OptionalFiction

It had been 12 minutes since Jane had gone to check on the weird noises coming from the attic. “We said we'd check on her if she didn't return after ten minutes,” offered Felix with some hesitation in his voice. He didn't want to go up there. Actually, from the beginning he had been against the idea of spending the night in this abandoned house. But when Jane and Steph had flirty stressed the pyjama party aspect of the night he had relented. “Well, are you coming?,” asked Steph, more to assure herself than to actually get going. She had stood up and turned on the flashlight of her phone. “Yup,” Felix replied getting to his feed. He grabbed his phone as well and turned on the flashlight as well. “You go ahead, you're the man,” commanded Steph. Felix gulped, but did not protest. He stepped over the Ouija board careful not to get his polyester pyjama too close to the candles they'd spread across the room. He made his way towards the hallway and didn't take his eyes off the door frame his white flashlight illuminated. When he'd reached the door he shone his light both ways to inspect the hallway. A slight draft went through from the cat flap down the corridor to the small round window the other end. It was swirling up dust through the air. A dresser stood against the wall with a couple of drawers half open. Most notably, the pull down ladder towards the attic was gone. The trap door was closed. Steph must have noticed the same thing as she whispered, “Jane must have closed it after herself.” Felix weakly agreed. He was desperate for any explanation that did not involve a murderer or ghost or any other fourth entity in the house with them. “Can you reach it?,” Steph asked. Felix tried to reach for the cord to open the trap door. He couldn't. He tried a few careful jumps, but the cord eluded him by just a few centimetres. He needed a few steps for a running start. He walked a few steps towards the door and turned around. With a running start of four steps he was able to reach the cord and grabbed it. The trap door swung open and the ladder unfolded behind Felix who had misjudged his jump and crashed into the drawer. “Fuck!,” he exclaimed in pain, immediately regretting the noise he had made. He pulled up his shirt and found big red scratch across his side, but luckily no blood. “Let's go,” urged Steph, clearly uneasy. Felix grit his teeth and began the ascend. It's just an attic, it's just an attic, he repeated in his mind. Finally he reached the top and poked his head through the trap door. He did a three-sixty. He spotted a lot of cardboard boxes and even more dust hanging in the air. No sign of life. No Jane, but also no murderer. He pulled himself completely up onto the floor and searched the room again with his flashlight while he waited for Steph to make her way up as well. She grabbed his arm and also started pointing her flashlight around the room. “J-Jane?,” he ventured. No response. Steph kept her tight grasp on his sleeve, but he didn't mind. This was freaking him out and it was good to have Steph close. The boxes were stacked high and basically formed walls around them. But in one corner there was a gab and the two slowly inched their way towards it. Suddenly, there was a strong pull on Felix' arm that through him to the ground while Steph began screaming, “Felix! Felix, something's got my leg!” Felix was pulled across the floor by Steph. He struggled to turn and face her instead of the ceiling. When he finally managed he saw that Steph's bottom half was hanging down the trap door. He had to drop his phone in order to grab onto her arms with both hands. “Felix! Do something!” Steph was screaming in terror. Tears were streaming down her face. His grip was slipping. Something was pulling her down, away from him. He tried to change his grip and in that moment lost her. She went down the trap door, out of view. The door slammed shut and he could hear her muffled screams below. He was in total darkness. His mind was racing. The phone! Had the light gone out? Where had it fallen? He suppressed his bodies urge to cry while fumbling around him for his phone. Then he felt something grab him by the leg.