“Whoa whoa whoa!” Veronica said, breaking out of her stupor and getting up close and personal with Scarlett, “What do you mean ‘next stop’? Did you not just see that ghost steal Echo’s fucking legs?”

    “Well, of course he did hun. Drake has been looking for a suitable dance partner for a long time now and your friend there did the best jobs I’ve seen in my entire career as a tour guide,” Scarlett explained.
    “Umm… Thank you?” Echo responded, not quite clear whether to be flattered or terrified still at the loss of feeling in her lower half.
    “No problem sugar. Besides, you all knew what you were getting into when you signed the waiver.” Scarlett responded, pulling out the waiver form once again. Gruffly, Veronica pulled the waiver out of her hand, reading it through thoroughly for the first time. “Right there on point 37: potential loss of limbs”

    Veronica stared incredulously at Scarlett, “I thought that was just some sort of joke! Nobody actually expected this sort of shit to happen!” She looked desperately at her friends, trying to find a voice of reason in this house of madness.

    “Now now. There’s no need to get upset hun, these sort of things happen. Now! Grab your friend over there and let’s get on to the next stop, or it’ll be my ass that gets taken away next,” Scarlett gave a little giggle, before raising her flag once more and stepping out the door.

    The group stood in the room in silence, the menagerie of human instruments giving the occasional rustle or squeak. Susan approached Echo on the floor, who seemed to have finally absorbed the fact that she was probably never going to get her legs again and was now beginning to cry. “It’s okay Echo! No need to cry.”
    “What am I supposed to do? My mom can take care of an invalid for the rest of her life! How am I even supposed to go to the bathroom? Or have children? Or - or …” Echo’s sobbing took over her ability to speak coherently.
    “There there,” Susan said, grabbing the now abbreviated form of Echo in a sympathetic embrace, “Just cry it out.”

    After an what seemed was an uncomfortable amount of time, but couldn’t have been more than a minute or two, Scarlett opened the door once more, saying, “Look. If y’all don’t get out now, I may have to dish out a punishment or two of my own. So get moving! Please and thank you!”
    Not wanting to invoke the wrath of Scarlett upon them, Heather, Lindsay, Spencer, and Veronica quickly rushed out of the room. “Okay, here we go!” Susan said, grabbing Echo’s arms and swinging them over her shoulder, and lifting her up on her back. As she left Echo’s rested her head against the back of her friend.

~~~~

    Opening a large set of double doors, the group found themselves in a rather normal looking ballroom. On one side there laid a pool table and a ping pong table, the other housed a foosball and air hockey table. in the center of the room was a plain brown, octagonal table, with 8 chairs laid out perfectly distributed. There was once again only one entrance to the room, however there was another door in the room that clearly lead to some sort of closet.

    “And this here is the Game Room. Originally designed as a ballroom, the common use for this room, even during the early days of this manor, was to host the variety of party games that the Mercurin loved to play. After falling into disarray in the eighteen eighties, the room’s use found new life with the introduction of electricity to the house in the nineteen thirties. The room then was used to play a whole new host of party game as a way to show off the strange inventions of Dr. Charles Mercurin. Of course, since it’s rumored this house was abandoned some time in the nineteen fifties, you won’t likely find any video games in this ro-“

    “Hey! That’s really interesting Scarlett, why don’t you tell me more about that pool table?” Spencer said, pointing towards the pool table.
    “Why certainly! Brought over some time in the 1800’s this pool table…” She walked over to the table with Spencer, turning her back to the rest of the group.

    “Okay girls, Spencer’s bought us some time, so what the fuck are we going to do about this situation?” Veronica whispered, addressing the five girls in the circle.
    “What situation?” Lindsay asked, completely straight-faced. the rest of the group looked her with awe.
    “What situation? How about the fact that Echo doesn’t have any fucking legs?” Susan whispered, turning slightly to accentuate the fact that their friend was riding on her back.
    “Isn’t it obvious? This whole thing is just some sick joke, like a prank show or something,” Lindsay whispered, “The moment you choose to believe this shit, they win.”
    “Excuse me? Are you being serious right now?” Heather asked, straining to not shout at her bitch of a coworker.
Lindsay, not missing a beat, continued “Echo is clearly some sort of plant. I mean, I’ve only ever talked to her a handful of times before this. Clearly she’s in on it.”
    “How fucking dare you!” Echo shout-whispered, the mascara she had been wearing had run down her face, leaving black trails from her eyes, “To think I considered you a friend!”
    “Bitch, like I’d ever be friends with your broke ass, or should I say assless?” Lindsay snickered as Echo made to grab her, but after almost falling from her perch on her friend’s back she quickly grabbed back on.

    “Oh ladies!” Scarlett said, causing the entire group to jump slightly as they turned to face her, “Are you ready to play?”

    What are they going to play?

    1.) An Old-fashioned Party Game
    2.) A Board Game
    3.) One of Charles Mercurin’s Favorite Games