He stood outside a house on the front lawn. Afraid to disturb the party inside. He felt the music reverberate through him as he stood in the darkness of the night. Bright coloured lights illumated from the house, he turned his back to them. His eyes were met with a familiar face. He stared at the girl infront of him. A smile threatened to waver his stern expression. Confusion swept through his eyes, he searched the girl with for any out of place features. But everything was the same, uncanny. I watched you die; how can you be?

"You look like you've seen a ghost. You alright?" Her calm voice pierced the silence between them.

"Huh? Of course." He heard the fakeness in his own voice, he never was a good liar. The girl gave him a worried look before hugging herself insecurely. Her blue dyed hair fell over her shoulders as she watched her black converse boots push dirt around. This isn't her. He took one last look at the girl to ensure he didn't miss the slightest detail. But everything was the same, from her prismarine hair to her emerald green eyes. Her clothing sense to the way she stood. A wave of uneasiness washed over him. Then she rose her head and opened her mouth to speak. He waited, letting her talk.

"I should go, seems like I'm making things awkward. It was nice seeing you again, Casey." As the girl began to walk away, Casey tried to say goodbye, but his voice seemed to be caught in his throat. So instead he mouthed the words 'goodbye' to the back of her head. Casey wanted to believe the girl he just saw was his friend. But that night didn't leave his mind. 'BANG!' a gunshot echoed throughout the building. A shooting, the noise repeated. Then a scream, glancing over at Terisha. Everything slowed, red flooded her white shirt, a shot to the heart. I placed my fingers on her neck, a burning sensation filled behind my eyes, pupils constricting. One... You'll be okay Terisha. Two... Stay with me! Three... The waterfall of tears rushed down my face, I hugged her limp body tightly.

" Casey? Casey?!" A male's voice echoed, followed by a calming hand on Casey's shoulder. He jumped a bit, drawing himself out of the horrible memory. He swiftly wiped the tears from his face. He didn't say anything incase his voice cracked and gave away the fact he'd been crying. He composed himself and faced the hand, Riley. The therapist of the group stood before him. His black wavy hair brushed out of his face, his brow furrowed. "Everything alright?" Riley questioned, his voice confident and caring. Casey simply nodded. "If you every need to~"

"It's fine, Riley."

"Right."

Riley lifted his hand off of Casey's shoulder. "You know, maybe she didn't die?" His voice seemed to lose its previous confidence and filled more with empathy.

"I know what I saw! She died. She got shot."

"There's a possibility she could hav~"

"She's dead, Riley. The girl here is fake."

He gave Casey a gentle nod and dropped the subject. Casey took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. He looked at Riley expecting him to say something else.

"Everyone is waiting for you inside, come join us when you're ready. A few drinks could help you forget." Riley patted his shoulder before heading back in to join the other party goers. Casey stood in silence on the grass hill for a little too long, as he watched the party lights through the window.

"How can they party after all this?" he whispered to a garden flamingo, it's painted face just stared back at him. Casey let out a sigh, Right you're a statue. sheepishly heading towards the front door, he gripped the cold metal handle, it began to turn as if moving on it's only. He flinched back like he had just touched something hot. Terisha met him in the doorway with two bottles of beer, one already open and drunken from and the other unopened. She shoved the unopened one into his hand, but Casey handed it back to her. She seemed drunk, she had always been light weight. Casey backed away from the door slightly. Terisha stepped aside so Casey could walk through. He looked in through the gap between Terisha and the door, the party was loud, and the house felt like it was shaking from the volume of the music.

People crowded in the hall way near the front door, Casey weaved his way between the arms and bodies. Scanning the crowd for a familiar face other than the 'fake' Terisha. After a few minutes of looking his efforts came up fruitless, he leaned against a wall, away from the crowd. The room was hot and sweaty, people packed together like penguins, jumping up and down to the music. Casey couldn't handle it anymore, he weaved his way back through the mass of jumping people trying not to be crushed and once again placed his and on the cold metal door handle. He pushed the door open and stepped outside. The air was less thick, the cold night air contrasted the heat of the party. He stepped foot on the clearly fake lawn. 'BANG!' Chills went up Casey's spine and hordes of people flooded out the front door screaming, knocking him to the floor. He tried to push himself up off of the ground, another bang, then something heavy pinned him down. He rolled over onto his back under the dead weight and stared in shock as he quickly pushed a corpse off of him, a lady with short red hair, unfamiliar to him. As several gun shots rang out more bodies fell around Casey. Until a hand offered to help Casey up. He took their hand and got up, his body bruised from being trampled on by selfish people. He dusted himself off.

"Casey, what is going on?"

Casey looked at Riley and mirrored the same confusion that was plastered on his face. Until something caught his eye. Riley followed Casey's gaze. A person, cloaked, their gun raised towards them. Casey unconsciously grabbed Riley's hand. Squeezing it tight enough for his knuckles to go white. The person in the cloak motioned them to turn around and kneel. They did as it said. Casey's heart throbbing in his ears louder then the broken stereo's music. Then silence.

Riley opened his eyes, Casey just out of his view. The room was dark and dusty. Riley finally drew out of his daze, his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He glanced over at Casey who was just a hunched over silhouette. Riley tried to move his arms, they were numb, being bound awkwardly around the back of a chair. His ankles tied to each of the legs. His mouth covered by a piece of tape. He moved his ankles up and down along the chair leg to try and loosen the restraints. The rope getting caught in the hairs on his legs, yanking them out. Riley flinched as a pained expression came over his face. You got this, Riley. Ow. He kept trying until the restrains were lose enough for him to pull his feet out through. Then a noise came from the darkness, a click of a gun reload chamber. A voice soon followed, it sounded way to calm.

"Riley, Riley, Riley." The gun barrel clicked again. "You and Casey know far too much for your own good and you know what happens to people who know far too much." A glimpse of blue came into his view. "They die, but not just die. They die slowly. Painfully." Riley listened to the footsteps as they echoed behind him, the hairs on the back of his neck stood. Riley counted the footsteps, One... Two... Three... One... Two... Three... There's more than one of them?! "We'll be back when your friend is awake, then you can both witness." Witness what? He heard the creak of a door opening. The person closed it with a thud and clicked a lock across.

Casey woke up, Riley squatted infront of him undoing his restraints. Casey glanced down at him, trying to make out Riley's expression in the dim light. Riley stood up and circled behind Casey repeating what he had done to Casey's ankles. Casey stood up and shook his arms, getting out any numbness, he then ripped of the gag. "Where even are we~"

"Shh!"

And at Riley's order Casey fell silent. He watched as Riley glanced around the room. He took the hint and started searching for a way out too. Casey held his hands out infront of him feeling around in the dark, being careful not to trip on anything. Until his hand was met by something warm, Casey pulled out his phone, turning flash on, filling the darkness with a white light. There he saw. Casey stared in disbelief.

"Terisha?" Riley echoed, as if reading Casey's mind.

Casey listened to her shallow breaths as he ran his hand through her dry blue hair. She looked paler, in pain. Around her eyes dark as if she had no sleep, yet she seemed to be permanently asleep.

Two boys, talking. Terisha listened trying desperately to open her eyes, but darkness. She could barely hear their voices. She felt the warmth of someone's arms as they picked her up.

"We need to get her out of here." Casey whispered.

Riley once again reading Casey's mind had popped open and airduct for them to crawl through.

"Hurry!" Riley ushered Casey to come over. Casey put Terisha on his back and crawled through, Riley followed pulling the steel back over the hole.

They crawled for awhile in darkness with the occasional light from holes in the duct or vent covers. They tried to be silent, but their weight made the steel bend and creak. Casey glanced over his shoulder to ensure he wasn't hitting Terisha on the top of the vent. Then continued crawling until they reached a grate, he peered down into the room, clear. He crawled to the other side so Riley could see down. Riley then carefully removed the grate as Casey gently took Terisha off of his back and jumped down through it. He was then followed by Riley passing Terisha down to him. Casey held her close and watched as Riley finally made his way out of the vent soundlessly.

The room was light by a single dull orange light. The shelves barely illuminated. They were full of props. From masks to cases, flowers to fake weapons. All messily assorted into categories or thrown onto the floor. Riley turned to the door that had a sign reading 'Prop closet, keep clean.' But obviously there was a disregard for that rule, people just haphazardly throwing everything back into place. He turned the handle with a click and cautiously peered outside, the stage entrance to the main room. The stage lights were lit, and the velvet curtains closed as people ran around behind the stage desperately trying to set up for the next act or clean up after a show. Riley motioned Casey to stay back as he slowly approached someone on the stage.

"You aren't suppose to be here!" One of the workers demanded. "Let me show you out."

Riley felt a wave of relief wash over him, finally getting out of here. It seemed to easy. Riley rushed back to Casey and beckoned him to come. They followed the guy out from behind the stage. Riley glanced around, no crowd. Must be cleaning up. The guy lead them to a door with a blinding green sign that read 'EXIT' He held the door open to them and they left. Riley filled his lungs with the night air, finally getting a break from the chaos. He scanned the parking lot, the only cars left were the workers and a few parents who had to wait for their kids to finish getting out of character. The parking lot seemed eerie. Only a few lights to illuminate the whole space. But Riley shrugged it off just eager to leave.

Casey called a taxi, Riley rested Terisha on the back seat, her head on Casey's thigh then got in the front seat. The road was dark on both sides the only light was from the car lights. The drive felt like forever, but they finally reached Casey's apartment.