Haunted Housing

[sliceitwithwind]

In any given town there is always at least one house with a Certain Reputation. In the case of their town the house had two reputations, making it an excellent place for teenagers of all kinds to go hang out.

Yup, the local abandoned house was a haunted brothel. Drab on the outside, but the tales of the inner furnishings promised over-abundant decadence, and it was something of a rite of passage to go there. Break in during the day for hanky-panky, stay overnight for courage.

The brothel had been abandoned a good thirty years before, but nobody could ever figure out, through the tangle of legal red tape, who even had the right to tear it down. So it sat out on the inland edges of town.

Which is of course why Braig decided that since he and Dilan were back from college for the first break, they needed to drag Aya along to the haunted brothel as a bonding activity to make sure she knew that they still were a trio.

Cue camping gear, dusk, and Dilan giggling nervously.

Comments

[mitochondriaaya]

It wasn't exactly uncommon for the boys to waltz in, declare a camping trip, and breeze out with her happily in tow. They'd pitched tents just about everywhere within walking or hitchhiking distance of the town (including a few backyards). The fact that it was their first night back and she'd missed them made it even better.

Aya tightened the straps on her pack and skipped up between the boys. "So...where are we going?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"You'll see!" Braig grinned at her, "You're fourteen, Aya."

"Right of passage time!" Dilan grinned as well. When Braig had hit fourteen, Aya and Dilan had to wait at home while some of his older friends dragged him off, Aya had to do it alone two years ago, now - it was her turn.

[mitochondriaaya]

"I am." She agreed, that fact not really clicking with anything for a moment or two. She'd turned fourteen last week! "Oh! Right!" She had no idea what that entailed but!

"I don't have to prick my finger and swear on the graves of the founding fathers do I? Jimmy said he had to."

[sliceitwithwind]

"No bleeding!"

"Unless," Dilan admits, "you trip." he came home with a long cut from a fall that would have broken anyone else's leg.

Braig pushes aside the bushes and gestures grandly at the house, "That's our destination. We'll go in and then tell you the story, all right?"

[mitochondriaaya]

"Oh good. I didn't really like most of the founding fathers we learned about." She admitted, grinning. Their town was a pretty one now but...it had been started by wealthy plantation owners.

"Is it missing a wall up on the third floor?!" She asked, blinking. "Wait, are a bunch of guys from the highschool going to sneak around rattling chains or something?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Nope! We even scheduled a day when there won't even be another group in the building. Promise." Dilan says seriously, "It's just you, me, and Braig."

"And we've been with you all day, so you know that we haven't set up any, like, traps or stuff."

This is their first night back, too.

[mitochondriaaya]

They could have come here first, before coming home. Or they could have paid a few folk to come up while they remained in sight...but she was willing to trust them for now.

"There's a schedule for this kind of thing? What if we just wanted to camp out?" And an even better thought "Where do we build a campfire in there?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Fireplaces!" Braig says with a grin, "And there are nicer places for camping, you know?"

[mitochondriaaya]

"Oh." Well, that was a really mundane answer. She was kinda hoping that was why there was a wall knocked out. "Nope. I've never been in there, but it looks nice, kind of? Did they leave a lot of furniture and stuff?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Yup! Here, let me give you a boost." over the bit of rubble that, somewhere along the line, everyone had decided to leave. Possibly in order to hamper people running scared into the night.

[mitochondriaaya]

She accepted the boost up then dutifully sat on top of the rubble pile, holding out a hand for packs or hands, either one worked! "Isn't it all dusty though?" She wrinkled her nose, thinking about so many years of not being cleaned.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Do you really think it'll stay dusty all night?" Braig asked in return. Dilan's ears darkened and he looked down. At least half of his pack is cleaning supplies.

[mitochondriaaya]

"...well, I meant kinda 'we can sleep out here cause it'll bother Dilan' but that works too I guess? I can help!" Kind of. As much as Dilan let her anyway.

[sliceitwithwind]

"We've got to sleep inside." Dilan assured her, grinning, "It's part of the whole thing."

"Like, when it was his turn? Everyone brought one bottle of cleaning supplies so he could do his thing."

[mitochondriaaya]

"We can close the door so he just has to do one room right?" Sometimes it was all about limiting area to be cleaned! She eyed the outside of the house again, then sighed "There are doors inside right?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Yup!" that was Dilan, again, "And you get to pick the room, Ayay!"

[mitochondriaaya]

That meant they were probably going to end up camping in the kitchen. Less dusty drapes, in theory?

One problem..."We don't have any flashlights in these bags." That made things a little more daunting.

[sliceitwithwind]

"I brought candles." Braig informs her cheerfully.

[mitochondriaaya]

Braig was receiving a look that roughly translated into 'CANDLES GO OUT!'. They flickered and didn't illuminate much and they went out. Of course, she wasn't going to say anything like that though, she'd never live it down. "Oh. Good thinking. It's already very dark in there."

Aya, it should be noted, was not afraid of the dark. Not really. But the dark inside a crumbling, hulking, old house was very different from the dark in the woods or even her own room.

[sliceitwithwind]

Braig just griiiiiiiiiiinned at her. "Candles are, like, traditional. Mom did it that way, mom's mom did it that way, mom's dad did it that way."

"My mom did it, too!" Dilan agreed, grabbing Aya's hand and giving it a squeeze before letting go. "Go on, grab a candle and pick a room!"

[mitochondriaaya]

"Your mom's mom and dad probably didn't have flashlights." She groused a little, but started digging in the pockets of Braig's pack anyway. "What about matches?" Because, apparently, those weren't in the same pocket as the candles.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Did too!" Braig said, laughing again. Dilan waited until Aya got the candle all the way out and then snapped his fingers to light it for her.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Show off!" And no fair not bringing a conventional way to light things! What if they got separated and she had to relight a candle on her own?!

"Okay, so..." time to go in. The outside light faded just a few steps in, leaving her in a little bubble of candlelight.

[sliceitwithwind]

The boys followed behind, chatting about normal things. Going shopping, class schedules, the like.

[mitochondriaaya]

Normal things were good. Soothing one could even say, because Aya was just staring around at the very weird decor as they wandered down the hall. Decadence that had been sitting abandoned for decades took on an eerie life of it's own through dust and insects. Plush curtains that had separated parts of the hallway from one another were now ragged, lacy things that left cobweb fine tendrils across the skin when brushed against. Chandeliers rustled and shifted in the shadows above them as whatever was nesting up there noted their passage...

...eerie.

And actually kind of cool.

Each room she peeked in was full of dust and fabric though, not a good place for Dilan. Maybe they could find a broom closet or something under the stairs?