Gridlocked Guesthouse (Locked House Hauntings Book 1) by Mixi J Applebottom

stayed in to take care of Beezer. Lucy was still an incoherent mess. She was buried in a chair, her face covered, somewhere between sleeping and sobbing.
    Beezer, of course, promptly fell asleep. He was dozing and moaning on the couch, quietly. And Beth got it in her head that maybe she should start breakfast, or maybe she should be working on something else. It was getting awfully close to four in the morning, and everyone should really be sleeping soon, or perhaps eating. People go crazy when it's late and they are hungry.
    She stood in the kitchen and finally got brave enough to look around. There was a very obvious plan for food in the fridge, each shelf carefully coordinated with a meal. Beth hesitated. She could just imagine Rachel's pissed off face if she messed up her food plans. She chugged the last bit of punch sitting in the bowl and then washed the bowl and ladle carefully. Beth wished she could just make some food for everyone, but she didn't want to annoy Rachel.
    She peered outside in time to see Mike's van smoking and the airbag popped out. Then she had an idea.
    Maybe there was something useful in the basement. An old phone connected to a landline or, I dunno, something. Maybe she just got curious why the basement was off-limits. Maybe she just really wanted to be the next person to die. Who knows?
    Beth, if you remember, was awful nervous in the kitchen with the crockpot. It was no surprise that she found herself avoiding the other people and standing all alone. She struggled in social situations. I like to think that was why she came to this party; she really wanted to push herself to be better, to grow and change and become a better thing. But now that she was here, she was having her normal troubles--except that she'd sat on Zane's lap and couldn't stop thinking about him. He'd be her first official party make out.
    In fact, she was, if she ever whispered it aloud, a virgin. Not that she was a total prude; she just was young and really crappy at social stuff. So that was why she hadn't banged a man yet. But if one took notice of her, she was gonna be ripe for the picking, so to speak. She was twenty, and I think she felt too old to still have her precious lady flower all to herself. I certainly feel too old to have mine to myself.
    Anyways, I think that was why she walked down to the basement. To avoid people, find a bit of bravery, and try to contribute. She was pushing herself out of her limits because it seemed like the right choice. The basement stairs were in the hallway from the kitchen to the safe room. She stood there now, looking down. The basement seemed ominous, in part from the constant warnings. Rachel had written it in all caps on the invitation: WE CANNOT GO IN THE BASEMENT.
    Something about it wasn't part of the game or maybe they rented the house and not the basement or something.
    At the bottom of the wooden stairs, which Beth very slowly walked down, completely unable to find a light switch so it was dim, and darker with every step. She saw a door with thirteen locks on it.
    Despite the locks, she rattled the handle anyways. And then she heard an unearthly scream, and the sounds of someone dragging something heavy. And then, this interchange.
    Woman's voice, "Please don't, please. I won't tell anyone."
    "It's too late now." Scariest man voice she had ever heard. Imagine if you gargled with thumbtacks and then learned to talk through your shredded vocal cords.
    "No! Don't, please don't." The woman sobbed between loud and frightening slaps. She gasped with fright and her sobs grew louder.
    "Tell me you'll never do it again," he snarled.
    "I–" And she screamed. A frightening scream, and the sound of something started up. Something brutal and terrorizing. Was it a drill? A saw? Moments later, her scream was just a gurgling noise, and Beth , frightened Beth, was standing shuddering with terror her hand clasped tightly over her mouth.
    "Beth, go back upstairs," a new female voice said. The