•| Nefarious |•

5

A loud scream erupted through the room, me and Ashlyn quickly whipped our heads around. The black figure had a hold on my thigh, its nails slicing the delicate skin, its hold tightening, but just as quickly as it arrived it disappeared. I turned towards Ashlyn, her hands on her head, her face twisting with pain. I looked down at my thigh but no mark was there, only a dull distant pain.

"Where did it go?"

"I don't see it anywhere."

Logan's hands trembled, his eyes peering into his camera with fear.

"What was it?"

Taylor's hands wrapped around her body, her face filled with horror.

"One of the ghost maybe."

Aiden shrugged his shoulders, playing it off.

"Are you guys dumb? Ghost aren't real. This is just some stupid prank."

Tyler crossed his arms over his chest, his voices filled with annoyance.

"A prank?"

I looked back up at the group.

"Obviously, a group conveniently cancels a reservation, and our guide just happened to have an excuse to leave."

Tyler spoke stealing the words I told him earlier.

"Then when we're all alone in a 'haunted' house we have a scary encounter. Immediately after said 'scary encounter' the thing just disappears before we can confirm or touch it."

I drifted my hand to my thigh, rubbing the injuries area. 'It couldn't have just been a prank...it felt so real.'

"Yeah right. This is definitely a set up for some sort of reaction video to make money. They probably have cameras and projectors hidden somewhere."

Tyler covered his mouth with his hands, yelling out to the "camera's".

"Screw you and your idiotic video! For the record, you don't have permission to use our reactions! Come on Tay we're going back to the bus."

He snatched Taylor's arm and stormed out of the room, Logan following behind quickly. 'Did they not see the black figure grab onto me and maybe even Ashlyn?'

"It's almost five thirty, we should catch up with the others."

Ashlyn shrugged off the whole situation, her and Aiden walked out the room back outside. Ben held his hand out for me to take helping me stand up.

"Thanks."

I smiled patting his shoulder, maybe it was just all in my head. We made it to the motel, breaking off into different groups. I was with Ashlyn, Taylor and a random girl named Emma from a different group who had an uneven amount of boy's to girl's ratio. She agreed to sleep on the couch since she would be texting her friends all night anyways and didn't want to disturb us.

Me, Taylor and Emma sat around on the couches playing cards, Ashlyn entered the room, a towel swung around his shoulder, her hair freshly wet from the shower.

"Ah Ashlyn! Wanna play?"

Taylor lifted her head to look at Ashlyn, her attention away from her cards. This gave Emma an advantage to take a look at what she has in her deck.

"Please play, I can't deal with Taylor winning another round."

I groaned with a slight laugh, my eyes quickly drifted over to Emma's cards, doing the same thing she was doing.

"...No, you guys go ahead. I'm getting ready to go to bed."

Ashlyn gave us a slight nod and walked over to her's and Taylor's room.

"Okay goodnight, Ashlyn."

I flashed her a small smile as she went away.

"Eh she's probably just shy, I never see her talk to anyone before this trip."

Emma said, our attention no back into the unfinished card came. 'Now that I think about it, I've never seen her talk with anyone other than our group this year because she was forced to.' Taylor's face flushed with confusion, also trying to figure out what was up with Ashlyn, 'I guess she just likes being alone.'

My phone buzzed in my pocket, my hand grabbing it and looking at the text that flashed onto the Home Screen.

Dad
Hey Champ how are you holding up?

You
I'm doing good, we explored a lot today and had a great time

Dad
That's good! Just checking in making sure you're alright, I still need updates like you promised.

You
lol okay, yeah I'm doing good. I told you nothing would happened.

Dad
I know just be careful, I'm heading to bed I'll text you tomorrow. Tell me what time you get back from your trip.

You
Alright, love you goodnight

Dad
Love you too sweet heart, sleep well❤️

I smiled at my phone placing it back into my pocket, I looked over at the card game noticing Taylor won, again, for the third time. After her mini celebration she put the cards away.

"Hey guys I'm gonna head to bed. Goodnight!"

Me and the girl waved her off before getting situated in our own rooms. I made it to my room lightly flopping myself onto the bed, it was only a full bed so it wasn't too big I was kinda glad I got it to myself. My phone buzzed again, a groan leaving my lips as I looked back onto the Home Screen.

Tyler
Hey are you alright? After the whole thing at the Sorrel Weed house you've been quiet

You
Yeah I'm okay I'm just kind of spooked a bit, It felt very real but like you said it could just be a prank

Tyler
Yeah a prank. Just be careful, I'm gonna go to bed goodnight

You
I will, goodnight.

I plugged up my phone making sure it would be charged for the next day. I went under my covers and closed my eyes, allowing sleep to engulf me.

———

A weird atmosphere formed around me making my eyes shoot open, looking around the room. I was back on the bus like when we arrived to Savannah. 'I must have fallen asleep.' I thought as I stood up grabbing my bag before looking around the area.

No one was there it was just me, the bus was empty and the sky was red. I swung my bag over my shoulders till I stopped. 'Wait didn't we already get off at Savannah?'