You Did Good

Five

"Is there anyone here?"

The spirit box clicks through channels, delivering nothing to their willing ears.

"If you're here, can you give us any sign?" Benji continues. "Come over to this box and you can talk to us."

"Can he look anymore stupid?" Renata whispers, leaning into Seth's shoulder so that only he can hear.

"At least he has real equipment this time." He whispers back. "I would die if we had to use that Ouija board again."

"I can hear you, you know." Benji calls, turning to glare at them over his shoulder. "If you're going to talk shit, do it quietly. You're scaring away Phoebe."

"Phoebe likes the banter." A feminine voice calls from the doorway, making them all jump. They turn to find a young woman leaning against the doorframe, a soft smirk on her face. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

Her skin melts into the harsh light provided by the singular overhead light, shining like a careful moon on the edges of the room. Clothes that look too big for her cling in desperation to her wiry frame. Her eyes stare at them all like she can see straight through their skin and into their souls- the perfect amount of unsettling the groundskeeper of a house like this must possess.

"You're the other groundskeeper, aren't you?" Benji asks, picking up on this. "Lorraine?"

She nods once.

"I thought you would be coming by later?" Renata asks, coming to her feet. She slowly creeps towards the woman. The dark circles where color should be within her eyes follow every movement she makes, making her shoulders tense.

Lorraine chuckles. "You've been here for three hours already?"

"What? No we haven't." Seth pulls out his phone. His face turns pale. "Guys..."

Benji drops the spirit box by his side, his face falling. "No...don't tell me."

"It's nearly midnight."

The phone face turns towards the group, proving that what he is saying is true. They all stumble in their resolve, unbelieving.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Seriously?"

"I'm guessing you're new to this stuff," Lorraine says. "This is...what? You're third or fourth house you've explored?"

Benji gasps, nodding enthusiastically. "Our third, yeah. How do you know?"

"I've been doing this long enough to tell the new investigators apart from the old ones. The guys that have been doing this for a while have more equipment and more focused questions. They're usually not sitting in the corner making fun of each other." She smiles over to Seth and Renata. "They're more intense than you guys."

"Could you help us then? Maybe?" Benji asks. "We haven't had anything happen to us after being here for evidently three hours. Nothing but a laugh."

"A laugh, huh?"

"Yeah." He nods. "That's literally the only thing we've heard."

"Well, you heard it." Renata interjects. "I didn't."

Lorraine's eyes narrow in on her. Analytical. "Interesting. Have you heard things before?"

She shakes her head. "This is the first time I've been with them."

"Ah. A paranormal virgin." She smiles. "In that case, follow me. I have something that will get you a lot of activity."

Doing as they're told, they follow her up the creaking stairs. Cobwebs from disuse string themselves across their shoulders as they climb higher, through the second floor and into the attic. When they reach the only room housed on the third floor, they stop.

There is nothing here. A small space, barely enough to fit a king sized bed, there isn't even a light to provide guidance as to where they are going. Only the light shining through the moon provides a silver sliver of solace, only telling them there are more shadows up here than the rest of the house.

Immediately, Renata's face scrunches in displeasure. "It smells rancid up here."

"What are you talking about?" Benji asks, taking a deep inhale. "It smells like wood in here."

"No it doesn't." Her nose scrunches. "It smells like absolute ass in here." She turns towards Seth. "Can you smell that?"

He shrugs. "No. You're smelling things."

"I smell it too." Lorraine answers, once again leaning in the doorframe. "It's called Clairolfaction. Ghost smells."

Her face falls slightly. "No. No. I'm not a medium."

"But you're smelling things that are remnants of the murder." She takes in Benji's wide-eyed look, and Renata's skeptical one. "The girls were brought up here, bags over their heads, hands bound. They were sat in the middle of the floor right over there on their knees, where they were proceeded to get shot in the back of their heads. One. Then the other." She acts out the motions of the event as she talks, her fingers folding into the shape of a gun. "Their bodies were left up here for days in the middle of summer. They were rotting. Their blood was soaking into the floorboard." She glances to Renata. "You're smelling that. You're experiencing exactly what the families of these girls smelt when they discovered their corpses up here."

"You're joking." She insists. "There's no way. That doesn't exist!"

"You might not believe it, but you're experiencing it." She walks deeper into the room slowly, absentmindedly staring at the darkened floorboards. Pausing, she glances over her shoulder at them. "Come on. I'll prove it to you."