Not Just a Mirage

Chapter 6

The sounds of Stevie's piercing screams woke up half the chateau in the dead of the night. She frantically ran out into the hallway from her bedroom, Christine and Mick's doors now swinging open too as everyone rushed out to see what the hell was going on—half asleep and completely confused.

"Stevie, what the hell happened?" Christine's eyes were a mix of concern and exhaustion as she grabbed onto Stevie's arms in an attempt to calm her.

"THE GHOSTS......THEY'RE IN MY ROOM!!!!!"

"Oh Jesus Christ," Mick grumbled, rubbing his eyes as he tried to focus in on the girls in the darkness of the hall.

"What's going on??? Is everything okay?" Lindsey's hushed tones soon filtered in as he rushed down from the other side of the hallway, Richard peeking out his door to see what was going on too.

"My room and this whole chateau is HAUNTED, that's what's going on!" Stevie cried, "I was trying to sleep and my windows just flung open after this weird cool breeze was over me. They're in there right now!"

Mick sighed, walking past Stevie into her bedroom to see what all the fuss was about. Christine held her as she stood in hysterics, ranting on about the ghosts and spirits. Down the hallway, Richard and Ken retreated back to their rooms, not intrigued enough by the ghosts to stay awake. Lindsey, however, made his way further down towards Stevie and Christine, peeking into her room to see what the hell Mick was planning to do.

"Marie told me the ghosts here are friendly but still..." Stevie rambled.

"Marie?" Lindsey asked.

"Our cook, jeez Lindsey, do you pay attention to anything?"

"Oh, right. Steph," he sighed, "Your room is not haunted. The house is just old, the windows are probably on their last leg."

"Go in there right now and look for yourself," she pointed him towards the room.

Christine held back a laugh as she watched Lindsey try his hardest not to put down Stevie's ghost and spirit theories like he always did. With a sigh, he followed Mick into the darkened room and took a look around. Mick was fussing with the windows, though it looked more like he was breaking them rather than fixing them. Lindsey took a moment to instead look around at all of Stevie's things, he hadn't been in here yet and was not surprised to see her shawls swung across all the lamps, journals, makeup, and clothes flung all over the place in a perfectly Stevie mess. It gave him a weird sense of comfort. 

"It was just the wind, Steves," Mick explained.

"It was NOT the wind!" She objected, pulling Christine with her as she stood in the doorway of the room, "I cannot work in these conditions!"

"Shhh, why don't we just calm down before we wake the rest of the house up?" Mick asked. Lindsey grinned, he was in for it now. You should never shush Stevie when she thinks there's ghosts lingering. 

"Calm DOWN?! This was all your ridiculously stupid idea, and now we're stranded here in the middle of nowhere with French spirits and I'm the only one they're after!!!!"

"Stevie," Christine groaned, entirely too exhausted for her antics right now, "Please, it's 4 AM."

"How can I possibly go back to sleep in here now?! With the ghosts!!!"

"Fine, you want to come sleep in my room, then? I'll keep you safe," Mick offered, Lindsey's eyes bulging with his every word.

"Oh Christ," Christine rolled her eyes.

"Christine, can I just sleep in your room the rest of the night?" Stevie asked hopefully, holding onto her arms again.

"Well..." Christine shuffled in her doorway, the three of them all looking at her with perplexed expressions, "You know I'd say yes, it's just that...Johnny is sort of in there now."