Liliana was interested in Ethan's reason for coming to an odd place named Dulvey, Louisiana. The blond-haired man told her he was looking for his ex-wife, she had gone missing for three years, and the moment he got news of he booked it to this dry, humid, swampy place. Probably made his girlfriend worried about him. But Liliana didn't mind following him up the long dirt road to the Baker Estate.
It sounded fun in her mind, Ethan told her people had gone missing, the family had gone missing a while back, and the house was most likely abandoned, so she'd see some creepy stuff and sightseeing, and Ethan would get to move on with his life, and then visit his girlfriend, Donna was her name if the letter said correctly in the blonds car. Liliana had high hopes for this mission, take her mind off of her psycho kidnapper, and think of a fucking plan, as she had no clue, as to how to get on another world, let alone come up with the money to do things.
Hey, Ethan, what do you think I should do after this is over, and we find Mia?" Liliana asked the blond, taking a sip of water, and putting the bottle in her jacket. She thought about taking it off, but the heat wasn't too bothersome for her to deal with. Maybe it was the cause of being part of the island, or she liked the heat? But watching Ethan fight the mosquitos, and mounds of sweat coming off of his shirt and forehead was priceless in her opinion.
"I'm not too sure, You haven't mentioned parents, and you don't look too likely to return to them, so I could drive you as far as I can, I doubt Mia would mind the company. Besides I can't just leave a kid alone out here it wouldn't feel right." Ethan responded as he swatted a mosquito that had landed on his arm, The duo arrived at the front gate, and Liliana was excited as she grabbed at the old rusty chain and lock. They were going to have to go around the side, so more exploring, and mysterious things to uncover.
"Fuck, I was hoping to go through the front gate, and get this over with quickly? I guess the city must have closed the gate off after the Bakers disappeared, and the countless other people over the last three years?" Ethan said, as he tried to peek into the front yard, yelling hello probably wasn't an option.
"Hey, Ethan looks over there, I think it's a Van, looks
all old, and fucked up!" Liliana said, running over to the old rundown van in the distance. Ethan caught up to Liliana, as the Van got closer, and the haunting feeling that something bad was gonna happen slowly made its way into Ethan's mind. Maybe this was a bad idea, maybe Mia was dead all this time, and the locals were just fucking with him? But Ethan had to know the truth, Donna told him, if he couldn't move on with his guilt, then he'd never move on with his life.
—--
Liliana was in awe at the rundown van, It seemed to have been abandoned for a good while, probably a year or two at max, based on the amount of dust, rust, and damaged equipment littered around it. The main entrance of the van has a smashed window so either someone was living in the old estate or a drunk came by.
"Ethan, this is so weird, camera equipment, blue tarps, and coolers. Looks like this stuff has been here for ages." Liliana said, calling the blond man over, as she pulled the sliding door of the van open, getting hit with a horrible smell that smelled like death and old tuna.
"I think I'm gonna throw up! This is fucking disgusting." Liliana said, gagging at the insides of the van, it was littered with trash, half-eaten food, and maggots. Liliana saw something and quickly grabbed a piece of paper out of the filth, just as Ethan arrived at the van, quickly shutting the door, trying to hold back his vile.
"Ok, this says Episode seventeen of The Sewer Gators, Gators, sneak into a Louisiana ghost house! So I'm guessing whoever these guys were, they've been gone for a long time?" Liliana said, looking at the van again, scratching her head at the odd mystery. First Mia tells Ethan to come to a ghost house, and now a van belonging to a TV show.
"I'm guessing we'll find out once we get inside the main estate!" Ethan said optimizely, grabbing the paper from Liliana, and turning it over to find the words "Join us" written in caked blood. Ethan showed Liliana the mysterious words, and it didn't sit right with the pair. This felt like they were walking into some horror movie bullshit, like Evil Dead, meets The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in Louisiana-type stuff.
"Guess we might have company inside?" Lilliana whispered, as they walked over to some fencing, It had an opening, with barbed wire they'd have to crawl through Liliana got to her knees, and began crawling under the wire. Ethan followed behind her a minute later after he noticed a sign reading accept her gift. Ethan ducked under the wire and the pair had made it into the Baker's property.
—--
Liliana and Ethan decided to run for a minute, as the endless amounts of wildlife overtook the old dirt path. The neverending buzzing of the mosquitos was starting to piss Liliana off, and after the van, the pair wanted to get to work quicker. Suddenly Liliana stopped moving, causing Ethan to stop and look at the teen.
"What's wrong Liliana?" Ethan said asking the girl, As her eyes looked over to the clearing, suddenly Liliana ran over to the clearing turning her head at a dirt hill.
"I swear I saw a guy in a yellow checkered jacket walk right by us!" Liliana said touching the dirt hill and looking around to find nothing, no hiding spots, just trees, and a swamp. Ethan placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"I think we should get inside, The heat is starting to get to us, besides if that guy's real, maybe he'll have some answers, maybe you just saw a homeless man walking by?" Ethan stated, as the duo kept moving until they saw an army of crows, picking and eating at the body of a dead, rotting horse, its body had been hacked open, and muscle and bone were sticking out. Liliana could only vomit at the sight of the poor creature. As she turned away to avoid seeing the disgusting thing, the next thing she saw made her blood run cold, and her stomach felt like it was hit with a hammer.
"You've gotta be shitting me, Ethan, what in the ever living fuck is going on around here?" Liliana yelled, grabbing the blond man from the horse to seeing the ghastly sight of countless horse legs, and bodies tied up together with saws and ropes forming some macabre, psychologically fucked up form of modern art. The only way though was going under the ropes supporting the sickening, rotten, centerpiece of the trail. Liliana just kept mentally swearing as she and Ethan crouched underneath the horse ring, and Liliana knew things were about to get worse if the van and horses were anything to go by.
—--
The duo kept moving through the path, Liliana kept saying the word shit over and over again, her mind couldn't stop thinking about all those poor horses, and the sickening art that those poor things became. She just wanted to be done with this Mia shit, and book it to someplace happier, screw her kidnapper, screw this house, she just wanted a normal day.
More dead crows littered the pathway, until Liliana, and Ethan noticed smoke, right near the guest house.
Quickly Liliana, and Ethan jumped down the small hill, spotting a brown handbag, among a burned pile of clothes, trash, and other random objects. Ethan quickly grabbed the bag, digging through its contents until he pulled out a burned driver's license.
"It's Mia's! She was here at some point, so she could be inside the guest house?" Ethan questioned, dropping the bag, and license, as Liliana looked at the creepy swing that was moving by itself despite there being no wind at the moment. The outside of the house looked rundown, with vines growing all over the outside, and paint faded and peeling. Quickly Liliana ran onto the pouch following Ethan, as he opened the door into the dark rundown house.
—--
"Ethan, this place gives me the creeps, can we just find your ex and get the fuck out of here!" Liliana said as Ethan pulled out a flashlight from his pocket, shining the light throughout the hallway. Liliana quickly grabbed at the door handle only for it to be locked, causing Liliana to scream fuck. Liliana could only move towards, spotting a metal shelving rack, old dusty photos, and broken parts of various walls, and ceilings, with god knows what inside the walls.
"I think I see a kitchen, guess we came through the back entrance, let's see if we can find a way to the main house!" Ethan said, looking at a cabinet, with a locked chain, Liliana followed close by looking at the bright light of the outside, as the sounds of a storm could be heard in the distance.
"I hope we'll be done before the storm hits, I don't have any rain gear on me!" Liliana declared, following Ethan into the old kitchen.
—--
The first thing Liliana, and Ethan noticed was the vile smell throughout the kitchen, as dirty dishes littered the sink, and piles of garbage littered the large kitchen. Ethan checked the microwave to find a dead crow that had been demolished and painted the microwave black, Liliana looked at the large pot on the dining room table, opening the lid, to find some ungodly gumbo full of rotten meat, and cockroaches crawling out of the pot.
"Fuck!" Liliana screamed as she quickly brushed the roaches that had crawled into her arms. She hoped the refrigerator would be a better sight as she opened the handle. Turns out the fridge was caked in mold, slime, and smelt like a shit hole, as Liliana slammed the door closed, exciting the kitchen, as she found a hallway with stairs that probably led to the upper levels of the house.
—--
The second floor of the guest house is small, only housing a large collection of mannequins and a desk with VHS tape on the side. Liliana decided to grab the tape, maybe shed find a player and get some answers about this fucking nightmare.
Ethan had just arrived as Liliana had descended the stairs, holding the tape close to her person, Ethan flashed an antique coin, as the pair walked through the hallway spotting a tipped-over dresser that was massive, old smaller dressers in need of repair, and many clocks and pictures until they found an open door on the right. Ethan went first holding his flashlight, Liliana followed close by, as the only light in the room came from a TV that was mysteriously on. The room had a large piano, table, chairs, and papers covering the floor, with a burnt-out chimney in the distance, but that wasn't what made it creepy, it was the near pitch black that surrounded them, that made Liliana feel scared.
Ethan began combing the room, noticing a fuse board on the wall, and a few pictures of Mia, on the table, she was here somewhere. So Ethan decided to dig through more papers while Liliana looked at the TV, and its VHS player, quickly popping the tape into the device, and hitting play.
—--
"Boo!" A man jumped out of the camera, and as Liliana jumped, the man said it was June, 1,2017. So this tape was made roughly two months ago, and the camera and name was Claney Jarvis, he seemed to be the one controlling the footage.
"So these guys must have been the sewer gators!" Liliana whispered, as Ethan walked up right behind her, as they walked the group of Claney, Peter, and Andre talked about the show and their lives. One was a news anchor, one was a lawyer, and Claney used to be a cameraman for a company called Terrasave. Pete was complaining about Claney to Andre, which made Liliana sad. She didn't know why, but she felt connected to Claney.
The gators continued to talk about filming their episode, and as Claney remained silent, Liliana knew the other two didn't care much about the mysterious cameraman. The more the tape moved on the more she got worried for Claney, They had entered the guest house, and made it to the disgusting kitchen in the dead of night, only the light of Claney's camera shone through the haunted guest house.
Things had gotten interesting to Liliana, and Ethan as the asshole named Andre began talking about the baker family, making Ethan remember that guy at the gas station talking about the whole family going missing during a big storm that hit the area only three years ago. The Gators had mentioned Jack Baker, who was the head of the family, his wife Marguerite, and their two kids, Lucas, and Zoe. This caused Ethan to wonder if they met Mia before everyone vanished three years ago.
As Pete kept rambling about the show, and him getting dirty, Claney was looking around the kitchen finding the same disgusting soup, on the table, and trash on the floor, plus cobwebs all over the ceiling that added to the creepy vibe of the house, until Pete had noticed that Andre has gone missing, leaving just Pete, and Claney alone in the kitchen. They could only venture deeper into the dark, silent house, walking ever so softly not, as they were scared shitless at this point. It had only taken them a minute for them to arrive at the same room that Liliana and Ethan had just entered, Andre rushed into the room, tripping on the big leather chair.
Claney had decided to mess with the fireplace, fingering a handle, pulling it, as part of the wall began opening up, revealing a crawl space and a ladder down to the basement of the guest house. Pete entered first followed by Claney, as the scummy anchor told Claney to go first, as the cameraman climbed down the wooden ladder. Claney quickly turned around and found Andr, standing motionless looking at the house's brick wall. Claney slowly walked over to the man, grabbing his shoulder, as blood dripped from Andre's mouth, he was stabbed into one of the guest house's water pipes. Andres's body fell into Claney making the cameraman scream, as the tape began glitching out, as the silhouette of a man could be seen in the distance as the tape ended.
—--
"Jesus fucking Christ!" Liliana cursed, as she pressed her hand against her mouth, She had just watched a man die, and Claney was possibly next. Quickly Ethan rushed for the fireplace, opened the wall, and started to walk through the hole.
"Ethan, what the fuck are you doing, you saw what happened to Andre, and Claney. It's too dangerous to go down there, we don't even know if that murder is still down there?" Liliana whispered to Ethan, as the man went into the crawlspace, Lillana quickly followed. She didn't wanna be alone after watching that tape in the dark.
"It's the only way to get to Mia, so I gotta keep goin' Besides that it was months ago. We don't even know if that man is still living here or moved on. I know you're scared Liliana, I'm scared too, so if you wanna take a moment to rest, I'll wait with you, till you're ready." Ethan said, looking at the Auburn-haired girl, She was scared out of her mind, and they both needed a moment.
Little did they know that that moment of safety would be their last for a long while, as the mystery of the Baker Estate slowly got closer to being answered.