The knocker thumped on the door; Tina shuddered at how loud it was, even without her trying to be. She half expected the door to swing open immediately, but to her relief, nothing happened. She and Amanda stood silently for five seconds, before the goth finally broke the silence.
“To be honest I expected it to open on its own. Or because of a ghost.”
“Please don’t try and get me to start believing in gHOOAAHHH!!!”
Tina was interrupted when the wooden porch they were on suddenly gave way underneath their feet. She yelped, while Amanda remained silent and simply stuck her legs straight and held onto her skirt. It was pitch black underneath, but their backs slid into a metal chute immediately after descending underground, turning the event into a slide rather than an outright fall. Tina continued to panic as the two girls shot down for several seconds, before they were dropped off; even though they landed on what felt like a padded couch, the redhead still had her eyes shut, and was rocking back and forth. Amanda suddenly putting her hands on her shoulder made her yelp even louder, and it took quite a bit of soothing to calm her down.
“Easy, easy. That’s my hand. You’re right to be upset, that was a startling thing. But for now, we’re alive, and not hurt.”
The words were comforting; as creepy as Amanda could be, Tina knew there was a heart of gold that wasn’t buried too deep within her. Slowly, she opened her eyes, and while she could make out some faint orange glows, her surroundings were still mostly pitch-dark black. Amanda helped lift her to her wobbly feet.
“I’m guessing your eyes still need to adapt, especially since you’re so stressed out. We appear to be in a dungeon of some kind, though we don’t seem to be locked in. There’s a hallway down the left, a few paintings and nick-nacks I’d like to look at, some paintings, and only one spider on you. Wait. Two.”
Priorities! Tina’s eyes were slowly beginning to adjust to be able to see what her friend was describing, and at the mention of the spiders, she instantly felt one twitching its way on her shoulder. It was then that she noticed she was covered in cobwebs from the waist up, and right away, she began to panic again.
“Augh! Oh god, get them off, get them off, AMANDA!”
“Easy! Stay still, they don’t want to hurt you. I’ll get them.”
Amanda tried to reach in to brush the webs off, but Tina’s squirming arms made it difficult. Rolling her eyes, the goth girl left her friend’s side for a moment, her boots stomping across the cobblestone floor. She grabbed a featherduster from a nearby shelf, brushed the dust off, and began swishing it across her friend’s body with the grace of a fencer. The webs were caught up in the bristles and pulled off, and the spiders themselves harmlessly swashed away to the floor where they scampered away into the cricks and cracks, ready to build their nests another day. But as Amanda wiped up the last remnants, the panic in Tina’s voice turned into laughter as her senses picked up on the feathery device dusting on the outside of her clothes
“Get them off get them ofahaha Heheh AHAHA! AMANDA STOPAHAHA!!!”
Amanda withdrew with the duster, and looked puzzled. By now, Tina’s eyes adjusted to the light, but it was made easier when Amanda effortlessly made her way in the dark to the shelf she had grabbed the duster from; she grabbed two candles, and lit them from a burning flame on the wall before returning them to their holders. The extra light helped illuminate their surroundings. Sure enough, they were in an underground chamber of some sort; the floor, walls, and ceiling were all made with bricks and cement, and covered in dust. Fortunately, that was it for making it seem like a prison; they had indeed landed on a couch, and the shelf Amanda kept finding tools from was chock full of everyday items. There was a tunnel leading down to their left, though it was too dark at the end of it to see where it lead. And most unfortunate of all, there was absolutely no way that they were going to climb up the chute that had dropped them into this basement.
“I must admit, that was interesting.”
“Hm?”
“How easy it was to tickle you.”
Amanda looked over the duster in her hand, and back at her friend’s sweater, while Tina raised an eyebrow, surprised at her friend’s choice of focus, but secretly relieved for the levity.
“That was my first time tickling someone, even if it was unintentional. And it was interesting how you started to laugh and panic even though this was only light brushes, on the outside of your clothes. Is this a regular level of ticklishness or would you say you’re extremely susceptible, in which case, how do you survive simple tasks such as walking around without…”
“First of all,” Tina interrupted, “I’m not answering that. Secondly, are you serious? You’ve never tickled someone before?”
“Nope. That was my first time partaking. Again, by accident and out of concern for your health and the spiders’ safety.”
“Wait so… you haven’t been tickled either? I call B.S.”
“Can’t say I have. I don’t believe I’m ticklish.”
Maybe she was desperate for a lighter side to their situation, or maybe she was more invested in the tickling arts than she care to let on, but an incredulous Tina snatched the duster from her friend’s hands. She began to swash it across Amanda’s exposed neck, the only available spot, but to her disappointment, there was nothing. Amanda remained stone cold as ever, and didn’t even make an attempt to escape of move out of the way.
“Aw, seriously? Lucky.”
“I told you, I don’t believe I’m ticklish.”
“I don’t think it’s a matter of belief.”
“Sure it is. Like how you didn’t believe in ghosts.”
“We don’t have any proof of that yet! We could easily have been turned around in the forest, and this could all just be a big prank or something. I’m not caving into ghosts just yet!”
“Well then I won’t cave into being ticklish.”
“THAT’S NOT HOW IT W…”
Tina was cut off when she turned to the side. Something had caught her attention, and she froze mid-rant. Amanda followed her gaze, and lifted up one of the candles to peer a bit further into the darkened tunnel. They could make something out.
"Ooh, the plot thickens."
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