Young Writers Society

Sebastian crossed his arms and looked over at the wall that led into said room. Bo had a point. If there was a mysterious room, that meant it had a special purpose. And, more often that not, purposes for rooms like that didn't seem to be good ones. But supernatural? That was something Sebastian was sure it wasn't. He had seen his fair share of supernatural things, and neither of his friends had commented on the nature of the room.

"I don't think it's a supernatural room," Sebastian countered. "Remember what it looked like outside? There was a part of the building without any windows, almost like they had added something on there afterwards. I think that something is that room we just found. There must be some sort of mechanism to open it, but we just broke through the wall connecting this room and that room instead."

“Still think it’s better to not go in. It looks...” Bo leaned in a bit, looking in through the hole. “Different. Cleaner. Like someone’s been cleaning it or living there or something. I don’t like it. And I’d rather none of us risk it and get hurt or walk into some weird trap some crazy person set up or whatever the millions of bad outcomes could be.”

"You don't have to go in," Issac reassured him, already heading towards the hole. He peered inside it once more and looked back at the others - specifically, at Sebastian and Gabriel. "We should check it out. I doubt it has anything to do with what we're looking for, but I think it's for the best if we check it out."

Sebastian nodded. Gabriel was already walking back to the hole before Issac had even started talking. Something odd was going on here, and they were used to odd things.

Taber grabbed the wall with both hands and ripped out a particularly huge piece of plaster. He threw it onto the floor and sat down, panting as he looked up at his own work. "Done!" he said, smiling. "It should be big enough to fit you guys." He gestured to the wide gaps between the wooden boards, beyond which stood the mystery room. "Can I go in there too?" Taber said between breaths, looking down at his hands before wiping the dust and blood on his pants. "I need a second to rest first, so you can go on ahead."

"You can come with us," Issac said, giving him what should have been a warm smile but still managed to fail ever so slightly. "And we can wait for you-"

"I'm heading in!" Gabriel abruptly announced, one foot already in the hole. Sebastian sighed and grabbed his friend by the collar. Gabriel looked noticeably put out by the whole thing, but didn't protest when Sebastian brought him back into the room they were all in.

Kaelynn heard the smashing sound as she was figuring out what to do with the surprise cash bundle. Glancing over, there was a long stretch of the wall but she could hear the crashing and people talking. Moving away from the bundle, she went to where the voices were the loudest. Kaelynn then pressed her hands against the wall, hoping for some sort of reaction but got nothing.

"Hello?" she yelled. A horrible feeling set in her chest, knowing fully that there was no way on the other side.

Clarice was about to follow Gabriel through the hole when Sebastian pulled him back. She froze several steps away from the hole and — not wanting to piss anyone off accidentally— backtracked to show that she wasn't going in just yet.

"Alright," She said. "We'll wait for you."

Bo almost panicked as Gabriel was this close to leaping through the hole in the wall.

“IS NOBODY LISTENING TO ME.”

Taber rose up and stretched. "Awww," he said, walking over to the hole, "What's the problem? I've seen lots of weird stuff before, you guys are pretty smart, and people say I'm the scariest thing in any room. So, who wants to go first? Can I go first?" He stopped next to the hole, beaming.

"If there's a threat, it's better to face it head-on," Clarice said, turning her head to look at Bo. "We can't leave this alone, or it could come to bite us." Her tone was cold, if only because she disliked yelling.

"I'd like to go first." She said, glancing at Taber apologetically, then looking at the other. "Unless anyone objects to that?" Knowing that her bandana made it hard to see her expression, Clarice raised her eyebrows to add emphasis. She was willing to let someone else go first if they really wanted to, even if she didn't necessarily want to.

"We're listening, but then we're skillfully ignoring you," Gabriel said, answering Bo's question. He was in the middle of watching Taber and Clarice. He looked more than a little upset that someone else was going to get into the strange room before he did, but gave the slightest of nods to show that he was alright with either one of them going in first.

"Don't worry," Sebastian assured Bo. "We're used to things like this. Dangerous and possibly supernatural things are in our line of work - we know how to handle them."

That was more than a little bit of a lie; no one employed them. They lived off of the money Sebastian had been given in his father's will, and they were only requested to do things on the rarest of occasions. But saying that it was a job and not their personal mission oddly made people want to trust them more.

"We've defeated all kinds of stuff," Gabriel bragged, puffing out his chest and giving a proud grin. "Golems, vampires, vengeful spirits - if you name it, we've probably dealt with it."

That was definitely an exaggeration, but Sebastian was past the point where he would argue. If it was enough to convince Bo that they would be alright going through the hole, it was good enough for him. He waited for Issac to make some sort of correction, but his other friend was noticeably distracted.

"Kaelynn?" Issac suddenly questioned, his voice surprisingly loud. "We're in the room at the very end of the hallway! We just discovered a secret room. Do you want to come check it out with us?"

He turned back to the others after he finished speaking. "I heard her talking in one of the other rooms," he explained.

Kaelynn was laying against the wall when she heard someone yell out her name. After a few moments, she realized it was Issac. She scrambled up and yelled, "Issac! Where are you?" There was silence afterward. Her panic was rising with every moment that passed. She decided this was fate. This was the moment where her skeleton would be found by someone else. At least, she'd be a nice ghost.

Kaelynn continued to mull over her thoughts until a wild idea sparked. Before she fell through the floor above and into this room, Kaelynn remembered the doors that lined the hall. It could be possible that the rooms connected to different rooms and from there, she might be able to find Issac and the gang.

The rubble pile that formed after the fall was a perfect stepping stone. Kaelynn carefully climbed the mounds and her fingertips barely reached the edge of the hole. Finding a stable place on the mound, Kaelynn gripped the edge of the hole and pulled herself up. There was enough landing to where she could easily drag herself up and stand. As she attempted this, the floorboards creaked like before and there was a fear of dying that sparked again.

Okay, so they were going in the room. Clearly there was no reasonable arguing with them, since they were determined to do it whether he thought they should or not. And honestly, he couldn't stop them. They were adults. Maybe not very wise ones, but they could make their own decisions and be responsible for themselves.

Then Bo looked up, hearing a creak from the ceiling above. Oh no. "I think Kaelynn went up to the next floor again," he said quietly, walking slowly, closer to the source of the noise.

Taber's heart sank. Still, he'd been the one to ask, and it'd be mean to ignore her and go first. Besides, he could still be second. Never breaking his smile, he stepped out of the way. "Go ahead!" he said. He could've sworn he heard something over his head, but he was more focused on the hole. "Let's hope there's something fun inside!"

While they were contemplating who would go through the hole in the wall first, Raiden had done so already, with a hand covering his mouth and his nose from the smell.
"...woah, guys...this room is...uh...interesting."