The group of friends huddled together by the giant candle. Curiously, it did not seem to burn the carpet, even though the flame was pressed up against it. It warmed them slightly, and was, for the most part, the only light source available to them. A bit of light trickled in through windows, allowing the group to see the room in very dim light.
"I think we need to stay together and move towards the front" Stephen said, on the verge of tears. He went over towards the large candlestick and tried to pick it up, lifting with his back. He gave up after a few minutes of strenuous lifting.
"Where do we go? We'll never reach the door..." Melissa lamented.
"Maybe the ghosts will let us go if we try to leave? They haven't hurt us yet... they're just trying to scare us" said another friend, Mary. "Maybe they just want to play tricks on us. If they wanted to hurt us, I think they probably could."
Judith tried to stay calm, and to stay silent. But she blurted out "I don't think they're ghosts. I think they're Abners, like I was saying."
"I thought you said the Abners were just an urban myth?" Stephen said. He arched an eyebrow, and his tone became irritated and hostile. "Did you know that they could do stuff like this, like turn us into midgets?"
Judith felt her lip quiver. She should never have brought anybody here in the first place. "No, I - I didn't know that they were real. I mean everybody said they've seen them in town before, but I just figured that they were, y'know, like eccentrics dressing up to capitalize on the legend. Like how people go around impersonating celebrities..." she said. She thought she sounded stupid once she said it out loud.
"Judy" Melissa said. "You led us into a haunted house because you mistakenly thought it was going to be safe? What kind of friend are you?" she asked, mortified. Judith felt like the girl she was in high school again, where she couldn't say anything right and felt at odds with her more "normal" peers. She could feel her heart sink and old, self-destructive thoughts she only posted to her online blogs and shared with close friends began to bubble over. She wanted to be over that part of her life.
"I just figured it was abandoned... I thought it would be cool..." she said.
"Ok, can we fight about this later? We need to get out of here, like, now" said another friend, Syd. "We can decide whether or not we need to be mad at Judy if we make it out of here, ok?"
Stephen and Melissa looked like they were about to blow a gasket. Just as they were, the candle began to flicker again.
"No, no, no! Shit!" Stephen said, trying to lift the candlestick off the ground. When the flame died, he dropped to his knees and screamed.
Judy felt a very cold chill as she watched her group of "friends" huddle around Stephen and Melissa, trying to calm them down. She looked over her shoulder, but could see nothing in the dark.
She turned around again and felt herself go as white as a sheet. She felt paralyzed, and, while she felt her jaw swing open, she could emit no scream. Looking down on Stephen, Melissa, Syd, and tthe other two friends was a gigantic Abner woman, laying on her stomach, he head in her hands. She had a sinister smile on her face, and she was kicking her legs behind her. Judith couldn't see the woman's eyes, they seemed completely shrouded in shadow. But she could tell that the giant woman was looking down with twisted glee at the tiny people.
"R-run!" Judith finally croaked, and then turned and ran. She took off and ran in the opposite direction away from the window, running towards the dark corridor that led to the kitchen. She wasn't even thinking about how it was probably a bad idea to go further into the house.
She stopped and stumbled, and then turned back around to witness what was happening to her friends. She saw the large pale woman menacing them, putting her arms and hands around the group of five in a circle, preventing them from running. She couldn't tell who was who from this distance, but she saw one of her friends try to jump and clamber over the woman's arm. Whoever it was only managed to flop ineffectually on top of her forearm, landing with their arms and head hanging over the side. Amused by this, the giant woman picked them up by a foot, dangling them upside-down in front of her face. She dangled them dangerously close to her giant lips, and seemed to delight in the sight of the tiny person squirming and flailing in her arms. The tiny figure tried striking out with arms, managing to hit the giant woman on the chin and then on her lip. She seemed to get some idea in her head as the tiny figure's hand bounced ineffectually off of her lip, bringing the tiny figure closer to her face. Judith watched as the giant woman slid the tiny figure's arm further into her mouth, closing large, plush lips, and then let go of the figure, causing him to fall, smacking into the giant woman's face and dangling past her chin. Judith almost breathed a sigh of relief when she saw this - when she saw the giant woman insert the tiny person's arm into her mouth, she feared she was going to bite it off. She wondered if stories about the Abners being vampires were true... though, she supposed, they might not be, since no blood had been spilled thus far. A vampire probably would not show much restraint in harming the tiny people... if vampires were real, that is.
Unfortunately for the giant woman, her toying with her prey allowed the other four to begin running away from her. She was quick, however, and with both hands she managed to grab two running figures, holding them up in front of her face (and their dangling friend), watching them squirm and flail, futilely fighting against the giant hand. The giant woman seemed pleased with her catches, and slowly stood up. Judith watched as the titanic giant Abner woman seemed to tower in the distance like a gothic colossus, and watched as her hands carried the squirming figures down towards her waist. She couldn't really tell what the woman was wearing - Abners only wore black, for the most part, and in the dark it was difficult to tell where her clothes began and the room ended. The figures disappeared. They must have been inserted into pockets of some kind.
The giant Abner woman then turned towards the other two, who had managed to escape from the room and now stood in the foyer, sprinting towards the large wooden door. The giant woman removed the dangling figure from her mouth and similarly inserted that person into another hidden pocket, and then began slowly, deliberately walking towards them. Judith couldn't tell, but it seemed that the Abner woman was wearing boots or shoes of some kind. They made a loud clack clack as each foot took a step towards her next victims, who noticed the approach of the giant woman and had their backs to the door. One of the remaining two ran, trying to get through the Abner woman's legs. She stuck her foot out and made a puny kick towards them, colliding the toes of her shoe with the tiny figure's legs, causing them to tumble for a few inches. The Abner woman turned in time and took a step towards the tiny woman, and lifted her leg up in an exaggerated way. The shoe slowly made its way down towards the tiny person, now cowering on the ground. Judith gasped. She thought that the giantess had just casually crushed one of her friends to death. A moment later, she felt relief as the giant woman lifted her shoe and crouched down, picking up the tiny person. They hung limply from giant, pale fingers, but they appeared to be alive, if not unharmed.
The giant Abner then turned towards the last remaining figure, and crouched down in front of them, her imposing body creating a wall preventing their escape. She seemed to enjoy terrorizing her captives, frightening them with her huge, exaggerated motions. She put two fingers on the ground and made them "walk" towards the remaining captive, before her hand tilted and curled around the last tiny figure. She couldn't tell where, but the Abner woman then stashed those two figures on her body somewhere as well.
The Abner woman then stood up in the middle of the Foyer. She turned her head slowly, as if looking for something... or someone else. Judith held her breath. Was she next?
She felt around in the dark, looking for a place to hide. She took a few steps back and bumped into what felt like a table leg. She took cover behind it, staring out from behind it.
The Abner woman then put up a hand and snapped her fingers. In an instant, all of the candles came back on and the atmosphere, while still threatening, became brighter (if only slightly). Judith got a better look at the Abner woman, who was definitely not a ghost now that the lights were on. The woman turned, allowing Judith to get a look at her face. She was a pretty woman, if not creepy. She appeared to be facing something - or someone - on the stairs.
The woman then, silently, walked up the stairs. She seemed exceedingly pleased with herself. Judith wondered how many Abners there were, and what they planned on doing with her kidnapped friends. She sat down behind the table leg and began to cry. What could she do? Her friends were gone.
She sat there, hugging her knees to her chest. She let out a sigh. She had to go rescue them. She couldn't just abandon them. After all, it was her fault they were in there.
She brooded under the table, trying to figure out where to go first. It appeared that the Abner woman they had a run in with - with curled, black hair and wearing either a black pantsuit or a cardigan - had gone upstairs. She'd have to get there eventually... but how? Perhaps she could find some useful things around the house...
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