You Did Good

Twelve

The house beckons Renata as she sits on the middle cushion of the coach, her jacket pulled tightly around her. Somewhere, the heater runs, it's hum mixing with the sounds of the house breathing, but the warmth doesn't reach her as she sits by herself. She hums as she keeps her head on a swivel, every noise being the potential for a scary circumstance.

"I don't like this..." She sing-songs to herself, getting up once again to peek into the only blind spot she has. She glances around the corner, seeing Benji once again sitting on the bench of the piano, oblivious to her mere feet away. "Nope, not at all."

Lorraine is still no where to be found. She had gotten up and all but floated into the entry hall, only to never be seen again. The door had made no noise, saying she hadn't left, but when Renata went to bring her back into the living room, she was gone.

Renata doesn't know what to think about their guide. Benji seemed fascinated with her, milking her for all her knowledge about the house and the apparitions that reside in it's walls. Seth was indifferent, as Seth often was. It is only Renata who felt off about the girl. What kind of teenager willingly worked in a haunted house? Who liked provoking evil entities; who knew spirits on such a personal level? It didn't make sense. None of it.

The house sighs around her again, making her shake beneath her clothes. "Nope, this isn't real. Ghosts aren't real."

Pulling out her phone, she checks the time. The signal icon still flashes in warning that even if she wanted to call someone, she couldn't. No internet to pass the time, no way to text her friends that were safely in their own beds.

"Guys, you have ten minutes!" She shouts, reporting the counting down timer.

She goes back to humming. Tapping her feet nervously, she tries to entertain herself. A few more minutes, and they'll be out. A few more minutes, and she's on the way to a nice, broiling shower. A few more minutes, and she can laugh in Benji's face for being absolutely ridiculous for falling for something like this. Ghosts didn't exist. The scratches on her back were caused by their unnerving guide. There is no such thing, there is no such thing...

Descending footsteps on the stairs alerts her to Seth's presence. He had gone upstairs to a supposed bedroom, wanting to see if any other normal rooms are affected by whatever presence is in the house. Renata looks up, seeing his shadow coming down. "You're early."

"Nothing interesting." He shrugs.

"Should we get Benji?" She asks. "If he hasn't gotten anything by now, he's not going to."

"I'll get him."

"Okay. I'll start packing." She turns her back on him as she reaches for Benji's grimy bag. His footsteps pass behind her as she begins checking that everything is where it should be.

After a few minutes of no noise from the dining room, she glances up, her brow furrowed. "Seth, what's taking so long? Is he not wanting to leave?"

When she gets no reply, she groans. Discarding her task, she shuffles towards where she saw Benji last. The floorboards beneath her creak underneath her weight as she enters the room. Benji is still sitting on the piano bench, the poor excuse of a Ouija board beneath his hands.

"Hey, asshole." She calls, slamming her hand on the piano lid. She smiles in satisfaction as he jumps; he was too far in a trance to hear her approach. "Didn't you hear Seth? We're leaving."

He looks up at her, frowning. "What?"

"Seth told you to come on. Your ghost adventure is over."

"Seth didn't come in here." He glances to his phone screen. "And I have three minutes left. Buzz off."

"Stop being a dick. He was in here." She pulls on his sleeve, attempting to get him up. He barely moves under her hands, and she growls, slapping her hands by her sides in annoyance. "Where is he, anyway?"

He looks at her like she's grown two heads. "Upstairs."

"No. I heard him come in here."

"What are you on about?"

"Seth Bridges, my boyfriend of two years?" She drawls. "Ring any bells?"

"I'm not fucking stupid, Renata."

"You're sure acting like it." She frowns, pulling her jacket even tighter. Even in this room, the heat doesn't reach them. "Seth! Seth!"

"Yeah?" His voice is muffled, but it unmistakenly comes from the floor above them. Scraping crosses the floorboard as he makes his way through the house and down the steps.

Renata's eye widen as she turns to Benji, her whole body taunt in alert. Her hands shake as he gets to his feet, noticing how not okay she is.

"What?" He asks. "What is it?"

They both look up as Seth enters the room, his face twisted in confusion. He looks back and forth between the two of them, trying to understand why he was brought down before time was up. "What's going on in here?"

"Did you just come down here?" She stutters. A unsettled feeling crawls down her spine, making her shutter.

"You called me." His confusion deepens as he steps further into the room. His hands encase her elbows as he steadies her, looking directly in her eyes. "What's going on? You're starting to freak me out a little."

"Me, too." Benji nods in agreement.

"You didn't come down earlier?" She repeats.

"I swear." He pauses. "Why?"

"I just talked to you. I literally had a whole conversation with you." She points towards the direction of the stairs, the image of the shadowy figure burning into her eyelids. "I asked you...I asked you to get Benji. You said we were leaving."

"I've been upstairs the entire time."

'No way."

"I swear."

"You were right there!" She cries, her eyes welling up. "You were talking to me! You were-" She doesn't get to finish her sentence, because the second she feels something adding to the gashes on her back, she lets out a earth-shattering scream.