Creative Inspiration Part 1

         Zaire arched an eyebrow as he stared at his overexcited teacher in shock.  He glanced around at the other stunned students and began to have the sickening feeling that this was really going to happen.
         Mr. Marshall clapped his hands once in excitement and rolled onto the balls of his feet.  He smiled and spoke again.  “So, I have assigned locations for each group of three to spend their week.  I feel that I have picked places that will inspire you guys and force some amazing work from you.  The first group consists of Nadya, Zaire, and Dominique.  The three of you will be going to the—are you ready for this—the haunted house.”
         Zaire smirked and brushed his purple and black hair out of his eyes.  The dyed hair in his eyes triggered his memory of the fact that he forgot to touch up the roots like he had planned to the night before.  He forced himself to redirect his thoughts back to the topic at hand.  Haunted houses weren’t real.  He knew that for a fact.  He figured Mr. Marshall would put his whole heart into trying to scare them into thinking ghosts were real and vampires would come out at night to drink their blood.  But whatever.  Maybe he’d just play along to see the excited look on Mr. Marshall’s face, perhaps by scaring the others, setting his own traps, acting scared of it all…  On second thought, no, he had never done that before so why start now?
         He cast his gaze out into the mass of students to pinpoint who his group was.  He knew he had heard those names sometime over the course of the class, but no matter how much he pondered, he couldn’t put a face to the name.  No sooner had he established that, he saw them.
         Right…them…, he mused, wrinkling his nose.
         Nadya wore a tight ponytail, crisp jeans, and sweater vest over a button up shirt.  Zaire ran a hand down his face.  As if on cue, her pen raced across the page as she jotted down the nature of their assignment in her planner.  He saw that the small boxes for each day already overflowed with tight, precise handwriting. He didn’t see himself bonding with her anytime soon.
         Deciding to move on from her, he located Dominique.  Instead of reassuring him, his expression fell even more than it already had.  He held up his notes that stated what the assignment was and shrugged with a half smile as if trying to say it wouldn’t be too terrible.  He smiled at Zaire as if trying to make a connection with him, which earned him a raised eyebrow.
         Zaire couldn’t fathom the fact that these were the two people he was going to be stuck with for an entire week.  This project was going to be worse than he had imagined, and that was bad enough to begin with.  He made eye contact with his team and forced a half smile.  He’d take any form of torture over this.

~




Day 1~ 9:00 p.m.

         “Okay, you three, here’s your stop!” Mr. Marshall bubbled, motioning out the school bus window to the rickety old house.
         Zaire regarded it with a bored sigh.  Was Mr. Marshall expecting them to believe this whole spiel about how this house was haunted and how they were supposed to get in touch with the spirits to further their writing?  Ridiculous.  He knew that Nadya had to be even more apprehensive than he was.  He glanced over to see what Dominique was doing and wasn’t surprised to see the blond boy eyeing the precarious building.  How typical.  Though it would be fun to see him get scared at every gust of wind that rattled the thin and broken windows.
         Nadya brushed by Zaire with her bag, knocking into him as she proceeded towards the door of the bus.  She looked him in the eyes, something he wasn’t comfortable with, and set her strict expression on her face.  “Are you coming?  I’m ready to get this week over with so I can continue my life.”
         Zaire rubbed his arm where she had hit him with her heavy bag that felt like it was filled with rocks and looked around for Dominique.  “Yeah, I guess I have to go.  This is pointless.”  He pulled himself out of the bus seat and made his way off of the vehicle. 
         When all three of them were on the pavement, they watched as the doors to the bus closed with a squeak.  The engine roared, and the bus pulled away, leaving them in a cloud of dust. 
Nadya turned around and looked the house up and down with a sigh.  “Well, I guess this is it.  Let’s go see what’s inside.”
Zaire brought up the rear of the pack as they trudged through the high brown grass littered with thorny weeds.  He smirked when both Nadya and Dominique snagged their baggy clothes on the barbs and were forced to stop to untangle themselves.  Glancing down at his tighter clothes, he smiled, pleased to see that his had gone unscathed so far.
When they reached the porch, Nadya took the first step onto the wooden stairs and winced at the creak it emitted.  “It’s nothing,” she said in a dismissal of the wary looks from the boys.
         Zaire permitted Dominique to go in before him before edging up the steps after them.  The graying boards of the siding showed age and abuse as if the house had been through more than a few rough storms.  Loose shingles dangled on the edge of the roof, threatening to break off and fall at any given moment.  The windows were more clouded and yellowed than he had realized at first, and a multitude of the panes were shattered, allowing the cool air to permeate straight into the house.  He shrugged and pushed the door open a little, sighing at the grating noise of protest.
         He occupied the room for moments before Nadya was down to business as usual.  “Okay, Dominique already has his stuff in that bedroom right over there, and I put mine in the room right next to it.  If you want to be alone, there’s a third room right over there or if not, you can share with Dominique.” 
         Wanting nothing to do with either of them, Zaire shouldered his bag and motioned to the other room.  “I’ll go by myself, thanks.”  He turned and walked into the other room, not at all bothered by the fact that he was getting away from them for a bit.  He was somewhat shocked he hadn’t heard a word from Dominique yet.  He was so talkative at school. 
         He decided to overlook it, figuring that Dominique was just scared, and that was not what he wanted to waste his time thinking about.  He dumped his clothes and other belongings into various drawers in a faded white dresser and set his electronics on top of it before looking at the door with a sigh.
         I suppose this means I have to go out there…, he whined to himself.  This week is going to be unpleasant…
         With a determined nod, he strode out into the main room where Nadya and Dominique were seated on opposite sides of the couch.  He glanced at the empty space between them and opted to take the seat across from them instead.  Once he was settled on the musty, stiff cushion, he regarded them with a half smile.  “Well…what now?”
         “I don’t want to be here,” Dominique voiced in a tone just above a whisper.  “When I was a kid, I went into this haunted house during Halloween time.  That did me in.  I was too traumatized to come out of my room for a week.  I’ve never set foot in one of these things ever since.”
         Nadya turned to him, her eyebrows raised.  “You could have asked for a switch, you know.”
         “Yeah, I know.  I tried.  He just said that maybe I’ll produce some vivid horror stories.”
         Zaire rolled his eyes and pulled a lock of his hair down in front of his eyes to examine the vibrant color.  “Haunted houses aren’t real.  They’re just people with no life who have nothing better to do than to scare kids once a year.  It’s pathetic.  Everyone knows they’re fake.”
         Looking ruffled and hurt, Dominique fell silent and looked down at his hands with a soft sigh.  “I guess so.”
         Nadya rose and took a step towards the door.  “I think we should explore the place.  Just to get the feel of it and know what we’re up against.”
         Zaire watched as Dominique leapt to his feet and scurried over to her, fear still evident in his eyes.  Shaking his head, he stood as well and ambled over to them.  “I think this is ridiculous, but whatever.”
         Disregarding him with an expression of disgust, Nadya whirled around and led the group out of the front room.  She stopped when they entered into the last room on the first floor before the stairs up to the second level.  “Well, what do you guys think so far?”
         “Typical,” Zaire commented.  “It’s the same in any horror or slasher movie.  Creaky floorboards, small, unlit hallways, flickering lights.  It’s so overdone.  Mr. Marshall set this up.”
         “I—” Dominique turned his attention to the darkness on the other side of the window.  He scrambled over to the other side of the narrow room, still staring at the cloudy window.
         “What’s wrong with you now?” Zaire spat, leaning back against the stained wall.
         Dominique tore his eyes from the window to look at his classmates.  He cast a fleeting look at the window before making eye contact with both Nadya and Zaire.
         “Well, out with it.  Come on,” Nadya urged, resting both of her hands on her hips.
         “I saw a pair of eyes staring in.”          

~


Day 2~3:30 a.m.

         Zaire’s eyes snapped open when the door to his room crashed into the wall.  He reached over, flipped the light on, and glanced at the pale faced Dominique standing in the now vacant door frame.  He sighed and ran his hand down his face in exasperation.  “What now?  It’s,” he paused and looked at the clock.  “Three thirty in the morning.  Really, Dominique?  Get out of my room!  Are you crazy?”
         Dominique’s wide eyes darted back and forth around the room.  He took a deep, steadying breath before daring to open his mouth.  “Th-there’s something you…you have to see.  Follow me.”
         “What is it?”
         “Just come with me!”
         Zaire drug himself out of bed.  If he had to do this, he wasn’t about to do it in good spirits.  He ran a hand through his tousled hair and trudged to the door.  “Make it quick.  I don’t want to wake up too much.”
         He shuffled down the hallways after Dominique, his eyes glued to his shoes.  If he didn’t make eye contact with the flickering lamps on either ends of the corridors, maybe his eyes wouldn’t adjust to the light.  He grunted when he ran into Dominique, who had stopped dead in his tracks.  “What’s your—”
         “Look,” Dominique cut him off, throwing his hand in the direction of the obstruction.
         Zaire’s eyes widened in surprise.  A specter hovered before them, complete with a dismembered figure and hollow, black eyes sunken deep into its chalky face.
         After staring at the phantasm for a few moments, he shook his head and gave a half-hearted shrug.  “Has it moved since you first discovered it?”
         Dominique cast him a wary glance.  “What do you mean?  It’s all billowy where the ends of its limbs…should be…”
         Zaire sighed and rolled his eyes.  “No, I mean you knew where it would be because it didn’t move.  It’s a hologram or a projection of some sort.  It’s fake.”
         “If it’s fake, then why is it coming towards us?”
         Zaire tore his eyes from the ceiling to look at the ghost again.  As Dominique had said, the spirit drifted towards them.  Its expressionless face made his stomach churn and writhe inside of him.  “It…it’s nothing.  It’s just a set up.  You know Mr. Marshall, always going the extra mile for our creativity and the experience of it.”
         He put on a tough face and smiled, but if he was honest with himself, he could tell that something wasn’t right.  The closer the phantom got to them, the faster the temperature dropped and his confidence along with it.  He turned to Dominique.  “Run!”
         They both took off running.  Stumbling over one another, they raced down the halls and crashed into Nadya’s door at the same time.
         “Nadya, open the door!” Dominique pleaded, seizing the locked doorknob and shaking the entire door.  He stole a peek behind them and let out a panicked noise before trying to open the door again.
         After what felt like ages, Nadya jerked the door open.  Her stern expression indicated that she was not pleased to be woken up at this hour.  Her eyebrows went up as if surprised to see that Zaire was in on this as well until her eyes travelled up and connected with the figure behind her classmates.  She screamed and pulled the boys in before slamming the door.  They scurried to the corner behind the bed and huddled, staring with bated breath at the door.
         “If that thing is real, it can go through walls,” Zaire whispered.  “There’s no reason to hide from it.  It will find us either way.”
         “Don’t say that please…,” Dominique begged.  He trembled so much that his whole body was shaking, and Zaire could see it without having to imagine much.
         The three of them screamed as the door rattled and shook the frame.  The hinges shook and creaked against the pressure, the old screws threatening to disjoin themselves from the wood.
         After one final slam against the door that made them cluster even tighter, the door and its attacker fell silent.  The floating particles of wood and dust drifted toward the ground and settled in as if nothing had happened.
         No one dared to speak for a minute.  They were content with watching the door and waiting for it to start all over again.  When it didn’t come, they all allowed themselves to relax a few notches.
          “What…was that thing?” Nadya voiced first.
         “Some kind of ghost or something,” Zaire replied.  “I still wasn’t convinced it was real until it attacked the door like that.  Holograms don’t do that.”
         “What are we going to do?” Dominique inquired, his voice still the shakiest of the three.
         “Well, speaking in supernatural terms, it’s obvious to see that this room has something that prevents that thing from getting in here.  It was all set to devour your souls until you came inside and we closed the door.  All we have to do is figure out what that feature is and what other rooms have it.  The halls don’t so we have to be careful when we transition from room to room.”
         “As much as I hate to say this,” Zaire began.  “We should all stick together.  Being caught alone with that thing could be disastrous.”
         Dominique eased out from behind the bed and began perusing around the room.  He stopped to examine a set of charms of various designs pinned around the door frame.  “Had you noticed these?”
         Zaire and Nadya joined him by the door and inspected the miniature silver charms as well.  Zaire reached out and touched one, earning a sharp electrical zap.  He jumped back, nursing his injured finger, and exchanged glances with the other two.
         “What happened?” Dominique asked, his voice fallen to a whisper.
         “It shocked me.  There’s some importance to those things.  They might protect certain rooms or something.  We can go check and see what rooms have them.”
         Dominique opened his mouth to protest, but Nadya beat him to the chase.  “That’s something we have to do.  But for now…I think we’d all feel better if we just stayed in here, tried to rest for a day, and tackle that tomorrow.”
         Zaire pondered for a moment and nodded.  He joined the other two on the bed as they sat and watched the door, just waiting for something on the other side to come and haunt them again.

~



Day 3~9:00 a.m.

         Nadya paced back and forth in front of the protected door, the boys watching her like a slow motion ping pong match.  “Okay,” she barked.  “We’ve had over twenty-four hours to gather ourselves and figure out what we’re going to do.  Are we ready to go out there?”
         “Except…we don’t have much of a plan,” Zaire corrected, his chin in his hands.  He made eye contact with Dominique.  “What do you think we should do?”
         Dominique shrugged and shook his head.  “The ideal situation would be to get out of here, but considering the fact that we’re how many miles out and no one knows how to get home, I just want that thing to be gone when we leave the room.  If it’s still there…I think I’ll take off running and never come back.”
         Nadya glanced at him and shook her head.  “You will do no such thing.  We need to stick together and that means all of us, understood?”
         Dominique nodded and pulled his feet up onto the bed.  “I guess so.  I’m just so terrified…”
         Zaire nudged the blond haired boy, almost sending him toppling off the bed.  “We’re all scared at this point.  It’s just a matter of getting through the week.”
         With a sigh, Dominique pulled himself off of the bed and joined Nadya by the door.  He eyed the door and each of the twinkling silver ornaments one-by-one.  He bit his lip and turned to face the others.  “What if it’s still out there?”
         Zaire hopped off of the bed and wandered over to the door with them.  “My guess is either it’s not there because it was the middle of the night then but it’s broad daylight now or if it is out there, it won’t do anything.  It didn’t last time.”
         “It chased us!”
         “Didn’t hurt us though.”
         Dominique turned away, took a deep breath, and exhaled.  He took a moment to compose himself before turning around to look at his peers again.  “Okay.  Fine.  Let’s just go.”
         Nadya nodded once and put her hand on the doorknob.  She paused for a moment, then threw the door open.
         Zaire halfway expected to be swallowed at that very moment by zombies, vampires, ghosts, and whatever other kinds of monsters were lurking around the house.  But nothing was there.  The front room lamp blinked at them from its perch on the coffee table, claiming that it was the room’s single inhabitant.  He leaned out of the door frame and looked both ways before stepping out into the front room.  “Nothing.  It’s all clear.”
         Nadya followed him out, dragging Dominique along behind her.  “Okay.  Good.  That gives us some time to explore and get a feel of which places are safe to be in at night.  Let’s go check your rooms first.”
         They crept along the few feet to Dominique’s room, still keeping an eye open for daytime terrors, and scrambled inside.  As quick as lightning, Dominique slammed the door close and did a scan of the door.  Sure enough, matching charms lined the door, twinkling in the dim light managing to force its way through the cloudy window.
         Zaire reached out to touch one of the charms without a second thought.  After an unpleasant zap, he nodded as he rubbed his tingling fingers.  “Yeah.  It’s protected.”
         “Let’s go check your room now,” Nadya suggested.
         “Okay, but I’ll take the risk and just say it’s protected if it has those things.  I’m not getting shocked again.”
         Nadya led the group across the living room and opened the door.  She gasped and looked at Zaire in horror after she did a quick scan around the room.
         Zaire picked up his mp3 player from the dresser top and pocketed it.  “Yeah, I know the room is a mess.  Got a problem with that?”
         “No…that’s not it.  I—never mind.”
         “What, felt like you stepped into your room for a minute and had that dizzying feeling of déjà vu?”
         She glared at him for a moment and shook her head.  “No.  Of course not.  I…I thought I saw something.”
         A small squeak emitted from somewhere behind him, and Zaire shook his head in disbelief.  He turned around to face Dominique, who was already pressed back against the door.  “I’m sure it wasn’t anything.”
         “I saw it too.”
         “You’re just being psychosomatic.  There couldn’t be anything because I have those—,” he cut himself off and took a step towards Dominique.  He looked at him in surprise, then allowed his eyes to travel around the door frame.  “You aren’t getting shocked…There aren’t any charms in here.”  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nadya collecting his belongings.  “What are you doing?” he asked, his head cocked to one side.
         “You’re moving into Dominique’s room.  This room is unsafe.”
         Zaire winced and shook his head.  “No, I’m okay.  I’m not scared.”
         “Both Dominique and I saw something.  It was…what was it, Dominique?”
         “First eyes, then it moved, but it was too fast so I just saw a blur.”
         “Me too.  So it’d be in your best interest if you went into his room.”
         Zaire shrugged and took his things from her arms.  He smiled as he dropped everything on the floor again.  “I’ll be fine.  I hate sharing rooms.”
         A slow, deliberate creak echoed from above them, causing them all to jump and look up at the ceiling.  Nadya was the first to react.
         “Come on.  Let’s go find out what that was.”
         “Are you serious?” Dominique exploded, then checked himself and lowered his voice again.  “Are you crazy?  We can’t just wander around, trying to locate the noise that will get us killed or maimed.”
         “Come on, Zaire.  You come with me then if he refuses to come.”  She took a step towards the door, then cast a glance back to see which of the boys, if either, would follow her.
         Zaire grabbed Dominique’s wrist to pull him along with him.  He wasn’t used to dragging people around like this; he was always the one being stubborn.  He forced him to follow him up the stairs to the second floor, Nadya not far behind.
         When they got to the top of the stairs, Nadya peeked in all of the rooms and rejoined the two boys moments later.  “It looks like everything is all clear up here.  So what do you think it could have been?”
         Zaire flipped his hair out of his eyes.  “It’s just the house settling on the foundation.  Old houses tend to do that, and I’m guessing by the looks of it, this place is pretty old.”
         “It could be the—,” Dominique cut himself off, slapping his hand to his forehead in frustration.
         Nadya followed where his gaze had been and nodded towards the ceiling, her eyes glued to a short pull cord that swung back and forth like a pendulum from a small trapdoor in the ceiling.  “Tomorrow, we’ll check that trapdoor out and see what’s inside.”

~

Day 4~11:00 a.m.

         “Come on, Dominique.  I’m not going to wait around all day for you.  We’ll just leave you in there,” Zaire called through the door between knocks.  He sighed and pounded one last time before jiggling the locked handle.  He glanced at the time on his phone.  It read 11:00, which meant he had been out in the hall for half an hour.  It felt like hours.
         He could hear Nadya’s impatient pacing from the floor above them and knew if the two of them didn’t get upstairs soon, there would be trouble to deal with.  He perked up when he heard Dominique shuffling behind the door.  “Are you ready now?”
         “I’d prefer to stay in here where it’s protected, in all actuality.”
         “Well, it’s not a choice.  If you don’t come out here, Nadya will force her way in there.  So I’d recommend coming out now.”
         Dominique eased the door open, an unusual scowl on his face.  He crept out the door and slammed it.  He made eye contact with Zaire, then broke it off with a huff and stomped off in the direction of the stairs.
         When they arrived, Nadya crossed her arms and looked at them in exasperation.  “It’s about time!  What took you so long?”
         “This one,” Zaire confessed, jerking his head in Dominique’s direction.  “He kept me waiting outside the whole time.”
         Nadya rolled her eyes and ushered Dominique closer to the overhead trapdoor.  “Since you were the one who made us late, you go up first and tell us what you see.”
         He made a soft noise of protest but pulled the string nonetheless.  After he had pulled the rickety steps to their full extension, he set one foot on them and took a steadying breath.  “If we get out of this alive, I’m never going to talk to either of you at school again.  I didn’t sleep last night because I was dreading what lived up here.”  With a glare from Nadya, he muttered himself off into silence and ascended the steps.
         When he had clambered up into the attic, Zaire followed Nadya up and looked around the spacious room.  None of the furniture or artifacts looked like they had been touched in decades, hundreds of years even.  He pursed his lips when Dominique jumped and rammed into him.  “What now?”
         “I saw something sparkling over there.”
         Zaire couldn’t help but laugh.  “What, vampire?  Vampires don’t sparkle.  Not the legendary ones—the ones I would think of in a place like this.  But no sparklers.”
         Dominique blushed and looked down at his shoes.  “It could have been their fangs…or eyes filled with blood lust…”
         “No.”
         “Guys, shut up for a minute and come here.  Look at what I found,” Nadya called from across the room, her voice muffled by old antiques that seemed to eat her alive.
         “What is it?” Zaire asked when he coaxed Dominique deeper into the room.
         “Some kind of diary.”
         Zaire took it from her hand and turned it over to inspect each side of it.  He fiddled with the brass lock, but it held fast.  He shrugged and held it out towards Nadya again.  “It’s locked.  We can’t do anything with it.  Unless we found a key.”
         “Is this necessary?” Dominique groaned as he trailed after the other two.
         “Maybe it will give us inspiration,” Nadya quipped in tone that mocked Mr. Marshall.
         “Hey, maybe your ‘vampire’ was the key, Dominique,” Zaire taunted with a smirk on his face, his eyes glittering.
         “You can stop teasing me about that anytime, you know.  I don’t mind.”
         Zaire nudged Dominique on the shoulder and smiled.  “We have to keep our spirits up or we’ll never survive another few days.”
         “Keep our spirits up?  Says you?”
         “Let’s go find your ‘vampire’.”  Zaire teased as he backtracked to the other side of the room, leaving Dominique to fume as he followed.
         He knelt down next to an antique side table and tugged on the tarnished silver chain draped out of the drawer.  He reached inside and felt around for the delicate chain.  When he found it, he untangled it from the track before pulling the drawer open. When it was free, he held it up for the others to notice the small bronze key sliding back and forth on the chain as he moved.  “A key.”
         Nadya was at his side in an instant, shoving the diary in his face.  “Here.” 
         “Okay, okay.  Give me a second.”  He took the diary from her, inserted the key into the lock, and twisted until the internal mechanisms clicked.  He glanced at the other two.  “Ready?”  At Nadya’s nod, he opened the front cover.  Nothing.  He flipped through a few pages but still nothing was recorded on the feathery thin sheets of paper.  He shook his head in disgust.  “Well, that was anti-climactic.  No one even used the stupid book.  What a waste of time.”
         No sooner had he finished speaking, a sonic blast exploded from the book and travelled up his arm, rocking his entire body.  He clenched his teeth as the vibrations electrified his limbs, and he had to cling to one of the chairs to keep steady.  When he was himself again and the last of the blast had left his body, he looked up at Nadya and Dominique, who were both staring at him with wide eyes and mouths agape.
         “What…was that?” Dominique dared to voice.  He trembled from head to toe and didn’t look like he’d recover from this one anytime soon.
         “I have no idea.  Did you guys feel it too?  Or was it just me because I was the one holding the—” he gasped and cut himself off, realizing that the diary was still in his hand.  He dropped it onto the floor, the key still in the lock.
         Once he had rid himself of it, Nadya proceeded to answer his question.  “Yeah, we felt it too, though it didn’t seem anything near the intensity you did.  Are you alright?”
         “Yeah.  I’m okay.  Don’t worry about me.”
         “So…what did that explosion do…?” Dominique inquired, peering around the attic.  Catching on to what he was looking for, Nadya and Zaire began searching the hidden areas around the expansive room for anything shady or monstrous.
         Nadya nudged the diary with her foot until it was out of sight.  “Okay, it’s all clear.  I didn’t see anything suspicious or…moving.”
         Zaire joined them in the middle and shook his head.  “I didn’t see anything either.  Let’s get out of here.  I feel claustrophobic.  There’s so much crap up here.”  He led the group to the trapdoor and allowed Dominique and Nadya to exit before him.  He descended steps, cast one more glance up into the darkness, and retracted the steps up into the attic.
         “I think I’m going to go hide for a bit.  Come with me,” Dominique pleaded, his eyes on the other two.  Without an argument or any sort of sarcastic gesture, the other two followed him into his protected room and shut the door.

~

Day 5~4:00 a.m.

         Zaire shivered and drew the thin covers tighter around his body.  He opened his sleep-weary eyes and felt around for his phone on the splintery bedside table.  When he noted the time, he groaned and rubbed his eyes.  Cursing what the old house did to his routine, he rolled over and jerked the sheets over his head.  They stayed in place for a mere moment before he threw them off again and sat upright, his eyes darting around the room.  Something didn’t feel right.  The room hadn’t been this cold when he went to bed hours before. 
         He slid out of bed and crept to the closet door, which was open a few inches.  Hadn’t he closed it last night?  Maybe he hadn’t.  He paused, his hand extended towards the door.  With a smile, he shook his head and dropped his hand.  He was being ridiculous.  Of course he had left it open.  Even though his room wasn’t protected, he never had any problems with anything deciding to hibernate in his room.  He turned back toward the bed and forced himself to believe it was nothing.
         He whirled around when he heard a whooshing sound behind him.  The closet door slammed shut, making him jump and back up a few paces.  His gaze darted over to the window, noting its closed position.  It hadn’t been the wind that closed the door.  He took a deep breath and slunk towards the closet door.  In the back of his mind, he knew that he should go get Nadya and Dominique before he proceeded, but his curiosity got the better of him and drove him forward to venture alone.
         He grazed the handle with a trembling hand, then grasped it with full force.  In one swift movement, he threw the door open to reveal the whole inside of the closet.  What he saw made him want to run out of the room screaming, but he found his feet to be rooted to the floor.
         The eyes of the three ghosts were black, hollow orbs, and each one was turned to look at him as if he was dinner.  One of the females rose from the depths and advanced towards him, her tattered transparent dress billowing with her movement.
         Pulling himself from his terror, he slammed the door, turned on his heel, and bolted towards the door to the main room.  He skidded to a halt upon opening that door and found Nadya and Dominique in their doors, staring at him through a room full of floating ghosts and other creeping creatures.  Glancing to his left and his right, he dashed across the room and collided with Dominique, causing them both to tumble onto the floor.  They cleared out of the entrance so Nadya could come in and slam the door behind her.
         She stumbled back against the door and slid down it, running her hand through her loose hair.  “What is going on?  Where did they all come from?  I heard noises outside of my room and that’s what I discovered when I came out.”
         “Me too,” Dominique supplied, inching toward the bed and pulling himself up onto it.
         “Consider yourselves lucky,” Zaire mumbled, his gaze down on his shaky hands.  “I felt this draft and when I went to go see why my closet was open, I discovered three ghosts camping out in there.  One of them tried approaching me.  Scariest thing I’ve ever been through.”
         “Where do you think they all came from?” Nadya ventured to ask.
         Zaire shook his head, negating any form of an answer that crossed his mind.  Then he had it.  He slapped his hand to his forehead, wondering why he hadn’t thought of that option beforehand.  It made complete sense.  “The book,” he said with a heavy sigh.  “We had that one run in with the first ghost and a few other weird sightings before, but since we opened that book, well, we’ve got ourselves a hotel for creepers now.  And we’re the hotel management.”
         “That’s it.  I’m calling Mr. Marshall.  I don’t care if we fail this assignment.  We’ve gained enough inspiration to write hundreds of best sellers.  I have to get out of here,” Dominique exploded out of nowhere.  He felt around for his pockets, glanced around the room, and dove toward his phone, where it sat on the floor by his bed.  He flipped the front open and within seconds, his face fell.  “I don’t have any reception.  That’s weird.  I had some yesterday.”
         Zaire snatched the phone from his hands and disassembled it.  “Sometimes taking the battery out helps,” he explained as he put it back together.  He turned it on and handed it back to Dominique.  “See what it’s doing now.”
         Dominique looked down at the small, lit screen and shook his head.  “Still nothing.”  He peered around the room and scrambled to the window.  “Then let’s just leave.  We can explain to him later.”
         Nadya bit her lip and looked over at the week’s schedule lying on his dresser.  “The bus is coming to pick us up on that day.  Isn’t he going to worry when he gets here and we aren’t here?”
         “Better than finding us dead with our souls extracted or bodies maimed or something dreadful like that.  I’d rather get the F than lose my life or my soul.”  Without waiting for her response, he tried the window, but to his dismay, it stuck in the sill.  He used his whole body in an attempt to force it open, but it squeaked in opposition and refused to accommodate.  He pulled on it a few more times, the look on his face one of desperation and panic.  Defeated, he fell to the floor and rested his head back against the wall.  “Well, we’re stuck in here.  Can’t go out my door, can’t get out the window…Looks like we’re just going to have to wait in here until Saturday when we get picked up.”
         Zaire wrinkled his nose and shook his head.  “There’s no way that I’m going to be stuck in here.  I’m going to go try the front door.”  He turned towards the door but before he could take a step, Nadya snagged his sleeve and pulled him back.
         “Are you crazy?  You can’t go out there!  I hate to admit it, but Dominique is right.  We don’t know what those things can do to us.”
         Zaire shrugged her off and strode over to the door.  “Don’t come with me if you don’t want, but I’m going to go.  If we’re going to try to get out of this place, we have to use all of our resources.”  He pulled the door open, peeked through the small opening, and slid out without making a sound.  He edged along the wall, keeping his eyes open for any of the hotel guests that made a quick movement. 
         Getting to the door took much longer than he hoped, but when he reached his destination, he breathed a soft sigh of relief.  He glanced over both shoulders to see if any specters or other creatures were behind him, waiting to rid him of his soul.  Finding that he was still unnoticed, he turned the lock and grasped the handle.  He smiled as he turned it, feeling victorious, but the triumphant look fell in an instant.  Like the window, the door stuck in the frame and wouldn’t move in the slightest.  A feeling of panic shot through his whole body, making his stomach do somersaults and his heart race.  Trying to keep his movements as inconspicuous as he could, he rattled the door, pleading in his mind for it to open.  Nothing.  Of course nothing happened.  This week kept finding ways to worsen every situation, and it wasn’t about to let up.
         He looked around behind him.  The creatures heard him, caught on to what he was doing, and were now advancing.  Taking a deep breath, he dashed through them, the cold feeling of death chilling him to the bone.  He slammed the door behind him and fell to the floor against it.  He looked down at his shaking hands, then up at a surprised Nadya and Dominique.  He took a deep breath before speaking.  “The front door is locked too.  We’re trapped.”

~

Day 6~9:45 a.m.

         Zaire opened his eyes to see Nadya and Dominique whispering on the other side of the room.  He pulled himself to his feet and joined them with a sigh.  “What are you guys talking about?” he mumbled, digging his fists into his eyes to drive the sleep from them.
         “How to get out of here,” Nadya replied.  She reached into Dominique’s bag and tossed Zaire a small package of trail mix.  “Eat that.  But make it last.  Who knows when we’ll make it to the kitchen next.”
         “So what’s our plan of action for getting out of here?”
         “We’re going to try to get back up to the attic again and lock all of those creatures back in that diary thing.”
         “The problem is that the attic isn’t protected,” Dominique interjected.  “So it’s not going to be fun trying to get up there.”
         “Well, I was able to make it to the door without being noticed.  All we have to do is be as quiet as we can,” Zaire explained.  “If those trinket things weren’t electrical, I’d say we take some of those.  But I’m not touching those things again.”
         Nadya stood and crossed the room to examine the sparkling trinkets.  She sighed and turned back around to face the boys.  “Zaire’s right.  We’re going to have to just go if we want out of here.”
         Dominique paled but forced himself to nod in silence.  He joined Nadya by the door and closed his eyes.  “So remind me of how to get to the attic again.  This terror is making my mind blank, and I want to be able to make a beeline right to it.”
         “It’s easy,” Nadya returned.  “All you have to do is go to the stairs at the end of the hall, go back towards the front of the house, and the attic door is right in front.”
         “Right…I’ll just follow you then.”
         Zaire slid by them and placed his hand on the doorknob.  “Ready?”  He glanced at both of them in turn.
         “Yes,” Nadya returned.
         He nodded once and with as little sound as possible, pushed the door open wide enough to slip through.  He waited until the other two were out before he shut the door again.  “That will make them think we’re still in there,” he whispered.  His eyes darted back and forth around the room to make sure that none of the creatures noticed them, then motioned for the other two to follow him. 
         With every care and precaution, they inched along the room and when they were clear, they dashed up the stairs to the trapdoor. 
         Dominique peered around them as Nadya and Zaire fought through their panic to pull the string attached to the heavy stairs.  “Guys, they know we’re out.  They’re coming!”
         “Just move!” Nadya cried, grabbing the string with both hands and pulling on it with all of her strength.  With a groan, it gave way and detached itself from the ceiling, providing the necessary escape. 
         They scrambled up the rickety steps and pulled the trapdoor shut behind them.  Glancing around, Zaire noted that they were alone apart from the musty furniture.  He dropped his gaze to the ground and scanned it for the diary. 
         When he discovered it, he seized it and snapped the covers together.  With a shaky hand, he fumbled with the key until he heard the reassuring click of the lock’s closure.  He pulled the key out and handed the book to Nadya.  “You take care of that.  I’ll put this back where I found it.  My guess is that they were separated for a reason.”
         At Nadya’s nod of approval, he carried the key back to the drawer where Dominique first saw the glittery silver chain.  The compartment already standing open for him, he dropped the heavy key in, and it landed with a dull thud.  He nodded once and slammed the drawer shut before strolling back to where Dominique stood in the middle of the room.
         “You’re casual about it,” Dominique muttered, his eyes darting back and forth across the dusty attic.
         “Well, it’s done.  No more evil book, no more ghosts or vampires or whatever.”
         Nadya hopped over a tattered ottoman and joined the group.  She flashed them a pleasant smile before taking a step towards the trapdoor.  “Are you two coming?”
         Zaire nodded, but Dominique hung back, biting his lip and eying the trapdoor.  “I…don’t think we should go out yet.  Those creatures didn’t turn up for awhile, so what if they take their time leaving as well?”
         Zaire wrinkled his nose and shook his head.  “I’m not going to stay up here any longer.  All of this dust will clog up our lungs and then what good would that do us?  None.  So let’s get out of here.”
         Nadya took Dominique by the wrist and pulled him over to the steps.  She knelt down, lowered them, and descended, the boys following behind her.  Looking around, she smiled at Dominique.  “See?  All clear.”
         “Except for that one!”
         Zaire whirled around to the end of the hall and groaned when he saw the ghost that had first chased them hovering with its eyes boring into them.  “We have to get by it…”
         “But how?”
         “They are creepy to run through, but it doesn’t hurt.  It’s just really cold like death.  But if you keep running, it’s not terrible.  So let’s go through it.”
         Despite the look of hesitation on Dominique’s face, Zaire took a deep breath and bolted.  He shivered when he passed through the disembodied form, but he didn’t stop running until he reached his room and put his hand on the knob.
         “Wait!” Nadya exclaimed from the other side of the room.  She glanced over at the specter and back at Zaire.  “There are those ghosts in your closet…  Are you sure you want to go in there again?”
         Zaire shrugged and shook his head with a smile.  “I’m sure it’s fine.  That ghost roamed the halls when we hadn’t opened the book yet.  So I’m sure the other ones will be gone.  I noticed them after we opened it.”  He waved to them and opened his door. 
         Everything seemed as it had been before he left.  He cocked his head, looking at the closet door.  Would the ghosts have been sucked through the door or would they have had to fight their way out?  He knew he had to look or else he wouldn’t get any sleep that night, despite how he told the others the night had gone. 
         He reached toward the door, hesitating for a moment, then pulled it open, hoping to find a pile of clothes.  Instead, he stared into the same three pairs of blank eyes from before.  When one rose to confront him again, he slammed the door closed and dashed out of his room.  He threw Dominique’s door open and closed it behind him, resting his forehead on the wood.
         “Zaire?”
         “There are three ghosts in my closet,” he panted.  “I don’t know if they’ve been in there since the book or they just decided to go in there since I didn’t use the closet much or what.  But they’re in there now.  And…as much as I hate it, can I be your roommate for the last night?”