A Night in Murder House//discontinued

Preparations

Cassie followed the people in front of her up the stairs. The stairs, as were the rest of the house, in good condition. They made no sound as the group of teenagers walked to the next floor. This part of the house was darker, and those without flashlights clung to the people who did.

The long hallway had two small windows and doors lined along all sides. There was a light switch by the doorway that someone reached for. "Are you crazy?" one of the boys asked. "Do you want to alert the neighborhood of our presence? In case you've forgotten, someone actually lives next door."

The group was silent. The girl who had reached for the light switch was blushing so furiously Cassie almost felt bad for her. Almost. The boy is correct, she thought. The boy walked to the front of the group. "Listen up," he said. "I think the best thing for us to do is explore for about an hour, then set up so we can wait until sunrise." There were nods of agreement. "Then we should set up downstairs in an hour then," he said. As the group dispersed, Cassie's thought were consumed with the boy's behavior. Classic alpha male, she thought.

She chose a random door on third floor and walked in. She shined her flashlight around the room. After taking in the room, she came to the conclusion that it was Ben Harmon's office. She walked immediately to the large bookcase. She scanned the shelf quickly and picked out a book called DSM 5. She sat down on the floor with the book and took off her backpack, setting it on the ground beside her and grabbing her reading light from it. She clipped the light onto the book and turned it on, then opened the book and began reading. In the personality disorder chapter, she found notes on the side of the pages. The book was well worn in this section. She concluded that Mr. Harmon may have been conflicted while diagnosing a possible psychopath. The notes mentioned Tate Langdon. But how? He died years ago, thought Cassie. She was beginning to question her earlier opinion on ghosts. She decided to keep reading.

"Cass, what are you doing?" Cassie turned to the doorway to find Sarah  standing there.

"Just reading, why?" Cassie was confused, until she realized how far she had gotten through the book. She had read approximately three quarters of the book. She must have read the entire hour. "Come one, we're setting up down stairs," Sarah replied.

Cassie put a bookmark in the book and decided she would finish it before putting it pack. She put her bag back on and followed Sarah out of the office and down the stairs. She found the group sitting on blankets, surrounding the stairs that led to the basement. Some of the boys were daring the girls to go down. Cassie set up her blanket and lamp and sat down.

Darren, a boy from school who she was acquainted with said: "Hey Cassie, I'll pay you twenty dollars of you can go down there and get a photo of some terrifying ghost." The others laughed, while Cassie blushed.

"That's bullshit. Everyone knows ghosts don't show up on camera," said the girl who had picked the lock on the door earlier. Her statement started a debate with the rest of the group. Cassie rolled her eyes and decided to finish DSM 5. She finished it in twenty minutes, then told Sarah she would be right back, and went up the stairs alone.