"This is so childish. Who plays this kind of game nowadays?" Katherine grumpily shoved the paper in her pocket. After having our dinner, Teacher Beshy told us to draw papers from the mystery box and gather in the common area after an hour because she prepared a little Spooky Treasure Hunt event for us.
Trixie put her arm around Katherine's shoulders. "Come on, Kath. When else will we get a chance to play something like this?"
"Apparently, it's an unbreakable tradition." Mia tried to sound uninterested but her cheeks were about to explode any time soon. She really liked this kind of game.
Katherine rolled her eyes. "What a crappy tradition."
I chuckled because I could no longer hold in my laughter. "You're not saying that just because you're scared, are you?"
She put her hands on her waist and raised an eyebrow, her tone rose to a slightly higher pitch."Scared? Why would I be scared? There's no such thing as ghosts. They're just a figment of humanity's wild imagination due to the lack of excitement in their redundant lives."
I turned to Mia and Trixie then winked with a triumphant smile. "She's scared."
Mia nodded. "Definitely scared."
And Trixie also giggled. "No doubt about it."
"I'm not!" Katherine shrieked defensively.
I put a hand on her shoulder and made her sit on the bed. "Yes you are."
She frowned up at me. "What makes you think so? I don't even believe in those things. How can I be afraid of something that I don't believe in? Do you guys really believe that there are ghosts? When people die, that's it! They die. The end. Finish."
I pinched her cheek with a huge grin on my face. "You're talking too much, Katherine. It's cute."
"You get really talkative when you're scared." Mia patted Katherine's head affectionately.
Katherine froze and opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something but closed them again without saying anything. She threw a pillow at me which I skillfully caught.
"What number did you guys get?" Trixie suddenly asked, saving Katherine from feeling humiliated.
I unfolded my paper in front of her. "Lucky Seven."
"Five." She showed paper to us as well.
Katherine took hers out from her pocket and smoothed the crumpled piece of paper open for us to see. "Twenty."
Mia smiled while showing her favorite number written on her paper. "Ten."
"Thank God we didn't pick each other." Trixie muttered and we were all shocked by how honest she was about not wanting to be paired with us.
"Why? It would be fun to go together." I protested and grabbed onto her arm. "Let's go together. I'll go hunt down whoever has the number five."
She untangled her arm from my grip and shook her head while laughing. "No way. You guys are really not that reliable when it comes to these things. Especially you."
I put a hand on my chest with a grunt. "Ouch!"
Mia patted my back to comfort me but the words that followed her action were far from consoling. "Trixie's right. Admit it, Zee. When a ghost appears, you'll be the first one to run away."
I frowned at her and nodded in complete agreement. "Of course!"
Trixie shook her head in disbelief. "See what I mean?"
I shrugged. "Better than getting killed together. One of us must survive to tell the tale. Otherwise, the others' deaths will be in vain."
Katherine massaged her temples, something that she always does whenever she starts feeling stressed and anxious."Why is your imagination always so extreme?"
I grinned at her. "We have to think of the worst case scenario to be ready for it and plan accordingly, don't we?"
Mia tilted her head to one side, looking expectant. "And have you thought of a plan to avoid the worst case scenario?"
My smile grew wider. "Run. When a ghost appears, just run as if your life depended on it. Don't even try looking behind you. Just run."
Trixie's jaw fell and Katherine slapped the back of her neck.
Mia, on the other hand, laughed and nodded in agreement. "Brilliant suggestion."
When we gathered in the hall an hour later, Teacher Beshy carefully explained the rules again for the last time. "Like I said earlier, the paper that you've drawn earlier will tell you who your 'buddy' is and what item you should find before coming back to the base. You will be given an hour to find your partner and find your item. You can find them within the property so don't stray too far and never cross the fences. I repeat, DO NOT cross the fence. Returning without your designated item will automatically eliminate you. And returning with your item but without your partner will also disqualify you."
Katherine nudged me with her elbow. "Looks like your great plan has been spoiled."
"Not really. Who cares about being disqualified if I can avoid turning into a zombie?" I smirked.
"Zombie?" Katherine raised an eyebrow at me.
"Yeah. Who knows what kind of monsters are lurking in the woods at this time of the night." My eyes were stuck on the whiteboard where the photos of the items that we had to find were posted. I scanned it to find the item for number 7 and my mouth gaped open when I saw a photo of Satan's doll sitting on a tree branch. "What the heck?!"
"Why?" Katherine also peered at the board and I pointed to her the item that I had to find. Satan's doll was a very popular horror icon when we were kids because of its horrendous child-like appearance and very ominous smile. It was popularized by a horror film titled 'Who's Your Mother?' and became our generation's worst nightmare. "Haha. Goodluck on finding that."
"Hell no! I'd rather not find it."
"Why not? He's large enough to find easily." She urged on and I shook my head fervently.
"No thanks." I stopped looking at the photo before the image could get stuck in my head and make me dream about it tonight. "And even if I did find it, I don't think that the prize for this game will be worth risking my life."
Katherine giggled. "Aihoo. You and your extreme imagination."
But my resolve wavered when Teacher Beshy fired everyone up by revealing the prize for this out of season Halloween event. "The pair who returns with their item the fastest will each receive a brand new Xinfinite SS3 mobile phone with 50x zoom back camera and 32mp front camera and a D*lby digital sound system."
Katherine grinned and nudged me with her elbow. "Is it worth risking your life now?"
I tried to gulp down the lump on my throat before turning to look at the photo again. "There's a reason why we have partners."
Teacher Beshy pressed the timer that displayed 60 minutes on the screen. "Let the hunting begin!"
Everyone started shouting their numbers to find their respective partners. Even Katherine, who initially hated playing this game, now looked really enthusiastic as she waved me goodbye to find her partner. My eyes darted around to look for someone and our eyes met as if he was looking for me too.
*badump*
My eyes rounded in surprise because of my reaction to that simple eye contact. 'I must be out of my mind.'
Craige waved at me and smiled.
'Don't smile!' I put a hand on my chest and took a deep breath. 'Shit. Calm down self.'
I was about to wave back at him when Arthur suddenly latched on to him out of nowhere, showing him his paper. Craige laughed in amusement as he showed Arthur his own paper that matched the latter's. He then turned to me and signalled that he's going with Arthur.
Arthur haughtily smirked at me then stuck his tongue out before dragging Craige away.
As soon as they're gone, I looked at the diminishing photos on the board, silently wishing that someone would volunteer to procure my item for me. Then as if my prayers had been answered, I heard someone finally shout my number. But my heart sank when I recognized the voice. "We're done for."
"Seven! Who has number seven?! Seven!!!" Joshua kept shouting the number over and over while looking around. I could only look at him with a crest-fallen expression on my face.
"Goodbye SS3." I muttered to myself.
As the other teams started leaving to start looking for their items, Joshua moved towards the board and saw me standing there. He instantly understood the situation which made his shoulders drop. "Don't tell me…"
I held up my paper with the number 7 written in red ink. "Condolences."
He shook his head. "No. It's okay. We can do this."
I smiled at him and pointed at the board with the last remaining photo. Untouched.
His eyes slowly grew bigger until they looked like they're about to pop. "Freaking shit."
"My thoughts exactly." I plucked the photo from the board and gave it to him. At first, he hesitated in accepting it but he still took it in the end and I could just sigh heavily with zero motivation. "Want to give this a try?"
"I think there's no harm in trying." He turned on his flashlight and led the way towards the dark forest.
I followed closely behind him. "Unless it starts moving."