'The fire wasn't an accident'.

We ushered down the hill in complete silence, all having the same thought.

"But what you did back there, it was quite heroic, jumping into a burning house and all," Ivory said breaking the silence. "Burn I have to say, you have heart filled with gold."

"More like a heart filled with daggers," Eleanor joked.

I laughed. "I take that as a compliment."

"Go to hell," she said rolling her eyes.

I stared her dead in the eye and said, "Oh honey, where do you think I came from?"

Suddenly, Ivory burst out laughing and before we knew it, we had all collapsed onto the empty road, clutching onto our stomachs.

"My tummy hurts because of all this laughing!" Ivory announced through her laughter.

We lay on the road with endless smiles on our faces as we stared at the cloudless sky. I glanced to the people around me and felt grateful. We lay on the ground as the sun sparkled brightly in our eyes.

Suddenly we heard a vehicle driving towards our reckless bodies. We stood up at once and dusted ourselves off. A truck with a massive crowd on board drove past us.

"Wait!" I screamed causing the bus to halt.

"What are you doing?" Ash whispered to me.

I ran up to the bus driver and asked them which way they were heading.

"We're going towards the Eastern Valley," she responded pointing to the hills.

"We need to go in the same direction. Can we maybe get a lift?"

"Sure, climb on, apparently this delivery truck has turned into a bus," she said sourly.

I smiled at her response and turned to face my friends who were looking at me in confusion.

"Guys, climb on board! We have a lift!" I shouted.

They scrambled onto the top, like a herd of desperate sheep, pulling me up as well. The bus rooftop was filled by large crystal balls which had faint faces who smiled at us as we joined them.

Ivory leaned over to me. "These creatures are called Flondans. They can't communicate with us but they're the sweetest things you'll meet"

As soon as we settled down, the Flodans offered us drinks and food and danced their hearts out for us (even though it seemed like they were just hovering in the air).

We watched the peaceful landscapes roll over and different types of creatures wave at us as the bus passed them.

"Hey! Bus lady! Can you please just drop us off here?!" Ash screamed to the bus driver.

"Of course, darling," she shouted back.

The bus halted, and we leapt off.

In the large, overgrown farm area, there lay a rather small but tall house. Everyone except me kicked off, racing towards the house in excitement while I made my way through carefully, slicing off the grass that tickled my legs.

I observed one strand of the grass bringing it dangerously close to my face and suddenly teeth poked out of it.

The carnivorous plant flashed its sharp teeth at me.

"No!" I screamed as I threw it as far away as I could.

Before any other plants attacked me, I jumped and ran after the others. "Wait for me!"

We approached the house slowly (mainly me), walking up to porch in silence, the door swung open. It sent chills down my spine. It was one of those houses in the haunted stories where the villain lived and lured kids into his trap.

"Can you guys tell me a bit more about this Brian guy before we go in?" I asked innocently as the darkness lured the others in.

A massive cloud of dust began swirling in circles near the doorway, followed by a large, muscular man appearing.

"Why don't I just tell you about myself?" Brian beamed.

"Yeah that'd be nice," I murmured.

The three were staring at him with sparks in their eyes, probably ignoring his bushy eyebrows, as if he was a god.

He welcomed us inside rather politely. "May I offer you some tea?"

I shook my head quickly as my eyes wandered off to the plain green wall.

The three of them were chattering away as I placed myself uncomfortably at the corner of the lounge.

"I've been on thirty seven adventures in my lifetime... well thank you... yes I've seen real Taurs... they're huge... indeed," he answered.

"May I use your bathroom- please?" I asked desperately wanting to get away from their conversation.

He nodded and quickly replied. "First door to your right on the floor above us and, sweetie, don't go inside any doors."

I hurried away and made my way up the creaky staircase. It felt as though I would fall through any moment because of the holes in the wood.

The upper floor was dark and I couldn't hear a single mutter. I looked to my right and the bathroom door stood wide open.

As I was about to enter, my ears twitched at the sound of muffling which seemed to be booming from the door at the end of the corridor.

My common sense betrayed me as I walked towards it and wrapped my fingers around the door knob which luckily- wasn't locked.

'And, sweetie, don't go inside any doors.' Brian's words echoes through my head when I heard the lock snap open.

I closed it behind me so that I could get a good view of the entire room.

There was a single bed in the large room, food scraps everywhere and claw marks on the walls. I cautiously moved forward. That's when I noticed a creature hiding behind the bed.

It was facing the wall but slowly turned its' head around when it heard me.

It almost looked like it was- a human boy. A human boy with marks all over his chest.

"I'm so sorry for barging in like this. I'll leave right this instance. I'm sorry," I quickly whispered as I backed away.