Through the Lungs and Back

Chapter One

 "Quarantine, get back here! We wanna look too!" I yell, running after Quarantine.

"Well then, get over here." She replies. I can't see her in the distance. Out of us five, she's definitely the fastest. She's in cross country, so I hope she's the fastest. Before we moved here, my sister was in track, but when we came here, she joined the art club instead. Personally, I don't like the art club. Its members are simple-minded underqualified art critiques. Out in the real world, they're known as rich snobs. Most of the people at this school are rich snobs, but Killer isn't. His family has a lot of money, but by no means is he stuck up.

"Here." Quarantine says. I almost crash into her when I try to slow down. My sister, Ilaria, crashes into me. I try to make out the details of her face in the dark. They're identical to mine because we're twins, only she's a girl, and I'm not. "You okay?" I ask.

"Good." She replies, giving me a thumbs up. This reminds me of the time she broke up with her first American boyfriend. She said he was being a jerk, so I broke him. Thankfully, not all Americans are that way. We have Quarantine, after all, and Killer and Enigma. It was dark out, just like this. I asked if she was okay, and she smiled and nodded. I gave her a second, then she broke down, and I broke her ex. Ilaria was always more sensitive than me. She's more sensitive than the average person, at least. Or maybe I'm just extra rude.

The girls at my school must not think so. When Quarantine welcomed Ilaria and I into the group, her and the other two members gave us nicknames. they called Ilaria Illusion because of the first two letters of her name. My name is Christian, and since they couldn't think of anything that started the same way, Enigma said they should call me Radar, because "all of the girls are on my radar". After he said that, I started noticing that girls were checking me out on a regular basis. I wish they wouldn't. Since someone's always watching me, I don't have the opportunity to mess up. Therefore, I have straight A's, perfect attendance, and I'm in some extra-curricular activities. If people are watching me, I might as well be a good example.

"You think they're in here?" Enigma asks, kicking the side of the faulty building. "I know they're in here." Quarantine replies, shoving Enigma's foot to the side. "My grandpa said so." Quarantine smiles, looking confident. "Might as well try it. We're here, after all." I say, looking up at the building. It was taller than I remembered. More ominous. Of course, everything seems more ominous at night, especially on Halloween. That's why we chose to go ghost hunting tonight. That, and we couldn't assemble the entire group on any regular night. We've tried so many failed assembly attempts that I've basically memorized everyone's schedule.

Quarantine and Enigma have robotics on Monday, Killer and Ilaria have art club on Tuesday, Quarantine and I have Mathletes on Wednesdays, we all have teen book club on Thursdays, along with Killer and Enigma having jazz band practice, on Friday, we make it to the library if we can, and someone is always doing something on the weekends. Today we finally got to go ghost hunting. It's the perfect night, too.

Quarantine uses the set of keys at her belt to unlock the door. We just left Enigma's truck, where we were handing out candy, which was themed as the Black Death Plague, so if anyone is in here, they probably won't be able to take us seriously. Quarantine and I are wearing plague doctor costumes, complete with masks and everything, and Ilaria, Enigma, and Killer were victims. We powdered their skin with white and black makeup to make them look like skeletons, and we stained their ripped clothes with fake blood. Who knew Quarantine was so good with makeup?

The first room in the house is pretty scary. There are pieces of furniture covered in white tarps, and the tarps are covered in dust. The floor is wooden, and there is a staircase to the left of the room. It extends into a kitchen that hosts countertops covered in more dust. "Come on, Radar." Quarantine says. She puts her arm around my waist and pulls me inside. I forgot my nickname was Radar, so I didn't think she was talking to me. We all pile into the kitchen. Nothing terribly interesting is in there. "You sure there are ghosts in here?" Killer asks. "You bet. My grandpa said he saw one." Quarantine says. Since there's only a porch on the other side of the kitchen, we turn around to go up the stairs.