(no subject)

[proops.livejournal.com]

-Title: Halloween Homicides
-Author: call me Proops (for my name be Samantha Proops GUH LUCKY :-P )
-Rating: (R)
-Main Character(s): Ryan, Colin, Greg, Wayne, Chip, Brad, Drew
-Summary: The Gang is having a halloween party, but one by one they are picked off, who is the murderer?

NOTE: confused about the memories thing, SORRY!



“Hey Greg, thanks for inviting me." Colin smiled, stepping into Greg's house where a Halloween party would soon begin. "Where's everyone else?" Colin asked, puzzled, seeing that the house was fully decorated yet no one was there.

"Oh, don't worry," Greg replied, a slight gleam showing in his eye. "They'll be here soon." He then motioned for Colin to come over to the refreshments table, and pointed to six paper objects arranged in a circle towards the center of the table.

Curious, Colin picked one up. It was an origami giraffe. "Representing Ryan, no doubt," he commented with a chuckle. He eyed the rest of the figures. A monkey, that's Brad, a panther -- Wayne, a lemur for Chip, he silently ran through them all in his mind. With a frown, he realized that the dinosaur was missing and was about to point that out to Greg when the doorbell rang.

Greg said, "That's the rest of the gang. I'll be right back, feel free to help yourself to a drink or something." With that, he dashed off to the door.

Placing the giraffe back on the table, Colin picked up a glass and poured what appeared to be punch inside. Greg probably spiked it, he thought, rolling his eyes. He took a sip. It does taste unusual, he mused. In the foyer he could hear Greg greeting the others: Ryan, Drew, Wayne, Brad, and Chip. Surprisingly enough, Ryan had entered singing a Halloween hoedown, mocking Drew. It drifted into the living room:

"I have the most horrifying costume you've ever seen.
When the children see me they run away and scream.
When it comes to costumes, there is none more scary,
I put on stupid glasses and go out as Drew Carey!"

Colin laughed to himself, raising the glass to his lips to take another sip of the punch. Immediately his body stiffened. The glass fell from his hand. The liquid ran out and danced across the carpet, leaving a blood like stain. Colin slumped to the floor.

~ ~~ * ~~ ~

One by one, the other guests were shaking the rain off their umbrellas and tossing them in a pile by the door.

"Took you long enough to answer the door, ocelot boy," Brad said, attempting to execute a hurt look on his face.

"It's only rain," Greg told him in a monotone voice, glaring at Brad. "You'll survive."

"It was coming down like hell," Brad informed.

"Yeah," Drew commented, "but Prissyboy was afraid it'd mess up his hair.”

"Uh huh." Greg nodded in understanding. "That explains it. Anyway, guys, I've got the place all set up. You can go grab a snack in the living room, and then we can watch --" he pulled a movie out from behind his back, "-- Geppetto."

Everyone except Drew groaned.

"Oh, come on, Greg," Chip pleaded.

Wayne added, "Yeah, you can't be serious."

"Hey," Drew said brightly, "at least he has good taste!"

"In your eyes, yeah," Ryan muttered.

"Guys, I have a different one. I was just joking." Greg chuckled, and both Wayne and Chip sighed with relief. "I thought we could watch Tremors --"

"Yes," Brad said dramatically, pretending to look at a distant object. "An environmental documentary of California's greatest earthquakes."

Greg ignored him, continuing with the choice of videos. "Chucky, or The Exorcist.”

“Doesn’t make any difference to me,” Wayne said, shrugging his shoulders.

“Same here,” echoed Ryan.

"Listen, I'm going to go upstairs and get something before we start a movie." Greg said.

"Hey, Greg?" Ryan asked before he had a chance to leave.

"Yeah?"

"Is Col here already?"

Nodding, Greg said, "He should be in the living room."

Wayne quickly rushed up to Greg, tugging at the belt on his pants. "Mind if I use your rest room?"

"No problem," Greg told him, noticing that Wayne had already started following him before he had given an answer.

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang was content rummaging through Greg's refrigerator, even though there was a snack table in the living room.

"I'm sure this stuff is better than what he's got out there," Ryan grinned, pulling out a handful of items.

"Probably," Chip agreed. Then he furrowed his brow. "Why haven't we seen Colin yet? I thought he was already here."

"Greg said he was in the living room. Maybe he started a movie without us." Drew's voice was muffled as he spoke through a mouthful of food.

"So go in there and look," Brad suggested. "And someone should go see what's taking Greg so long, and Wayne, too. They've been gone forever." He proceeded to head towards the stairway while everyone else went to greet Colin. As Brad rounded the corner, he saw Wayne lying on his side at the bottom of the stairway, his eyes closed. "Hey, Wayne? What the hell are you doing?" It was then that he noticed a vivid red gash running down the side of Wayne's face. A sudden movement at the top of the stairs caught his attention, and he saw Greg clutching a pair of scissors with blood on the ends. "Oh my God..." Brad screamed like a woman and fled the scene.

~ ~~ * ~~ ~

From his place in the living room, Ryan screamed, "What happened to Colin?!" He spun around to face Drew, and smacked right into Brad, who was in hysterics.

"Ryan! It's Greg...scissors...Wayne...dead, and there was blood...Do something!!!" Brad's face was very pale, and his eyes very wide. "I don't want to die!!"

For a moment Ryan stared at him blankly, before the words Brad had spoken clicked in his mind. "Wayne's dead? What?"

"Then that means we have two dead bodies in the house," Chip wailed.

"Two?" Brad echoed, his face turning a shade paler.

With a trembling finger, Drew pointed to Colin's body on the floor, and Brad swayed slightly.

There was a crashing sound in the hallway as Greg stumbled to the living room, still clutching the pair of scissors.

The others backed away from him slowly, while Greg looked on in confusion. Drew was the first to speak. "Greg.....What did you do?"

Greg held up the pair of scissors, and everyone visibly flinched. "I, uh, I cut... I cut myself. With the scissors." An eerie silence before he spoke again, "What's that on the floor...?"

Ryan glared daggers at Greg, though he still appeared afraid. "Like you don't know. What on earth did you do? And why? Why Colin, Greg? Why??"

It was the first time Greg had seen Colin since he had come to his house for the 'party.' He lay in an awkward position on the floor, with dried blood around his head. Greg felt the urge to vomit, but fought it back. What happened to him? I showed him the refreshments, the doorbell rang, and I told him to help himself to the food and drinks, Greg thought, trying to remain calm. But why do they think I did it? He numbly looked down at the pair of scissors in his hand. Uh oh … … … “Guys," he began, "I didn't do anything. You have to believe me." The scissors dropped to the floor as he loosened his grip.

Drew frantically reached for something to fling at Greg to keep him away. His hands closed around a baseball cap on the table. "I'll use this if I have to, Greg," he said defiantly. "You stay away from me." Placing the cap on his head, he slowly walked backwards, edging his way into the kitchen where he would be away from Greg.

"Drew, wait a minute!" Chip called, following him.

Eying Greg cautiously, Ryan turned and quickly ran into the kitchen, joining Chip and Drew.

Brad and Greg were left alone, with the exception of Colin lying dead on the floor. The two men gazed at each other, not saying a word, too frightened to do anything. Finally, Brad tore his gaze away from Greg and glanced at the center of the refreshments table, seeing the origami figures for the first time. There was a giraffe, an ocelot, a monkey, a black panther, and a lemur. He noticed that both the dinosaur and the golden retriever were missing, but before he had the chance to comprehend what it meant, an earsplitting scream tore through the night.

~ ~~ * ~~ ~

"Oh, bloody hell," a figure in the shadows of the living room muttered, as someone screamed in the kitchen. He had taken away the golden retriever too soon; it wasn't time yet. Instead, he had taken the wrong figure. Why hadn't he taken the black panther? How could he have been so careless? This event had only begun, and already he had made a flaw in his plan. "But not a soul will notice," he assured himself, carefully placing the origami retriever back in its place, and picking up the panther. "Not until it's too late." Making one last decision, he quickly took possession of the lemur. And if all went according to plan, Brad wouldn't give much thought to the missing figures, and he would soon be able to finish each of them off, one by one...

"What? What is it?" Brad dashed into the kitchen.

"What happened to Wayne?" Chip asked in a rush, being able to see Wayne's body from his position in the kitchen.

"I told you...I saw him like that when I went to see what was taking so long."

Drew looked at the people in the kitchen, noticing Greg wasn't among them. "Did Greg kill him, too?"

Brad spoke in a low voice. "I think he did. Did you see him with the scissors? And just look at that gash on Wayne's face..." He shuddered. "Awful... What are we going to do now? I mean, if Greg really killed them. We have to get out of here."

Ryan shook his head, rejecting the idea. "Have you looked outside, Brad? There's no way we'd be able to go anywhere." He pointed to the windows above the sink. The rain that had begun earlier was now coming down in torrents. Powerful wind gusts slammed into the sides of the house as well as any other available object. Every few seconds forks of lightning would split through the dark sky and dance across the horizon, the ghastly light seeping into the house to illuminate the terror on each individual's face. "As much as I hate to say it, we may be safer in here."

At that moment the front door of the house blew open and the door slammed into the wall, knocking over a vase of flowers perched on the edge of the coat rack. The vase fell to the ground and shattered instantly.

"Someone should go get that," Chip said nervously. When no one volunteered, he drew in a breath, saying, "Fine, I'll go."

"I'm coming with you," Ryan told him. "For safety. Better to go two by to." He shrugged his shoulders, unable to explain more thoroughly. "In case of Greg." The others nodded in understanding while Ryan and Chip journeyed to the foyer, furnishing each other with suspicious looks along the way.

"So, Drew," Brad began slowly, "what are your thoughts on this? Do you really think it was Greg? Because I do. This is just disturbing. And how come he just disappeared? Where did he go?"

Drew fidgeted uneasily with the baseball cap on his head. "To answer all your questions, I honestly don't know. I thought this was supposed to be a simple Halloween bash, and now we've got two dead bodies in the house."

"Make that three," Ryan said grimly, now standing in the doorframe of the kitchen.

Brad and Drew jerked in surprise. "What?" They said in unison.

"Chip's dead," was Ryan's simple answer. For a full minute nobody spoke -- Brad and Drew were too busy staring at Ryan, now thinking he was the murderer, while Ryan waited for them to speak.

"Three?" Drew asked, dazed. "What did you do to him?"

The question caught Ryan off guard. "No, Drew, it's not like that," he protested. "You see, before I actually went to the foyer with Chip, something about the stairway caught my attention." He turned to Brad. "That's where you said Wayne was, right?"

His mind all fuzzy, Brad honestly couldn't remember. "Uh, I don't know... But I did tell you he was dead, and Chip saw him there, too, so that's basic evidence. Right?"

"That's what I thought," said Ryan, slowly nodding his head. "But when I passed the stairway, Wayne wasn't there. It was Colin. Somebody moved the dead bodies, and my best guess is Greg. So by the time I got to the foyer, I saw Chip dead. Where is Greg, anyway? Have you guys seen him yet?"

From his place, hidden under the kitchen table, Greg asked innocently, "Seen who?"

"Oh!" Ryan shouted. "Good lord, Greg.....how long have you been there?"

"Long enough," he replied, scooting out and wiping the dust off his pants. "You all think I did it. Why?"

"You were the only one here when Colin was murdered. And you were with Wayne before he was killed. Greg, we all saw you with the scissors. You can't deny that." Brad spoke forcefully and with venom.

"Dang-it, Brad, I told you, I told everyone, I cut myself with the scissors." Greg held up his left hand. "Don't you see the Band-Aid? I don't know what happened to Wayne, nor to Colin!"

"Ryan," Drew said, trying to ignore Greg, "why don't you show us Chip's body? Are you sure he's really dead?"

"Yeah, unfortunately, I am sure," Ryan replied, leading everyone to the foyer, with Greg following close behind. As he passed the stairway, he did a double take -- Wayne's body was there, like it should have been. Perhaps he had been hallucinating when he thought he saw Colin. No one said anything about it, so neither did he. "There, see?" he asked, pointing to Chip's lifeless body upon arrival. Broken glass circled around the top of his head, appearing as a shattered halo. And just like on Wayne, there was a large and bloody gash running down Chip's face. The scissors Greg had dropped earlier lay in his hands, the ends bent and twisted.

"Did he kill himself?" Brad asked, confused.

Ryan shrugged. "I don't know. But what I do know is that there's a murderer in this house --" his voice dropped a pitch, his eyes turning dark and suspicious, "--and it could easily be any one of us."

~ ~~ * ~~ ~

"Well if there's truly a murderer,” began Greg, "we should all stick together."

"Spoken like a guilty man," Drew spat out. "If we stick together, you'll kill all three of us. Just like you killed Colin, Wayne, and Chip!"

Sadly, Greg shook his head. "You're really convinced it's me, aren't you? Tell me this, Drew: how could I have possibly killed Chip when I was in the kitchen with you and Brad the whole time, hiding under the table?"

Brad inquired, "Why were you hiding?"

"That doesn't matter," Greg said. "You two seem to be forgetting that Ryan was with Chip when he was murdered. Why must you believe it was me, when I wasn't even there?"

"That's not how it happened," Ryan protested, disturbed by Greg's calm manner. "I saw Colin's body on the stairs, instead of Wayne's, and by the time I got back to Chip he was dead."

"I'm sorry, Ryan, but you have to admit, you were with him. Who else could have done it?" Drew looked at him expectantly.

Before Ryan had his chance to speak, Brad announced, "I'm calling the cops. This is hell." Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket he pressed the 'ON' button, and was greeted by the 'NO SERVICE' message. He hurled the phone across the room. "This is just fantastic; I'm stuck here with a killer." Right then he seemed to lose it, and started screaming again. "I don't want to die! I don't want to be killed! One of you guys is going to kill me, I just know it, but I don't want to be next!" He stopped speaking when he saw a fist move toward his face, almost in slow motion, and then there was only blackness as he fell to the floor.

Drew looked somewhat apologetic. "We had to shut him up somehow, didn't we?" He proceeded to drag Brad's body down the hall and to the den, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Ryan and Greg followed. "We should stay here the rest of the night, and call the cops in the morning."

"That's ridiculous, Drew," Ryan said with disapproval. "In the morning? Call them now."

"Well, uh, I already tried that earlier. The phone line was dead," he explained. "And obviously Brad's phone doesn't work... So for now, we're screwed." He dropped Brad's body in the middle of the room, and then sat down in a corner, with Greg and Ryan sitting at opposite sides. They all glared at each other evilly.

"Um...Greg?" Ryan asked, his voice unusually high.

"What do you want?" Greg's eyes were tired and drawn, and it appeared like he could explode any minute, just as Brad had done.

Ryan cast his eyes down at the floor. "Do you have any, uh, weapons in your house?"

Exhaling sharply, Greg said, "I didn't do anything to them."

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Brad began to stir. "What the..." he mumbled, feeling a dull achy sensation pound in his head. Am I in hell? He wondered. His vision was slightly fuzzy and he wasn't sure where he was, but when his sight returned to the norm, he noticed Drew, Greg, and Ryan each sitting in opposite corners of the room. "What's going on?" he asked dumbly. "Was I asleep or something?"

Drew fidgeted with the baseball cap. "Kind of..."

"What do you mean, kind of?" Brad wanted to know.

When Drew didn't volunteer any further information, Greg said, "He knocked you out."

Brad looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"You were being a jerk," said Greg. "So he knocked you out."

"Oh. Well, excuse me," was Brad's reply.

The moments where no one spoke seemed to drone on endlessly, until Drew jumped up, proclaiming, "I have to pee." He was about to walk out of the room, when Ryan stopped him.

"Hold it, Drew," Ryan said.

He turned. "Huh?"

"Two by two. If there's a murderer in this house... Assuming it's not one of us, I mean, it would be better for someone to go with you." Ryan nodded to Brad. "You go."

"Me?" Brad asked incredulously. "Why not you? Do--"

Ryan interrupted, "Would you like to stay here with Greg?"

Brad quickly scrambled up to his feet. "Hell no!" Casting an unusual look at Greg, Brad slowly stepped out of the den, following at Drew's heels.

Greg mumbled, "Thanks, buddy."

"Had he stayed with you, he would have flipped out again. You know that," Ryan told him. "He thinks you're the killer." He edged away, further from Greg. "And so do I!"

Brad sighed, leaning against the wall outside the bathroom as he waited for Drew. At that moment he heard a peculiar noise coming from the opposite side of the house. He started to walk in its general direction, and then stopped, looking back at the bathroom door. He shrugged. "Drew can wait."

As he tip-toed down the hallway, he peered into each of the rooms, looking for anything out of the ordinary. When he made his way past the den, he saw Ryan, whose head was resting awkwardly on his shoulder. Brad assumed he was asleep, and continued down the hall, not bothering to see if Greg was there. After a moment, he wound up in the living room. He realized that the noise he had heard was caused by the picture that had hung above the couch -- it had crashed to the ground, and the broken shards of glass seemed to form an arrow pointing towards Colin's body on the floor. Brad knelt down, peering closely, and he could have sworn that his Canadian friend was smiling, though the body remained lifeless. He was so startled that he turned to run back to where Drew was, stepping on Colin's hand in the process.

Vaguely, he heard someone yell, "Ow!" but figured it was himself, as he slammed his shin into the table. In his rush back to Drew, Brad saw Chip in the foyer, only his body was in a different position, as if someone had moved him. Then he passed the stairway, where Wayne lay, though his eyes were wide open and seemed to stare at Brad, frozen in terror. He shuddered, now nearing the bathroom door.

"Hey, Drew?" he called anxiously. When there was no reply, Brad pushed open the door, asking, "Are you done yet?" He was greeted by the sight of blood for the fourth time that night. Drew was slumped against the far wall, blood trickling down his face and splashing in little droplets on the floor. The baseball cap on his head had been knocked askew, and it looked like an arrow had been shot through his head. Brad felt nauseous as he looked at Drew; the arrow went in through one side of his head and out the other.

If the murderer was indeed one of them, then another had been proven innocent -- too late.

~ ~~ * ~~ ~

Greg yawned, lazily moving to a standing position. Ryan looked as if he was asleep, so Greg decided he was going to grab something from the kitchen. As he moved to the door, Ryan asked, "Where are you going, Greg?"

Surprised, Greg whirled around. "Why should you care? Maybe I'm hungry." With that, he bolted out of the room, ignoring any other comments that were shouted from the den. "So much for his two by two method," he said, smirking. Slinking through the shadows in the house, he made his way into the kitchen where he proceeded to pull a loaf of bread, a jar of mayonnaise, and lettuce out of the refrigerator, setting them on the counter. Right then he felt the eerie sensation of being watched. He turned around slowly, and saw no one. It was probably my imagination, he thought, going back to preparing his food. He opened one of the drawers to his left and pulled out a knife, setting it alongside of the other items. As he turned around to retrieve one last item from the refrigerator, the feeling that he was being watched crept over him with icy fingers once more. He turned, and just as he suspected, saw no one. But the knife on the counter had vanished.

Brad grabbed the doorframe to steady himself. What was he going to do? There were four dead bodies in the house, not to mention a cold-blooded killer as well. How could he get out? He couldn't call the police, as he found out from a previous experience, and he couldn't just run off into the night; he'd get lost in the rain and then he'd probably catch pneumonia. For a good five minutes he just stood there, lost in his thoughts, when he focused his eyes back on Drew. It was not a pleasant sight, and he felt like screaming all over again. Running his fingers through his hair, he sprinted back towards the den. "Greg! Ryan!" he shouted.

Greg looked up at Brad bleakly as he entered the room.

"Oh, man, Greg," Brad said, stumbling over his words. "Drew was shot." He hit the side of his head repetitively with his pointer finger, trying to get out the right word. "Arrow," he finally managed to get out. "With an arrow."

Greg said nothing.

"You have a bow and arrow set," Brad immediately realized. "Hanging above the front door." He was about to see if any of the arrows were missing, when he realized that Greg hadn't spoke, and had just sat there with a sickly look on his face, staring. Ryan had not said a word, either. "What's going on?" He glanced at Ryan, who was huddled in the corner. There was something odd protruding from his gut. It appeared to be a fairly large knife.

Greg chose that moment to speak. "Ryan was stabbed. While you and Drew were gone, I went to the kitchen to get something to eat... I left him in here alone. When I came back," he motioned to the body, "he was like this."

Brad questioned, "No scream?"

"Nada," replied Greg.

"Isn't this great?" Brad asked, with obvious sarcasm.

"You think I murdered him. Like the others."

"If you were the only one with him, how could I not?"

"Not when he was stabbed," Greg argued. "I was in the kitchen, and you don't have proof that I did it. But I guess that makes us both murderers then, doesn't it?" he finished darkly.

"What?"

Greg glared at him. "Don't play idiot with me. You went with Drew. Who else would it have been?"

It was then that Brad remembered how he thought he'd seen Colin smiling, how he'd seemed almost...alive. "Greg," he said slowly, carefully thinking through what he should do, "I need you to take a look at Drew. See if the arrow belongs in your set... Or something."

"Whatever," Greg replied indifferently, standing up and waiting for Brad to lead the way. He briefly closed his eyes before exiting the room, not wanting to look at any more dead bodies. In an instant his eyes were open again, and he was standing in the doorway of the bathroom, greeted by Drew's dead body. This is fantastic, he thought sarcastically.

"Well?" asked Brad as he moved out of the way.

"Well what?"

Brad gave him yet another strange look. "Is that yours?"

"The arrow?" Greg widened his eyes, as if it was the most absurd question he'd heard. "Oh, um, no. It's not. I've never seen in before." In fact, he thought, peering closely, it almost looks fake... Something was definitely not right. Turning around, he saw that Brad was gone. "Brad?" he called out. "Where are you?"

"Over here," Brad called back, "by the staircase. Something screwy is going on."

Greg left the bathroom, walking the rest of the hallway's length to where Brad was. "What's the matter?"

"Where the heck did Wayne's body go?"

Dumbly staring at the place on the stairs where Wayne's body had previously been, Greg said, "I...I have no idea..." His voice trailed off as he heard a noise from the living room.

"Is something wrong?" Brad waved a hand in front of Greg's face. "Greg?"

"I heard something from the living room."

"What was it?"

"Why don't we find out?" he replied simply, casting a hasty glance at the staircase before walking briskly towards the living room, with Brad lagging behind. As they passed the foyer, Brad said, "Chip. He's gone. What the hell happened? Why isn't he there? Where did he go?"

Greg shook his head, deciding not look. He cautiously walked into the living room, and heard something on the couch snicker. "Unless that was Brad," he mumbled.

"Huh?"

"Never mind." Greg walked around to the other side of the couch. Five dead bodies -- Ryan, Chip, Drew, Wayne, and Colin -- sat side by side on the deep blue cushions.
Brad, who was standing a few feet away, didn't know what to make of the situation. "How did they get there? This is like some sick and twisted game of Dead Bodies..." He stopped abruptly, realization dawning on his face. "Oh, hell." The truth hit him hard, and it hit him quickly, like the sharp blow he had received from Drew earlier in the evening.

Greg was about to question Brad about what he had been talking about, when in one fluid motion, Ryan bolted up from the couch with a blood curling scream. He ripped the knife out of his stomach, and stabbed it into Greg's chest.

Greg didn't even have time to scream in fear.

~ ~~ * ~~ ~

Greg stood motionless, numb with terror, as Ryan's body suddenly sprang to life. He watched in slow motion as Ryan tore the knife from his gut, the cool metal blade dripping with blood, and raised his arm, preparing to stab his victim. Greg braced himself, watching as the blade moved closer and closer. He squeezed his eyes shut right before the knife touched him, afraid to watch, silently waiting for it to pierce through his skin. His heart beat furiously, the dull thumping echoing in his mind. Ryan stabbed the knife right into Greg's left shoulder...and the blade bent upon impact. At first he thought it had gone all the way through, and that he was going to die, when he heard the others on the couch laughing.

"Wh… … How?" Greg was at a loss for words. He stared at the bodies on the couch with wide eyes, then at the 'knife' in Ryan's hand.

"Trick-or-treat!" Wayne yelled gleefully, between peals of laughter. He removed the rubber wound from his face and pulled the bottle of fake blood out of his pocket, hurling both objects at Brad.

Drew was busy wiping the tears from his eyes as he removed the baseball cap. Underneath was a tiny and thin strip of metal wire that had been hidden by the cap, which connected both ends of the arrow. "Oh my God," he gasped. "That was the funniest thing." His shoulders shook with silent laughter.

Slapping Greg on the shoulder, Ryan said, "You should have seen the look on your face when I was about to stab you." He grinned. "Definitely a Kodak moment."

Brad's feelings of fear and confusion slowly dissolved, replaced by the slowly boiling anger. "You mean this was all a joke? You tricked us into believing that there was a mass murderer in the house?" He placed his hands on his hips, shaking his head. "Oh, man. A joke. I can't believe any of you!" He appeared as though he was about to punch someone, when he asked meekly, "Hey, Ry? How'd you do that thing with the knife?"

Ryan held the knife out to Brad, flexing the blade back and forth. "It's plastic. I bent it and stuck it through my belt. You guys thought I was dead." He was still grinning.

"Well answer Brad's other question," Greg stammered. "This was a trick?"

Ryan nodded and pointed to Colin, who gave a little bow. "His idea. He was the mastermind behind this."

"Oh," said Colin, "you might have a stain on the floor here. It's from your punch. Sorry about that, but I didn't know what else to use." He shrugged. "But you thought it was blood, and that's all that matters!"

"Wait a minute," Brad said. "There's still something I don't get. What about the origami figures? Did they have some sort of hidden meaning?"

Chip tossed his origami lemur at Brad. "We each took ours before we supposedly died," he explained.

"I actually had told Greg to make those, and that's how I got my idea for everything. But since he had forgotten to make the dinosaur," Colin attempted to place a hurt look on his face, "I had to be the first to go."

Brad shook his head in disgust. "Man, you guys suck. I can not believe you did that to us."

"Believe it," Wayne replied.

"Yeah," added Drew, "we were just getting into the Halloween spirit. Can't you guys take a joke?"

Greg mumbled, "Obviously not one like this."

"You really had us going." Brad sighed. "For crying out loud."

"Well then," said Ryan, "why not go celebrate?"

"Celebrate what?" Greg asked, raising his eyebrows. "Our stupidity for not figuring this out sooner?"

"Nah," Ryan replied. "Just for Halloween." Then he looked guilty. "Fine, to celebrate your stupidity. There, are you happy? I admitted it."

"Yeah, I'm ecstatic," Greg said sarcastically, leading the group to the foyer. He was about to hand everyone their umbrellas when he looked out the window. "Oh," he commented. "It stopped raining."

"But," Colin joined in, "it was still a dark and stormy night." He pushed past Greg, opening the door and walking outside where the others followed.

From the second floor of the house, he watched through the window as each guest filed outside to the parked car on the side of the street. Slowly, he picked up an origami figure, twirling it between his fingers. "It looks like they figured out my game before I had time to play the last card.” He lined up the rest of the origami figures on the windowsill, starting with the dinosaur and ending with the giraffe. "That was almost entirely wonderful, but completely disgusting." A few more incoherent words were mumbled before a "minus twenty-three points" was heard.

"Hey, Brad?" Greg called softly as they reached Drew's car at the edge of the street.
"Yeah?"

Greg smiled evilly. "You scream like a woman."

Brad was about to protest when Wayne stopped him, pointing up to a window on the second floor of Greg's house. Wayne asked in wonder, "What on earth is that?"

"Great googily-moogily," whispered Greg, as the others looked on in awe.

A disturbing voice with a clipped British accent boomed out loudly, "Do you have murder in America?"

"No way," Colin said, dumbfounded.

Ryan asked, "Is that ---"

But before he could finish, there was a loud clap of thunder as the rain began to fall anew. And the mysterious man in the window vanished.

-- The End --

Comments

[leatharegee.livejournal.com]

Oooh very creepy ending. I like it! Honestly, I was so glad it was all a joke - I enjoy angsty death fics, but this wasn't really one at all, so I was so happy when it turned out to be a scam. Loved Greg and Brad's reactions - priceless! Thanks for posting - it's great to see that people are actually going to use this community. :D

To add your entry to memories click on the heart icon at the top of the entry (if you're behind a cut or posting a comment) or the heart icon next to the 'leave a comment' link on the main journal page - if you hover your mouse over it it should say 'add to memories' or something along those lines. For the memories page under description type in the title of your fic or the title of your challenge (make sure it's the same as the title you gave your challenge/fic in the journal) and then under keywords type in words that will help people who have perhaps read your fic a while back and are looking for it or people who are looking for a certain character find your fic and/or challenge. For example, my challenge was a Colin/Ryan fic, it would take place on the set of DCS, and then I added my name, because I posted the challenge. So my keywords were: COLIN/RYAN, DCSL (because it was DCS Live), Leatharegee, and Challenge.

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-leatharegee-

[clayangel.livejournal.com]

That was fun. ^_^

[sess-satan.livejournal.com]

I adored that.
That unfolded like a true horror story, with some great clues thrown in; I was hooked for the entire time. The drama was well illustrated and the pace was...well, perfect. The dialogue seemed natural and in character, and the occasional throwbacks to WL were lovely!
It maybe could have done with more of an explanation as to why Greg and Brad were picked out at the end, but that's a small quibble in an otherwise fantastic piece of work :)
.x.Sess.x.

[ally-pops.livejournal.com]

Bahaha you had me going there!! I was rather scared to be honest, and now isn't probably the best time to read it... just before bed :P
Loved the "kodak" line by Ryan, cracks me up every time!
Glad it was a joke, it was very fun, not slashy at all and sometimes we need something new!!

who was that person at the end??
pleeaaseee tell ??
I have an idea but not sure
*grins stupidly*
thanks!! :)