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❝the traps.❞

FLORENCE, ASHLEY, AND Chris had discussed how they all began to feel strangely about searching through the Washington's basement.

Although they were trying to find Sam who could potentially be in danger with the maniac running around, they didn't know for sure that she hadn't left the lodge before they made it back. If she had gotten to safety, unbeknownst to them, and they were down in the basement then they could be vulnerable to more of the maniac's tormenting and violence.

It frightened them — not knowing who the maniac was targeting now or what he was going to do next; it made their skin crawl.

The unknown had always been one of Florence's biggest fears and it was beginning to feel like the maniac knew that.

Yet, despite their unending fear regarding the maniac's next move and the lack of knowledge on Sam's whereabouts, they continued the search for their friend in case she was stuck in the basement and in need of their help.

As they moved further down the hallway, Ashley found two batteries that had jumper cables attaching them to timers labeled 'lights' and 'tv'.

Little sparks occasionally zapped, tendrils of smoke trailing from the batter signifying recent use.

What Ashley had suggested previously about the maniac recording them and doing things to them just to watch them freak out as a sort of twisted experiment began to make more and more sense.

They walked into a room that served as a bar with a table an empty liquor bottles in it, knowing all too well that it was another setup strategically placed by the maniac.

Once the door slammed behind them and locked them in, their suspicions were proved to be correct.

Ashley whimpered in fright, yet still forced herself to look around for any clues as to where Sam could be or even who the maniac was.

She found pictures of each of them stuck onto a cork board with pushpins, some of their faces scratched out or scribbled on.

"That's us." Ashley sobbed, shining her flashlight over everyone's picture.

Florence noted the way Emily's eyes were crossed out, her heart dropping as she realized what it could mean. She prayed her suspicions were incorrect. "I hope Em's okay."

Chris came over in hysteria. "What is this, like a fucking hit list? Christ."

Florence inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself down.

There was nothing they had to prove that Emily was hurt so she hoped there was nothing to worry about, especially since she was with Matt. Despite all of the arguments they had, they still cared about one another and Florence knew that if they were in danger they would take care of each other.

They exited the bar and entered another room in which a projector rested on a small table. Ashley flicked the power switch, yelping when it flashed to life.

"Hello?" Chris called out uselessly.

"Oh my god." Ashley gasped as the projector began showing a video of the horrid prank that occurred last year. "It's from last year. The stupid prank."

Florence was sickened to know that one of them recorded the prank.

She could hardly force herself to watch the video as her stomach turned and her heart hammered against her chest.

"This is a little uncomfortable, huh?" Chris asked with a humorless chuckle, feebly attempting to lighten the mood.

"This is sick." Florence muttered, covering her eyes. She couldn't stand to watch the event that caused her best friends to be taken from her and her boyfriend to nearly lose his mind.

"I've never seen this video." Ashley cried, her voice thick with tears. "She's just so. . ."

"So what?"

"She's so excited and alive."

"She has no idea."

Hannah truly had no idea that her life would be ruined, ended, by a heartless prank that played on her crush she'd had since sixth grade.

"Oh, geez." Ashley shook her head as Hannah began unbuttoning her shirt in the video.

"Whoa." Chris looked over to Ashley with indifference written on his face. "I forgot you were such a willful participant."

Florence knew that everyone who played a role in the prank was a willful participant and it made her sick. She still couldn't believe her friends could so something so cruel.

"This is horrible. I couldn't feel worse." Ashley expressed wholeheartedly.

"It looks like you were enjoying yourself." Chris accused, not missing a beat.

"That's the worst part, isn't it? We were just playing a joke. It was supposed to be funny." Ashley meekly defended the joke, although she refused to defend the ethicality of it.

"Yeah." Chris mumbled.

"I never want to see this video every again." Ashley sighed.

The video zoomed in on Hannah's face, slowing it down. Her smile faded as a monster took her place, screaming loudly.

They each jumped back in fright.

Ashley threw her hands up in the air. Her anxiety was beginning to overwhelm her. "What is going on?!"

"Ash, Ash, slow down, okay?" Chris tried to calm her down.

"It's okay, Ash." Florence spoke softly, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I can't handle this — the ghosts, these videos, and everything just flying around!"

"Calm down, listen to me for a second—"

"What? Calm down? Why should I calm down, Chris? I am freaking out right now!"

"This has got to be someone messing with us." Chris reasoned. "Think about it — ghosts don't hook up video cameras. They don't play games."

"Then who would set this all up? Seriously. I'm asking."

"I don't know. Maybe the same person who tied you and Florence up and who killed Josh."

Florence flinched at the mention of Josh's death and what the maniac did to her.

"Yeah, right." Ashley slowly agreed.

"The same person who might have Sam right now." Chris reminded her of their mission.

"Maybe you're right."

"I wish I wasn't." Chris emphasized.

"Yeah, me too." Florence mumbled in agreement.

As they exited the room, they saw a fresh trail of blood leading into a room with a gargantuan metal door.

Florence prayed it wasn't Sam's.

"Oh, crap." Chris said. "Look at that."

"Blood?!" Ashley gaped in horror.

"Might be Sam's." Chris confirmed exactly what Florence was wishing against before turning to the door. "Let me see if I can get this."

Chris grunted as he forced the door open. "I got it, but damn, this thing is heavy. You guys gotta come through! I can't hold it."

Ashley gasped as she saw a figure moving around the room across from them through a few wooden boards. "Oh, Chris! I think I just saw Sam over there?"

"Are you sure?" Chris grunted.

"I don't know, but come on. I think we should check it out."

"We have to. It could be her." Florence asserted.

"Well I'm pretty sure whoever's bleeding came through here, okay? So we really gotta get moving like now." Chris told them, still holding the door for them.

Ashley and Florence nodded hesitantly, squeezing through the small gap Chris created for them between the threshold and the door.

Chris let out a relieved sigh as he let go of the door and allowed it to slam shut. "Oh thank God. I thought this thing was gonna crush me."

From the side of the dark room, a thermometer with several conditioning pipes blew out freezing cold air.

"I don't get it." Ashley wondered aloud as she looked at the thermometer. "Why would anybody want to make this place any cooler? It's freezing."

"God only knows what goes on in this guy's head, Ash." Chris explained the maniac's psychotic methods of torment and terrorization he seemed to have stocked up specifically for them.

They moved through a room where tens of pig carcasses hung from the ceiling. Bile rose in Florence's throat as she apologetically looked at the poor creatures lifelessly hanging.

"Please, no!" Sam screamed from the other room.

The three of them broke out into a run as they dashed into the adjoining room. A body sat the in the corner of the room, unmoving.

"Oh God." Florence sobbed.

"Oh, Chris, oh no." Ashley shined her light over the body, ensuring that it wasn't Sam.

They saw her clothes and nearly freaked out before they realized that it was a dummy with Sam's clothes on and a creepy clown mask.

"I don't get it." Ashley said. She didn't get why the maniac would incite so much effort into something so meaningless. If he wanted them to think Sam was dead, he should have placed a better dummy.

This seemed to be joke.

"It's a dummy." Chris answered.

"Yeah, no, I can see that."

"Why is it dressed up like Sam?"

"I don't know!"

"This is horrible." Florence said as her anxiety spiked. She felt like they had walked into something insidious and trapped themselves in it. Something wasn't right down here and she could feel it inching closer to them.

"Why would someone dress up a dummy like Sam?" Chris repeated.

"Chris, we don't know!" Florence stated firmly.

"Where the hell is Sam?"

"This is crazy!" Ashley wailed with her head in her hands. "This is crazy!"

Florence sighed, looking at Ashley with soft eyes. "Ash, everything will be ok—"

Florence was cut off by a pair of strong arms wrapping around her head and a mask being slammed over her face. She could see the gas erupting from the mask as she thrashed in the maniac's iron grip, Ashley's screams echoing in front of her.

Florence, for the second time in one night, had to hold her breath to avoid inhaling the gas that she knew would knock her out.

Chris had already been knocked out, unbeknownst to the girls.

The maniac pressed the mask down harder unto her face, forcing her to breath it in. Her lungs burned as the gas infiltrated her system, running up to her brain and rendering her unconscious in mere seconds.

The last thing she heard before falling to the ground and busting her head open on the concrete floor were Ashley's bloodcurdling screams.

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