Prologue

Serena

The air is eerily quiet as no one dares to speak a word. Afraid of saying the wrong thing, terrified that uttering an unwelcome thought might just aid in the downfall of a dear friend.

"You can't do this to me." She whispers, frightened, her squeaky frail voice all but filled with complete terror.

"Oh stop being so dramatic Mel, it's just a stupid fucking game." Daisy, the frightened girl's younger sister says. Younger by a minute but still, younger nonetheless.

"You know I am terrified of the dark Daisy." Melanie says standing up to her nonchalant sister in anger. Her blonde curls bouncing from the sudden movement of her whirling around to face Daisy.

My other friends remain silent, already grown used to the sisters' bickering, me included.

Melanie and Daisy Sinclair moved from London years ago to our small, very small town of Locks Forest. Melanie is older, by a minute only as we've established, but she never fails to remind Daisy of her superiority. Daisy on the other hand, never fails to brush off her older, slightly condescending sister's remarks all with an eye roll and a snarky remark. That usually, like this instant, sparks a bickering. Even though the two girls are twins, fraternal, they never got along.

"Okay stop it you two, let's not fight over something stupid like this."

"Listen to your boyfriend for once." Daisy finishes off her argument by crossing her arms and daring her darling sister to continue the fight.

Ah yes, the boyfriend. Said friend who's downfall the rest of us would've aided in had we opened our mouths to say what Daisy is brave enough to say. Because if anyone else had the nerve to speak about Melanie's hesitance, surely it would have been her boyfriend to get the brunt of it. For it was his idea to come to this very place to begin with. Even though Melanie did goad him to make the plans but really, who cares about the details, right?

"Seth, I'm scared." Melanie snuggles closer to her boyfriend. Choosing to ignore her sister's eye roll this time.

"It's okay." Seth is quick to comfort his girl.

Seth Vaughn has been dating Melanie for a year now, the two make the perfect couple really. With her blonde locks and pale skin and his opposing dark skin and thick black hair they look like the picture perfect couple. They make a beautiful pairing, even if sometimes they're a little nauseating. Okay, a lot nauseating. Not just in looks though, their personalities compliment each other flawlessly. While Melanie is the epitome of a spoiled brat always seeking attention and looking to be coddled, Seth is the embodiment of a macho man striving to prove his masculinity and show that he's a protector.

"Make up your minds already, are we going in or not? Cause if not I wanna go eat...and have a damn smoke." Suzanne Matthews says impatiently.

Suzanne, the ever hungry friend. If you are in need of a friend to accompany you to McDonalds at 3 am in the morning, Suzanne would be the friend to call. Right now, she has her hip propped up agaisnt the wall, an unlit cigarette stuck between her fingers and she's tapping her Dr. Martens clad foot on the floor to further show her annoyance at all the hesitation. She's also the mist easygoing friend of our group. Dressed head to toe in black, not including her bright red hair, you'd think she's the meanest person you could ever meet. And alright, I'll give, she is mean sometimes but only to strangers. To those who know her like us, she's secretly a softie.

"Smoking kills, you know that right?" Daisy says to which Suzanne simply waves her off.

"Look, if Mel's too scared to the point where she can't physically handle this-"

"Oh come on it's a bloody game Seth!" Daisy interrupts him quite angrily.

"Seth's kinda right Dais, if your sister's-"

"Oh it's always about my sister, isn't it?" Talk about sisterly resentment. "You knew what you were getting yourself into, you wanted to come. Now you're just being spoiled and ridiculous." She directs that last part to her twin.

Oh yeah, I suppose you want to know where "this" is already. A perfectly fun and a perfectly scary game room is where this is. A game designed with several horror filled rooms to where you need to collect clues and solve mysteries to win the game. Our group has been meaning to visit the place for a while. Mind you it was Seth and uhm, Melanie's idea. But after watching the short introduction video on the rules and such, and a not so gentle knock on the door to prepare the players, us, from the employee, Melanie had fled the room refusing to participate.

And loyal as the rest of us are we aren't going in without her. Probably because we wouldn't hear the end of it if we did.

"I say we go in." Daisy says.

Or not so loyal as it turns out.

"I say we don't." Melanie shoots back.

"I'm behind you." Seth nods, kissing his girlfriend's cheek.

All eyes turn to Suzanne. She shrugs. "We're already here, let's just go in."

"Two against two, guess it falls down on you." Daisy turns her attention toward me.

Ah yes, it's time you met me. I'm Serena, Serena Maddox. Apologies for sounding like James Bond.

"Me? Why do I get to choose?" I look from one friend to the other.

"Because you've been silent and there's five of us, we're tied." Suzanne explains.

I roll my eyes, looking as bored as I feel no doubt. "I only stayed silent because you two literally fight every single time and I want no part in it."

"Well now you have to have a part in it." Melanie bounces on her feet, eager to leave the creepy place.

Although for me it's not creepy so much as exciting. Hence why I have no qualms about sitting on a coffin. A prop of course.

I sigh as I meet the challenging gaze of my best friend Daisy, the guilty one of Melanie's, Suzanne's empty expression that says she doesn't really care all that much one way or the other, Seth's pleading expression to choose their side, and the cute employee's who looks bored as hell. Join the club. He's probably used to these kinds of things on a daily basis.

Before I can even give my answer though the four are back to bickering and Daisy relentlessly trying to convince her sister of partaking in the game.

I'm once again left in the silent company of the cute employee.

"Sorry about my friends, we're a weird bunch." I say to him.

"Oh that's okay, you'd be suprised how much these things happen." The guy shrugs.

"Serena isn't this that Freddie Kruger guy? That movie's not so scary." Suzanne says trying to help ease Mel's mind. "How bad can this room be?"

"No, that's from Nightmare On Elm Street." I correct.

"Oh yeah this is the one from Halloween with the mom from Freaky Friday? The old one not the new one."

"That's Michael Myers from Halloween, no. This is Dead Eyes from the Carved Movie series."

"Oh, well, whatever." She shrugs turning back to the bickering sisters and a very torn looking boyfriend.

Bless her heart she knows nothing about horror movies, none of my friends do actually. Not like me at least. While they face away from the screen and dread watching a scary movie, I actually thrive on them. Call me weird if you will, I've been called worse, but I've always found them strangely soothing. Maybe it's the escapism it provides from the real world.

"You sure know your slasher films." The cute employee comments on my impressive, if I do say so myself, knowledge of scary movies.

"Thanks, I kinda like horror movies."

"Me too, hence this place." He gestures to his business. He looks slightly older than me, probably twenty.

The local game room shop, named Boneyard, recently added a new room modeled after the slasher series Carved which features the villain Dead Eyes. I've secretly hoped to visit as this is one of my favourite franchises of recent horror movies.

"It doesn't seem like we'll be going in though." I sigh once again.

"Too bad, you look like you want to."

"I kinda do." I confess with a smile.

"I'm Charlie." He extends his hand.

"Serena." I shake the boy's hand and smile up at him. He really is cute, sandy blonde hair, wearing black rimmed glasses, his eyes are kinda brown, kinda hazel? And he has tiny freckles on his nose.

"If not today I hope you come back another time." His words interrupt me from shamelessly checking him out further. Probably best before I get caught.

"Maybe I will." I finally speak before he realizes I'm being weird.

I open my mouth to say more but right then, my phone buzzes in my back pocket with a text. I offer a polite excuse as I unlock it to read the incoming text.

And there it is, the reason why my interest in any guy is always short lived.

Hey baby, are you at the Boneyard yet?

Grayson Wyatt. My best friend, note : not my boyfriend. Don't let the use of the word baby fool you. Gray, short for his given name, is a natural flirt and likes to call me by that pet name sometimes, along with various others. Never mind that everytime he does my heart does palpitations and almost bursts from joy and hope that maybe one day he'll call me those names for other reasons than it being his flirty self. That one day, he'll actually mean them.

Yes you deduced that right, I am ever so cliched in love with my best friend.

And as I look back up at Charlie, my interest has vanished. Of course it has.

My fingers fly over the keyboard with a reply.

Yep, Mel's scared though, don't think we're going in.

"Serena?" Seth's gentle voice brings my attention back to the group.

"Yeah?"

"Your move."

I inwardly groan, already regretting what I'm about to do. "If Mel's really that scared then we'd better not go in. It's not worth it over anyone getting sick."

"Oh thank you!" Mel attacks me with a hug as her shoulders sag in relief.

Daisy has a different reaction though as she storms off in a fit of rage slamming the door behind her.  Suzanne apologizes distractedly and follows after her seeing how her car keys are in Daisy's purse.

"We'll do something else." Melanie tries to make light of the situation, feeling guilty I guess. And I can't blame her as I see how fragile and pale she's looking, paler than usual, and how relieved she looks too. The girl really is completely terrified.

"It's alright." I offer a smile. "You don't have to feel guilty, Mel."

She smiles in return and leaves the place with Seth in tow.

"Sorry to waste your time." I apologize to Charlie when only the two of us remain. But the little bit of attraction I felt is long gone.

"Don't worry about it, but do visit again if your friends change their minds. It really is a great experience."

"Paying to get scared half to death?" I question sarcastically.

"Yeah." Charlie laughs at my remark. "I'll see you Serena."

I nod and leave as well, dreading to consol my overly sensitive best friend who is no doubt crying from her anger and frustration and has her claws out ready to tear through someone. Daisy is too emotional for her own good, the slightest inconvenience makes her cry and when angry, she is not someone you want to talk to. But as the holder of the title of bestie I have no choice but to enter the lion's den.

I knew siding with Melanie would end in disaster but I also knew I'm the only one equipped with handling one of Daisy's, as everyone calls it, episodes.

As I approach the car, I hear the commotion already. Suzanne is desperately trying to get Daisy to unlock her car and let her in, and Daisy who is in the backseat is completely ignoring her, nodding her head along with the music only she can hear through her Airpods.

Melanie and Seth inform us on the group chat that they have chosen to go bowling instead, a less macabre activity for a Friday night. Meanwhile Suzanne has now grown tired of yelling at Daisy and is simply leaning against the driver's side door, puffing out a smoke.

My phone once again buzzes with a text.

That's too bad. But maybe a good thing, next time I'll come too and I'll hold your hand when you get too scared.

Yeah, I have no chance of ever getting over Grayson Wyatt. Not as long as he keeps giving me false hope.

Because there is no way, as cliche as it sounds, that a guy like him would ever love a girl like me.