Ok, guys I really need your help/advice. I only have 12 hours. I will explain from the beginning.
Since I was a kid, I was very close to my cousin Steve. One thing we loved to do was place bets. We placed bets on everything. From sports, to silly games or asking out girls. But after high school, we drifted apart. I’m now in my early 40’s. Anyway, Steve supposedly obtained a considerable amount of wealth as he got older. For me, I was working a typical 9 to 5. I had a wife and a son at one point. My wife gained custody of our son when we divorced. Basically, the last few years I was just living through the motions
One day, I got a surprising call from Steve. We talked about what we did the years we drifted apart. Steve started his own company, traveled the world, got divorced 5 times.
“It was great catching up with you Steve.” I said, “We should hang out whenever you’re in town”.
“Why don’t we meet up next week?” He replied, “Remember how we used to do bets? I have another bet for you.”
“A bet?”, I chuckled, “I don’t have time for childish things like that anymore. I have to go to work next week.”
There was 30 seconds of silence. I started to feel unsettled. Why did he want this bet so bad?
“I will give you $10 million if you win the bet.” Steve eventually replied, “You don’t even need to accept the bet now. All I’m asking is you to fly out to Alaska next week.”
And so I flew out to Alaska and met Steve at the airport.
“So, where are you taking me?”, I asked.
“You will see”, he responded.
I asked him a few more questions during the drive. But every time Steve would give me short answers. The rest of the drive was awkward silence.
After a few hours we reached our destination. It was a beautiful, secluded mansion. Completely in the middle of nowhere and far from civilization. Surrounded by woods and wilderness.
Steve gave me the tour of his mansion. Everything about the mansion was fantastic. It had everything. Big kitchen, swimming pool, basketball court, bowling alley, movie theater.
“This is the bet. You will have to live in this house for a year.”, Steve explained, “The house has all the resources you need. 1 years worth of food, beverages, internet, electricity, laundry machine. However, you can’t have any physical contact with any human. Meaning no one can visit.”
I gave him a puzzled look which I think he noticed. That’s the bet? Yeah, 1 year without human contact will be hard. And it might be a bit creepy at night. But it’s a nice house, has everything I need to live here for year. And after that I get $10 million. I even had a movie theater for entertainment. Also, I could talk to my friends on my phone or computer if I ever get lonely. Of course I will take the bet. Also, I’m not a people person, so living with no real human contact for a year wasn’t that big of a deal for him.
“What’s the catch?”, I asked.
Steve looked at me with a stern look. He beckoned me to follow. He took me down a long hallway. I started hearing some noises. I couldn’t make it out at first. But as we were walking deeper and deeper down that hallway, I could pick out the sounds of terrifying moaning and screaming. Sounds of unimaginable agony. It got louder and louder. We reached the end of the hallway. At the end of the hallway was a room leading down a flight of stairs leading to pitch-black darkness.
“This is the basement of the mansion”. He said.
I could not see inside the basement, only the stairs going down to pitch-black darkness. I soon realized that the horrifying sounds came from that darkness inside the basement down those stairs.
“That is the stairway to hell”, Steve said. “Don’t go near the stairs, or someone from hell will grab you and drag you down into the darkness. There is no way to escape hell once you’re dragged in.”.
I burst out laughing but I stopped when I saw Steve’s face was still stern. He’s actually serious? I thought. He believes this nonsense. I stared down the pitch darkness of the basement hearing those horrifying noises. This isn’t a joke?
I was at first disturbed by this. But after contemplating it a bit. All I had to do was ignore this long hallway. That’s the only part of the mansion where you can hear the screaming echoing from the basement. Don’t go near the hallway and most certainly don’t go near the basement at the end of the hallway. That’s all I had to do. After the tour, I was still confident that I could manage to live a year in the mansion and win the bet.
“There is still one more thing you have to know”, Steve said. “Every day from midnight to 6 am the people from hell will leave the basement. They will try to capture you and drag you to hell in the basement. They can roam anywhere in the mansion during those hours. The only safe haven in the mansion during those 6 hours would be your bedroom. Lock your bedroom door using this key from 12-6 am and you should be fine”.
Again, I was disturbed by this. But the bedroom was massive and had its own refrigerator, toilet and TV. I could survive living 6 hours every night in the bedroom. So again I shrugged it off and decided the bet was still worth it.
The first two months living in the mansion was fine. Majority of the time I played video games, watched movies and sports. A few times, out of curiosity, I would take a few steps down the long hallway. And every time I could hear the moaning and screaming coming from the basement at the end of the hallway. And then I would immediately back away.
As I was told, at midnight I went into my bedroom and locked the door until 6 am. From time to time, during those 6 hours, I could hear footsteps outside of my bedroom but I still managed to sleep peacefully.
It was around the third month when things started to get worse. While I was watching a movie in the movie theater, I thought I heard a familiar noise. The noise that came from the basement. I shouldn’t be able to hear the people from hell in this part of the mansion. The hallway leading to the basement should be the only area of the mansion where I should hear that noise. I paused the movie. I didn’t hear anything. Must have been my imagination I thought.
But a week went by, while I was in the kitchen, I could hear the moaning and screaming again. This time it definitely wasn’t my imagination. Before long, the moaning from the basement echoed across the whole mansion 24/7. Didn’t matter where I was in the mansion. And from 12-6 am the people from hell were becoming more aggressive. Instead of just hearing footsteps from time to time going passed my bedroom like what happened initially the first few months. The people from hell were moaning and screaming the whole night and banging on my bedroom door trying to get in. I decided to call Steve to tell him about this. Steve said as long as I locked the bedroom door with the key the people from hell couldn’t get to me even if they were banging on the door.
So the next few months I lived in the mansion 24/7 hearing the moaning and screaming. And every night from 12-6 they were banging on my bedroom door trying to get in. Again it was 24/7 of this. Months and months went by. I was gradually losing my sanity. But somehow I managed to last 364 days in the mansion. Today is the last day. Only one more day to complete the bet. I just have to ignore the moaning and lock my bedroom door tonight. After that, I can leave this wretched mansion and get the $10 million.
However… I just accidently dropped my bedroom key in the toilet while it was flushing. That key is the only way to lock my bedroom door at midnight. It’s noon in Alaska right now. So I only have 12 hours before midnight. What should I do?