Based upon the ideas and written at the suggestion of story_freak, for his pleasure and yours.
Pausing for a moment to stare up at the towering double doors of the school which rose before her, Mary heaved a great sigh. Today she would endure within those walls another eight hours of rejection and ridicule as she had for nearly two months since arriving in Germany. She wished as she had many times before that she was still back in Maryland, surrounded by the friends she had known all her life. Moving to Europe had been the worst thing that could have happened to her; she knew no one and had even fewer friends. Just last week, Mary had celebrated her 18th birthday at home with her parents. Sweet and understanding as they were, the evening spent with the aging couple fell painfully short of her expectations.
Taking a deep breath, Mary began the long trek up the stone stairs to the school, where she was quickly lost amid a sea of students. No one spoke to her, and the few that glanced her way glared at her; some even called her names and teased her. For Mary was exceptionally bright, and nearly at the top of her class. Being pretty also, though not remarkably beautiful, she was both envied and scorned by the other girls.
Sitting alone at lunch as usual, Mary pushed her food idly around her plate and stared off into space. She was daydreaming about being kissed by that cute boy in her grade--Mikhail, that was his name--when she suddenly became aware that someone was calling her name.
"Maaaary," called one of the girls from the next table. Mary's head snapped up in surprise, and the others snickered. It was Julia, another student from her grade. Mary frowned in confusion; Julia was one of the most popular girls in school. She was also one of the prettiest, with long glossy blond hair, wide blue eyes and alabaster skin. As she sat beckoning, Mary noticed with a twinge of jealousy that Julia's pretty shirt was cut low to reveal her ample cleavage. Mary herself was small breasted.
"Well? Are you going to come over and sit with us or not?" Julia demanded impatiently in accented English. Startled, Mary rose obediently and carried her tray over to the next table. Several girls scooted their chairs over to made room for her. Mary sat down wordlessly.
"So, Mary," Julia said, "I always see you sitting alone at lunch. Don't you have any friends?" The other girls giggled quietly, but Julia silenced them with a glare.
Mary shook her head, staring silently at her plate as though chastised. She wished she could sink into the floor.
"Well," Julia said firmly, "I think you and I could be friends. Would you like that, Mary?"
Mary glanced up at Julia's face and found her smiling down at her warmly. Her pretty blue eyes showed no sign of guile or dishonesty. Mary nodded, saying softly, "That would be nice."
Julia's smile broadened. "Excellent! I'm sure all the other girls would be happy to welcome you into our little group. But first, there is something you must do." She paused for dramatic effect.
Oh great, here it comes, thought Mary. The part where Julia laughs at me and says she'd never be friends with a loser like me.
At Mary's silence, Julia continued. "The rest of the group needs to know that you will be a brave, loyal friend. I know you will, but there are some here who are not so sure." Here she paused again and glared round the table at a number of girls. "So, in order for you to join our group, you must prove yourself by spending a night with us in the Castle Richtstag."
Mary looked up, startled. Foreigner though she was, even she had heard of that old abandoned place--everyone knew it was haunted. Why did the girls want to spend a night there, of all places? Still, she needed friends desperately, and could hardly afford to say no. "Sure. Name the day and I'm there," Mary replied, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.
Julia smiled slowly. "Tomorrow night at eleven o'clock. Meet us in the rear so no one sees you--we'll be waiting just inside the cemetary gate." She rose suddenly, and all the other girls followed suit. "Until then, Mary."
Mary watched her go. Her head swam with confusion and fear, but her desire for friendship won out over both of them; she resolved at that moment to go through with the dare.
---
All that day and the next, Mary's head was filled with thoughts of the strange encounter with Julia and her friends, mingled with frightful images of the ancient, abandoned castle toward which she was now headed. She had managed to convince her parents that she had become friends with a classmate and was spending the night at the girl's place. Once out of the house, she dashed out to the main drag and hailed a taxi. Now she stared out of the window at the darkened streets, wet with rain, her heart pounding. When she arrived at her destination, a block from the old castle, she paid the driver and crept cautiously out of the taxi, pillow and sleeping bag clutched tightly to her chest.
Mary sprinted the distance to the cemetary. She tossed her things over the iron fence and hauled herself over after them, landing unsteadily on her feet in the mud. Julia and several other girls waited in the shadows. Mary could smell cigarette smoke.
"Well, so you've come," said Julia approvingly, advancing into the dim light. She was wearing a tight, low-cut top and a very short pair of cut-off denim shorts that clung to her shapely ass cheeks. In her right hand she held a cigarette; in her left, a half-empty bottle of vodka. This she offered to Mary who, eager to fit in, took a swig of the powerful stuff and swallowed it, coughing. Julia chuckled. "Shall we go inside?"
"Where are the other girls?" asked Mary, retrieving her fallen belongings. Though she could not fill out a shirt as well as Julia, she knew as she bent down that her own ass looked round and shapely beneath her plaid cotton miniskirt.
Julia made a dismissive motion with her hand. "They'll show up later, I hope. If not, they're definitely out of the group. Wimps." She hoisted an overnight bag up onto her shoulder and led the others towards the door. "C'mon, girls, let's go."
Mary followed the girls into the dark castle. It was a small building, as castles go, but had once housed a baron or something like that--Mary couldn't remember the precise details. All she really knew was that it had been abandoned for more than a century and had in that time fallen into disrepair; for one reason or another, no one had yet attempted to repair it.
Just inside the door (which Julia had skillfully jimmied open), several of the girls produced flashlights, which they shined about the room. Before them was a narrow staircase: corridors stretched off into the gloom on either side.
"We'll take the back stair up to the main level," explained Julia. "There's a great hall near the front: we can sleep in there." She began to climb the staircase. Mary followed while the other girls brought up the rear.
Julia was climbing quickly, seemingly eager to reach the hall. Mary soon lost sight of her, but found her again when she reached the top of the staircase. She had rushed down a long broad corridor to a door on the far side. "It's in here!" she said excitedly.
Mary moved to join her, but suddenly something shoved her hard, and she fell to her knees. A moment something heavy came crashing down over her head, and Mary fell senseless to the carpeted floor.
---
When she came to, Mary found herself lying on a cold stone slab, much like the alter of the Catholic church back home. She was in a large hall, lit from the far end by a roaring fire which blazed in a great hearth. Above her, vaulted ceilings stretched away into the gloom; even the walls on either side of her were too distant to make out in the dim light. Beside the hearth, firelight glinted off a wide assortment of weaponry: swords, axes, spears, daggers, and other arms stood shining beside shields and ancient coats of armor. Mary wondered that these valuable relics had remained untouched since the castle's abandonment long ago.