• "Here we are Jess," my mother said cheerfully. I looked up from the book I was reading and gazed at the old house outside the window.
    It was old...really old. Shingles were falling off the roof and and paint was coming off. The garden looked like no one had weeded it in a hundred years. The brass knocker of a roaring lion gave a clear message: Keep out. My mother had no reason to be cheerful.
    "Um...thanks...mom," I replied uncertainly.
    My mother turned around in her seat. "I know that you don't know your grandmother that well, but your father and I want you to live a normal life while the construction is going on."
    Oh yeah, this was going to be normal. "Mom, Gran is supposed to be dead. I'm not sure living with a back-from-the-afterlife family member is considered normal."
    My mother rolled her eyes playfully. "Get going," she muttered, pushing me out the door.
    I walked up the steps and turned around to see my mother taking a quick turn in the driveway and speeding away. Can't go anywhere now, I thought. I reached for the knocker to bang and I heard a voice inside.
    "Come in," a voice squeaked.
    I slowly opened the door and stepped inside. The door creaked loudly as I opened it.
    "Ah...Jessica, how nice to finally meet you," I voice almost as creaky as the door said.
    I looked up to see a lady almost as hideous as a cow ( which, in my opinion, are very ugly ) walking down a set of stairs that were so old and dusty that I was suprised that she didn't fall down through them. Her skin was pale as death and she was a thin as a stick. Her eyes had veins popped all over and were a dusty grey. Her skin had more wrinkles than the oldest elephant and was covered in warts. Her hair was grey with dust in it and her dress was bleached and the colors were dull. Her nose was slightly upturned and she had a scar acrose her face that set it in a permenant sneer. As she got closer to me, I could smell her too. She smelled like a skunk, like she hadn't taken a bath since she was born. "I supose you would like to see your room. Please, come." Gran walked slowly back up the stairs and I followed hesitantly.
    Gran took me to a bare room with cracked paint. A dusty four-poster bed was in the corner and an old closet that was crawling with spiders and other things that I rather not mention was to the side. "Please, make yourself at home," she croaked and left the room.
    "I'll sleep on the floor," I said to myself and plopped my bad on the ground next to me.
    ***
    "How was your day dear?" Gran asked me when I walked in the door after school.
    "Um...fine," I said.
    "Good. Would you like to have some friends over this weekend?"
    "Maybe," I shrugged.
    Gran had given me a tour of the house. There was her room, ( which looked like it was never used) the kitchen, ( which consised of five butcher knives and a sink ) the living room, ( which had an unused dusty sofa and an old TV ) and Gran's study. It looked the most modern, from the outside at least. The door was big and metal. I was told I was not alowed inside, and when I tried to open the door later, in was locked shut.
    "Um...I think I'll have some friends over," I murmurred, not wanting to be alone in the house with Gran over the weekend.
    ***
    "So, do we get to meet your grandmother?" Sasha asked.
    "Um...no," I replied.
    "Why not?" Carri wondered.
    "Probably because she's busy, idiot," Dawn growled.
    "All of you, stop bickering!" Lila yelled.
    My life seemed more normal with my four friends over. Like it had when I was at home.
    "We should get to bed soon," Carri said half to herself.
    "I agree," Dawn nodded.
    "I'm tired," Sasha yawned.
    "O...k..."
    "C'mon!"
    We walked to the living room, where our sleeping bags were set up. When we were all tucked in, I whispered, "Good night," and turned off the lights.
    ***
    I opened my eyes in the middle of the night to a sound. When my eyes had adjusted to the dark, I saw a hunching figure tip-toe in and drag a sleeping bad out. A few seconds later, I heard a scream, and then I thud. Then silence. Nothing much, I thought shakily, probably just a dream. I closed my eyes again and went back to sleep.
    I was woken by a voice yelling, "Where'd Carri go?"
    "Probably got scared and ran home, just like you will be if you don't shut up," Dawn said, wiping the sleep from her eyes.
    "Carri went home?" I asked groggily.
    "Yeah. Middle of the night," Lila yawned.
    "Weird."
    Something that's great about long weekends, is that you can have four or five sleepovers in a row, what's not great, is when every time you have a sleepover, another one of your best friends disappers. Every time I would open my eyes in the middle of the night to see a hunched figure dragging another sleeping bad out of the room. Then a scream, and silence. The last time, I decided to find out what was going on.
    My last friend was Dawn. I stayed down quietly while the figure dragged her off, then stalked quickly behind them.
    What I saw suprised me and scared me beyond words. The metal door was left ajar, and I peeked in. I saw the shadow of a person raising an axe and I heard: "No! NO! Please-" Dawn's voice was cut of by a thud and the shadow of the axe came swooping down.
    I gasped and shut my eyes. I could hear footsteps coming to the door. A strong hand grabbed my hair and dragged me into the room.
    "Jessica, I'm sorry I have to do this," Gran growled.
    I opened my eyes. Gran looked younger, stronger, and somehow...scarier. I blinked at her and ducked out of her way. My shirt ripped as I pulled away from her iron hand.
    I didn't know how to get out, but the green button seemed promising. I slammed my hand down on it and yelped as the floor started moving under me.
    The metal floor opened up til I was staring into a chasm of pale, bloody heads. They were all different, but all of them shared the same facial expression. Shock, pure shock and fear. Among them were Carri, Lila and Sasha. Dawn's was there to, and hthe blood on her neck was still drying.
    I felt Gran grab the back of my shirt again and pull me over to the block that I had seen Dawn get killed on. I didn't resist this time. I wanted to join my friends.
    I watched as Gran raised the axe and heard myself scream, "No! NO! Please-" And then there was nothing. No flash of light, no pain, nothing. Just blackness.