House of Ice (Horror content : Warning, Mental Images may, erm, haunt you!)

The machines creaked, the generator roared and in an instant, the factory came alive. The cranes were moving all around and the conveyor belt began its treadmill. All this would have been a normal operation at the ice factory, had it not been that the factory, was no longer in use, for a long time. The trapped students in the factory panicked. Their first day on the trip and they are now in trouble. The signed said the exhibition was past the visiting time, but they all never thought it would hurt to go for a peek. As soon as they reached the end of the factory, they saw the exit was locked. They shrugged, after seeing the condition of the factory and steadily made their way to the entrance. They arrived, only to see the last tourist vehicle leaving the compound. And the entrance door being bolted and chained. No one seemed to know that they were trapped.

THEY WERE TRAPPED !

Panic trickled in slowly, and it was at this moment, the machinery came alive. It was as if someone, or something pushed a button. The temperature started to drop drastically. Icicles were forming on the roof.

E: Look here, we have to find a way out! How about the windows?
M: All of it seemed to be erm, frozen. We cant seem to pry it open, or ..or..or even break it.
A: Relax now, let's go and erm, check the communication center, maybe there's a phone.
X: Yeah, we can't even call out from our mobiles. Something is fishy.
E: Don't freak yourself out. We'll be out in no time. What' the worst that could happen?
J: (Shivering) well, being frozen meat is not the bright side of things, ok?

They were climbing up the ladder, when the last of the group, E, was at the end of a staircase, and saw something. A scream was all that was left, when the staircase gave way, and he plunged into the deep freezing pool. The others were left hanging for dear life. Until they slowly climbed their way up.

As soon as they reached the center, they saw the control panels were not functioning at all. The phone lines were useless. M tried to lower the thermostat and stop the production of the ice, but then

PRANGGGGG

A pipe burst containing liquid nitrogen and it sprayed M all over the body. In a matter of seconds, he cracked and fell to the ground, lifeless. The group was stunned by what had happened. The burst pipe now was only hissing the remainder of the gas. It seemed there was only enough gas to freeze a person, enough to freeze that person to death, it seems.

The group took a nearby cloth and covered the remains. They had to move on. They then strategised that the best step was to check where the ice are all being transported. They went to the conveyor belts, now hoping to find a way to end their nightmare. They had to move fast. On their way there, J heard an eerie laughter. It was almost inaudible. But she also heard the clanging sound of an ice hook. She did not entertain it further, thinking it was a figment of her imagination. They were finally there. They saw the ice blocks being put on the conveyor belt and transported through opening above. They now see stars and the moon. It must have been hours when they were stuck in the factory. The old factory was still operating in the night. A terrible omen.

They searched for ladders or anything that can bring them up. The exit was bolted tight. They tried to pry it open with their bare hands. J saw a crow bar drop at the far end. She made her way through, thinking that the crow bar would bring much help in prying open the bolts on the door. As soon as she reached the crow bar, she heard a clanging of chains above.

*creak..metal clanging..THUD!*

The chain from above fell onto J with a loud thud. Only her hand is seen clutching onto the crow bar. X and A, being left now, were almost out of their mind. Having 3 friends die in front if your eyes, is nothing short of a trauma. They had to get out. But how?

Searching the factory for clues, and staying together, they found an old newspaper clipping. It told of the factory's misfortune that it was closed because a ghost seemingly haunted the factory, the ghost of the grave on which the factory was built. Silly. There is no such things as ghost? Or was there?

They thought of a plan now. The only way out was to create a big situation. Stopping the ice production should alert somebody. Or trying to destory the factory in the process, nonetheless should grab some attention from the neighbouring houses.

They approached the generator. Unsure of a way, and driven by panic, A tried to pull down the lever and the handle broke. They took a bucket and filled it with water to short circuit the generator. It seemed to work. But after a few sparks of electricity, a back-up generator came on. The two were puzzled and frustrated. And as they were looking each other eye to eye, thinking of a fatal end, A spotted an imposing figure at the corner of his eye. He took the crow bar and started to swipe around. Sure enough, a figure came out and with ice hook in hand, fought back. A villian. The Grim Reaper.

There was no time to lose. They had to shut down the factory, or die trying. As A fought the villian, X took one look at the back-up generator, and asked A to pin the villian down to the generator. She took a nearby chain and struck at the shadowy figure. It slumped, but it grabbed A and they struck the generator together, causing a short circuit, and a small explosion. The last memory of the scene was X's bloodied hand, lifeless on the pavement.

(Blogger's note: This story was dedicated to the time when we really got stuck in the ice factory. Well, always read the signs *wink*)