Haunted Heist : La Casa Manavi

Chapter 04

For a moment there, what he said almost shocked me, I was flattered before, but blaming in on me? that isn't gonna cut it. "Oh, so I'm to blame now?" I asked only to get interrupted by Kinze who leaped in between us.

"No one is to blame, we all went in our separate ways, and just because Brandon couldn't find his objects, doesn't mean it's Tokyo's fault." said Kinze. "And how would you know huh? It's not like you were the one overseeing us, the WIC Company is seeing, but they ain't complaining." said Tulio.

"Those guys were bastards, and so are you asshole!" replied by Kinze. "That's it, enough! cut it out now, all of you!" yelled Dwayne which got me surprised, cuz Dwayne's isn't your usual type of peace talker.

"Wow, so you're the sooth talker now?" I asked looking directly at Dwayne's eyes after I approached him slowly. For a moment, he stood, watching back at me with that exact same look, but as it brought down a pause of attention amongst other quarrels, Dwayne stepped away, thinking about what he could say next.

"No, I'm not a sooth talker, or a team player, but I'm here, in order to survive, same as you all, this isn't a fight to death, or a elimination round, it's a team effort game, whether it's ghost, or those TV guys Anthea and her WIC Company got us plugged in, if we can get through this as a team, cooperating together, we can win this, and most of all, we can all live to see another day, do you understand?" asked Dwayne.

As he talked, we all listened to him quietly, but sooner, once he was done, we realised he was talking it right, we can't afford to keep fighting in between us with a trigger on our heads.

"I agree." I said, which kind of caught everyone in surprise, including me, but there was no choice to be made, it was the only way in, and I did. And soon, others followed me as well, even Tulio, who was a bit hesitant than Kinze, but he agreed, and that's what it mattered.

As we set off together towards corner to the place where it spelled

"The next round" together even though the door remained shut, and we didn't know it was locked at the time. But just then, the operator once again, opened his hard worn tongue. "Congratulations kids, you made it through the first round, I'm proud of ya, now sit back to your corners and relax in your rooms, next day you can take in the next round, not now!" yelled the operator and seriously, can't he talk without yelling? whatever, his convincing, didn't actually convince us enough as I took out my grenade, pulled out its trigger and threw it directly at the gate to which others were shocked.

"What?" I asked, sharing a flirty smile with a wink while others bounced back towards the back for cover as I stood straight. "Are you insane?" screamed the operator on my ears while I took a bubble gum out of my pocket and chewed it right.

"Thanks for asking, and as for your answer, I am one." I said to which my own crewmates looked at me like I was gonna steal their pockets for a second.

"Relax, I'm not that crazy, the sooner we can get out of this hell hole, the better, I'm not sitting back and letting them play by the rules, what about you guys?" asked I asked to which others didn't reply, but shared a look with each other as they proceeded with me after moments.

"Let's do this." said Tulio with a alarmed look which got me turned on again, but let's focus on the story, shall we?

"Alright, fine, you idiots! you wanna play the next round now? you can do that, no problem, but don't think for a second I'm gonna lay out any kind of help, I'm going back to bed, see ya!" yelled the operator as he turned off his microphone to which I was glad at first, but if I had a clue of that was coming next, I wish I could have made him stay, but the WIC Company wouldn't want that, but who cares they want?

"Okay, it was a bit dark in here, I wasn't gonna say it out, but do you wanna hold hands?" asked Kinze to which we all yelled no, at first.

But for a second, Tulio thought of calling it away, but as we approached towards the front end of the next round, torches lit up from the maze entrances ahead with four ways leading us straight in the most biggest and scariest puzzle you can ever catch a glimpse of, with bones and blood everywhere on the surface, but the walls, the walls remained fresh, as if they were recently built, which got us all confused at first, but we didn't care for it much as we looked upon it.

"What the hell is this?" I asked to which the old man returned, but now with a casual outfit than a clown's dress. "Welcome, to the next round, down there, is your redemption to freedom, each way is designed specially for each of you, but riddled up in orders you will not know." said the old man.

"What?" asked Kinze.

"Great, is this one of the rounds, where only one way is the right one, and others lead to a dead end?" asked Dwayne. "Not precisely, all ways, out, there, lead the way out, you can all take a singular path if you want." said the old man. "So, what's the catch?" asked Dwayne.

"There isn't, each way, is a way leading to your freedom, but to achieve it, you must face it with the tasks laid ahead in them, some are hard, some are easy, but all are prepared in advance for each of you, whether you choose you take the one for you, or the one for others, it's upto you." said the old man to which I sighs.

"Damnit." I thought, realising the operator's help might have been useful in this path, considering his main job is to advice us to victory, which, he wasn't doing a better job, but whatever, I'll get back to the task ahead.

"Choose well now, because, unlike the previous round, this won't be easier, and if you live, you'll meet each other next, lose, you'll die then and there, good luck." said the old man who started fading away to dust.

"Hey! wait, didn't you say it was riddled? what did you mean by that? wait!" yelled Kinze but the old man was far too gone as he was faded away to dust with the grin that creeped us till this day. "s**t! damnit!" yelled Kinze in frustration while Tulio takes in a look at every way available to us. "Great, now what? which we do we pick?" asked Tulio.

"He said we can take whichever way we want, how many of us doesn't matter either, and there is no time limit, I say we take a way, then move out in that specific direction together, problem solved, any questions?" I asked to which Dwayne interrupted me rudely.

"Yes, Tokyo, I just have one, do you have any idea, how stupid you sound? there are four ways, each armed to the teeth." said Dwayne right before getting interrupted by me. "Yes and, so are we, we can handle this." I said, only to get interrupted by Dwayne again.

"No, you are wrong, we can't, we're not after cops, or some Psychs? these are ghosts! real dead ghosts! there is no way we can get through even one." said Dwayne to which I smirked. "See, with talk like that, you'll definitely lose." I said.

"She's right." said Tulio too, frankly I was a little surprised, but it sounded right. "What? you're agreeing with her now?" asked Dwayne only to get a reply from Tulio instead of operator from WIC Company, seriously where the hell is that bastard?

"What I meant is, we can't win this with a negative attitude, like it or not, we're here, as long as we stick together we can go through this, trust me." said Tulio. "Trust you? I don't even know you who are?" asked Dwayne, weren't you provided a brochure the, WIC Company valiantly provided us before the game, oh wait, they didn't?

"I don't know you either, but here we are, look just stick by my side, or get lost, okay? I can't keep nagging you like this forever, I'm not your wife." said Tulio quite open mindedly. "What did you just say?" asked Dwayne only to her interrupted when Kinze yelled after looking down upon one of the ways.

"Hey guys! I think this way is mine!" yelled Kinze to which we all looked towards her and went forth after sharing a look upon each other. "What do you mean?" asked Tulio as he arrived. "The way ahead, I think I saw a childhood toy ahead, it was walking on its own." said Kinze. "Say what?" asked Tulio.

"Your fear is a childhood toy? phhff.. lame." I said, only to get interrupted by Kinze. "lame? you have no idea what was it like, that doll was possessed, I knew that from childhood, the things it made me do, I wish I had a way to change that, but anyway, the point is, this way, it's mine, no way I'm gonna cross that path, if I'm gonna meet that devil again." said Kinze.

"But it's just a doll right? how bad it could be?" I asked to which a anger look comes upon Kinze's face as she looks upon me. "It's Bad, badder than you could think, trust me." said Kinze.

"Okay, fine, not that way, but which way do we pick then we can't just keep peeping into others and hope, our fears won't jump out of the way." said Tulio.

"That won't happen, some of us, have specifications in facing fears." I said. "Like what?" asked Kinze. "Drowning, think you could handle it?" I asked to which she remained silent. "Okay, Kinze's path maybe dangerous, but if we're caught in mine, or Tokyo's, there is a chance we might end ourselves killed." said Dwayne.

"You're not suggesting we.." I said right before getting interrupted by Kinze. "No, no way, I'm not stepping in there, I'm not gonna face that s**t again, it's too dangerous." said Kinze. "Drowning is dangerous Kinze, not dolls, we'll be right beside you, the thing can't get to you." said Tulio.

So, now you're with them too?" asked Kinze. "It isn't like that, just trust us, okay? you're the youngest of us all, and we know what we are heading into, if we take any other paths, we are heading into the unknown." said Tulio.

"That's a pretty messed up way of saying, we got no choice." I said to which Tulio replied.

"Do you mind?" angrily, frankly, I said it, just to piss him off, you know why, frankly, this keeps getting worse and worse, and the only person I could blame was Anthea and the WIC Company at that point.