Sshh, Be Quiet

The band had arrived at the house at nine-thirty in the morning. Matt placed their van in park and the five of them got out and looked at the house. Inside the iron fence, the grass was long and weedy, not having been cared for in years. Some windows were fully boarded up while others had a few random pieces of wood over them. Parts of the house had new siding, like somebody had began to fix the place up, but obviously didn't get very far.
“So, is the door even open?” Johnny asked as they approached the front porch. “What if we can't get inside?”

Matt looked around. “Umm...not sure.” His eyes wandered to an old porch light over his head and instinctively, he reached up and felt around. “Aha!” He exclaimed as his fingertips found a key. After a slight hesitation, he slid the key into the lock, but without even turning it, the door slowly creaked open. “Huh...that actually doesn't surprise me that much. Okay, Brian and Zack, you guys stay out here. We're going to scope things out inside.”

“Dude, how come you guys get to go in?” Zacky whined.

“Because, we’re special. Plus, who’s gonna greet the fans when they come?” Jimmy asked.
Zack rolled his eyes and looked back at Brian who casually leaned against the gate, staring down the street. He went up and playfully punched Brian, snapping him back into reality.

“Dude! What the hell!” Brian shouted.

“I was bored.”

“Zack, you’re a nutcase.”

“Blah blah blah. Oh look, a car!”“

No really? A car?” Brian was in the middle of making a smart-ass comment when the car came to a stop behind their van. “I take that back.”

They watched two girls get out of the car. Both close to the same height. One with short burgundy hair, black rimmed glasses, and wearing blue jeans and a black hoodie. The other had short dark brown hair, really short and bleached on the back, wearing blue jeans and a gray hoodie. Both seemed confused and nervous as they walked up to the other two men.

“Hi,” Zack said.

“Hi,” said the girl with the glasses. “So we’re in the right spot right?”

“Indeed, I recognize you two from the pictures,” Brian said. “I’m Brian,” he said, extending his hand first towards the girl with the shorter hair.

“And I’m Zack, if for some reason you guys had no idea who we are,” Zacky laughed, extending his hand towards the girl with the glasses.

“I’m Lisa,” said the girl wearing the glasses.

“I’m Stephanie, or Steph for short,” said the other girl.

“Nice to meet you both,” Brian said, extending his hand to Lisa as Zacky extended his to Steph.

“Back at you,” Lisa said, slightly choking on her words at the sight of the man she had an undeniable fan-girl crush on.

“So I take it you two are friends?” Zacky asked.

“Yes, best friends. I made her send a comment for this,” Lisa said, laughing.

“Well, that’s what friends are for,” Brian said, laughing slightly.

Lisa blushed a bit, before thinking about something else. “So, do we go in now? Or wait.”
“Umm, you can grab your bags and wait. I think some words need to be said before we all go in,” Brian said. “The others are inside scoping things out, and you two are the first to show up.”

The four of them waited and talked for a few minutes until two more cars pulled up within moments of each other. Out of one car came a girl with shoulder length brown hair, wearing blue jeans, and a ‘Green Day' t-shirt layered over a white long sleeved shirt. The other had longer brown hair, and was dressed in black skinny jeans with a black fitted 'Avenged Sevenfold' t-shirt. Introductions were exchanged. The one with the shorter hair was named Jenna, and the other girl named Emily. The six of them continued their conversation. At ten AM on the mark, another car pulled up, and a girl stepped out. She had shoulder length dirty blonde hair, holding a cell phone and an iPod. She walked up to the group.

“The haunted house thing, right?” she asked.

“Yep,” Brian said.

“Cool. I’m Korynn.”

The next round of introductions were made, then another conversation started for about ten minutes, until the three men came out of the house. That was followed by another round of introductions, then the five men stood by the door, looking at the five girls, standing on the sidewalk, suitcases sitting next to them. Matt stepped forward.

“Okay, so obviously you know that this is something different that Brian came up with. He thought we could’ve used more fan interaction, and he came up with this idea. Supposedly, paranormal researchers have gone in here to figure out the stories behind the place, but they never came back out. We’re going to prove them wrong. Now before we go in, this is your last chance to back out because once you go in, you‘re in…” he paused for any remark from one of the girls. “…No? Okay. Any questions?” he paused again, waiting for someone to speak up. “No? Okay, well we’ve checked it out, and it seems fine, so let’s go on in.”

The men went into the house, and the girls followed. Once inside, bags were set in the foyer for the time being. Matt led everyone into the living room, and once again stepped forward.

“We brought in food for the week, there should be more than enough. There are five bedrooms, each with furniture and stuff. The house has running water and all of that fun stuff. And to make sure you girls don’t sneak out-” he paused as a sly grin crept across his face as he held up five small pieces of paper. “-you’re going to draw a piece of paper out of this hat-” he reached and took the hat right off Brian‘s head, getting a dirty look from his friend. “-and draw a piece of paper out of it. Five pieces, our names on them. One of you will be rooming with one of us. Lisa, you arrived first, you draw first.” He held the hat towards her and she drew a piece of paper.