Hallo-weird

Chapter 4

"Thanks to the fans, we all have phones," Kenny said, holding up his phone. "So we can do some more investigating. Where do you want to start?"

The Kids tumbled over one another as they headed towards the kitchen.

"I guess they have an idea," Amymarie muttered, following the Kids towards the kitchen.

They were fumbling through the drawers, looking for any type of clue and causing quite the commotion in the process.

"Shhhh," Kenny whispered. "Let's try and keep it down?"

The Kids glanced up, offering apologetic smiles.

The floors creaked beneath them as Amymarie and Kenny crossed into the kitchen, joining the Kids as they searched the drawers.

"What are we looking for exactly?" Amymarie asked, looking up.

"Anything, I guess," Kenny said with a shrug. "Matches, maybe? Some candles?"

Amymarie glanced around the room. "Yeah, it sure is spooky in here. We could definitely use some more light."

"It's just the way the shadows are casting on the walls," Kenny reasoned.

Amymarie glanced around in uneasiness, and then let out a startled gasp.

There were moving shadows behind her, they appeared to be growing and coming closer to them!

Then she glanced over and saw the Kids bent over, holding up their hands in front of the light and casting creepy shadows on the wall.

"Very clever, Kids," Kenny said, with a slight laugh.

"It's not funny!" Amymarie exclaimed, placing her hand over her pounding heart. "You scared me!"

The Kids doubled over in laughter, taking a few moments to collect themselves before joining Amymarie with a big group hug. The group continued to search through drawers and cupboards.

They worked in silence for a few minutes, and then the Kids let out frustrated sighs.

"Yeah, I'm coming up empty-handed too," Amymarie said, glancing over at Kenny.

He nodded in agreement, closing the drawer he was investigating. "I've got nothing."

Suddenly, the Kids let out an excited squeal, pulling candy out of one of the drawers.

"Is that candy?" Amymarie asked, shining her light over to where the Kids were standing.

"Sure looks like it," Kenny agreed. "But why would there be Halloween candy in an old, abandoned house?"

"Maybe it's old?" Amymarie suggested.

Kenny reached in the drawer, pulling out some more candy. "No, it's fresh."

"So someone's been here," Amymarie mused. "With candy."

"What are you doing?" Kenny asked the Kids, as they unwrapped pieces of candy.

The Kids offered up guilty smiles.

"Don't eat the creepy candy we found in the abandoned house," Amymarie whispered, taking the candy from them.

And then they heard creaking from a different part of the house.

The Kids began to scramble around the kitchen, tripping over one another as they tried to hide.

The noise suddenly stopped.

"Switch off your phone flashlights," Kenny whispered.

They did as Kenny asked, standing in silence and listening for any more noise. But the house remained silent.

"You guys heard that noise right?" Amymarie whispered. "Someone else is here."

"Let's go check it out," Kenny suggested.

The Kids exchanged glances and followed Kenny out to the living room, Amymarie close behind.

The group tried to move as silently as possible from the kitchen to the living room, but they continued to bump into one another as the floors creaked beneath them.

When they got back to the living room, it was still empty, save for the dusty old couch.

The group exchanged uneasy glances.

"Just because it's empty now, doesn't mean it always was," Amymarie whispered, her voice shaking. "There could be someone else creeping around this house, too. They could even be watching us right now."

The group exchanged uneasy glances.

"I highly doubt that," Kenny said, in a semi-confident voice.

And then they heard a lamp shatter behind them.

Kenny and Amymarie whipped around to see the Kids standing behind them, their hands covering their mouths as they laughed. Orange was wearing the lampshade over its costume.

"That's not funny!" Amymarie cried, nearly jumping out of her skin, "but it does look hilarious with a taco suit," she conceded, laughing quietly.

"Let's just look around for a minute," Kenny reasoned. "See if we can find anything in here."

They split up around the room, looking for any clues or signs.

"You find something?" Kenny asked the Kids, noticing that they had made their way over to what seemed to be a bookshelf in the hallway.

"It doesn't really seem to be a clue," Amymarie mused, picking up an old book off the shelf. "But it's still interesting."

The Kids took turns picking up books as well. It looked to be an entire library stashed away in the corner.

"So they can't leave us a candle, but they can leave a bunch of old books?" Kenny muttered. "Gee, thanks."

"Look at this one," Amymarie said. "It's a detective book."

The Kids huddled around her, taking turns to see what she was talking about.

"Why do you think that?" Kenny asked.

"It's called 'Detecting the Haunting,'" Amymarie answered, raising her eyebrows at him. "Call it a hunch."

Kenny picked up another book, humming as he flipped through it.

Amymarie shivered a little and put the book back on the shelf.

"'Fangs, Ears, and Love,'" Kenny read, flipping through some of the books. "'Real Ghosts of America,' 'Haunting Your Sleep.' These books are scary."

"None of these are my kind of reading," Amymarie commented, shaking her head.

Kenny turned around to put his book back on the shelf and let out a shriek, the face of a creepy clown staring back at him. The Kids had been holding a copy of "Creepy Clowns in History" right in front of his face.

The Kids let out howls of laughter, dropping the book.

"Creepy clown face," Amymarie mused. "Not your kind of reading either, is it?"

"No definitely not. But wait," Kenny said, "That sounded weird, didn't it?"

"Yeah, it sounded kind of... hollow," Amymarie replied.

The Kids scrambled over to the rug's edge and tugged it out of the way, the six of them staring at what they'd revealed.

"A trapdoor," Amymarie breathed, staring in awe.

The Kids headed back over to where the trapdoor was, trying to tug it open.

"Not so fast," Kenny instructed, causing the Kids to look over at him. "There's a good chance Red is down there."

The Kids nodded eagerly.

"And maybe someone else, too."

The Kids stepped away from the door, not so eager to open it anymore.

"So what's our plan?" Amymarie asked.

Choice A: All 6 of them go down the trapdoor

Choice B: Split up, the Kids go down while Kenny and Amymarie keep lookout

Vote now by selecting Option A or B