Karma walked beside me after school. We said nothing to each other the whole time. I was used to the awkward silence between us. It was always there ever since he was in that old, broken orphanage. We never knew each other, even after my father adopted him.

"Do you think we could ask Ienzo to homeschool us instead of making us go to a place far from home?" He asked me, breaking the silence.

"I…I don't know. You…want to try it?" I asked him.

"Sure, but could you ask for me? I'm too scared to ask him." He said.

I sighed."Alright, but first, we need to clean up before he finds out." I said, heading inside the shack. Uncle Yuri was already waiting for us inside.

"You got into a fight." He said, looking at our bruises.

"No…?" Karma lied.

"Karma, has Ienzo ever told you that you're very bad at lying?" He said, looking at him annoyed.

"We had a small conflict. The boys decided to take it to the next level. I was simply trying to work out the problem." I said, trying to act innocent.

"Of course you were. That's definitely not the reason why I got a call from the principal about how you Oni broke a kid's nose and nearly dislocated a boy's arm." My father appeared from the living room. Normally he'd greet us with a smile. This time though, he looked terrifying.

"They were going to hurt Karma. And I couldn't let that happen. You told me he was my brother. So I'm just protecting him like I'm supposed to." I said, heading upstairs. My mother turned to see what the commotion was and frowned at dad.

"Ienzo, how many times have I told you not to yell at Oni." I entered my bedroom and threw my backpack on the side as my parents argued downstairs. I collapsed onto my bed and sighed.

Life's hard when you're a high-tech nerd/black belt martial arts student and your adopted brother has bully problems at school.

There was a vibrating sound in my backpack. I opened it and saw my phone vibrating non-stop. I checked to see who it was and frowned. It was Jay, my friend.

Jay_Kanazaki (3:27 pm)

Hey found this really scary haunted house called 'Solstace House'. Wanna go check it out tonight

Mune_Misuki (3:28 pm)

Yeah right. The last haunted house you thought was scary was a dump. Just some old burned up photos and an owl hooting.

Nico_Asuna (3:29 pm)

Yeah, and the one before that was in America. I mean, we live in Romania for crying out loud!

I laughed, but they weren't wrong. As kids, we left our houses so we could explore old, creepy places that other people were scared of. Although we still left to meet each other, we started to get bored of going through the same stuff; old burned pictures, cobwebs, and whatnot.

Jay_Kanazaki (3:30 pm)

Ha ha, very funny. But I'm telling you, this one is actually something. In fact, if you can go through the whole house without fear you get to win $1,000,000!

(3:31 pm) You

Proof or it isn't real.

Nico_Asuna (3:31 pm)

Hey guys, I found what Jay was talking about. Turns out Jay's right. More than 10,000 people have tried but they couldn't win. It says if you want, you can quit as well. It was closed in 1982, but some people still go there to win the money. I say we go try it out.

Jay_Kanazaki (3:32 pm)

Ha! What did I say?

Mune_Misuki (3:32 pm)

I'm in! What about you Oni?

(3:33 pm) You

Since I've got nothing to do here, I'll go too. What time?

Jay_Kanazaki (3:33 pm)

10:00 pm sharp. You guys think you can make it?

Mune_Misuki (3:34 pm)

I'll be there early.

Nico_Asuna (3:34 pm)

I'll come only because I just wanna see you guys screaming like little girls. Think you can still come Oni?

(3:35 pm) You

...…

I thought about it. If I left, my dad would find out and I'd be grounded for a week, but I'd at least have fun with my friends. If I don't go, I won't get grounded, but I won't get to see if this house really is scary. Karma came into our room. "Hey Oni." He said.

"Hey." I said, staring at my phone.

"Ienzo said we can't go out today. Wanted us to stay here for tonight only." He said, throwing his backpack beside mine.

"Did he tell you why?" I asked him.

"I asked him, but he didn't tell me. Told me to go to my room and tell you about it." I grinned.

"Thanks Karma." I said to him. Whether my father found out what we were doing or not, I knew what to do.

(3:35 pm) You

I'm in.

Jay_Kanazaki (3:36 pm)

Alright! We each bring our own flashlights. See y'all there!

~~~

"Hey! You made it! For a minute I thought you were too scared to come." Jay said as Nico arrived. He wore the usual black jacket and jeans. He pulled a knife from his jacket and put it near Jay's throat.

"Say that again and it may be the last thing you say."He said, gritting his teeth.

"Woah! Nico, calm down! It's alright! He's just joking!" Mune said, pulling the knife from Nico's hand without killing Jay in the process.

"Where did you get that from?!" I said, terrified. He shrugged.

"Found it in my dad's closet. He's got a lot of weapons inside there. He and mom told me that as long as I don't kill the wrong people, I'm allowed to take whatever weapon I want." He said.

"Uh-huh. Let's forget this and head towards the house." Jay said, keeping a distance from Nico.

When we made it to the house, Jay came in front of us and blocked the door. He wore a ridiculous smile on his face. "Oh-no. I know that look." Mune said.

"Welcome! To the 'Solstace house!'" Jay said. There was silence for a few seconds.

"Is that it? Or do you have a huge speech ready to amaze us?" I said, looking at Jay confused. Jay frowned and opened the door. We entered.

The main hall looked like any normal hotel lobby. It was decorated with old Halloween decorations, with fake cobwebs and Jack-o-lanterns. In between two pumpkins was a piece of paper that read Room 1 this way. Reach the end and win!

Nico laughed. "Yeah, this is totally scary Jay. I'm practically shaking right now." He said sarcastically.

"You think you could find a better house?" Jay said, glaring at Nico.

"Yes, I think I could." He said. I ignored them as they argued. As I looked around with Mune, I found a door at the other end of the room.

"Hey guys. I think I found room 1. You wanna go in?" I asked the others. Nico and Jay stopped fighting and looked at me.

"Sure." They said, glaring at each other. Mune opened the door and frowned.

It didn't look any different from the entrance.There were fake cobwebs and plastic zombie machines that made noises when you came near them. "Jeez, now I know why people got chickened out when coming here." Nico said with a bored tone.

"Well, I'm sorry you guys can't search for scary houses yourselves!" Jay yelled at Nico.

"Guys, cut it out already! When this is over you two can argue all you want! But for now, shut your traps before someone hears you." Mune said angrily.

I sighed. In front of us was a door with a number 2 labeled on it. I turned to look for another door. The only door other than the one we were standing in front of was the one we entered from.

"Where's room 1? All I see is room 2." Nico asked.

"I think this is room 1, just labeled 2 for fun." I said, opening the room. It was pitch black when we entered the room. We tried turning on our flashlights, but they didn't seem to work. All of a sudden, the lights flashed on. Standing in front of us was a young girl. She looked no older than five, with tears streaming down her face like crazy.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" She asked us through her tears. Nico snorted.

"Really? A crying girl? That's so pathetic." he said. Mune pretended he wasn't there and approached the weeping girl.

"Hey there little one. Where are your-"

"YOU DIDN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION. ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DO THIS?" she asked him, her voice so deep it sounded like someone else.

"How did she even do that?" Nico whispered. Jay smiled.

"Told you it was scary."

"Shut up, would you?" Nico asked him.

"NO ONE LEAVES SOLSTACE HOUSE. NO ONE." The girl said. The white part of her eyes started to turn black, her irises turning scarlet red.

She picked Mune up and threw him to the side of the room. We stood there in shock. How was she even doing this? As I thought about it, Nico was trying to kill the monster girl while Jay was trying to wake Mune up.

The girl caught me off guard and tackled me to the ground. She put her hands on my neck and started to choke me.

Luckily while she was doing that, Nico sneaked up behind her and stabbed her in the back. Her grip loosened. As she turned to Nico, he passed me the knife and I jabbed the knife in her head, causing her to die immediately. At that time, Mune bothered to wake up and notice what was happening.

"Why are you two covered in blood? And where is that demon?" Mune said, trying to sit up.

"Girl's dead. Nico and I killed her. You okay?" I asked him. He said nothing.

"So we're still going to the next room?" Mune asked us after a few minutes.

"You kidding?! This is the most fun I have ever had! Of course we're going!" Nico said, beaming through his bloody face.

"Glad to hear that." Jay murmured.