And she wasn't sure if she was just imagining it when a cold draft of air swept over her and made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The day was windy and cloudy, but still rainless as Olivia, Elliot, Brian and Munch walked along the path towards the house revealed by the map. The wind was playing in the branches of the trees, tossing yellow leaves over them and made the air feel cooler than it actually was. Cassidy was walking ahead of them, following the map, Munch behind him, and Olivia was the last one, hands tucked tightly into her coat pockets.

Even though the air was clear and the people cheerful, she couldn't shake the unpleasant feeling that was squirming through her veins, sending chills down her spine and making her senses perk up. The forest was dense, tall, thick fir trees reaching for the sky above them and shading the terrain with their large branches. The forest was also quiet, the birds had quieted down as they were waiting for the approaching winter, and only the wind was jumping on the branches of the trees and made them hum.

But the environment itself didn't make Olivia nervous, no. It was the constant, relentless feeling that someone was following them. It was as if someone was creeping in the shadows of the forest, following them with their eyes, walking in their footsteps without them noticing, and that feeling made her keep glancing behind, quicken her steps and take care that her partner's back did not get too far away.

To lighten her own mood and partly to get her thoughts elsewhere, she walked closer to Elliot and whispered:

"You know, I won the bet."

Surprised, Elliot turned his head and raised one eyebrow in wonder.

"What?"

"That bet you almost forced me to participate in."

For a moment he looked like his brain was idling, the cogs searching for their grooves, but then a glimmer of realization lit up in his eyes.

"He has been surprisingly considerate."

"He tried to come on to me last night in bed."

Elliot stopped so quickly that she bumped into him lightly. Disbelief in his eyes, he first turned to look at Cassidy, who continued walking without noticing anything, then at Olivia, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"He did what?"

"Oh please, El, I was a big girl and I handled it all by myself."

"But…"

"It's okay, he stopped as soon as I told him to and admitted his mistake. It's not a big deal."

"It should be," Elliot didn't look convinced at all, and for some reason it amused her. A slight smile on one corner of her mouth, she gently nudged her partner to continue walking, and he obeyed, reluctantly and slowly, but started walking anyway.

"No, it's not. It was pure misunderstanding with a touch of wishful thinking. Nothing else. But I won the bet, so how are you going to pay?" She raised one eyebrow, Elliot looked at her for a long time but then a light smile spread across his face.

"You yourself refused to bet, so I don't owe you anything."

"Asshole," Olivia snorted as she turned her gaze forward and lengthened her steps, intending to catch Munch and Cassidy. But then she swallowed and said, before she had time to chicken out:

"I didn't mean what I said. Of course it meant something."

Elliot didn't turn to look at her at first, but his steps slowed, his back muscles tensed, and Olivia clenched her fists in her coat pockets. But then he nodded shortly, continued walking, and at first she didn't know if she should have been annoyed or relieved. She had apparently avoided the difficult conversation she had feared, but the longer she thought about it, the more irritation began to grow inside her. She had swallowed her pride, ignored her fears, and practically revealed something to her partner that a week ago she would never have thought she would say.

And all she had gotten was a short nod without eye contact.

"El," she hissed, took a few long steps towards him, intending to say a few well-chosen words, but then Cassidy and Munch stopped and so did Elliot, who she almost bumped into again. She took two steps back, opened her mouth to ask, but then her eyes fell on the brown-gray house revealed from behind the trees, and her mouth closed automatically.

The house had once been beautiful, everyone could see it. It was large, two-storey, the downstairs windows were still intact, as were some of the upstairs windows, and by all accounts it had remained safe from vandals all these years. But it was old, long since abandoned, its light paint mostly chipped and fallen off its wooden surface, revealing only a brown base that made the house look more shabby than it was. Light curtains bordered the windowpanes, the structures creaked in the wind, and all in all, its exterior was both repulsive and attractive at the same time. In addition, there were a couple of outbuildings in the yard, which had been clearly more severely affected by the merciless outdoor air.

Despite its rugged exterior, the house was a very ordinary abandoned house, but for some reason everyone just stared at it without taking a single step towards it. The wind swirling around them seemed to seep through Olivia's skin and chill her blood as well, and she imperceptibly took a short step closer to her partner.

But then Cassidy's voice broke the silence:

"I don't understand why ghosts would want to live in our cabin when there is a mansion like this less than a mile away?"

"Maybe even ghosts need summer houses?" Elliot shrugged, and then the men stepped off the path and started walking towards the house. Olivia's heart skipped a beat.

"W-what? Where are you going?"

"I didn't come all the way here just to admire the house from afar," Munch grinned. "Maybe I'll finally meet the ghost."

And then they left Olivia standing on the path, watching their receding backs, the conflict growing inside her every second. On the one hand, she would have liked to stay here, far away from the house that made her blood freeze in her veins, but on the other hand, being alone seemed like an even worse idea, so after a moment of hesitating, she started striding through the grassy ground towards the others.

The house wa standing still, quietly creaking in the wind, as if waiting for them, and Olivia felt as if her feet were trying to stick to the ground. Her urge to grab her partner's arm grew with each step, but she restrained herself, knowing it wouldn't be appropriate, knowing others would think she was a coward, because there was nothing to fear in the house itself. After all, it was just an old, abandoned house in the middle of the forest, which was probably used by birds and other small animals as a place to stay. But the environment was quiet, far too quiet, and it made her swallow hard.

But then the silence was broken when something banged loudly. She barely managed to stifle a scream that almost escaped her lips, someone grabbed her arm, hard, and when she looked down, she realized the hand belonged to Elliot, whose face had turned pale.

Maybe he senses it too.

"What the hell was that?"

"It…" Munch started, but then they heard the bang again, more recognizable this time, and they looked up only to see the window above them swinging in the wind. Elliot's hand released from Olivia's arm, the others seemed to gasp as well, and then Cassidy took a few steps to the door and tried the doorknob.

The door opened surprisingly easily, as if it had never been locked, Brian turned to look at them with a grin, and then he entered the house. Munch hesitated for a moment, but then shrugged and followed him, only Olivia watched them in horror, not understanding what curse was causing them to lose their minds. It wasn't until Elliot took a step toward the door that she grabbed his arm.

"El!" "What? The house looks strong enough," he replied. "I don't think there's anything else but old junk in there."

No, he doesn't sense it.

"But…"

"Come on, it's just an old house."

Reluctantly, only because she had no other choice if she didn't want to stay out alone, Olivia followed her partner into the house. It was dark inside, only dim light was illuminating the old walls, from which the wallpaper had for the most part already peeled off, revealing only a dark, moisture-damaged surface. There were dried leaves on the floor, probably carried there by animals and the wind, dust, garbage and fallen paint, the house smelled damp, stuffy, and made her wrap her coat tighter around her.

But what struck Olivia was how untouched everything looked. Although the floor was dirty with dust, there was just presumably Cassidy and Munch's shoe prints, the house's belongings lay where they had once been left, nothing had been broken, nothing had been touched.

It was as if no one had been in the house for a long time.

And she didn't like it at all. In general, abandoned houses attracted people with different intentions: some wanted to get to know the furniture and atmosphere of the old house, some considered abandoned houses as free rage rooms, where they were allowed to destroy everything that was able to be destroyed. Was it possible that this house wasn't on the public maps, and it was just forgotten here, in the middle of the forest? Was it possible that no one simply knew it existed, and the few who did didn't care about it?

Or was it possible that no one wanted to come here?

The last option made Olivia gulp, she could feel the uneasiness growing inside her by the minute, and she turned her gaze to her partner who had started to look at the calendar on the wall.

"1958," he huffed and shook his head. "It's hard to believe that the house has remained in such good condition for almost 50 years, if no one has lived here since then."

"I don't like this," she answered in a low voice, glancing around. "It's too untouched."

Elliot looked up, uncertainty flickering in his eyes as he followed her gaze, and finally, as if he had finally sensed the cold, hollow, oppressive feeling which was churning inside her, he gave a short nod.

"Yeah. We should go. Where the hell are Munch and Cassidy?"

They stopped to listen, Olivia's heart was pounding so furiously that she thought that he could hear it too, and she tried to breathe calmly even as the adrenaline coursing through her veins kept trying to speed it up. It was as if the air inside had suddenly cooled, maybe she was just imagining it, but it made her grab her partner's arm.

And then they heard thumping, footsteps from upstairs. At the same time they looked up, listened, footsteps seemed to cross the ceiling, and then they stopped. Elliot frowned.

"Have they lost their minds?!" He hissed, clearly irritated. "Even though the house is seemingly in good condition inside, it does not mean that the floor upstairs couldn't collapse unexpectedly." He shook his arm out of Olivia's grip, started to head for the stairs, and made Olivia's fear go up a few notches.

"El! Did you even listen to yourself?"

The steps upstairs turned into running steps, and Elliot groaned as he started to climb the stairs despite the prohibitions.

"Goddamnit! Stop running if you want the whole house not to collapse!" He exclaimed, the footsteps stopped but he continued to climb the stairs. Olivia looked anxiously at her partner, not knowing what she should have done, because at the same time she wanted to follow him, but a strong voice inside her was screaming at her to get out of the house.

"What's going on?"

Munch's voice beside her startled her so violently that she almost tripped over her own feet, and swaying, she turned to look in the direction of the voice. The older man looked at her in obvious confusion, frowning, and for a moment Olivia's brain stopped working, but then she turned to look at the stairs her partner had almost climbed and pointed a finger at the ceiling.

"Elliot went to get Brian because he's apparently lost his survival instin-…" But her voice trailed off when she saw Cassidy, who appeared from the next room, as confused as Munch.

"I'm not upstairs", he stated, although it was obvious at this point. "I thought you..."

And then the color fled Olivia's face, she turned her head to the stairs, on the last step of which Elliot had stopped, eyes as wide as hers.

"So who…"

The footsteps started thumping the floor again, this time much louder, for a couple of seconds everyone froze to listen, but then Cassidy turned on his heel, announced that "he's out of here", Elliot stormed down the stairs so fast it was a wonder he didn't fly on his nose, Munch grabbed the doorknob, jerked the door open, and then they were outside, running as fast as their legs could, fear giving them more speed.

And they didn't stop until they found the path and they had to stop to catch their breath. Olivia's legs felt like jelly, she was amazed that they had managed to carry her at speed through the long grass, and she had to take support from a tree. Cassidy was white as a sheet as he looked up, gasping, and the others followed his gaze, silent, hearts pounding.

The house was still standing in its place, sheltered by the trees, silent, creaking softly in the wind. But this time they felt that someone was following them from the upstairs window, silent, motionless, and without a word they turned and started walking towards the cabin, the wind pushing at their backs as if driving them away.

And no one said a word as Elliot wrapped his trembling arm around Olivia and pulled her against him as they walked.