Claire, Georgia, and Danny aren't your average ghost hunters. Their hit livestream channel "Creep It Real" rakes in thousands of viewers each time they go live. But what their fans don't know is that the trio fake the hauntings they come across at e...
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Returning to Grimwood feels wrong, like trying to walk up the down escalator. It feels as if it has been a lifetime since we first arrived, yet I can imagine it so clearly as if it were only yesterday. As the car emerges from the thick forestry and the manor comes into view, a shudder forces its way down my spine.
I don't want to be here. I'd rather be anywhere else. But there's no other choice. I'm ending this. Here and now.
Danny pulls off to the side in the large driveway, away from the construction vehicles and equipment, which are on the right side closer to the manor. I open the door before he turns off the engine. The air is especially dusty, and the running machinery breaks that eerie silence the manor once had.
Not sure where to even go — I don't think we have permission to go inside anymore — I walk to the front of the car and I sit on the hood. Once he gets out, Danny joins me. I can feel his gaze on my face, trying to read my mind, but I try to gather my thoughts before I say anything.
So, I watch as the wrecking crew prepares for the job ahead. They're oblivious to our presence, and probably oblivious to the house's history, to the evil that's inside. I hope that whatever has claimed us won't touch them.
After a while, I glance over at Danny. I swallow hard but my throat is stiff. "I'm terrified," I whisper, and it's all I can get out before my voice breaks.
He looks at me empathetically, reaching out and putting his hand over mine. "I won't let anything happen to you."
I shake my head. "No. I'm terrified that something is going to happen to you like Georgia." My heart breaks. "Like Seth. Because of me."
"I'm going to be okay," he says, his voice and face confident, but how can he be so?
"Georgia was so sure she was fine, but I could see her cracking, slowly. Each night, there was a bit of her lost until..." I gesture with my hands. "Nothing." I lock eyes with him. "You can't be so sure, either."
Danny takes a breath and he looks away, his gaze sharp on the manor. The surrounding trees billow in the wind, and I wonder if those will be cut down too. "I'm pretty sure it's over for me. I beat it."
My heart skips a beat. "How?"
He's quiet at first. Then, when he speaks, his voice is low. "I told you about my mom, and what happened when I was a baby, and how she was admitted several times because of it." I nod in response. "She lives in Arizona now, and a couple of days before Seth died, I flew down there to talk to her about everything. I told her what happened at Grimwood and what's been happening now." He pauses and his Adam's apple bobs. "I can't believe what she said still..."
It's my turn to reach out. I caress his arm. "It's okay. Take your time."
When his eyes meet mine, they're red and filled to the brim with tears. "She said she made it all up."
