Vivi, Jack, Copper and Mr. Sandstone all went up the staircase, the violet and orange haired to the left and the Pink and Redhead to the right.

Copper held onto Jack's arm tightly, the creepiness of the house gradually setting in on her, Jack couldn't help but laugh to himself.

"I thought you said this house was cool." He said.

"Well that was before the flower scared me." She whimpered.

"Aw, the mean hell weed scared my flower?" She nodded, "don't worry baby I'll protect you." He grinned, she smiled softly knowing that was true but still felt scared.

They wandered their side of the house for a while, trying every door they found but all of them were locked. Copper jumped at every little sound that came, every creak of the floor, every howl of the wind, everything. Her carefree attitude was slowly disappearing.

"Calm down babe," Jack shushed, "no need to be so jumpy."

But she didn't listen, she could feel what was left of her sanity starting to slip away from her, gradually but surely. When the next door Jack tried actually opened he fist pumped the air, finally getting one that budged, he pushed the door but to his dismay inside wasn't what he expected. They both stood in shock as they looked inside, Copper felt like she was going to pass out. Inside there were dead bodies mangled and dripping with blood, male and female all hanging from the ceiling on hooked wires in awkward positions, some had limbs bent in the wrong direction, most were missing limbs altogether, all were naked but only the body shape could identify the gender as their reproductive organs were clawed off, leaving behind deep open wounds that fell under gangrene and rotted from the inside out. Gaping mouths whose jaws fell limply, showing no tongue, bloody sockets that held no eyes as they were clawed out as well, pale skin that rotted in some areas, a revoltingly putrid smell coming from the mass of dead. And they were all human.

They couldn't believe their eyes. Who were these people, who was the culprit, and why were they like this? Copper wanted to scream, yell, cry, do something, but she couldn't move let alone blink, Jack shuddered as he tried to look at anything other than the bodies but the room was void except for a small silver plaque mounted on the wall opposite the door. It was too far away too read the words on it. Jack swallowed hard and took a step inside, Copper saw him and tugged on his arm.

"W-What're you doing?! Don't go in there."

"I have to see what the thing on the wall says." He hushed.

"But-"

"Don't worry, I'll be back."

Jack continued into the room, each step making the floorboards creak under his weight, his heart beat against his chest and swelled with each pulse, besides the obvious dead bodies that dangled on rusty wires something about the room was making him anxious. He didn't know what and he couldn't put his finger on it. As he got closer to the plaque he could see the words, barely in the dim light but still visible.

Reading this means you're screwed,
For you have entered a scene so crude.
Keys you'll find along the way,
To save you from this hell today.
Hiding in plain sight,
They'll help you escape this gruesome plight.
Find them quickly to get out of here,
For this house's terrors are too much to bear.

Two keys you'll find in here,
Amongst the bodies displayed without care.
Rest easy that you'll find them soon,
But hurry before you become mannequin too.
You have until the clock chimes,
To be out the room and with the times.
You wouldn't want to linger,
Since these fellows have a thing for gingers.

". . .the fuck is that supposed to mean?' Jack mumbled to himself.

"J-Jack, I think we should leave." Copper whimpered.

"It says something about keys." He told her.

She tiptoed beside him, walking fast to get by his side again, she read the plaque and shivered as she grabbed his arm once more.

"You mean the keys are with. . .them?" She pointed timidly at the mass of dead.

"Seems so." Jack started to walk towards the crowd but Copper pulled him back.

"Are you crazy?! Don't go in there!"

"Then what do you expect me to do? Wait to die?"

"But what if the sign thing is lying?"

"I doubt it, look I'll just look around a bit and if I don't see anything useful we'll leave. Okay?" He kissed her on the lips to calm her down, she frowned but agreed anyway, "that's my girl. Now wait by the door in case something happens." He ushered her to the door.

When she got there he took a deep breath and steadied his nerves, walking through a crowd of dead people wasn't the first item on his list of things to do today but he had no choice if he wanted to live. He pushed through the crowd with a held breath and a disgusted look on his face as he continued further, the smell torturing his nose. Eventually he made it past every body and to the back of the room, there were no bodies back there, the curtain of nonliving stopping short of the end of the room. The back of the room was as empty as the front but still held less space, there was a large grandfather clock made of black wood and had a silver pendulum with a sharp end, swaying from side to side and making hypnotic ticks and tocks, the hands were spinning at an alarmingly fast rate and the whining gears inside could be heard clearly, and a large dark brown chest with black metallic flower pattern. Nothing more nothing less.

Jack walked to the chest, eyeing the wooden contraption for anything suspicious. Trip wires, sensors, levers, anything that spelled 'trap'. After judging it safe he knelt down in front of the chest, gently placing his large hands on the top and slowly opened it, all he found inside were two small silver keys with heart shaped handles and a small piece of paper. While taking out the keys he picked up the paper.

Time's up. It read.

"The fuck does this mean?" He mumbled.

He stared at the paper confused until a loud chime interrupted his thoughts, it was slow and distorted. The clock, it stopped dead at midnight. As it chimed again he heard weird noises behind him, fear scratching at his heart as he slowly turned around. He saw one of the bodies jerk, it fucking jerked, then more bodies started to move, the weird sounds turning into moans of angry despair, the jerks turning into to subtle movements. One who still had its head turned in his direction and looked directly at him, it's jaw opened, showing yellow rotten teeth, some missing some cracked or chipped, blood dripped out of its mouth as that particular one's moans increased. It writhed against the chains, struggling to get off, Jack flinched seeing it moved, unconsciously gripping the keys in his hand tighter, he heard Copper on the other side yelling and screaming but all he heard were a mess of muffled sounds as fear gripped his heart and stopped him from focusing on anything else.

The only way out was back through the mass of thought-to-be-dead, Jack grimaced at his options. Either stay where he was and be killed by who or whatever the creatures were or power through them to the other side and run with Copper. He chose the latter. He pumped himself up like he would in the school locker room, jumping in one place for a while while chanting to himself, and took a running start through the crowd with a warcry. The crowd practically welcomed him but still pushed against him, the moans turning in to growls and getting angrier by the second, scratching and clawing at his body as he ran through. Copper started to freak out when she realized what was happening, screaming his name and anxiously searching for him in the crowd but anytime she got too close the undead would try to grab her and pull her in as well.

By the time the last distorted chime sounded metal clinking could be heard, Jack was on the other side but still struggling as they clawed and tugged at his clothing and the mass was getting more rowdy. Copper tried to help Jack get out but they would claw at her too and try to pull her in, she was panicking, she didn't know what to do. She so desperately wanted to do something or at least know how to help but nothing was coming to her, she could only feebly try to get Jack out, which wasn't helping.

"Here," Jack grabbed her and quickly placed the keys in her hand before he got pulled back again, "get outta here!"

"W-What?! I'm not leav-"

"Get out of here now!"

Copper flinched, Jack has never yelled at her before, the pained look in his eye was enough for her to move again, quickly heading to the door and glancing at him one last time before running down the hall. Jack struggled even more, their hands clawing and ripping his clothes and snagging his skin, but a sense of relief filled him seeing her leave, he didn't want her to get caught in this. Then suddenly multiple clinks followed by thuds, a sudden weight pulled him as the clawing and scratching increased, he grunted and writhed against the hands of them, cursing and yelling but his sounds were drowned out by that of them.

∆§∆

Vivi and Mr. Sandstone walked down their end of the hallway, glancing at the paintings and windows every now and then, lightning flashing outside and causing the light inside to dim and brighten at the most random times. Even in the current situation Mr. Sandstone was still his chipper self, Vivi was quiet as always but even she realized his unusually carefree attitude.

"Hey, uh, Mr. Sandbar is it?" She asked, interlocking her hands behind her head.

"Sandstone, what's troubling ya Miss?" He smiled.

"Why're you so. . .lively? I mean, we're stuck in a haunted house and we could die at any moment."

"Its pessimism like that that ruins your mood," he tsked, "and even more bad things happen too so I'm going to be optimistic about this situation." He smiled and she rose a brow.

"So you're going to be optimistic about dieing?"

"Yeah, well at least I'll be in a better place after, right?" He shrugs.

Vivi was silently judging him now.

They tried door after door as they came across them, all locked or just wouldn't budge, all the while Mr. Sandstone was idly talking about random things just to lighten the mood. Vivi chipped in every now and then but didn't pay full attention to him, she was trying to figure out why she and the others were to die, why did someone want their souls? Why them?

"Hey Miss Periwinkle," Vivi looked to the orange haired man seeing he had stopped, "come look at this, I think I found a clue."

Vivi walked over to where he was, he was in front of a plaque with cursive words on it, it was old and cracked in some places but still readable.

A long time ago monsters and humans ruled over the land in harmony, there was no conflict between the two races, for centuries. Though coexisting Man soon became jealous of monsters as they could conjure magic and not them, fear and prejudice filled their hearts over the years, weakening the bond between them. It became even worse when the King of monsters' son and the daughter of the human king of the land grew a liking to one another.

"Humans and monsters liked each other? Wait monsters are real?" Vivi said in disbelief.

"It seems like this is as old as the house, do you think there're more of em?" Mr. Sandstone asked.

"I dunno, there might be, let's look around some more. Maybe we'll find more clues." The man nodded.

It wasn't long before they finally found a door that opened. When they walked in the room was pitch black, no windows seemed to be in the room either for the lightning didn't flash inside the room, they fumbled about for a bit, looking for a light source of some kind.

*Bump*

"Ow!"

"Miss Periwinkle, you alright?"

"Yeah just stubbed my toe. . .ow. . .I'm not even sure what that was." She started to feel for what she hit her foot on but couldn't find it.

"Just be careful now."

After a few minutes of fumbling about the dark room, Vivi finally found a light switch at the end of the wall, flicking it on and immediately regretting it. Mr. Sandstone yelled in surprise as he backed away from a bloodied hunched over figure, stumbling back and falling on his ass as he clutched his chest, trying to calm his breathing as his eyes widened at the moving figure. They couldn't tell what it was, it had large black claws, damaged skin, long black matted hair falling before it's face and animalistic growls and whines coming from it. More of these sounds got louder but not from the figure before them, no. There were more, at least a dozen of them, chained to the floor with rusty binds.

They were chained on the left and right side of the room, having a small tile path in the middle, at the end of the room was a stone pedestal under a small wooden box with a black metallic floral pattern on it, the creatures whined and tugged at the binds, making the chains groan under their weight.

"You okay Mr. Sandstone?" She said walking back to the man and helping him to stand.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. . .what are these? They look. . .I don't even know."

"They look. . .human. . .but not at the same time."

"Well, they can't be here for no reason. Maybe they have something to do with the box over there." She said pointing to forward.

The creatures all faced them, sitting like dogs, staring at them in silence, waiting for their next move. Although no faces could be seen they could tell the couple felt uncomfortable under their stares.

"I'm going to go see what's in the box." Vivi said as she started to walk off but he grabbed her arm.

"Oh no you don't, you're not going over there," Mr. Sandstone protested, "I'll do it."

"No offense Sir but-"

"Uh uh uh, I don't wanna hear it, you stay here. It wouldn't be right of me if I let you do this."

"But-"

"Stay. Here." He said sternly. Mr. Sandstone may have just been a bus driver but he loved kids and doesn't want to see them hurt, if anything he would prefer to give his life rather than the child no matter how old they are. He doesn't want to lose another one.

Vivi grumbled under her breath but stepped back anyway, bringing a soft smile back to his face before he turned to the pedestal. Mr. Sandstone steadied his nerves as he walked forward, glancing from creature to creature as they growled louder the closer he came, he took a deep breath and walked between them on the tiled path. They watched his every move, growling and snapping at his feet when he got close, he jumped every time they bit at him and one almost caught his foot when he missed his step. He nearly fell to the side but luckily he fell forward towards the pedestal. Vivi anxiously waited on the other side of the room, he should've let her go, why didn't he? Her heart almost leapt out of her chest when he fell, maybe he should've let her go instead of him.

"I'm fine," he chuckled nervously, sending a small smile and wave her way, "just lost my balance."

He breathed heavily as sweat started to form on his brow, he stood up and fixed his shirt, he slowly reached out and opened the box, finding a piece of paper and two keys inside. With a confused expression he picked up the keys and the paper, it read:

Alas you stumbled upon this room,
Which is just as bad as the last.
No worries for your task is less great,
Though you both will have the same fate.

Your two keys are the way,
To miss the impending gruesome dismay,
If you can leave that is to say.
Thought it matters not to us whether you do or not,
Your souls will be ours once you are caught,
And there's no way you can stop our plot.

His blood ran cold, his eyes suddenly went dull, monsters really did want their souls. 'But why?' is the question and what does it mean by 'as bad as the last'? He was so deep in shock he couldn't hear Vivi's cries for him, just muffled sounds that he couldn't comprehend. Then he felt a gradual shift in his weight, it wasn't noticeable at first, everything seem to be in slow motion to him, but he eventually felt it. He felt himself getting lighter and lighter, he slowly turned around, keys and paper still in hand, he looked at her, she was screaming something but he couldn't hear what she was saying, all he saw was her mouth moving. She looked frightened. Then he realized she was getting taller, gradually, or maybe he was getting lower, he couldn't tell. But soon enough his senses started to clear up, his hearing gradually coming back to him.

He could hear the growls of the creatures getting louder, a tingling feeling forming in his gut, it wasn't until his senses were fully functional that he looked down, the floor below him had disappeared, he was falling. Fast.

"AAAAHHHHHH!!"

"MR. SANDSTONE!!!!"

But it was too late. He fell through the floor, the keys with him as the paper drifted down afterwards, Vivi was about to run to the pedestal to see how far he had gone but then several clicks sounded. The creatures. They were free. The chains unhooked from the walk and fell to the floor, Vivi was paralyzed, she couldn't figure out how they got loose, when the chains dropped the growling stopped, even the creatures didn't know what happened but eventually they realized their freedom. Their heads slowly turned to her, her pupils constricting in fear, she took a step back, her heart pounding in her chest, they stepped forward, growling louder with their progress. She looked back and forth between them and the door, looking at them once more before she sprinted to the door. They snarled as they ran after her, they were quick but not quick enough as she managed to get outside and shut the door before they caught her, colliding with the door in heavy repetitive thuds as she held the door close with her body weight.

Each collision caused her hold to weaken, one of them hit the door so hard that the panelling actually cracked, she managed to turn the clip on the knob before the thuds pushed her off completely, making her fall to the floor as they pounded against the door. She crawled back until she met the opposite wall, huffing as she tried to catch her breath, what the hell just happened? Her heart pounded as she clutched her head but she didn't have enough time to think of an explanation as part of the door broke, making her flinch. A bloody arm covered in splinters was through the door, it pulled back suddenly and was replaced by a blood red beady eye in darkness, their gazes connected, part of a jagged smile formed below the eye, making her blood run cold, before the thuds grew in frequency and ferocity.

The door couldn't hold out much longer.

She ignored the pain in her head and chest and stood up, barely able to get on her feet before she sprinted down the hall, their growls, snarls and clawing echoed down the hall and seemed to be getting louder until,

The door broke.

Rhyming is so hard xc I don't wanna do it anymore but its key to the plot xc ugh!!

What do you think happened to Jack and Mr. Sandstone?

What are your thoughts on the keys?

Why do you think monsters and humans have a fall out?

What do you think the 'creatures' are?

Yeah I'm going to be asking random questions at the end of these, feel free to answer but it would be nice if you did :)

Commenting and voting are recommended and following is optional.

Until next time :3