Sang's Ghost Story (A Short FF Story)

Hour One: Kota

Hour 1 (7:00 pm):

I stand on the lawn of an abandoned house just across from where my family used to live until they moved last year. The two-story gray house looks even older and worn down now with the windows boarded up. There is a wide concrete porch leading up to the front door. Off to the side is a two-car garage and the driveway goes up along the side of the house with a shed at the end of it. We are all standing in the yard with the browning grass from lack of water and with no one around to take care of the lawn. There is at least an acre worth of land in front of the house, bigger than most of the lawns on this street.

If kids aren't trying to sneak into the house, then they are generally playing on the front lawn, kicking or throwing a ball around. Or using the basketball net placed on the garage.

Nate stands next to me as his eyes flicker over everything. He holds one of the two large cameras in his hand, ready to record our journey through the house. Sean and Mr. Blackbourne discuss plans on how to go about this journey off to the side, Victor listens to Gabriel and Luke get themselves worked up. They always get themselves worked up before going into a house, talking about what could have possible happened and what they could potentially find during the overnight stay.

We are just waiting for North and Silas to show. They're down the road, helping Uncle out with a broken water pipe before coming here.

Nate's eyes glance down the road to where his old house is. We haven't lived in this area since we turned eighteen, all of us finding apartments near each other further outside of Charleston.

I reach over and grip his shoulder. He nods at me to let me know he's okay.

Finally, I hear the familiar motor as North drives up, parking on the side of the road, behind my old dark green sedan. Silas and him jump out a moment later, going to the back of the black jeep and pulling out a couple of duffle bags. Silas reaches in and grabs another large camera. They stroll over, their eyes taking in the house and the surrounding area before standing with the rest of us.

"This is it?" Silas asks, frowning at the house and then to the house on the other side of the street. My old house.

I nod.

"Fucking aye, Kota! You never told us you lived across a haunted house!" Gabe says and I wince.

I push up my glasses as I stare at the huge white house in front of us. "I didn't know either."

"Who used to live here?" Sean asks.

I try to wrack my brain for an answer but come up empty. All I know is the last family moved here when I did the Ashley Waters mission four years ago and they only stayed until that summer. But I couldn't put any faces or names to the family.

"The Sorenson family," Victor speaks up, staring at an iPad in his hand. He couldn't carry around a laptop all the time so the iPad is second best. He still has his laptop with him in the laptop bag hanging over his shoulder. "A couple and their daughter. She graduated that year from Ashley Waters and soon afterwards, the family moved."

"Think they left because of the hauntings?" Nathan asks. He stares at the house too with a frown.

"The reports didn't start up until a couple months after they left. Kids sneaking into the house and leaving scared. It became a game of sorts," Mr. Blackbourne explains.

"Probably just a bunch of kids fucking around," North grumbles. His eyes are narrowed as he glares at the house as if daring it to even try something with him. His gaze flickers to a window and he stiffens, eyes widening slightly.

I turn to glance where he is looking but don't see anything in the boarded up windows.

"What do you see?" I ask him and everyone quiets down from their musings.