AN: First off I want to thank everyone who reviewed this story. Feedback is always appreciated for anything I write. Secondly, I want to give a special shout out to all the guest reviewers. I realized a lot of you guys do take your time to write me a review and I hadn't properly given you guys my thanks, so thank you and I hope to continue hearing from you guys.

Now, without further ado, here is chapter 2. Enjoy.

Haunted

"So there we were, holding down our perimeter as Bonnie went in to check out the house when suddenly bam!" the students gathered around them at lunch jumped as Finn slammed his hands on the table. Bonnibel could only roll her eyes as the blonde boy told of the tale of their adventure from the night before. Honestly, most of the story was exaggerated since none of her friends had done any sort of exploring of their so called perimeters. It couldn't be helped though. She had to admit that Finn's story was entertaining but in her opinion, the real story was just as good on its own. The other's though probably didn't want to look like a bunch of chickens in front of the student body and chose not to correct their friend.

"Bonnie came running out of the house. We gathered around her trying to figure out what happened but before we could, the lights in the house began to flicker!"

"But how?" a random student asked.

"Yeah, the house has no power right?"

"That's the weird part." Finn answered. "There isn't supposed to be, but that isn't the most scary part." Finn paused for dramatic effect. "The real scary part was what Bonnie saw in the house."

"What did you see Bonnibel?" another student asked.

"Red eyes."

"W-what?"

"That's what I saw."

"Ooooo" Their audience stared in wonder at the group that dared venture into the haunted house. It'd been awhile since anyone from their school had braved the night in order to go there. Some had gone during the day so they could scope out the kind of place they'd be exploring, however, much like she and her friends had discovered; it was a whole different ball game when you actually went at night. You'd never think it was the same place from the way it looked in the dark. Many chickened out at the last minute and never went in. The haunted house of Peppermint Lane really did live up to its name.

Her encounter with that person in the house proved as much. Bonnibel had been refusing to refer to her encounter in the house as a supernatural phenomenon for one very simple reason: she'd been able to push the person out of her way. After having time to collect her thoughts on the matter, she sorted out everything that happened while she was in the house. The voice had been far too clear to be considered a ghostly wail or moan. If she was to believe all those ghost hunting shows on TV, which she didn't but it was her only reference on the subject, ghosts weren't able to communicate so clearly. Perhaps a stray word here and there but mostly it was unintelligible noises. Then there was the fact she actually shoved someone out of her way. It hadn't been a slight push either, it was a full on two handed shove with all her might. Last time she checked, you couldn't even touch a ghost; therefore her hypothesis had been right. There were no such things as ghosts. If it wasn't supernatural then the question became, who was in that house? Why were they there?

Bonnibel's mind hadn't ceased her thoughts on the matter as she went through her normal school day. Her thoughts constantly drifted back to that house. She couldn't help it. She hadn't encountered anything this interesting in a very long time. With this being her senior year of school, she'd been consumed with preparing to go to college, filling out paper work for said colleges, SAT prep classes, the works. The stress of making sure she excelled in all her work had started to get to her which is why she readily agreed to sneak out with her friends that night. It was something that didn't involve her stressing for tests and it was a welcome respite from all her studying.

At some point school ended. Bonnibel couldn't tell you how since she'd paid no attention to her classes. She walked with Finn and the rest of the gang smiling and adding to their conversations when appropriate, but her mind, for the most part, wasn't into it.

"There it is again." Finn said in awe.

The group stopped to stare at the house in the distance.

"Man, I can't believe we actually went there." Jake added.

"Something we're not doing again." Felicia crossed her arms. "We can say for sure it's haunted and leave it at that."

Bonnibel couldn't agree with that statement but chose to keep quiet. She wanted to go and check out the house again during the day, but she couldn't since she was grounded. Finn's mom had kept her promise and informed all their parents of their delinquent ways. Her parents had not been very happy and grounded her for a week with restricted internet and phone usage.

"Seriously, I wish they'd just bulldoze that house already." Lumpy looked at her phone for the time and sighed. "Ugh, I need to get home soon before my parents think I ran away again."

"Yeah, me too." Lady said. "Not the running away part, but mom and dad are expecting me back at a certain time."

"Being grounded sucks." Finn lamented.

They all couldn't help but agree. The friends parted for the day. Bonnibel took one last look at the house before turning back towards her home.

"Did you know there are strange noises coming from that house?" Mrs. Bubblegum asked her husband at the dinner table.

"Strange noises?"

"Yes, I hear some of the neighbors said they thought they heard things getting tossed around that house."

"Well that's certainly strange. I was sure no one owned that place; then again it would explain why it hasn't been bulldozed yet. Who would've thought someone would actually claim it?"

"You were there last night weren't you honey?" Mrs. Bubblegum looked to her daughter. "Did you see anything strange?"

"We did see the lights flicker on and off." she chose to withhold the information about someone possibly being in the house as well. Something told her, her parents would more than likely freak out if they thought someone might be stalking around their neighborhood. If there was one thing Bonnibel had to admire about her neighborhood it was how tight knit of a community they were. Everyone knew each other and looked out for everyone's safety. The pink haired girl could only imagine the ruckus they'd stir up if they thought a dangerous character was sneaking around the neighborhood. She certainly didn't want to jeopardize her investigation on the matter by doing that. Then again, was the person sneaking around the house a danger to them? If that person was out to harm them they would have done it that night. She'd been in there all alone and all they did was scared the living daylights out of her; probably had a good laugh about it later. No, she'd venture to say that the person was more a trickster than anything else.

"The neighbors did say they saw the same thing as well." Mrs. Bubblegum commented. "I wonder what is going on in that house."

Bonnibel couldn't help but agree with her mother. What was happening there? She wanted to find out more than ever. Knowing that other people saw what she and her friends did only fueled her need to know even further. That night, she contemplated sneaking out again. It'd been ridiculously easy the first time. She didn't even need to go out a window or anything. She'd simply walked out the front door like she was going out for a simple errand in the middle of the day. Bonnibel was extremely temped to go at it alone, but thought against it. Even if she thought the person was harmless, it didn't hurt to have some back up just in case anything did happen. She went to bed that night, with a plan brewing in her mind.

"I'm going back into the house."

"What!"

Bonnibel and her friends had been enjoying a normal lunch when she dropped that bomb shell on them. Their reactions were to be expected. None of them wanted to return to that house. Not after what had happened. Why would you want to provoke a ghost? If they were to believe those ghosts shows, then it probably wasn't just a ghost. It could be a demon or some other evil thing that they didn't have any clue on how to handle.

"Why would you want to go back?" Felicia asked. "Wasn't the first time enough?"

"I don't think it was a ghost guys."

"B-but the lights flickered all weird!" Finn waved his hands around hoping to get his point across. "Plus you saw a ghost. You said so yourself!"

The pink haired girl rolled her eyes. "I said I saw red eyes. That doesn't mean it's a ghost."

"No one has red eyes except something evil!" Jake exclaimed. "Seriously, just don't go back in there."

"I'm telling you guys it wasn't a ghost! I pushed someone out of the way when I made a run for the door!"

"Wait, you actually touched it?" Lady squeaked. "Bonnie you really can't go back now!"

"Like, what if it's some weirdo hobo that lives there now? Just forget it girl." Lumpy agreed with her friends. "Whatever was there doesn't want us there."

Bonnibel looked unconvinced. She knew her friends were scared. Regardless of what it was that had actually scared them, in their minds, it was already established that it was something supernatural and they'd do anything to keep away from it.

"I'm going back. I need to find out what is going on."

"Why?" Finn liked to go on adventures more than anyone, but even he was skeptical about going back to the haunted house.

"Because…. I just do okay?"

Her friends stayed silent. They all though Bonnie had been acting a little weird since that night but they thought it was because she'd been the one to see the ghost they all thought was real. Maybe this was her way of trying to cope with her experience? Bonnibel wasn't one to believe in the supernatural. To her, science could resolve any mystery in the world if you gave it enough time. Her need to go back was probably her way of trying to disprove the supernatural, a way to establish order in her life again.

"I'll go with you." Finn said after a few moments of silence.

"What? Finn no!" Felicia grabbed her boyfriend's arm. "Wasn't what we saw enough proof that something is there?"

"Yeah, dude. We don't need to go making that thing angry." Jake shook his head. "Naw, let's just forget this whole thing."

"Bonnie doesn't think it's a ghost so I believe her. I'm going with her with or without you guys. When do you want to do this?" Finn asked the older girl.

"Tonight."

"Then I'll meet you at the usual spot."

The rest of lunch proceeded rather quietly. Bonnibel couldn't ignore the glares that Felicia was throwing at her. It couldn't be helped. Felicia was still wary of her even though Finn was her boyfriend. She couldn't blame her really. Who'd be comfortable with their significant other still being friends with the person they'd had a crush on? No one would be no matter how trusting they were of their partner. Jealousy would eventually rear its ugly head like it was doing right now. She just hoped that Felicia wouldn't stay mad at her for too long. She liked having the girl as a friend.

That night, Finn and Bonnibel walked together towards Peppermint Lane. Flashlights in hand, they were ready for anything the house might throw at them. As they approached the corner though, they were surprised to see that the rest of their friends were waiting for them.

"Guys?" Finn asked surprised.

"Yeah, we couldn't let you guys do this alone." Jake thumped his chest. "I ain't the kind of guy to leave his buddies like that."

"We all agreed there was safety in numbers." Lady added.

"Like I'd leave Finn alone with you…." Felicia mumbled to herself but Bonnibel heard it.

Still she was grateful that they showed up at all. There was definitely a sense of security with more people around.

"Let's get this over with then." Lumpy turned her flashlight on and walked towards the house. "I'm missing out on my precious beauty sleep."

Lumpy waited at the gate for her friends to catch up. Bonnibel took the lead seeing as she was the unofficial leader of this little excursion. The friends looked around and noticed something was a bit different from their previous visit. They couldn't put their finger on it though. Shrugging it off as the dark playing tricks on them, they proceeded onto the porch. Bonnibel opened the door like she had the first night but was surprised that there was no squeak of any kind from the door.

"Let's go." She whispered to her friends.

The group lit up as much of the foyer as they could. To their left was an entry way to a room as well as to their right. A stair case was a bit further down the foyer and it looked like there was more to the house past the stair case.

"Umm, this place looks pretty clean for an abandoned house." Lady commented. "Was it like this before Bonnie?"

"No, it was covered in dust and cobwebs."

The friends spread out to take a better look around.

"It looks more like an abandoned house over this way." Finn said from the end of the hall. "Looks like this goes to some sort of living room."

"Same over here." Lady and Jake were standing by the entrance to a different room. "This looks like it used to be a dining room."

"Like that makes no sense." Lumpy ran a finger along the bottom of the stair case. "Why is it all clean here but the rest of the house still looks like crap?"

"Maybe Bonnie's right." Finn and the others gathered by Lumpy. "I mean I don't think ghosts do much cleaning."

"So that means there's someone living here now?" Felicia asked unsure.

"I haven't seen anyone, but my parents said they've been hearing strange noises from the house." Lady informed them.

"Yeah, like, my parents say they saw the light come on last night so maybe there is." Lumpy flashed her light up the stair case and froze.

"So it looks like someone is here possibly cleaning up?" Bonnie began to theorize. "It's odd that we haven't seen anyone yet."

"Uh, guys?" Lumpy tried to get her friends attention.

"The person that lives here could be shy?" Lady offered.

"G-guys?" Lumpy tried again.

"Or a weirdo." Felicia commented off hand.

"Guys!" Lumpy finally yelled.

"What is it Lumpy?" Lady asked.

Lumpy pointed a shaky finger at towards the top of the stairs. Their eyes widened. Lumpy's flashlight illuminated a head of a person. Bonnie gasped as she recognized the red eyes that she'd seen the first night.

"Boo!"

"Ah!"

The teenagers ran out of the house and didn't look back. Gasping for breath, they stopped at the street corner under the safety of the light. Their attention was directed to the house again when the lights began to flicker on and off. They stopped after a moment and didn't turn back on.

"What was that?" Finn asked between gasps.

"A f-floating head!" Lumpy shrieked.

"It wasn't a floating head!" Bonnie exclaimed. "There was a body attached to it."

"Then a ghost!" Jake exclaimed.

"Ghosts don't say boo!" Felicia pointed out. "I think Bonnie's right guys. It's not a ghost."

"I think we should go home first." Bonnie took one final breathe, feeling herself calm down significantly. "We can figure out what to do next at school."

"Yeah, it wouldn't be good if we got caught again. We'll regroup at school!" Finn exclaimed.

The group nodded and went their separate ways. At lunch they were able to gather all the information they had so far and they agreed that this was probably not a ghost. Aside from the fact that ghosts didn't clean, they also didn't scare anyone by saying "boo". That was probably the lamest way to scare a person. They made no comment how they'd been easily scared by this simple tactic.

"It could be someone from our school." Jake offered.

"Maybe? I mean it's not like we're the only ones who've gone in the house." Finn said. "I don't know guys. Whoever this is, they're obviously pranking us."

"And pranking us good." Jake nodded in agreement.

"I think we're only going to solve this mystery by going back one more time." Bonnie concluded.

"Yeah, we gotta find whoever is doing this and teach them a lesson!" Lumpy punched the air a few times.

"Ah, I don't think we're going to beat anyone up Lumpy." Lady smiled nervously at her friend. At least she hoped they wouldn't have any sort of physical confrontation with anyone.

"Then it's settled. One last visit to put everything to rest?" Bonnie asked her friends.

They all nodded in agreement. The teenagers were all eager for school to come to an end. They would be that much closer to be being able to go out. It was exciting and scary all at the same time. This adventure was definitely more involving than the others they'd gone on before.

As soon as night fell, they snuck out to meet at the corner of Peppermint Lane where the house resided. Bonnibel arrived first and waited patiently for the rest of her friends. Lady and Jake came first followed by Lumpy and Felicia. All that remained was Finn.

"Where is he?" Bonnie tapped her feet impatiently. They were so close to figuring out what was going on in the house, she couldn't help but feel impatient to go in.

"Hey guys!"

"What took so long?" Bonnie asked.

"What you got there?" Jake pointed to the bag Finn was carrying.

Finn held up the bag triumphantly.

"It's our secret weapons!"

"Our what now?" Bonnie had no idea what he was talking about. They hadn't planned for anything that would require weapons.

Finn just grinned at his friends. Instead of answering, he figured it would be better to show them what he had brought for them. The blonde boy placed the bag down and reached inside. He pulled out a water gun.

"Uh, what's that for?" Lumpy asked unsure.

"It's a water gun."

"We can see that." Bonnie began "But what's it for?"

"I brought one for everyone so we can battle the ghost."

"But I thought we said there wasn't a ghost?" Felicia was now really confused.

"Yeah, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to be safe. There's holy water in these so we can cleanse the house and maybe the ghost."

Bonnie rubbed her forehead. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Do I even want to know where you got that "holy water"?"

"Uh, probably not."

Bonnie sighed. "Alright well I guess let's take a gun and go inside already."

As odd as the idea was, the others felt a bit safer with the water guns that contained the holy water. Bonnie could only shake her head as she took one as well. If it made the others feel a bit more at ease then she couldn't complain.

"Are we ready then?" she asked again.

"Yeah!" they all exclaimed.

Finn took point followed by Felicia, Bonnie, Lumpy, Lady and Jake took the rear. Bonnibel felt like they were an army platoon traversing through a dangerous stretch of land to their destination. Finn halted the group as he looked left and right to make sure nothing would jump out at them. Jake mimicked his movements from his end. Satisfied that their trek to the porch would go uninterrupted, he signaled for them to continue moving forward. Reaching the door Finn signaled Felicia and Bonnie to flank him on either side. Shrugging, the two girls did as they were told. Finn stepped up to the door and kicked it open.

"I always wanted to do that!" Finn grinned.

"Umm, I think you dented the door." Felicia shone her light on the white door. "Hey, is it just me or is this door new?"

"Look!" Finn walked through the door. "The floor actually looks pretty shiny, like it was polished or something."

The group followed Finn inside and was surprised to find that he was indeed right. Before, all the dust had been cleaned, but this time it was more than that. They spread out around the foyer once again and looked in all the rooms. All the furniture that had been left behind was gone not only from the foyer, but from the dining room and the living room.

"That wasn't there before was it?" Lady pointed into the living room.

They grouped around the doorway to the living room and pointed their flashlights at the spot over the fire place. It was a portrait of a family.

"Whoa, who are they?" Jake walked further into the room. His friends followed him to get a better look at the portrait.

"Is this the family that used to live here?" Felicia wondered out loud.

The man in the pictured looked to be in his late 20's while the woman looked to be maybe a few years younger than that. Bonnibel looked at the little girl in the picture and thought about the person that been scaring them in the house. They had the same red eyes and dark black hair. Could it be possible that the girl in the picture was the one that was pranking them? That didn't seem to make sense though. It's been forty years since the family lived in this house. She swore the person they saw couldn't be that old.

"I don't remember inviting anyone in."

The teenagers jumped back in fright. Without even thinking about it, they turned around and unleashed their assault of holy water on whom or whatever was behind them.

"Take that evil ghost!" Finn screamed.

"What the hell!" an angry voice screamed. "Freaking kids! Stop it already!"

"Everyone stop!" Bonnie yelled over her friends cries of attack.

Somehow the heard her pleas and stopped their assault. Bonnibel shines her light at the figure that now stood drenched in front of them. The girl looks to be in her early 20's. She glared at them through her soaked hair. Bonnibel gasped. It was her. It was the girl she'd seen the first night! There was no doubt in her mind. She'd never forget those red eyes.

"You kids better have a damned good explanation for trespassing on my property." She snarled at them.

"What? You mean you're not a ghost?" Finn asked nervously.

"Do I look like a fucking ghost to you?"

"Actually you kind of do." Jake answered.

His response was definitely not appreciated by the look on the woman's face. The woman turned around and walked towards the doorway. They keep their lights on her, unsure of what she was doing. The lights in the room suddenly come to life. Unlike the last time they'd been there, the lights did not flicker. With the darkness dispelled, they get a better look at the woman standing before them. Her skin looked to be a bit on the paler side but she certain was no ghost. She angrily wrung her soaked hair trying to get as much water out as possible. Her gray tank top clung to her body and for the life of her, Bonnie can't figure out why she couldn't stop staring at this woman.

"Look, it was fun scaring you guys at first but it's become a nuisance. Why do you keep coming back?"

Her question snapped Bonnibel out of her thoughts. Why had she been staring so much? She hoped the woman hadn't noticed.

"Ah, well, we thought this place was abandoned." Finn answered.

"No one has been here for many years." Bonnie continued. The woman directed her gaze at the pink haired girl. Bonnibel suddenly felt like there was a fluttering in her stomach. "W-with all the ghost stories that involve this place, it's become a place to test your courage. It's what we were doing the first time I met you."

"Cute, but as you can see, it's not abandoned anymore so I'd appreciate it if you kids stopped coming in here like you owned the place."

"Ah, we're very sorry miss…" Felicia began.

"Marceline."

"Miss Marceline, we are very sorry and won't bother you again." Lady apologized as well. "Please don't tell our parents."

Marceline smirked. "Ah, already got in trouble did we?"

"Ah, yeah. " Jake ran a hand through his hair. "We're all grounded for sneaking out here that first night."

"Yeah, so please, we'll do anything you ask! Just don't tell our parents!" Felicia begged. She hated being grounded; she couldn't imagine what her parents would do to make her punishment much worse. They'd probably tell her she couldn't date Finn anymore. That would be one of the worst things her parents could do to her.

Marceline stopped for a moment and thought about what to do with her little trespassers. She smirked. The teenagers did not like the look on the woman's face; however, they were at her mercy. She could easily call the cops if she wanted since this was her property. If she so wished, she could turn them in for breaking and entering.

"Hmm, tell you what. I'll get you all out of being grounded in exchange for you guys helping me clean up this place." Marceline spread her arms out to emphasize the magnitude of the job.

"But we can't." Jake answered. "We just told you we're all grounded meaning we can't go anywhere."

"I know what it means and what I'm saying is I can get your punishments changed. I gotta turn you in to your parents though."

"But that'll just get us into more trouble!" Finn wailed.

"Just trust me."

"We don't even know you." Lady pointed out.

"Well it's either you get stuck being grounded for however long you were given or you help me clean up this place and not be grounded."

"Let's trust her." Bonnie said, surprising everyone including Marceline.

"What!" Lumpy grabbed her friend and shook her. "Are you crazy! She just said she was turning us in!"

"She could've called the cops on us but she didn't! Instead she's offering to get us ungrounded. We don't have a lot of options here guys. We did break and enter into her house."

"We didn't know anyone lived here!" Finn said a bit panicked.

"That won't matter to our parents." Lady admitted. "Plus, if we don't help, she can still tell our parents anyway and we'd get into even more trouble."

"We really have no choice do we?" Felicia groaned.

"So what's it going to be kids?" Marceline smirked at them

Resigning themselves to what Marceline had in store for them, they agreed to be turned into their parents. They just hoped that they made the right choice and not doomed themselves to being grounded for the rest of their lives.

AN: So maybe two more chapters for this story. I think I can do two more. Look forward to it. In the meantime, leave a review. It's greatly appreciated.