Crossing the Line

Chapter Four

Sorry I haven't uploaded in a while - writer's block is a curse. But I think it's gone now - I actually had to split this chapter in half, it was so long! :D (Also, please let me know if there are any spelling errors - my keyboard isn't working properly, and sometimes I type too fast to notice.)
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However foreboding the house may have been on the outside, it was even more so on the inside. The thick layer of dust that blanketed absolutely everything was the first thing the group noticed, as they explored the first floor. With each step they took came another creak of an old floorboard and another footprint left in the dust. Although these set Miki on edge, the only thing that had scared Asiyah in the slightest was the cobwebs scattered here and there. Everyone else was still tense from what had just happened, but apart from that, nothing scared them too much yet.

"Well, Niki, you were right - this place definitely is perfect," Asiyah muttered to the boy walking in front of her, shining her phone's torch at one of the webs. He gave a hum of agreement, still in shock. "It's so dark though - will we even be able to film?"

"Oh no!" Miki exclaimed, her overdramatic sadness obvious to everyone else. "I can't believe we didn't think of that! You know, it's not too late to leave..." she suggested, hopefulness lacing her voice. She'd been holding onto Asiyah's shoulder this entire time, finding comfort in contact.

"Dude, it'll be fine. Nothing's happened yet," Bonibell sothed. "It really sets the mood, actually."

"How can it 'set the mood' if we can't even see?" By now, everyone had learned to simply pay no attention to Richard's retorts. He'd only escalate the situation if you did. If only their teachers would learn that.

"I think I saw some candles back in the living room area," Nikolai mentioned, looking back at the others, who came to a stop. "They should give us at least a little light, and then we have our phone lights - does anyone have matches?"

"I have a lighter," Richard boasted.

"So that's why you always ask to go to the bathroom during class," Bonibell smirked. She could tell for ages, anyway; he always smelled of cigarettes when he returned to class. "Uh, we should get filming, the living room area was perfect."

They started to head back, only Asiyah noticing the edge in the bespectacled girl's voice. Bonibell didn't mention to anyone what she'd seen while taunting Richard, or on the whole floor. Though it made her feel slightly queasy, she'd been glancing around while they walked; their footsteps followed a single path, but she'd seen some that were out of the way, in places they hadn't walked in. They too, looked fresh. Once or twice, she'd seen something move out of the corner of her eye. It's just dust, she told herself. Dust... With a cough, she muttered, "Jesus, I hope all this dust doesn't mess up my asthma too much..."

Nikolai, a fellow asthmatic, gasped dramatically, turning to look over at her with a grin. "Don't say that, you'll curse us!" His smile faltered as everyone halted, eyes and mouths wide open. Why was it brighter out here now?

"Did anyone touch the curtains?" Asiyah asked, unable to recall anything of the sort. Nikolai spun back around to see what she was talking about. One of the six sets of heavy, brown curtains had been opened, allowing light from outside to pool into the dark room.

"Fuck this," Richard spat, raising his hands to shoulder level, dropping the tripod he'd been carrying in the process. "I'm here to get a fucking assignment done, not to be the victim of some prank-"

"You think this is a prank?" Asiyah spat back at him. "My best friends just got choked by some fucking ghost or something, and you think this is a prank? Come on - one, we want to get this assignment over and done with, and two... even Nikolai's not that good of an actor," she finished, smirking in her friend's direction. In her mind, keeping a light mood in this dark place was best.