James Patrick Adams eased into the stool in the corner of the crowded newly opened Resto-bar a few blocks from their hotel.
It was a bit late and he felt completely exhausted waiting for his friends to cease their uninteresting chats about the last unforgettable adventure plan to make before heading back to France.
“Hey, are we still good in there, buddy?” Christian clapped Adam’s shoulder.
Christian, Adam, and Arianna have been best friends since kids. Some people say they’re like triplets. They have the same hobbies, lifestyles, and perceptions about life.
Adam deeply heaves a sigh. He slowly removed his left elbow out from the table and the fist out of his face that supports him to stay awake for almost three hours of waiting for their discussions to end.
“Aren’t they done discussing their boring plan? What is it about anyway?” Adam removed his eyeglass and his vision dimmed for two seconds.
“Nah. I am not listening to their conversation as well. All I heard is that we are going to unfold and discover the undisclosed Werewolf King’s lair.” Christian shrugged Adam’s shoulder.
Adam rapidly blinked his eyes and eagerly followed his gaze to the lanky gorgeous ladies passing through in front of them. Chris was drooling and hissing.
“Are werewolves really existed in this place?” Adam set his eyeglass on and kept staring at the ladies sitting a few tables from them. “Damn eyes.”
“Dude, this is Romania. Haven’t you read some of our history books?”
It was at this moment all of their friends loudly cheered and whooped. Adam and Christian turned their faces at them.
“We’re going tonight.” Arianna giggled and strode towards Adam and Christian.
“You mean, tonight at the King’s lair?” Christian has drawn several lines on his forehead.
“Can we just go back to the hotel? It’s getting late.” Adam studied his watch.
“No, you can’t. We are a team, remember?” Arianna insisted.
Adam and Christian exchanged bothered glances. “They’re all your team. Not ours.” Adam lifted his acoustic guitar and soothed his clothes.
Adam is a part-time lead vocalist of his boy band in France. He is one of those devoted students in the morning and a humble lead vocalist in the evening to sustain his daily expenses, especially his school fees.
After Adam’s parents died two years ago, it didn’t stop him from pursuing his dreams to become a successful singer and Police Officer one day. Christian and Arianna also took a criminology course along with him.
“Are you two not coming?” Delia crossed her arms to her chest, sharpened her eyes, and raised her brows.
Delia is one of the richest heirs in France. She's a spoiled brat. Her parent owns the famous and biggest insurance company in France, the Axa S.A. They also own several restaurants and malls all over the world.
She is the one who pays every penny of their three-day vacation expenses in Romania just to meet her wealthy Romanian boyfriend, Alexandru Daniel David.
“We’re coming.” Arianna grinned.
Adam and Christian helplessly breathed out.
“Good. You two can join the other in the BMW while Arianna and I to the Lamborghini. Got it?” Delia grabbed Arianna’s shoulder.
Arianna grinned at Adam and Christian. “Is it okay?”
“Do we have a choice?” Christian shrugged Adam and stomped his feet heading outside the resto-bar.
When they reached outside, there are two black BMW and one luxurious red Ferrucio Lamborghini parked and waiting for them.
The majority of them eagerly hopped into the cars while Adam and Christian are both apathetic for the idea.
After a few hours of driving, they have reached the creepy old abandoned two-story building in the middle of the dense forest.
“Do we really have to do this?” Adam worriedly hugged his guitar. “Maybe, we should go back. I can sing you all my original songs so you guys will not be bored.”
“Dude, we’ve heard and memorized every lyric of your songs.” Dexter burst out his laughter. Some of the boys with them couldn’t help but laugh.
“Okay, let’s go.” Adam felt abashed and immediately unlocked the door and hopped out of the car.
When Adam saw the creepy old house, he hopped in back inside the car.
“Chicken out, James?” Dexter mocks.
Adam ended up being the gag in the middle of the night as all of the boys with them in the car couldn’t stop from mocking.
Furthermore, everyone hopped out of the car and gathered around while taking a glimpse at the aged edifice.
“Okay, here’s the thing. That building is purportedly entrenched with several treasures.” Alexandru speaks awkwardly because of his Romanian accent. “We need to be intact so no one will be left ahead, all right? And please, keep your voices down.”
All of them eagerly nodded their heads in unison. Afterward, they stepped in front of the door.
“Hey, isn’t it wonderful if you will find the treasure? You don’t need to do gig anymore.” Christian softly mumbled.
“It doesn’t matter bro. What matters to me is to stay alive in this building. What if someone was living here like ghosts or anacondas?”
“Come on guys, you’re both exaggerating. Focus your eyes on Delia and Alexandru if you two don’t want to be left behind. They’re the ones holding the flashlight.” Arianna reproved.
In the middle of their cautious march, they all suddenly heard a soft continuous growl behind them. Adam and Chris who are closer to the sound are both stunned. When they turned their faces, they saw a gleaming two blue eyes.
It woofed extremely.
All of them are in a daze and were running every corner of the abandoned building. As a result, all of them were separated from each other.
Since Adam has blurry vision, he runs as far away as possible until he hit a small stinky, and dusty door. He frisked every part of the door to search for the doorknob. Adam immediately twirled it and stepped in and hid inside.
Adam leaned his exhausted body to the door and breathed out heavily while wrapping both hands to his guitar.
“Shit. I shouldn’t have. I shouldn’t come.” He softly mumbled.
Adam pulled off his eyeglasses and rubbed and rapidly blinked his eyes. He saw a tiny light. He set his eyeglasses back to his eyes and confirmed it was a tiny light from a distance.
After tailing the light, he was completely dumbfounded. He saw a big bloody oak tree surrounded by several fireflies.
“Wow! How did this big tree survive inside this place?” He mumbled full of wonder.
Adam hardly coughed when he got closer to the tree. The stink was very extreme. He set his guitar to his back and covered his mouth and nose with his bare hands.
He slowly and deeply blinks his eyes after seeing an old necklace hanged in one of the branches of the oak tree.
As he was about to reach it, his middle finger hit something sharp and it’s bleeding. He quickly jumped to reach the necklace.
Subsequently, the ground suddenly started shaking. Adam was taken aback while holding the necklace in his palm. He thinks perhaps it was just because of the jump but in a few seconds, the ground continues from shaking.
The fireflies felt alarmed and unanimously flew away from the place. Adam didn’t know the way out so he followed the fireflies heading outside. He then set the necklace in his tattered jeans.
“Hey, wait for me!” Adam shouted and sups his bleeding finger afterward.
Moreover, the others also felt the continuous movement of the ground. They all got panicked and hovered.
Alexandru and Delia quickly searched for the way out. In a few minutes, all of them except Adam safely went out of the building.
“Guys, have you seen Adam?” Christian breathed out heavily. He crouched and leaned his palm to his shaking knees.
“Chris, I thought you’re with Adam?” Arianna patted his back.
“No, we didn’t. The place was completely dark. I didn’t notice where he was heading.”
In a few seconds, Adam safely got out by the lead of those fireflies.
Adam hardly stumbled to the ground while weeping and catching his breath. Unfortunately, his guitar and eyeglass broke after it was thrown out.
Alexandru immediately wagged his flashlight after hearing the crack sound of the guitar and ran towards Adam.
After Adam got out of the building, it completely collapsed beneath the ground. Everyone was taken aback after hearing the loud thudding sound.
“Adam, I’m so sorry.” Alexandru helped him up.
Adam abstained from Alexandru’s help. Instead, he stood up and picked up his broken guitar.
“Sorry? Your plan sucks and it almost killed me. Look at my guitar now?” Adam voiced out his frustration.
“I’ll just buy you…”
Alexandru cut off his words when Adam swiftly hopped into the car. He could feel Adam was completely terrified at this moment.
Adam immediately pulled off his hanky and wiped out his tears when some of them hopped in.
Adam closed his eyes and hugged his guitar. He didn’t even answer Christian and Arianna’s worried questions.
When they got back to their hotel, everyone felt sorrowed for Adam after seeing him running as fast as he could march upstairs.
Adam didn’t even mind he broke the doorknob when he stepped into his room. He just dropped the doorknob to the floor and went to the comfort room.
Christian who is completely worried, followed Adam to their room. When he reached the room, he was in shock after seeing the door was broken.
“Bro, are you okay?” Christian felt pity.
“I’m fine.” Adam switched on the faucet.
Christian felt relieved after hearing Adam’s response. He then picked up the doorknob and tried to attach it back to the door.
Adam gently rubbed his eyes and was shocked when his eyeglass was not in his eyes anymore. The worst part, he could clearly see his face in the mirror.
Adam immediately washed his face with the lukewarm water and watched his face back at the mirror. He leaned his face closer to the mirror when suddenly it shifted into a different color.
Adam was taken aback and moved his face away from the mirror. He closed his eyes in a minute and when he opened it back, he felt at ease after he saw his normal eyes back and went out of the comfort room afterward.
“I’m gonna sleep now. Please don’t wake me up if it’s not morning.” Adam jumped into the bed and covered his face with the blanket and tightly hugged the soft pillow.
Christian didn’t say a word after seeing Adam already in bed. Instead, he continued repairing the broken door.
