Chapter One

dream

Scarlet was standing in a hallway, her body moved swiftly as she entered the house that was screaming for help, she frowned as she looked around trying to find out what was going on. The floors creaked as if more than one person was walking on them, she rubbed her eyes as she began to see figures walking along the wooden floor.

What was going on here? Where was Scarlet? Why did it feel real?

Scarlet peered further into the hallway hearing the sickening laughter of children that sent shivers down her spine. Scarlet's body jolted as she felt someone walk through her.

"Hey watch it" she spoke towards the boy who had walked right through her.

The boy turned around to face Scarlet making her gasp, he didn't look that much older than Scarlet. He had what looked like to be thick black hair, his eyes were grey but filled with pain. Scarlet's heart rate increased as she noticed that there was a stab wound on the left side towards the hip bone.

The teenage boy smelt like a rotting corpse like a dead animal that had been left on the road after being hit. Scarlet hated the smell of death it made her feel sick so she couldn't help but gag.

Scarlet wondered where she was once again, the air in the house felt cold like a fridge freezer at a department store but it kept going down. The teenage boy reached forward as droplets of blood it the floorboards beneath him. It sounded like rain hitting them on a winters day.

Scarlet whimpered as she stepped back trying to get out of this situation but something made her feel isolated like she couldn't move. Like a stray jacket strapped to her body. As the teenage boy got closer towards Scarlet she could feel the wetness of his hand. Was that blood? She gagged once again this time she couldn't hold it in and threw up onto the floor.

Scarlet jerked her hand back trying to stop herself from throwing up, she wiped the puke away from her lips looking at the almost dried blood on her hands. She looked up to see the teenage boy was decaying, even more, he had a few holes in his head that was again filled with maggots.

Why was it changing so much? First, there was no hole now there is? Scarlet grew confused. The teenage boy opened his mouth to speak only for maggots and cockroaches left his mouth making her scream loudly.

"Help us... Please... You must stop him" the teenage boy whimpered out making Scarlet frown.

Stop who? This was just a dream. No this was a nightmare she was having just like when she was 8.

Scarlet backed up, she was terrified but that's when she saw a pair of hooked talons extended out from the darkness, reaching ominously for the boy in front of it. "Look out!" But for some reason, he couldn't hear her. "No!" She screamed.

His screams echoing throughout the hallway. His screams pierced through the dense atmosphere, disappearing into the void of the unknown while leaving a trail of lonely red streaks across the bare floor.

Scarlet covered her mouth not sure what she had witnessed, her body began to move backwards soon the hallway was becoming a distant memory.

Her body was hit with so much force it made her fly through the door and into the doorstep. Scarlet ground and coughed harshly into her sleeve as she tried to catch her breath that was knocked out of her, she sat up slightly and held her left side that was now aching in pain.

Scarlet winced as she slowly stood up dusting herself off and was about to step inside once again when the door slammed in front of her face. Her blue eyes scanned the front door seeing the house number 1986

end dream

Scarlet gasped for air as her eyes opened sharply, she looked around the room finding herself back in her bedroom. Scarlet covered her face with her hands as she slowly caught her breath. She couldn't believe what she had just seen, Scarlet sat up slowly and looked at her alarm clock that sat on her right bedside table 7:04 am, her friends were going to be here soon to pick her up.

Scarlet slowly and swiftly got out of bed, she walked over to her closet and pulled out some jeans, sneakers and a t-shirt. It was the first day of spring break, her and a bunch of her friends from school were going on a camping trip to Swan Lake. Since they weren't allowed to go without an adult or someone over the age of 18, Luke one of their friends since 6th grade had invited his friend Jack who was 20 to come along. It took him 7 bottles of whiskey for him and his girlfriend Jessica to come for him to say yes.

Jessica was beautiful as most girls would say, standing at 5'6 with long brown straight hair that went to her elbows and hazel eyes. Jessica wasn't the nicest girl around especially at school, being the head cheerleader and all. She took it upon herself to bully others and make them feel little about themselves.

Scarlet pictured Jessica as Regina George from Mean Girls, there were times she could quote the entire film based around Jessica. Scarlet wanted to torment Jessica just how she torments mostly everyone else, she wanted her to feel empowered and vulnerable. Scarlet wished that karma would come to Jessica and give her a lesson.

Scarlet didn't trust Jack either, knowing his life from school to now she didn't see him being a good person for this trip but she knew that without him, her and her friends wouldn't be allowed on this camping trip. Scarlet couldn't get the dream she had witnessed out of her head, everything felt and looked so real.

Scarlet has had nightmares before and they weren't anything like that had seen, to be honest, she hasn't had a nightmare since she was 8 years old. She remembered the crash, the blood that was around her. She woke up with a scream making her father check for monsters, she couldn't explain to him what she has seen.

Scarlet slipped on her black Star Wars t-shirt and her favourite blue ripped jeans, she looked in the mirror admiring her outfit before grabbing the hairbrush that was on her tomboy, slowly she brushed her hair and placed it into a nice ponytail, she wanted to feel comfortable for their 5 hours of travel.

Scarlet sat on the edge of her bed where she placed her pink socks on following her white converse. She wondered how the 2 and a half weeks we're going to be, was Jessica going to be nice? Or was she going to be mean like always?

Scarlet sighed before feeling her phone buzz beside her, she grabbed it unlocking her phone to see a message from Louise. Louise was her best friend.

Louise: Jack has just picked us up, he's hired a minibus for the trip. We will be at yours in 30 minutes

Scarlet stood up and headed out of her room grabbing her sling bag by her bedroom door. She headed downstairs where her mother Andrea was cutting up some fruit.

"Morning mum, what are you going?" Scarlet asked.

"I thought you and your friends would love some fruit, it's a long drive to swan lake" Andrea smiled warmly.

Scarlet wanted to roll her eyes but knew her mother had good intentions, "Thank you mum, I'm sure they'll be enough food."

Andrea looked over at Scarlet once she placed the last cut up fruit into a container, "There is no such thing as enough food. Your father Peter left your tent by the front porch before he left for work this morning. Message me when you arrive at Swan Lake or I'll worry."

"I will mum don't worry" Scarlet smiled before placing the container of fruit in her sling bag.

Scarlet heard the sound of a bus horn signalling that they were here, she kissed her mother on the cheek, "I'll see you in 2 and a half weeks."

Scarlet left the house grabbing the tent and sleeping bag before she entered the bus taking her spot at the back of the bus.

"Who's ready for an awesome 2 and a half weeks camping by the most beautiful lake in the world?" Louise asked.

Louise was an inch shorter than Scarlet standing at 5'5 her brown skin worked well thick curly black hair.

Scarlet cheered along with everyone else, Jack laughed slightly as drove down the street towards Swan Lake before turning on some music. He played Born To Be Wild. Scarlet sang along to the song along with everyone else, Scarlet's eyes were caught on the road she frowned as she began to notice a lot of decaying people on the side. Her eyes followed each person watching as they faded to dust.

What was happening to her? Why now?

"Say hi to the camera" Billie's voice rang through Scarlet's ear making her eyes leave the road and turn.

Scarlet faced Billie and rose an eyebrow as a camera was shoved in her face, "Are you making a documentary?" Scarlet asked.

Billie laughed, "No silly, I'm actually vlogging, I've decided to start a vlog and thought it'll be the perfect time with us camping for 3 weeks" Billie replied as she held the camera up.

Billie stood at 5'8 her light blue hair made her whole face sparkle, she had elbow-length brown curly hair that was placed in a ponytail, her make up was simple but elegant.

Scarlet chuckled waving to the camera, she was in the mood for talking. Her eyes faced the window once again, the trees began to whither in front of her. Scarlet frowned as she began to see more people standing on the side of the road. But this time these people were grey with marks on different parts of their bodies.

The people were pointing to a house just on top of the hill. She frowned and groaned as the bus suddenly came to a jolting stop making everyone fly forward.

"Jack? What the hell?" Tyrone asked with a slight whine in his voice as he tried to remove the mascara mark from his cheek. "You made me ruin my make-up" he whined.

Tyrone was everyone's favourite from the group, he always made everyone laugh no matter how bad their day was. Tyrone had thick black (African American) skin with brown eyes and dyed blonde hair. Tyrone stood at 6'1.

"Sorry guys let me check it out," Jack said as he stepped out of the bus.

Scarlet looked over at the mansion as everyone gasped in admiration but she didn't, the mansion front area looked like it needed a hell lot of work done to it. The grass was deep you could literally hide in there for days. She squinted to see more but she couldn't help but shiver as she felt cold, like something was taking away her warmth and happiness.

"Wow, that mansion is beautiful" Louise spoke as she admired the mansion.

It may look nice but Scarlet could sense something evil was inside, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Visions from her dream began replying in her head, the scared teenage boy. The blood and how his hands left streak marks as he was dragged away by someone or something.

"What the hell? My camera has just gone flat but it was fully charged" Billie said, Scarlet snapped out of her trance and frowned while Tyrone looked at Billie and the camera to see why it stopped.

Billie was filming Tyrone who seemed to be having the time of his life on the camera.

"Are you sure?" Anthony asked he knows how easy it was to forget the charge something.

"Yes idiot, of course, I'm sure" Billie snapped at Anthony who held his hands up in defense.

"That's weird the bus' battery seems to be okay. Let me call someone out here" Jack said as he walked over towards Jessica before pulling out his phone. "That's weird my phone is dead, but it was charged when we left."

Scarlet frowned as she pulled out her phone to see the same thing. "Mine is too, something doesn't feel right."

"Maybe we should go up there and see if we can get help from them?" Anthony said as he pointed at the mansion.

Anthony stood at 5'8, he had had white skin that was able to tan which Scarlet hated about him. He was able to tan while she burned. Anthony had blue eyes that were small fitting his face nicely and he has thick eyebrows. He also had white-blonde hair that was dyed dark blonde at the front.

"I don't know guys, that house gives me the creeps" Scarlet admitted.

"It's better than waiting out here" Jessica spoke. "Are you scared Scarlet? I don't think you want the whole school and friends to know you were scared of a mansion" Jessica smirked as it was tormenting Scarlet.

Scarlet rolled her eyes, how could they be so stupid? Haven't they ever see a horror movie before? Not to mention walking to a strangers house in the middle of nowhere is a good idea. Scarlet gently shook her head knowing that none of them understood what she felt. Something felt off about this mansion, like something bad happened here.

Scarlet noticed that her friends were already halfway up the driveway, she followed but reluctantly. As she got closer to the mansion it began to look different than back by the minibus, the mansion was covered in vines that we're thick enough to strangle you.

The garden beds to her right and left were dead, the roses had wilted beside each other and the hedges were brown and dull. Scarlet shivered as she began to feel cold like on the minibus. Like something was taking her warmth away. Jessica groaned as she saw Scarlet was taking her time, she huffed.

"I'm not waiting for anyone" Jessica spoke as she twisted the doorknob slowly opening the house. "Looks like no-one is home." She stepped inside looking around at the beautiful sight.

The tiles on the floor looked freshly cleaned, the smell of roses and caramel filled everyone's noses.

"See nothing to..." Before Ben could finish his statement towards Scarlet the door slammed shut keeping her outside.

Scarlet had just reached the door when it slammed in her face, she was startled and blinked a few times from the force. As she reopened her eyes she noticed the mansion had the same house number as the one in her dream.

It all flooded back to her, her dream was trying to warn her of the house 1986. He said they needed to be saved, that a person needed to be stopped.