5 Little Guests

Five little guests outside my door,
One fell deep into a hole and then there was four
Four little guests all plain to see,
One was dragged straight to hell and then there were three.
Three little guests made up my hearty crew,
One was forced to walk the plank and then there were two.
Two little guests, one started to run,
and tripped and fell and broke his neck and then there was one.
One little guest, he thought he had won.
Poor lad went insane. Then there were none.


"Come on, it's Halloween! Live a little!" Beck urged.
"If we go in there, we won't be living." Olivia shot back. Vincent stepped between them.
"Ok, if she doesn't want to go, she doesn't have too." he said.
Cassandra groaned. "Can we just go already? Leave the pussy if she doesn't wanna come."
The four teens argued in front of a large, eerie looking house. A tourist might think the house was decorated for All Hallows Eve, but rather, it looked like that year round. Cobwebs hung from dead trees in the front. The windows were thick with gray dust. Deyvels Manor was a good ol' cliche haunted house.
Olivia, a shy girl, usually kept to herself. Her classmates made fun of her constantly. Two days ago, they laughed over how she spent the past two years in her room on Halloween. "It's cuz those sheet ghost make her piss herself" they joked. Olivia got tired of it. She had snapped and then, to prove a point, she took a dare. Now to nights later, on the day of the devil, she had to spend the night at Deyvels Manor.
The house had a cliche history. People were murdered there, it was abandoned.
Every year, a kid would go in. Their parents got upset and moved, they didn't want the kid to get hurt in that house.
"No, she's going." A loud obnoxious voice called. A large, muscular boy lumbered up to the group. "She took the dare, she has to go in."
Vincent stepped in front of him. "Look, Danny, we all know that she doesn't want to. Why make her?"
Olivia interrupted before a fight broke out. Everyone knew Danny hated Vincent, and loved an excuse to clobber him. "I'll go." she said.
"Finally! Now let's go!" Cassandra said.
The five walked in.
The children clicked on their flashlights and looked around. The place was a mansion, they knew, but the interior looked like a 18th century palace. The red velvet carpet, the banisters, the large model globe clad in gold. (They knew it was fake gold, anything of value had been stolen decades ago.) Everything was covered with a thick layer of dust. Beck ran his hand on a table. 'CLEAN ME' he wrote. They went upstairs.
The group walked around the house, looking for a bedroom. Vincent found the master. He called, and the other kids filed in. They unrolled sleeping bags, but Danny had other ideas.
"Lets go explore!" he said, staring at Olivia. She glared back. "Yea, let's." Cassandra said before Olivia responded.

The five walked in a close knit group. They all had flashlights that darted around the house, looking from one thing to another. They stopped as something called out to them.

Five little guests outside my door,
One fell deep into a hole and then there was four
Four little guests all plain to see,
One was dragged straight to hell and then there were three.
Three little guests made up my hearty crew,
One was forced to walk the plank and then there were two.
Two little guests, one started to run,
and tripped and fell and broke his neck and then there was one.
One little guest, he thought he had won.
Poor lad went insane. Then there were none.

"What the fuck was tha-ah!" Danny crashed through the floor.
The remaining four looked into the hole. They say Danny crumpled in a heap at the bottom.
"Lets get out of here." The response was unanimous.

The door was locked. Beck picked up an antique chair. "Move," he said, "I'll break a window." His hands stuck to the chair. "What is this, glue?" Something jerked away the chair, dragging Beck into darkness. The remaining could not find him with their flashlights, and they dassent follow.
"The poem!" Olivia cried.
Cassandra and Vincent looked at her like she was insane.
"That poem, what was it? '5 little guest are at my door, one fell in a hole then there where four? Well, didn't that happen? Then, 4 little guests for... something..." she said.
"Four little guest all plain to see. One was dragged into the night then there were three." Cassandra replied grimly. "So your saying one of is is gonna go insane?"
"Well it makes sense" Olivia retorted. A voice echoed in the house.

Three little guests made up my hearty crew,
One was forced to walk the plank and then there were two.
Two little guests, one started to run,
and tripped and fell and broke his neck and then there was one.
One little guest, he thought he had won.
Poor lad went insane. Then there were none.

"Let's all avoid planks, eh?" Vincent said sheepishly.
"No, let's find who said that." said Cassandra.
"Let's not." Olivia whimpered. Cassandra stared at the two with disgust.
"Well, I'm gonna go look for him." she said, running off. Olivia and Vincent looked at each other. And took off behind Cassandra.

Something stirred as Cassandra climbed the main staircase. She heard a door slam, and laughed, cause he had no where left to run. She heard the others following her up the steps. The whispers chilled her to the bone.

Three little guests made up my hearty crew,
One was forced to walk the plank and then there were two.

This time though, he didn't stop at a single recital. He repeated the line, over and over.
Cassandra listened carefully, trying to tell which door the sound is coming from. She found it and opened the door.

The room was unnaturally huge, it should not have fit into the house, though a mansion it was. There was no floor, but rather two small ledges on either side, connected by a 2 foot wide 2x4. Vincent and Olivia caught up to Cassandra, and stood in horror of the thing on the other side of the room.

He wasn't a he, it was an it. It was pale, lanky, and unnaturally skinny. It was bald, and it's eyes were bloodshot. It wore solely a tattered dress jacket, unbuttoned, and a pair of baggy trousers. It laughed mercilessly.

Three little guests made up my hearty crew,
One was forced to walk the plank and then there were two.

he repeated.
Cassandra ran on the 2x4 at it, with no weapon or anything. She just had to hurt it. Somehow. She stopped running when Vincent called to her.
"Cassandra, stop! It's the plank!"
Cassandra turned and looked confused. The the board split and she plummeted to a concrete floor fifty feet below.

When Olivia tor her eyes away from the body of Cassandra, she noticed the thing was gone. She pulled on Vincents arm, who stood paralyzed. She dragged Vincent out of sight of the body. And saw the thing not ten feet from her. It stood near the ledge, where they were not five seconds ago.

Two little guests, one started to run,
and tripped and fell and broke his neck and then there was one.
One little guest, he thought he had won.
Poor lad went insane. Then there were none.

It chanted. Olivia looked away for an instant, and saw the mangled bodies of Beck and Danny. The looked chewed. Beck still clutched a splintered piece of wood. She looked back at the thing. It laughed again. As it threw its head back in it's sick humor, Olivia pryed the wood from Becks cold hands and ran at it, makeshift stake in hand. The thing realized what was happening and sidestepped. But Olivia expected that. She shifted her weight and rammed full on into the thing. It fell into the chasm, and grabbed Olivia's leg as it fell. She tried to run, but it's grip was too strong. She tripped.

Vincent curled into a ball. He whimpered to himself. This was crazy. He stood up warily. He looked at the mangled bodies of Beck and Danny. They were too chewed up already. There were fresh bodies in the pit. He went looking for a way to his meal. He started humming as he looked, and humming turned into singing.

One little guest, he thought he had won.
Poor lad went insane. Then there were none.

He stopped. This song was old and boring. So Vincent made up a new one for his next guests.