"So...how'd you hear about this haunted house again, Kayla?"

"I saw it on a flyer," she said, "someone passed out a bunch in my neighborhood. It's supposed to be the real deal."

"What does that mean?" Andrea chimed in from the back seat.

"Well," said Kayla, keeping her eyes peeled on the road as they wound up and around the windy hills, "it means that this isn't just some carnival constructed venue with a bunch of fake props. It's an actual ancient house...like hundreds of years old, and the people putting this event on set it up with a bunch of scary stuff."

"It won't be too scary...right?" Andrea said, concern in her voice.

"No, it won't be that bad," Kayla said, "besides, with the three of us together it'll be a breeze! Sure, it'll be a little spooky, but just stick by us and you'll be fine."

"This won't take all night, will it?" Madelyn asked from the passenger seat.

"It shouldn't," Kayla responded, "we should have plenty of time to hit that party afterwords."

"Good," Madelyn said, "I love a good haunted house and all...but the party's gonna have booze!"

Kayla smiled, "yes, you'll have plenty of time to drink if that's what you're worried about."

"Hey, look up there...I think we're here!"

Andrea was right, they'd arrived. Passing through the large iron gates, Kayla continued up the gravel driveway before parking out front in a little dedicated zone for vehicles. There were only a couple other cars parked there, and so far nobody else in sight.

"Are you sure about this?" Andrea asked as the trio stepped out of the car.

"I mean, we're here now," Kayla said, "doesn't make much sense turning back at this point. Come on, just follow my lead."

Together, the girls made their way up to the large front doors of the house. It was Halloween and so they were dressed appropriately for the occasion of course. Kayla had gone as Yor Forger, or rather, her assassin alter ago "Thorn Princess." The costume had taken a lot of effort (and money) to put together, but she quite liked the final look. She was planning to take it to a couple anime expo's too.

Madelyn was dressed up as Mercury from Sailor Moon, minus the blue hair. She'd tried on a couple wigs but just couldn't quite get down with that look. So instead she just wore her natural hair down. She looked gorgeous either way! Madelyn could make any look work truthfully. Andrea had gone as Lara Croft from Tomb Raider, and she looked like a total badass too. It was funny though, because out of the group she was definitely the most easily frightened.

Arriving at the front doors there was a sign hanging up that said: "Please, come in!" Pushing the large doors open, Kayla stepped through with her two friends following close behind. They were greeted by a well lit, immaculately taken care of front lobby. There was hardly anything spooky about this so far! Then again, this was probably just the check in.

"Hello and welcome!"

A tall, beautiful woman dressed up as a Morticia Addams came floating down the staircase, her long dark hair billowing behind her along with her long black dress.

"Hi," Kayla said, "we're here for the haunted house."

"Yes, yes of course, welcome! I'm so glad you're here! This is going to be just a...fantastic experience for you all. Please, follow me this way!"

The girls followed the lady down the hall and into a small side room. There were a bunch of cozy chairs inside, as well as a lit fireplace. The total opposite of what Kayla was expecting. But then again...this was all just a part of the check in process.

Shutting the door behind her, the lady turned to the girls and clapped her hands together.

"Well then," she said, "let me lay the groundwork of how this experience will go and what to expect. Don't worry, I shan't take long. We'll get you on your way very soon! Please, in the meantime, do have a seat while I explain how tonight is going to work."

Sitting down, Kayla and her friends settled in while the lady began explaining the rules for the night. Apparently, there was going to be small glow in the dark lines marking the path. The path would take them all throughout the house before bringing them back to the front door. In all it was supposed to take around twenty minutes or less to complete. So not bad at all, and it left plenty of time to attend the party afterwords.

"Does anyone have any questions?"

"Nope, I think we're all good," Kayla said, "thank you."

"No, thank you for joining us this evening. Remember, when the lights start to dim, that's when you should leave the room. Have a great time tonight, ladies!"

Leaving the room, she shut the door behind her as Kayla, Madelyn, and Andrea settled down into the chairs by the fire place.

"This is nice," Andrea said, "this room is nice. I can see myself just hanging out in here while you two explore the house."

Kayla laughed, "no backing out now! We're doing this together."

Just then, the lights began to dim as the three girls exchanged a mixture of eager and worried glances.

"That's our cue," Kayla said, springing up and heading for the door.

Pulling it open, she stepped through, Andrea and Madelyn following closely at her heels. The house was dark now, and it was pretty hard to see. The glow in the dark lines though were very visible, marking a clear path down the hallway.

"Alright," Kayla said, leading the way, "let's do this thing!"

The three girls carefully began their journey through the haunted house as they stuck close together, bracing themselves for whatever spooky ghouls and ghosts awaited them ahead. The house creaked and groaned with every step they took, the ancient wood just barely holding together beneath them. Even if there didn't end up being any jump scares waiting for them, the atmosphere of the house was creepy enough to make your skin crawl and your spine tingle.

"Can we hurry it up?" Andrea whispered as she clung to Madelyn's dress.

"You're doing great," Kayla said as she continued to lead the way.

Rounding a corner, the group found themselves in another long hallway. The lines leading the way though didn't just keep going straight, but rather they snaked around a bit and headed into one of the rooms before continuing back down the hall.

"Look over there," Madelyn said, "I think we're supposed to go into that room."

"Seems like it," Kayla said, "are you ready?"

Andrea sighed, "ready as I'll ever be."

The trio carefully entered the room and looked around. It was some kind of library with bookshelves lining the walls. So far, there was nothing scary about the room at all. It was just a normal looking library with a bunch of cobwebs in the corner.

"Hm...is this it?" Kayla said. "Doesn't really strike me as being that..."

"BOOOOOOO!"

The girls are whipped around and collectively screamed as ghost popped out from behind them! Well, not really a ghost, just a person with a sheet over them, but it was still scary nonetheless. After giving them a good fright, the person ran off and down the hall. The girls just kind of stood there for a moment, huddled up together and clinging tightly to each other.

"Okay, I gotta hand that one to them," Madelyn said, "that was pretty good."

"How you doing, Andrea?" Kayla asked.

"I'm...fine...but goddamn that scared the shit out of me!"

Kayla laughed, "same here. But if that's all it's going to be, then I think we can make it through here. Come on, let's keep moving."

Following the lines back into the hallway they kept walking until once again they reached a point where the lines led them into another room.

"Ready for another scare?" Kayla whispered back at Andrea and Madelyn.

"Oh god," Andrea said, "let's just get it over with!"

Stepping into the room, they found themselves in a bedroom, a child's bedroom at that. The decorations were all very juvenile with lots of dolls and stuffed animals lining the shelves on the wall. The bed was covered in pink frilly sheets, and it rested on top of a colorful pink rug too. There were more dolls on the bed too, in addition to something else...

"Wait...is that...?"

Before Madelyn could finish her sentence a figure shot up from the bed and screamed. The girls all followed suit, letting out loud screams themselves. The person in the bed was dressed up like a little girl, but their face was covered in makeup making them look like a zombie of some kind. It really didn't matter what they looked like, sitting up like that and screaming was scary enough!

Jumping up from the bed, the person scurried out of the room and ran down the hall like the last one had leaving the three girls to slowly catch their breath and recover from the jump scare.

"Is that all they're going to do?" Madelyn asked with a a disappointing tone.

"Hey, don't you complain about it not being scary enough," Andrea said, "it's already plenty scary!"

"So far it's just been a bunch of cheap jump scares," said Madelyn. "I mean they are scary, I will give them that, but it's kind of cheap, you know?"

"I agree," Kayla said, "but hey, we just started, maybe they'll switch things up as we get further in."

"I hope so," said Madelyn.

"Come on," said Kayla, as she headed for the door, "let's keep moving. Who knows what's waiting for us around the..."

*WHOOSH!*

All of the sudden, the floor beneath Kayla opened up, sending her flying down a dark tunnel. Madelyn and Andrea rushed over in an attempt to save her from falling, but by the time they got there the floor had closed back up and Kayla was long gone.

"Kayla! Kayla are you okay?!"

Madelyn shouted down at her friend, but there was no response. Kayla was gone, disappeared beneath the floor and carried off to who knew where. Madelyn got a sinking feeling this wasn't part of the haunted house experience.

"This isn't right," she said, "I really don't think that's supposed to happen."

"Sure as hell seems not!" said Andrea, "but what do we do? Go try and find that lady and get help?"

"No...we don't go to her," said Madelyn.

"Why not?"

"What if she's behind this? It's either that or someone else set up this trap without her knowing."

"It does make the most sense for her to be behind this," Andrea said.

"Exactly," said Madelyn, "What we need to do is just stick together and find a way out of here. There's got to be some way to get downstairs. We need to find that, rescue Kayla, and get the hell out of here."

"You don't have to tell me twice!"

"Great," Madelyn said, "then let's go. Stay close. That way if we activate any more traps, it'll take both of us. Better we get nabbed together than split up even further."

"Agreed."

Carefully making their way out of the room, the duo continued down the hall, arm in arm with cautious eyes darting around. There was no telling how many more traps and perils awaited them, but as long as they stuck by each other's side they'd be okay...sort of.

Meanwhile, below the ancient estate, Kayla Grace was fighting hard against a group of thugs that had her in hand. The trap door had led way to a slide that sent her flying down to some kind of cellar. Thankfully her attackers had been nice enough to place a mattress at the bottom of the slide, but that was extent of their pleasantries. As soon as she'd landed, and before she even had a second to react, they'd pounced on her grabbing her arms and legs and hauling her off.

"What the hell?! Get off of me you crmmmmph!"

A gloved hand was slapped across Kayla's mouth as she was carried toward one of the support beams in the cellar. Dropping her in front of it, the thugs, clad in all black with various Halloween masks covering their faces, grabbed a bunch of rope and started to tie Kayla up. They spared no expense in making sure she was thoroughly trussed and hogtied on the floor with networks of rope all around her body and joints.

"Who put you up to this? What's going on?!"

Kayla got no reply from the trio, instead one of them produced a large yellow sponge from their pocket and started scrunching it up as small as it would go...which really wasn't that small! One of the other goons grabbed the corners of Kayla's mouth and gave a tug.

"Owwwmmmmph!"

Wasting no time, the goon with the sponge plunged it into Kayla's open Mouth and worked as much of it in as would fit.

"Fffffffmmmmmmph!"

She screamed into the sponge as the monstrosity was worked all the way in followed by a bunch of clear duct tape wrapped around her lower face. The goons weren't done though and still had more planned for Kayla. Taking a bunch of longer strands of rope now they started attaching it to the joints of rope on her back. With how she was tied she couldn't look up, but she could feel them feeding the rope through something above her. She had a bad feeling about what was coming next...then again, there wasn't anything she could do to stop it.

Getting on both sides of her, two of the goons scooped Kayla up and hoisted her into the air. They held her there while the third goon, after feeding the rope through a hook in the ceiling beam, secured it off to the beam behind Kayla. It took him a while to make sure everything was tight and tied off, but finally he was finished and the other two goons let go of Kayla as she just...hung there.

"Hmmmmph!"

She grumbled through her enormous gag as she hovered a good three or so feet off the ground. Could they have tied her in a more unnecessary way? Well, Kayla would never ask that question as she was sure they'd manage to come up with something! This was still pretty bad though, but she had to hand it to them...they knew how to tie a knot! They'd strung her up in such a way that weight of her body was evenly distributed on the ropes and there wasn't any uncomfortable pressure in any one particular spot.

The fact that Kayla was basically admiring her kidnapper's ropework was evidence that she had been tied up one too many times...

"Gggggnph!"

"Well, well, well...it seems like you've fallen right into my trap!"

It was the woman dressed as Morticia again!

"FFFFFMPH!"

The woman laughed as she sauntered up to Kayla, bringing her face right up to Kayla's.

"How's it hanging, darling?" She asked with a wry smile.

"Ffmmph yymmph!"

"You're adorable," the woman replied, "but apparently looks aren't everything. After all, you fell for my trap, didn't you? And here I thought I was going to have to do a lot more to trap the great Kayla Grace!"

"MMMMMMPH!"

Kayla was fuming. She hadn't being taunted like this, but at the same time the woman did have a point. Kayla did fall for her trap pretty easy. She didn't really look into the flyer she saw advertising this place, neither did she do much research on this haunted house in general! Had she done so, perhaps she would have noticed something fishy? Well, that didn't matter anymore, what's done was done and she was in a real bind because of it...

"I bet you're dying to know why I brought you here, aren't you?"

"Nnnmph!"

Kayla tried to pretend like she didn't care, but deep down of course she wanted to know!

"Let's just say I was approached by a...client...who wanted to teach you a lesson about a little story you wrote the other week. Seems like you have a nasty habit of going after other people at your little Tribune."

"MMMMMMPH MMMMMMMMMMMPH!"

Kayla shouted as loud as she could manage through her sponge stuffed mouth. She was a reporter for crying out loud! It was her job to report on what was happening around town. It wasn't her fault there was so much shady business to report on. Maybe if people stopped engaging in bad business practices and actually did the right thing there would be nothing for her to go after them for! It didn't matter though. Criminals would never listen to reason like this, no matter how many times Kayla had to say it.

"In any case, they asked me to...teach you a little lesson in response to what you wrote. So I hope this does the trick."

"FFMMMPH!"

Like Kayla had never heard that one before.

"Well, I suppose my work here is done. Oh, and thanks so much for bringing those two gorgeous friends of yours along for the fun tonight too! Don't worry, I don't plan on hurting any of you...just having a little fun!"

"GGGGGNNNMPH!"

Fun was one way of putting it...

"Alright well...hang in there!"

"MMMMMMMMMPH!"

Morticia and her trio of goons packed up their things (it was amazing how they still had rope left after all that), and headed up the the stairs and out of the cellar. Kayla of course was left behind, suspended off the ground and chewing on a mouthful of sponge. She wasn't really doing her costume much justice! The Thorn Princess would have never found herself in such a compromising position.

Well, at least Kayla wasn't all by herself. Madelyn and Andrea were still out there. Maybe they could stop this crazy woman and come save the day given they weren't already bound and gagged themselves!

Thankfully, they weren't, and were still on the hunt to try and figure out where Kayla had gone. They needed to find some way to get to the floor beneath them. They'd deduced that it probably wasn't a brand new floor but rather some kind of basement or cellar. With that in mind they were on the hunt for a door with a staircase behind it that took them down.

The only problem was they hadn't had any luck finding such a thing. Then again, with the speed at which they were moving it's not like they'd covered that much ground yet. Andrea was still pretty on edge and clinging tight to Madelyn who was leading the way as fearlessly as she could given the fact that she was starting to get a little spooked herself.

"It's got to be here somewhere," Madelyn said after opening another unsuccessful door.

"Maybe we should check the kitchen," Andrea said.

"The kitchen?" Madelyn replied.

"Yeah, I mean, if we're looking for some kind of cellar...maybe it's near the kitchen and stuff. Right?"

"You're a genius," Madelyn said, "come on, let's get moving."

Together they continued onward to the kitchen, the old house creaking and groaning with each and every step. Reaching the kitchen, Madelyn and Andrea looked around for a door that might lead down to the cellar. Up until this point Andrea had been glued to Madelyn's side, clutching her arm so tight Madelyn had to remind her to loosen her grip every few minutes. But now that they'd entered the kitchen, for some reason Andrea felt a gust of courage and let go of Madelyn to search for the cellar door on her own.

She'd only been separated from Madelyn for a few moments, but that was all their attackers needed...

"Hey, Mads...you having any luck over thmmmmph!"

Andrea was grabbed from behind and yanked back. Madelyn was far enough away from her that she hadn't heard what was going on yet. Andrea's attackers quickly wrestled her to the ground, placing her on her stomach and tying her arms behind her back. The meaty hand slapped across her mouth silenced her screams to Madelyn for help as the three kidnappers bore down on her.

Coarse rope was wrapped around her wrists, her upper arms, and even her legs. By the second she could feel more and more of it circling her body...these goddamn thugs were efficient!

"Hlllmmph!"

The hand pressed over her mouth wasn't going to be a permanent solution to silencing Andrea, but the goons were well aware of this. Grabbing her booted feet they ripped both of her boots off before peeling the grey socks from her feet leaving her barefoot. Lifting the hand from her mouth for but a moment, the thugs jammed both of the socks into Andrea's mouth and pushed them all the way in. She coughed and sputtered as the large mass of socks clogged her mouth, but they did their job in keeping her quiet and Madelyn still hadn't noticed that Andrea was gone.

"HHHHHHMPH MMMMMMMPH!"

Andrea squealed behind her sock packed mouth at Madelyn, even as her attackers would a bunch of tape around her head. Sadly, she was far too muffled and Madelyn was too far away to hear her. Andrea's kidnappers opened a closet door and quickly stuffed Andrea inside, shutting the door on her. This got Madelyn's attention, the sound of the old wooden door closing that was.

"Andrea?" Madelyn called out as she turned around and looked to see where her friend was.

Strangely enough, Andrea had wandered out of eyesight. Then again, it was pretty dark in the old house and visibility was pretty limited. Still, Andrea shouldn't have gone far, and Madelyn was concerned that she could no longer see her friend.

"Andrea, you there?" Madelyn said, a little louder this time.

Again, there was no response.

"Oh, shit," Madelyn said as her heart began to pound.

Had they gotten her too? That was the only explanation at this point. Andrea was way too scared to just wander off on her own, especially without telling Madelyn first. No, he had for sure been snatched, and if that was the case Madelyn had a feeling she'd be next! Shaking her head she took a deep breath in and out. She wasn't about to let some no good thugs ruin her night! She'd push on, find Kayla and Andrea, and show these goons she was not to be trifled with!

Or, at least that was her plan up until a pair of hands grabbed her from behind.

"Son of a bmmmmmmph!"

A hand was slapped across her mouth as another arm wrapped around her chest. A third attacker came in front of her, scooping her legs up as she was carried away.

"LMMMPH MMMPH GGMMMPH!"

Madelyn thrashed and screamed, but it was no use. Just like Kayla and Andrea, she too had been compromised. So much for being the hero and saving the day! Dragging her through the old dusty manor, she was taken to one of the upstairs bedrooms and tossed onto the bed. She was free for but a second before the hands of the goons were all over her again. Forcing her onto her stomach they pulled out a bunch of tape and started wrapping it around Madelyn's wrists and legs.

At the same time that Madelyn was being "hog-taped" one of the other thugs was busy scrunching up a handful of nylons. Giving Madelyn's blonde hair a sharp tug, he took the wad of pantyhose and shoved it right into her open mouth pushing as much in as would fit.

"Fmmmmmmmmph!"

If her mouth wasn't so crammed full of hosiery she would have asked how many goddamn pairs of tights he managed to stuff in there! Even if he didn't follow it up with a bunch of tape wrapped around her head, there probably wouldn't have been any way she would have been able to push them out of her mouth!

"mmmmmmmgph..." Madelyn moaned softly behind her massive gag as the men continued taping her up.

They'd pinned her arms firmly against her back thanks to the tape wrapped around her stomach, below her chest, and around her body. Grabbing her boots, her attackers wrenched them off and tossed them to the floor before adding tape to her thighs and ankles. The final touch was to wrap tape around her ankle sock clad feet and then without ripping it bring the length of tape all the way up to her chest before wrapping it around there a few times. Madelyn had been hogtied plenty of times, but being hogtied like this in tape was...well it was pretty neat actually! Where there was a will there was a way...

She forgot there for a moment that she was supposed to be irritated that she was being all taped up and chewing on a mouthful of nylons.

"MMMPH!" She grunted at the thugs as they finished up their work.

Of course she had ended up all taped and gagged like this on Halloween. Being best friends with Kayla Grace meant trouble around every corner, and holidays were no exception! She just hoped her friends were at least somewhat okay given the circumstances...

Speaking of which, Andrea was still downstairs locked in that closet. She hadn't made any work on the rope around her wrists and ankles. Her first priority was to just get herself upright! The closet was so small and cramped she was having a hard time sitting up. Then again, being all tied up didn't help much either. By the time she had even gotten herself into a position where she could reach the doorknob with her bare feet, her attackers had come back and opened the door on their own.

"MMMPH!" Andrea yelped as they reached in and pulled her out.

She was slung over one of their shoulders as they carted her down the hall and up the stairs, bringing her to the same bedroom Madelyn was tied up in.

"Gggnnnnmph!" Madelyn greeted her through a mouthful of tights.

"Mmmmph!" Andrea managed through her own mouth packing sock gag.

She was plopped down into a chair as the kidnappers used a bunch of rope to secure her firmly to it. They wrapped rope around her lap and underneath the chair, and even connected more to her ankles pulling the ends of the rope under the chair and back up to her wrists so that her legs were folded underneath her. After they'd finished up with her, they packed up their things and swiftly exited leaving Madelyn and Andrea to quietly squirm in their binds as they mewed through their gags.

What a disaster this night had turned into! Kayla was still hogtied and suspended down in the cellar, while her two best friends were bound and gagged in their own rights a few floors above her. As Kayla sighed into her gag, she remembered telling Madelyn that this wasn't going to take all night and they'd have plenty of time to make it to that party afterword. Sadly those were always her famous last words...

"Oh, this should only take a moment!"

"I'll be done soon, don't wait up!"

"Don't worry, I've got this!"

Kayla rolled her eyes, recalling all the times she'd ended up just like this after promising her friends she had everything under control. She knew that she'd be hearing about tonight long after the fact, and yet...knowing Kayla Grace, it wouldn't be long at all until she found herself in this position again!