The two friends blanched, facing going pale as the words of the ghost triplets rang in thier heads.

“O-our soul?” May asked.

“Why yes of course.” Trouble replied grinning maniacally.

Harbor felt sweat trickle down his face as his heart felt as though it would burst out of his chest, “And we uh, can’t negotiate the terms can we?” 

“What more could you offer us?” Fatal questioned getting closer to the terrified friends.

“Uhmmm, well…” May trailed off frantically trying to think of something to offer in exchange for their lives or souls.

“Uh, how about we fix this place up in exchange for our lives?” Harbor tried.

Trouble laughed, “Oh of course not! We can fix this place up if we so desire, observe.” Trouble began waving her hands around in an odd gesture.

Bits and pieces of broken furniture lifted off the ground flying to the corners of the room, reassembling themselves into the form they had once taken. The wallpaper on the walls unpeeled, color brightening the longer Trouble held her gesture. The dust cleared, the windows fixed themselves. Trouble made a swift gesture causing everything to fly back into place.

The furniture rebroke, the wallpaper tore off the windows shattered. May and Harbor gasped, shock taking over their minds.

“Oh my gods that’s incredible.” May muttered looking around seeing the room back in the state of decay it had been before Trouble had decided to fix everything up.

“You can do that whenever?” Harbor found himself curious of the ghost true ability, still mostly terrified, but fascinated.

“Yes.” Trouble agreed.

“And you won't use it during the game?” May interrogated, surprising Harbor momentarily at the implications.

The trio feel silent for a moment staring at the duo.

“Well will you?” Harbor demanded backing May up.

Fatal huffed, “We’ll I suppose it would be rather unfair, we wouldn’t want our game to run short, would we?”

Harbor glared, “No.” There was a finality in his tone.

“No.” Grave agreed. 

A stare off insured.

“We’ve wasted enough time already, the game. It begins--”

May cut her off, “We want a five minute head start, AND you fix the staircase.”

Grave glared, hate in her eyes, “Fine.” She gritted her teeth raising her hand.

A couple of loud creaks, bangs, and other assorted noises echoes throughout the dead hallways of the mansion. Grave opened her mouth ready to give the final instructions.

“How do we know it’s fixed?” May cut her off before she could get a word out.

“IT IS!” Grave snapped getting close to May’s face.

May yelped, jumping back.

Fatal moved forwards resting a hand on her siblings shoulder, “Hush Grave, they just want to make sure this is a fair game.” She stressed the word fair as she pulled her sister away from the terrified ghost.

“... Can we check the staircase to make sure it’s fixed?” Harbor dared to ask.

Fatal huffed, “I suppose…” 

“Alright, thanks…” Harbor trailed off hesitantly as he and May shuffled around the intimidating forms of the ghost before them. Glancing over their shoulders repeatedly they made their way out of the room toward the staircase.

Teh duo descended the first set of stairs, coming to rest at the bottom of them. Walking towards the second set of stairs he peered over at it, seeing it to be entirely intact. 

“Huh, didn’t expect that.” May admitted.

“Why so shocked?” The soft voice of Trouble asked from behind them.

Both jumped, twirling around.

“Ah, uh no offense but your siblings aren’t the most trustworthy, plus you're trying to kill us so….” May trailed off wringing their hands as their eyes flicked around the area looking for the other two ghosts.

“Ah I get it.” Trouble nodded, “Well, let us return to the dorms the game will start there.” Trouble waved her hand in the gesture for the two spooked friends to follow.

They took a deep breath, then followed in step behind the ghost that was going to try and kill them. Up the stairs they went, through the nursery and the storage room all the way back into the dormitory. The duo stepped in only a few feet from the doorway, eyes facing forward to address the triplet ghost before them.

“Lovely you back, you get a five minute head start yes?” Fatal questioned.

“Yes.” May confirmed.

“Great time starts now.”

The two friends bolted from the room rushing through the storage room and the nursery. Harbor, instead of taking the stairs like a normal person slid down the railing, trying to make the least noise possible. Reaching the end he hesitantly paced his foot down on the wooden floor testing it to see if it would squeak.

Placing his body weight on the floor once more he looked up at May, gesturing frantically for him to follow her to the room on the right. Taking slow, creeping steps he followed, looking closely at the ground to make sure he would step on something that would make noise.

Into the bedroom on the right they went. They continued through it entering the master bedroom. Going farther into May revealed her idea making a fast hand gesture to the walk in closet. Nodding softly he followed her lead, cringing as the door creaked open. He pause as the door went half open, slipping through it stepping into the darkened closet.

May disappeared into the darkness before him. Carfulling Harbor made his way farther in stepping around old boxes and torn clothes. His hands shook as he tried to suppress his fear. This best be a damn good hiding place if he wanted to live. May became viable again, signifying the end of the closet. 

May waved her hand down. Harbor crouched, getting low to the ground. He pulled a few boxes in front of the where he hid and a especially big on overtop of himself May poked her head in.

“The floor is extremely weak, if they find you slam your body weight against it and you’ll fall right through.” May whisper their words of advice into his ear softly.

Harbor nodded his head slightly. May moved back, disappearing once more. Harbor huddled, calming his breathing the best he could, in the silence.

“Ready or not, here we come!” One of the triplets shouted.

Harbor shivered.

May stayed close to their friend hiding in the dark closet. The only difference was they had a view of the door and could yell to warn Harbor. Determination bloomed in their chest as they prepared for the hunt. The ghost didn’t have feet and made no sound. May only had the advantage of the look out to see if they were coming.

A minute passed, two, Occasionally they would hear manic laughters, or cold hearted taunts from a little ways away, the ghost triples were yet to find them. Three hours to go.

“Come out come out wherever you are~” Trouble sang from outside the closet door.

May ducked under a box peering through the holes in it to spy on the door.

“Are you under the bed?” Trouble sang, “No? Aw don’t be so shy, I’m only going to flay your flesh~” The tone she used was one a parent used to calm a child, only more demonic. It made May’s skin crawl. 

May really hated ghosts.

“Ah ah ah,” She tisked, “How about in the closet?!” 

The closet door flew open. May’s eyes widened as fear gripped their heart.

Trouble hummed as they wandered into the closet traveling to the back of it. She passed over May’s location without a second glance. They wanted to breathe in relief but they weren't out of the danger yet. May couldn’t see Harbor’s location from here, however they prayed to Spector he would be safe.

May nearly cried in relief when Trouble exited the closet. Getting up hesitantly they made their way back to Harbor. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah yeah, I’m ok. That was way to close.”

“Yeah, well at least we know they won’t check this area again soon.”

Harbor grunted, “Hopefully, get back into your hiding place.” He scolded in the softest whisper he could manage.

May did as they were told. 

BANG.The doors burst open again. HOLY SHIT IT'S BEEN FIVE MINUTES. Grave was the one who entered. She gave no clues unlike Trouble, she did however, immediately began breaking boxes.

May’s heart seized in their chest. Suddenly they were out of the box. They moved without even realizing. They had launched themselves at the much taller ghost back. Biting them on the collarbone with no remorse. Grave roared in surprise, twirling around to grab ahold of her assailant. May hung on tight, not giving an inch.

Harbor took that as his cue slamming himself into the ground.

CRACK BANG

Harbor fell through the floorboards landing in the broken kitchen. He gasped as the air he felt air leave his lungs, leaving him breathless. Above him Grave had realized spinning in circles did her no good and lashed out with clawed hands. 

May released their grip on the ghost throat dropping down through the floorboards. Their eyes frantically search for Harbor. They spotted him on his feet rushing out of the room. They quickly followed. They ran through the first level of the house, past the kitchen and the waiting room.

Harbor’s feet thudding on the old ground as his lungs burned for more air. His eyes barely registered his surroundings as he darted past broken furniture. A ghostly figure came down from the ceiling. Harbor didn’t bother to slow as May gasped from behind him. His eyes widen with fear as he borrowed through the ghost.

 “Oh holy fuck! That felt so slimy.” He exclaimed as he rounded the corner to the staircase. He didn’t bother attempting to hide his location. His feet pounded against the steps as he raced up them.

May covered his back looking for ghosts that would try to take advantage of the fleeing human. The first to appear found herself welcomed with a flying kick to the face.

“GET BACK HERE!” The poltergeist screeched, launching herself at the duo. Harbor lept out of the way narrowly avoiding her as he scrambled to the second set of stairs.

The sound of snapping wood followed him up the stairs. May took a cautionary glance behind them. Yep Grave was using her ability to sabotage the staircase. Lovely. Harbor felt the wood beneath him give way. In one desperate attempt to get away he leapt to the third floor.

“GAH!” His stomach slammed directly onto the edge, he felt bile rise into his mouth.

“NO TIME NO TIME GO GO GO!!” May screamed at him as they dragged him up, shockingly corporeal.

Harbor stumbled onto his feet. His legs burned as he ran the final stretch. He prayed his gamble would pay off. He could feel ghostly fingers grasping at him. Focused ahead terrified. Furious screams followed him. His chance was just ahead of him now he could see it. The window, it had remained unblocked.

Hope raised in his chest, he could do this. He launched himself out the window.