“Ready or not, here I come!” yelled Cassandra, pausing a few extra seconds to give her little brothers extra time to hide. “Come out, come out wherever you are!” she said, scanning the backyard for their favorite places to hide. If there was one thing Cassandra had learned from playing hide and seek with her brothers, it was that they always hid in the same place. She stepped inside the house to see if they had hidden inside. She crouched behind sofas, bent under tables, and turned over bed covers, but they were nowhere to be found. Cassandra began to worry a bit. She had checked in all their usual hiding places. Where could they be? “Alright guys, you win!” she shouted. No one answered. “Conner! Curtis! Come out now, Mom and Dad will be here soon!” she called as loud she could from the backyard.
Oh, where could they be? Her bright green eyes drifted over to their neighbor, Mr. Tucker’s backyard. “Um-Mr Tucker?” she called. The frail old man peered his face out the back door, “Yeah, what is it?” he asked gruffly. “Er- I was only wondering if Conner and Curtis came over to your house to play with Ernie. You see, we were playing hide and seek and now I can’t find them!” Cassandra replied. “Ernie ain’t home right now. I think I saw them going round there when I came out few minutes ago.” He said, motioning his head around a bend in Cassandra’s backyard hidden by several thick bushes and trees. Cassandra let out a small sigh of relief, “Thank you, Mr. Tucker! You don’t know how much help you’ve been!” she said, rounding the bend in her backyard. Cassandra shoved aside bushes and dodged trees blocking her path. Finally, with a few blisters and scratched pants, a large open field came into view.
“Do we own this?” Cassandra thought, “No, it can’t be, Mom and Dad told me there was nothing past those trees.” Then, she noticed an old, worn sign a little while down. The letters were faded and tiny, but she could faintly make out the words NO TRESPASSING written in bold red letters. “Oh, no.” Cassandra said to herself, “Conner, Curtis, really?” On a hill a bit passed the sign was what seemed like a barnhouse. She sighed and ran over towards the house, reluctantly passing the NO TRESPASSING sign staked in the ground. When she reached the barnhouse, she hesitated, inspecting the exterior. Surrounding the barnhouse was dead, wilting grass. The barnhouse itself was tall, unstable, and dull red in color. The windows were barred, and in front of it stood an intimidating brown door. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the heavy doors and stepped inside.
Inside the barnhouse was completely dark, the only light coming from the door held open by Cassandra. “Guys!” she yelled, “Come out now, please! You won!” Still, no one answered. At the verge of tears, she called again, “Please, if you’re here! Just- come out! Please!” Drawing in a shaky breath she told herself, “I’m gonna find them.” Cassandra fumbled around in the dark, and ran her hands along the walls, searching for a light switch or string to turn on a light. Finally, she found a hanging cord and pulled on it. One light bulb hanging from the center of the barnhouse flickered ominously, dimly lighting the room. Near the end of the room, she saw a workbench, with two little boys resembling Curtis and Conner sitting on it, with their backs to her. Cassandra’s voice full of happiness and relief, she ran towards them, “Curtis, Conner! Why didn’t you answer when I called? I was so worried- oh, never mind, I found you!” she cried out joyously. Cassandra walked to Curtis and put her hand on his shoulder. Suddenly, he fell back, his lifeless body hitting the ground, a puddle of blood surrounding the workbench staining his shirt.. She screamed, “Curtis!” Breathing heavily, she bend down to look at Conner. His shirt was also stained with blood around his chest. In tears now, Cassandra gazed one more time at her brother's’ motionless bodies bodies before making a rush towards the door, which had closed. She struggled to open the door. She noticed a large gold lock that was not there before. Seeing a key ring on the floor, she grabbed it. There were at least a hundred keys on it, but only one of them was gold. As Cassandra was hurriedly shoving the key into the keyhole, the lights went off. She heard footsteps that seemed distant, though the room itself was not very big. Finally, the lock opened and she pushed open the door. Cassandra ran in the direction of her home, not daring to look back. At last, she reached the thicket of trees and bushes. While she was running through it, she tripped. When she looked back, she found her pant leg had caught onto a branch. Cassandra hurriedly attempted to undo it in vain. Suddenly, out of nowhere like before, she once again heard the distant footsteps, and held her breath, not daring to breath. Then, in they popped out in front of her. The lifeless bodies of Conner and Curtis, their blue eyes rolled back into their skull chanting, “Cassandra… Come out, come out, wherever you are!”