals clicking on the black and white tiled floor. Jon led them to the end of the hallway and behind the stairs where the was an entrance to a large room with four long, olive green sofas with white trimming. He told them to all sit down and they did. "So why are we here?" Margaret asked as she swung her hair behind her back. "Well, that's what I was going to tell you now," Jon began. "You all sent in your applications to be on 'Survivor,' but they didn't accept you. We, however, did." "What show is this?" asked Jem. "This show is 'Welcome to the House.' You, eleven people from Massachusetts and one from Southern New Hampshire, will be locked in this house and the public will be voting you off. The show is live and there are hidden cameras throughout the house." "This sounds a lot easier han 'Survivor.' I don't want to be on some second rate show," Rona said as Jon was opening his mouth to speak. "Well, there are challenges like on 'Survivor,' and this house is said to be haunted." "That would explain the sweat on the driver," said Lena. "I had to sit behind him the whole way here. He smelt so bad!" "Anyway," Jon continued after an awkward silence, "the winner or winners of the challenge will be protected from being voted out of the house." "But wait," began Harold. "If the house is haunted,and we got scared or somethin', wouldn't we wanna get voted out so we don't have to stay here no more?" "Well, yes, but you don't actually get voted out of the house, you get voted into a dungeon that is two stories below the basement and wine cellar. The basement is where you will do the first challenge and you will say who you want voted in the dungeon in the wine cellar every time. Every time someone gets voted into the dungeon, the remaining contestants will obtain access to another room in the mansion where the next challenge will be played. You will then return to the wine cellar where the winners will go in individually and state who they think should be voted off. I will then tell you the results in the basement itself and bring the person, whoever it may be, down to the dungeon where they will be put it for the remainder of the time we spend in the house." "So what do we get if we win?" asked Rick. "More than 'Survivor." "Well, how much?" asked Jem. "Thirteen-million dollars." "Thirteen for getting scared out of my mind...sounds fun," Tony said sarcastically. "Are you out already?" Jon asked. "No, I'm here, I am going to stay for as long as I can." "Everyone else agrees with him right?" Jon asked and got a bunch of nods in response. "Great, lets go see your bedrooms." Jon led them back into the hallway and up the staircase to another long hallway. He then explained that all the rooms were identical accept for color and that they each had their own bathroom. "Everything in you room will be the same color and you will still have clothes even though the limo driver took off. There are antique armoires in the room that have clothes in there that will fit you all. Also, out in front of the doors are namecards that says who gets what room." They all scrambled down the hall looking for their rooms. They all noticed the same thing when they went into the rooms. Everything was covered in white sheets. While Jon was sitting on the stairs waiting for them to come back out, they were pulling the sheets off of everything. Rona walked to the center of her room and pulled a sheet to discover a black bed surrounded in semitransparent curtains. The bed was big enough to fit eight people across and she knew she'd be sleeping well no matter what happened. Jem went to the far corner of her room and pulled a sheet off of something that was under a window that looked down into the forest. She revealed a large purple chair and immediately sat down. Kate pulled all the sheets of the floor giving her the knowledge that they all had carpets in their rooms her floor was being light blue. After finding a chair in his room, Kurt discovered a large orange bookcase. Tony ran right into his bathroom to use his gray toilet. Isabella found her blue fireplace, but knew she wouldn't have to use it because it was so hot already. Rick took his chair and pulled a sheet from the ceiling which revealed a green chandelier. Margaret walked in and pulled a sheet that was on a wall. As it fell she saw a mirror bordered in red painted wood. Lena also found a similar mirror in her room. Her mirror had a pink frame and as she looked in she noticed her hair was a mess thanks to the body hanging from a tree on the way to the mansion. Harold walked in and found that all his walls were painted yellow. Jeff found his brown armoire and so did Steve. Steve pulled on one of the white drawer and found all of his white clothes. Jon walked down the hallway telling them all to hurry up and change into their clothes that had been provided for them. They all walked out wearing their designated color. They were all wearing silk longsleve shirts and matching pants. "You've put us in pajamas that make us look like game pieces," said Isabella. "Well, this is a game. Anyway lets go eat dinner and then we'll have our first challenge," Jon said. Jon told them he had to make sure everything was in place in the basement. As they walked into the dining room Lena tripped and fell flat on her face. Jem who was behind her quickly bent down to help her back up. "Sorry, Harold bumped me," she whispered to Lena so he wouldn't hear her and get mad. Rona ran to the table and sat at one of the seats with a covered dish in front of it. She lifted the cover to find a red lobster on a piece of lettuce with a slice of lemon in each of its claws. "Oh God, this looks so good," she said. "Woah, girl, you nearly knocked me down to get to your food, ya moose!" Kurt was exaggerating just to get Jem's attention and it was very obvious to Tony so he said, "Hey, Jem there's still a seat next to me!" Rick then rolled his eyes and offered to switch seats with Kurt so he could sit next to Jem. Over all the noise Rona was able to apologize to Kurt and then have a conversation with Steve. "I saw the paint on your shirt, what were you painting?" she asked him. "I was painting a picture of a bear trap in the woods. I kept having a dream I found a deer stuck in one. But then it would cry and tell me to take it out of the trap. So I thought that maybe if I tried to protest I could get the real ones out of a trap and so I painted the picture." She responded by simply saying, "Cool." Isabella then said, "Sounds more creepy to me than cool." Steve didn't even defend himself, he just picked up his special utensil for breaking through the shell and broke away angrily. "Well, it sounds like a good idea to me to, Steve," said Margaret. As Steve was about to thank her Rona said, "You don't have to pity him just because one person doesn't think it was a good idea." "Sorry, I was just saying that I thought it was a good idea." "Well, no one asked, Margaret," Rona said sharply. Jon walked in when they were all done eating and said, "There are numbers under your plates. If you have a number one go to my left forming a straight line. Twos, do the same on my right." To his left were Rona, Jem, Kurt, Isabella, Harold,and Jeff. Team two consisted of Kate, Tony, Rick,Margaret, Lena, and Steve. Jon lead these two groups down a stone staircase lighted by torches. When they reached the bottom they say two groups of chairs which they naturally sat in. They were then given paper to write their answers on. "I am going to ask you a series of questions that have to do with the horror genre of literature and movies. The team with the most points at the end wins protection from the vote," Jon explained. "We'll start out easy and they'll get harder as we go. Okay, the first question is for Rona and Tony. Who was the killer in the movie 'Halloween'?" They both flipped their paper over to show they both had the correct answer which is Michael Myers. "Good each team has one point. The follow up question goes to Jem and Rick. Michael is related to the main character how?" This time only Rick had written the right answer 'Brother' on his paper. "Sorry, Jem, team two has two points and team one has one. The next question goes to Margaret and Kurt. Who was the director of 'Scream'?" Both of them flipped the wrong answer showing 'Carpenter.' "I'm sorry, but the correct answer is Wes Craven. The score stays the same with three questions left. Lena and Isabella, this one is for you. Freddie from 'Nightmare on Elm Street' has knives coming out of how many of his fingers?" After both of them thought it over he said sorry to Lena because in a way it was a trick question. "Isabella, you got it right, would you like to explain?" "Sure, Freddie wore gloves with knives on them so the answer is zero." The next question for Harold and Steve asked what the original title for 'Scream' was going to be and neither of them knew that it was supposed to be titled, 'Scary Movie.' "Okay the last question. Kate and Jeff, the mother of the author of 'Frankenstein' was a famous feminist. What was her name?" Some time had passed and they both knew that it came down to this last question. "All right let's see what you wrote. You both have different answers. One of them is right. You and five of your friends get to state who you believe should be locked in the dungeon. Also you and the same five know that you'll be in big luxurious beds for at least one night. Those people are on the team of the person who wrote Mary Wallstonecraft. She was the first major feminist. The winners of protection today are, Lena, Steve, Tony Rick, Margaret, and Kate. So go on into that room there behind me and you will be in the wine cellar facing a camera. Tell the audience who you think should be voted off and why." Lena was the first to open the door. A gust of cool air came out so strongly that it again blew her hair out of her ponytail. She pulled a chain that hung from the ceiling and light poured down from an uncovered lightbulb. She then turned, closed the door, and faced the camera. "I believe that you should all vote for Harold. Okay, well, he's like thirty ya know? At dinner, I don't know if you saw it, but he like pushed Jem into me so that I'd fall down. I was like so embarrassed! But anyway isn't Jon cute? I'm so glad he's the host, but I wish he was staying here with us all the time... Well, vote for Harold because he's like, a jerk..." Lena walked out of the room with her hair a mess and told Jon she was done. Steve was the next to go in. He ran his hand through his messy red hair and said I want you to vote for someone because of what they said at dinner. I'm trying to stop people from using beartraps because they are inhumane. The animal could be stuck in it for several days before someone finds it! So, Isabella, I'm glad you lost today because I want the people to vote for you!" He got up and turned around and saw that he never shut the door. Isabella just stared at him with her jaw stuck out and Rick started laughing. Tony got up with a huge smile on his face and bit his lip to keep himself from laughing as he shut the door. "Okay, that was classic. But anyway, one of those people sitting out there is a tall, muscular, jerk who thinks he can have any girl he hits on. But the thing is he's so very annoying it scares me! Anyway I want you to vote for Kurt." Rick was next. He got up and went into the cold wine cellar and made sure he shut the door. He then turned and began talking to the camera. "The girl is pretty, but she knows she's pretty and that's the thing. All the guys out there are drooling over her and she's just playing with their minds. Even the host is flirting with her and she just gives him the idea that he has a chance. Its just not cool. Jem is nice, but she's a floozy." Margaret got up when Rick came out. She flipped her long hair over her shoulder and shut the door. "Okay, a dinner, I got to know someone. I just stated my opinion on Steve's idea and Rona blows up at me! But the thing is me and her both had the same opinion about it. We thought it was cool and she screams at me! I hate it when people yell at you for doing something nice! Vote Rona!" She flipped her hair once more the way people did on 'Charlie's Angels' and walked out into the cellar. Kate was the last to go in and state her mind. "Okay this fifty year old thinks he knows everything, but we all know he knows nothing! Jeff said in the limo that we were all from Massachusetts, but then when we got here, Jon said someone was from New Hampshire. Then he just lost the challenge for his team and one of them might get voted off now because of him. It wasn't even a hard question that he got wrong! Jeff thinks he knows it all, but he doesn't know that I'm in here telling you guys to vote for him." Kate got up and pushed the door open, shut off the light, and walked out into the cellar. Jon then looked at a camera centered on the wall behind the contestants and said, "So, there you have it. You know must choose between six people to choose from and why you should vote for them. Pick carefully in the poll below the picture of the six possible people to get voted into the dungeon." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Chapter 2 - Some Firsts The group of twelve contestants was sitting around Jon Matthews waiting to see who would get voted into the dungeon first. Jem looked at Jon and said, "It's me, Jon, isn't it?" "I'm sorry, Jem, you don't get the privilege of being the first off of the show." Jon said this and Jem looked relieved. Isabella then asked who it was if it wasn't Jem. "Of Isabella, Jem, Rona, Harold, Jeff, and Kurt, one person is easily picked to be the first with 22% of the votes. I'm sorry, Jeff you are unwelcome in the house. If you would please come with me." Jeff got up calmly and walked over to Jon where a very old set of handcuffs was put on his wrists. He took one look at all his former competitors and then turned to follow Jon who then unlocked a big wooden door and led Jeff through it and down a stone staircase similar to the one that led to the cellar from the main floor. When they reached the dungeon, Jon put Jeff into a cell with a small cot, a toilet, and a sink. Both the walls and floors were made with the same gray stones and cement. There were no windows so the only light that would fill the room was a small light bulb behind metal wiring. "I really am sorry that you were the first to be voted into the dungeon, Jeff." "Well, I really don't care, you know? I mean I wanted to go to the dungeon, I mean all they were doing up there yesterday when you left was fighting, I mean seriously, I didn't want to see that right when we get here. Those people don't even know each other yet they are willing to be fighting like that. So I don't mind being down here. In a way I kind of feel bad for those who aren't in here." "Well, I'm sorry just the same." When Jon came back upstairs he looked at everyone. "Do you want to know what he just told me?" Harold then said, "Well should we know, I mean what he said down there might have been something he didn't want to share with us otherwise he would have said it up here right." Jon came back with, "I think he was just a little taken by the fact that he was the first to have to go to the dungeon. To tell you the truth so am I." Kate then shot in, "Well are you going to tell us what he said or just sit here lecturing us?" "He told me he was glad to be in the dungeon. He said that all of you were fighting, I want to know why. He also said that you shouldn't be because you hardly know each other and I agree with him! Now I'm going to sound like an angry parent, but it is time for all of you to go to sleep. I'm sorry, I'll see you tomorrow and I'll have the key to a new room." That night it was hard for Kate to get to sleep. Her room was very hot so she decided to open the window to let the night air in. She walked her heavy body over to the window, reached through the bars, and lifted the heavy wooden frame. Almost instantly wind poured into the room. She turned around a walked back to her bed. The curtains of the bed were flowing like water. She pushed the light blue curtain out of her way and sat on the bed. She immediately jumped back up and was about to scream. "What was that? I swear to God I felt something grab me. Okay, Kate stop talking to yourself, you're going to be all right, as long as you stop talking to yourself." Kate got back onto the bed and was about to fall asleep when she hear a whisper saying, "It's your fault." Kate jumped out of the bed and began running to the door. She didn't make it far because she had tripped on the curtains and fell flat on her face. "Oh my God, help me!" She began screaming in a panic. She jumped up off of the floor and ran to the doorway. She tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. She began screaming louder and louder until finally she heard one of the men tell her to look out. She backed away from the door and it opened very slowly and with not much trouble. Rick walked through it and Kate ran over to him crying. "Some one is in there! He told me it was my fault." "Wait a second. What is your fault." "Someone is in my room, Rick." "Yah, I got that." Isabella and Rona came running over to the room. Isabella's hair was no longer up in buns. It was still equally divided into the two colors, and fell to her shoulders. "Is everything okay?" "Someone is in my room, Isabella." Kate was still wiping the tears from her face as she talked. Rona then asked Kate if she was sure she wasn't dreaming and Kate knew she wasn't dreaming. She hadn't even fallen asleep. "I think I'll be okay, I'm just going to leave my door open for the rest of the night. Thank you, Rick." She turned around and walked back into her room and the door slammed behind her. Kate screamed and Rick threw the door open again. "Maybe we should put the chair in front of it," he suggested. The next morning Jem, Kurt, and Tony were the first three people to wake up. They went down to the dining room where they found the same plates covered with silver lids as the previous day. The only difference was that this time there were no lobsters under the lids, but instead there was steak and eggs. As Jem was sitting down at the table she asked the two guys if they knew what had happened the night before. Kurt simply shrugged, but Tony said he had heard what happened to Kate. "I heard screaming and then she said someone was in her room. Rick went and comforted her and she went to sleep." Kurt looked at Tony and asked, "Hey, don't you think they'd be good for each other? I mean they are both kind of chunky" Tony looked at Jem and said, "That's gross, I mean to say that two people are good for each other just because they are built the same, I mean you and I are both skinny and I think we'd be great together, but it's not because we are skinny." "Hold on a second What do you mean we'd be great for each other?" Kurt decided to chime in here saying, "Yah that's not going to happen because me and her are already going out, right, Jem?" Jem stood up from the table and shouted at Kurt, "No way! How could you even say that?" Lena, who had been listening to the whole conversation, walked into the room. "Maybe it's because you flirt with, like, all the guys here. I mean you were like, even hitting on that fifty year old dude." Jem then said, "I'm sorry, did you say something that you had no right to?" "What do you mean I had no right to say that, this is America right? It isn't Jem's world." "Okay look, I wasn't the one who wore short shorts and a tank top, okay?" Jem slapped Lena's arm making her scream out in pain. "I have a sunburn there you -" "You what? Maybe if you were wearing clothes yesterday it wouldn't have happened!" Jem slapped Lena's arm again and continued yelling. "But no, I'm like some little brainless girl from Massachusetts who gives all blondes a bad name!" "Will you two ever stop fighting?" Tony asked. "I know, maybe Jeff was right," Kurt threw in. Isabella and Rona went into the empty dining room about an hour later. Isabella began the conversation with, "That was too creepy last night." As Rona was sitting down she said, "I bet she was asleep and just dreaming, I mean seriously, I don't think anything is going to happen in this house." "Do you mean you don't believe in ghosts?" "No, I'm actually a strong believer. It's just that I don't think anything is going to happen in this house." "Well, why? I mean there was the limo driver." Rona took a bite of her eggs and said how good it was and then replied to Isabella. "He was just a freak. I mean he didn't even come the whole way to the house. Besides that, did you or me or anyone else in the limo see anything in that tree? That guy was most likely an actor paid to say that just to scare us all. I mean seriously, it's a television show, nothing is going to happen. Oh! Are you going to eat that?" Rona pointed at the untouched steak in Isabella's plate. "No, I don't eat meat. You can eat it." Isabella pushed the slab of meat onto Rona's dish. After they had finished eating most of the people had gone back to their rooms to get dressed in what they had been wearing the day before. Margaret and Harold had gotten dressed first and then made their way to the lounge where they were to wait for the host to bring the key to the new room. Harold began talking to Margaret on their short journey. "You know we are the two oldest people here now?" Margaret looked at Harold and then said, "So what? Tat could work to our benefit." "Yah, but we're in a house full of people who are young and full of themselves and look who went first, the oldest one of us. Today when we do the challenge I have a feeling we will have to win this one to stay in the house." "Well you have to win the challenge every time and I have a feeling you didn't get many votes anyway in this last one." "That's because I wasn't the oldest person in the vote. These people in this house are going to target us." Margaret flipped her hair over her shoulder and then told Harold he was too paranoid. They then walked into the lounge and sat on one of the green sofas. Everyone else was soon too show up. After about ten minutes Steve was the only person missing. Kurt asked if he was even awake yet and Lena said she'd go get him. About five minutes later she came back and said he'd be there soon. Steve stumbled into the room and took a seat. Jon Matthews had been in the room waiting with the others for quite some time. Jon said he had some news for them. "Last night when I was leaving I found the limo at the gate of the driveway, but there was no driver in it. The limo was wrapped around a tree at the end of the driveway, but because there was no body in it we think he is okay. "I was able to get two things for each of you out of your suitcases. You won't need them today, but you will need them soon. Anyway, here are you formal clothes and bathing suits." Jon dumped a pile of clothes onto the middle of the floor. After everyone had taken theirs, Lena asked whose clothes were left on the floor and Jon said they must have been Jeff's. He picked them up and put them on a small table in the room and then said, "Okay let's get to the next room." He looked around at everyone who was sitting in anticipation. "Every room we go to has a story," began Jon. "This house has had many owners. One of them, Mr. Alther, found a stranger dead in his library one night. The police had come and said the dead stranger had been there for quite some time, which was understandable because the library was so big. The stranger he found had no fingers and the police accused Mr. Alther of killing the man." Jon then led them all to the library and unlocked the wooden doors. When he opened the door they all saw how incredibly large the room was. On the wall opposite them, amongst many bookshelves was a large moose head. It was centered between two white spiral staircases that led to another level and more bookshelves. "Okay everyone, why don't you go look around," Jon said. Steve walked over to the moose head and mumbled something to it. Isabella had heard him talking to it and walked over to him. "I'm sorry, I was having a bad day yesterday," she said to him. "I know, and it almost got you voted off too." "Right I heard that. Remember you left the door open. But anyway, listen, I'm trying to apologize here and, well, look I agree with you that there shouldn't be bear traps, and I mean I don't even eat meat. I'm sorry, Steve." "It's okay." He shook her hand and then turned to walk away and she stopped him. "Wait is that it? Just like that you're going to forgive me?" "Do you not want me to? You said you're sorry and I forgive you. What is so hard to comprehend?" "You're right, anyway look at all these books!" "I know it. Do you think he read them all?" "Who?" "Mr. Alther, the guy who used to own this house." "Oh, I don't know, probably I mean there isn't much else to do here." "Well, we don't know that yet, right? I mean this is the first room we've been in and look at it!" Isabella smiled and said, "Well okay, I'm going to go looking around. Talk to you later." Steve waved and then went up the stairs. He was looking up at the paintings on the ceiling. "Hey," he called down to the others, "did you guys notice that the ceiling is like a perfect replica, well not perfect but you know, of the Sistine Chapel? I mean wow! It's so- Oh my God get up here now!" Steve was panicking and screaming at the top of his lungs. Everyone bolted up the spiral staircase to see what Steve had found. In front of him laid the deceased Jeff. Steve looked up at Jon and remarked how he had no fingers on his right hand. Jon, looking a little sick said, "Okay we were going to have another challenge like last night, but I guess whoever can find one of the five fingers will get immunity. I mean we do have to find them, right? So go they must be in this room." Harold looked at Jon and then asked how he could get out of his cell and Jon remarked, "How could he get into this locked room?" The eleven contestants began searching the library. One by one the five people who would get protection from the vote began finding the fingers. Harold was the first to find a finger. He brought an index finger to Jon that was still dripping with blood. He said he had found it taped to the bottom of one of the stairs. About five minutes later, Rick brought the thumb to Jon when he found it in the big dictionary. Not long after that, Isabella said she had been back at the moose and noticed the mouth was open, inside she found the ring finger which still had the wedding band on it. Jon called out that there were only two more and Kurt walked over to him with one of the fingers in his hand. It took about fifteen minutes for someone to find the last finger. It had been under the enormous globe in the far corner of the room upstairs. Jem had come back with the smallest finger of Jeff's hand. Jon called out saying, "Lena, Steve, Tony, Margaret, Kate, and Rona, I'm sorry, but all of the fingers have been found. We now must go to the cellar. Jon led them down to the cellar where they all sat awaiting who would go to the dungeon next. "Okay, Rick, you can go into the wine cellar first," Jon told him. Rick went in and turned on the light and faced the camera and said, "Hello, one of the residents in this house is dead now, and well I found one of his fingers in the dictionary and now I get to tell you who to vote for. I'm tied between two people so I'll just tell you about both of them. Okay last night Rona and Isabella were up wondering the halls so it may have been them that killed Jeff, but because Isabella conveniently won protection she can't get voted off, so you can vote for Rona. The other person is Steve, I mean, he found the body. Maybe it is because he was the one who put it there. I mean he was really tired this morning, right? So anyway you can make the choice, are you going to vote for Rona or Steve?" Jem was the next person to get to talk to the camera, "Okay, today someone came up to me and said I was leading all of the guys on. She said this while complaining about sunburn that she never would have gotten had she not been wearing such revealing clothing on the way here. I mean seriously, does she have a brain? I think everyone in this house is wondering that same thing. She also was the one flirting with Jon last night when she came out of this cellar! Oh man, just vote for Lena and do us all a favor!" Jon told Kurt to go into the room next. "That little geek sees how much Jem likes me and now he's trying to steal her from me. Tony is a real loser and I hope he ends up like Jeff, but for that to happen you have to vote for him." Harold walked into the room next and looked at the camera to say, "Margaret and I are the two oldest people here. We aren't part of this group of young people and she just doesn't get that. It's her own fault that I want you to vote for Margaret." Isabella was the last person to go into the wine cellar. "Last night had to be one of the most scariest times ever. It was the first night we were here and Kate starts screaming. At what no one is still really sure, but we think she hear a voice. Rona doesn't really buy it, but I think maybe she did hear something. Also it's her fault Jeff is dead. Not to point fingers, but if she didn't know the answer to that question yesterday our team wouldn't have lost and maybe she would have died, but anyway, please vote for Kate because if she really did hear something I don't want her near me!" Isabella got up and brushed a blue hair from her face. She opened the door, shut off the light in the room, and walked back to her seat and Jon began talking. "Okay the next six people up for the vote today are Kate, Lena, Margaret, Rona, Steve, and Tony. I wish the best of luck to you all and hope that you don't loose the vote, but one of you obviously will, but who will it be?" ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Chapter 3 - Cheating The eleven people were sitting around Jon Matthews, waiting to see who would get voted into the dungeon next. Each of them feared for the six people up for the vote. They had all seen what had happened to Jeff and were very fearful that the same would happen to whoever was sent to the dungeon next. Steve, being one of the six, was quite anxious to find out who was going to take the long trip to the dungeon. Jon, sensing their anticipation, gave in and said, "Of Kate, Lena, Margaret, Rona, Steve, and Tony, one person had 32% of the votes. I'm sorry, Kate, but it is you who is unwelcome in the house. Now, because of previous events, I have been asked to stay with the person who gets voted to the dungeon, so, Kate, it looks like I'll be spending the night with you." Kate got up and walked over to Rick to whom she said, "Thank you for saving me. I don't know what would have happened if you didn't do that for me." She walked over to Jon where a very old pair of handcuffs was put on her wrists. She took one last look at Rick and then turned to follow Jon. As same as the first trip down the stairs with Jeff, he unlocked a big wooden door and led Kate through it and down the big stone staircase. At the bottom Jon put Kate into the same cell Jeff had been in. It had a small cot (which must have been remade since Jeff's demise, for it wasn't as messy as one would think after a person puts up a fight to save his life), a toilet, and a sink. The small light bulb filled the cell with a dull orange glow. "Don't worry," Jon said to Kate "Well, I'm still a little shaky. Last night, somebody told me to get out the house. How crazy does that sound, right? But it did happen. I'm sure of it. And then my door, it wouldn't open. I felt like such a moron when Rick opened it. It was like nothing had even happened, but I seriously couldn't get out!" "I'm sorry, I didn't know that that happened. I'd let you go back to your own home, but that wouldn't be fair." "Especially to Jeff, I'm going to stay here for the rest of the game, and I'm going to do it for Jeff." "You're an awesome person, Kate. I'm sorry that you didn't win." Harold then said, "Well, guess we can go back upstairs now, I mean, Jon isn't going to be coming up so umm, well, yah." Lena, "I think he's like right, you know? Kate gets to like spend the night with him. How much luck is that?" Jem then screamed, "You're such a psycho!" Lena shot a dirty look at her and got up from her chair and walked to the stairwell. "Stairs are like, so stupid. Especially in a huge house like this, you'd think they'd have elevators." Jem walked over to Kurt and, mocking Lena, said, "Lena is like, so stupid. Especially with that blonde hair, you'd think that she'd actually think. Hey, Lena, we're talking about you. We're talking about you. We're talking about you." Lena spun around and swore at Jem who took no offense and said, "What, are you going to cry now?" Lena turned and walked up the stone staircase. After eating a luscious meal, the ten people left in the house were making their way up to their bedrooms. Margaret was the first to the top of the stairs and Lena was the last. When she got to the final step, however, Lena screamed. The other nine spun around to see Lena rolling, flailing, and breaking on her journey down the stairs away from them. When Lena reached the bottom of the stairwell, Isabella screamed. They all ran down the stairs and encircled Lena. Tony looked up to the others and said, "Her head, it's on backwards!" Rona felt odd staring at the grotesque, dead body, but she couldn't pull herself away from it. She was in shock and couldn't move. Harold said that they should probably go get Jon Matthews and inform him of what had happened and the others agreed with him. The nine of them together walked to the door in the basement that led to the dungeon. They tried to pull it open, but it was locked from the inside. Rick began pounding on the door and a few of the others joined him. A few minutes passed and Jon finally came up to answer the banging. They explained the situation and the first thing he said was, "Well, how'd she fall? Did she fall, or was she pushed?" They all then immediately looked up at Jem. "What are you looking at me for? I wouldn't ever kill a person! It wasn't me! Stop staring at-" "She's telling the truth. Jem didn't push Lena down the stairs. It's my fault she died." Somewhat shocked at the remark he had just made, the group looked up at Jon Matthews. "I told you!" Jem screamed out. "How, you were in the basement with Kate?" Isabella asked. "Okay, we cheated. The producers felt that Lena was a more interesting person than Kate, so they had me lie a little." "A little? You told us she had the most votes!" Rick was yelling. "No, I didn't say that, I said she had 32%, and she did. Lena, however, had fifty. I knew this was going to happen. We have to let Kate back into the house to replace Lena, if that's okay with all of you." "What do you mean if it's okay? She wasn't even supposed to be down there in the first place!" Rick continued to rant. Jon turned and went down the stairs to get Kate. When she came back up the stairs the group greeted her with a round of applause. The next morning Jem, Kurt, and Tony were the first three people to wake up for the second time in a row. They went down to the dining room where they found the same plates covered with silver lids that had been there every day. As Kurt sat down at the table, Tony sat in the second seat to Kurt's left to leave a seat open for Jem so she could sit between them as she had the previous day. Instead, Jem pulled out Kurt's seat a little more than he had it and plopped herself on his lap. She lifted the lid of the silver platter to reveal a bowl of fruit. Jem took a strawberry from the bowl and put it in Kurt's mouth. Tony got up from the table to storm off and Jem asked him if he was going to be like Lena and cry. Tony didn't give her the satisfaction of acknowledgment; he simply kept walking. "Good, now we get to be alone," she said to Kurt. "Get off me, you little slut!" Kurt stood up, letting Jem fall to the floor and left the room. Isabella and Rona went into the empty dining room about an hour later. Isabella began the conversation with, "I'm so scared. I mean all of this stuff that's been happening lately, you know first there was Jeff, then Lena" As Rona was sitting down she said, "Jeff probably wasn't even dead. I mean it's a TV show, they wouldn't let anything happen. It was probably just a dummy." "Well what about Lena? We know that wasn't fake!" "Isabella, she was a dummy. She had it coming. I mean, I didn't think she was going to die, but I knew she was going to hurt herself." "Yah, but how coincidental is it that it was her who was supposed to be voted off? I mean this house is haunted and the ghosts want us to play by the rules!" Rona took a bite of her fruit and said how fresh it tasted and then replied to Isabella. "No, it was just a coincidence. And like I said yesterday, there are no ghosts here." Margaret and Harold were sitting in the lounge where they were to wait for the host to bring the key to the new room. Harold began talking to Margaret again "You know how lucky you are to be sitting there still?" Margaret looked at Harold and then said, "Do you know how dumb you are to be asking the same questions over and over? Jon said Lena had 50% and Kate had 32% of the votes. That leaves me, and three other people mind you, 20% to split." "Yah, but just look at the people who you won over. The blonde dope who is now dead, and the chunky girl who the ghosts seem to like ever so much!" "Look, Harold, I don't really get along with you. And you for some reason don't really like me, so how 'bout you go away?" Margaret asked as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Fine, but when you're the next one to turn up with a toe tag-" "I'll be a ghost and come push you down a flight of stairs," she finished for him, although she knew that wasn't what he was going to say. Rick was sitting on the end of Kate's bed when she woke up. "Good morning," he said to her when he saw her eyes open up. "Hi." Kate sat up and patted the vacant seat next to her as if to invite Rick to sit beside her. He crawled up to the head of the bed and began talking to her. "So, did you hear what happened?" "To Lena? Yah, that's why I got to come back into the game." "No, you got to come back into the game because they cheated." "Who cheated?" "Well, the producers. They didn't actually cheat, they just put you into the dungeon to keep the person everyone hates." "Don't say that. Lena's dead. You have to show some level of respect." "You're right. I'm sorry." "It's a good thing I like you." Kate said to Rick as she put her head on his shoulder. Steve came barging into the room, "Hey, guys, quit making out and come on downstairs. Jon 's been waiting." Jon Matthews was looking at the ten people in the room. "Not that any of you really care, but I was almost fired last night for telling you how we cheated." Jem told him she was sorry and he nodded to her. "Okay are you all ready for the next room?" They all shouted yah back to him. "Okay, the room we are going to has a story also. This house had an owner who had many wives. He kept them each locked in a different room. One day one of his pregnant wives tried to escape from the house. She had to go through the room we are going to today and almost ran into her captivating husband. She knew that in order to leave the house she would have to hide from him. She got into the pool and hid underwater. She managed to escape the room without her husband seeing her. While she was in the pool however she had gone into labor and gave birth. In her panic she left the baby there in the pool to die. When her husband found the dead newborn, he sent for a bounty hunter to kill the woman. Within that very day they had found her and killed her." Jon then led them all to the room and unlocked the metal doors. Inside was an Olympic sized indoor swimming pool. "Okay," Jon said, "Today's challenge is going to be a little different. There are only going to be two winners. You, like the woman from the story, have to hold your breath and stay under for as long as you possibly can. The first eight people to come out of the water loose and are put in the poll for the vote. Kate was the first one back. "I've been in the dungeon once, I don't want to go back there!" The ten of them got into the pool and when Jon said go they all went under. Slowly, one by one they began to come up out of the water and into the air. Harold came first and was followed by Isabella. Rick and Margaret came up almost at the same exact time. Tony was the next person to come up gasping for air and Steve followed shortly after. This left Kurt, Jem, Kate, and Rona struggling to hold their breath in the water. It seemed like forever before Kate finally gave in and came out of the water. Rick clapped for her; she had been in the water for almost five minutes! The next person to pop their head out of the water was Jem. When Kurt and Rona came up out of the water they gave each other a high five and received their congratulations from the group. Jon then told them to dry off and go down to the basement. "Okay, so today the winners get to trash four people each," Rona was saying to the camera. "My first person is Isabella. I know, she's my friend, but she asks too many dumb questions and I'm sorry, but this house is not haunted no matter what anyone says, I just refuse to believe it! Especially from a red and blue haired freak!" Rona sat and thought for a moment. "Oh, okay my next person is Steve, he just creeps me out. I mean he's a painter and that's cool, but you know, there's just something about him. And my last two people are Harold and Margaret. All they ever do is fight. It's so annoying!" "Okay it was somewhat of a hard decision for me to pick four people, but here goes. I just don't like Kate and Rick. They're disgusting and they flaunt this cute little blooming relationship in everyone's face. I don't know about you, but I can't stand when people do that! Then there is Tony. I feel kind of bad for him after today, but he's still a loser. The reason I feel bad for him is because of my fourth person, Jem. She used me to make somebody else mad. I mean seriously can you say shameless dog?" Jon looked up to the camera when Kurt cane out of the wine cellar and said, "Okay so this time there are eight people for you to choose from, and don't worry, we aren't going to cheat with the results. So vote for one of the following eight people who did not win immunity; Isabella, Jem, Kate, Margaret, Harold, Rick, Steve, or Tony. Who will be the next to journey to the dungeon? Find out next time on 'Welcome to the House'." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Chapter 4 - One More Night "We're going to change things again," Jon Matthews said to the ten remaining contestants. "All ten of you are going to go back upstairs and go to bed. For one of you it will be your last night here." Jem then said, "Well if you know, why don't you just tell us?" She put her head down into her hands and continued talking. "Its probably me and even if its not, I'm sure that whoever it is would want to be prepared to die!" At this she began to cry. "Lena wasn't supposed to die. The last things I said to her were so mean!We fought a lot, but now she's dead just because the people who watch this stupid show didn't like her! Its not fair. Its not fair. Its not fair!" "Jem, calm down. Whoever gets voted off isn't going to die," Margaret consoled her. "How do you know? You don't run this whole place," she returned. "Jeff was the first one off, and now where is he? He's not in a dungeon. Jeff is dead you idiot! Who was the next one to go?" "I was," Kate piped in. She was the only person in the group reacting to the situation. The others were worried that what Jem was saying was true. "The only reason you were in the dungeon is because this loser," she pointed at Jon, but kept screaming at Kate, "cheated to make the game more interesting! How does that effect your self-esteem? I bet it hurts, and he doesn't care because he's getting the big bucks! Right, Jon? And what happened because of your cheating? Lena is dead! She's dead because of you, you sick, twisted, psychotic freak!" "That is enough, Jem!" Jon had screamed this louder than he ever knew he possibly could. With tears flowing down her face, Jem said, "You're right, Jon. It is enough. I have had enough of this stupid game. I have had enough of the loser people in it. And most of all I've had enough of the self-centered, lying, dirt-bag of a host. I know it was me who was voted off. So why don't I just save your stupid, little, pretend ghosts some time and just kill myself?" While seven of the members in the group looked at her with shocked expressions, Tony and Kurt were both hoping that she would do this. They had both been used to hurt the other. This caused the pain to be double. When Jem got up to run out of the cellar and up the stone stairs, Jon grabbed her by the wrist and said, "No. Its not you." This left Isabella, Kate, Margaret, Harold, Rick, Steve, and Tony for the all expense paid trip to the dungeon. "Well, I'm sure that whoever it is would want to know," Jem said as she pulled her wrist out of Jon's clutching hand." "We're doing it different. You'll know tomorrow," he said firmly. "Now go to bed. I'll see you all in the morning." Jon walked away angrily after he finished talking. He wasn't allowed to slap the contestants, but if he had been able to, he knew that Jem would have been a walking black and blue. "There has to be a way that we won't have to die," Isabella said. "We'll think about it in the morning. Right now we should all just get a good night's sleep," Kurt replied. "Well, that'll be easy for you to do. You have immunity. Nothing will be coming after you in the middle of the night," Kate said. "Look, just put a chair in front of your door and if anything happens you can just run out of your room," he suggested. They all climbed the stairs to the first floor and then remembered the fate of Lena. None of them wanted their heads to be on backwards. With this they walked up the staircase to the second floor holding eachothers' hands as if they were tied together climbing a great mountain. When they reached the top, everyone accept Kurt and Rona put a chair in front of their doors. They all then got into their enormous beds and fell asleep. In the middle of the night, Tony woke up with the strange feeling that someone was watching him. Tony shifted to the edge of his canopy bed and swung the curtain to the side. The large chair that he had put in front of the door was on its side. The door it had been holding open was closed. "Oh my God, it can't be me. Oh my God! No, don't let me die!" He began to hear breathing. It started near the chair and began to move. The room was so dark that he could see no figure moving. He could only hear the heavy breathing. The breathing was behind him now and Tony began to scream out, "Get away! Get Away!" "Easy now," the voice said. It was not the same voice that Kate had heard. This one was different and it sounded familiar to Tony. It was very close to him. He heard to curtains on the other side of the bed open. As he spun around it said, "I was thinking that maybe we could have a sleep over." Tony was looking into the face of what he believed to be true evil. Jem was sitting on is bed asking to spend the night with him. Earlier in the game this would have been a dream come true. Now, however, Tony knew what he had to do. He had to hurt her the same way Kurt had done. Not by dropping her on the floor, but instead just by turning her down. He did this by saying, "Sure, you can stay." When she smiled he finished with, "Hold on and I'll go get everyone else." He went out into the hall to tell everyone Jem's idea. "Hey everyone, if we all stay together tonight, we won't get hurt! Come on, we're going to stay in my room! The bed is huge we can all fit in it!" Right now he was screaming to the empty hallway, but soon the half awake contestants made their way to his room. They were all just standing around in Tony's room when Harold said, "Where's Margaret?" She was the only one missing and Harold had an idea of what had happened to her. She hadn't listened to his warnings. She thought that she could win this game by herself and now, now she was gone forever. "She's dead isn't she?" he asked. "Don't jump to conclusions, Harold," Rona said. "I don't need to! You and Kurt think that you're so great just because you're going to live for one more day and now everyone else here is relieved because they know the same thing!" "Harold, you have to calm down. She's probably just sleeping still," Rona suggested. Kurt then saw that Jem was crying. Not realizing what Tony had done to her he thought to himself, "Probably realizes that the focus isn't on her for once." He walked over to the bed and said as sympathetically as one could to a person they despise, "What's wrong?" She couldn't tell him the truth. She couldn't let him know that she had been defeated. "I've been so mean. I thought that I'd be the next person to die, but its Margaret, she never did anything and now she's dead! I seriously thought it would be me!" "Don't worry, you still have a chance. Rona thinks Margaret is just a heavy sleeper so we'll have to go check her room to see if she's dead or not," Harold said. "No, Harold, you know she's dead! We're all going to die!" Jem was in hysterics again. Kurt rolled his eyes and said, "Okay half of us will stay here and the other half will go get Margaret in her room." Kate looked to Rick and asked if they could stay. She didn't know what she'd do if they went and found Margaret dead. Kurt then suggested that either he or Rona stay and the other go as protection becau |