The Piano || 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬

|53|

"Any reason for the change of plans?" Sam asked Colby the second they stepped outside.

"It's getting monotone," Colby shrugged. "Repetitive. We're just doing the same all the time."

"That the only reason?" Sam inquired, cocking a brow.

"Yeah," he replied. "Ashley looked unhappy with it as well, so I just thought..."

Sam nodded slowly. "Alright. You're right, it's getting repetitive. Good thing you changed the plan. Next time just..."

"Talk with you about it, yeah," Colby ended the sentence with a crooked smile. "Sorry, man."

Sam nodded, saying, "You're good," and then picked up the camera, lowering his voice slightly. "We all know that Ilse reacts especially much to Ashley, but she didn't seem too happy today... We were thinking that might have been because there were just so many people, so we decided to leave the three alone for a few minutes," he explained, gesturing to him and Colby. "So, let's see what happens..."

Only a second after he'd stopped talking, they heard a faint yell, coming from inside the hotel.

Sam's head snapped around, frowning. "What was- did you just hear that?" he whispered, pointing at the hotel.

"Yeah, that was like a scream," Colby said, just as confused. A tinge of worry had sneaked into his tone, and he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You think that was them?"

"Must've been," Sam muttered. "It was a woman's voice, probably Sadie. Should we go check on them?"

Colby's shoulders eased the slightest bit at that, but he shook his head. "Let's give them a few more moments, they've been in there only for like five minutes," he suggested.

"You're sure?" Sam asked, frowning. "Well, I guess they can come out if they need to..." He didn't seem happy with it, though, constantly looking over to the hotel.

The exact moment he decided to turn away, the doors opened, and Sadie rushed out with a horrified expression.

"Sadie!" Sam immediately called out. "What's going on? What happened?"

"I- fuck, she was..." the woman panted, turning around to stare at the hotel's doors. "No, that's too much."

"Are you alright? Do you need to sit down?" Sam asked, stepping closer. She just shook her head and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

A few moments later, Jerry came limping out of the hotel, and Colby quickly rushed to his side to help him down the stairs in front of the door.

"What's going on?" he asked the guy, who looked equally as confused.

"Dunno, man. Sadie, what the fuck was that?"

The girl's face was dead serious and pale as she turned to look at her brother. "I saw her," she said, her voice trembling. "I- she was standing in that goddamn corner, I couldn't, like, see her clearly, but I swear to god, someone was standing there, and..."

"Wait, what?" Sam asked. "You saw her? Ilse?"

"A silhouette, yeah! Just standing there with a fucking gown on or something!" Sadie explained, the words tumbling out of her mouth uncontrollably. "She was like in the corner in front of the curtains. Like, in front, not between them. It's not like it could've been a shadow or anything, it literally- someone was legit standing there."

"Did Ashley see her too?" Jerry asked. "Cause she flinched. Why didn't I see nothing?"

Sadie scoffed, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "How am I supposed to know, ask her."

"She's... still inside."

They all simultaneously turned to look at the hotel's doors. "Yeah," Colby said after a second. Then he rushed up the stairs and walked into the lobby of the hotel to get her.

"God damn it, why does this girl keep doing this?" Jerry cursed. "She'd be the first one to die in a horror movie, I tell ya that much."

Sam chuckled. "Well, at least she's still got the camera. Cameraman never dies, remember?"

"I swear to God if she turned that thing off... I wouldn't even be surprised," Jerry muttered under his breath.

Sam didn't get time to answer that, seeing as the doors opened immediately afterwards and a thrilled-looking Ashley stepped out, followed by Colby who was holding the camera. Jerry visibly relaxed as he saw his best friend.

"Oh. My. God," she said while hurrying down the stairs and trying to adjust her pants so her pad wouldn't move around too much. "I just had the best conversation with a spirit. She literally... she answered every question, and it just made so much sense!"

"Seriously?" Sam asked. "Did you record it?"

"Yeah!"

"So, what exactly happened?" Jerry asked. "Sadie said she saw Ilse, did you?"

"Unfortunately not. After something touched me-" Ashley began, but Sam interrupted her.

"Hold up, what?"

"Yeah, someone tugged at my shirt. Slightly. I don't know if you can see it in the video, but it was there. Anyways, I said that something pulled at my clothes, so Sadie looked in my direction. And then she freaked out."

"You would have too if you saw someone deadass standing in the corner of an empty room," the girl hissed. Ashley shrugged.

"Dunno. I didn't see anything. But you ran out and Jerry followed," Ashley stated, shrugging. "I stayed. To see if I could catch anything... and I guess I did. I started asking questions and the flashlights answered perfectly. It all lined up with what we know, about Helene Schneider and stuff; it was incredible!"

Colby just looked at her as she talked and talked and talked, recounting every detail of her conversation. He looked at her flushed cheeks, her wildly gesturing hands, the excitement glistening in her eyes. And while he did listen to what she was saying, he mostly enjoyed the way she was basically beaming while talking about ghosts – his number one passion.

A familiar feeling bubbled up in his chest: a mixture of a slight giddiness, the urge to laugh at everything and everyone, and a restlessness that led him to fiddle with his rings or necklaces all the damn time.

He couldn't stand it.

He also couldn't stand the way Sadie was glaring at Ashley.

After she finished recounting the conversation, Sam nodded slowly. "So, she confirmed everything we had been guessing," he said.

"Wow, and the second I stepped in, she didn't answer anymore," Colby scoffed. Ashley glanced at him apologetically.

"Guess she wanted to talk to me alone," she replied, shrugging. "God, I can't wait until you guys see the footage."

"So... Ilse was right," Sam said after a moment of silence. The group's attention immediately shifted to him, and he gave Colby the camera. "She promised to show herself to us and she did. To Sadie, at least."

"Oh god, that's true, I totally forgot about that," Colby mused.

"Doesn't make it less terrifying," Sadie muttered.

"Obviously," Sam agreed. "But that's like... huge. We've never had that before, have we?"

"Nope," Colby replied, popping the p. "A spirit promising something and then keeping the promise is a first."

"Guess Ilse is trustworthy," Ashley chuckled, glancing over her shoulder.