Oxygen

Prologue

I always thought my cousin was genuinely insane. And today made me think so even more. He wanted me to accompany him and 3 of his friends to a haunted house in Kansas.

"You want to take me to the Sallie House? Are you kidding me?", I asked.

"Please? Come on Evie. It'll be fun", Colby said, pleading.

"I don't wanna go to so haunted ass house. No thank you"

"Come on. Nate's gonna be there", he singsonged.

"You say that like you think I care"

"You do care. I know you're in love with Nate. Sam knows you're in love with Nate. Even Seth, who hasn't known you that long, knows you're in love with Nate"

"I'm not in love with Nate"

Colby raised his eyebrows, nodding slightly.

"Okay. If you say so. But please come with us"

"Why do insist on begging me to go on haunted trips with y'all? Every time?"

"Because it would be fun"

I rolled my eyes and finall caved.

"Fine. Just, stop begging"

"Yes! Thank you Evie"

"Yeah. Whatever"

I followed Colby out of the house and to the car where Sam, Seth, and Nate were waiting. Colby had Sam move to the back. I got in the passenger seat and Colby in the drivers. We drove to the Sallie House and began our investigation.

~A Few Hours Later~

Weird things have been happening all night. Toys kept going off by themselves, the 8 Ball fell down the stairs without being touched, and I was starting to get a bit scared. When we split up, Colby made sure I was with Nate. I glared at him, he smirked, knowing exactly what he was doing. As we split up, it continued to get weirder and I got consistently more scared. The more scared I got, the closer I moved to Nate. Eventually, I was so close, I was nearly in his arms. Nate didn't seem to mind me being so close. He even grabbed my hand, obviously trying to calm me.

"You okay?", he asked, whispering, probably so that Sam wouldn't hear.

"Yeah, I'm good. A little scared but, I'll be alright", I replied, my voice the same level as his. He nodded and we followed Sam.

When we met up with Colby and Seth later, Nate was still holding my hand. Colby noticed and sent a pointed look my way. I shook my head, telling him to not say anything about it. He nodded and left it alone. Eventually we left the Sallie House. Mostly because Nate started to feel sick. I didn't say anything, but I was also feelin pretty nauseous. We all went back to Colby's house and decided to go to bed. There was only one guest room in Colby's house. So, since I was the only girl, my aunt (Colby's mom) decided she would give me the room. As I was about to go to bed, Nate walked out of the bathroom on his way back to Colby's room. All the boys had been put in there for the night. As he walked past my room though, I stopped him.

"Hey, Nate. Can I talk to you for a second?", I asked.

"Yeah, what's up?", he asked, coming into my room. He sat next to me on the bed.

"Earlier, before we left, I didn't say anything...but, I was feeling a bit nauseous and I was wondering, like does that usually happen when you do these?"

"Like, investigations?"

"Yeah, the haunted ones at least"

"Well, I haven't done too many haunted ones, but when I do, usually yeah. Why?"

"It's just never happened to me before"

"Eventually, you'll come to expect it"

"I can't wait", I said, sarcastically. Nate laughed and smiled at me.

"I should probably get back, but if you need anything, shoot me a text. I'm the next door down"

"I know where Colby's room is. But thanks Nate. Good night"

"Good night Eve"

I smiled as I closed the door to my room, Nate was the only thing on my mind. I sighed in defeat as I realized Colby was right. I did like Nate. Fuck, I hated when Colby was right. It's not like I was gonna tell Colby he was right. But I knew he was, and that's what mattered.

A/N: i'm not going to write out all the investigations they do, as this is not really about the investigations, but about Nate and Everett