With a quiet grunt of exertion, Susan hefted herself over the brick wall and into the garden. The thick wall of creeper growing all across the inside wall made climbing down a bit easier then climbing up it had been. She dropped to her feet, her running shoes padded softly on the brick pathway as she glanced around, nervously.

“Why did I ever let them talk me into this?” She wondered. It had sounded so much more fun back at the sleepover with her friends; drive over to the old Ravenfield house, hop the fence and sneak through the garden. Nothing to worry about, after all they didn’t still believe those old school yard stories about the woman living here being a witch, right?

“Right...” Susan muttered quietly to herself, pulling her hoodies closer around her as she tried to pretend her shivers were entirely due to the cold night breeze and not fright. She raised her flashlight up, keeping it low so it wouldn’t be seen in the tall, dark, foreboding mansion a dozen yards away, and ran is up the path.

At the moment, she was between the outer wall, heavily overgrown with virginia creeper, forming an open corridor. Ahead, she could see an arched gateway, also grown over with ivy and flowers, leading into another part of the garden. It seemed to be heading in the right direction, so she headed towards it. “Just need to get up to the house...” She said. “Just touch the outside of it, that was the bet. Then I can get out of here...”

She froze as, not far away, she heard another scuffle. It sounded like someone else was in the garden, separated from her by another thick hedge. She heard them give a muffled grunt as they jumped down. Her eyes narrowed. That sounded like Brittney, and if she was here, it was a good bet Amanda and Hannah were as well. Probably planning on sneaking up on her and giving her a good scare.

“Two can play at that game...” She thought, and started to sneak forward, quietly as she could, her flashlight off. With any luck, she could turn the tables on them…

Through the gateway, she found herself in a courtyard. In the center was a large fountain, she could hear the water splashing into the base. She had a brief start, seeing a human figure standing in it, until she realized it was a statue. She risked her flashlight for a brief second to look at it. The statue was a female figure, life sized in marble. She was nude, holding a vase from which the water poured and done in such detail that, had the flashlight not shown the texture of the marble, Susan could have almost believed another girl about her age was standing in front of her pouring out water.

The teen shivered. All those old school yard stories she and the other girls would swap about the witch who lived here, and what she did with girls who went trespassing on her property came flooding back. “They’re just stories.” She reminded herself, and after a second almost made herself believe that. Switching the flashlight off again, she continued her path.

For the next hour, or so it seemed to her, she crept through the dark garden, alternating between narrow aisles of hedgerows and open gardens. Most of them had statues as well, some part of fountains, others freestanding, and all in the same lifelike quality as the first.

“Just how big is this garden?” Susan wondered, nervously. It had not seemed this big when they were standing on the outside. The big house remained where it was, looming and the fact it didn’t seem to move no matter how far Susan walked added to her disorientation. Every now and again, she thought she heard one of her friends close by, or at least she hoped it was her friends, but always on the other side of a hedge and they seemed to be getting further and further away.

Just then, a frightened scream went up from somewhere far away. It was Brittney, she was sure of it. It was cut off, very suddenly, as if someone had gone and clamped a hand over the teenage girl’s mouth. Susan started forward in the direction the sound had come from, when another cry from Hannah went up in the opposite direction, cutting off just as abruptly and then Amanda.

At this, Susan lost her nerve completely. With a yelp of fright, she turned and ran back the way she came...or at least she tried to. It may have been the darkness or her own fright, but though she tried to retrace her path back through the garden, she didn’t recognize anything as she ran. It was as if the garden was changing around her, hiding the way out.

Eventually, Susan gave up trying to find her old path. She put the old house behind her and took off in the other direction, reasoning she must, eventually come to the edge of the garden, no matter how strangely big it may be.

“Yes!” She cried out, seeing a wall of creeper ahead of her, the brickwork of the outer wall just visible beneath it. Without stopping, she ran to the wall and grabbed hold of the creeper, starting to climb up. She’d made it about halfway up when, without warning, the vines began to move around her.

“Hey!” She cried in alarm. “What the hell!” The creeper writhed like snakes all around her, moving with a quiet rustling. She realized what was happening when several thick vines started to wrap around her right wrist. She tried to pull her left wrist free, but the vines followed, grabbing hold of it. She threw herself back, trying to jump down and tear herself loose but the creeper was too strong, holding her in place. Other vines grabbed at her kicking feet, lashing them together.

As Susan was pulled back towards the wall, the vines turned her, so her back was to the brickwork. When she got close, the mass of vines started forward now. Struggle as she might, Susan was helpless as she was quickly wrapped up in the creeper.

“Heeelp!” She screamed, as loud as she could. “Somebody please he-Mmmppphhh!!!” Her screams were cut off as the vines reached her mouth and wrapped over it, muffling her cries. Everything went back as her eyes were covered.

Soon enough, the teen found herself in a tight green cocoon of creeper. It pulled her back snug against the wall, more of the vines surrounding her, rustling slightly from her frantic struggles. There she would wait, nestled among the creeper until the Mistress of the House came to collect her and the other trespassers to decide how to punish them...