Hallo-weird

Chapter 5

The group pondered the question for a few moments, unsure of what to do.

"Well I thinkthe Kids should go down the hatch," Kenny suggested. "And then we should stay up here and keep lookout."

The Kids stared up at him with wide eyes, immediately shaking their heads.

"I don't really like it when we split up," Amymarie said, with an anxious expression.

"We should keep a lookout," Kenny pressed. "We don't know who could come around here. The Kids could go down and find their friend, and then, we could get out of here."

The Kids exchanged glances, unsure about the plan.

"It'll be simple," Kenny added. "We'll be looking out to make sure no one else comes down the trapdoor, rescue Red, and then, we can leave."

The Kids exchanged glances, slowly nodding in agreement.

"So down the hatch you go," Kenny said, bending down to open it.

But it wouldn't budge.

"Amymarie, a little help here?" Kenny asked.

Amymarie bent down to help him open up the trap door, but still wouldn't open.

"Could you just help us open up this trap door here?"Amymarie asked.

The Kids nodded, heading over to give them a hand.

"This is such a bad idea," Amymarie muttered. "We shouldn't be letting them go down a trap door that won't even open."

They managed to tug open the trapdoor between the six of them, revealing a ladder that lead down into a darkened basement.

"Who's going first?" Kenny asked the group of Kids.

They pointed at one another.

"Rock, paper, scissors?" Kenny suggested. "Green and Blue, you two play and Yellow and Orange, you two play. And then the losers play. And then the ultimate loser has to go down first."

"But you're not really an ultimate loser," Amymarie added.

They battled it out, and Blue lost.

"You're still a winner to me," Amymarie said, patting the Blue Kid on the head.

Kenny kept his phone trained on the ladder as the Blue Kid went down the ladder, followed next by the Green Kid and then the Orange Kid, and then lastly the Yellow Kid.

The Kids reached the basement and turned on the flashlights on their phones, glancing around them.

The Kids let out a startled yelp at the sight around them.

They were surrounded by clown costumes.

They exchanged confused expressions.

But before they could think too much about it, they heard movement on the ladder.

They exchanged glances, shining their lights up onto the ladder to see Amymarie and Kenny scurrying down the ladder.

"Hey guys," Amymarie said, a bit breathlessly.

The Kids just stared at them, confused as to why they weren't keeping lookout anymore.

"Here's your lookout report," Kenny said, dropping to the floor. "Someone's here."

The Kids began to scurry around the small area in the basement, bumping into one another as they tried to find somewhere to hide.

"Calm down," Amymarie ordered. "We didn't exactly see them."

The Kids glanced up at Kenny in confusion.

How did he know someone was here then?

"We heard them," Kenny informed the Kids. "And it gets worse. The trap door snapped shut above me on my way down. I think we're locked in here."

The Kids huddled around Amymarie, their eyes wide.

"So what do we do now?" Amymarie asked, looking around the group.

"We find Red," Kenny advised. "And then we figure it out."

"As long as Red is down here," Amymarie muttered, with a long sigh. "Otherwise we're trapped."

The Kids began to flash their lights around the room to see what they were dealing with.

"Wait guys," Amymarie whispered. "Do you hear that?"

The group fell silent, hearing the sounds of the floors creaking above them.

"It's probably just the house—" Kenny started.

And then they heard the sound of someone trying to open the trapdoor.

"How hard did that door snap shut?" Amymarie asked Kenny.

"Pretty hard," Kenny reasoned.

"Then that buys us some time," Amymarie said, with a sigh.

"To do what exactly?" Kenny asked, in a hushed voice.

The Kids stared at Amymarie with anxious expressions, waiting to see what she had to say.

"To come up with a plan."

Choice A: All six of them hide inside the clown costumes

Choice B: They face whoever it is and shine their phones in their eyes