"Dead Man's Barn."


"If you think so," Lucy says as Mason nods encouragingly.


Ant nods nervously.


"Good choice," Mason says.


You nod. The group begins to stand, and starts walking towards Dead Man's Barn.


"I'll... I'll stay here!" Kyle slurs, collapsing into the back of the pick-up truck.


Lucy shrugs, and continues leading the group out of the forest. The group drops the various empty cans among the shrubs as you emerge in yet a bland, empty field with an old, clearly abandoned and boarded up barn in the center. It's a particularly large barn, but other than that it's just an old, boring barn.. The sun's fallen, so Lucy brings out her phone and turns on the flashlight. She leads you to the barn, and Mason grabs the edge of a piece of plywood and pulls it back.


"This is stupid guys," Ant says.


"What, scared of a ghost?" Mason chuckles.


"No! I'm just scared of tripping and getting tetanus from a rusty nail!"


"Pussy," Mason says, rolling his eyes.


Mason pulls the plywood back further, creating a large enough gap for you to step through. 


"Thank you," you say as you step through.


"Of course, Ma'am," Mason smiles. 


As you step through, you enter complete darkness penetrated by a single beam of pale moonlight coming from the gap. Ant steps in afterwards, looking around nervously.


"OK, we've went inside, dare's over," Ant says.


Mason sighs, pushing the plywood back in place. You hear his muffled voice a few seconds later.


"Go upstairs and open the boards at the window. Then we'll let you out, Ant," Lucy says.


"You're a bitch!" Ant says, thumping on the plywood, before turning to you.


"Let's explore," he says nervously.


You pull out your phone, turning on the flashlight. The inside of the barn is immediately illuminated. Several horse stalls made of rotten wood takes up most  of the barn, with the floor covered in dried, rotten hay. 


"It smells like shit in here," Ant complains.


"Hush," you reply.


You spot a partially rotted out stairs leading to the upper floor. You walk over to it. You put your foot on the first stair and put some weight on it to make sure it'll hold. You slowly make your way up the stairwell, reaching the upper-floor. There's a dead silence inside, even the wind dying as complete silence consumes you. You scan the room with your flashlight. You wince as you notice a blood-stained noose hanging from the ceiling.


"Jesus. Is that what I think it is?"


"No, Hazel, it's a fucking... I can't even think of a mocking example. Of course it's a...!"


There's a creaking of the floorboards behind you, and you quickly turn to find... nothing.


"Hazel, please. If you're trying to freak me out, just... don't."


"I'm not doing..."


You feel something knock into your back and you fall forward with a yelp. Your phone flies from your hands. It falls forward down the stairs, thudding before it lands on it's back, obscuring the flashlight and plunging you into total darkness.


"What the fuck, Ant?"


"I swear to god, that wasn't me!" Ant says. "Let's get out of here, fuck the window."


You hear haggard, wet breathing in at the stairwell, and you freeze.


"What...?"


"Shut up!" you hiss.


The breathing continues, before turning to a wet, squelching chuckle. Ant whimpers, as you begin to back away from the stairwell.


"It ain't your night tonight, kids," a deep voice says, each word interspersed with the wet squelching you've heard before. "What the fuck makes two dumbass, chicken shit kids come into a place you don't belong?"


"What the fuck...?" Ant says, half whimpering and half shrieking.


"Sssh... save your breath. I ain't even given you a reason to start hollering... yet."

You run

You turn and start running the other way. In the darkness, you see nothing, and your foot hits a rotten plank that gives way. You scream as you wall, flying through the air before you hit the hard ground with a thud. You scream as you feel your arm break. Ant screams, before falling silence, as you struggle to pull yourself to your feet. You hear frantic yelling outside the barn as your friends realize something's happened, but not before the figure appears above you again.


"Ah, shit kid. You ain't even one of the old bloods. Some immigrant or Northerner or some shit. Well, can't have you telling the city to have this place torn down, though looking at the condition you're in, this'll be a mercy."


You start to beg as he slashes the cold steel along your throat as it mingles with a fresh stream of hot blood.