"I guess I just happen to acquire "tenacity" where it's needed," she replied.
Both girls, once again, laughed at the irony. Little did they know, they wouldn't be laughing for long.
"I'm afraid to open this door now," Kelly laughed to herself. "I'm sure that clown is somewhere in the building ... And it's possible his job may not be done scaring us."
"Please don't say that," Stacie said. "Last thing I need is a constant reminder of his scary ass face."
Kelly laughed. "I bet he's ugly as sin without all that makeup."
Stacie lost it for a moment. Kelly knew what to say at all the right moments, Stacie was learning as they went along.
As the girls moved forward with fresh outlooks, the door their ominous clown went through was nowhere to be seen on the other side. What awaited them now was a dark hallway and a flight of stairs up to the 3rd floor. No doors lay on either side. Just the hallway walls and the stairs.
"I'm not going up those stairs Kelly."
Stacie sounded determined on that. Kelly understood why to. It was clear to anyone with a brain the clown waited on them upstairs.
"The only way out of here is through this haunted house Stacie. We only have two more floors to get through. Nothing too terrible has happened; even you have to admit that," Kelly reverberated as the two walked slowly toward the stairs. These, unlike the others, were wooden. Looked to be about twenty or so. Walls surrounded both sides until you got to the stop.
The girls made it a point to walk up slowly, especially Stacie. Kelly moved at her pace. She had no choice. Stacie had a vice grip on her arm and wouldn't let go and refused to quicken her pace even an inch.
Lights, bluish white in color, flickered on and off overhead. It created an exciting 3rd floor adventure, Kelly thought.
Kelly was the first to reach the top. Suddenly, sounding like something from a radio, you could hear the sound of a clown laughing as if from thin air. Leaning forward, to calm Stacie, Kelly whispered "intercom".
Stacie felt better but didn't like where this was all going. After all, even she found it odd their clown called them the "B" word. She wasn't even allowed to say it at home, much less be around people, places, and things that used the language.
This time, the girls had to decide which way to go. They only had two choices, left or right. "Let's go right this time," Kelly said.
Stacie obeyed with no response.
The girls walked down the hallway. Several doors sat on both sides of the hallway. Infront of them was a wall with a window, then an opening turning right, with what probably appeared to be another staircase heading upward. "Stacie," Kelly said. "I bet that opening up ahead goes to the staircase leading to the 4th floor. C'mon. Let's make a run for it."
Kelly and Stacie started sprinting for the end of the hallway. They almost made it to, when all of a sudden, the last door on the right hand side, popped open. It popped open so hard it caught Kelly right in her face.
Temporarily dazed, Kelly spun on impact and hit the floor, out cold. Stacie had screamed from fright and backed out of range and hit back first against the hallway wall and slid down to her butt and buried her face in her hands and cried hysterically.
Kelly came to quickly but knew she was seriously injured. A throbbing pain followed by oozing accompanied the sensations she felt from the blow. In the distance, she could hear Stacie's screams.
Getting up was no piece of cake. Kelly had a very hard time. She had to roll over onto her stomach and slowly pull herself up. Her head throbbed with bursts of pain. Her ears even rang. Stacie was still sobbing.
When Kelly finally made it to her knees, she managed to look up and to finally see. Stacie, she noticed, was sitting against the wall, sobbing with her face hidden in her hands, slouched over.
"Stacie," she stuttered. Stacie didn't hear.
Kelly sat back on her butt and let legs loose on the floor. Much more comfortable, she thought. She began to breathe lighter, and to rest her own head in her hands.
That's when she noticed the blood. A lot of it actually! She felt on and around her forehead with the tips of her index finger. She felt it. A huge tear in her scalp near the base of her hairline. Accidentally touching it sent her temporarily into hysterics. Painful!
She pulled herself up and reached for Stacie. Jumping out of her skin, Stacie screamed as if tortured. Looking up, she noticed Kelly came to, and surrendered her will as Kelly reached down to pull her up off the ground.
To be continued...
