house

The door swung open with a subtle creak as Jason peered into the pitch-blackness that was revealed behind.

"The fact that nothing has lunged at me yet is a good thing right?" He spoke with a shaky voice which formed a symbiotic relationship with his legs one setting the other off and vice-versa.

"It's a better situation than most find themselves in, that I can tell you" His mumblings were responded to in a quick fashion by his partner in crime.

"To take my mind off of this for a second, I was thinking of names for you, and I think I'll call you Runney or something along that, I'll think about it some more later." 

Runney didn't respond and it was impossible for Jason to tell what his companion was thinking, but that was the least of his worries.

The entire reason he had entered the house in the first place was to look for supplies that he may or may not need, he still had no idea how the game that he was supposedly playing worked which widened the number of worries he needed to have on his mind.

*Pmf*

He took a shaky step forward glaring into the black void in front of him, which seemed to swallow his leg whole, assimilating it as a part of itself. `Holy sh*t` Was the only response that Jason could muster in his head, this was the first time that he had been scared of the dark since he was 12.

"What are you waiting for? If we don't hurry, all of the loot will be taken before we are able to finish walking through a house!" Runney

"Before I potentially risk my life, can you at least tell me what I'm looking for or would that be too much information?" Jason asked while staring directly at his leg which was slowly becoming visible due to his eyes adjusting to the dark environment.

"We're either looking for a glowing column of coloured light, or a chest full of items which can include a lot of money if that's what you would be looking for." The response was quick and concise.

"How much money?" He asked, once again putting the action of fully entering the house off.

"It depends, but the minimum you can expect would be in the low thousands although I can't give a definite answer."

`That sort of money could set me up for life if I found enough of it, but it would require me to take this last step` Jason was trying to give himself a good reason in his mind to put himself into unseen potential danger.

*Gulp*

Shakily Jason stretched his foot on the outside into the doorway, his entire body being engulfed by the darkness around him.

He reached his hand to the side trying to find a light switch to no avail instead he felt the grimy wallpaper peel off after sticking to his sweaty hands which he spent a few seconds removing and throwing into the dark corner to his right.

"You did it, way to go champ" Runney made a mocking attempt at cheering Jason on which Jason neglected to hear because his attention was focused on the environment surrounding him.

"Hmph, you're not as fun as the la-" Before he could finish he cut himself off, arousing some of Jason's attention but most of it remained in trying to navigate around the pitch-dark.

He had taken to sticking to the walls like he was covered in honey which helped in two ways. It allowed him to keep continuity and know where he had gone before, and if there was a light switch he would be able to feel it on his back or hands.

It was a slow process but it paid dividends when he was able to feel a slight protrusion dig into his spine.

He wasted no time in flicking the switch on, lighting the room with a bright yellow hue that nearly blinded his eyes that had nearly adjusted to the dark.

`Why's the electricity working here but not anywhere else?` He asked himself but he didn't really care so long as it was in his favour.

When his eyes got a clear picture he saw that the room was barren of most things one would associate with a living room. There were no tables, no couches, instead, it seemed that it had all been ransacked before he came.

"So there's nothing here then? Everything's already been taken?" Jason asked rhetorically to no one in particular.

"Don't be so down yet, they can't have taken the items that we're looking for since they've only just spawned." 

"Only just spawned? you make it sound like this is a game, but it doesn't feel like one if it is." To Jason, it felt too real to be considered a game, more like he was in a vividly lucid dream asleep at his desk, although he knew this wasn't true since he hadn't felt a slap on the back of his head from some random kid trying to be funny.

"It is a game, I'm pretty sure that's one of the first things I told you about this wondrous game that you're now a part of." Runney's response still didn't clear up whether or not Jason was dreaming, but he didn't think that going in with that attitude would be beneficial on the off-chance that this was real.

"Where do you think these "loot drops" will have spawned?" Jason asked unsure of where to take himself.

"No idea, it's up to you to make the decisions, I'm just here to help you and store your skills and equipment, speaking of which, you need to get a move on otherwise it will all be taken as you feared." Runney's tone was hurried urging Jason to start moving.

"Then into the kitchen I go, I mean, there's got to be something in there, even if it's only a kitchen knife." Jason said to himself as he moved towards the room which seemed to be the kitchen under the dim illumination of the living room's light.

Yet again there was very little that occupied the room, it had all been looted before by an anonymous perpetrator with all that was left being the kitchen counter and the rest of the bolted-down furniture.

"Another bust huh, well Jason let's keep looking around." Instead of being mocking Runney was sincere in his encouragement giving Jason a small mood lift even though his spirits weren't that low to begin with.

Looking to his left he could see another door and then a birch-wooded staircase leading up into the second floor.

"Before I go upstairs I might as well check what this door leads to right? My gamer instincts are tingling this time." A mysterious door was something that Jason couldn't ignore with the allure of potential loot.

*Creak*

...

"Well, that's depressing." He said staring at the weirdly polished toilet that confronted him as he opened the door, its outline clearly visible in the darkness around.

"The only place left is upstairs, back into the darkness, god I can only think of that meme song, you know what song I'm talking about Runney?" 

"No"

"Shame but whatever" 

Jason started to make his walk up the stairway, the steps creaking with every step making his hair stand on end.

At the top, he could see very little once again as he stepped onto the second floor which seemed to only be made up of two rooms, one on the right and another on the left.

"Eeny meeny miny mo, left it is." Jason couldn't make his mind up about which door to go through first so he resorted to picking at random.

"If you keep doing this you're just going to get yourself killed." Runney told Jason as he opened the door with a soft creak that was barely audible.

*Vrrrm*

Inside was a soft hum and a dark brown glow emanating from a floating pillar that was only a few centimetres high at most, but so much light was beaming out that it covered nearly the whole room in its light.

"Is that one of the things that we're looking for Runney?"

"It is, except it's a skill instead of a weapon which we would have been better off with." 

Jason walked inside as Runney spoke and grabbed the pillar feeling a warmth wash over his hand and into his arm.

"So what did that do? Did it give me an awesome power to level entire city blocks? Or maybe invisibility." Jason's excitement took over as he turned towards Runney with stars in his eyes.

"Sort of, you gained the ability of disguise which allows you to disguise as any object and later on people."

Jason's face turned sour at the news of his ability not being anything that was cool in his mind.

"Might as well check the last door." He told himself in a dejected manner.

"Don't be down, it's still really powerful if used correctly." Runney reassured Jason

"Yeah yeah, let's just get this done and be out of here." 

As he opened the door there was the same soft creak as before but this time there was an audible whisp of breath in the other side of the door.

As he squinted his eyes Jason caught a glimpse of a stationary figure that seemed to be staring exactly at his location.

`This doesn't feel good` He though as he made his way back to the staircase.

"Gua GUAAAAAA"

As he did a bloodcurdling screech was let out and sounds of running made their way to Jason's ears causing him to run down the stairs at full speed which then turned into running towards the front door which he slammed shut behind him. He could hear banging behind him as other figures started to move around in the darkness towards the source of the screech.