After the woman placed her cold fingertips on her cheeks in a caring way, Samantha slowly placed her hand to where the woman touched her cheek. She stood there in awe. Something about this woman made her feel at peace.

Suddenly, a bang and a loud roar came from a distance. It didn't sound good, and the young woman didn't want to stay in the almost dark place any longer.

"Please" the woman begged "He must not find you down here. You must follow me."

As Samantha followed, she asked, "He who? I don't understand!" Suddnely, she also saw a faint light coming towards them. When it came a little closer at speed, she began to panic. "C'mon, guys! Faster!"

Sam ran after her, the skeletal beast chasing being all the encouragement he needed. The pup barked and yelped and growled the whole way, and Sam kept comforting it.

The woman lead them all back upstairs to what looked like a dead end. Ryan slightly panicked by the thing chasing them was not pleased to see a dead end. He noticed the woman point to a little indent into the wall. Quickly Ryan shoved through everyone and grabbed the indent shoving the fake wall open and stepped out.

"Quickly everyone out. Unless you want to become what ever demons eat." he said slightly panicked trying to hurry everyone along.

As everyone ran through the door Ryan quickly closed shut the door, leaning his back against it. His breath was heavy and labored, his eyes felt like they were bulging out of his head. The woman turned to him, walked towards him making a motion as if to hug him. Suddenly she disappeared and a faint whisper of her voice could be heard through the hall everyone was now in.

"Thank you for coming back, everyone." it was definitely her voice that echoed softly through the hall. As the voice faded away a picture fell off the wall, shattering the glass all over the floor.

Ryan walked over bent down and picked up the picture and looked at it.

"What the hell..." he said to himself as he noticed some strange things about the picture. Before the others could come over to see Ryan ripped the picture from the frame and shoved it into his pocket.

He turned to everyone else saying " So has anyone seen the kitchen. I'm starving."

Sam was about to ask what Ryan put in his pocket, but he was busy with the puppy. "yeah, the kitchen over that way, follow me." Sam said, heading down the hall.The running had made him hungry.

(Just a reminder guys. Try to keep posts longer then one to two lines. If your having trouble with that, try expressing how your character is feeling, or something they may have noticed.)

Ryan followed same to the kitchen, he wasn't sure if everyone else had followed but it didn't really matter. One thing Ryan knew for certain right now is that he was hungry. Ryan opened the refrigerator and noticed several different things. He reached in and grabbed a four pack of chocolate pudding. Then he started searching the doors in a panic looking for a spoon. Once he found the spoon he walked out of the room and down the hall quickly. He wasn't sure what was coming over him as he raced up the stairs and down the hall to his room. All he knew was that he had to get a closer look at the picture to be sure about things.

Once Ryan reached his door he heard a load crash from the inside. Gritting his teeth preparing himself to see some grotesque monster Ryan opened the door. Ryan slowly looked upon the disaster that was now his room. His clothes scattered every where, lamps and tabled turned upside down.

"What the hell..." Ryan said as he sighed.

He walked into his room closing and locking the door behind him. He lifted the desk back up and placed his pudding and spoon down upon the desk. Ryan started to pick up the mess knowing he wouldn't be able to focus upon the picture with his room looking like this. If he had one major flaw it was that he was a neat freak, and some one or something messing with his room was really annoying.

"Well... that was fun," Samantha thought to herself sarcastically. When she too got to the kitchen, she grabbed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from the refrigerator. Then she grabbed a can of Orange soda.

Walking upstairs back to her room, Samantha noticed Ryan acting a little strange. She only hoped that whatever they encountered, he'd calm down soon. The young woman then went inside her room, and shut the door.

Sitting on the bed, and reading her book while eating, Samantha felt that same coldness through her body. Strangely, the room was warm. What was that coldness? Suddenly, something dropped lightly on the floor. Samantha got up, and walked over to where the wardrobe was.

There on the floor, was an old African bracelet. The young woman picked it up, and stared at it. The gems were designed beautifully. Suddenly, she looked at her side, and saw a young African-American girl dressed in white. Samantha and her stared at each other for a while. Then Samantha broke the silence. "Hey there. What's your name?"

The little girl smiled, and waved good-bye. She then disappeared in the air. Samantha gasped. Another ghost! Then she heard the little girl's voice. "Keep it."

Ryan finished picking up and organizing his room. The place now didn't look like a tornado went through and ripped everything to pieces. Slowly he pulled out the chair from under the desk and slumped down in it. His head started to tingle slightly with pain, the onset of a regular case of migraines. Ryan sighed heavily as he reached his hand forward and pulled the picture closer to him.

He looked at it carefully making sure what he had seen earlier wasn't a figment of his imagination, or the adrenaline that was running through his veins. But there was no mistaking it what he saw was true.

"Aiden" he said pointing to a person in the picture "Sam" he continued pointing to another person "Samantha" pointing to another person "Gerris" his finger drifted to another person "and me" as his finger rested on another person.

He looked at the picture completely dumbfounded. He couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on. Ryan thought that Thrill line was playing some sort of sick mental game with them. And if that was the case he wanted to get to the bottom of this.

Ryan bursted out of his room and ran down the stairs towards the living room yelling "Everyone to the Livingroom. NOW!"

He stood in the living room pacing back and forth feeling as if his temper was reaching his limit. Normally Ryan wasn't prone to outbursts like earlier but this place, whatever was going on here was starting to crawl under his skin like a bad habbit.

(I'll try to post more often, stuff came up. :D)

Aiden was feeling rather out of breath by the time he made it to the top of the stairs. This...this was all real, wasn't it? He couldn't help feeling somewhat thrilled however, deep down. He wouldn't be leaving. Not just yet. This whole thing was quite the adventure.

Walking into the kitchen, the only one following Ryan, he noticed the man's frantic nature. Something was definitely up. He cast a glance at Samantha, who was most likely going to her room, and watched as Ryan opened up the refridgerator. Well, that was fine.

Then he went from the room. Aiden followed as he took the long way around and then went to his own personal room. He listened as Ryan did some cleaning, and then he heard a loud yell.

Stumbling into the room, Aiden saw a very wide-eyed Ryan. He didn't expect this. After all, no one else was behaving this way, and Ryan didn't seem like the kind of person to get so upset.

Briefly, he remembered the time. It would be about 7:00 now, an hour until it was dark. So their meeting in the living room had better not take long.

"Ryan, what's up?" he asked as Ryan made his way to the living room, beginning to pace.

Samantha stared around her. An African-American girl? She was probably one of the workers here long ago. The young woman sighed, and sat on her bed, looking at the window. She could see the sky was getting darker now.

As she stared at the window, she remembered her mother telling her stories of her ancestors. She'd never forget. Being here in Louisiana made her feel a little different. It was different from home at Chicago.

Suddenly, she heard Ryan's voice from running down the hallways. "Everyone to the Livingroom. NOW!"

Samantha got up from her bed, and went out her room. It must've been something important. Something really important. As she ran down the stairs, she noticed Aiden going into the living room as well. When Samantha finally got there, she asked, "What's goin' on?"

Gerris was sleeping when he awoke with a start. He dragged his mattress to the stair's and slid down them, flying into a nearby wall and going through it. The sound was tremendous, as he was thrown through the wall.

"Ouch . . ." He dusted himself off and tried to rise, only to find that one of his leg's was broken. "Aww man . . ." He gripped his leg tightly, trying to squeeze out the pain. His effort's caused him to collapse in agony and he blacked out.

(@ admiral, I honestly hope you don't destroy your house in real life man. I'd hate to see the bill for repairs. lol)

Ryan heard a loud crash in the hallway. He could only think of one person who would be foolish and reckless enough to put himself in danger. Frustrated Ryan stormed out of the living and looked at the wall that how had a nice hole in it. He shook his head as he approached the wall and looked down at Gerris, laying there unconscious.

As Ryan kelt down grabbing Gerris' shoulders and pulling him out of the wall he yelled "Some one want to give me a hand bringing him to the living room please."

Some one was going to have to talk to Gerris about keeping safety and not being reckless because it not only puts himself in harms way, but every one else. Ryan honestly didn't want to have to call an ambulance to have him sent to the hospital.

"Well Gerris. When you wake up your going to have one hell of a choice to make." Ryan said to Gerris knowing he wouldn't get a response.

In such a serious time, and especially on a contest such as this, why the heck would someone bother sliding down the stairs on a mattress? Surely there were better ways to spend your time?

While such silly business was taking place, Aiden turned to Samantha.

"Hi, I'm Aiden," and tried his best to smile.

Samantha shook her head and smiled. She hoped that Gerris was all right, and not knocked out too badly. Before she could help Ryan with Gerris, she heard another guy's voice.

"Hi, I'm Aiden," and tried his best to smile.

Samantha turned and smiled. She hadn't talked to a guy like him for a while. Well... except in High School. She'd been too busy in College to socialize with a guy.

"Hey. My name's Samantha. Nice to meet you." She kept her smile on her face, looking up at him. She almost forgot about Ryan and Gerris.

Beep!
The oven went off.
" Finally, theres a pizza done!" Sam said, pulling out the large Supreme pizza. He had also found some kibble for the puppy.
Convenient Sam thought. He picked up the pizza in one hand, put the dog under his arm, and held the bowl of kibble in his othre hand. He stepped into the living rom, flower covering part of his face.
" Alright, I'm here, anyone want some Pizza?" Sam said.

Ryan was pulling Gerris to the living room by his arms. As he passed the others he shook his head and mumbled something to himself. This wasn't the vacation that Ryan had imagined when he signed up for this. At most he figured a few rigged lights,and some sound effects. Not full blown apparitions and a photo that had people looking like them. Ryan carefully laid Gerris's back against the couch making sure he wouldn't slide to any of the other sides and onto his arms.

Ryan rubbed the back of his head and he turned to face everyone wondering how he was going to explain everything that had happened. He reached into his pocket feeling the edge of it rub against his skin as he grabbed hold of the picture and threw it upon the table.

"Take a look at that but look closely. It's not going to instantly jump out at you. Let me know if you see any familiar faces." He said to everyone as he took a seat on the couch near Gerris placing a hand on his unconscious friend making sure he doesn't fall.

Ryan started talking.

"Guys." Aiden said to her, rolled his eyes, and started walking over to the picture.

Aiden looked first, and he stood there out of curiosity. He recognized them, but he didn't think that much of it.

"They easily could have gotten pictures of us somehow. Probably just Photoshop." Although Aiden wasn't really sure he believed it, now that he thought about it.

"Even if it is...whatever...does it really matter? I don't understand why you're so worried about it."

Sam looked at the picture, Me, Samantha, Aiden, Gerris, and Ryan. Ok, so what... there's plenty of ways they could've got our picture right?
Sam also pleasently noted that he seemed to be dressed fairly well in the picture, or rather, his duplicate. Not exactly a noble, but not a peasent either.
Samantha looked like a noble though, and Gerris looked like a soldier.
Maybe thats why he's so violent.

Ryan stood there for a moment thinking, they definitely needed more evidence to support what ever that picture claimed. Then he remembered, the basement had several old newspapers, and that journal. Maybe that journal held some kind of clues to what they needed to know. But who would get the guts to go back down there.

"I'm going back to the basement. Maybe there is something down there that could answer any questions we have."

Ryan left the picture with the rest of the group as he headed back to the door of the basement. He stood in front of the door pacing back and fourth his nerves were getting the better of him but he knew what possibly needed to be done. Slowly he took a deep breath in and slide his fingers into the door handle ready to open it.

Aiden laughed at this turn of events. He turned to Samantha.

"Hey, you look pretty good in this."

Ryan went who knows where.

"You know, I think we ought to all just calm down, go to the kitchen, and help ourselves to a meal." No one looked all that keen on this idea. "No, I am being serious, people. Maybe we need to discuss this whole thing. And we have an hour before it gets too dark. On second thought, I think we should all have a late night card party. It's our first day, after all, right?"

Ryan closed his eyes and slide open the secrete door to the basement. He took a deep breath in and let it out through his mouth. As he slowly stepped down the stairs he reached into his pocket and pulled out his little flashlight. He switched it on hoping it would work. And with luck it did, and with out flickering off. Ryan crept down the stairs, each step making a slight squeak noise. His heart was pounding in his chest, and his hand holding the flashlight was shacking slightly.

"Get a hold of yourself. Nothing happened down here it was just some illusion" he said to himself trying to calm his nerves.

He reached the bottom of the steps and opened the other door. Cautiously he peered around the corners using the flashlight to examine the room and saw nothing there.

"See nothing down here but cobwebs, dust, and old books."he said to himself as he propped the door all the way open, sticking a book underneath it making sure it wouldn't close shut on him.

Ryan started to search through the boxes hoping to find anything that could answer some questions he had about this place and what was going on. So far his search reviled several newspapers dating from before and after the massacre. Slowly Ryan worked his way over to the desk with the journal of the plantation owner. His heart started to beat inside his chest again, it felt like it wanted to fly out of his own chest an run to hide some where far away.

He wouldn't let anything like that happen, questions needed answers and he wasn't about to just let the opportunity to find out what was going on just slip through his fingers so easily.

"Just pick up the book" he said to himself "Nothing will happen. It's just a simple book."

Ryan however couldn't bring his hand to grab the book, he couldn't bring any part of his body. It would seem that for a moment his body was frozen from fear that his mind was creating for him. His heart started to race faster in his chest, his eyes grew wider and he jaw tightened as he heard soft foot steps come closer to him.

The picture creeped Samantha a little, but then she heard Aiden brush it off.

"They easily could have gotten pictures of us somehow. Probably just Photoshop."

Hey, that might be it! The people might've used Photoshop to make them look like they were in an old picture. Could it be true though? Could it...?

"Hey, you look pretty good in this."

Samantha smiled. Then she began to worry about Ryan. It was like he was about to lose it. She wondered if he was going to be okay by himself. "Ya think we should go with him, Aiden?"

Aiden smiled a little grimly. "He didn't seem like the kind of guy that would react this way, you know? Let's go see what's up."

He waited until Ryan was clearly down the stairs, and then quietly followed. Ryan was opening a door. Clearly, he was very scared and hesitant to enter the room. Finally, he made the concession to enter, and Aiden slipped into the room later behind him.

There was the book there, again, and Ryan slowly made his way over to it, while looking around at other things along the way. Finally he picked it up.

Aiden decided to go and calm the guy's nerves, and he approached. Ryan spun around with a horrified look on his face, shining the flashlight directly at Aiden.

"It's okay, it's just me!"

Sam dug into the pizza, it was good, he'd made better though.
" Hey, Samantha, want a piece?" Sam asked Samantha. Samantha looked hesitant at saying yes.
" Oh, come on, its not like you have any allergies, right?" Sam asked her.

((Hey, Ataris? Try not to control other players characters. You know, like when you said "Ryan spun around with a horrified look on his face, shining the flashlight directly at Aiden". And Jedi_Man as well. Just a reminder. :) ))

"He didn't seem like the kind of guy that would react this way, you know? Let's go see what's up."

Samantha nodded. "Good idea." Before she followed, Sam stopped her.

" Hey, Samantha, want a piece? Oh, come on, its not like you have any allergies, right?"

"Well... I'd love to, but... I'm gonna go see what's up with Ryan. Save me some though." After she gave Sam a wink and a smile, Samantha went down the stairs and saw Ryan and Aiden. Ryan looked really frightened...

Ryan saw Aiden behind him and let out a sigh of relief. Ryan felt like he was on the vergy of a total mental collapse and he wasn't sure why. But he hoped that the news papers and journal would shed some light onto the events they have witnessed.

"You should be more careful about sneaking up on people like that man. Could of whacked you real good with the book." he said jokingly, laughing slightly.

Ryan held up and journal and the news papers "I'm hoping these will give us more background on this place."

Ryan's heart still felt like it was about to launch itself out of his chest. This basement or whatever it happened to be gave him the serious chill so he didn't want to wait to long down here. He walked closer to Aiden and patted his shoulder "Come on man, I rather not linger down here."