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"You got rope?" John B asked.

"Got it." Pope said.

"Grappling hook?"

"We don't have a grappling hook. We're not Batman."

"Pulley?"

"Check."

"Dark clothes?"

"Yup."

"Flashlights?" John asked.

"Check." Kie nodded.

"Alright, good. We're ready."

"Let's go get rich, guys." JJ said.

"Hell yeah."

"Let's roll."

"Wait, wait, I wanna say thank you, guys. Seriously." John B said, looking around at his friends. "It means a lot to me that you're here tonight."

"Always." Kie smiled.

"Of course, man." Pope said, then he and John did their handshake.

"Wouldn't want to be anywhere else." Claire smiled.

"Alright, we done with the circle jerk? Can we go do this?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go get that wheat in the water."

"Weed? I'm up for weed." JJ said.

"Wheat. I said wheat." Pope replied.

The girls made their way over the wall first, then the guys followed and the six friends slowly made their way through the front yard. They came to a stop when they reached the house, but a sensor light came on and startled them.

"Oh, shit!"

They hurried out of sight and huddled to the ground in a circle.

"Go, go, go, go."

"Flashlights."

"Okay, so she has motion sensor lights." Pope panted.

"We could, uh...move really slowly, maybe?" JJ suggested.

"Yeah, that's not how it works."

"Let's throw a rock at it." John B said.

"What?"

"That's a really good idea actually. Let the axe murderer know that we're here." Kiara replied sarcastically.

"Throw a rock at it?"

"You guys have a better idea?"

"Literally anything but that."

"Why don't we just try and find the off switch?" Claire suggested. "All those types of lights have one, right?"

"You mean the breaker?" Sarah clarified. Claire nodded. "There's one in the circuit box on the porch. We used to play hide and seek here as kids. And if we were brave enough, we'd go all the way up to the porch. I've seen it."

"No, no. You're not going in the house alone." John B said.

"Watch me." Sarah retorted.

"Crain chops people into pieces." JJ reminded her.

"If you believe that, but she's like what, 85?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"She's probably barely still kicking."

"Kie and I will go with you." Claire offered.

"Yeah." Kie nodded.

"Okay. We'll wait for your signal." Pope said.

"Okay, cool."

"Hey! Be safe." John said to Sarah.

"We will." She assured him.

"Claire," JJ whispered before she left, grabbing her hand.

"What?"

"Uh..." The blonde boy hesitated, but cleared his throat and released his hold on her hand, "nothin', just what John B said. Be safe."

Claire gave a single nod, before catching up with Kiara and Sarah. Meanwhile, John B and Pope took this time to question JJ about Claire.

"Dude, what the hell was that?" Pope asked JJ when she'd gone.

"What was what?" JJ said.

"You and Claire." John B said.

"Nothing. I was just repeating what you said."

"Dude, you are so into her." Pope grinned.

"What? No I'm not." JJ denied.

"Yes, yes you are. It's literally so obvious."

"You're delusional, bro."

"And you're in denial." John added.

JJ rolled his eyes. "You don't know what you're talking about."

Their conversation ended at that, but JJ didn't stop thinking about it. He'd known for a while now that he had feelings for Claire, and he tried to tell her yesterday but the timing was wrong. He knew he would have to wait for a better time, and he had hope that maybe Claire felt the same way. What it would mean for the future of their friendship, JJ didn't know, but he was willing to risk it for her.

Claire caught up to the girls and they made their way up to the porch.

"She must have a generator plugged into the main power supply." Sarah said.

They walked up the stairs quietly and approached the box. Kie opened it but they came up unsuccessful.

"Where are the breakers?" Sarah asked in disbelief.

"What is this?" Kie questioned.

Claire moved her torch up towards the ceiling. "Guys, it goes inside."

And so, the three girls made their way quietly and carefully inside, and Claire decided in that moment it was probably the scariest thing they'd done so far.

A cat screeched, making Claire jump and yelp quietly.

"Hey," Kie whispered, pointing to the ceiling and following the wires.

"Yeah." Sarah said.

They turned the corner and all three grinned when they found the breakers. Kie flicked the switches and the generators turned off.

"Okay, we should probably go." Claire whispered.

The other two nodded in agreement, but before any of them could make a move, a clock started to chime loudly and startled them. They gasped in fright, leaning back against the wall and hid.

"Shit." Sarah muttered.

The girls waited in complete silence, not daring to make any sudden movements, and when shuffling and thumping came from the staircase above them–Claire's pounding heart went into overdrive. Heavy breathing followed the thumping and they knew immediately who it was. Claire held back the tears that threatened to fall and instead she covered her mouth with her hand. She was too scared to look at Kie or Sarah, but didn't need to because she knew they were feeling the exact same as her.

"It's–its late, Leon." Mrs. Crain spoke. "Too late."
Her voice was horse and terrifying.

When the old woman walked past them, Claire held her breath.

"I can hear you, Leon." Mrs Crain said. "I've been waiting all night!"

She turned and the girls screamed at the horrific sight of Mrs Crain's incredibly white glass eyes.

"Go!" Kie screamed.

The girls ran into the parlour, panting, and Kie and Claire went through one door, while Sarah went through another.

"Leon!" Mrs Crain screeched in the distance.

The two girls came to a dead end however, and cursed when they saw their only exit had been boarded up.

"Fuck!" Claire said.

Kie started playing with the lock on the wooden door but Claire wasn't sure how that would help get them out considering it was boarded shut.

"Where are you, Leon? Huh?"

"Fuck, we're gonna die." Claire panted, and screamed as she turned and saw Mrs Crain coming towards them.

The old woman swung the fire poker at the two girls and missed as they quickly ducked out of the way. She continued to attack them, and continued to miss, and luckily Sarah came to the rescue just as the woman went to strike at Kiara again. Sarah grabbed the poker and threw it to the ground, then grabbed Kie's hand, and helped her up. Kie grabbed Claire's hand and Sarah dragged the girls out of there.

"Come on, this way!" She said.

They went back through the door and slammed it shut.

"Okay."

Their relief didn't last long as Mrs Crain struck her poker through the door and the wood smashed.

"Shit!"

The girls screamed and ran away from the door, following Sarah.

"This way! It goes underneath the house!" Sarah yelled, and they hurriedly made their way downstairs.

"Go, go, go!" Claire yelled.

"Guys!" Sarah called out.

"Guys!" Kie yelled.

"Woah, woah, what's going on?" Pope asked them.

"Mrs Crain! She's up there!" Kie said. "She tried to kill us with a fire poker."

"We locked her in the parlour." Sarah said. "But we gotta go."

"Okay, code red." JJ agreed.

"We have to go!"

"Hey, John B! Get back on, man!" JJ called out.

"JJ!" John B said. "Hold on, man, I'm coming!"

"Three, two, one, pull!" Pope instructed.

The group pulled the rope but it slipped and they fell backwards onto one another.

"Shit!"

"Where the hell is he?" Pope asked.

"John B!"

"Guys, shush!" Claire ordered.

"I found the gold!" John B yelled, but it was a muffled sound that they couldn't quite hear.

"What's he saying?"

"JJ, Pope, Kie, Claire!"

"Yo, he's drowning! We gotta pull him up!" Sarah exclaimed.

"Hey, John B! Get back on the rope. We're gonna pull you back up, okay, buddy?" Pope called out.

The five quickly got back in their positions and once John B alerted them he was back on the rope, they pulled it as hard as they could. Claire was last in the line so she had to use ten times more strength than the others.

She groaned. "Come on, guys!"

They pulled and pulled until suddenly a gunshot went off from right behind them and the girls screamed, letting the rope slip.

"Jesus!" JJ yelled.

Claire lost her footing and fell to the ground, but gripped the rope at the last second and grunted as she pulled it in towards her body.

"Pope, JJ, what the hell?" John B called.

"Climb up! Hang on!" JJ said.

"Tie it up now, man!" Pope groaned.

"Pope, hide!" JJ yelled.

The group hid out of the way in different spots.

"She can't aim for shit." Kie said.

"She can't see. She's blind." Sarah muttered.

Another shot went off and the girls made a run for it. Claire stumbled when she exited the house, and fell to the ground, screaming as an incredible amount of pain surged through her right leg. She shone her torch on her leg and saw that she'd in fact been shot by Mrs Crain. Her leg was bleeding and she could barely stand.

She heard JJ and Pope coming out of the house behind her so she tried her hardest to stand, but she couldn't.

"Claire, what are you doing?!" JJ asked, panicked. Pope ran ahead, too scared to even notice.

"The old hag shot me in the leg." She cried. "I can't walk, JJ."

"Fuck!" JJ exclaimed, then put one of Claire's arms around his shoulder and his spare arm around her waist, pulling her up to standing. "We gotta go, come on."

Claire winced with every step but she tried her hardest to walk quickly. When they approached the brick wall, she struggled to get over it but pushed through the pain and collapsed to the ground when she reached the other side, crying out in pain. JJ jumped over, helped her up and into the van.

"What happened?" Kie asked.

"Claire got shot in the leg." JJ said.

"Holy shit!" Pope exclaimed.

"Where is John B?!" Kie asked.

"Come on, start the car! Go!"

JJ jumped in the drivers seat and started the car. Claire winced as she moved slowly to sit at the back,  taking off her jacket and ripping her sleeve, tearing off enough material that she could easily wrap around her thigh to stop the bleeding.

Another gun shot went off.

"Why are we always getting shot at?!" Pope exclaimed.

"Come on! John B, run!" Kie called out as JJ drove off.

John B managed to catch up and Pope slammed the side door shut when he jumped inside. He was covered in mud and smelled like absolute shit.

"JJ, drive!" Sarah yelled.

JJ laughed. "Oh my God! Are you okay? Are you shot?"

"No!"

"Lucky you." Claire said.

"What?" John B furrowed his eyebrows, but then his eyes widened as he noticed the piece of material tied around her leg. "Holy shit! Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine." She breathed. "Turns out she's not such a bad shot after all."

"That bitch is possessed." Kie said.

"Dude, you look disgusting!" Pope said to John B.

"Yeah. God, you smell like ass!" Kie added.

"What the hell just happened?" Sarah breathed.

"All time Pogue Hall of Fame, baby." JJ said.

"What is that?" Kie asked. Claire saw what John B was holding and her eyes widened.

He had a single bar of pure gold in his hand.

"We did it, baby!" He exclaimed excitedly.

"No, you didn't!" Sarah grinned.

"I did it!"

"Oh, my God!" JJ yelled.

"I did it!" John B laughed victoriously.

The group screamed and cheered, Claire not as much as the others due to the pain, but she was still so excited that the mission was successful.

"Holy shit! Holy shit!" Kie grinned.

"That's gold!" JJ yelled, banging on the roof triumphantly.

"Wait, wait!" Kie screamed. "Guys, we're gonna be rich!"

"Full Kook." John B agreed.

"Like Kook rich!" Kie and Sarah said.

Then the six of them started chanting. "Full Kook! Full Kook! Full Kook! Full Kook!"

When it quieted down, Claire tried to focus and slow her heart rate, but the pain was becoming unbearable. She couldn't even move without bursting into tears, her body felt sweaty and clammy, and her leg was starting to go numb.

"Do does anyone know how to get a bullet out?" She asked.

"I can try." Sarah said. "JJ, hurry and get us to the Chateau."

"On it."

And with that, JJ sped up.

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All I can say is...oops? Don't hate me pls