Marty stilled in his attempt to retreat. It turned silent after the daunting question registered. Nobody knew what to say, afraid to crack the thin sheet of ice settled upon. Like a cocoon, it was shielding them from the subsequent, yet cold and jittery. It was unsafe and impermanent.

Even so, they refused to let it break. One would think, they were carved of stone with the cadaverous tautness of their bodies. However, they were awaiting the dreaded moment when their lives would be at stake. The impending doom they all sealed for themselves by coming to the devil's den.

Jillian started to relax when no word was further uttered. However, before he could even slacken fully, the fine hairs on his neck stood to attention when Alyson's voice surrounded them once more.

"I guess I'll just have to let you know whether you like it or not, since no one's bothered to volunteer a yes," she said casually, as if discussing the weather. But the high-schoolers knew it was too good to be true. "After all, we might as well start while the night's still young," she crooned maliciously, a deranged glint in her eyes and a malevolent sneer curving her lips crooked as she ran her eyes over the others in the poorly lit room.

From the corner of his eye, Marty could see Veronica trembling like a tuning fork. He discreetly moved to his left and took her hand to offer comfort. Even if he himself was scared out of his wits.

Her hand was ice cold. She'd always been faint at heart. Marty couldn't imagine what a girl like her would be going through anticipating about the current hour being the last of her life and what atrocious future awaited them. The thought petrified him to the point he felt breathing would reduce him to the verge of hysteria.

Jillian kept watching Alyson steadily, always the picture of calm and control. The other three, he noticed rather shell-shocked, were her own best friends from school: her best friend Grace, the blonde was always joined at the hip with Alyson, Mark, her tall and lanky, guy friend from the basketball team then finally Lara, the brunette who was either busy inspecting her nails or gossiping over almost anything and everything.

He could see the helpless tears in their eyes as the girls huddled into each other and the terror in Mark's normally arrogant features. At that moment, they barely seemed like what they posed to be at school. They were just some scared, vulnerable teens -just like them.

"Rule number one," Alyson started in a malignant tone, thoroughly enjoying everyone's horror come alive. "No one's allowed to leave until one of you is dead."

Veronica choked on a sob and grabbed onto Marty tightly, like a child seeking protection from a parent when scared of some irrational nightmare. Jillian clenched his jaw and hands till his knuckles were white.

"Rule number two," Alyson continued sadistically in a hushed murmur. "If you try to escape, the consequences would be enough to make you beg for death but not get it. It'll include anyone you hold dear,"

Everyone stopped breathing for a moment. Thoughts of their family getting involved in this game of death were much more horrendous than themselves trapped in it.

Marty had had enough. Sudden adrenalin rush accompanied courage and he boldly spat, "Enough of this crap, Alyson!"

Everybody snapped their eyes to his face, almost making his resolve waver with the intensity of their gazes and need to survive. Though, the stare that made a shiver run through him was one filled with dark amusement. Alyson.

"Don't you understand what death means? Eternal rest. Loss of life. No coming back! So why can't you respect that and try moving on? Why not let others live their time peacefully? So what if she comes to life? What about the life you exchange for her return? Would it be less precious than your sister's? What if his or her siblings or parents want y-"

"That's it!" Alyson grounded through gritted teeth, silently seething with both her fists clasped, unyielding and quaking in fury.

Hesitant and scared, Grace tried to calm her by wrapping her fingers around Alyson's forearm lightly, her green eyes dripping tears down her rosy, freckled cheeks.

"Alyson," she croaked in a feeble, tired voice. "Please, let us g-"

Before she could continue, her hand in contact with Alyson was snatched back as if electrocuted and a gut-wrenching shriek broke through her lungs as she began to convulse grotesquely on the wooden floor.

"Oh my god!" Veronica cried in a shrill scream and went to help Grace along with a crying and whimpering Lara. The boys stared wide-eyed at the girl writhing on the floor, terror reigning their hearts. If there was any doubt left in their minds about this being an early Halloween prank, it was long gone now.

"What's happening to her?! Alyson! Stop this!" Mark bellowed, but didn't dare come close to her as he stole glances between her quivering form and the girls tussling on the floor with Grace to calm her.

Crack. Crunch. Crack.

The repugnant sounds of bones breaking and the blood-curdling screams which followed right after each crack were vomit-inducing. Marty felt queasy in the dark, gloomy room.

"You don't know what I went through! Do you know how Marie died?! One of the Fear family bewitched her to the brink of insanity until she clawed her own heart out of her chest with her very own hand. Right in front of my eyes." Her hoarse bellowing reduced to a pathetic croak as her eyes brimmed and shone with unshed tears, her lips trembling.

Everyone was stunned to silence. Of course, they'd heard of the rivalry between the Goodes and the Fears and of their dark pasts. No one dared question it's authenticity, it was proved she wasn't kidding.

Grace finally relaxed in her fetal position, fainted. Both girls barely held in gasps as they saw the ends of broken bones sticking out nauseatingly, still inside the flesh from her forearm to fingers.