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]

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?

[sliceitwithwind]

"Just pick any of them." Dilan insisted, "You know, if you're worried about me."

[mitochondriaaya]

Aya paused with a foot on the stairs, she'd been testing to see if the things were still sound enough to take their weight. "I want to find one that isn't so full of creepy dust? Not just for you, but us too. Cleaning the rooms down here would make us all choke!" Really!

"Or we could go back to that one that was mostly card tables and stuff?" The pool table had looked creepy, and the glass bottles she'd seen had been full of weird, smoky colors, but maybe it was better than risking the stairs?

[sliceitwithwind]

"If you wanna go up stairs, we go upstairs." Dilan said, simultaneous with Brag saying; "As if. They're all full of dust, Aya. Except the one Dilan did, but even that has two years worth."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Well..." That was a problem! "...let's keep looking for a bit? Maybe we can find one without the curtains and stuff at least? If not we'll come back down." Really she just wanted to keep poking around for a bit!

"Or we could put the packs in a room and just explore too, that would work I guess?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"If you want to explore, that's fine." Dilan said with a bright smile, "As long as you're exploring for fun."

[mitochondriaaya]

"It's kind of like poking around in a cave!" Aya admitted with a grin. "Which is weird because I know we're above ground but it still feels like we're not!" Which was a roundabout way of saying she would have fun exploring?

"And where do we get firewood? Do we need to go back outside for that?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Yeah, but I've got it covered." Braig informed her, "I called ahead and paid some of the guys to dump off a load of firewood for us."

[mitochondriaaya]

"This has got to be one of the weirdest town conspiracies ever." Aya laughed, venturing up a few steps and bouncing lightly on her toes. Yep, the stairs were still good! "Secrets, stuff provided...yeah, we live in a weird town." But a fun one!

"Okay, let's dump the gear in that card room and then poke around!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Yeah, but an awesome one!" Braig insisted. Dilan bounded to the card room and said; "Want me to come up with you, or start cleaning here?"

[mitochondriaaya]

"I don't want to split the party." Aya admitted, following him so she could slip the pack to the floor and stretch out her shoulders. "But if you feel twitchy...?"

[sliceitwithwind]

He dug out a duster and nodded firmly, "I'm good." ...duster and a face mask. "After you, Ayay!"

[mitochondriaaya]

She hugged him quickly then bounced out the door again, eager to get upstairs and look around. It was still creepy, and oppressively dark, but she was starting to slip into the 'exploring an alien environment' mindset!

Up the stairs, down one of the long halls, aaaand "Ew, the bed melted in this one!" Well, kind of. Disintegrated and molded might be a better description?

[sliceitwithwind]

"Well, they're old!" Dilan pointed out, determinedly not looking in. Braig calls out; "Check the closets! There's some neat things in them."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Closets?" That hadn't even occurred to her! Of course she was going to disappear with the candle so she could go check. "Hey, dresses!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Some of them are even pretty well preserved!" Braig added, "Not well enough that they wanted to put them in the museum, but well enough to still look nice."

"You'd look pretty in some of them."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Maybe we could take pictures and make a dress like them?" Aya offered, fingering a sleeve. Some of them were pretty, but they were in rough shape. Nothing she wanted to climb into right now.

"Hey, what up there on the top shelf? Boxes?" She stood on tiptoe, trying to see up into the shadows above her.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Sure, babe. We can come back up tomorrow." Braig agreed casually, "Here, let me get a chair."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Will the flash hurt the dresses do you think?" She asked, worried as she backed out of the closet door, clearing up room for a chair. "We could make it a Halloween costume! Or maybe just a nice dress for when we have to go to your parents parties and stuff..."

[sliceitwithwind]

"That's why we'll come back in the morning, plenty of soft daylight." Braig explained. Dilan was just bustling around dusting, so it might as well be the two of them. The chair, wooden, no seat any more, was set so she could balance on it with Braig holding her waist.

[mitochondriaaya]

"We'll have to get those drapes away from the window then." Aya noted, climbing up and balancing. She trusted Braig to keep her from falling as she rocked back up onto her toes again to reach further. "There's a lot of boxes up here. I can pass them down!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Dilan, dude, snap out of it. Take the boxes." Dilan stopped wandering around and got in position to take boxes from Aya as she passed them down.

[mitochondriaaya]

There were round boxes and square boxes, all with the lids carefully tied down with string. They smelled of must and slightly of some flower, a ghost of perfume that made Aya sneeze. Behind most of the large boxes there was one smaller one, a cigar box. "Okay, that's it I think. You want to hope up Braig, see if you can see anything I missed?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Nah, if we don't find it all then there'll be mysteries left if we come back with others." Braig pointed out, as he helped her down. "Lets open them."

Dilan stood back again. Duuuuust.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Good point." Aya agreed cheerfully. "Thinks it's old games and stuff like your parents have in the top of their closet?" She asked, tugging on one of the knotted bits of string.