CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

17

I woke up in Danny’s arms, I felt safe and warm, then I looked around, saw the dark, water-damaged walls, and noticed that we were still in Granny’s house and realized that all those warm fuzzy feelings were gonna have to be put on hold.

“What happened?” I muttered.

“Granny must’ve heard you, ‘cause she clubbed you in the back of the head; the next thing I know, we were teleported into this dark, damp room,” Danny said in a sotto voice.

“Alright, that one was on me, four tries left,” I whispered. I rubbed the back of my head, there was a bump there; I moved my fingers in front of my face, and found a little blood. “Ow,” I whimpered.

“Oh, Brownie,” Danny breathed, looking at the blood drawn from the back of my head. 

“Where’s Olive?” I quickly scanned the room in search of my long-lost best friend.

“I don’t know, Brownie, she just up and disappeared when we were warped into this room,” there was despair in his eyes. He was scared.

I hugged his arm tightly, “I know what you’re thinking, Daniel,” I spoke these words ever so softly, “I don’t want to lose you either.”

He smiled a futile smile at me, no words were exchanged after that. Danny and I hid under the upgraded queen-sized bed (it used to be a twin bed) waiting for granny to come in and scan the room. She came in, scanned the room, and went into the third bedroom. 

The coast was clear.

Danny and I walked around the Granny house, trying to figure out if there was a way out. We tried opening every door insight, all of them, except the basement door, were locked. Huh, must be a glitch in the game.

Then when we walked into the basement, Granny must’ve heard us ‘cause you could hear her footsteps stomping across the wooden floor, the smell of mothballs filled the basement. I started panicking and looked around for somewhere to hide.

I turned the corner, and Danny quickly grabbed my wrist before I fell down another set of stairs. 

The sub-basement.

We tiptoed down the stairs. Her old, rusty, broken-down car was down there; but there must’ve been a malfunction in the game; the car was running, it was WORKING! Now to get the garage door opened. 

Danny applied all his force to it and it made a loud groaning noise. Which, in case you haven’t figured out, triggered Granny, one thing I forgot to mention, she’s fast when she hears a noise, she doesn’t run, but she shuffles faster than anyone I’ve ever seen before. We heard her shuffling down the stairs of the main floor, navigating her way around the first basement.

My breathing quickened as she got close. I had to put my hand over my mouth to keep from making a noise. Danny and I quickly piled into the backseat of her car; he laid on his stomach and I laid on Danny’s back, keeping our heads low so Granny didn’t see us.

She shuffled into the room with us, my hand still over my mouth. Silent tears fell out of my eyes. We’re going to die in here. I thought, nauseated. 

“Where are you?” Granny sang as she walked out of the room. I let out a breath when she shuffled out of the room. 

“We’re safe, Danny,”  I whispered into his ear. I hugged his back, “That was a close one,” and pressed my cheek against his shoulder blade.

We slowly climbed out of the car, trying to make sure it didn’t creak. 

Danny and I walked around the sub-basement, looking for something, anything, to get us out of this ruined, run-down, house. I looked around the room and noticed there was blood on the walls. I ran my fingers against the wall.

The blood was fresh.

Adrenaline started to pump faster in my veins.

Olive.

This better not be Olive.

I closed my eyes, memories of me and Olive, having tea parties as ten-year-olds, going to rambunctious parties as teenagers, going shopping, skating, and doing blindfolded makeup to each other at sleepovers. She was gone. Granny killed her. I could feel it. Torrents of rage coursed through my body. I’m gonna knock Granny’s teeth so far down her throat she’ll be spittin’ them out single file.

Oh, Olive, no. I’ll get her back for this, I swear to you.