"Trail of Fears"

There was one cookie left in the bag. All four looked at each other. "They're my cookies..." Serena said quietly.

"And you've eaten half of them! I should get the last one!" Molly responded.

"Hey! What about me?" asked Melvin. There was silence for a few minutes besides the crackling of the fire in front of them.

"How about paper scissors rock?" suggested Sammy.

"Yeah, that's fair, I guess..." Serena agreed, with Melvin nodding. The three looked at Molly.

"Fine! Paper scissors rock then!" Molly shouted. The four balled their hands in fists and lowered them once. They rose them then lowered again. They picked up again, then lowered, revealing their choice. All of them had chosen rock. "A tie!" screamed Molly.

"One more time," said Serena, not even flinching. They went one more round. Molly and Sammy had scissors, and Serena and Melvin wound up with rock. Next, Serena went against Melvin, but lost. Her rock was no match for his paper.

"I win!" screamed Melvin, grabbing the chocolate-chip cookie and chomping down on it hungrily.

"What are we supposed to do until sunrise?" asked Molly.

"Why don't we explore this place?" suggested Serena, squinting her eyes to see up the staircase across the room.

"It's too dark," answered her friend.

"Then what do we do until it's light, Molly? Sleep? I can't sleep here! It's too creepy..." Serena drifted off in her words.

"It's just your imagination!" Molly shouted. "Stop being such a baby! There's nothing to be afraid of! From the way you're acting, you'd expect a ghost to app--" She was interrupted by a crash. "Wh-what was that?" she trembled.

"Now who's afraid?" Serena taunted.

Above them, the wooden cieling crashed down, missing the group by merely a few feet, causing Serena, Molly, and even Melvin to scream at the top of their lungs. Sammy looked at them and rolled his eyes. A flash of midnight purple came down with the lumber, standing atop the rubble.

"I am Phobius! Surrender to my will!" the monster shouted. She shot a ball of purple light from the palm of her hand, which blasted into Melvin and Sammy, sending them flying across the room.

On that note, Molly and Serena scrambled up the stairs. "You cannot escape from Phobius!" the monster bellowed from below. "I will find you!!"

"Let's split up!" yelled Serena.

"What?! Are you crazy!"

"No! If we split up, it won't be able to get to both of us at once!"

"I guess you're right," Molly agreed reluctantly, and ran down the hallway. Not being able to see where she was going, she accidentally ran into the bookcase. "What's happening? Serena, help me!"

A flash of lightning send a brief flash of light through the hallway, and Serena saw the bookcase turning. "Molly!" she screamed, and ran forward, pounding on the bookcase, but to no avail; it just wouldn't open. As her eyes slowly adjusted, she saw an open doorway, and jumped through it. She heard the laugh of Phobius with the pounding footsteps of a monster ascending a flight of stairs.

She shut the door behind her as quietly as she could, then said in matching volume, "Moon, Crystal, Power!!" Feathers surrounded her, as her costume slowly appeared over her body. Sailor Moon looked around the room. "Hey, cool! I can see in the dark when I'm Sailor Moon! I never knew that!"

Melvin looked around himself. What had happened? The last thing he remembered he was in that spooky mansion with Molly and Serena. Now he was at... Crossroads Jr. High?? He looked down at himself and saw that he was in a chicken costume. He screamed at the top his lungs in terror.

"Hello... Melvin..." came a snide voice from behind him.

He turned around. No! Not the schoool bully... Why now?? He continued to scream.