TWENTY ONE

All of us were getting ready when the doorbell rang, telling us that someone was here.

Sara was most likely to be the culprit of that, but we had snatched the home phone right off her before she could dial the Domino's pizza number.

Shooting an annoyed look towards Sara, I strolled over to open the door.

"Sorry about this, my friend Sara is such a pain in the ne-"

I cut myself off once a floppy brown haired boy marched passed me and into the house.

"Excuse me," I yelled at Mason, chasing after him and whacking his shoulder when I had caught up with the brooding figure. "I don't just allow guests into my house like that. Especially angry ones."

"I'm not angry!" He growled in an aggravated tone.

"Sure," I whispered, going over to my cabinet and grabbing a few torches.

I checked if they all worked, luckily they did, and began handing them all out. One for Sara, one for Ashley and one for me. There was one left and I immediately smirked before smacking a torch into his hands.

"If you want to be extremely helpful then I suggest you come with us," I explained, answering his questioning look that he shot my way.

Glaring at us all, me mainly, he grumbled, "What are you guys doing anyway?"

Sighing deeply, I replied, "Look, all you need to know is that I am searching my grandmother's freaky basement because I found a key inside one of my mum's plant pots."

Mason grumpily grunted out a few incoherent words before stomping out the door with the torch in his clenched hand.

Rolling her eyes, Ashley walked right up to me and spat out, "Why are you inviting him? He'll either slow us down or be a nuisance."

"We need all the help we can get," I clearly stated. "Who knows what could be down there!"

"It's not like some person is going to come out and attack us," Ashley said like it was self-explanatory.

Sara, hearing our conversation, remarked, "Apparently ghosts are quite common in abandoned basements."

"Yeah, a ghost is going to a appear and jump out and scare us," Ashley fired back with sarcasm laced in her tone.

"Ashley, this basement was my grandmother's and now that she has unfortunately died her house is abandoned," I informed her. "Look, I may had only met her once in my life, but from what I had heard she was quite a woman."

Closing the door and locking it behind us, I made my way over to Sara's car whilst chatting about my abnormal grandmother.

"She had dead, stuffed cats in her lounge and on her fireplace!" I exclaimed. "Don't tell me that isn't a little weird to you?"

As I was about to open the door, I realised that Sara's car consisted of two seats. A driver's seat and a passenger's seat.

"Ashley...do you mind riding with Mason?" I squeaked out, praying in my mind that she would not argue and do what a good friend would do.

"Ye- I mean no of course not," Ashley strained out, nodding at my pleading eyes.

"Well I mind!" Mason yelled out childishly. "She's a lunatic!"

Ashley sent him a thunderous glare before stomping over to Sara's car.

Gulping down whatever pathetic protests I had, I lumbered over to Mason with my shoulders sagged and my head lowered to the ground.

"At least you have warm heating in your car," I smiled weakly, rubbing my arms as a chilly wind blew in the air.

Hopping into his car, I layed my head back on the head rest and let out a big sigh. Mason eventually started the car and we were off with only the sound of the moving car entertaining us.

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Placing my forehead onto the cold window, I watched silently as the green trees blurred. I imagined myself running into the woods with my hair flowing in the wind and my trainers getting muddy. I thought about climbing a tree to the top and gazing down at the incredible beauty that us humans call the environment.

I closed my eyes briefly until Mason's voice startled me.

"I'm not that bad, am I?" He growled out, anger still leaking from his tone.

"Well, I would prefer if you weren't acting like a teenage girl going through a friendship problem," I murmured out.

"I can't help being like this, Leia!" He suddenly grumbled out. "I have a maniac for a fa-"

Stopping himself from whatever he was going to blurt out, Mason firmly rolled his plump lips into his mouth.

"For a what?" I curiously asked.

"For a nothing...absolutely nothing," he curtly replied.

After that, we never spoke again during the drive.

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"So there is good news and bad news," I told them, scanning all three of them as they stood in a line. "Which one do you wanna hear first?"

"The good news!" Sara blabbed out.

"Ok, I still have the key to the basement. Luckily, I did not forget," I nodded to myself proudly.

Ashley rolled her eyes along with a still grumpy Mason.

"What's the bad news?" Mason grunted, seemingly peeved off.

"I have never been to my grandmother's house let alone know where it is, so we might be here a little longer than you had expected," I grimaced, already regretting coming here.

"Great," Mason scoffed with sarcasm. "Just perfect."

Ignoring everyone's groans and whines, I, very loudly, tried to knock the boarded up door down.

"Need help?" Mason stated more than asked.

Not waiting for a reply, he proceeded to rip the wooden board off and kick the door down.

Letting out a quiet 'woah', I entered the house with my torch at the ready.

Creeping inside, we began searching for a basement. We mostly were looking for stairs that lead downwards and small doors attached to walls.

However, Mason, being cryptic as usual, was crouching on the floor. He was such a weirdo.

But a cute one.

When we had searched the whole house from top to bottom, I had started to doubt myself and everything I had been told. Was the key a fake? Was it not for my grandmother's basement? Did my mum lie to me?

"Hey guys?" Mason called to us, causing us to rush over to him.

"Have you found it?" I enquired in a hopeful tone.

Nodding, he backed off to the side. I raised an eyebrow to say 'well?' because I was not getting it.

"Look to the floor, dumbo," he gestured to the floor boards.

Oh, so that was what he was doing on the floor. He was searching for some kind of a hatch or a creek in the floor boards to detect out a basement.

Nervously, I walked over to where he pointed to and kneeled down. It was a hatch with a key hole. Slipping my hands into my pocket, I slowly slid the key out. Inserting the key into the hole with shaky hands, I beamed when I heard a click.

"Thanks," I smiled brightly at him before opening up the hatch

Breathing deeply, I shivered once cold air from the basement escaped.

"Torches out girls," I grinned excitedly. I felt like today was the day where I would find out something big.  Something I had always felt that was missing in my life. Like closure.

With the threatening scowl Mason sent me, I murmured a quick, "And boys."

Stepping down the creeky stairs, I shuddered anxiously. The feeling was all too familiar for me. Paranoia filled me before I froze.

"Go on, Craze," Mason whispered into my ear whilst giving me a quick squeeze. "Go find out what your grandmother has been hiding for so many years."

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Ooh, so what do you think is in her grandmother's basement? Please remember to VOTE and feel free to COMMENT. I will see you soon my lovelies <3

Gem Gems