Lesson One: Fear

 

 

Deku ran through the shadowed hallway, hearing only the pounding of his heart. The lightning was the only source of illumination, the lights having been short-circuited a moment ago, and he was starting to panic. He didn't want to be a baby, someone who had to be defended from everything in sight, yet he didn't want to be a hero who was at the front of everything, either. He stopped. Warm breathing was on his neck, and the hair on the back of his neck prickled. Was it Todoroki or . . . him?

 

 

 

 

Lesson Two: Antagonist

 

The killer that haunts the house is someone familiar, but it could be anyone. It could be a he, a she, or perhaps it could be Deku, the protagonist, losing his memory of each murder he commits. Or it could be something completely different, maybe a supernatural being. Which would explain the strange noises and lightning outside the house. The killer is unknown, making Deku on his guard with nearly everyone, even doubting if he's not the killer himself.

 

Lesson Three and Four: Suspenseful Scene with a Twist

 

 

Shoto Todoroki walked through the dark house, unconsciously biting his lip. He wasn't scared of the killer, per say, knowing that he could defend himself. He was scared of not being able to find Deku. The lights still weren't working, but his vision had adjusted long since. He knew Deku was terrified of the dark and anything that couldn't be explained properly, and if the smaller male was missing, that was extremely bad. He knew he himself wasn't the killer, but he had a sneaking suspicion who it actually was. He sighed. Proof. He needed proof. And a sneaking suspicion doesn't get you anywhere, does it, Shoto? he thought. Idiot. Just focus on finding Midoriya. Make sure he's safe and with you before anything bad can happen to him.

 

He spotted movement out of the corner of his bicolored eyes, seeing perhaps what could have been ash blond hair. It could have been Bakugo. Suspicions, suspicions, suspicions. And they weren't getting him anywhere. Moving through the dark, shadowy hallways, he was vaguely aware of something being wrong. Someone watching him amongst the shadows. The killer, perhaps, singling him out for the next kill. Maybe not. But it wasn't important right now. He needed to find Deku. Silence reigned through the house, then Todoroki got goosebumps from the loud crash that sounded. His heart raced. Get a grip, he told himself sternly, trying unsuccessfully to calm himself down. Becoming panicked was not the way to stay alive. He needed to be calm and focused, aware of his surroundings. 

 

More noises filled the house, making the hair on the back of his neck prickle, then after a moment, he spotted someone cowering behind the couch. Something glinted in the moonlight, and Todoroki held his breath. 

He heard a small whimper and he asked quietly, "Midoriya?"

Silence.

Then, "Todoroki?"

Deku poked his head out and looked at Todoroki with frightened dark green eyes. Todoroki stole a quick glance at the glinting object and realized that it wasn't something dangerous. It was only the steel edge of the couch poking out of a hole. Todoroki helped Deku out from behind the couch and said, "Let's go where there's more people. Okay?" Silently, he added, Being alone makes a perfect target. 

 

 

I'm honestly not pleased with how this project came out, but I had to give it a shot anyway. Hope you liked it, Matthew, and please tell me if I did something wrong. I'm fairly certain I screwed up on the antagonist part of things, but my thriller was about a group of teens that are stuck inside this creepy house and there's a killer trapped in there with them, and nobody knows who it is. So, in order to keep suspense, I had to make the killer unknown. But I probably should have said who it was in the antagonist part. I hope it's okay either way, though. Please give me feedback on this, and I'm pretty sure this will turn out to be a nice read. (I'm using my favorite characters for this thriller. I do not own them.) 

 

 

 

Fear Strikes in the Night

 

Chapter 1

 

 

Thunder crashed outside of a large teal-colored van that had paint peeling off of it from long use. Ten teens were inside of the afore-mentioned van, each weary from the long drive. Izuku Midoriya, however, tried his best to stay positive, though that was hard with the near silence and dreary weather. Midoriya closed his dark green eyes, attempting to take a power nap to regain some energy.

 

After a minute, he gave up, though he was tired. he was sitting next to Shoto Todoroki in the back, and from the look on the dual-haired male's face, he was annoyed. But for what reason, Izuku couldn't tell. Izuku pulled out his phone when it buzzed shrilly, then stared at the bright-ish screen.

 

No cell service, he thought dismally. Shoot. That's bad. 

 

Izuku turned off his phone and looked back out at the drizzling rain. His sort of friend, Katsuki Bakugo, was driving the van since he was the only one of the group who had a driver's license. Mina Ashido was humming perfectly in tune to some song playing through her headphones, her messy pink hair bouncing as she bobbed her head. 

 

She has a nice voice, Deku thought. I could listen to her forever. 

 

Izuku snuggled deeper into his warm gray hoodie, pulling the hood up over his somewhat unkempt short dark green hair. Everyone was startled when Bakugo abruptly swatted the dashboard and growled. 

 

"We're out of gas."

 

Midoriya blinked. How did that happen? They should've only been down to a half-tank of gas by now. 

 

"Unless everyone wants to stay in the van for the night, that mansion up there is our only option for shelter in this freaking storm," Bakugo added.

 

He sounded less than thrilled about the situation, but Izuku couldn't exactly blame him. After gathering their things from the van in a brief bit of confusion, the teens ran through the now pouring rain to the large house. Deku slipped a little in the wet grass, but Todoroki helped him up and made sure he got the rest of the way to their shelter without any other mishap. 

 

They all stepped through the large, mostly empty mansion cautiously, then they made their way up the creaking stairs to the second floor. Momo Yaoyorozu made herself comfortable on the floor and pulled out a novel from her mahogany backpack. Izuku bounced onto the only couch in the room and grabbed a random pillow, hugging it just because it was there to be hugged. 

 

Ochaco Uraraka sat down next to Yaoyorozu and started examining her nails while Izuku watched her with interest. After a moment, she pulled out a nail polish bottle out of her bag, fixing her nails. Deku heard Bakugo snark to himself in a corner, seemingly mad at everything around him. 

 

"Yaoyozou?" Uraraka asked, peeking in her bag. "Have you seen my red nail polish? I can't find it anywhere."

 

"No, sorry." 

 

Izuku stared out the window, wishing this storm to be over so they could all go home and he could be with his mother again. While going on the camping trip that had brought them out here in the first place had been fun, he really wanted to be home again. He considered going to another room on more than one occasion, but he always got lonely and wandered back. Lightning flashed outside of the windows and Izuku peeked at Todoroki from over his pillow. Todoroki was staring hard at Bakugo for some reason, not moving a muscle. 

 

Todoroki was Deku's best friend, and Izuku always confided things to him when he needed to. The taller boy was a very good listener, and he always tried to help Izuku feel better whenever he could.

 

Eijiro Kirishima yawned, revealing his slightly sharp teeth, and Ashido rolled over on the floor, obviously bored with the current situation. She was always somewhat of a procrastinator, yet she got bored when she was doing nothing. 

 

Tenya Iida, one of Izuku's other friends, was cleaning his glasses in another corner, a mellow expression on his usually somewhat stern face. 

 

Izuku didn't know WHAT Yuga Aoyama was doing. It looked as though he was stretching and talking to himself at the same time. Hanta Sero was watching Iida with interest, looking very comfortable siiting next to Kirishima. 

 

"Why are you all not saying anything?" Uraraka asked suddenly, startling Deku. "It makes me nervous, like something bad will happen."

 

Izuku stared at her, his dark green eyes round. She was nervous? Deku got nervous whenever everybody talked to him. 

 

"Then talk for all of us," Bakugo snapped at her. "You're certainly capable of doing THAT for hours on end." 

 

Izuku kept silent, burying his face into his pillow, but not before he saw Todoroki glance at him with a concerned expression. Why was he concerned? Hmm. He'd have to think about that.

 

Thunder crashed again, and Midoriya jumped off the couch, searching for a blanket. He could hear Uraraka talking again, and he wondered how she ever got her breath. Pouncing upon a closet in the hall, Midoriya pulled out several blankets before deciding on a soft, plushy throw blanket. Walking back to where the rest of the group were, Deku yelped when the mansion was delved into darkness. Uraraka screamed and general chaos ensued. 

 

Todoroki's voice rose above everyone else's, ever calm and collected. 

 

"It's just a power outage. I have a few flaslights in my backpack."

 

Deku let out a relieved breath. Good old Todoroki. He was always prepared for emergencies. 

 

"How many do you have?" Izuku asked timidly. 

 

"Four."

 

Kirishima spoke up.

 

"Why don't we go look for candles and stuff? We can split into pairs and use one flashlight per pair."

 

Todoroki tossed a flashlight to Izuku, then gave one to Kirishima, Iida, and Ashido. The flashlights ran short, though. Aoyama and Sero didn't have a flashlight, but Aoyama said:

 

"That will be okay. My eyes have adjusted to the dark." 

 

Izuku blinked. How? Nobody could adjust to the dark that fast enough to see!

 

Todoroki merely nodded.

 

"Midoriya and I will look upstairs. Kirishima, you and Bakugo take this floor. Iida, you and Yaoyorozu can search the odd places. Aoyama and Sero, you go with Iida and Yaoyorozu. We'll meet back here once we're finished."

 

Everyone spread out, and Izuku fumbled with the flashlight a little before finding the on button. He followed Todoroki upstairs to the third floor, the stairs creaking underneath their combined weight. Todoroki took the flashlight from Deku after they had climbed the stairs.

 

"You can find things better than me. Do you mind looking while I hold the light?"

 

Deku shook his head and started peeking through drawers, closets, and boxes, looking for things that could give off light. After a moment, he found a lantern and turned it on. 

 

"That's bright."

 

Todoroki reached over and turned it off. 

 

"Don't blind yourself, Midoriya."

 

Izuku looked at him and gave him a mock salute.

 

"Yessir."

 

Todoroki played along, saying:

 

"At ease, soldier." 

 

As Izuku kept searching, a loud slam echoed through the large house, making him jump. 

 

Stop being a baby, he told himself. Somebody probably accidentally slammed a door or something. 

 

After more searching, he found numerous candles, matchboxes, and another lantern. 

 

"I think we're done."

 

Todoroki nodded, and they headed back to the main room. Rounding a corner, Midoriya felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. Goosebumps rose on his arm underneath his hoodie, and he glanced at Todoroki, wondering if the dual-haired boy was feeling off as well. But before he could ask . . .

 

A terrified scream shattered the silence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

 

 

The lights abruptly came back on after the scream, and Izuku took off running, Todoroki on his heels. They came to where everyone else were gathered and saw Uraraka crying, practically in hysterics while Ashido attempted to calm her. Deku gasped, then nearly gagged when he saw Yaoyorozu.

 

Scarlet colored blood was seeping out of the wound where a butcher knife had been brutally stabbed through Yaoyorozu's heart. Her almost black eyes were still open, staring at the ceiling. 

 

Midoriya controlled his sudden urge to go to the bathroom and throw up. Sure, seeing a body wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, but he had no excuse to act like this. 

 

There was a killer among the other teens, and Deku needed to keep calm and focused to find out who did it before someone else got killed. 

 

Kirishima asked:

 

"So, whodunit?"

 

While Izuku was momentarily speechless and focused on trying not to puke, Todoroki said:

 

"Midoriya and I can vouch for each other. We were both upstairs, and we didn't seperate."

 

"Uraraka and I were separated at the beginning, but after that, we stuck together," Ashido put in.

 

The rest of the teens explained what they had been doing, and Izuku pulled his dark green eyes away from the body. Great. Just about everyone had been unaccounted for when the body had been discovered. He glanced at Todoroki, but the taller male was looking at Bakugo. 

 

Oh, boy, Deku thought. He thinks Kacchan did it. Well that's just fine and dandy. At the end of the night, we'll all be jumping at each other's throats because nobody know who the murderer is.

 

Sero and Aoyama were standing next to each other, and Sero looked grossed out about the whole thing, but Aoyama simply stared. 

 

Uraraka whimpered suddenly, still crying a little:

 

"Doesn't this mean that there's a psychopath among us?"

 

Ashido rolled her gold colored eyes, smiling, then proceeded to tell Uraraka that it wasn't a psychopath. 

 

Izuku was startled when Todoroki abruptly nudged him in the side and nodded his head away from everyone else. The shorter boy willingly followed him and flopped onto the floor of a quiet room that was away from the commotion. The furniture in the room was covered with white sheets, giving it a spooky feel. The rain outside beat down harshly, as if each drop was a soldier beating a drum. 

 

"A lot of people were unaccounted for," Todoroki mused in his calm, quiet voice. "Any of them could have done it."

 

Izuku nodded, then ventured timidly:

 

"You think Kacchan did it, right?"

 

Todoroki looked him full in the eyes.

 

"It makes sense. He doesn't really like anyone in our class and outside, and for all we know, he could have decided to let the fuel out of the van to get us stranded here."

 

Deku stared at him dubiously.

 

"I'm not trying to be rude, Todoroki-kun, but it really doesn't make sense to me. If Kacchan really wanted to kill us, he could do it whenever he wanted. I really don't think that it's him. I mean, he's not the type of person to kill. Sure, he can't express anything other than anger well, but I have known him ever since we were four. 

 

"Besides, Kirishima has a watch, and when Kacchan left, he looked at his watch and Kacchan returned a minute later. They were both on this floor, and it would have taken him longer than a minute to find exactly where Yaoyorozu and Iida were and kill Yaoyorozu."

 

Todoroki sighed. Obviously he wasn't that pleased that his theory wasn't as plausible as he had thought. 

 

"Who do you think it is, then?"

 

"It's too early to easily pinpoint who it is, Todoroki-kun. It's not like we could dust for prints and match someone's fingerprints to see who handled the knife."

 

Todoroki abruptly smiled and joked:

 

"If you hadn't been with me, I would have said it was you who did it."

 

Izuku laughed and punched the other playfully in the arm. 

 

"Thanks."

 

"What are friends for?" Todoroki chuckled, dodging.

 

Deku became serious again and glanced toward the door.

 

"Do we have a strategy? To find out who it is, I mean?"

 

"Keep our eyes open for any suspicious behavior, I guess. Get more evidence. Keep our sanity."

 

"Okay."

 

 

#################################################

 

 

 

 

Katsuki Bakugo set up his sleeping spot in a room far from everyone else in the mansion, looking around for movement nearby. Seeing none, he sat on his sleeping bag and stayed there, his mind running through the events of earlier.

 

Bakugo was one of those types who tended to be a loner and let everyone else screw themselves while staying away from them. Of course, nobody wanted to be stuck in an abandoned old house with a killer on the loose. Least of all Bakugo. If he had gotten the idea to kill, he would have shut up that annoying brat Uraraka, then Deku, then Todoroki. He would have left Kirishima, though. He was his friend, after all. 

 

The half and half jerk, Todoroki, wasn't as smart as he thought he was. His lips curled in a sneer when he thought about what happened at school normally. Deku followed that boy like he was some whipped, desperate puppy. 

 

What had happened? Bakugo thought. Deku had used to follow HIM around like a puppy when they were younger. But now? Todoroki was the person he followed. It made Bakugo sick, but even more sickening was the thought that maybe Todoroki was using Deku to damage him. They DID hate each other, after all. 

 

He shook his head suddenly, scowling. That petty Deku had it coming to him, anyway. The boy was going to be used and abused for the rest of his life. He didn't care anyway.

 

 

 

########################################

 

 

 Eijiro Kirishima eyed the teens that he encountered as he wandered around the mansion, thinking to himself. He didn't think that any of them could be the killer, yet thinking that someone was a killer and them being the killer were two different things. For all Kirishima knew, Bakugo could be the murderer, or maybe Aoyama. Or Iida. Or anybody. And that put him on edge. 

 

He and Bakugo were friends, but Kirishima wondered if that would save him from becoming a victim anyhow if Bakugo really was the culprit. Any one of the teens could be going mad, or already there. They could all be perfectly sane, too. This wasn't getting him anywhere, and he wasn't sure he was okay with that.

 

 

#######################################

 

 

Tenya Iida found a piece of paper and picked it up to throw it away, but then saw his name written on the front. Opening it, he read the note. 

 

Meet me in the room we were in when the lights went out. The wires could go back out again, and we don't need another power outage. 

 

-------Ashido

 

 

Iida placed the note in his pants pocket and started to walk toward that room, wondering what exactly Ashido would do with the wires to help. His brother, Tensei Iida had given him a bit of advice on how to deal with such things. He stopped when he saw nobody else in the room, but then remembered that the note had said to meet her.

 

In the meantime, he should look at that 110 outlet that needed fixing. So Iida adjusted his glasses, then poking around, his hand accidentally touched a live wire and electricity ran through his body, jolting him all over the place. Not too long later, his body fell to the ground, motionless, and his dark blue eyes stared at nothing.