Chapter 1

Sam, Hailey, and Jameson stared around the livingroom at their 'guests.' Most people would say what they were doing was wrong and perhaps it was. Although none of them seem to care. Hailey smiled and whistled which caught everyone's attention. One girl, who looked extremely nervous, stayed close to a male who looked a bit similar to her. "I thought this was a party. Why are their only nine of us?" The girl asked, her name was Faith and she had come with her older brother Tyler.

Hailey laughed softly and looked to the girl. Her dark brown eyes seemed to be amused and threatening at the same time. "Well the answer to that is easy. Its a very exclusive party. Consider yourself lucky." The girl nodded but still looked wary and unsure of the situation.

Daniel sighed boredly and slipped his arm around his girlfriend calmly. He never really was one for group activity. He really just preferred to spend time alone or with Layla.

Tyler reached over and poked his sister's back. "Nobody said a party had to be a huge gathering, relax a bit sis." He said and stretched where he was standing.

Cameron tapped his fingers calmly against his own thigh and then shrugged. "I just wonder... why the party?" The blonde piped in.

Jameson moved his red hair out of his eyes and smiled deviously. "Well to honor all of you of course. You see, all of you are important in a way to one of us. Sam the paper please." Sam a boy with hair so blonde it was white handed a piece of paper over. Jameson cleared his throat. "Cameron, you beat me at a fight. Very special and sorry Faith you kind of got dragged into this. Kya, you dated Sam and broke up with him."

The girl in question had dyed purple hair and silently crossed her arms with a puzzled expression. However before she could say a thing Jameson continued. "Tyler you were Sam's sixth grade friend then you moved. Lastly Daniel, Hailey gets everything she wants. However she didn't get you because you have Layla. Now that your reasons of specialness have been read let the games begin." With the three headed out the door and the door locked leaving the six people to process what they had heard.

Daniel tilted his head a bit, only one word really leaving him. "What?" It came out quickly, alongside a puzzled expression.

Tyler motioned with one hand and then pushed himself up from the table he had leaned against. "You can ask that again..." He remarked and rolled his eyes.

Cameron smiled a little at the memory that had been mentioned and shrugged. "Yeah, whatever." He stated as he started heading towards the door. "I knew this would be a waste of time..."

As the man headed towards the door a grandfather clock chimed letting the guest know it was now midnight. Layla looked at her boyfriend. "We should go too. I want to get to bed early so we can go on our date tomorrow." The door no matter how hard it was pulled wouldn't budge.

The girl, Kya, sighed rolling her eyes. "For godsakes I'm using the window." She picked up a chair and slammed it into the window. The glass did indeed crack but the lights flickered off followed by snarling. Faith, who had been worried all along whimpered in fear. She quickly grabbed her brother's arm.

Daniel immediately shifted from calm to agitated. He grabbed Layla and pulled her behind him, yanking a knife nine inch knife from his belt and holding it ready. He was known for being something of a survivalist. Cameron quickly headed back to the room  "What the fuck is that?" He asked worriedly. Tyler held his sister, at this point he was probably as scared as she was.

All that was heard was the chair clatter to the ground and screaming. But nothing could be seen. Finally the lights flickered back on. The chair and window were both sprayed in blood and there was a small pool of it on the ground. The one thing there wasn't was a body. The girl known as Kya was completely gone but it didn't take a genius to know she was more than likely dead.

Layla felt a cold as she stared at the place the girl had once stood. It seemed like the moment had lasted twenty minutes at least, but one look at the clock told her it had only been a minute. The realization cause her stomach to twist painfully.

Faith looked up at the rest of the group. "This isn't a party and we aren't special guests. This is a blood bath and we are the victims. What they read are our 'crimes'." She said the word crimes with a shaky voice on the verge of tears.

Tyler yelped and leapt away from the mess as it was revealed, pulling his sister with him. "Keep it together..." Daniel said with a bit of forced confidence. His grip tightened a bit on Layla's arm nervously as he tried to keep everything in order.

Cameron scoffed and walked over to the puddle of red, kneeling down. "Give me a break, this is obviously just a prank." He said and dipped his fingers in the Sanguine stain. "Hu... its even warm..."

Layla turned pale and covered her mouth. "I think I'm going to be sick." She admitted slightly muffled. The girl took a deep breath trying to calm her stressed nerves. She never was a fan of horror movies for the very reason of gore.

Faith looked up and managed to stay calm. "Fine if you think its fake then you try to finish breaking the window." She said giving him a go for it look. Layla gave a faint groan and turned away not wanting to watch.

Cameron paused a bit and looked at the cracks in the glass. He stood up and went over to the door, grabbing a brick. "Obviously this is some kind of bullshit setup. She's probably just working with them to screw with us." He said and threw the brick hard like a football. The other guys just kind of watched, feeling a heavy sense of dread. Daniel pulled Layla close and held her, Tyler clutching his sister worriedly

This time there was no trick of lights a shadowy black hand shot up from the floor. However the floor didn't break it remained the same. The hand grabbed Cameron's throat clenching the blondes throat tightly. It squeezed until the sickening sound of bones being crushed filled the room. Afterwards a whisper like voice followed with some advice. "Learn from the mistakes of those before you. Do not leave." Despite the fact of the boys death and the haunting words the window now had shattered. It was an exit but how safe it was no one knew for sure.

Layla looked up at the thud of the hand dropping the body to the ground. She shook her head feeling fear and panic fill her body.

Daniel spun the knife around his fingers and brandished it. He could feel his stomach twisting and didn't think his blade would managed much. But it was about all he had to go on right now. He stayed between Layla and the hand, baring his teeth angrily. "You've got to be fucking kidding me..." He growled angrily.

At this point, Tyler was not doing well. Tears were already starting to form in his eyes. "Man..." He whined a bit. "They put us in some kind of death house and all I did was move to help with sis...." He backed up to the far wall and pulled Faith with him. Trying to get a decent distance from the Tyler's corpse and the pool of Kya's blood it had collapsed into.

Layla swallowed hard. "I don't think it matters. None of us did anything to deserve this. Sam is over possessive and clingy that's why Kya dumped him. Cameron only fought Jameson because Jameson attacked him. Daniel rejected Hailey because he's dating me. And your sister really doesn't have a reason." She looked around. "Let's just see if we can each find some form of weapon."

Daniel took the initiative at her words. He again doubted the effectiveness of physical tools, but he knew weapons would at least give a sense of safety. He let go of his girlfriend and went over to a table. It wasn't long before he had broken it to pieces and used his knife to shape the legs into improvised pikes. He went around handing each one to one of the others and sighed.

"We'll try to stick together... maybe our chances will be better then..." He said, offering a forced smile to the others as he wrapped an arm around Layla. On the surface he seemed calm, but internally his mind was whirling. They could die at any moment, who knew what could be in this place with them alongside that dark hand.

Layla tightened her grip around the wooden pike. She felt only slightly better but not by much. She still didn't know what had made the snarling noise in the dark. Whatever it had been hadn't left a corpse and somehow that made it worse.

Faith's mind immediately went into an analyze like mode. She began to assess the situation they were in. "So if we try to leave we are screwed. If we don't leave however we can die. This is basically a game of sacrifice. Not all of us will make it. We will be lucky if one of us makes it. So hears the deal.. Basically.." She took a deep breath starting to tear up. "We pick who lives and get them out of the house."

"You can't be serious." Her brother quickly said sharply. "Sis... we all need to try and make it out of here." There was no hiding the desperation and fear in Tyler's voice. Daniel looked at his knife and sighed.

"I think we should all do our best to survive and protect each other..." He tried as well. His cool tone belied his true discomfort and worry. In truth the biggest thing on his mind was making sure Layla was still okay. He gave the beautiful red head a squeeze, keeping her close to him.

Faith shook her head. "You guys are idiots. Haven't you ever watched any horror movies. Not everyone makes it but if we combine our efforts at least one of us can and one of us is better than no one."

Layla shook her head once again not willing to believe what was going on. "Guys maybe we should just see if we can last. If it becomes too clear that Faith is right we'll take a vote for now let's look around for some other things that might better our chances."

Looking at his girlfriend, Daniel nodded and pulled her along with him gently as he lead the way out of the room.  Tyler looked at the body for a moment and then back to his sister. "Let's...  just try to survive this..." He said, trying to sound confident and failing horribly. He pushed Faith towards the door after the others, not wanting to leave her as the last in the room as he followed her.

As they stepped out of the room every thing went dark except the way up the stairs. Layla sighed and stepped on the first step. "I don't know about you guys but I'd rather be able to see what I'm attacking rather than blindly swing." Her calmness was more of a resigned acceptance.

Faith nodded in agreement. "I don't like it, it feels like a trap. However I think its better to go where we at least have a fighting chance." She gripped her pike tighter. Her other hand gripped her brother's hand wanting to get him out safely. He had given up everything for her and she would gladly risk her life to give him the one he never had.

Suddenly as they arrived upon the top of the stairs the darkness surrounded again. It again left one one path of light that led to a door at the end of the hall. Layla inhaled sharply and continued moving forward. Being at the front of the group scared the hell out of her but she wasn't about to make someone else do it. She wanted Daniel to live. He had everything going for him. He was going to enlist in the army after they graduated in a week.

Faith felt a sickness rise in her stomach at the change of light. It was leading them basically where it wanted them and they had no choice but to follow. There was a silence among the group that seemed more out of not wanting to attract attention rather than fear. However the silence seemed a bit unnecessary seeing as they had somethings attention.

A few feet from the door, Daniel grabbed Layla and pulled her back towards him. "Hey, let me lead... the last thing I wanna lose is you..." he said softly to her.

Tyler looked at the two of them and then to his sister. "Whatever we do, let's move before it shuts these lights off too..."

Layla shot him a nervous glance but decided against fighting him. Tyler made a good point about the lights. Once the door was open five chairs sat in front of a tv. There was a video that had been recorded on pause. Layla instinctively sat down.

Faith muttered a curse word. "Its like they knew that at least one of us would already be dead." She too sat down cold dread coursing through her veins.

Daniel glanced at the chairs cautiously. "I don't think it's safe to be sitting down..." He muttered, flipping his knife into a backwards grip so it wasn't in the way of things.

Tyler reluctantly walked over and picked up the remote on the table. "Maybe it'll tell us how to get out?" He asked curiously, hitting the play button.

The video started and Hailey's face appeared on screen. "Hello you beautiful people. I have the most unfortunate and fabulous news. You are going to get to hear Sam, Jameson, and my story. Then how you slightly ruined our lives. Then you'll get to find out what we did to make you all suffering the way I'm sure you are now. So since I'm already in front of the camera I guess I should begin right?"

Layla rubbed her temples looking frustrated. "This is a waste of time. Can we fast forward?" As she asked slash marks appeared on the floor below her spelling no. To which she jumped up falling as her chair clattered to the ground and she fell over it.

"Great, it talks back..." Daniel said, though that started to spark a thought. He leaned down and helped Layla up. He glared at the TV and sighed.

Tyler scoffed a bit and seemed rather upset. "Ruined their lives? I moved to take care of my fucking sister, that's no reason to sit me and her in some fucking slaughter house...."

Despite their words the video proceeded as if they had said nothing. "As you guys know I'm Hailey. I come from a very rich family so its very rare that I don't get exactly what I want. Its always been this way till I met you Daniel. See I use to only love material things but I fell for you. I loved you more than any material item I could ever own. However you turned me down for that low grade trash you call a girlfriend. Which is why I've put you both here to suffer for your choice. Maybe if she dies I'll consider saving you."

Daniel rolled his eyes and looked at Layla. "I think this occurence pretty much justifies my choice, considering she'd sink this low." He said disgustedly.

Tyler glanced at the couple and then looked back to the television. "That's just petty..." He muttered.

Layla let out a barely contained sob and held onto her boyfriend tighter. "This is so messed up." She said quietly trying to not break down completely.

Suddenly the camera shifted and Sam was put into view. "Hey.. I'm Sam and my guests are Tyler and Kya. Tyler because he left me in sixth grade to deal with bullies on my own and Kya because she dumped me. She pretty much broke my heart completely. I knew Tyler would bring his sister but since she's the reason he left I guess I'll be glad to see her die. Oh I forgot my story... Um I was raised by my dad who isn't the best at showing emotion. You could say I suffer from lack of affection and care."

"You could have learned to deal with them yourself..." Tyler said and glared angrily. Kicked one of the chairs over. "Punishing other people for having their own life is such bullshit." He added. While the couple simply held each other. Daniel rubbed Layla's back softly as he started trying to make a plan.

Faith scoffed and rolled her eyes. She acted indifferent and angry on the outside but on the inside she felt guilty. Seeing that she was the reason her brother was even in this mess bothered her more than she would say. If not for her own problems of being bullied to the point of asking her parents to move then Tyler would be happy. She sighed knowing what she would have done had the bullying continued and it was something she didn't like to think about.

Then it was Jameson's turn. "Mine is simple I like to fight I was raised by my uncle because my parents couldn't care less. I like to fight to vent out my anger. Cameron was the only pme who could beat me and I don't like those who can beat me. So I eliminated the competition so to speak."

"Sounds like he knew Cameron would be dead already... or this is live and they were watching..." Daniel commented and looked at his knife. He looked around the room slowly, trying to track down anything in the room that would be useful depending on the situation. Though he knew there was always the factor that they may not be able to really hurt whatever this thing was. Tyler leaned against the wall and started thinking amongst his irritation.

The video went back to Hailey and she smiled brightly. "Oh this has been fun explaining to you all but really recordings can only be so long. We do part from you with a gift though. First of all whatever we've unleashed upon the house isn't going to stop until no one in the house is living. Second after the tv shuts off a poisonous gas will fill the room. Lastly whatever you do hold your breath." As soon the words left her mouth everyone seemed to cover their mouth and nose in some way. For Faith it was taking her jacket off and holding it on her face. Layla pulled her t-shirt up over her mouth and nose and covered them with both hands hold her breath. The video clicked off leaving all of them to wonder how any of them would survive.