Ghosts in the photograph never lied to me…


Chapter 19

Take me somewhere nice

The first thing she sees is a room with furniture – old, broken and outdated furniture. A broken table in the far left corner, next to it a big leather couch covered in rips. The carpet is dusty, ripped and only god knows what those stains might be. There's a bookshelf to her right that's seen better days, left to rot away with dust and spiders as its new décor. In the middle of the room lays a small, broken chandelier. Looking up at the ceiling she can see traces of where it used to hang and that it most likely fell down by itself after years of neglect. Just goes to show that eventually everything will fall apart if you ignore it for too long. It's a shame really – it seems like it used to be a wonderful house and home at one point, whereas now it's scaring the local kids.

Taking one step in, she can feel the wooden floor move under her foot, under her weight. It creaks lowly, though it might be just loud enough for someone to notice… just loud enough for them to attract unwanted attention. She'll deal with that when it happens.

She takes a couple of more steps, slowly walking into the room whilst paying attention to any sound that occurs in the background, ready for anything to happen. Rolf and Kevin follow behind her, albeit a bit more carefully. They're scared, she can tell – no matter how hard they try to hide it, she can tell. They're kids after all. Kids get scared. She lets them be.

"Woah…" Kevin gasps softly in the room as he looks around. Mel looks back at him and finds him slowly turning in a circle, taking in each of the details of the room as if he's discovered something brand new. "What happened here?" He asks.

"What do you mean?" She asks, his curiousness tickling her own. "Haven't you been here before?"

Her question causes both boys to stop in their tracks, freezing in their place as if she just told them they were being sacrificed on an alter or something equally disturbing. She raises an eyebrow at them, her question flowing silently through the air of the room. They hear it loud and clear still.

"Well… erm…" Kevin hesitantly starts, scratching the back of his head.

"Rolf needs to confess something to the sister of the smart Ed-boy." Rolf speaks up. His tone is anything but confident, frightened even, not at what he's about to say but rather about how the receiver will react. He takes a deep breath. "Rolf has never entered the house of terror before."

"Y-yeah…" Kevin joins him. "Same."

She looks at them. It's clear to her that they are somewhat ashamed but mostly terrified of the situation, what with how they keep avoiding eye contact with her. Why would they be ashamed though? They soon notice her lack of response to what they said. It draws them to carefully seek eye contact with her, as if they're checking if the coast is clear. Her gaze upon them has not changed, not for the better but also not for the worse. Did they expect anger? Frustration? Whatever it might've been they seem confused that they're not finding it in her gaze.

Seconds tick by in silence. She's not sure what they're expecting her to say. "Nor have I." Her words seem to have some effect on them, though she's not sure what kind of effect. Before they manage to say anything more – it doesn't seem like they have anything else to say anyway – she turns around and heads towards a door that's slightly ajar. "You can wait outside if you wish." And with that she opens the door further and steps through.

The room she steps into is darker, the light from the first room unable to go with her. It spills as much as it can through the open door, but any further than that is not within its reach. She scans her new surroundings; more furniture, much like the ones in the other room, nothing noteworthy. The sound of light footsteps from behind her catches her attention. Turning around she's able to see Kevin walk through the door, obscuring the light. He seems determined, she's not sure of what. Her gaze travels behind him, searching for Rolf, though his lack of presence tells her that he might've decided to go back out again.

Noticing her searching gaze, Kevin clears his throat. "Rolf decided it might be better if someone stayed behind to watch over and protect the others and, uh… volunteered."

His words draw a soft chuckle from her, half a smile curving her lips. They proceed in their search for the three boys in the house, keeping their steps as light as possible to not make the floor creak any more than it has to. As tough as Kevin tries to be in the moment, he still jumps every now and then when something moves in the corner of his eyes, when a new sound echoes through the old building. Each and every time he slowly inches closer to Mel's side, keeping her in a rather safe distance from him. She can't help but find it cute.

They walk in silence for a little bit further when a soft sound catches Mel's attention. Stopping in the middle of her step she accidentally causes Kevin to walk into her side. Caught off guard he jumps backwards with a small yelp, only to find Mel standing still. He looks at her, confused.

"Are you okay?" He asks, receiving nothing but silence as a response. Following her gaze with his own, he can't see what it is that caught her attention. Then, a small sound is heard again. Her head moves in the direction of the sound, listening intently. He leaves her alone.

Putting all of her focus into listening after the sound, she doesn't have time to care about anything else right now. It's such a subtle sound, so incredibly thin and hard to hear… but she heard it. With a silent apology to Kevin for not answering his question – she did hear him after all – she slowly starts moving in the direction the sound came from. She doesn't know if Kevin follows her or not. The sound is heard again, louder this time and she can no longer deny it – it's far too similar, too recognizable, for it to be anything else; Edd.

She nearly forgets to be stealthy and silent as she makes her way to where her brother is being kept in captivity. The only time she pauses is when the sound leads her to a staircase – a staircase that leads down to the basement of the house. An acid burning feeling grows in her stomach at the sight, at the fact that this is where her brother is; in a dark basement of an abandoned, forgotten house. As her fear turns into rage, a sound to her side draws her attention. Kevin is standing by her side, seeming terrified at the darkness that swallows the bottom stairs. As Edd's soft cries sound again she can see the realization and fear grow in his eyes and he looks up to meet Mel's eyes. She's not sure what he's afraid of the most; the fact that they're down there or the fact that she is going down there – with or without backup. Well kid, this is what it means to be brave. Actually… not quite. Not now.

Heading down the staircase, she can feel Kevin's fear and hesitation to go with her – she allows him to choose what to do. Her steps awaken the staircase as it creaks in disapproval under her weight. She's nowhere near being overweight, but she also doesn't weigh less than a twelve year old either. It's just something that happen when you grow up; getting heavier.

At the bottom of the staircase she can see light illuminating the frame of a door; her destination in this godforsaken place. With the darkness of the basement wrapping all around her frame, she can feel it tug at her, beckoning her to move, but not in the direction she wishes for. She's here to help, not to cause a greater damage than what's already been done. Hearing Kevin move behind her somehow helps her keep her focus clear in the dark, her eyes never leaving the light that glows behind that one door. She doesn't care for any of the other doors; they are not her target. Moving closer to it she can now hear another sound, a sound she was too focused to hear before; giggles. Girly, girly, giggles… who ever said a woman can't assault a man?

The giggles grow harder and harder, like a freshly polished pickaxe in her head. It makes her sick – just end it! End it! End It!

"Oh God…" Kevin's voice snaps her out of it, draws her attention towards his terrified little form, hidden in the darkness. "The Kankers… I almost forgot they would be here."

Watching him shake in fear of just hearing the voices of the girls is enough to tell her just how bad these girls are, but she also takes into account that they are also that; little girls. She cannot treat them the same way she dealt with the jocks – though she definitely wants to. Trust me; she wants to. But, she made a promise (sort of, I guess?) and she's not one to break a promise. If you know you can't or won't keep your word about something, don't give it to begin with.

"Don't worry." She tells him, her voice low and in her control. "This is not your fight. In fact, it will not even be a fight. Just three little girls talking to a big girl." He looks confused. She allows him to be.


Crying for help is hopeless at this point, and yet it's the only thing he's can think of doing. No matter how much his mind is fighting him to try and think of a way to escape, his fear overrides and tells him to do the one thing that he deep down knows will not help.

The Kankers had entered the room with the same menacing grins they always enter the party with… or rather, Lee and May did. As much of a relief it would seem to be, not seeing that teeth glittering grin on Marie's face, he almost wished for it after he saw the frown on her face as she stared at him, hatred filling her eyes as she gritted her teeth. Whatever Lee or May have in store for Eddy and Ed, something tells him he would rather go through that than experience whatever Marie decides to do to him. The way she had made haste to approach him, rather than enjoying his suffering and approaching slowly but steadily was enough to make him shake like a leaf, especially when he noticed that May and Lee had yet to be in front of Ed or Eddy. Her breathing had been rather unsettling as well. Heavy and uneven in pattern, she almost seemed like a mad man about to lose the last bit of her sanity. Why, whatever happened that would drive her to be so angry with him? His answer had come soon, even without asking the question aloud.

"Cheater!" Hissing like a snake through her teeth, she had grabbed the chains keeping him in place and pulled them off of its mechanics, allowing him to feel free for a small moment before realizing it also allowed her to pull him away from the others. He had called out to them, but they had been far too busy with their own torture to hear him.

Now isolated in a dark room, he's lying in the middle of the floor with the chains keeping his arms and legs spread out, making him look like a starfish. He still has no idea what plans Marie has for him, but he can only hope that he'll be able to survive it. For the brief moment of silence he's granted with, he does take the time to try and see what it is she has bound the chains to in order to keep him in place. Time moves fast, the only thing he managed to spot where the legs of a couch somewhere above his head before Marie jumps at him from the darkness. His scream is not manly nor anything he wishes to stand for, but right now he's too terrified to care about either. Her breathing draws him to look at her again, trying his best to understand just why she hates him so much.

"S-s-salut-tations Marie!" He says, trying his best to keep the smile steady on his face.

Her immediate response is to land a fist right next to his head, drawing yet another yelp out of him, the fear of being hurt making itself heard. He remembers how terrifying he would find it, the way she would smile and laugh at his fear, each and every little jump of his. It's nothing compared to the silent anger that's burning in her eyes right now. To think this girl would find a way to become even more terrifying than previously. He would've been impressed honestly… if he wasn't so scared.

"M-my! Y-you seem t-t-to be rather a-angry-y toda-ay…" He forces the words out of his mouth. Just anything, think of anything that might help and hope for the best. "D-did s-something happen?"

She punches the floor by his head again and again… and again… each and every more powerful than the last, angrier than the last. She throws them in a steady beat, one after another, faster and faster. He closes his eyes hard and tries his best to tuck his head in towards his chest with the hope of not being hit by accident. As strange as it might seem, he's almost confident that she actually isn't trying to hit him – yet. His confident is immediately broken after thinking that as one of her punches lands on his shoulder. He cries out in pain from it, his eyes wide open in fear. She's looking at him yet her gaze seems distant, almost as if it's merely fixated in his direction, not actually on him. Leaning over him as she's sitting on the floor with his stomach between her legs, she eventually stops beating the floor and starts hitting his shoulders and chest. She misses a couple of times, slips so that the punches do half of their intentional damage. It still hurts. He cries out in pain with each single punch.

"M-Marie!" He cries out, eyes shut tightly. "Wh-Why?! What's wrong?!"

His question catches her off guard. She stops. He doesn't dare open his eyes for a while, but when he notices that the painful beating has ceased, he carefully opens one of them – curious as he is. She almost seems angrier now, and she's definitely looking at him.

"What's wrong?" She repeats; her voice tense and short in tone. "What's wrong?!" Tightening her fists, she throws them both up in the air before striking them both down at his chest hard. It knocks the air out of him. "What's wrong?! My boyfriend is cheating on me! That's what's wrong!" She cries out loudly, landing more punches on him as she growls at him. "How dare you! How dare you do that to me?! I hate you! I hate you so much!" Roaring those words, she puts all of her strength into the beating before stopping.

Keeping his eyes squeezed tightly, he still hears every word she's shouting at him from what he can only imagine is a broken heart. Huh, who would've guessed a Kanker would have one? Noticing that the beating has indeed ceased this time, he opens his eyes carefully again only to have them open wide in surprise. Eyes shut tightly; her lips are shaking in a deep frown as a layer of tears threaten to escape. Her heavy angry breathing is becoming more and more broken as the sobs begin to step in, taking over where the anger left off.

Blinking in surprise, he tries his best to understand the sight before him. "M-Marie?" He asks, his voice soft and confused, but not scared. As the first tear falls onto his cheek he remains silent as the girl he's known to fear breaks down before him. Her tears falling down on his face, she lets her torn heart be heard through its obvious pain as she cries loudly. Sinking further down as she falls apart, her head eventually finds support in his chest, just above his heart. And she cries. Feeling the fabric of his shirt on her forehead, hearing the heart beat in his chest, she cries until she has no tears left to show him her pain through. And he lets her. He lets her voice the pain of her bleeding heart. He may not understand what caused it to become so broken, why she would think he's cheating on her (even though they're not a couple), but he allows her to voice her pain. It's the least he can do, he believes.

It grows silent in the room, all that is heard is the strained breathing of a broken soul recovering from letting their pain out, voicing it for the world to hear. All is still. "Marie?" He tries, keeping his voice low and gentle. He can see her flinch in response. Is she still mad at him? "Marie?"

"What?" She answers. Her voice is hurt but he can tell she's trying to sound cold and distant from him. As she lifts her head to look at him she's almost surprised to find that he's the one seeking eye contact first, not the other way around. "What do you want?" She asks.

He looks at her carefully, searching her face for any type of clue or detail that might help him reach her more or… something. Honestly, he's never been in this situation before – he never thought he would find himself in a situation like this before! He's got no idea what to do or say. He just knows that he has to do something. Furrowing his brows in confused worry, he tries to think of something to say whilst maintaining eye contact with Marie. She appears to be searching for something too, but for what it's worth, she doesn't really seem to know what she's searching for either. They're both clueless.

Opening his mouth to try and say something, nothing comes out but a small gasping sound as the door to the room opens up suddenly. Looking up, they both spot a menacing figure standing by the door, looking at them. Complaining sounds can be heard from the other room where the person came from. The light spewing through the door makes it hard to see any details at first, but it doesn't take long for Edd to realize who it is.

"Knock knock." Mel says.

He'd recognize that voice anywhere.


Song: Take me somewhere nice – Mogwai

Every aircraft, every camera, is a wish that wasn't granted. What was that for? What was that for?