No Entry

The rest of the afternoon flied by and soon the girls found themselves at the start of the drive way, waiting for the boys to arrive. Abby, wearing her usual cargoes and plain T-shirt, was finding a place to watch for the boys. Tara was wearing ordinary jeans and fiddling with her plait. Madeline was feeling very self conscious dressed in her ragged Jeans and worn out jacket.

“This is so heavy.” Tara moaned, putting her large back pack over her shoulder. She made an exhausted sound and let it drop to the ground. For the third time.

“What have you got in their.” Madeline asked amused.

“The necessary items.” She replied opening her bag to reveal an assortment of items. She was determined to not make her mood weigh down this evening.

“A Hair dryer.” Madeline said.

“Your point” Asked Tara

“Why do you need a” Madeline began but gave up.

“You might find that these objects become very handy”

“It’s just on night” Abby told her

“Yeah but who knows what might happen in one night” Tara replied

“True” Madeline added

“Here they come.” Abby called out as she climbed down from the tree she had been sitting in.

“Hello ladies” The boys called, and Abby smiled back to show she wasn’t scared. Madeline waved lightly, and Tara blew them a kiss.

“Here is where we leave you.” Jonathan said patting Nathan on the back. He looked at them with a stern expression but Madeline noticed that his eyes spelled panic.

“Good night ladies.” Jonathan called out as the four headed up the path.

“Not scared are you.” Nathan asked.

“No why.” Abby replied

“Yeah right.” He muttered

“Look who is talking.” She said

“What is that suppose to mean.”

“Nothing.”

“Tell me.”

“No”

“Yes”

“Where here.” Said Tara shivering as they stopped bickering and looked at the big iron gates. Attached to them was a No Entry sign. Nathan pulled it open as they all stepped inside.

“Wasn’t a body found in here?” Tara asked as they made there way up the hill.

“Yeah so let’s go.” Abby replied putting an arm around a very frightened Madeline and leading them across the dead grass. It was really weird. The grass had moss all over it and was slimy. Tara kept moaning about being hungry as Madeline kept looking nervously up at the house. Abby felt sorry for Madeline. Tara usually just whined for attention and she knew that she wasn’t really scared, but she could tell that Madeline was really dreading it. Suddenly a huge gush of wind swept through. They all shivered and hunted through their back packs for jackets. The sun was still just shinning but they all felt suddenly very cold. A few more steps and the ground started to tremble slightly. Tara cried, Abby grabbed hold of Nathan to straighten herself and Madeline fell to her knees.

“Ok let’s go home” Tara said turning around. Abby hurriedly let go of Nathan and grabbed Tara.

“Not yet” she told her and Tara looked at her friend and nodded. Nathan awkwardly helped Madeline up. As soon as she was standing she let go off his hand, as if she had just been electrocuted.

“That was creepy” He said, a bit taken aback. He knew that Madeline was incredibly shy. But he still felt awkward.

“I agree” Tara replied

“You don’t think that maybe the house is haunted do you” Madeline asked.

“Of course not, that sort of stuff is fiction” Abby told her

“Fiction” enquired Tara

“Not real” Abby moaned

“Oh ok”

“I thought you believed in that sort of thing” Tara asked

“I find it interesting, that doesn’t mean I believe it. Nothing has ever been proven” Tara nodded, although she didn’t quite believe her.

“Shall we continue” Nathan called and the others nodded.

“Since when do we listen to you” Abby demanded

“Well your friends seem to” He replied smirking

“What, does that make you feel superior?”

“Nope, but it makes me happy to know that there not always under your control” He said and Abby turned around to stare at him. “What the hell is that suppose to mean”

“Well it’s kind of obvious” He told her

“Well not to me” She argued

“Nor me” Tara added

“See” Nathan shouted, pointing to a rather confused Tara

“See what” Abby demanded, still eyeing Nathan with extreme dislike.

“They copy you like sheep, and you you”

“I what”

“You allow it” He cried “Face it, you like being in control”

“I do not control my friends” She said outraged

“You do so”

“I do not; I don’t demand that they follow my every order. They have minds to. Your just insulting their intelligence”

“Will you two cut it out, please” Tara shouted.

“Do you hear what he said” Abby told her

“Yes, but this isn’t the place to argue about it”

“And when will it be” Nathan asked her

“Please, can we just get inside” Madeline replied, and the others all stared at her. She was shivering slightly, and they noticed that they all were covered in goose bumps.

“Come on” Tara said as they followed her across the lawn. They continued to walk in silence until they reached a stream. It was quite wide, and ran far beyond their eye sight on both sides. It was common in fancy lawns these days, especially in grand houses like this, except that instead of being blue, the water was a thick, gooey green.

“I am not touching that.” Tara said. Abby touched the lake with her foot and it immediately started pulling her in. Tara and Madeline grabbed her to stop her loosing her balance. Madeline was now looking extremely pale. Nathan let out a hoarse laugh to try to get rid of his nerves. It echoed strangely around the eerie night. Then they heard a faint laughter break the silence. It was coming from the house. For a brief moment they stood shocked until it slowly died away and Abby shook her head.

“So how to get across”

“What was that” Tara demanded

“Nothing, now back to the stream”

“What about it” Nathan said

“Well we can’t swim.” She told them.

“Well” Madeline began but Nathan cut in front of her. “What do we do then?” He asked.

“I don’t know” snapped Abby. Madeline started looking around. There had to be a bridge somewhere, that would have been how they got the car down and up the drive way.

“Turn back” suggested Tara

“Go around the back way” Nathan muttered

“Find another entry” continued Abby

“Try to build a raft” added Tara

“We could cross the bridge.” Madeline suggested. They all looked at each other and then to the stone bridge, coming off from the dusty driveway. It was a dull grey with pieces cracked and holes which indicated where store was meant to be. It looked ancient, but still stable.

“Um ok, that wasn’t there before” Tara said, trying to look certain.

“We must have missed it” Abby told her, although in her mind she doubted it.

“Yeah,” Nathan added “Bridges don’t just turn out of nowhere”

“I don’t like this” Tara muttered to herself. She could see that Madeline was thinking along the same lines, but still she followed the others to the start of the bridge.

“I think it will hold us” Nathan declared

“You think” Began Abby, but Tara stopped her. “Please don’t, let’s just cross it” They all hesitated before Nathan stepped on and started across it, followed closely by Abby. Tara rushed after her friend and last but not least Madeline, who had waited till her friends were at least a quarter way along to make sure it, was stable. However she had only taken a couple of steps when the bridge made a weird noise.

“What was that” She cried

“Probably just a” Nathan began but he didn’t get to finish because at that moment the bridge started to break, and cave in.

“Run” Abby shouted, as they all bolted to the other end. Three of them managed to make it just in time, Madeline however just missed it. The others watched horrified as she landed, feet away from the bank, into the green water which instantly began to pull her in.