Haunted Escape | ONC 2022

.15.

Chapter 15

Landon walks me down to the church, a place in the village I haven't seen yet. It's small and simple, built of grey stone with the watery sun gleaming off the stain-glass windows in the walls. But it isn't the church itself that Landon leads me to.

It's the graveyard.

He gently takes hold of my hand as we walk, taking note of how silent I've been during the ten minutes it has taken to get here. He knows I'm still in shock about Keely and Jonah. He knows I'm scared. And I know as well as he does that, whatever he's about to show me, is about to make things even worse.

We walk together, winding through the headstones while avoiding stepping on top of the graves. When we get further up the small, grassy hill, walking towards the slightly newer headstones, Landon pauses in front of two headstones in particular.

Both are made of the same stone, the same bouquet of flowers wilting in plant pots at the head of the graves. Just glancing at the names brims my eyes with tears, as what I found out merely half an hour ago is confirmed.

Jonah Brooke and Keely Brooke

Born together on 01/03/98

Died together on 27/07/19

Matthew killed them. Matthew Harrington, the man I took care of and who I thought was my friend.

Honestly I... I couldn't see it in him. Maybe it's because I only knew him as the man with cancer who grew too weak to simply bring a glass of water to his lips. I knew him as kind and generous, as the man who gave me his home in the countryside to ensure I was taken care of after his death.

A part of me doesn't believe Landon, because what he's telling me is absurd. But Landon's been good to me since we met. We've barely known one another long and I've grown to love him. If I find that he's lying to me, I think that might hurt more than what I'm finding out about Matthew.

"Windchime manor was abandoned," Landon tells me, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his coat. "I'd known Keely and Jonah my entire life. They were lovely, always helping anyone they could in the village, but they could also be a bit... crazy. They loved exploring places. When they were kids it started out by them exploring the fields and forests nearby, but when they were allowed to travel elsewhere they started finding new places. Houses, hotels. If it was abandoned, they'd want to explore it.

"Often they wanted me and other kids at school to go with them. They wanted to visit these places and do all sorts of stupid things like Ouija boards and seances to see if they'd see any ghosts. Sometimes they'd scare themselves silly and end up not sleeping for days at a time. It seemed fun at first and there were times I would join them. We saw some pretty cool things. We went on hikes that lasted the whole day and watched so many sunrises and sunsets. They held parties at their house and the nearest beach whenever they could. At the rate they were going, they were going to live these big, elaborate lives and see the world.

"But then they turned twenty and wanted to do more. Not 'more' as in see more things. They wanted to be more bold. They started breaking into abandoned houses, trespassing in places they shouldn't. Some really dangerous places where they could have gotten themselves killed on multiple occasions. We tried to stop them, but they weren't going to stop. They loved the adrenaline rush. They lived for it.

"They were twenty-one and about to finally go to university when they broke into Windchime manor. It was the haunted mansion in the village that everyone would whisper about, and they wanted to be the ones to prove there was some sort of paranormal activity going on. I didn't even know they were going to do it at the time. They didn't tell anyone where they were going. Then they disappeared.