Chapter 1 - Sin's Sentinel

Sin’s Sentinel
“Aaahh! Get it away from me!” Jennifer screamed as a rat runs across the floor, “Geeze. I hate this place… It totally creeps me out!”
“Eeee! It’s like totally creepin’ me out!” Jon copied Jennifer in a very sarcastic way. Nikki just stood there and laughed at them both. Jon pushed Jennifer lightly while they were playing around. She stumbled and planted her face directly in a cobweb.
Jennifer screamed at the top of her lungs, “Get it off! GET IT OFF!!” Jon fell to the floor, his sides splitting in laughter. Nicole just about fell over as well. “It’s not funny,” Jennifer said with a pout as she crossed her arms and looked away.
“Oh come on, Jen. It’s only a cobweb. And you were the one who accepted the dare to come into this spooky old place,” Jon remarked as he helped Jennifer get the webs out of her hair. “If you really hate it so much then you can go ahead and leave. I’m staying though. This place is cool!”
Their eyes searched the room. The three of them were standing in a dark, dank old house. The place was completely covered in dust and cobwebs. It was more than obvious that no one lives there. Nikki, knowing of the rumors about the old house, decided to make this interesting. “Hey. You know this place is supposed to be haunted right?” Nicole’s face broke into a really big grin. “Are you two scared? It’s only a house. But then again, Jen’s scared of a mouse!”
Jon ran up to Nicole. “Haunted?! You mean like ghosts and skeletons?!! Ooooo can we check it out? Please? Can we? Can we?!” Jon folded his fingers together and gave the girls the ‘puppy dog’ look.
Jennifer sighed and punched Jon in the back of the head. “Oh, please, Jon! Do you actually think that stuff is real?”
Jon blushed. “Maybe…”
Jennifer burst out laughing. “You CAN’T be serious! HAHAHAHA Do you believe in the Tooth Fairy, too?”
“Now, Jen, be nice. We could make fun of you just as easily. Like, for instance, you’re still afraid of being alone in the dark!” Nicole remarked smugly.
“AM NOT!” Jennifer snapped defensively, “Well… well… At least I don’t umm… Well you smell!” Moments after the worst come-back known to man was stated, the two girls heard one of the floorboards break. The girls automatically cast their vision towards Jon. Only Jon would be clumsy enough to break anything, especially a floor.
Jon and the girls stared at each other for a moment then Jon blurted out, “What!? Why are you staring at me? “ Jennifer pointed to the floor where Jon’s foot was stuck. “Oh. Hehehe. That… Well it isn’t my fault ok! It did this on purpose, I swear! It hates me! There is no other way to explain it. The floors are out to get me! Aaaahhhh!!” The girls just shook their heads and started to walk off to explore the other rooms. Jon rushed to join them but tripped and fell flat on his face. Nicole and Jennifer looked back to see what had happened. “My foot was still in the whole… I knew that… HEY! Wait for me!”
Jennifer opened the door to the next room and walked in. Suddenly she froze. “Stop! Shhh…” She looked about the room very carefully. “Did you see that?” Jennifer said with somewhat of a scared tone in her voice, “Please tell me you saw it, too. I know it was there…”
“See what, Jen?” Jon stepped into the room and walked around, “This room is a bit too small for anything to hide in. Small enough, anyway, that we would be able to see it right away if there actually was something in here. Stop your worrying, Jennifer. You even said yourself that ghosts and such aren’t real.” Jon continued to look around the room. He sighed, “No ghosts L.”
Nicole rested her hand on Jennifer’s shoulder. “Jennifer, there is nothing here that can hurt you. I promise. This place is perfectly safe. You are just paranoid.” Jennifer nodded and turned to leave the room. As soon as Jennifer turned around all the way Jon jumped and grabbed her shoulders saying, “BOO!” Jennifer screamed at the top of her lungs and ran behind Nicole. Once she figured out it was only Jon she wasn’t very happy with him.
“JON!!! THAT WASN’T FUNNY!” Jennifer yelled at him, “You really scared me… I thought you were someone or something else!” She hit Jon on the head and went to try the next door. “There it is again! I saw it! I swear I saw a ghost!” Jennifer refused to enter this room. So, of course, she grabbed Jon by the shirt and pushed him in first.
“Hey! This is a new shirt! Hands off!” Jon said as Jennifer grabbed him.
“This is a new shirt! Hands off!” Jennifer mimicked Jon in the same way he had mimicked her earlier. He gave her a little sneer and proceeded to look around.
“Nicole, aren’t you coming?” He called as he went further into the room. Jennifer was right behind him, only about a foot away. Jon abruptly turned around and Jennifer ran into him, the consequence for following so closely. “Do you HAVE to be so close to me?” Jon asked as he continued searching the room, “See, look. Nicole is doing fine on her own. She’s searching the room, and she’s NOT following anyone for protection! It’s only a house, Jennifer, it can’t hurt you.”
“Who says I was following you for protection?! Just because I’m following you doesn’t mean I’m scared, you know,” said Jennifer in a defensive tone. Taking his comments as an implication that she couldn’t do anything on her own, Jennifer went and searched the room on her own. As she was poking around, she opened one of the drawers of the nightstand. “Guys, come here! I found something.” Jon and Nicole stepped over to where Jennifer was. Jennifer picked up the item and wiped the dust off. “It’s a key. But it’s pretty old. I’m not sure if it will work on any of the doors. Although… it looks really cool! I think I’ll keep it!” With that last remark Jennifer slipped the key into her pocket.
Nikki looked around the room. “I don’t think there is anything else in this room. It seems pretty empty to me. Shall we go?” The others agreed and followed her out of the room. Then Jon all of a sudden froze as if he’d seen a ghost. “Jon, what’s wrong?” Jon didn’t answer. He just very slowly and extremely cautiously walked forward to the room parallel to the one they had just explored. “Jon…? Are you ok?” Still no reply.
Jennifer smacked Jon in the head. “Ow…,” Jon said scratching the back of his head, “What was that for?”
“Well you weren’t listening to anything Nikki said. And you just stared at that door in front of you as if you were possessed!” Jennifer explained, “Sorry for hitting you, but you weren’t listening to anything we said. So what was with you anyway? Why were you acting like that?”
“I saw a ghost!” Jon replied quickly, “I did! Really I did! It was wearing a white mask, and a black robe thing, and the robe as all tattered and torn, and he was flying around with a giant pair of scissors!” Nicole and Jennifer looked at him with very unbelieving expressions. “What? You don’t believe me? But I saw it! Really I did!”
Nicole opened the door that Jon had been staring at. “Jon, stop your whining. Look, there is nothing in this room. It’s entirely empty,” said Nikki as she opened the door and looked inside the room, “This place is safe. Nothing here can hurt you. I told Jennifer the same thing.”
“Well what if there is a ghost though, Nikki! I know I saw something. Even though Jon’s description is a bit far-fetched, there still could be a ghost! I saw something with a white mask as well. I didn’t see any scissors though. Jon could be making that part up,” pointed Jennifer as she entered the room to take a look, “But the only thing I don’t understand is that I always see it in a room, but then I look around and it isn’t there.”
“I didn’t make it up!” Jon snapped as he stomped his foot, getting it stuck once again, “I meant to do that…”
Jennifer just looked at him, a very un-amused look on her face. “Jon, you’re such a klutz.” She shook her head and continued walking down the hall.
“HEY! Wait!” Jon called out as Jennifer walked off, “Wait, Jen! My foot is still stuck!” Jon yanked his foot out of the hole ruining the floor even more. “I said WAIT, Jen!” He rushed to catch up to Jennifer who was exploring another room. Jennifer looked up as Jon ran into the room. “Where’s Nikki?” Jon inquired with a bit of panic in his voice as he quickly searched the room.
“Not here. I thought she was back in the hall helping you get your foot our of the floor,” replied Jennifer, panic rising slightly in her voice as well, “You don’t think the ghost got her do you? No… Nicole is smarter than that. She wouldn’t have gotten herself in any trouble, right? She’s always together, right? She always knows what to do, right?!”
“Right, yeah whatever. Just shut up. You talk too much,” said Jon, half listening, half zoning out. Jon and Jennifer stepped out of the room and looked down the dark hall where they last saw Nicole. Jennifer started down the fall to see if Nicole was in one of the rooms they had already checked. “Stop, come back!” Jon grabbed Jennifer’s wrist and pulled her back into the room.
“What’s wrong with you, Jon?” I just want to find Nicole. And you hurt my wrist…,” complained Jennifer as she rubbed her wrist trying to made it feel better.
“Sorry if I hurt you,” Jon said apologetically, “but if the ghost actually did get Nikki, I didn’t want it to get you, too…”
“Awww, you really do care!” Jennifer said as she lightly touched Jon’s arm.
“Hey, hey!” Jon interrupted, “Don’t get all touchy and feely on me! Just because you’re my friend doesn’t mean I care!” Jon re-searched the room. “Hey, over here. I found another door!”
Jennifer followed Jon to the new door he found. “But, Jon, that’s a closet,” she pointed out.
“It’s a door, Jennifer. It wouldn’t be here if it didn’t go somewhere.” And with that Jon walked full-force into the back wall of the closet. “Aaahh, my nose!”
“I told you it was a closet…,” said Jennifer as Jon stumbled back holding his nose, “Oh, hey. Lookie here. I found a mask.” Jennifer picked up a mask with a haze that rotated from purple to green and a demonic expression. She held the mask up to her face for a moment and showed Jon. “How do I look?” she said with a tease.
“Errr… well it’s a good way to scare people away, not that you need it though,” he added under his breath. Jon snatched the mask from Jennifer and looked at it carefully. “Hey! This is the mask that the ghost was wearing.” He looked at it and wondered why it would be in a closet. But frankly he didn’t care. He tossed the mask over his shoulder and started to walk out the door.
“Jon!” Jennifer shouted after him, “What about the mask? It’s cool lookin’. Don’t you want to keep it?” He didn’t answer her so she took it as a yes. “Ok, fine. If you don’t want it then I guess I’ll take it. I’m not sure what I’ll do with it… but it looks cool none-the-less!” She grabbed the mask and dashed out the door to catch up with her friend. She ran out into the hallway only to find a lot of dust and a million cobwebs, but no Jon. “Jon! Jon, where are you?” she called, her voice breaking in panic, “Jon this isn’t funny. Please come out! Jon! Hello…?” Jennifer walked very slowly down the hall, calling Jon’s name. All of a sudden she jumped. Someone was banging on one of the doors from the other side.
“Jennifer! Let me out! I know the jokes I played on you earlier weren’t that nice, but you didn’t have to lock me in here!” Jon screamed as he continued to hammer the door with his fists, “JENNIFER!! LET ME OUT!!” Jennifer opened the door and Jon came tumbling out onto the floor in pile of dust. “Why’d you lock me in there? I know I wasn’t exactly nice to you earlier, but you didn’t have to do THAT.”
Jennifer helped him up and helped brush off the dust. “I didn’t lock you in the closet. I wasn’t even in the hallway! I stayed back for a minute to grab the cool lookin’ mask you left behind,” she explained, her voice starting to calm, “And I would never be so mean as to lock you in a closet. I may overreact, but I’m not mean.”
“Well then who pushed me in there?” Jon inquired ignorantly as he picked a spider out of his hair.
Jennifer looked at him, giving him the ‘you’re so stupid’ look. “I was in the other room, Jon… Now tell me, how could I have seen who pushed you? I didn’t even know where you were!” she turned her back to him and acted as though he had hurt her in some way. “Well, I’m leaving. I’ve had enough of this place. Would you care to join me?” Jennifer turned to leave but soon realized that Jon wasn’t following her. “Jon? Aren’t you coming?”
“But, Jennifer, there’s one more room. I wanna check it out, c’mon!” Jon replied as he walked towards the back of the musty hallway, “I’m not going back yet. I want to see what’s in this room.” Jennifer followed with reluctant grumbles. As they entered the room Jon quickly noticed an impression in the back wall. “Jennifer! Come here for a minute. I think I found something.”
“What is it now, Jon?” said Jennifer with a sigh, “I really want to leave, you know. Can you please hurry up?” She stepped closer to Jon and examined the impression with him.
“Hey, do you still have that mask?” Jon inquired as he held out a hand, “The shape of the impression is the exact same shape of the mask. Can I see it for a minute?”
“NO! It’s MY mask! Get your own!” Jennifer snapped, putting the mask behind her back so Jon couldn’t reach, “It’s too cool to give up!”
Jon looked at how Jennifer was holding the mask behind her back. He thought for a moment then grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back into the wall. The mask Jennifer was holding behind her back pushed perfecting into the wall. “HA! If you won’t give the mask to me, then I’ll make you push it in yourself!”
“But, hey! That’s not fair!” Jennifer whined as she looked at the mask embedded in the wall.
“Well who said life was-“ Jon’s sentence was cut short when all of a sudden the floor dropped from beneath their feet. The two friends hit the ground hard. As they stumbled to their feet they looked about to see where they were. “HOLY CRAP! Jennifer! What is that!?” Jon yelled pointing to a massive undead.
“It-it-it’s a dragon!” Jennifer stammered as she cowered behind Jon.
“Excuse me! But I am a BONE Dragon, not any ordinary dragon!” bellowed the bone giant, “My name, however, is Sentinel.” Black smoke and flames curled up over the bone dragon’s snout as he talked. “Although I have only just met you, I’m afraid this is goodbye. You see, I am very hungry, so if you don’t mind I have dinner to attend to: you.”
“AAAAAAHHHHHH! JON DON’T LET ‘IM EAT ME!” screamed Jennifer as she closed her eyes tight and flung her arms around Jon’s neck choking him, “ooooohhhh, Jon! I’m sorry I yelled at you at times! I’m sorry if I’ve ever gotten mad at you.”
Jon, doing his ditz voice, said, “You silly girl, it can’t hurt us! You even said, ‘undeads aren’t real, stupid! Nothing is this house can hurt you!’” Just as Jon finished his sentence a blast of flame singed his hair. “OOOOOOOOOK, Jennifer! I think you’re right! Let’s go, NOW!”
“But, Jon! I don’t see an exit,” Jennifer panicked.
“Then open your eyes, stupid…” was Jon’s ingenious reply. Jennifer quickly opened her eyes and the two of them scanned the room for some sort of exit. “There! A door!” Jon pointed to the south wall. “Come on, Jennifer! Hurry up!” He grabbed her hand and guided her to the door and proceeded to turn the handle. “It’ locked!”
“OH! Jon, I still have that key!” Jennifer said helpfully.
“Well give it here!” Jon ordered. Jennifer quickly passed the key over to him and he unlocked the door. The two of them burst outside and closed the door behind them. Sitting on a bench just in front of them was Nikki who was stuffing her face with cotton candy.
“Oh, hi guys!” Nikki called as she waved her cotton candy in the air, “Where have you been all this time? I’ve already been on all the rides waiting for you to come out of that stupid haunted house!”

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