Ava's haunting

Chapter 1 ~ Toby

The only noise that could be heared was the tapping of my food on the wooden stairs I was sitting on. Willow was late. Which was very much like her. But normally she would have send a text message atleast that she was late. I didn't even want to be here, but Willow had convinced me to come. That was not really true. She had dared me, she had laughed at me that I was too scared to come. They said the old mansion was haunted, what did she expect? But Willow didn't believe in ghosts. And that's how I ended up sitting here. The old mansion had been empty for ages. 

The story went that the first maid of the family had killed the whole household out of revenge. She had an affair with the lord of the house. He had abandoned her when she became pregnant. The maid was still allowed to live with the family, but the lord never paid attention to her. When the baby was born the lord made sure the little girl would never be found. He was afraid this scandal would ruin him. He couldn't have a bastard running around in the house. So he had thrown the little girl in a well. The maid had been furious. The first murder had been the youngest boy of the family. It had looked like an accident at that time. It was too late when they found out she had pushed him down the stairs. 

A shiver went down my spine. People had gone missing around here. Lots of teenagers like us disappeared while they went visiting the house. People who had survived had gone mad or commited suicide. Why did Willow wanted to go here? Couldn't we just go to the beach? Or the arcade hall. Somewhere more fun than this mansion. "It's a typicall Willow move if you ask me." A voice said from behind of us. We all turned around in shock. Relieve flowed through me as I saw who it was. "Oh my god Nathan, never ever do that again!" I yelled, but I hugged him while laughing. "I'm a ninja. I always pop up when you least expect it." Almost everyone was here now. Only Hunter and Willow left. "Why are they taking so long? It's getting cold." Abigail said while she rubbed her hands over her arms. "They are probably Busy." Aaron said with a smirk on his face and we laughed. I turned my head as a brown van approached us. "There are the two bunny's." I said. When the van stopped, Hunter jumped out. He turned to his co-worker and thanked him for dropping him of. I heard him vaguely talking about the house and us. His co-worker must be asking him why the heck he is going to the old mansion. Eventually he slams the car door shut and walks towards us. "Hey guys." He greeted us with a warm smile. "That's a surprise. Willow is not with you." I said with a bit of bitterness in my voice. I wasn't jealous of the two, but I was getting annoyed about the fact that Willow didn't show up for her own birthday party. Hunter frowned at me for a moment but he decided to not pay attention to it. "She was with me last night. But I had to work and she said she had to arrange a couple of things before we would arrive. So she would meet me back here. Why? Isn't she here yet?" He asked and now looked around the group. He picked his phone out of his pocket. "Hmm I have bad service but we can try calling her? After all she is the birthday girl here. We need her at her own party." How did I not come up with that? I could have called her in the beginning, instead of sitting there waiting. Hunter walked a few steps away and tried to reach Willow. I looked at the others and observed them for a moment. We were quite the group. A bit weird maybe and at first you wouldn't expect us to be friends to begin with. All of us met online a couple of years ago when I was 15. We had ups-and-downs, but in the end we still came together. There weren't many moments we were together like this. All of us came from different countries. I looked up from a sudden thud behind me. "I just got a text from Willow! She says we have to go inside she is already there. She will catch up with us later." Hunter says with his phone in hand. I'm still looking behind me. Something seems odd about this. I walk up the wooden stairs up to the porch. The wood complained quietly underneath my food. "Toby what are you doing?" Caleb asked. I could feel my friends their eyes in my back. Even I didn't know what I was doing. But the white note on the door caught my attention. I ripped the paper of the door and read it. A frown appeared on my face. Molly was the first to reach me and she read the note too. I could feel how her body froze next to me."That's strange..." she almost whispered. "You said Willow sended you a text, right?" I asked Hunter without looking at him and he nodded. "Yeah she did. Just a minute ago. Don't be so scary dude. What's going on?" I turned aroud the paper so everyone could read it. In big red letters was written: "HELP ME. W."