I walked up to the house, but I didn’t know what was coming next. I looked back at the crowd standing behind me and sighed. My friends and I were about to enter the haunted house, the “Basement of the Dead.”

My friends and I had been dared by the whole class to enter the house. My friends were Ryan, Bryan, Dash, and Dawn. Ryan and Bryan were twins, as were Dash and Dawn. I, on the other hand, was an only child. I am now anyway…

I shook off that thought and went to another horrifying one. My friends and I were about to enter the most feared, and somehow loved, haunted house. I felt the hand of doom grab my shoulder. Actually, it was just Dawn.

“You scared?” she asked nervously.  “The boys definitely aren’t.” She waved toward them with a shaky hand. Ryan, Bryan, and Dash looked as if they were about to enter the coolest party in town. If you searched the meanings of their names, you’d know why. They all mean “brave” or “adventurous.”

“They certainly are living up to their names,” I said flatly.

My name is Zelda. I like to fight, but usually, I’m very kind.  I’m not so sure about haunted houses though. I have caramel hair and emerald-green eyes. My hair is long and wavy, but I usually keep it in a braid that goes down to the top of my knees. I was wearing a red tank top with a brown leather jacket and jeans.

Dawn had just-below-shoulder-length blonde hair in a ponytail. She had sky-blue eyes, matching her shirt. It read, “This girl is gonna change the world.” She wore lime-green shorts.

Dash had shaggy blonde hair and self-conscious blue eyes. He wore an army-green shirt and matching pants. He tapped his foot up and down on the rotten deck impatiently.

Ryan and Bryan both had red curls and the same kind but dangerous brown eyes. They wore dark blue shirts, on which read a lazy to-do list with a Minecraft character.  Both had orange jean shorts. The only difference between them that you could tell was that Ryan was a lot jumpier and immature. He bounced up and down on a torn up chair and laughed.

“Zelda!!!” Dash called.  

I straightened, realizing I was zoning out.  

“We’re going in now!”  

I scrambled to the end of the deck and threw my backpack on. “Coming!” I yelled back. I sprinted toward my friends, toward the beaten up door.

“Okay, all of us need to push on this door together, or the hunk of junk won’t ever move,” Ryan said. So we did. After about what seemed like 20 minutes, the door creaked under our weight. Then, there was a groan. Finally, the door burst open, and a cheer went up from our classmates.

The boys high-fived each other. Dawn shivered nervously, while I stood, fists clenched, staring into the dusty house. It was just like you would expect a huge haunted house to look like. The dust, the old smell, the cavern-like ceiling, and that once-grand-but-now-gross furniture. Although, there was something different about this house. It felt… good.

I shuddered.  

“Why is this called the ‘Basement of the Dead’ anyways? From what I’m seeing, there is no basement!” Bryan exclaimed. We all thought about that for a moment.  

“Good,” Dawn squeaked.  

We were soon a good ten feet into the house.

“Ugh,” I sighed. “I’m closing these doors. I hate being watched like this.” So that’s exactly what I did. I realized that was a bad idea. The house had more of a sense of dread now that the doors were closed. It felt so empty, but still, somehow comforting.

Dawn apparently did not feel comfortable. An amber light lit her face, which now seemed gray. Her whole body seemed to flicker, but it was hard to tell with the lack of light. Suddenly, she let out a piercing scream. Everyone flinched.

“Why would you do that?!!” she screeched. She stopped flickering. Dawn blinked, as if waking up from a bad dream. She walked over to the door and pulled on the handle.  Nothing. We were trapped…