Haunted Love | Mat Nicholls

four

"That couldn't have been real, right?" Oli asked, slightly out of breath as they stepped over branches, exiting the forest.

Mat coughed a few times, "We both heard and saw her."

The pair stayed quiet for the remainder of their trip home. Their feet hit against the concrete, their shadows following them as the streetlights illuminated the road. Mat adjusted the straps of his backpack as he exhaled loudly,
running his hand through his hair.

"My place?" Mat broke the silence.

"Let's go," Oli nodded.

They soon made it Mat's house. They took off their shoes and shot upstairs after greeting Mat's mom. Oli shut the bedroom door as Mat launched himself onto the bed, stuffing his face into his pillow and groaning loudly. He flipped the other way, laying on his back as he stared at the ceiling.

"You don't reckon we're going insane, right?" Mat asked for reassurance again.

"Why are you so scared?" Oli questioned, shrugging his backpack off and sitting onto the edge of the bed.

Mat shrugged his shoulders, "I thought ghosts weren't meant to be real."

Oli thought about it for a moment, his tongue sliding over his lip ring as he always did when he was lost in thought, "Me too."

"We gotta head back tomorrow," Mat said, looking up at Oli intently.

Oli looked up at his best friend and they held eye contact for a few moments, "We should bring some sort of equipment or some shit."

"Yeah," Mat nodded, grabbing his laptop from his dresser.

Mat and Oli sat next to one another and they researched all things about ghosts and ghost hunting equipment. They stayed up for most of the night since they didn't have school the next morning but they ended up falling asleep at three in the morning.

Mat's eyes fluttered open and he stretched, groaning softly. He looked over towards Oli to see him already awake, looking at something on his phone. He poked Oli's thigh, catching his attention.

Oli shut off his phone, "Wanna get breakfast and then head to the house?"

Mat sat up, stretching once more, "Let's go," he said with a sleepy voice.

They quickly got ready, throwing on the same clothes that they wore yesterday. Oli grabbed both of their backpacks, emptying them from their school stuff before throwing them on Mat's bed.

"So, what are we gonna bring?" Oli asked.

Mat glanced towards his dresser and thought back to what they researched. Apparently, the air got colder whenever there was a ghost around. They also heard that people used recording device to try to catch voices.

"There's a recording box thing in the attic and we can grab a thermometer from the bathroom," Mat concluded.

Oli nodded and grabbed the backpacks, following Mat out of the room. Mat quickly grabbed what they needed and they both shot down the stairs and into the kitchen. The house was empty since Mat's parents were at work. Oli opened their pantry and grabbed a box of granola bars and a few juice boxes, shoving them into the backpacks.

"Toast?" Mat asked even though he was already getting out the bread.

"Yeah," Oli replied as he continued to search the pantry for anything else they could bring, "You reckon Nino likes fruit snacks?"

Mat raised his eyebrow and chuckled, "I don't think ghosts can eat, mate."

Oli shrugged and tossed the fruit snacks into the backpack nevertheless. Mat made breakfast for the two and they didn't even bother to eat at home, they just grabbed the buttered toast and slipped on their shoes, staring their trek to the forest. The early morning sun was shining down on them as a cool breeze passed through the streets as well. The boys were in jeans and t-shirts which wasn't the most appropriate attire for ghost hunting but they couldn't be bothered.