COMFORT [ben clark x f!oc]

FIVE

"Welcome to the Sorrel Weed House!" the lady said when they passed the front doors. Mia was tagging behind the group with Ashlyn, carefully taking everything in. Elegant furniture decorated every room. Basking in the glory of the house, she looked to her best friend to see if she shared the excitement.

What she was met with though, was a worried look. It didn't take a trained eye to recognize her unrest. "Hey, what's up?" the taller girl whispered to the shorter. "Nothing.. it's just.." the ginger was trying hard to find the words that would ease Mia's worries. "Phantom noises?" the girl took an educated guess. "Yea.." the ginger looked down at the floor "it'll pass soon."

Mia reached for the girl's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "We can step out if you want." the girl said. Ashlyn quickly declined her request. She saw how excited her friend was about the house. She couldn't ruin her fun with something as dumb as this. It was an imaginary sound, a product of her good hearing, nothing else. Right?

"If you're sure.." Mia said, still unconvinced. She won't press further if Ashlyn was so adamant about being fine. They missed quite a bit of what the guide was saying, not that they would listen either way. Mia already knew most of the house's history and Ashlyn wasn't particularly interested in it.

"This is the Francis Sorrel library " the guide said, showing around the room. "And the man you see in this portrait is Robert E. Lee." she said, mentioning to the painting that rested above an old fireplace "Lee was a dear friend of Francis who visited the Sorrel house quite often."

With her free hand, Mia pointed to the portrait. "When I have my own house, I'll get your portrait and hang it in my living room." she said to the girl beside her. "Shut up." Ashlyn replied, a light smile adorning her face. Mia was trying to distract her from the noise and Ashlyn knew that, so she just pretended that it was working.

They walked out the room soon after, moving onto the office. "In the winter of 61-62, just before the Great war, General Lee used this room as his office." the lady showed them around the room. In a teasing tone, she added "As far as spooky activity goes, this room seems to be the most calm. Not to say that there isn't any ghost activity in here," she said, matter of factly "but out of the entire house, I'd say it's milder-" ringing of a phone sounded throught the room.

Mia looked down at her phone, checking if it was the one ringing. The lady took out hers from her pocked, a swan origami dangling from her phone case. "Ah.. I'm so sorry, this is my emergency phone." she apologetically said, bringing her phone up "I have to get this." She answered before excusing herself "I'll be right back. Continue looking around if you want but don't touch anything." and with that, she exited the room.

With a judgmental look and arms crossed across his chest, Tyler said "Well, that's super professional." Looks like Logan missed the scowl on the boy's face, because he was quick to correct him "I-I don't think that's professional.." he trailed off. 'God bless his innocent soul' Mia thought as she was trying her best to suppress her snickering.

Dumbfounded, Tyler scanned the boy's face and after seeing that he was serious, he clarified himself "I was being sarcastic." With a blank look and a red face Logan let out an "..Oh."

Shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly, Taylor said "Eh an emergency is an emergency." Now filled with excitement, she added "It'll be way more fun to explore on our own anyway!" She enthusiastically walked over to Mia, snatching her arm and linking it with her own "C'mon Mia, lead the way!" Confused, the girl asked "Huh?"

Withouth turning to her, Taylor exclaimed "You know stuff about this house, right? So lead the way, I wanna see the most hunted part." Dropping Ashlyn's hand, she put a fist up in the air "Alright, off to the basement we go!" she said, hyping up the room.