The next night came, and Nicole acted like a different person. She seemed attentive, scanning our surroundings for anything out of place, even though we had just parked in the building’s parking lot a moment ago. I slammed the car door and took a second look at my outfit: a black and blue hoodie two sizes too large for me, some comfortable mid-thigh shorts, and a pair of white sneakers. I put my hair up in a messy bun and finished it off with a necklace that Nicole got for me last Christmas. There wasn’t really a dress code mentioned, but if we had to stay the night here, I wasn’t going to be falling asleep in a dress or high heels. But apparently, that’s exactly what Nicole wanted to wear for the occasion.

 The building was actually a 150-year-old five-story mansion surrounded by woods, partially donated to the college and restored. There was a rumor spread throughout the college that the place was haunted, and a strange entity had compelled the owners to change their will to something obscene and forced them to hang themselves shortly after. And once the housekeeper noticed that the residents were missing, she called the authorities. However, they were never able to find the bodies. Now the original owners are supposedly roaming the halls, terrorizing all who try to communicate with them. It just seems like random fluff to make freshmen curious, but I know that most of the student body don’t believe that to be true. Unfortunately, Nicole isn’t most people.

"You think if I ask them about the winning lottery numbers, they’ll kill me?" Nicole said in a lowered voice, hoping that any roaming spirits in the parking lot didn't hear.

"What? That makes no sense... just behave this one time," I said as we made our way towards the front door.

"I’ll try," she mumbled.

As we entered the dry and musty entryway, I stared at the enormous, intricate curved stairs leading to the second floor. It was as if it had become stuck in time; the furnishings appeared to be from 150 years ago. It was emaculate despite the mucky air quality. An old man dressed in formal attire greeted us.

"Welcome," he said in a posh voice, hands placed behind him. It was so smug that you thought he was sniffing the ceiling with how conceited he sounded.

"It's just the two of us," Nicole said, pulling out a wad of money from her purse and approaching the man. "I got you," she winked as she slapped the money in the man’s open palm. As he counted the money, he alternated between looking at me up and down, as though I didn’t belong. It infuriated me, like, dude, it’s just a scavenger hunt, not a military ball. I’ll wear whatever I want.

"Excellent," he said in that annoying voice of his. He walked over to a counter and pulled out a box and a metal detector. "No phones or anything that can be detached from your person that sets off the metal detector. Since you came together, you can share a box, or you can each have separate ones."

"What?!" I looked at Nicole in disgust. She looked at me with eyebrows raised, and took her purse, which had a silver chain strap, and approached the man.

"Just go along with it, Ria," she said, hesitating for a moment before finally dropping it into the box. She also took the metal earrings I gave to her as a gift last Christmas. Knowing that questioning it was hopeless, I followed suit, dropping my phone, wallet, and keys, as well as removing my necklace and placing them all into the plastic box.

"Behind this door are the other contestants. Good luck." he said, motioning to a door behind him, blocking off the area where the boxes are kept.

"Asshole," I mumbled as we walked past him towards the door.

"Hey, at least it wasn’t that bad," Nicole said, shoving my shoulders to pump me up.

"If we walk in here and I wake up in some motel room bathtub covered in ice, I’m going to kill you," I said, shoving her back.

"That’s if the murderers in here won’t finish me off first," she said, jokingly. But somehow a cold chill rushed through my body as the door opened. This place was not safe.