It'd been two weeks since I had the nightmare, and things were going well. I was preparing for a sleepover with some old friends, and I packed my bag with a smile on my face. Then, I fed my cats, gave them water, turned off the lights, and locked the door on my way out. I got in my car and pulled out of the driveway with a small smile on my face.
"It's been forever since we got to hang out," I thought to myself as I drove down the road. Rebecca's house was twenty minutes away from mine, so it didn't take long to get there. When I pulled into the driveway, Max, Molly, Jake, and Rebecca were already waiting for me.
"It's Ace!" Rebecca said as she hugged me tightly. "It's been so long! How have you been, Ace?" She asked as she finally let go of me.
"I've been doing pretty well," I said as I grabbed my stuff from my car. "I have a stable home, a good job, and two beautiful cats. Nyx is a Maine Coone, and Luna is a Bombay."
"That's great!" Max said with a smile on his face as he took his stuff inside.
"We're glad you've been doing so well," Molly said as she helped Max.
"What's your job?" Jake asked as he adjusted his sweater. "If I remember correctly, you wanted to be a YouTuber back in High School."
"He's right," Rebecca said as she stood beside Jack. "You wanted to be a YouTuber back in High School. Did that ever happen?"
"Yeah! I'm a YouTuber," I said with a smile. "It wasn't easy, but I did it. I have a successful YouTube channel now. I actually have three channels. One of them is a gaming channel, another is a music channel, and the other one is for different types of videos."
"That's great!" Rebecca said with a smile.
"Congratulations," Jake said as he followed everyone inside.
"Thanks!" I said with a smile. When I went back outside to get my phone, I noticed that there was an extra car in the driveway. "Did you guys invite someone else?" I asked as I went back inside. "There's another car out there."
"Sorry, Ace," Molly said with a sheepish expression as she looked at me. "I know you don't get along with her, but we invited Jessica."
My eyes widened in shock and disbelief. "They invited Jessica? Why did they invite her? She bullied me back in High School!" I thought to myself as I stood there. "Why did you invite Jessica?" I asked as I looked at Rebecca.
"I'm sorry, Ace. She said she wanted to apologize to you, so we agreed to let her join us. We should've checked with you first," Rebecca said as she looked at me with sincerity.
"I accept your apology, Rebecca," I said with a smile. "Besides, as log as Jessica truly means it, I'm willing to forgive her. Everyone deserves a second chance."
A few hours later, we were all playing Truth or Dare when Jessica suddenly called my name. "Ace, truth or dare?" She asked with a sly grin.
I contemplated my choice for a moment before I responded. "I choose dare, Jessica," I said with a smile. "Do your worst."
"I dare you to spend a night at Okami High School," Jessica said with a grin as she looked at me.
My eyes widened in shock, and everyone's faces went pale. Okami High School used to be an amazing place. Everything was always clean, and the students were well-educated. It thrived until 20 years ago. There was a horrific chemical accident in one of the chemistry labs, and a lot of people died. The Administrators couldn't handle the aftermath, so the building was shut down and abandoned. There was a bunch of disappearances a few years after it was shut down, so the authorities declared that it was off-limits.
"Why the hell would you want me to go there?" I asked angrily. "It's a death wish!"
"She's right!" Rebecca said as she glared at Jessica.
"Are you crazy, Jessica?" Jake asked incredulously as he stared at Jessica.
"Ace could get in trouble if she gets caught!" Molly said as she looked at me with worry. "Besides, what if she goes missing?"
"They're right. Your dare is too much, Jessica," Max said as he gave Jessica a warning glare. "We're not going to risk Ace's safety for a stupid dare."
"What's wrong? Are you too scared to do it?" Jessica taunted.
"NO," I said firmly. "I'm not a coward. I'm simply asking you why you want me to go there."
Jessica glared at me. "Because I hate you, and I want to see you struggle. I want to watch as your terror grips you like a vice. I want to smile as you fall apart and fail."
I looked at Jessica with a blank expression for a few moments before I smiled. "Okay," I said as I shrugged. "I'll do it, but everybody is coming with me." I said as I looked her in the eyes. "Including you, Jessica."
Everyone else looked at me in shock, disbelief, and concern. They knew it was a bad idea, and they had a feeling that something was going to go wrong.
"Great!" Jessica said with a smile as she clapped her hands together. "There's no way you're going to pull this off."
"Watch me," I said with a smile as I met Jessica's gaze with a challenging look in my eyes.
Everyone was caught off guard by the intensity of my reaction, including Jessica. My friends looked at me with worry and fear for my safety. This was going to be extremely dangerous, but nobody knew just how horribly wrong this was going to go.
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