Janine stepped forward into another hallway, barely illuminated by candles placed around the floor, several doors leading further into separate rooms. From the end of the hall, the painting of a finely-dressed woman looked back at her.

She slowly closed the door behind her and moved forward. She was giddy. Maybe the alcohol was partially to blame, but she had never gone to a haunted house before and the fact that Sabrina went through so much effort just for them made the experience so much more exciting.

She flinched as the wood creaked and groaned under her heels. Her training conditioned her to go alert on any unexpected sound or movement, but due to the constantly flickering shadows around her, she tuned movement out and relied solely on sound.

Come on, you're going to ruin the fun., she chastised herself, taking a short breath and moving on. But as soon as she moved to take her next step, another sound made her raise her guard again.

She turned to look at the door next to her. Just now, something sounding eerily like a low cackle had come from the other side. Reminding herself that this was the experience she was here for, she relaxed again and put her hand on the handle, pushing the door open.

The walls were lined with bookshelves, all of them filled completely. Whatever books didn't fit were stacked in the corners of the room and on the table in the middle. Two candelabras stood on the ends of the table, all candles lit.

"Ooh, the study.", Janine whispered excitedly, remembering all the mystery novels she had consumed.

As she scanned the shelves for any books that might stand out, she came across a section that didn't hold any book at all. Instead, it held something black and fluffy, like a stuffed animal. As she leaned closer and squinted to make out details in the darkness, it leapt out at her!

Janine shrieked and stumbled back, tripping in her heeled shoes and falling back into a padded chair, that seemed to have been placed there for precisely this scenario.

The black puppet snickered, it's mouth zipping closed and scampering off. Janine held a hand to her chest, feeling her heart pound.

"Banette. It was a Banette.", she said quietly, taking a quick breather to calm down. She could hear the pokémon cackle somewhere in the hallway before the door fell shut again.

After taking a moment to collect herself, and to appreciate the fantastic scare, she moved to get up out of the chair and move on. However, as soon as she moved her left arm away from the armrest, something snapped around her wrist, pinning it to the wood. She looked down to see black rope binding her wrist to the chair. While she was still confused, her ankles snapped back against the chair's legs, a forceful squeeze telling her the same black rope was at fault. More rope snapped around the right armrest, but this time Janine pulled her hand away in time. The rope immediately loosened again and jumped up after it, encircling her wrist and forcefully pulling it back in place with irresistible strength.

"Hey, stop!", she called out, tugging fruitlessly on the bindings, just as more rope wound quickly around her torso, below her chest, tightly binding her to the backrest. She grunted and strained against the mysteriously animate rope, but it didn't budge.

"Okay... okay, good job, Sabrina.", she called out. "You got me. Good work. ... Hello?"

Before she could say anything else, a hand clasped over her mouth from behind.



The door Misty had chosen had led her into a wide room, a grandfather clock standing on one wall, some painting hung up around most of them and a fireplace in one corner. Turned towards the fireplace were two armchairs and a long couch, around a low table. The floor was laid out with carpet. The low ticking of the clock filled the room, surprisingly loud in the silence, but as Misty looked closer at the pendulum, it wasn't swinging at all.

"At least I got one of the pleasant rooms." She looked around, seeing no decoration in this room, only a few sets of candles. "Well, she couldn't have decorated the whole place..."

She took a minute to look around, but found nothing of note, so she headed for the next door, on the other side. Just as she turned towards it, she felt two hands grabbing her sides, just under her breasts. She let out a short shriek and pressed her arms to her sides.

"Erika, don't do..." She whirled around to find only the empty room facing her. "...that."

The fireplace sprung to life, flames bursting up and crackling lively, a low, menacing laugh escaping from it.

"Okay..." Misty backed towards the door and pressed the handle, but it didn't open. A shiver ran down her spine and she quickly looked around the room, spotting a third door, next to the clock. Hurrying over, she pushed it open and closed it behind her, standing in another dimly-lit hallway.

She quickly made her way to the next door and opened it, finding herself in a long room, a long table standing in the middle, dishes put out for several people, a carved pumpkin in the middle of it, some more gourds strewn about and candelabras to each side of the room. In the light of the pumpkin's candle was a note, lying on the table.

Looking around herself nervously, Misty slowly stepped up to the table and carefully leaned forward to read the note.

Look behind you.

She didn't want to. She really didn't want to. Slowly, expecting the worst, Misty turned around to look behind her. On the wall, at an angle which she couldn't see when she had entered, there was a chair. Someone was sitting on it, but that corner of the room was too dark to see. Something moved in the darkness and a muffled moan was heard, accompanied by the quiet rattling of chains.

"Nope!" Misty turned to hurry for the door, but something at taken hold of her ankles and they were forced together as she moved, making her lose balance and slam onto the floor, bracing herself with her arms. She had only just hit the ground, when something encircled her wrists and elbows as well and her arms were pulled to her back, forced together.

"No! Stop, please!", Misty called out, as the ropes wound tightly around her legs and above and below her chest. The moaning form the end of the room became more agitated and the chains jingled.

The sound of heels on the wooden floor came up behind her. A hand firmly took Misty's chin and lifted her head slightly, pushing something past her lips, stuffing her mouth.



A shriek echoed through the hall and up the stairs, followed by a cackling sound, making Erika briefly stop on the steps before she chuckled and continued her way up.

The next floor presented her with a short hallway and three doors, one straight ahead, two to the sides. As she walked up and tried the ones to the sides, they were locked, leaving only the one straight ahead. Not questioning the lack of choice, she walked right up to the last door and pushed through.

It opened into a large bedroom, with a made bed at the far wall, a small cosmetics table with mirror and a large wardrobe. There were no decorations, only lit candles on tables and windowsills.

"Let me guess. The mirror." Erika giggled excitedly and moved over to the cosmetics table, sitting down on the stool and moving one of the candles closer. Beside her own spooky reflection and the room behind her, she didn't see anything. "Aww, really?"

She gazed into it a while longer to see if anything scary would pop up, but nothing of the sort happened. She shrugged and turned around, standing up. Just as she faced the room again, she was met with a gaping maw, letting out a low screech, accompanied by piercing eyes and two floating claws, ready to descend upon her.

Erika screamed and backed against the table, only to immediately laugh along with the Haunter that had appeared in the room, watching it drift out the window, passing right through the panes.

"Oh, that was a good one.", she giggled, straightening herself again. "What's next?"

She eagerly looked around a room, waiting for a signal, which came only moments later, in the form of thumping, sounding out from inside the wardrobe. Without hesitation, Erika strode over to open it.

The wardrobe didn't seem out of the ordinary. Nothing jumped out at her when she opened it and inside were a few nice dresses and coats, a few shoes and boots in one corner. Erika was about to turn around, to see if someone was going to pull the same trick again, but before she could, something did shoot out a her.

A black bandage wrapped around her waist, pulling tight against her. As she looked down at it, surprised, more bandages leapt out from in-between the clothes, wrapping around her arms, pinning them tightly to her sides. before she even thought about backing away or resisting, the assaulting straps pulled her inside the large piece of furniture, more and more springing forth, latching onto her body.

"Wait... hold on..." Erika began to struggle but it was too late. The bandages wrapped around her legs and torso, wrapping her up completely, leaving her unable to move.

"This is not my idea of--" The bandages suddenly pulled tight around her, squeezing her entire body, from chest to ankles, not uncomfortably or painfully, but telling her very clearly that there was no escape.

"Oh...", she whispered, blushing slightly. The wardrobe doors closed behind her and the bandages wrapped around her head, taking away her vision and pressing between her lips.