The first semester in Oxford has already started. Balancing between studying to become a lawyer and life in general, Julia Eden has found herself sitting across from a shrink, or in better words: a psychologist.
It only gets worse when the old man s...
ps : do not hate me for what i've written here in this chapter.
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The Heath Hall, empty for more than twenty years, had crumbled and rotted. The steel gate once used to gleam so brightly under the sun that the passers-by had to shield their eyes. As the group of teenagers moved farther along the Bishops Avenue, the houses became farther apart, even dirtier. The last two mansions were empty, their yards overgrown. A FOR SALE sign flapped with a terrible sound as Noah Clarke opened the steel gate of the Heath Hall. To Julia the sign looked about thousands years old.
The paint on the cracked wall had faded and now was peeling away in ugly dark, damp patches. Now they were covered in moss. Weeds grew down both sides of the limestone driveway of the house and the lawn was covered with wildflowers.
While all of them gathered together in groups, Julia surveyed the house. A squeak of the steel gate startled all of them and a few of the girls let out cries of fear.
"I'm telling you that the rumors are true. The demons are called jin," someone warned with a shaky voice.
"We know it's true," Ibrahim sighed, shooting a look at whoever had said this. "This is why we'll see which group can stay in there longer than the others."
"Are you mad?!"
"You don't have to go if you don't want to. Send only two people in there from your group and see how long they can stay inside," Darien said, her black hair hiding her face in the dark of night. "Wait, some of us can even stay till the morning. Make it an hour."
"An hour seems too long. We'd have to wait out here," Poppy complained with a frown. "Besides I won't be going because Luke isn't here. Hey, did you see Luke?"
"Half an hour then," someone offered.
"You are all fannies," Jonathan snickered.
Darien only shook her head as she said, "I'll go from this group first. Who wants to volunteer?"
"Come with me." Ibrahim took the chance, snatching her wrist and tugging towards the main door before she could protest.
As they walked inside, someone shouted, "I'll start the stopwatch then. Bet they end up shagging in there."
"I'll add fifty quids to the bet."
Julia moaned silently and tightened her jacket before her eyes landed on Liv who stood a bit far from the group, smoking.
"You going in there?" she asked as she reached Liv.
Liv tried to speak but ended up laughing ridiculously, smoke fuming out of her mouth and nostrils.
"They were going to watching porn and the challenge was to see who was going to last longer," Liv simpered, color stroking her pale cheeks here and there. "I told them that there were way too many people in my house for that. Think of something else."
