-BEGIN-
Plum scrunched up her face in mock defiance. She'd had a bit to drink, but she was having too much fun to care. Her friends were all looking at her now.
"I'm not scared! It's just a silly old mansion," Plum declared.
"If you're that sure then why don't you prove it?"
---
That was the last thing Plum could really care to remember. Now she stood here. Behind her, her 'friends' egged her on from beyond the closed gate. Before her, down the long driveway, was the mansion. It was huge, and creepy. It had been abandoned for decades.
There were so many stories - They said it was haunted. They said people entered, never to return. They said there were screams and wails.
Plum declared it all hokey.
And now she was here.
A chilling gust of wind finds its way into her hoodie.
Maybe she should just swallow her pride and turn back... It does look... pretty scary.
Plum looks back.
Her friends are shouting something unintelligible at her.
-WHAT DO YOU DO?-
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YppleJax said the following:
Thoughts: If I chicken out now, there will be nothing but teasing for the rest of the night. Plus, if I go inside at least I'll be out of the wind for a bit while they have to stand around freezing...serve 'em right for acting like eighth-graders.
Action: Try the door, if it's not locked, go inside!
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lonelyzentai said the following:
-CONTINUE-
Plum reached for the doorknob and grabbed at it. She raised an eyebrow - the handle was... warm.
She twisted the knob, half-hoping the door would be locked... but no. The latch released and the door gave way, inward. Plum swallowed hard and pushed the door, only to have the door seem to pull away from her, opening of its own accord.
"...the wind." She assured herself, before chiding herself mentally for using such a stupid cliche.
Plum took one last glance behind her; her friends were out of sight now. She stepped in and closed the door.
Turning around, Plum's mouth began to open unconsciously in awe - the mansion's foyer was huge. A huge staircase reminiscent of the Titanic was the centerpiece of the room, leading up to a hallway with multiple doors. Two black stone statues flanked the stairway's landing, and beyond them were three sets of double doors. The one on the left was ajar, but it was too dark to see what was beyond.
She was sort of worried the house had become a squatter for meth heads... but instead it was... surprisingly clean. The alabaster banister that lined the stairs seemed to shimmer in the moonlight that shone in from a window above her somewhere.
As much as she was curious to explore, Plum felt that she'd probably done enough to impress her friends. She turned around and grabbed the door handle. Turning it, she pulled at the immense door, but it didn't budge. Her heart sank. She'd have to find another way out.
She turned back around and immediately felt that something was amiss - did the statues move? Perhaps she should inspect them?
She looked around the house... so many rooms. There were three doors on the ground floor that seemed to lead to the same room. The upper floor had a door to the left and the right, and one in the center.
-WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT?-
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YppleJax said the following:
Crap...stupid door. And I'm not at all creeped out by the statues, I just...don't feel like looking at them directly, that's all...
I'd guess my best shot at getting out is a ground-floor window, so I'll try one of those doors.
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lonelyzentai said the following:
-CONTINUE-
Plum made her way to the left of the three doors on the ground floor of the mansion, taking great care to avoid the gaze of the statues (she could just feel like they knew she was there... somehow.)
She approached the door and tried it, finding the handle to be, again, warm to the touch. She opened the door.
Beyond it was a long dining hall, starting immediately to her left and stretching all the way across the length of the three doors. A long singular table was given the honor of being the centerpiece of the room; there were at least 30 seats and all the silverware was set.
Plum stepped forward, curious, to inspect the silverware and found that there was no dust on any of its surfaces. On either wall were side stations filled with cutlery and plates, the walls themselves adorned with various paintings that were barely visible in the windowless room.
In the far corner of the dining hall, a lone candle was lit, illuminating the very last seat on the table. Plum could not make out anything at that distance.
-WHAT DO YOU DO?-
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YppleJax said the following:
Dishes don't clean themselves and candles don't light themselves, so there must actually be someone living here. Better be up-front about it and make some excuse so they don't call the cops or something...
I'll call out a "Hello?" and approach the far end of the table.
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lonelyzentai said the following:
-CONTINUE-
Plum shuddered as her "Hello" echoed right back at her. She approached the end of the table, to the source of the light.
Step by step, she moved ahead, trying to pick apart the darkness beyond the light of the candle.
"...hello?" Plum called again, softly.
Illuminated by the candle, at the very end of the table, was a plate. Steak and potatoes. Plum furrowed her forehead. Steam rose from the potatoes slowly.
Plum squinted… she could just make out the silhouette of…
“…is someone there?” Plum tried.
There was someone seated at the table, she was sure of it. Who- (or what) -ever it was, it was immobile and unresponsive.
-WHAT DO YOU DO?-
1: Back away.
2: Call out from a distance again.
3: Use the candle to illuminate the mystery person.
4: Something Else?
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YppleJax said the following:
Freely admitting (to myself) being creeped out now, but I need to know who is there...at the same time, I'm hoping for some rational explanation. I'll hesitantly use the candle.
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lonelyzentai said the following:
-CONTINUE-
Plum inched closer as the black figure slowly came into view. She cursed the candlelight for being so unreasonably dim and trembled as she reached her hand out closer to the mystery person.
As soon as the light reached the figure, Plum relaxed.
It was just a statue.
A pitch black, obsidian, faceless statue of a very slim woman.
It wasn't entirely faceless. You could just make out a bump where the girl's eyes would be, and an obvious tent where the nose would be. There was even a little indentation where the lips should be. Almost as if it was a cloth stretched tightly across an actual face.
Plum's heartbeat picked up again.
It couldn't be an actual... person... could it?
She stared at it, expecting to see it heave with a breath or something.
It couldn't be. She thought about it. The material looked like stone. It was shiny looked like polished obsidian. Furthermore, if it was actually a person, it would be breathing. And if there was really a person there, she would have said something when she called out 'Hello'.
Plum cast her gaze elsewhere - anywhere except for the figure. She didn't want to look at it, just in case she saw it breathe.
-WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT?-
1: Leave, continue to explore the mansion.
2: Turn back to stare at the statue.
3: Reach out and touch the statue.
4: Something else?
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YppleJax said the following:
This is all too weird. Maybe it's a prank show or something? I'll look around for hidden cameras, but brace myself not to be startled - if it *is* a prank show, the statue-person will obviously move when I'm not looking, or leap up or something. Though I wonder...if I'm *too* cool about it, would I not get to be on TV?
;D
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lonelyzentai said the following:
-CONTINUE-
Plum looked around, wondering if there were any hidden cameras. She definitely felt like she was being watched, but her eyes simply could not pierce the darkness of the mansion. Even if there were hidden cameras in the room, there were too many dark corners and shadows to properly search for them.
She jumped, seeing movement out of the corner of her eye. Her head darted back, eyes fixated on the obsidian statue. It continued to sit motionless, unmoving... then what did she just see? The candlelight flickered, it's reflection dancing across the inky, shiny blackness of the statue. Maybe it was just the light?
-WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT?-
1: Leave, continue to explore the mansion.
2: Turn back to stare at the statue.
3: Reach out and touch the statue.
4: Something else?