Root jumped to her feet as John's car rolled to a stop in front of the ice cream shop. She hurried to the car, four milkshakes cradled in her arms. The back door opened and Sameen stepped out of the car, reaching out to take two of the milkshakes.
"Did Greer yell at you?" Sameen asked, watching Root slide into the backseat.
"No, he was already gone. I've only been working here for two weeks and he's already given me a key and let me lock up."
Sameen got in next to her and shut the door. Lionel turned around from the front seat as John got back on the road. He took his milkshake from Sameen and put John's into the cup holder.
"You excited to go ghost hunting?" Lionel asked, grinning. "I am!"
Root sighed and sipped her strawberry shake. "I'm excited for you to see that ghosts aren't real."
"I still can't believe you believe in Aliens and not Ghosts!"
"There's undeniable proof aliens exist, Lionel. Art on Egyptian walls, myths about creatures from space in every culture. There's no real proof-"
"What! There's myths about ghosts, too!" Lionel said, spraying milkshake all over the car.
"Watch it!" John reached over to punch Lionel. "This car is new."
Root looked at Sameen, who was frowning at her phone, eyebrows drawn down. "Who are you talking to?"
"Tomas," Sameen answered, sighing. "He keeps flirting with me."
Root rolled her eyes. "Gross. Tell him to go away."
"I'm trying," Sameen said, typing furiously on her phone.
"Tell me again about where we're going," John said, eyes on the road. "The address is in Corpus Christi."
"It's the Ward-McCampbell house in Heritage Park. Basically, this rich lady, Mary, died of pneumonia during a flood."
"Now, she fucks with tour guides and locks people out on the balcony," Lionel added.
Root scoffed. "Please, they probably forget their keys or something."
Lionel and Sameen exchanged a glance. Sameen shrugged, shoving her phone in her front pocket.
"I don't know," Sameen said, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat, "could be real."
Root stared at her, shocked. "What? You barely believe in aliens!"
"You convinced me eventually. Maybe this trip will convince you of ghosts."
Root looked between Sameen and Lionel, suspiciously. She knew they liked pranks, but she'd usually been the one to help them.
A few weeks ago, before her birthday, she'd help Sameen and Lionel switch John's mousse for glue. It was part of the reason she'd bought him a new jar for Christmas. That boy did like to style his hair. Now Root was on the receiving on their scheme and she was feeling a little worried.
"What are you two planning?" Root asked, head tilting.
"Nothing!" Lionel said, laughing. "Just excited to see some ghosts."
"Yeah, Root," Sameen said, punching her lightly in the arm, "ghosts."
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They stared up at the house, ghost hunting equipment in their hands. The Ward-McCampbell house was big, really big. Root ran her eyes over the wrap-around porch where Mary Ward McCampbell's ghost apparently hung out. Large glass doors led from the house out into the balcony.
Root rolled her eyes and turned to her friends. "So, I have the video camera. Sameen has the EMF Detector and the voice recorder. John has the Ghost Box and Lionel has the heat camera. Correct?"
"Ay, ay, Captain!" Lionel saluted.
John looked at the small radio in his hands. "I don't know what this does."
"It's a Ghost Box. A modified AM/FM that scans all bands constantly. Basically, it takes the ambient radio waves from broadcast towers and allows ghosts to manipulate them into words and sentences. I got the Radio Shack 12-587. It's good, but I read that it scans very slowly and tends to turn off, so I made some adjustments to it. It should work fine now."
Sameen looked at her with an odd expression. Root touched her face self-consciously.
"What?"
"Even when you don't believe in something, you give it your all."
"It's important to you guys. God knows why."
The friends laughed and walked towards the house. Root pulled out her lock picking tools and opened the front door. She'd known how to pick locks for years. She had learned so she could break into her middle school's science lab and do experiments after hours.
Root pushed the front door open, hitting record on the camera and leading them inside.
"This is creepy," John said, walking beside Root.
Root looked around at the old house. It was just over a hundred years old, the décor was turn of the century, clean and white, with crown molding and fancy artwork. Root looked up at the high ceiling. She grinned and turned to ask Sameen if she felt especially short under these high ceilings, but Sameen was gone.
Root turned around fully. Lionel was gone, too. She looked at John, who just shrugged and walked into the kitchen.
"Please tell me you aren't in on whatever they're planning?" Root sighed, stomping after him.
John shook his head and put the ghost box onto the large marble counter in the center of the room. "They wouldn't tell me." He turned the ghost box on, the faint hum filling the room.
Root narrowed her eyes at him, turning the camera off, not sure if she believed him. "I wouldn't put it past them to have some crazy plan."
"Why don't you believe in ghosts?" John asked, casually leaning against the counter. "You're usually so into this mysterious stuff."
Root shrugged. "I guess…It just seems like too much, you know? I don't think I believe in God, at least not one so involved in our lives, and I don't believe in Heaven. I don't think anyone is good enough to get into Heaven, so why would Heaven even exist? No, I think that when you die, that's it. You're dead. I don't like the idea of Hitler floating around, knocking picture frames off shelves."
"Well," John argued, "I think Hitler would be in Hell. Good people in Heaven, bad people in Hell."
"No one is good enough to get into Heaven, John. Everyone does bad things, thinks bad thoughts. If God is real, and it made us in its image, then I am terrified of God."
"Don't be."
Root and John jerked away from the counter staring at the radio. They looked at each other.
"Did you hear that?" Root asked him.
He nodded, eyes wide. Root looked up at the ceiling above them. Sameen and Lionel had probably snuck in another radio and were messing with them. Sameen was much better with technology than she let on.
"You think it was them?" John asked her, crossing his arms.
"It has to be, right?" Root said, rolling her eyes. "I hate them so much."
"They're just trying to scare you. I don't think Lionel actually believes in ghosts. He just likes how cool those guys on tv are."
A door slammed loudly upstairs and Root jumped again. She sighed and grabbed the Ghost Box, handing it to John and gesturing for him to follow her. She needed to stop Lionel and Sameen from damaging the house. The last thing they needed to do was get arrested.
Root and John walked down the hall to the staircase. When they started up it, they heard Sameen scream. Root dropped her camera, racing up the stairs, heart beating loud in her ears.
"Sameen!" She called, tripping on the last step and stumbling into the first room on her right.
Sameen was laying on her back, arms clutched over her stomach. She tried to sit up, but couldn't. Root dove to her knees, looking her over.
"What happened?"
"I don't know," Sameen said, looking scared. "I was standing here, looking at the EMF detector and it started going crazy and then I got really cold. Something hit me in the stomach."
Root looked at Sameen's arms, covering her stomach, and tried to pull them away. Sameen let her move her arms, so Root could see. Sameen's white shirt was stained with blood.
"Oh my god," Root gasped. "You're covered in blood."
"I don't think it's mine," Sameen panted. "I just got the breath knocked out of me."
The temperature in the room dropped and Root felt the hair on her arms raise. She looked around at John, but he seemed as unnerved as she was. Root heard music floating in from the next room. She could tell it was a piano, but couldn't name the song.
"Well, then, whose blood is it?" she asked Sameen.
"Maybe it's that girl who died here." Sameen answered. "She died from a gunshot to the stomach, right?"
Root narrowed her eyes. "No, she didn't."
Sameen froze. "What? Yes, she did. Lionel said-" Sameen cut herself off, glancing at Root.
"Wow," Root smacked Sameen in the stomach, smiling when she cried out. "You guys can't even get your act together to prank me."
Lionel ran in from the other room. "Did it work? Was she scared?"
Root glared at him and realized the piano music had stopped. Lionel must have been the one playing it. Root climbed to her feet and ran over to punch him.
"I thought she'd been shot or something!" Root screamed at him. "That wasn't funny!"
Lionel held his hands up. "Whoa, it was only a joke. Because you don't believe in this stuff, you know?"
"I don't believe in ghosts, Lionel! I believe in bullets!" Root shoved him towards the balcony. "Just, go out there. I'm so mad right now."
Lionel rolled his eyes, but headed across the room to the balcony doors. He pulled open one of the tall glass doors and walked through it. When he let go of the doorknob, a sudden gust of wind blew the door shut behind him, making him jump.
Root turned to Sameen. Sameen held her hands up preemptively.
"I know, I know. How could I do this? You were so scared. I'm sorry," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Ok? I'm sorry."
Root smiled softly. "It's alright. I got most of my anger out on Lionel."
"It was his idea, I promise," Sameen said, eyes shifting passed Root to look at Lionel. "He said it would look real."
Root shrugged, looking at John. She had thought it looked fairly realistic, but John had hunted more than she had.
John tilted his head back and forth. "It looks ok. It's all one shade of red, though, so it does look a little fake."
"You're right," Root confirmed, "It should be darker in the center."
"What do you know about gunshots, Root?" Sameen asked, crossing her arms. "Have you even shot a gun?"
"Sameen," Root said drying, tilting her head, "I grew up in rural Texas. I'm an expert marksman."
Sameen's eyes darkened and she drew a sharp breath. "OK, that's…kind of hot."
Root blushed and ran a hand through her hair. "Uh, thanks?"
Sameen cleared her throat, her eyes sliding past Root to see Lionel on the balcony. She laughed at him. "He's stuck out there now."
Root looked over her shoulder at him. Lionel was rattling the doorknob, rapping on the glass with his knuckles. The door slamming must have bumped the bolt into the lock. Root took pity on him and crossed the room, opening the door.
She started moving to the side to let Lionel in, but froze when a chill ran along her spine. It felt like someone was dragging a freezing hand down her back. The hand shoved her out the door, slamming it behind her.
She turned around, furious that Sameen would shove her outside, but John and Sameen were still standing across the room, staring at her with wide eyes.
"Oh my god," Lionel whispered from behind her, "it's Mary."
Root rolled her eyes. "Ghosts don't exist, Lionel."
"Then what shoved you out here? And me?"
"A strong draft?" Root suggested, turning back to the door. She waved to her friends inside, calling them over. "A loose floorboard?"
"A skeptic to the end," Lionel scoffed, "I might have to quit Alien Club."
"It's not called 'Alien Club,' Lionel. It's called BACKS and it's a scientific venture."
Sameen and John came up to the window. Root frowned, she could see Sameen talking, but couldn't hear what she was saying. Root squinted, trying to read her lips, but she couldn't. Maybe they should learn sign language. Lionel leaned towards her.
"You catching that?" he asked.
"No," Root shook her head. "I can't hear anything. Do you think the glass is that thick?"
"I think that Mary is fucking with us."
"Watch your language," Root scolded him. She saw John pull his phone out and realized he was going to text her.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and watched anxiously for his text. When it came through, she read it to Lionel.
"Can't hear you. Door won't open. Will go downstairs. You can jump down," Root laughed. "Does he always-"
"Yes. Making plans is like pulling teeth," Lionel said, rolling his eyes. "Come on, let's meet them over by the door."
Root nodded and they headed for the front of the house. She glanced over the edge of the balcony, trying to gauge the distance. She trusted John and Sameen to catch them, but if they didn't, it didn't seem too far. They stopped just above the front door and waited for Sameen and John to appear.
Root felt her feet get cold and looked down. A white mist had formed around their feet. She nudged Lionel and nodded to the ground. Lionel lifted his feet out of the mist. It dissipated slightly, but didn't totally disappear.
They heard the front door open and leaned over the balcony. John and Sameen came out, glancing up at them. Root was glad for the orange light coming from the streetlamps. She wouldn't want to make this jump in total darkness.
"You guys ready?" John called up.
"More than ready!" Lionel called back down. He turned to Root. "You first?"
"Sure," she said. She looked at John. "I'm coming down!"
John lifted his arms and Root pushed herself up with her arms, throwing one leg over the railing. She felt Lionel steady her back and put the other leg over the raining. Her hands were sweating as they gripped the cool, wooden railing.
"Ok," she called out, "jumping."
She took a deep breath and pushed off the edge of the balcony. It was a scary couple of seconds, but soon, John's arms wrapped around her and she sighed with relief. Root awkwardly lowered her legs to the ground and took a few shaky steps toward Sameen.
"You ok?" Sameen asked her, putting a hand on her arm.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Root breathed, turning to look up at Lionel.
Lionel was already sitting on the balcony, staring down at them. Root felt bad for him for a minute. He was a chubby kid and he never mentioned it, but he definitely got bullied at school for his weight. This must be a time when he wished he was smaller. She made a mental note to compliment him more.
"Jump!" John called up to him.
"Ok!" Lionel jumped off the balcony with a grunt.
John caught him without a problem. A slight huff of breath the only giveaway that it was a strain. Lionel hopped out of his arms and adjusted his shirt.
Root looked around at them. There had been some creepy stuff, but overall, she wasn't convinced that ghosts were real. Given some time, and a computer, she could debunk everything that happened tonight.
A few leaves scrapped against the ground as a light breeze swirled around them. Root looked up at the sky, finding Orion's belt slightly to the west. It was almost the end of January and Orion was starting to shift in the sky. By June, it would be gone completely, but for now, it was there for them to look at.
The front doors to the house rattled against the frame and the friends turned to look. The doors burst open, a loud gust of wind flying out of the house and hitting them. They turned on their heels and ran back to the car.
John unlocked the car from a distance. Sameen ripped open the door to the backseat, jumping in and sliding over so Root could climb after her. Root slammed their door shut. Lionel and John shutting their doors just after.
The friends sat in the ringing silence of the car, staring at each other with wide eyes. Root giggled. The friends started laughing the tension draining out of them.
"That was so scary!" Root laughed, dropping her face into her hands. "I was so scared."
Lionel point at her, excited. "You liked it! This was fun!"
"No!" Root said, grinning. "It was the worst! I don't know if I can do this again for a while."
There was a buzz and Root looked at Sameen. Sameen rolled her eyes and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She unlocked it, her face lighting up in the dark car.
"10 missed messages from Tomas," Sameen said, annoyed.
"That," Root joked, "is the scariest thing of all."
Sameen smirked and tossed her phone onto the seat between them. "Let's get out of here."
John nodded and started the car, slowly taking them to the road and heading home.