TWs: Anxiety attack

CWs: None

AN: THE PLOT THICKENS!!! MWAHAHAHA! This chapter was written by my co-author.

Did she really just say what I thought she did?

Apparently, she did. Everyone in the room stared at the curly-haired girl with a mix of perplexed, confused, and startled looks. Mel had been having so much fun that she almost completely forgot about the messed-up town that existed outside of Belle's party. At last, Charlie Anne was the one who spoke up.

"Belle, you do realize you just said the words 'rogue AI,' right? Like, you know, the one thing that a huge chunk of the population is convinced is going to take over the world? I just want to make sure because, the way you phrased it, it sounds like you're just casually talking about one of your bazillion dance competitions instead of something that could very much cause humanity's demise. Just saying."

Mel shifted her gaze over to Jamie, who gave a "no, no, she has a point" face at the redhead. Belle, in return, looked at each of the girls sitting down before sighing while resting her forehead in the palm of her hand.

"Yeah, no, you're right, Charlie Anne. That was a terrible explanation. Sorry, I guess you could say I'm just, um, used to this stuff by now. I tend to forget that most people don't even think about this stuff, as your expressions are telling me." She walked over and sat down on the couch, taking in a deep breath once she was situated. "Here, why don't I start from the beginning, so you all can better understand just where I'm coming from?"

"Yes, please do!" Charlie Anne butted in. "Oh, and also, is this Gregory by chance the same one that was over at your place the one day we tried to make those cookies for the bake sale that went horribly wrong? Oh, oh! And I think I remember that Cassie girl! She's the brunette who's the daughter of your dad's coworker friend, right? But wait, why are the two of them lurking around the old pizzaplex? Wait, no! Better question! Why do you supposedly know so much about—"

"You know, Charlie Anne, way back a long time ago, they invented this incredible thing called listening. Legend has it that if you put it to full use, you'll actually learn a thing or two more than you knew before," Jamie interrupted with her iconic snarky but always good-hearted commentary that Mel had come to fully associate with her former best friend.

The girl's face turned a bright red, and she looked down sheepishly. "Sorry."

Belle laughed. "No hard feelings, Charlie Anne. We've all been there. Now, how about I give you all a little bedtime story, or, as MatPat would probably call it, some of my life's personal LOOOOORRRREEEE?"

All of the girls had to have a full-on belly laugh at that one.

"Wait, you're a fan of MatPat?" Mel finally caught her breath, though the sides of her ribs still hurt.

"Uhh, my cousin is Charlie Anne Everly herself. I had no choice but to become a fan of his."

After they fully calmed themselves down, Belle launched into a lengthy story about the misgivings that had happened to her over the last year or so.

"Okay, so it all started about six months ago. One of my friends from school—her name's Maya, by the way—wanted to go to Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex for her birthday. Something that the rest of us, in that friend group at least, were just a bit less enthusiastic about. We all wanted to celebrate our friend, of course, but I'm sure all of you have at least heard one or two of the minor rumors circulating the Fazbear name."

Jamie and Charlie Anne both nodded their heads in agreement.

Jamie also pointed at the black-haired girl. "Oh, trust me. This one definitely knows a thing or two about what you're talking about."

"Oh, really?" Belle committed. Her tone had been seemingly neutral, but the blonde was also able to detect something in her voice that gave off an air of unstated knowledge.

Mel herself definitely remembered all of the gossip that had circled around the franchise's history way back when she was still in middle school, though she had long since put the childish idea that ghosts were real and were out seeking vengeance upon humanity all behind her.

"Anyways, back to the story," Belle said swiftly. "All of us, well, you know, except Maya, were kinda worried about safety and what might end up happening if we headed over there."

"So, though I really didn't want to, I went to go talk to her about it, being as direct as I could. I usually try to be subtle if I can, but this was bigger than just me, ya know? But, just like I'd expected her to, she told me that I was just being 'overly paranoid' and that 'everyone knows that the owners made up those stories to attract more customers.'" She sighed into her hands once again before continuing. "And yeah, I know, I probably really should've listened to my better instinct. But this was her big sixteen, and it wasn't like there had been any recent stories on the news about creepy old middle-aged guys with their rusty knives just casually stalking around pizzerias. So, we all went. And actually, it was really fun. At first. But then, out of nowhere, stuff went really wrong."

"Um, just how wrong are we talking here?" Mel's intrigued concern was at its height.

"Well, this is where the story takes kind of a weird turn. It started when just about everyone in the Pizzaplex started running around frantically screaming and trying to reach the entrance. Seriously, to this day, I don't know why, but regardless, me and my friends had gotten caught up in it, and well, I ended up getting separated from them. I tried my best to look for them, but then somehow I just fainted."

"Fainted?" Jamie gave Belle a quizzical look, clearly feeling as confused as Mel was.

"Yeah, it was the strangest thing. And when I woke up, I somehow got on the stage. The first thing I tried, of course, was to open the doors, but they were locked. When I tried calling for help, I saw that my phone was dead."

"Oh my goodness, so you actually ended up getting trapped in there with no way to call for help? That must have been absolutely terrifying for you. I know I would've been." Jamie was completely sincere.

Belle nodded. "It really was. It's what led me to start running around in complete desperation, hoping I would bump into a security guard or something like that. That is how I ended up literally running into Glamrock Freddy, one of the animatronics."

"I was, like, really scared of him at first, but, as it turned out, he was not only actually really friendly but was also trying to help out another kid who had also gotten lost, Gregory."

"Ahh, okay, so that's how you meet him!" Charlie Anne realized. "That makes sense. You both got stuck in the Pizzaplex, found each other, and stuck together until you were able to get out the next day. Right?"

Belle gave her a small smile that looked pretty weary. "I really wish it ended up being that simple. I won't get into the specifics, since that's very much a whole story on its own, and knowing me, I definitely end up yapping on about it to the point where you all started to consider something along the lines of self-defenestration."

"Belle, dear, I've been highly considering it for the last 10 minutes now. This suspense is going to be the death of me!" Jamie was a mix of playfulness and "please get to the point before I completely explode from all of this eager and restless energy within me."

"My dearest apologies, Madam Jamie, and in the interest of you lovely ladies surviving this treacherous night, I shall speed up my storytelling."

"All is forgiven, Miss Higgins," she replied, her accent perfectly matching Belle's.

All of the girls giggled for a moment at the duo's silly shenanigans.

Belle's either a theater kid like Jamie or she was crazy into those PBS British TV shows growing up. Both are very plausible. Mel, for some reason, could very easily imagine little Belle lying in front of the TV, ready to catch the next episode of her favorite, 19th-century, Europe-centered show.

"Okay, but in all seriousness, though." Belle snapped Mel out of her off-topic thoughts. "During that night in the Pizzaplex, we actually ended up finding out that someone had released some kind of...glitch-like thing. It was almost as if somebody had hacked into the database system and overwritten everything with some kind of virus. And while that was definitely bad enough, towards the end of our escape, we...well, we discovered, um, well, we ended up finding something that was..." She was either struggling to come up with the right words or she really didn't want to say them.

Jamie, however, clearly couldn't take it any longer. "Belle, for crying out loud! Just say it, please! What crazy, paranoia-type thing did you see?!"

"Okay, okay!" Belle threw up her hands in panicked surrender. "It turned out that, hidden way beneath the Plex, was—well, you all know who William Afton was, right? Well, surprise, surprise! Someone tried to bring him back to life and was basically successful!"

A paralyzing silence had seized the room. Everyone was at a loss for words. When everyone in that room was basically a huge chatterbox, it spoke more volumes of the intensity of the revelation than their words ever could.

The only thought that Melinda herself could muster was, Who in their right mind would even want to do that?

With every new day that sprouted, another reason for Mel to hold onto her belief that people were inherently bad followed right suit, Belle's story being nowhere near an expectation.

Jamie, after what had felt like countless lifetimes had passed, was the first one who broke into the hushed, unsteady stillness with her words. "So let me get this straight: the infamous William Afton, the one who was responsible for heaven only knows how many child murders, has somehow been brought back to life? Like, some kind of absolute sicko had decided to bring back that—I honestly don't know what to call him, but I definitely won't give him the honor of being called a man.

"Well, yes and no. It's kinda complicated." Mel noticed that Belle had started to frantically twirl her hands in her curly hair, almost pulling on it so hard that it hurt.

It must be a nervous habit.

"As absolutely disgusting as it is, yes, someone did try to bring Afton back. But it's very likely that his revival was short-lived. The entire Pizzaplex literally collapsed in on itself all around us as we made our escape. We narrowly made it out ourselves, and that was, like, us running faster than we probably ever had in our lives. When Afton first came out of his capsule thing, he could barely move, let alone be able to sprint out of there. So, more likely than not, he got crushed so badly, he'll never be able to walk again, and that's with the very generous assumption he even survived the collapse."

"Well, good riddance for that, at least." Mel tried to sound reassuring. Yet she could silently tell that none of them were fully sold on the idea that William Afton had met his demise.

Another moment of stillness had passed over the girls. Mel looked over at Charlie Anne and had taken account of the fact that the youngest girl's face appeared to have become a shade or two paler, better matching her light gray eyes that stared pretty intensely at the floor below her. Giving the impression that whatever thoughts were racing through her mind had completely taken her captive.

Belle took note of this. She walked over to Charlie Anne, kneeled in front of her, and placed one of her hands on the other girl's shoulder. "Charlie Anne, hey, are you feeling okay? You look a little...distraught, to say the least. And you're also staring at the tile as if you're convinced an underground monster is going to pop out at any moment and attack you."

Charlie Anne stayed dazed for a moment longer before she fully registered what Belle had said. Once she had, however, she quickly snapped her head up to look at the girl in front of her. She forced a smile onto her face that was probably meant to look more reassuring and less trembly, all while her face was still the same shade of blanched white.

"Oh, uh, y-yeah. Sorry about that," Charlie Anne finally responded. "I guess just hearing that Hurricane's most notorious, thought-to-be-long-dead serial killer is somehow alive is kind of a lot."

Mel, from where she was sitting, examined the shaken-up girl across the way.

There's definitely a lot more that's bothering her. Things she's not willing to say.

And from Jaime's facial expression, Mel guessed she was thinking just about the same thing.

Charlie Anne, nevertheless, was very much done with having all the attention on her. At least, that was what it came off as when she cleared her throat and made a swift topic change. "Well, anyway, back to what we were talking about. While all of those were some very shocking revelations, Belle, it still doesn't quite explain what the AI thing is. Are you trying to say it has something to do with the virus thing you mentioned earlier?"

Belle, even though her face still showed much concern, opted to continue the conversation over further questioning of her cousin. She got back up to her feet and faced all three girls again. "Well, yes, mine and Greg's current theory is that it is somehow connected to Afton and whatever that glitch thing was. But honestly, we have no idea exactly what it is or what it wants. The only thing that we know for certain is that it is frighteningly intelligent. To the point of it being able to somehow memorize Gregory's voice and manner, and then using that to trick poor Cassie into setting it free from whatever was keeping it bound."

As Belle finished up her last sentence, the rest of the girls kept looking at each other in complete bewilderment, trying to comprehend everything that had been told to them.

"So," Mel finally managed to say. "Your plan now is to go down there with Gregory and try to learn more about this newly released, evidently dangerous AI?"

Belle nodded. "Yup. And with any luck, we'll be able to discover a point of weakness before this thing starts to get out of hand." Her eyes traced over the room before sighing. "I'm really sorry about all of this, by the way. This is definitely not how I imagined my birthday party to go. I'm glad we all had fun while it lasted, though. You all can feel free to stay the night here if you need to since, you know, this was originally supposed to be a swim and sleepover party."

Jamie instantly leaped to her feet. "Uh, hold on just a second there, girly. You can't just throw out information such as, 'Oh, William Afton got resurrected' and, 'Oh, there's a berserk, most likely evil AI on the loose' and then possibly expect us to sit here and do nothing while you run off to face it head on!"

Belle met Jamie's fierce and purposeful gaze. "Look, Jamie, don't get me wrong. You're a very joyful and lively person—someone who's for sure a lot of fun to be around. But I just met you. I feel it would be pretty unfair to drag you into—"

Jamie cut her off. "Look, I don't know about these two. But if you really think I'm going to miss out on what will very likely be the most epic summer adventure ever, you're greatly mistaken."

Belle's face gave away her weary uncertainty as she looked away from Jamie, most likely trying to decide whether or not it would be a good idea to let her tag along.

While waiting for Belle's response, Mel started to put everything she had said into full perspective. Though just about everything she had said was rather horrifying, Mel felt like there was one thing that stood out greatly from the rest.

"You all know who William Afton was, right? Well, surprise, surprise! Someone tried to bring him back to life and was basically successful!"

William Afton, the man who had singlehandedly murdered dozens of children. The man who had inspired the creation of the Five Nights at Freddy's games, which had a fandom so large that the original creators were now making a movie franchise based on them. The man who, for decades, had been rumored to have survived countless attempts made on his life, including fires.

A man everyone thought was long dead.

And yet now, years and years after the case on Afton had been closed, it seemed as if someone out there in the world had found a way to bring him back.

But why? Mel once again wondered. Why would someone ever try to bring that atrocious monster back from the dead?

A memory that had taken place on a cool spring day flashed through Mel's mind. In the memory were two little kids, one wearing her newly purchased hot pink summer dress, while the other wore his favorite dinosaur print shirt with navy blue shorts. They sat on the front porch of their house, eating Bomb Pop popsicles while wildly talking about whatever had currently caught their interest.

That was one of the last times I ever saw Julius and RJ before they disappeared.

Her heart began to once again feel painfully weighed down as she recalled all of the people who had been going missing. The Campbell siblings, some of the very first victims, had vanished around three months ago. And three months or so before that, the company that owned Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex announced they were permanently closing its doors due to "manufactory issues."

So, just three months before one of the town's greatest tragedies struck, a psychotic murderer just so happened to get brought back to life? And now there was an out-of-control, clearly harmful AI roaming around?

There's no way this is all a coincidence, she concluded. Something much more sinister is going on.

Mel looked over at the redhead, who, at the moment, was very conflicted. The same girl who had been kind enough to invite a complete stranger to her birthday party and made Melinda feel like that for once wasn't alone in her thoughts. And the story that Belle had told all of them tonight had only further fueled that notion.

Mel knew there were a lot of unknown variables. She was also very aware of how the idea of running straight into an abandoned pizzaplex in search of a rogue AI absolutely petrified her. But the knowledge that Belle, even after everything she had gone through that one night, was willing to march right back down to the plex and come face-to-face with whatever horrors hid within its shadows, helped give Mel the motivation and conviction she needed to go straight down there with her.

I have to do this for all of them.

Her mind ran through all of the names of the people who were currently nowhere to be found, as well as all of those who had already lost the hope of ever seeing their loved ones again.

I owe it to every single one of them to try.

As soon as she had made up her mind, she stood up and walked over to the other two girls.

"I'm coming too," she announced. Belle, in turn, broke away from her in-depth thinking and looked over at Mel. "You're going to need all the help you can get."

Belle looked back and forth between Mel and Jamie. "There's no way I'm talking the two of you out of this, am I?"

"Nope!" Jamie placed her hands on her hips and smiled.

She glanced between the two girls one more time before she pulled her phone out of her back pocket.

"All right, you guys win. You can come with me. I'll text Gregory that I'm bringing some friends, so that way he won't, like, completely freak out when we get there." She typed something into her phone. "I'm going to warn you both, though; this is going to be no walk in the park."

"Now, now, just where would the excitement be if this was going to be easy? If all the books I've read over the years taught me anything, it's the fact that you must have very high stakes for it to be any fun." Jamie eagerly grinned.

"My goodness, you really are just as much of a bookworm as Charlie Anne, huh?" Belle noted jokingly.

"You betcha."

"Hey, um, speaking of Charlie Anne. Should we see if she wants to come too?" Mel pointed out, not wanting to leave the girl with the shoulder-length black hair out. Belle's face eased up a bit as she looked over at the final girl still on the couch.

"You can for sure come too if you want, Charlie Anne, but you don't have to if you don't want to. It's totally okay. No one's judging," Belle informed her.

Charlie Anne, in return, sat hunched over on the couch, completely silent, her face scrunched up in a thoughtful manner. Eventually, after a bit of time, she stood up and shook her head.

"Nah. It's okay. I mean, I can't just let my cousin and my best friend run off into danger without me being there." She walked over to where they were all standing, stopping between Jamie and Mel. "Let's go kick this AI's butt!"

Belle giggled a bit. "I feel like we're going to have to take some steps before that one, though the enthusiasm is very much appreciated, Charlie Anne." She looked over her shoulder. "Well, it looks like I'm bringing you all down with me. Now the only question that remains is: how in the world am I going to convince my parents to let all of us leave the house by ourselves this late in the day? Without, like, raising suspicion and getting us all grounded until the day we die?"

"Y'know, my sister Rynn was pretty rebellious in her teenage years, and she taught me all kinds of tips and tricks," Charlie Anne disclosed. "Once she told me that a great way of sneaking out was to lock your door and put a 'do not disturb' sign on the outside of it. Then you sneak out of your bedroom window, or something like that. I actually remember her doing it quite a lot, and she never once got caught."

Jamie went up next to her friend and pulled her into a tight side hug. "Charlie Anne, that's absolutely brilliant! Let's do it!"

Belle put her hands on her hips. "Okay, then, I guess we're really about to do this. We should probably get a move on; I can make the sign."

She walked towards a dark wooden desk while the other three made their way into Belle's bedroom. A few moments later, she walked down the hall with a piece of paper and some tape. She then proceeded to rip off a few pieces and put the sign up on the door.

"That should be good," Belle whispered, most likely because her parents' bedroom was nearby.

"All right, then, let's go!" Jamie stage-whispered, jumping up onto Belle's bed to reach the window.

In the middle of waiting on her best friend to undo the window latches, Mel turned her head towards Belle, who was biting her lower lip. Her eyes also gave off a disquieted look.

"Hey, you good?" Mel asked her.

She looked toward her. "I mean, I just feel kinda bad sneaking out and lying to my parents like this, you know? I usually like to be as truthful as possible to them."

Mel nodded her head in semi-understanding. Belle definitely gave off the impression of being your typical well-behaved, good-natured kid. The blonde was starting to feel pretty paranoid about what would happen if they got caught being absent from the house.

Nonetheless, she still wanted to reassure her, so she said. "I mean, yeah, lying is undoubtedly a bad thing to do most of the time. But I feel like in this case, it's a little more okay since you're doing it to help a friend, and probably a lot more people too. Plus, like Charlie Anne said, it's almost a foolproof plan that's guaranteed to work. We just have to be back by morning."

"Mel's right. We'll be fine." Jamie opened the window like it was a small door. "Now, who is going to go first?"

They ended up deciding that Belle should jump first. Before she did, she walked over to a white desk, opened its drawer, and pulled out four small flashlights. She handed one to Mel and Charlie Anne. Once she got to Jamie, the other girl held up her finger before jumping off the bed. She reached down to her bag, opened the side pocket, and pulled out her own flashlight.

"What can I say? I'm always prepared." She looped the flashlight around her wrist.

Soon after, Belle climbed out of the window, followed by Jamie, Mel, and Charlie Anne.

"Okay." Belle flicked on her flashlight. "Everyone follow me and try to stay close together."

Everyone else turned on their lights and followed Belle down towards the mostly dark sidewalk, aside from a couple of substantially spaced street lights. The four of them made their way through the neighborhood, where, at that hour, just about no one roamed outside. Eventually, they reached the small town she lived in. Lots of things, such as convenience stores, banks, and restaurants, were still open and had a considerable number of people. Thankfully, though, everybody around them was too caught up in their things to pay the girls any attention. It was even more beneficial to them once the curly-haired one in the lead made them take a sharp turn into a questionable alleyway shrouded in shadows.

"Me and my friends discovered a while back that this is the quickest way there." In the middle of her explanation, she shone her light on a startled rat that sped into the darkness to escape the sudden light.

Mel jolted so much that she almost fell backward.

"It'll lead us straight out to the Pizzaplex. But it's also pretty gross. Try to watch your step if you can."

Walking through the discarded and atrocious-smelling alleyway was definitely the grossest thing Mel ever had to do, with her newfound friends probably sharing the same sentiments. At last, clear, scent-free air hit their airways as they once again stepped out onto the pavement.

Charlie Anne breathed in a big gulp of air. "That was probably the grossest thing I've ever smelled. Even worse than that time when I fell into horse poop."

Jamie let out a small giggle "Oh my word, I still remember that day. You had to use all of your soap—plus some of mine—just to get it off."

"Okay, girls," Belle firmly stated. "The Plex is just to the left of this alleyway, across the street. Gregory should already be there. As soon as we get inside, that's when we really have to make sure we don't leave each other's side. There's no telling what this AI is capable of."

The other three girls nodded their heads in agreement, knowing enough about horror movies to understand that was a foolproof way to get yourself killed.

Belle took a final deep breath. "All right. Let's go do this." She turned left, crossing the street without any further hesitation, the rest of the group trailing right behind her.

The area surrounding them was completely dark. Not even a single "Welcome" window sign or a small outdoor lamp was visible. This was most likely because the few buildings that surrounded Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizza Plex had clearly been abandoned.

All of the owners must have been scared pretty badly to have just picked up everything and left like that. Mel shuddered as a freezing chill spread throughout her body.

They all stayed dead silent as Belle led the group closer and closer to the colossal, secret-bearing building until, after walking for almost an hour, they at last reached their destination, their lights illuminating what had once been the main entranceway.

All of the doors and windows were now covered with wooden boards. Surprisingly, there was no fence or any other physically visible security measure that was preventing them from getting in. The only thing they had to do to get in was figure out a way past the timber obstacle in front of them.

Luckily for them, Belle had decided at that moment to pull out her phone and check to see if there were any new messages from Gregory. After quickly typing something back, she slipped it back into her pocket and moved her flashlight, shining it on a certain panel.

"Greg just told me that the board right there is really loose, and we should be able to just wiggle it right out. The window is also already broken, so we thankfully don't have to worry about that. He says to still be careful though, since there's broken glass both still surrounding the frame and on the floor beside it on the other side."

Everyone walked up to the window that Belle had directed at, each grabbing a part of the board once they had reached it, following up with each of them jumping through very carefully once they had gotten the giant wooden covering out of its place.

Mel was the last one to jump through. The sound of her feet hitting the ground was paired with a voice from across the way.

"Thank goodness, you're finally here! What took you so long?" The words came from the only other light source in the room, much farther away. The person was currently invisible to the group.

"Yeah, sorry for the holdup; it took us a bit to get here," Belle responded in the direction of the voice.

A boy stepped out into the light. "Well, now that you're finally here, we can get going on the investigation. Oh, and I'm Gregory, by the way," he told the other girls. "Though I'm sure Belle already told you that."

Now that Mel was able to see him in person, she took into account that Gregory was about the same height as Belle, his brunette hair growing out a bit past his ears. His light brown eyes had an unusual seriousness to them, while the rest of his facial expression was a combination of impatience and worry. And she knew she would be lying to herself if she didn't personally admit that his outfit of choice, a collared blue-and-white striped shirt and khaki shorts, reminded her of something an older man would wear to a golf course.

"She did. And I'm Jamie, someone who would very much love to get started on this mystery. And right next to me is Charlie Anne." She noticed the younger girl was too tense to speak.

"And I'm Melinda." She waved slightly as she introduced herself.

"Okay, we should get a move on, just like Jamie said. Who knows what's going on with poor Cassie right now? C'mon, we need to go this way."

"Wait, what?! What do you mean, Greg? Did something else happen to her?" Belle broke into a run to catch up with him.

He looked over at her with widened eyes. "Wait, I forgot to update you on her, didn't I?"

She shook her head.

"Man, how did I manage to leave that part out? Sorry 'bout that. Here, I'll get all of you caught up while we walk."

Even though Gregory's story was brief, it still aroused new waves of dread and fear in Melinda. The expansive, broken-down Plex around them felt slowly closing in.

In his short explanation, he told them that after discovering Cassie was nowhere to be found, he traced her steps to the Plex. That was when he first discovered the ingenious AI that had tricked Cassie. He had tried to reach out to her in warning, but it had gone horribly wrong.

"The AI had completely taken over, pretending to be me again. I tried to get back to her, but that thing wouldn't let me. And before I could even understand what it was trying to do, I heard some really loud noise, followed by Cassie screaming. The radio had completely cut off afterward."

Belle's hands flew to her mouth and dropped instantly. "Oh my goodness, I-I figured the AI was going to be dangerous, but there's got to be a way to find out what happened."

"We actually do, or at least should, have a good lead," Gregory responded. "As Cassie proved, even though the Pizzaplex has been out of commission for a while now, a lot of the old security systems are still up and running, including the cameras. Maybe. I plan to go to the room with all the footage and try and see if we can find anything to show us what happened."

By now, they had reached the end of the hallway and were walking down, branching off to the left and right.

"If I recall correctly, it should be just right around this way." He pointed his flashlight down to the left.

They all followed him down in that direction and, sure enough, had within a few moments come to a door that had the label "Security Room" over it. Gregory was already in front of it, turning the knob.

"Okay, guys, we have no time to waste; let's see if we can find a way to—ooh."

After having just taken a few steps inside, Gregory, out of nowhere, completely froze. His flashlight seemed to focus on nothing in particular.

Jamie walked up further into the room, stopping near where Gregory stood. "Is something wrong, Gregory?" Concern laced her voice.

She, along with Belle and Mel, scanned the lit-up space in a scrutinized manner, attempting to find something that seemed out of place.

At first, it appeared that he hadn't heard the question. After a few more seconds, he gave a delayed response. "Oh, yeah. Um, sorry. I guess just something about this room triggered some old mem—."

He cut himself off at the sound of loud, sharp breaths. Then, something hit the floor.

Everybody looked back at the door frame, where a tense yet trembling Charlie Anne stood nearby.

Her gray eyes held a blank, frigid stare as her forehead appeared drenched in sweat, though it was hard to tell with barely any light. Her flashlight lay at her feet, using the hand that had been holding it to press against her chest, while her other arm wrapped around about where her solar plexus was. Her face was twisted with complete terror as she continued to take rapid, unrhythmic breaths.

Mel's first response was to start running toward Charlie Anne in complete panic, hoping she would find a way to calm her down. She was prevented, however, when Belle ran in front of her with her hands up. Once she had come to a stop, she became aware that the other two had also been running towards Charlie Anne.

"Guys, we can't all run up to her at once and overwhelm her. It'll only make everything worse. Please, I need all of you to stay back while I calm her down. You'll be the most helpful that way."

They all took a few steps back as they watched Belle steadily approach the girl having an anxiety attack. Once she had gotten close, but with still a considerable amount of space between them, she started talking softly.

"Do you need to move to a different area?"

Belle waited patiently for a response, but Charlie Anne didn't answer. Her frantic breathing was the only noise that filled the room.

She tried again. "Would you prefer me to guide you through a relaxation exercise or to help you focus on your breathing?" Again, she waited, but yet again, there was no answer from the girl in front of her.

She's surprisingly calm. Mel accounted, though the more she thought about it, the more she realized that it was probably a lot better to at least appear calm in a situation like this.

Belle seems to understand literally all the right things to do. How many times has she had to do this in the past?

Gregory kept glancing back and forth between where Charlie Anne stood and where she was staring. Mel started to notice that it was in the same general direction that he had been caught off guard by moments before.

" Is...is she somehow seeing—but there's no way she could..." He was now fixated entirely on her as he trailed off.

But before she or Jamie could ask him what he meant, Charlie Anne finally spoke.

"T-they're back. T-t-the g-ghosts are back." 

AN: HOW'S THAT FOR A CLIFFHANGER?! MWAHAHAHAHA! Also, Christina and I have never had an anxietty attack. We did research on symptoms and ways to help. If this inaccurate, please let us know and give us pointers on how to make it more realistic.