Victoria Vanished part 2

A peal of thunder roared through the night, shaking the ancient mansion to its foundation, rained poured down, harder now, lashing against the window shutters and roof. Inside, three young women slowly crept through the dark hallway, huddling close together for support. The girl in the middle, a tall brunette named Bethany held a flashlight in one hand. The thin, yellow beam of light flickered in the dusty air as she swept it across the hall.
“No! No, please! Please don’t go out!” A blond girl named Hilary, standing behind the other two girls, wailed as the flashlight flickered again, than went dead, plunging the girls into near total darkness. She huddled closer to the third girl, a slender Asian girl named Amy.
“Darn…” Beth said ruefully. She smacked the back of the flashlight with the palm of one hand, in the hope that the batteries were simply out of alignment. No such luck; they were dead. She sighed, opening her messenger bag. Blindly, the teenage girl rummaged through the bag, feeling around in the dark. “I guess I didn’t pack any spare batteries.” She shrugged sheepishly. “Sorry.”
“What!” Hilary said, nervously. “What do you mean you forgot to bring more batteries!?!”
“It’ll be fine.” Amy told her friend. “I think my eyes are starting to adjust.” She pointed down the hallway. “I think I can make out the hallway, a bit.”
“Alright.” Beth said, putting the dead flashlight away and zipping up her backpack. Slinging it over one arm, she said, “We still need to find Victoria, wherever she’s gotten to.” Beth raised a hand to her mouth. “Victoria! Where are you!?!” She called out. For a moment, the girls were silent, listening to the creaks and groans and the sound of the storm outside.
A second later, someone answered. “Muahahaha!” a haunting laugh echoed through the house. The three turned this way, then that, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. It was all around them! A sickly green mist, glowing in the darkness filled the hallway.
“What’s going on!?!” Hilary cried out in fright, stepping back to avoid the mist.
“Muahahaha!” At the same instant, the three girls jumped in shock. The spun around, eyes wide with terror. Out of nowhere, standing among them was a ghostly figure! The terrifying specter wore an ancient, worn cloak, the hood pulled over his head. From within, two tiny orbs of lights burned green. The whole figure gave off a ghastly green light.
“Run!!!” At once, the three girls broke into a run. Amy and Beth turned and ran back up the hallway, the way they’d come. Hilary, caught on the other side of the ghost, turned and fled the other way, shrieking in terror. Blindly, she stumbled through the dark hallway, ignoring her friend’s cries. Close behind her, the phantom turned and chased after her, arms outstretched, his cackling laugh echoing through the house.
Hilary’s flight carried her across the house, taking turns almost at random. Gradually, she seemed to pull ahead of her phantom pursuer. The eerie green glow dimmed, his laughter faded. All of a sudden, the teenage girl came to a head end. She skidded to a halt, panting slightly after the exertion of running. Hilary was about to turn around, when a brief flash of lightning lit up the room, and she saw the front door of the house, right in front of her!
The young woman cried out in relief. She’d found the way out! She was safe! Hilary knew she’d take her chances out in the storm, trying to catch a ride back to down, then in here with a phantom any day!  Behind her, the phantom’s laugh grew louder, warning her she didn’t have long. The teen ran to the door and grabbed the handle.
“What the hell!?!” Hilary exclaimed, as she pulled on the handle. The door wouldn’t budge. “Oh God, No! No! Please don’t be locked!” Hurriedly she checked. The door was unlocked! Why wouldn’t it open!?! Growing more and more scared, Hilary pulled harder on the door but it remained firmly shut. A soft glow filled the hallway behind her. The phantom was getting closer…
Shaking with fright, Hilary ran over to one of the windows. Hurriedly, she unlatched it and tried to raise it. Like the door, it refused to budge. “no, no, no, No!” babbling in terror, Hilary struggled with all her might, but she had no luck.
“Muahahaha!!!” Hilary turned, back pressed against the window. She shut her eyes, trembling with terror, frantically pleading for anyone to help her, as the phantom advanced on the helpless girl…

After a few minutes of running, Amy and Beth slowly came to a halt as they realized the phantom wasn’t chasing them. The two young women paused, gasping for air. Glancing around, they saw that in their blind panic, they’d run all the way back to the Library.
“What was that, Beth!?!” Amy asked, a note of fear entering her normally stoic voice.
“I don’t know…” Beth replied. “What happened to Hilary?”
Amy shrugged. “I saw her run off in the other direction. Hope the phantom didn’t get her. Beth, we should get out of here. We can hitch a ride back to town, get the police and they can…” Amy stopped when Beth raised a hand.
“Quiet! Did you hear that?” She said. “Listen…” By sheer luck, the rain died down at that moment. From somewhere in the library came a curious sound. It sounded almost like someone crying.
“I hear it!” Amy whispered. After a moment, the sound came again. “I think it’s coming from that shelf there.” She said, pointing. The two ran over to investigate…

“MMMPPPHHH!!!” Victoria grunted into her gag in frustration. The teenage girl strained against the tight ropes that held her lashed to the heavy wooden chair. Her clothes were soaked with sweat from her exertions, yet the ropes remained as tight as before, with no give in them. The young woman gasped for breath. The air in the secret compartment behind the bookshelf was stale and stuffy, only adding to her misery.
Victoria slumped down in her bonds, defeated. There was no way she was getting free anytime soon. And while she was trapped in here, with no way to warn her friends, the phantom was hunting them down. And when they were all in his clutches…Victoria shivered in terror at the thought. Tears welled up in her eyes as she hung her head low and wept.
Victoria’s attention was briefly taken from her predicament as she heard a loud, mechanical ‘click’. She turned her head and watched as the bookshelf started to move. A gust of fresh air flooded into the room. A cry of joy escaped Victoria’s gagged lips as the secret door swung all the way open. She had been expecting to see the phantom, returned, no doubt with one of her friends to join the teenage girl in captivity. Instead, she saw Amy and Beth. Their eyes widened in shock as they saw their friend bound to a chair and gagged.
“Oh my God! Victoria! Are you alright?” Beth exclaimed, rushing forward. Amy was right on her heels. Victoria groaned in relief as they hurriedly untied the ropes lashing her to the chair. After a moment, the coils of rope circling her chest began to loosen. As soon as her hands were free, Victoria reached up and untied the knot of her gag. With more than a little relief, she spat out the damp cloth band.
“What happened?” Amy asked.
“I was looking at this shelf, and it just opened up.” Victoria explained. “A hand reached out and grabbed me.” She shivered, remembering her fear as the gloved hand had clamped over her mouth, as she was dragged in, the door closing, sealing her in. “Before I could cry out, he pulled me in here and tied me up. I tried to call out, but you didn’t hear me at first.”
“Who grabbed you?” Beth asked. ‘Did you see him?”
“I didn’t get a good look at him.” Victoria answered, shaking her head. “But he was dressed like a ghost?”
“You don’t think it’s a real ghost?” Amy said, a little nervously.
Victoria shrugged. “Don’t know. I don’t think so; he certainly felt solid enough while he was tying me up. He was wearing some sort of a cloak, with a hood, and he was glowing green.”
Beth and Amy nodded, glumly. “I think we ran into the same guy, just a moment ago. We ran away and wound up back here, which is when we heard you crying and found you.”
Victoria’s eyed widened, as she realized the obvious. “Where’s Hilary?” She asked, dreading the answer…

Hilary sobbed into her blindfold as she was carried down the hallway by the phantom. She squirmed, helpless in his grasp. The teen’s hands and feet had been lashed together, tightly, with rope. A band of cloth had been pulled between her teeth to keep her quiet, another over her eyes, leaving her even more in the dark than before.
“Struggle all you like, my dead…” The phantom taunted, chuckling. “It won’t make any difference. Before long, all of you will fall into my clutches.” Hilary felt him carry her down a long flight of stairs. The path twisted and turned, until she’d lost all sense of direction. She shook with fright, wondering what he planned to do with her.
Finally, she was set down, lying on what felt like cold, hard stone. “My apologies for the rough accommodations, my dear.” The phantom said in a mocking tone. “I assure you it’s only temporary, until I can round up the rest of your friends…” Hilary whimpered into her gag in fright. “Now, let’s see what we can do to make you less comfortable…Muahahaha!” Laughing sinisterly, the phantom rolled Hilary into a kneeling position.
From somewhere, he produced several long lengths of rope. The first of these went around Hilary’s chest, looping coil after coil of rope around her arms and torso, running above and below her large, round breasts. The teenage girl moaned into her gag as each loop was pulled tight, constricting her chest. Before long, her arms and back were trapped together, unable to move even a fraction of an inch.
Next, Hilary’s captor rolled the sobbing girl onto her belly. She could only squirm helpless, as he tied her knees together, just as tight as her other bonds. The last length of rope was used to lash her hands and feet together. He left only a few scant inches of rope between them, forcing Hilary into a strict hogtie. She grunted, uncomfortably, as the phantom stood.
“I’m going to go and see to the rest of your friends now, but don’t worry…I’ll be back for you soon enough!” With a sweep of his cloak, the phantom spun around and strode off, boots stamping against the stone floor. Hilary moaned into her gag as his evil laughter faded away into the distance…