Later that night
"Now that there are no more Trick-or-Treaters and we changed out of our costumes we can head out. Yosh, ikuzo!"
We all piled into my car. It took about half an hour to get to the house. It was just a simple 2 story house. There wasn't anything particularly special about it except it gave you a feeling of always being watched. Like there was something not quite right about it.
I pulled into the driveway. "Here we are! This is it."
Saphira looked at the house in surprise, "This is it!? It doesn't look haunted!"
Kira looked at her, "Oh, real haunted houses hardly ever actually look haunted."
"Is that so?" Saphira gulped.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine. This time we're sticking together, right Max?" Rygart almost growled looking at me.
"Yes yes, I know. I swear I won't run off on my own this time." I answered.
Archer was the first to get out of the car, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
"Yeah!" Kira cheered as she got out of the car.
Rosalina got out of the car and went to the trunk. "OK, but first I have something for everyone." She pulled out 6 small drawstring bags. She gave one to each of us, "These are full of herbs that are supposed to protect you from spirits… They don't repel spirits; they just keep them from harming you." She added seeing the dejected look on my face.
I smiled, "Good, 'cause I want to encounter as many ghosts as I can. I don't want to repel them."
"Yeah, really." Archer agreed.
I turn to look at everyone, "OK is that everything? Does anyone need anything else? No? Good, ikuzou!" I turned around and led everyone into the house.
The door creaked loudly when I opened it. On the other side was a long dark hallway with several doors leading to other rooms along it. We all tuned on our flash lights and started going through the rooms together. We went through the kitchen, the living room, and the dining room without mishap. When we went into the library, however, we could all feel a heaviness. We felt like we were being buried alive.
"Do you guys feel that?" Saphira asked.
Archer looked back at her, "You mean that feeling like you're 6 feet under? Yeah, I do."
Saphira sighed, "Damn, I was hoping it was just me going crazy."
Rosalina looked at her in shock, "You'd rather be crazy for life than in a haunted house for one night?"
Saphira thought for a second. "Well when you put it that way, I guess not."
"Did you guys hear that?" Rygart suddenly said.
Saphira went white, "Hear what?"
GET OUT!
Rygart looked at her, "That."
"I'm pretty sure we all heard that one." Rosalina said.
*Thud!*
I looked up at the ceiling. "What was that?"
"I don't know, but it came from upstairs. Let's go check it out!" Kira said as she ran towards the stairs.
"Wait! Kira!" Rosalina shouted after her. "Great. She's just like Max."
"Hey!" I wined.
Rosalina ignored me. "We need to go after her. But we stick together. OK?"
We all agreed.
The ghost had other plans. Suddenly, we were all pulled off in different directions, through different doors. The doors shut and locked themselves behind us.
With Max
"We need to go after her. But we stick together. OK?"
All-of-a sudden I felt hands on my shoulders.
"Wha-!?"
I was pushed through the door behind me; into the basement. The last thing I saw before hitting the floor and blacking out was the basement door closing on its own.
With Rygart
"We need to go after her. But we stick together. OK?"
Rygart suddenly felt a tug on his shirt.
"Huh-?"
He felt himself being pulled with great strength into the kitchen. He fought as hard as he could, but his attacker was inhumanly strong.
"Hey! Stop! Let me go!" Rygart continued to fight his assailant.
Just then Rygart heard a girl's voice whisper in his ear, "Please stop struggling. I need your help."
Rygart looked around trying to find the source of the voice. He was the only one in the room. "Who's there? Where are you?" He asked the seemingly empty room.
This time the voice came from in front of him. "So you're one of the people that can't see us." It was more a statement than a question.
Rygart was more curious then anything ells now. "Only certain people can see you?"
"Yeah, unless we don't want anyone to see us, then we're invisible." Explained the voice.
"Oh, OK. What's your name?" Rygart asked the voice.
"My name's Bethany." The voice, or rather, Bethany said.
Rygart tried to talk in the direction Bethany's voice was coming from. "It's nice to meet you Bethany. My name's Rygart."
With Saphira
"We need to go after her. But we stick together. OK?"
Saphira felt something grab her hand.
"Aaahh!"
She screamed as she was pulled into the room directly behind her. To her horror, that room was a closet.
"Don't be scared miss. I won't hurt you." The voice sounded like it belonged to a little girl.
Saphira looked down into the darkness to see a little girl no more than 10 years old with long dark brown hair holding her hand.
Saphira almost fainted. "Wh-Who are you?" She stammered.
The little girl smiled up at her, "My name's Amy. What's yours?"
"S-Saphira."
With Archer
"We need to go after her. But we stick together. OK?"
Just then something grabbed Archer's arm.
"Whoa!"
He yelled as he was pulled into the dining room.
"Hey! What the-?" He said as he tried to pull his arm free.
"No! No, please stop. I-I need your help." The voice of a young man came from behind Archer.
"Who-?" Archer said as he turned around. Behind him was a man who looked to be in his mid-20s with short hazelnut hair. "Aah!" He yelled, startled. "Who are you?"
The man looked at him surprised, "You-You can see me?"
Archer was confused, "Yeah, should I not be able to?"
The man smiled at him, "No, it's just, only certain people can… See us that is."
"Oh, understood... The name's Archer, what's yours?" Archer said as he put his hand out for the man to shake.
The man took his hand and shook it. "James, my name is James."
With Rosalina
"We need to go after her. But we stick together. OK?"
As-soon-as she finished speaking Rosalina felt something grab her pant leg.
"Huh? Wha-?"
She was suddenly dragged into the living room.
"H-Hey!" Rosalina shouted as she struggled against the grip on her pants.
"No, don't run! Please, I need your help." Said what sounded like a very small boy.
Rosalina looked down in the direction of the voice, "OK, I won't run."
The grip on her pants loosened. "So you'll help us!?" The boy said excitedly.
"Yes, I'll help if I can… I'm Rosalina by the way." She said throwing her bag of herbs to the floor. So much for that idea.
"Thank you miss! My name's Zach." Zach chirped.
With Kira
"Ugh! Why can't I find where that loud thud came from!?" Kira whined.
She had gone through all the rooms upstairs and found nothing. She was starting to doubt that the sound actually came from upstairs.
Kira frowned, "Maybe I should go back downstairs with everyone else."