Leo Pewitt's Story

Easing his foot off the accelerator as he slowed to a stop in the leaf strewn gravel drive, Leo rubbed his forehead and took one look at the building in front of him and knew he was in the right place. He sighed and looked around at the half-dead trees surrounding the mansion. They completely circled the building and spread out as far as you could see, the Manor directly in the middle of a forest. He had followed a gravel drive off of the main road for about 15 minutes before arriving in front of the grand Devontic Manor. The Manor was beautiful and about 5 stories tall, the tops of the towering spires meeting in points, artfully crafted masonry decorating the edges of everything. It was a dark, stony gray. Two large pillars hefted the weight of a grand stone awning with a rounded top, extending about 20 feet from the doors. It was covered in browning leaves, though, giving it a creepy feel. Many of the windows were shuttered shut.

Leo drove up into the right side of a circular drive of pavement just in front of the Manor, a long stretch of empty parking spaces to his left. There were two rows of them facing each other, islanded off by the paved drive. There looked to be about 50 on either side stretching all the way down to the beginning of the paved area. The drive looked more Ovular, now that he thought about it. All the spots were empty, save for one which had a very sleek black DeSoto occupying the spot. Leo presumed this was Mr. Devontic's vehicle. He looked at the time on his dashboard. It read 11:48 A.M.. He was fairly surprised he was so early. He was usually the latest one to arrive, or never arrived at all. He pulled into the closest spot to him, about 10 spots from the front door. He parked his old, shaky Taurus, the engine grumbling to silence as Leo turned off the car. He sat back and waited for someone else to arrive because he would feel a little awkward if he were to walk in so early, by himself.

He reached over to his passenger seat and took hold of the envelope in which he'd received the invitation. He pulled out the letter and read it again, trying to be sure he didn't miss anything.... Nope. Still the same old cryptic message. What did he DO? He thought he was an okay guy, but he didn't remember doing anything spectacular. He sighed in discontent and scratched his chin, awaiting another guest to arrive.

"I'm invited to a party?" Dalton asked himself as he had just read the letter. "What kind of spam is this?" he threw the letter away in the trash can before watching his television for a bit. Oddly, his mind kept refocusing onto the letter, and the party. What had he done to be noticed? Why did he even care? It wasn't as if he had a reason to even want to go, besides sating his boredom.

He picked the letter out of the trash and re-read through it, as to make sure he wasn't mis-comprehending it. Sure enough, it invited him to Devontic Manor for some sort of gathering. A party, if you will. "Well, it's a bit aways, but I guess I can check it out..." he convinced himself before locking up his house and getting into his car to set off towards the place.

(A couple hours later)

His car bumped up in down of the dirt path it was taking towards the mansion. At least, that's where he believed he was going until he eventually reached a dead end. "Oh, shit...it said West, not East..." he turned around and backtracked until he was on the right path.

(A bit later)

"I'M NOT INSANE, I'M NOT INSANE..... I'M NOT INSANE, I'M NOT, NOT INSANE!!!!" he yelled along with his music. His MP3 was plugged into his car, providing him with any of his saved tunes, this one being "Almost Easy" by Avenged Sevenfold.

As he followed a road, he ended up at a mansion which he would assume was Devontic Manor, unless there was just another random Manor out in the middle of the woods. He scanned it with his eyes and decided that it looked just like one of the haunted mansions from scary movies he had seen whenever he went to the movies. It had statues, a creepy aura about it and even the occasional bat. Well, not really, but he liked to pretend.

He shut his car down, pulling out his MP3 and shoving it in his pocket along with his keys before opening the door. He looked at another person who he assumed were one of the other partygoers and smiled. "So, you're here for the party as well?"

(Grr didnt see your post!!)

Jeanine drove along the dirt road towards the lone house. Her Jeep Wrangler rocked side to side as the road dipped into pot holes. Jeanine's pony tail swayed in the air as the Jeep rolled to a stop. Jeanine sighed slowly as she brought out her compact with her built in mirror. She looked at herself. Red hair. Amber eyes. Jeanine aimed her mirror down so she could look at her outfit. She was wearing a navy blue long sleeve shirt and jeans. Very casual. She'd never been all that dressy as a child... She always went for the comfy casual look. Jeanine closed her compact and shoved it in her pocket as she hopped out of the jeep and closed the door. Someone else had arrived and it seemed a young blonde guy was talking to him. Why not join the conversation? She didn't want to go inside just yet so maybe they could talk. "Hey I'm Jeanine... I don't wanna go inside alone so wanna talk?" Jeanine asked.

Leo had gotten out of his car and was leaning against the back of the Taurus and was about to pull a cigarette from his pocket and have a short smoke when he heard a very familiar voice accompanied by pounding drums and shredding guitar booming from the distance. "M. Shadows? I like this place better already." He said with a smirk, watching the car pull up and into a spot. The guy had blond-ish hair and looked a little older than Leo was. "At least he's got good taste in music." He thought, as the guy got out of his car and approached him. Leo took the previously forgotten cigarette from his pocket, Flicking open his plain Zippo and lighting it, taking a few puffs as the ember took and his lungs were filled with the heavy smoke. He coughed once and shivered, the bitter flavor filling his mouth. He rarely smoked, maybe a pack every 2 months, finding it to be a light addiction. The guy was about 6 feet from Leo when he asked "So, you're here for the party as well?"

Leo took another deep drag, then exhaled it through his nose, the gray smoke flowering out into the air from his nostrils. He took the cigarette from his mouth and parted his lips to speak, only to be cut short by another vehicle coming around the bend and parking nearby. The approaching vehicle caught the blonde guy's eye, so Leo put the cigarette back between his lips and watched as a cute woman parked her car and climbed out, then practically seemed to bounce up to the conversation without a flicker of doubt. She said "Hey I'm Jeanine... I don't wanna go inside alone so wanna talk?"

Leo smiled and shook his head a bit as they engaged in conversation. He leaned further against his car, wrapping his arms closely to his body as his eyes wandered to the mouth of the drive, where the cars came around the bend. A Prius pulled in very soon after, and a woman got out and stood awkwarly for a moment or so. Then the blonde guy made a comment on her or the car or something in an odd voice, but Leo wasn't paying enough attention to catch just what he had said. The blonde guy and the reddish brown haired girl threw around conversation for a bit, mainly centered on what the hell the were doing there. Everyone was looking a little uneasy and nervous, and Leo didn't get it. Sure, the mansion looked Macabre, but there wasn't a reason to be nervous. Maybe that was just his personality, but Leo thought it was a little unnecessary to be worried. The girl who drove the Prius heard the blonde guys comment, apparently, because she approached with a playfully accusing look in her eyes and said "Correct, And I love every bit of it. Are you all guests of this party as well?" then she looked at the Manor oddly too. "What the fuck. C'mon, people." He thought to himself, continually taking draws from his ever-shortening cigarette.

Leo shivered as a sudden gust of cold wind blew from the surrounding corpse of a forest. He threw up the hood on his sweatshirt, hunching up his shoulders and hiding behind the sides of the hoodie. The wind toyed with the smoke streaming from his cigarette, sending it every which way. Leo watched while the wind tossed the other's hair and blew leaves around and whistled through the trees.

....eeeeesssssscaaaaape....

Leo's eyes widened as he heard an airy voice extremely close behind him hiss into his ear. The voice sounded like it was blowing in on the wind, carried by the gusts and currents blowing from the forest. The voice faded slowly as the wind blew against his skin, the chilling voice trailing way, becoming distant. He jumped a bit initially and got off his car, turning around to it while his eyes rapidly scanned around to see that nobody was close enough to whisper in his ear, let alone talk to him from behind. "What in God's name was that?" He thought to himself. He took a shaky breath of his cigarette and looked to the others to see if they had reacted to anything.

"And I love every bit of it. Are you all guests of this party as well?"

Although he had been the first to ask this, Dalton couldn't help but mock her for such an obvious question. Sure, he was a hypocrite, but giving somebody trouble was always good for killing boredom. He at least had the courtesy of doing this in a playful voice, rather than a harsh, dick-voice. "No, I'm just sitting outside a random mansion, hoping that I can peek in at the party." his voice declaring his sarcasm enough to where somebody who lacked the sense of sound might even hear it.

With a gust bombarding the man, his arms found themselves wrapped in each other and a slight shiver made itself apparent. Seeing the other guy pull his hood up, Dalton promptly mimicked him, as it would be foolish not do so if given the opportunity. Once the hood was up, he tightened it just a bit, so that it wasn't completely impossible to pull off and that it wasn't too open to allow much cold air to infiltrate the jacket. Once that was settled, he gave a glance again at the building they were invited to.

Besides being a stereotypical haunted house, there was this...feeling, Dalton got when his eyes surveyed the structure. It didn't necessarily scare him, but it didn't make him feel too good either. It gave him the impression that something was off, and that he shouldn't really find himself in the place. But, maybe that was just how it was built. A house designed for halloween parties, maybe? His mind fooled his instincts.

....eeeeesssssscaaaaape....

"?!"

Dalton looked behind himself to see.... nothing. Or at least nothing that could've whispered into his ear in such a dark way. The voice, or maybe just the wind, teased his ear with a lower voice that demanded he pay attention. It's warning had not gone unheard, and he noticed the other man reacting just as he. Did he hear it too? No, maybe it was a coincidence and the voice was just his imagination.

"Probably just the wind," she mumbled, "but maybe this isn't such an bright idea, staying here and all. I don't know about you all, but it's a tad too dodgy for my taste." Emma looked around the vicinity yet again, unable to shake the feeling of someone watching her. "I figured a few of my professors were hosting this party and giving out letters of recommendation," she paused, glancing at the mansion, "but this place doesn't seem... well, very much like them. Are any of you also from UCL?"

Emma averted her eyes to the sound of another engine pulling up, revealing a grey SUV. A very tall, very handsome boy stepped out of the vehicle, shutting the door behind him as he approached. Emma wondered how many people would be attending the party; she assumed there would be very little - supposing the party was as prestigious as the letter had made it sound - but she couldn't be positive. Why would her professors host a gathering so far away? It could very well be a county-funded award ceremony, but Emma scarcely stood out in her neighbourhood; there was hardly a chance she could have been invited into something so illustrious.

She took a breath from her prattling mind, acknowledging the newest participant.

Leo blinked in confusion as he saw the rest of the attendants recoil in much the same way as he. He scratched his chin as the wind faded away along with the voice. He looked around at everyone and shrugged his shoulders, "You heard that too, right?" He said. As Leo spoke, another 2 cars pulled into the drive. Out of the first stepped what was obviously a basketball player. "Holy. fuck. He's Tall." Leo thought to himself. Out of the second car, A vividly red-haired girl stepped out in a strapless black dress, her bright locks falling upon her bare shoulders. The smoldering cigarette almost fell from his mouth as the girl approached, her hair bouncing with every step. "Sorry I'm running late! My name is Chloe, Did I miss anything important?" she said, in a voice comparative to a rose pedal fluttering in a summer breeze. He took a shallow breath of his cigarette, and to keep her from worrying, Leo withheld the information of the voice everyone had heard. He looked around at everyone one last time before responding. "Uhm, no, you didn't miss.... Too much." He said. "My name's Leo, nice to meet you." He said with a smile as he offered his hand.

It appeared as the whole party heard the whisper and not just Dalton by himself. A slight relief, but at the same time, it made him feel all the more uncomfortable. There were a lot of things it could've possibly been, most of them involving the wind, so Dalton decided to stop being a pussy and man up.

The couple of other guests finally arriving didn't recieve too much attention until they parted with their vehicles. One was possibly a mini-giant, and the other was a girl with an unique shade of red-hair. She managed to speak first, or at least catch his attention before the taller man.

Sorry I'm running late! My name is Chloe, Did I miss anything important?" her hand waved at the group.

The man introducing himself as Leo proposed a handshake before he could, so, he waited until she responded before he would offer his own. As he did, another gust picked up, this one just as cold as the last, but since he had prepared, he wasn't as frozen by it as the last.

Glad I brought a jacket.

"Uhm, no, you didn't miss.... Too much." He said. "My name's Leo, nice to meet you."
As the boy reached for her hand she took it, shaking it delicately and giving him a quick smile. As she dropped his hand she brushed her curly red hair behind her ear and looked to the others. A cool breeze rolled through and she quickly covered her arms with her hands, her bouncy curls dancing in the wind.
"It's a little chilly, do you think we can go inside soon?" she said as she dropped her hands, keeping her dress from rolling up her thighs any further.
A tall boy walked up with her, and another was already at the door, she looked to the two and smiled, offering her hand to each.
"It's so nice to meet all of you" she said after introductions, "Does anyone know why we were invited, I mean I'm flattered, but I'm just not sure why I was invited."

Oliver walked from his car to the larger groups. It looked like everyone was already here and introducing themselves. Ollie took a few strides and he was to the group. As usual he was much taller than the rest of the people he was with. Please don't comment on my height. I know I'm tall, but that doesn't have to be the ice-breaker to every conversation with a tall person. Ollie thought to himself. He stopped next to the group, smiling.

"Hey everyone. Sorry I'm late," he said, pushing his hand through his hair. This was a force of habit now. Oliver had no idea where he picked it up but every once in a while, usually when the nerves of meeting new people were high, he would run his left hand through his hair.

"Does anyone know why we were invited, I mean I'm flattered, but I'm just not sure why I was invited."

Oliver looked at the girl with the astonishingly red hair. Man. That hair is something else, Ollie thought. He gave her a smile and then looked up at the mansion. "Isn't it obvious. We have clearly all been recognized for our talents and been accepted to Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."

"Well, then I think I'm going to head home," Emma said blandly, turning to head back to her car. It was obvious no one was really taking interest in meeting her, and she didn't want to be stuck in a creepy mansion with these people. There was the flirty girl with a head like a firetruck-gone-wild - or Chloe for short - who, in her skimpy dress and flashy heels, came off as completely annoying. Jeanine seemed decent - the typical cute girl - and was quite the natural in starting conversation, but Emma wouldn't miss her. The guys all seemed the same - infatuated with the pretty girls. She realized she couldn't blame anyone for not really speaking to her; she wasn't really the flirtatious or outgoing type, but she wasn't going to stick around feeling like an outcast.

It wasn't only the guests that made her want to leave, however; the mansion gave her a bad feeling. Sure, her intuition was a little biased considering she could find danger practically anywhere, but this place was different. It sincerely felt wrong, and after that voice - or hiss, or whatever the hell it was - she wanted to leave. Emma was definitely not the type to take chances. If she really was getting her letter of recommendation, it could wait until the next time she saw her professors.

"This place is just a little too unwarranted for me. Hope you all have fun, though!" she whistled over her shoulder, retrieving her keys from her pocket. Emma was glad to be leaving.

Leo smiled at the basketball player esque guy as he approached, and responded to Chloe about some odd sounding school. "Isn't it obvious. We have clearly all been recognized for our talents and been accepted to Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters." Leo shot him an odd glance and thought to himself "The hell is he talking about? There's no way in hell I'm here as a 'gifted youngster'." Leo took one last draw of his cigarette, then flicked the stump to the ground and crushed out the ember with his heel. Leo heard from behind him, "Well, then I think I'm going to head home. "This place is just a little too unwarranted for me. Hope you all have fun, though!" she whistled over her shoulder, retrieving her keys from her pocket. Emma was glad to be leaving." Leo turned and watched her walk back to her car. He felt kinda bad. Nobody seemed to be addressing her. He scratched his chin scruff again. He seemed to be developing a habit out of it. He shrugged as she walked off and he turned back to everyone, counting them mentally. Five, including himself. "Well, I'm gonna head on inside. It's getting cold out here..." Leo said, as the wind continued to gust for a moment, then die down, then pick back up again.

Leo approached the front doors, and discovered something strange. Two things, actually. The front "Door" had no handles. Leo raised an eyebrow and put his hands on the door, pushing a bit. The door felt solid as a rock. Leo pushed harder, thinking maybe the door was stuck. As Leo pushed harder, his left hand slipped on the surface of the door, flying out and streaking across the door. The loss of stability in his pushing caused Leo's face to smack right into the door, where he then realized the second peculiar aspect of the door. It was COVERED in what looked like black ash, which he had gotten on his hands and right side of his face. It was just a thin layer, but enough to make his hand lose traction and smack his head into the door. Leo stumbled back a pace, his eyes fixed on the door. There was a handprint sized spead where the ash had been removed partially, as well as a large streak where it had been rubbed away by Leo's jutting hand. An embarrassingly face-shaped one lay between the prior two. Leo turned to the others and held up his left hand to the group, and examined his right. "What the FUCK is this?" He shouted, wiping his hands off on his gray hoodie on instinct, which he VERY soon realized was a HORRIBLE idea. The ash came off his hands alright. They also dragged large, charcoal colored smears on his jacket. "God dammit..." He muttered.

Leo took his jacket off, exposing his short-sleeve clad body to the cold, gusting gales. He shivered, goosebumps rippling across his body. He muttered obscenities to himself as he wiped the gritty powder from his hands, leaving behind only a dark grey shadow on his palms. He then wiped his face off delicately. The ash smeared partially on his nose, so he wiped that off as well. after he had successfully ruined his jacked and got off as much of the ash as he possibly could, he took his phone from his pocket and examined his reflection in the dark screen. The right side of his face and the tip of his nose was stained partially gray. "Well, shit." He said, shivering a bit from the wind on his bare skin. Leo turned back to the door, and he saw something peculiar. Beneath the layer of black ash, Leo spotted what looked like letters. He quizzically raised an eyebrow, looking over his shoulder at the rest as he approached the door again. He took his already ruined jacket and rubbed off the entire layer of ash with it, scraping the dusty powder to the floor. Beneath all the dust, there was a solid stone slab. Inscribed on it where 6 words in a foreign language. Leo recognized it as German. Written on the door were these words:

Sieben Gäste.
Keiner mehr, keiner weniger.

"This place is just a little too unwarranted for me. Hope you all have fun, though!"

"Goddamnit..." Dalton mumbled to himself. She was being ignored and felt unwanted. If he didn't do something, he'd be a hypocrite after spending all those days in high school being that guy that didn't exist. This exact situation had happened to him before, minus the creepy mansion and the chilling voice he heard.

Actually, it happened multiple times. As outgoing as he seems, Dalton has only really been this way since the senior year of high school, when he finally decided to grow a pair and force his way into stuff. Not brashly, of course. However, he wouldn't just let himself be forgotten, making sure to address people in parties directly and with a louder than normal voice. Sure, it sounded weird, but it did catch people's attention. The only reason he hadn't done it this time is because he was one of the first here, and naturally people walked up and talked to him. That being said, he was at one point a shy person. In fact, he still shows this occasionally.

Throwing away the thought that it wasn't just the friggin house scaring her off, he called out. "Hey there!" he waved, hoping to catch her attention if she turned. "Don't leave just yet; the fun hasn't really begun!" he caught up to her and matched pace. "I don't believe I even caught your name," he realized.

In the back of his mind was the realization that he may have sounded like a dick at first, making a joke about her Prius and then about her inquiery about them being the guests. If only everybody knew him, he wouldn't come off as such, but it couldn't be helped. That's how he was.

He didn't notice Leo entering the mansion.

"Emma," she replied dryly, unlocking her car and hopping in. "Apologies, but this kind of fun isn't quite like my kind of fun," she said, throwing him a feeble smile before buckling her seat belt. Emma didn't exactly have her own type of fun, but she decided to leave that part out. "See you," she waved, sticking her keys into the ignition cylinder.

Her absolutely fabulous, highly reliable Prius wouldn't, for the first time in history, make a bleeding sound. Emma cursed under her breath, cranking the key a second time. Zip.

Emma furrowed her brows, trying a few more times to no avail. She whipped out her phone, setting it to her ear as she rung one of her best friends. "You can't be serious!" she shouted, slamming her palm against the steering wheel.

No reception.

With a relinquished sigh, Emma looked to the mansion again. The boy with the cigarette - Leo - stood at the door with wide eyes. Emma squinted as he turned around, spotting black dust smeared across his hands and face. "What the FUCK is this?" he shouted, clearly ruining his sweatshirt as he wiped the powder off. Emma got out of her car, exchanging a curious glance with Dalton before heading over.

She observed the door, realizing the black dust was ash. Leo had taken his jacket and dusted off the door, revealing a message in German.

Sieben Gäste.
Keiner mehr, keiner weniger.

Emma racked her brain for a translation. She had taken a Dutch language class in her early college years, and the two languages were distinctly similar. Emma, sadly, could hardly remember anything - excluding how to order food. A light flickered in her mind, igniting a few of the words she knew hid in her mind somewhere. "Sieben means seven," she said quietly, staring at the door. "That's all I know," she sighed, hoping someone out of the group conveniently knew more than just one number in German.

"Damn...."

It appeared as if he failed in his attempt to bring Emma back into this party. It upset him a bit, but what could he do? It'd be strange to beg her to stay, and pushing it would just make him appear to be a creep. So, he prompty gave up, and watched as she buckled herself, and turned the key to start the Prius....

The car didn't start.

She tried again, recieving the same result as a gift. The next action carried out by Emma was an attempt to call someone, which has results similar to her car. While he did have a light urge to laugh at the situation, because he could tell that she thought the world of her Prius, he realized that'd just piss her off, which her car and phone have already done.

"You can't be serious!" she shouted, slamming her palm against the steering wheel.

Dalton opened his mouth to suggest the cause for this; cold, possibly, but was cut off by Leo before anything could be made audible.

"What the FUCK is this?"

Dalton snapped around to see Leo with what appeared to be black ash ruining his jacket and some on his face. With a shared glance to Emma, he jogged back over to the door along with her to see what all the commotion was about, ignoring yet another but smaller gust of wind. It was more like a light breeze.

Sieben Gäste.
Keiner mehr, keiner weniger.

His eyes rested upon a message on the door that appeared to be in German. Unfortunately, Dalton only knew how to speak 'Merican, as he liked to say just to piss a few people off. Obviously he wasn't a retard and knew that it was in fact English he spoke, but some people didn't seem to notice that in his tone of voice.

"Seven, you say?" he asked lightly after Emma translated that one word. "Seven what?... Seven... guests?" he threw out an idea. This was mainly because the second word started with the letter G, but he couldn't read the language, so he'd have no problem being told this wasn't the correct translation of the second word.

The temperature had dropped another few degrees since the group had gathered in front of the old mansion, and Chloe wanted desperately to get inside and change. It seems the had in fact over dressed for the occasion, and under dressed for the weather. Leo approached the old door, and soon a thick cloud of dust plumed from where he seemed to have slipped. Stepping forward she gripped the railing and leaned to see Leo covered in dust. It was difficult to hold back her chuckles.
"Are you alright-" she proceeded to ask, but the sight of the German on the door made her pause, "You're right, Seiben is Seven..."
Though the German was lost on her she began rooting through her bag, pulling out her tablet. Quickly with her fingers she tapped across the screen, and entered the phrase into her translator app. "Seven guests...No more, no less. she stated, slipping her tablet back into her bag.
"...I take french so, translator tools are a must....So does this mean that the door won't open until there are seven of us here?" she asked as she stepped up next to Leo, paying no mind to the dust in the air.

Oliver watched Leo walk up to the mansion, he also noticed the girl deciding to head home. Probably not the worst decision in the world given the nature of the surroundings and the looming mansion that stood silent before them. Go make nice with the pretty girl who is leaving? Go help the kid from getting lost in the creepy Manson family manor? Yeah, not much of a decision there,Ollie thought as he turned to go after the girl. One of the other guys was already jogging over to her. Without missing a beat Ollie rounded out his turn and headed to the kid at the door. You win this one Romeo,he thought grudgingly to the man who had beaten him to the girl. He reached Leo's side just as he was uncovering the words on the door.

"Creepy German is always a good sign..." he muttered, mostly to himself.

The girl he had decided to go talk to walked up next to him to examine the words on the door as well. Well that worked out nicely,Ollie thought to himself, smiling a bit.

Sieben means seven, that's all I know,the girl next to him said. Ollie's smile slowly went away as he looked closer at the door.

"Well if Sieben means seven, I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say that Gaste means guest and if my math is right," he looked around at all the guest, "we just about hit that quota."