| “Well we didn’t turn the lights off in the beginning and now they’re on. Someone’s playing with the fuse.” Piper said. “Maybe the rain knocked the power out and then they got turned back on again.” Kyla suggested. “Except the rain wasn’t really rain.” Max confessed. “Piper and I hooked up her sprinkler to make a good affect.” “So who turned out the lights?” Candy wondered. The girls all looked at each other as the lights turned off once more. Piper turned on her flashlight and pointed it at the ground. “This is too weird.” Erin said. “Tell me no one set this up.” Kyla begged. “It wasn’t me.” Maxine said. “Me either.” Piper added in. She looked around and ran to the stairs. She took the steps by twos and made her way upstairs. The other girls followed. Piper ran into her computer room and opened a hutch. She through out some candles and candleholders and then a box of matches. Each girl lit two candles and placed them strategically around the parlor. Piper ran through her house, grabbing flashlights and bringing them to the room. The rest of the girls crawled into their sleeping bags. Each of them had a candle illuminating their faces. “So, anyone for a ghost story?” Piper asked, crawling into her sleeping bag. The girls all grabbed their pillows and through them at Piper. Chapter 2 Alexander Residence 9:10 AM Piper awoke to the sound of her doorbell. She opened her eyes and looked at her friends that lie around her. Candy was sitting on the couch, her eyes glancing around the room. Piper smiled at her and then looked over at her clock. She sighed and crawled out of her sleeping bag. She tripped over Kyla’s leg as she walked towards the door. She opened the door and looked outside. “Mulder, what are you doing here?” Piper asked the man who stood before her. “I was visiting some relatives in Massachusetts. I decided to take a detour and come to visit. Is that okay?” Mulder explained. “Sure, come on in.” Piper said. She stepped out of the way as Piper shut the door behind him. He walked into the parlor and glanced at the group of girls sleeping at the ground. “Did you have a party?” Mulder asked. “Not really a party, just a get-together.” Candy answered. Mulder looked around and spotted Candy, sitting in the couch. “Morning Candy Cane.” He joked. Candy rolled her eyes and then turned to Piper. “Where did you find him again?” Piper ignored her. “It was more of a Halloween thing than a party.” She said. She grabbed a blanket from the floor and wrapped it around her shoulders. “But it’s not Halloween.” Mulder reminded them. “Never mind, I’m not going to ask.” Piper smiled. Mulder was a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He and his partner, Dana Scully, worked on a special project called the X-Files. It dealt with unexplained phenomena. Piper had met them once while they investigated a murder at her summer camp three years earlier. She had become good friends with Mulder and Scully after encountering them in many different murder cases. They were with her for the deaths of her parents and many of her friends. “Where’s Scully?” Piper questioned. “She’s on vacation visiting her mother. We decided to each take a few days off.” Mulder explained as he took a seat on a chair. “Piper, what time is it?” Maxine asked groggily. She raised her head slightly, and noticed Mulder in the room. “Hey G-Man.” “It’s a little after nine.” Piper answered. She covered her mouth as she yawned. “We went to sleep only two hours ago.” Max whined. “Shut up, Max.” Kyla commanded. “I’m trying to sleep.” She covered her head with her sleeping bag, hoping to drown out some of the noise. “Join the club.” Erin commented, rolling over. “So, you guys were up ‘till seven in the morning, huh?” Mulder calculated. Piper shook her head. “What could you possibly do until seven o’clock in the morning?” “Well, let’s see, my friends all got here at around six in the evening, we ordered pizza, watched a couple of movies. Then we went upstairs in attempt to sleep and we ended up talking and playing truth or dare…” Piper began. “Don’t forget about the lovely prank that you and Maxine tried to pull.” Candy interrupted. “What kind of prank?” Mulder asked. “Maxine and I thought it would be funny if we…scared everyone. So, we made up a plan to pretend I was a murderer and Max would get everyone to hide and then we’d scare them. Our plan back-fired, though because Kyla overheard us talking and she clued everyone else in to what was going on. In the end, they captured Max and scared me to death by thinking Candy was dead.” Piper explained. “You must admit, it was pretty funny.” Kyla said, sticking her head out of her sleeping bag. Mulder smiled and looked around the room. He took in the melted candles and the matches that were sprawled across the floor. There was a flashlight next to each of the girl’s sleeping bags. “What were you guys doing? Have a séance?” Mulder asked. “Well, we had a little power outage last night and we needed some light.” Piper responded. “Was it stormy out last night?” Mulder questioned. “No, and the lights still aren’t working. We were going to go check out the fuse box but we were all so scared after al the pranks that were pulled last night that we decided to just forget about it and get some candles and flashlights.” Piper said. “I’ll go check it out.” Mulder offered. “The box is in my dad’s basement.” Piper said. Mulder nodded and stood up. He picked up one of the flashlights from the floor and turned it on, making sure it worked. Satisfied that it did, he walked through the house and into the garage. He opened the door that led to the basement. A cold brush of air swept past him. He shuddered and turned on his flashlight. The stairs creaked beneath him as he walked. It became darker as he went. As he reached the cool cement floor, he took a moment to look around. The basement was neat and orderly. Everything had its place on a shelf. Most of the shelves held tools and old boxes and things. Mulder knew Piper probably hadn’t been in the basement since her father’s dead. Just like her parent’s bedroom, the basement was something she wanted to keep as a momentum of her parents. The light of the flashlight bounced across the wall as Mulder spotted the fuse box. He walked over to it, opened it and began looking at the different fuses. Upstairs, Piper crawled back into her sleeping bag. She looked at each of her friends, all of whom were sleeping, except Candy. She sat straight up on the couch, keeping her eye on the clock. Candy watched as Kyla rolled over in her sleep. Candy looked to Piper and then down at Maxine. “Think we should wake her?” Candy whispered to Piper. Piper looked at the clock. “She did say she wanted to call her mom at 9:30 but she’ll be mad at me if I wake her.” She said. “I’ll do it.” Candy volunteered. She unwrapped herself from her blanket and swung her legs over the couch. She climbed over Erin and Kyla’s sleeping bodies and kneeled down next to Max. “I wouldn’t make her mad.” Piper warned. Candy shrugged as she whispered Maxine’s name near her ear. Max rolled over but showed no sign of waking up. Candy began to shake Maxine’s shoulder, slowly at first and then more rapidly. Maxine shrugged her shoulder from Candy’s grasp and covered her head with her pillow. “Get up!” Candy screamed. Piper stifled a laugh as Maxine hit Candy with her pillow. “Max, you did say you wanted to call your mom.” Piper reminded her. Max waved her hand, beckoning Piper to give her the phone. Piper stood and walked over to her computer room. She grabbed her portable phone and dialed Maxine’s telephone number. Max took the phone and put it to her ear, not opening her eyes. “Piper, it’s not ringing.” Max whined, finally opening her eyes. Piper took the phone and turned it off. She turned it back on and put it to her ear. “There’s no dial tone.” Piper said. “Weird.” Candy commented. Piper stood and put the phone back on its receiver. She walked into her living room and picked up her other portable phone. She turned it on and put it to her ear. Weird, she thought. She put it down and walked back into the parlor. “The other phone’s not working, either.” Piper said. She looked around. Maxine was still lying down, her eyes closed and so was everyone else. “Where’s Candy?” She asked. Maxine looked up at her and then she glanced around the room. “Maybe she went to the bathroom or something.” Piper looked around as Mulder came up behind her. He put the flashlight down on the mantle and sat down. |