Attached [Rewritten Version]

21. Tunnel

Saturday, October 15th, 2016

Sid felt like a little child, the way his parents scowled him and Cory for going to Brook Mansion. His mother was mad, yes. But Sid could tell it was mainly because she was extremely worried about his wellbeing.

His father, however? After the initial shock, and the surprise when he thought they had actually entered the mansion and made it out alive—he clearly knew the rumours too—he was livid.

"How could you be so stupid, Sid? Have you learned nothing from Miller woods? Do you want to die? And Cory? You had to recover for two years! Two! And then you go around and agree that it is a splendid idea to go and visit the next most haunted area in the county? Why? Really, boys, why would you do that? It's one thing to say you two are just some idiot teenaged boys, but this is just beyond reckless! I don't—"

"Harold." Olivia firmly spoke, silencing him at once, "if we want to know why, let's at least give them a chance to answer us."

"With all due respect, but shouldn't I be having this conversation with my father instead? He was fine with me visiting Brook Mansion..." Cory said, still fumbling with the hem of his shirt insecurely.

"As if your father has any idea what dangers lurk around Brook Mansion," Harold angrily replied. "You two, on the other hand, should know better."

"Why?" Sid asked daringly, "Nothing happened in the woods, aside from me tripping and hitting my head—"

"Oh, stop it," his mother cried out, "you were freaked out for days! You refuse to talk about the things that happened."

"What do you think happened?" Sid countered, having a stare off with his father, "it's clear we all know the rumours. But that doesn't mean any of them are true."

"Yeah, there weren't any wolves, and I wasn't hunted down by a serial killer," Cory spoke up, more sure of himself now.

"And neither were we."

"And you never told me not to go to Brook mansion. Yeah, you, and everyone and their mom told us not to go into the woods. We did that, and that was stupid. But aside from a bunch of idiotic rumours, nobody ever forbade us from visiting the mansion. We didn't go inside, because we're no idiots."

"You trespassed, Sid! Again!" Harold called out, "How do you fail to see the issue here?"

"Is that what this is about?" Sid asked in surprise, "did you actually see us trespass? Do you know where we went, which path we walked?"

Olivia opened her mouth, but closed it again, sharing a look with her husband. They knew he was right. But Sid also felt as if that wasn't truly the issue they had with their visit.

"You never gave us a chance to tell you whether or not we actually stepped foot onto the terrain or not," he was pushing his luck, but he felt like they couldn't argue any more about the topic, unless they had an ulterior motive to be angry they were near the mansion.

"Why did you go there, boys?" Harold asked with a sigh, "after everything, we hoped you all would be smart enough to steer clear of those places."

"Haunted places?"

"Yes, Sid!" Olivia cried out, "haunted places. Places where tons of people died and nobody can explain why, or how! Those kinds of places."

"Do you believe in hauntings?" Sid asked curiously.

"It's not about believing them, Sid," Harold spoke hesitantly, as if he was struggling with his words, "it's about not looking for that kind of trouble to find out whether or not it exists. We want you around for longer than this."