They had all come into the mountains for some well deserved rest. The only sounds in the forest were that of the birds and the sound the group made as they trudged through it. They were tired, hungry and sore with only the promise that they would soon be at their destination keeping them going.
“So somebody want to explain how we all agreed to this? We must have all been taken by a fit of insanity.” Zac complained again to the air in an aggrieved voice.
“Shut Up!” came the reply from almost everyone else in the group. Tempers were beginning to show and someone surely would have snapped if they hadn’t suddenly broken out of the treeline and seen the massive wooden Lodge they had all chipped in to hire for the next seven days.
Cries of joy rang out spontaneously. And all of them except for Hinarei put in a burst of speed in order to reach the lodge first. Hinarei had stopped instead to take in the place where they would be staying. The Lodge had been built 20 years ago according to the real estate agent and Hinarei had been surprised at the low amount required to rent it for the week. Being the only one with an interest in financial matters he had pointed it out to the others and had said it would be much better than the seaside holiday house they had been drooling over in the corner of the real estate agent’s building.
Now that he surveyed it he was even more surprised that it had been available to them for such a cheap price. It was situated in a natural clearing two thirds the way up the mountain. He realised that one of the downsides to it was that it was so far away from anywhere with the nearest town being over an hours drive and the fact that they had no reception for their phones was also a little worrying. However they had wanted peace and quiet a long way from civilisation and so the place was perfect for that.
On the other side of the Lodge there was supposed to be a natural lake that was rather big and perfect for swimming. Though Hina did have a suspicion that the water would be icy cold and the perfect way to wake people up. His lips curved in anticipation of the evil trick he had just started to envisage.
***
Zet had been the first one to make it into the lodge after he unlocked it and had stopped in the doorway to stare in appreciation at the the open lounge with it’s big fireplace. He was so oblivious to the fact that he was blocking the doorway that it came as a huge surprise when Ryo pushed him so hard from behind that he fell face first onto the carpet that covered most of the floor. He noticed that it was long and luxuriously soft and made a muffled yell to the others to take off their boots before they came in.
He heard some chattering behind him and the thumps of boots and bags hitting the ground outside and then realised too late in horror that the chattering that he had heard was Ryo discussing with the others a plan to hurdle the unmoving lump of Zet on the floor. “No! Don’t!” he cried but it was too late as the others leapt over him one by one. They were all standing in the middle of the room when Zet stopped cowering in fear, and then Zet realised with further horror that Ryo wasn’t among them.
The breath rushed out of Zet in an explosive rush as Ryo jumped on top of Zet’s bags for a moment then leapt off again. Unfortunately for Ryo he managed to get his foot caught in a strap on the bag and had himself thrown off balance as he leapt. He landed in a sprawl a few meters in front of Zet to the laughter of all the people in the room. Zet also started to laugh once he got his breath back.
Hina in the mean time had finished his appraisal of the outside and after seeing Zet’s feet with his boots still on decided to take advantage of it he creeped up behind zet, crouched, and pulled the feather duster out of the side pocket of his bag. He then yanked off Zet’s boot and the sock after and threw them to the side as quick as possible due to the rank stench that was a result of the two hour hike they had made to get there. Then taking Zet’s ankle in a vice grip he applied himself to the time honoured tradition of foot tickling with his feather duster.
Zet had tried to keep his hypersensitivity to tickling a secret from Hinarei, who was almost infamous for his tickling exploits, yet he hadn’t taken into account Hina’s almost supernatural sense for finding ticklish people. While Hina had suspected that Zet was ticklish he hadn’t had a chance to try out his hypothesis and now that he had he decided that waiting had been worth it in this case. Zet was laughing so hard after just a few moments of Hina’s tickling that he had started to cry to the total confusion of all those already inside. The way Hina was crouching behind Zet and his bag hid him from the view of those inside and when Zet managed to get enough breath to shriek at Hina telling him to stop they were all confused as to why Zet was screaming “Stop It!!!” in such a breathless voice.
Hinarei heard the shriek and shrugged it off as he continued to apply his trade. Then he realised that the breathlessness of the shriek showed that he may be going that little too far he had been accused of before. So deciding to make good his getaway the ‘tickle monster’, as he was occasionally called, carefully let go of Zet’s ankle and crouch walked to the side for a few meters. Then he clambered to his feet and dashed around the side of the building to make good his escape.
Zet had finally managed to get some of his breath back and gasped out to the concerned faces of those around him “Someone… Was… Tickling me.” He then collapsed face down on the soft carpet and resolved to move once he got his breath back.
***
Selo had decided to explore the lodge and stepped away from the crowd clustered around Zet to have a look-see. Turning to take in the lounge he noticed the smooth interlocking stone fronting the large open fireplace and strolled over to further investigate. Inside the fireplace wood and kindling was set up so that it would catch fire quickly and provide greater warmth than if the wood was piled haphazardly, as always when he saw this sort of set-up for logs he had an internal vision of a Tee-Pee with a ring of fire around it.
This well prepared future fire met the approval rating of Selo’s inner Boy Scout, he had been a Cub Scout and then had moved onto Boy Scouts before reaching the age where he considered that stuff childish and had quit. It had set him up well for camping trips and some of the habits that he had picked up then had not faded despite quite a few years since he had been one.
Standing up again he made his way to one of the three doorways out of the room other than the entrance where Zet was still collapsed with people clambering over him. Selo’s bare feet luxuriated in the softness of the dark green carpet that blended with the mud brick and wooden walls. He noted the lounges and armchairs of the room as he weaved through them and was already trying to come up with a seating arrangement for when he forced everyone to sit through his one man rendition of the Transformers movie. Knowing it was childish, part of him cringed in anticipation and yet he felt that the laughs of the others as they relaxed and watched him make a fool of himself would be well worth the humiliation.
The door that was to the left of the main entrance was his first target and he passed through to find himself in a trophy room. There were dead animal skins and mounted heads covering the walls except for the stained glace window that took up most of the wall to his left. Looking up Selo was shocked to find the most unspeakable of horrors hanging from the ceiling amongst a large collection of animal tails. A squeak emerged from Selo as he tore his eyes away from the horribly scary collection above him and he attempted to find a way to shut out the horrors within. He found the door swung back so that it was almost parallel to the wall on his right and he grabbed the edge of the door and tiptoed out of the room until the door had about a foot to go before he yanked it towards him and let go of the door so that it slammed. The door had no handle on it and he realised with a sigh of relief that to open the door would require the key, which he was pretty sure they had not gotten from the real estate agent seeing as the lock was different to that of the front door. Resolving to talk to the other guys about this horror of a room he travelled off to continue exploring
As he went off he didn’t notice the sinister, sickly green glow shining very faintly from the door for a moment.
***
©Lockx 2008