Hot Spots

Chapter Two

Wilted roses bowed to greet us at the gate of the haunted house. Soulless windows met my eyes.  I'd be the first to brag about my great ideas, but maybe this didn't make the cut.

“Are you sure about this?” asked Felix.

Harden up, I told myself. “I'm not turning back now.”

The gate whined open. Damp, rotten wood crumbled away as it scuffed the pavement.

“What are you getting me into now, Jane?” asked Felix.

“Shhh,” said Amy.

“What now, boss?” asked Kyler.

Confession: I hadn't thought that far ahead. I had a Ouija board, some ghostbuster-style tech, and just under an ounce of weed. I figured those were ingredients for a great night. Actually getting into the house hadn't crossed my mind.

“We could knock,” I suggested.

“Knock?” said Kyler.

“Bang your fist on the door a couple of times and see if anyone opens it?”

“Can ghosts open doors?” asked Felix.

“That depends on how strong they--”

“Ghostley McBoo isn't going to open the door because he wants to get internet famous,” interrupted Kyler.

Felix and I exchanged a look.

“Ghostley McBoo!” Amy mimicked in a high voice. She giggled at her own imitation. “Classic.”

I smiled. Amy was infectious.

“No knocking then,” said Felix.

I scanned the yard. Streetlights washed it in a weak yellow tinge. Trees bowed under the weight of overgrown arms.  I looked at Felix. Shadows settled in the dips and crevices of his face. He looked older and tired, but he grinned at me.

“Are you ready for this?” he asked.

“Hell yeah.”

Kyler wrapped his arm around Amy and shifted his weight from foot to foot. I wished I could ask him to pull out the camera and record this, but for legal reasons, I could only film once we were inside.

I followed a trail of shrubbery around the side of the house. Amy, Kyler, and Felix followed me like well-trained puppies. The plants rustled angrily. I walked into a vine littered with heart-shaped leaves, and it wrapped around my throat.

I tugged myself free.

“Shit,” said Amy.

A stick poked into her eye. She clutched the side of her face and whimpered.

“Are you okay?” Felix asked.

She nodded and gritted her teeth.

Our footsteps were as loud as drums, no matter how delicately I tiptoed. Every time my elbow rustled a plant, my heart skipped like I'd tripped an alarm. We needed to get inside where we only had the undead to deal with. They might try to kill us for interrupting their afterlife, but they couldn't arrest us.

“I found a window!” squeaked Amy. She pointed beside her. I squinted. Dust and dirt and years of neglect frosted the window and camouflaged it with the rest of the wall. No wonder I overlooked it. I ran my fingers over the windowsill. They came back soaked in grime.

“Give it a shove,” said Kyler.

I pushed the glass. “It's stuck.”

“Let me do it.”