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the-headbop-wraith · 4 years

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2_32 Lake Shadows

Warm summer light skittered across the surface of the gray waters, a soft breeze rustled through the green leaves of tall trees. The water glittered like diamonds, dozens, hundreds of diamonds shimmering beneath an orange sun.

He took a deep breath and smelled the vanishing rains of the prior day. The sky above hid evidence of the merciless downpour and only coyly revealed bright blue skies, a vibrant contrast to the surrounding woods. The trees fluffed their canopies and leaves absorbed the last warmth of a fading sun. He hoped it would be a warm night, just so they could enjoy the rising stars hours following the suns departure. He found lately he enjoyed star gazing with Vivi, she was full of mysticism and wonder, and endless curiosity.

Barks. He knew those barks, and it only occurred to Lewis that he was standing at the very edge of a rickety old pier, with no intention of diving in just yet.

He spun aside, and one dog minus glasses zoomed by and lunged out over the gray waters.

Lewis finished his twirl, and stood facing the water as the droplets dazzled the surface. “Nice try, Mystery.” He waggled a finger towards the hound when Mystery popped his water logged head above the surface. Was that dog grinning?

“CANNON BALL!”

Lewis grimaced. He wrenched around and put his arms up. “NO! Don’t! NOT YE—” But Vivi had already looped an arm around his midsection and lunged off the pier. Lewis lost his balance and went down backwards, his screams cut off. Gurgles and water floundering followed.

Gradual and unhurried rocked up to the end of the pier and Arthur stood, a few feet back from the broken edge, as water sprayed and voices giggled. Lewis was complaining about getting used to the water, and Vivi went on about how diving in and getting it over with was always best. Arthur gripped the insides of his pockets with his fists and raised his shoulders.

“So, should I start unloading? S’gonna be night soon,” muttered Arthur. He lowered himself down to sit on the edge, his shoe soles dangled near the water’s surface.

Vivi kicked away from the pier on her back. “Aw, why don’t you come in for a quick dip?” Mystery begins a slow dog paddle around Vivi, as she drifts. “There’ll be plenty of time later for that.”

It was a very warm, humid day, and the breeze slipping of the lake made the water more appealing. Arthur took out a bundle of sage he’d been carrying in his pocket and fiddled with it between his fingers, turning it over and feeling the soft velvety texture of the leaves. “I wanna try and save the batteries till or next pay,” he says. And then cringes down as he turns his eyes back, towards the large looming home perched beyond the grassy shore. “Plus… that place will be more hospitable in the daylight. You know, it is super creepy.” Arthur gave a shriek and somersaulted backwards, when a shape burst from the water right under his shoes.

Lewis took a breath and smoothed his hair back. “Ooh. Sorry Artie. You still breathing?”

“Do you do that on purpose?” Arthur shrieks as he climbed forward on the pier.

Lewis smirked and crossed his arms, his stylish pompadour was already drying in the sun. “No?” Then, nods his head towards the lakeside home. “So far it’s just a house. Why don’t you relax for a bit, and later will go over the layout together? Less spooky. Safety in numbers?”

“I just want to get it over and done with now,” Arthur mumbled. Vivi was giggling, trying to stand up in the water and cradle Mystery in her arms. The hound did not approve and kept wriggling his soggy body until she released him, with a splash, into the water. “I’ll feel more accomplished. I detest these long endless hours on the road.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Lewis chuckled.

Vivi came splashing up, and Arthur raised a hand to keep the cool mist off his face. “If that’s what you wanna do, Art. Go for it,” she said. “You’re good with the equipment. But… maybe leave a comm. on the pier here, so if you get into trouble or something you can call us.” She reached up and patted the space of the warped wood beside where Arthur sat.

“Sounds like a plan,” Arthur mumbled. He raised himself up by his arms and slipped his feet under him. “Catch you aquanauts later.” He waved a hand back over his shoulder as he jogged off.

“Think he’ll be okay?” Lewis dwelled. Mystery paddled by and raised his nose towards the pier, and raised a paw to scratch at the dangling board. Lewis gripped the soggy mess of fur and placed him onto the piers top, only to step back and shield himself when Mystery charged off and dove into the water.

Vivi giggled and wiped some of the water from her bangs. “Yeah. Reports on this place are below substandard,” she assured. “Creepy shadows, vertigo. No historical files that label any sort of tragedy since the homes construction.” She looked back to the tall mansion, hidden by the over growth of old trees, the extending roof over the back porch had caved inward. “Of course, that doesn’t mean a… thing!” While Lewis was distracted with the house, Vivi had slipped up behind him and wrapped her arms about his waist. Lewis gave a half cry as she jerked him backwards, into the water.

Mystery ceased his diving and stared at the water’s surface as it began to calm. A few bubbles escaped the dark depths and popped, comically. He gave his head a shake, removing most the water from his mane, and raised his ears forward intently. He jerked his snout around, but there was no indication of the two. Were they playing or had someone hurt them self? He was about to bark for Arthur, when Lewis broke free of the water. Vivi tried to stand beside him, but her feet slipped and she plopped back into the water choking and laughing.

“That was a terrible idea,” Vivi managed, coughing. Lewis found the lake bottom under him and stood, then pulled Vivi upright and patted her on the back.

“Well, now you’re more the wiser.” A sly smirk stretched over his face. “But given your nature, I doubt it.” He put his arms up when Vivi gave a shrill cry and leapt at him, Lewis crashed backwards into the water with Vivi on top of him this time.

And they were splashing now. Mystery snorted and began paddling to the shore. He gave his fur a fierce shake and crossed to a grassy knoll a few feet from the sandy shore, there he stretched out on a carpet of grass in the sunlight and watched the lake.

The trees surrounding the home grew together in tight, interlocking limbs that rubbed at the frailest gust which generated ominous creaks and moans. Wild shrubs grew in erratic clusters across the untamed lawn, their bare spindly timber thrusts out from the leaf choked leaves of the neglected plants. A cracked stone path led from the back porch of the home to the edge of the lakes shore, there the wood steps had rotted and sank into the rick soil of the beach leaving only chunks of stones to indicate the former path. Shadows cast by the thick canopy twitch and quiver over the broken path where the copses ended.

Mystery edged one eye open as the sounds in the lake calmed for a bit. His companions looked safe and unharmed, he could rest a bit longer. He rolled over onto his back and turned his head aside, out of the light.

Blue spun endlessly above them, like a deep cyan wave rolling and crashing at the edges of the trees. It felt so far away, and yet it wasn’t, somehow. Vivi couldn’t find words to describe it. Her arms rest above her head, tangled with Lewis’ arms, to keep them from floating away from the other. Water lapped lazily at her ears, and she could hear echoes across the lawn as Arthur unloaded the van of their collective supplies. Why did he want to work so hard?

Though, she shouldn’t be one to talk.

“Just think Lew,” Vivi began. The lake was deep, thirty feet at least, maybe more in some areas. “There could be dead bodies at the bottom, and no one would ever know.”

Lewis snorted at the water and tilts his head back. “Vi? Here, of all places?

“It could be true,” she defends. “Don’t deny it. And people go swimming, and they’d never know. Wouldn’t care, probably.” She unlocked one arm from Lewis and pulled at her swimsuit strap. “It could be like… from a hundred years ago. Whoever they are, resting all this time at the bottom of a lake.”

“I try not to think about stuff like that, particularly when I’m swimming in the subject.” Lewis wrapped his arm around Vivi’s, and they were back to staring at the sky. Did it go on forever? Books insisted it did, astronomers believed so. During the day it was hard to imagine the infinite possibilities of the sky. “Maybe some colonial settlers?”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

“Nothing but bones,” Lewis went on. And he shuddered from the timid rush of air touching the lakes surface. “Gotta suck, to be forgotten like that.”

“Yeah.” Vivi nodded, hair spiraling around her head in a celestial body of blues. “Wish we’d bought some goggles.”

“And water proof flashlights.”

That was the last of the important gear. They traveled light, anything else they might need wouldn’t be too much trouble to get. Arthur slung his own personal bag over his shoulder and shoved the door of the van shut. The shadows were much cooler now as the evening evaporated, and the sun sank further into the tree lining. He looked out at the lake, where Vivi and Lewis floated idly. Looked like the swimming bit lost its appeal, for now.

A bird, it sounded like a woodpecker, rapped against a tree somewhere in the canopy. Arthur raised his brows as he looked up, he hadn’t expected the sound. It was strange, out of place somehow, which really didn’t make since. A crow cackled, harping on the moist air as a gale blew through scattering leaves around the weed infested path, a torrent of leaves crashed through the open front doors he’d left wide open.

“Shit.” Arthur hurried away to shut the doors before more leaves raced in. As hurried to the front steps, his shadow remained imprinted to the back doors of the van. It stood there, one dark limb raised to where Arthur’s hand had rested on the metal hull.

The corroded hinges of the door protested rough treatment, and Arthur had to shove his body against the backside of the cracked wood to force one door shut. To convince the other door to budge Arthur gripped the handle and braced his shoe soles to the porch boards, he tilt back on his heels and PULLED, until the latch clicked in the door. Momentarily he was held up only by his hands wrapped about the handle, and he dithers from hauling himself upright onto the flats of his feet. Arthur’s eyes snap open and he turns his head checking across the front wall of the porch, searching the cracked and broken windows. He saw nothing, but he felt the distinct sensation that… he was not alone.

Arthur released the door and whipped about. He stared at the van down on the gravel path. It sat there innocently, but fastened to the bright exterior of the colorful metal was a shape. A familiar, eerie, black shape. Where the… the eyes, they glittered like stars.

Arthur gulped, he teetered backwards and hit the door. The instant he blinked it was gone. Completely, as if it were never there. He watched and waited, perplexed. Had… had he imagined it? He rubbed his eyelids and looked back up. Shades worked across the upper edge of the vans roof, the limbs of the shrouded canopy creak and a raven gives a woeful call. The sounds twist into something else, a kind of rasping that is unnerving. It’s the sound of creeping, of humming wind churning through grass blades, stalking. Of a thing that didn’t want to be seen, but what it desired didn’t matter since it was not truly there. A harsh gale whipped through the trees, and Arthur bolts.

The branches seem to rattle their gnarled limbs and cackle as he tears away. He lunges over the rail on the porches side and races for the lake, feet pumping and heart racing. Leaves scuttle through the large bundles of brush, while the wind rips through the shadows. Arthur doesn’t look, he keeps running. Arms stretch from the gloom about him, emaciated black hands snatching at his shoulders and scalp, white knuckles glint in brief patches of sunlight. They catch at his vest as it flares out around him in his mad race, hunched forward, his own hands curled above his head to fend off the clawing assault. He hears moaning, death throes of lost souls. Never does he see a face attached to the bodies, just endless arms grabbing.

Arthur breaks free of the yard and stumbles out away, into open air, sunlight, and warmth. He pivots and stumbles backwards, eyes searching the innocent blue drapes between him and the mansion, seeking his form, his impression betraying him. Once he feels certain he’s safe from the groves the reach, he turns and checks his feet. There lay his scrawny dark shape on the ground, where it is supposed to be.

Arthur raises a hand and knots a fist into the front of his shirt, and lets out a strained breath. Behind him, the water churns apart in a calamity of splashing from where the others race out of the shallows.

“You okay?” Lewis barks out first.

“Yeah,” Arthur lies. He can’t look away yet. He touches his shoulders and his head, no scratches, nothing. His clothing is in one piece, like last he checked. His hands tremble, and he hurriedly works to wipe off his face and clothing of the scrabbling sensation. “I thought something was chasing me….” His words fade and he pivots to face the others crossing the sandy shore, his hands still tugging his vest and shirt out from his skin.

Vivi slung the excess water off her hands as she marched up to Arthur and took his shoulders. “You sure? You looked hella scared.” She glanced Lewis’ way as he raised a hand to fix up his hair. “I told you, you could have waited for us.”

Arthur leaned back from Vivi and shook his head. “I swear, I’m good. Got all the stuff inside. Didn’t see anything.” He clenched his teeth. That was a lie, but he didn’t mean to dismiss what he had seen. Theoretically, it could have been his imagination. His mind just sort of made up elaborate scenes, sometimes superimposed shapes that could never be. Maybe it was some light from inside the mansion and it cast his shadow onto the vans back door. Yeah. That sounded lame.

The occurrence was soon forgotten by the team. Once Lewis and Vivi retired from the swimming and put on some clothing, the evening investigation could be strategized. However, an army marches on its stomach, and while Vivi scoped out the mansion interior with Arthur and Mystery, Lewis was entrusted with dinner’s safe preparation.

The portable cooker was the one thing Lewis made sure to pack whenever his group ventured out, mystery solving on the far out and distant case. He set up shop on the front porch, one of Vivi’s camping lanterns rigged to the underside of the cracked timber of the roof eave. There was still summer light to see by under the trees, soft tones of blues steadily becoming richer and darker as the moon found its way into the sky. Little insects puttered around the light, most deterred by the white smoke of cooking foods.

Lewis’ company for the time was Mystery. The dog lay beside the weathered wood railing of the porch facing Lewis, eye brows raised pleadingly.

“Wanna sample?” Lewis chirped. Mystery raised his head and watched intently, glasses flashing as Lewis took his cooking fork and pierced one of the marinated chicken cuts among the veggies. “Hang on.” He blew on the procured bite a few times, until the steam subsided, then handed it to the dog. “How’s that?”

Mystery licked his lips and looked aside, ears bent back. He tapped his claws on the porch, before he turned back to Lewis and gave a firm bark.

“A little more spice?” Spices were arranged along the railing, all with custom labels. His family made all of them. “I can’t add too much. It’ll be too strong for Arthur.”

The spice should complement the texture of the food. Mystery raised his back end and stretched. As he was spinning around to lie down again, a ruckus came from the front door. Shouting, pounding steps, and suddenly Arthur being chased by Vivi. What now?

“Guys! Guys! Cool it!” Lewis snarled. “I’m workin’ here!” He stabbed the fork into the center of the cooking basin as Arthur and Vivi sprint in his direction, but diverted off over the railing of the porch at the last minute. Mystery raised one paw to catch a vial of spice before it could fall off the rail.

“If you did anything weird to my EVP reader!” Vivi was screaming. The beam of the torch she carried darted across the gravel, hunting for Arthur though he too carried a pale gleaming light.

Arthur was between stutters and giggles. “I fixed it! I improved it! You’ll get cleaner voice readings! What do you want me to say!”

“Certify me it won’t EXPLODE!” The shouts and lights darted out of sight, and Lewis gave a small sigh of relief. Mystery arfed.

Lewis glanced at the cooking basin he was utilizing, and cocked his brow at it. It was fantastic, worked exceptionally come rain or fog, it was custom built by Arthur for him, and had never exploded…. Yet. Mystery followed his gaze and took a step back.

A short while later Arthur came racing back. He ducked between a broken space in the railing and was out of sight. “Pack a plate to go, Lew?” he snapped, voice fading through the front door.

“Sure!” Lewis called back. “What’re you up to now?” He didn’t get an answer, not a direct one. He turned his attention up to the van and saw Vivi, her dark silhouette posed atop the vans roof, torch at her feet. A flash went off, and another. She took up the torch and climbed down the vans side.

“Smells mouthwatering,” Vivi said, when she had crossed the yard. She turned off the flashlight and slipped it through the railing beside Mystery. The porch was elevated a few feet above the ground, and Vivi stood there as she raised up the camera. “Is that a Sautee?”

“A fast recipe,” Lewis explained. “But very good.” He wiped his hands on the towel hanging from his pocket, and took the camera. “Looks nondescript. But it’s really dark.” He stirred the vegetables a bit, then clicked through more of the pictures. “Is it just me, or does the interior seem super dark?”

“Arthur thought that too,” Vivi says. She climbs up onto the rail from the front side, Lewis catches containers of spice and moves them over to the windowsill to his left. “It gets creepy, and cold, unnaturally so. I think there is a spirit here.”

“There could be a basement somewhere in there? Did you find a basement?” Vivi shakes her head. “The whole house has a hollow foundation.”

“We’ll take temperature readings first thing. I’ll get the plates.” Vivi took the camera when Lewis handed it over, and she rushed across the yard back to the van.

“And bring some bread and cheese!” Lewis noted Mystery had raised himself on his haunches, and was pawing at the boards. The dog would aim his ears forward then draw them back, and scratch. “You think you smell something?”

Mystery raised his head, and looked towards the open front door. His hair bristled and he took a step back, as Arthur went barreling out and down the porch steps. He nearly toppled onto the gravel path but stopped and swung back, arms outstretched at his sides as if preparing for some sort of attack but unsure how to meet it. From where Lewis stood, he could hear the strained pants of the other.

“Art! What happened?” Lewis called. He left the fork on the cooking pit and began forward. Mystery spun around and darted ahead to the steps, but stopped when Arthur raised a hand. Lewis stood behind the dog and waited.

“It’s… everything’s okay,” Arthur spoke, voice quivering. “It’s, uh….” He began pulling at his cloths, checking up his bare arms and neck, then looked at Lewis. His torch was gone. “Nothing. I got startled… damn spiders.”

Lewis leaned on the railing and gripped the worn wood in his hands. “Art. Don’t lie,” he growled. “If something is going on… what happened?” He didn’t drop his gaze from Arthur, even when Vivi hurried up to him, plates carried under one arm. She handed Arthur her light.

“Did you see something in there?” Vivi dug. Arthur stares at the light hitting the overgrown gravel path, and shook his head. “Be honest Art. We can leave at any time— ”

“No! I was startled, that’s it!” Arthur turned his face to Vivi’s and stares over her into her eyes. “Nothing. Happened.”

“You seem really….” Vivi trails off when Arthur set a hand on her shoulder, and patted her. He walked by, back up the steps to the front door and peered into the dark gloom of the interior.

“It’s fine, see?” Arthur edged inside, one foot outstretched then the rest of him sliding in, out of sight. He poked his head out and looked to Lewis. “Is something burning?”

“Mierda! Maldita Sea! Te juro que si esta comida es quemada, a cocinar un estúpido fantasma!” Lewis darts back to the cooker. Mystery follows yapping. “Plates, Vi! Plates! We must save it!”

Arthur drew the corner of his mouth back in a sly grin. Beyond the entry of the door his smile faded, slowly. The wind caressed the edges of the home, crept through the windows, and the walls called like the somber harp of a raven. Hollow, cold, and they were spending the night here.

Over dinner Vivi plotted, as she usually did. She ate quickly, too excited to sit still, the food too good to set down. She paced about the large entrance room swinging her fork around in the dull glow of the candles that were set around the remaining furniture.

“We’ll scour every inch of this house. No corner left unchecked. Arthur, you check the top floors!” she directed, while stabbing another bite of food. More like mouthful.

Lewis was grinning. He couldn’t help it, he loved it when Vivi got to this point. “Calm down,” he hummed. “It’d be bad if you choked.” He gave an exasperated sigh when Vivi turned on him.

“You and Mystery get temperature readings from under the floor.” Vivi stabbed a piece of food and chewed on it. Then, directed the end of the fork towards Lewis. “There has to be a cellar, or maybe even a break in the floor. Something we missed, that could deliver the cold drafts around the home.”

Arthur was finishing off the last of his meal, a grilled cheese sandwich, and left half the sandwich on his plastic plate. “Say,” he began, as he strolled away from the cracked window beside the front door. “Why do I have to check out the upper floors?”

“You won’t be alone,” Vivi chirped. “I’ll be up there too, checking around.” She resumed eating with frenzy.

Lewis sat on a discarded shipping crate, placed at an old desk left in the rooms center and the candles standing above it flickering under Arthur’s approach. Lewis took Arthur’s plate and glanced at the neglected sandwich remains, and gave Arthur a brief look. Arthur turned away and headed for their supply bags.

“Wasn’t that hungry,” Arthur muttered. He kept his back to Lewis as he dug through his provision bag.

Mystery placed his paws upon the edge of the desk and hoisted himself upright. He sniffed at the plate with the leftovers and glanced over it, to Lewis. Lewis shrugged; at least Arthur had eaten today.

Despite the humidity of the nearby lake and the recent showers that drenched the land, the interior of the old lakeside home was bone dry. Leaving the front door open throughout disembark helped in no physical way, it only moved off some of the finer dust on the lower floor where the group would bed down once investigations were concluded for that evening. The old lakeside was a treat, rundown and inhospitable but it was still standing in the long decades that had passed it by, surviving storms and was relatively untouched by vandals. Vivi had talked the others into packing enough supplies for a few days, and they could enjoy a small mini vacation before they resumed their commission list.

The radio Lewis carried crackled with sound then sputtered out. He forced a door open and held it for Mystery to pad on through. Lewis followed close behind and raised his flashlight to the walls of the large room.

“Was someone trying to get through? Over,” he spoke. There was only a tub made of some metal, the bottom of it rotted out and a large crack visible in the boards beneath. Mystery sneezed as he tracked around the room.

A soft voice came through first. “Nope.” Arthur. Then Vivi’s chipper, “Nada. Are you checking the EKG reader?”

“Arthur has it,” Lewis replies. “I’ll keep you posted. Shouldn’t be signals this far out, eh?” He leaned towards the large bath basin and held his hand over the hole.

“Might be solar spots,” Vivi’s voice crackled with interference. “Art?”

“Solar spots,” Arthur’s voice echoed. “Sort of electrical pulse. Or just a wayward signal from a satellite.”

Lewis took the round dial of a thermometer from his pocket and set it just inside the hollow opening of the floor. “I got something, about those drafts we’ve been feeling. There’s been a lot of rain in the past few days, and if it’s able to collect under the house then it creates a kind of… refrigeration. It might be able to get up through the walls of the home. Over.”

Arthur’s voice sputtered through the walkie-talkie. “Ooh, yeah. They used it in old homes,” he said, life returning to his voice. “It was a revolutionary at the time. I think some homes could even collect rainwater for utilities. Did you find the basement? Over.”

“No,” Lewis says. He turns the light to Mystery as the dog brushed past his pant legs, and climbed up onto the flat surface of the tubs backside. “I’m looking at the foundation through a break in the floor.” He grunted at the foul smell of mildew and sitting water.

“Can I get a subscription to ‘Old House’ weekly?” Vivi broke in. “I’m startin’ to feel left out.”

Lewis chuckled. “Well, read more museum— ” He winced when Mystery began growling. He moved the fuchsia beam of his torch along the dogs shoulder. Mystery’s eyes glistened red under the illumination and his snout was directed, teeth bared, past Lewis’ shoulder. Lewis whipped about and raised his light. He caught something bright flash, a yellow glint, before the door to the bathroom Whammed shut.

“HOLY!” Lewis staggered backwards, the nook of his knees hit the crusty edge of the tub and he nearly suffered a nasty tumble back into the hole. On reflex he dropped his flashlight and caught his balance by snagging out for the wall to his side, his hand latched onto the ornate iron bar mounted there. “Whoa!” Mystery barked at the shut door but had not moved from his spot. “Guys! Guys!” Lewis harped into the transmitter, thrust at his face. “I think I saw it! I’m not sure what… didn’t get a good look!”

Vivi’s voice sprang through, half cut off before Lewis released the toggle of the walkie-talkie. “—LY! OhMiGod! What’d it look like?”

It took Lewis a moment to register the question. He laughed, somewhat shaken, and raised his free hand to the bridge of his nose. “Vi. Didn’t I just say, I didn’t get a look?” He snapped his thumb off the speak button, and picked up the low groan of Vivi. “S’okay. We know something’s here now, probably.” As he said this, he reached over to Mystery still poised on the shelf behind the bathtub and pat the hounds shoulder.

The bright yellow light crept inch by inch along the rotten carpet of the halls floor. Creaks and tired groans rebounded through the walls, and every few feet the light had to give pause and let the sounds fade. They never diminished did completely, but would subside to less threatening levels. The floor seemed sturdy enough, the homes interior was left mostly intact, though worn and withered like a parched mausoleum.

Arthur froze when a cloud materialized beside his face, but after a constrained cough he let out a breath and relaxed. He was smoking, what he saw was the result of ashy vapors. With a pout he pinned the cigarette between his forefinger and thumb and took a short huff. The day had been mildly humid, balmy and with the full display of midsummer; now though, the interior of the home had become unbearably frigid. He worried that once Lewis and Vivi decided to call the evening a close, he wouldn’t be able to stay warm enough. He could sleep in the van, he felt safer outside these walls but the loneliness would be a formidable deterrent.

Briefly he reviewed what he and Lewis had discussed about the homes makeshift refrigeration. It could be possible the mechanics were broken, or like Lewis had said there was water chilling beneath the foundation. That had to be the cause.

He held the white stick trapped with his walkie-talkie hand, and took another long draw on the cigarette. “Vi,” he called. “Where you now? I think I’m done exploring this side of the house. Over.” He pulled the cigarette container from his pocket and made sure to double check that the flame on the cigarette butt was completely out, before he stuffed the used filter into the box. Like hell he’d risk pissing off some demon. “Vi? Lewis? Come in. Over.”

A door on his left was open ajar. Frowning, Arthur flashed his light along the walls of the long hall before him, confirming the status of two rooms left open upon his exploration. He was sure this door had been locked last time he came by. He stuffed the communicator into his back pocket and gripped the handle of the torch firmly in his fist. If the others called, he would hear.

Slowly, Arthur edged through the doorframe, he let the light totter along the floor, its comforting beam ambled its way over dusty furniture, book shelves or a desk, the dismantled remains of a bed. One wall held captive a window, though the tree branches outside the glass were woven together, refusing any moonlight from entering the room. The carpet, at one time vibrant and colorful with elegant designs, resembled something akin to tanned skinned stretched over gray plywood. Arthur coughed at freshly disturbed dust as he moved into the room, the floorboards rang with the announcement of his entrance for all the wicked in the world to heed. He grimaced at the audible sound.

Arthur jumped when the communicator barked to life, and died out. “Damn! Viv?” Arthur spun around twice as he fought to reach his back pocket in a hurry. He snatched up the device from his pocket and brought it to his lips. “Was that you?”

“Sorry,” her voice puttered out. The signals jabber and snaps barely sound like Vivi. A string of static washed through, and Arthur hugged the receiver to his chest in an effort to drown out the backlash. In a few spurts the clear ring of Vivi’s voice came through. Sort of. “Ar—ur. –Mee— ”

“Hold on, I’m not reading you.” The air of the room was filled with a musty, acrid scent, like a museum full of old leather that had gone bed. Arthur pressed his nose into his sleeve as he entered further, his light flashing over dust spores and a ruined heap of ruble from the ceiling. “Can you repeat?” He frowned. Vivi’s voice was still garbled, the distortion becoming worse. He could hear Lewis’ voice in there too, saying something or asking, Arthur couldn’t tell; maybe they were talking to each other. He wasn’t listening to the radio at this point, he could only press it into the puffy material of his vest and wait until the frequency cleared. He shivered audibly, and hoped the others didn’t hear that somehow. A frail breeze had captivated the tree limbs outside the window, causing a somber tapping and scratching over the thin window pane.

The eerie sounds were accompanied by snippets of silver light wavering over the ancient carpet. When the light calmed, the noises didn’t fade completely. Arthur stopped where he was, communicator buried in his vest as he focused his senses outward. He saw nothing, but he could hear it. Movement. No, steps. Slow, rocking steps. The floorboards creaking, faintly, but the sound was no doubt there. Arthur pressed his thumb onto the power button and cut off the haze completely.

“Vi?” he called, voice hitting an octave higher. “That you?” No response. The steps did cease though. “H-hello?”

A terrible thought came to his mind. What if… what if the lakeside home was not as abandoned as they had previously believed? Sure, he and Vivi had combed the rooms early in the day – it was part of safety protocol – if there had been a squatter they would have found him, Mystery would have picked up something.

The timid whimper of wood brought Arthur out of his stupor. It was low, almost nonexistent, and it was just beyond the next doorway.

Arthur moved as silently as he could toward the heap of ruble near the corner and huddled down. Once settled he clicked off his light and stared towards the direction, where he presumed the doorway to be. It was difficult to judge in the dark, one lost their sense of direction. After some time the room began to come into focus, or so it seemed. The sounds became inaudible as before, possibly gone for good. From the hole above raised a low whistling, most likely somewhere in the attic from broken eaves in the roof. The twitter became deeper, the hole in the ceiling hummed. Arthur peered between pieces of cracked timber, towards the open door of the adjacent hall. He could see the calm moonlight stationary on the floor—

The steps began again. Slow, uneven, Sometimes pausing then moving on. Arthur couldn’t identify if they were in the room, or elsewhere. Was the door across from him into a closet, or a connecting room? He swore, he and Vivi never came through this room, it wasn’t here before. He tried to stifle his breathing, as the creaking boards came closer, echoing off the walls within the room he hid in.

There was nothing there, nothing visible to his eyes. It was hopeless for Arthur, he couldn’t break his eyes off when the glimmer of light from the windows flashed out. It was there, he couldn’t find it but no doubt it was there. Whatever it was, it would hear him if he blinked; could smell his fear. He tensed his hands around the walkie-talkie and flashlight in his hands. If he had to run… oh god, the moment he gasped, it would find him.

“Oh no. No-no-no.” Arthur winced when the communicator he was gripping creaked. The shape breaking through the moonlight paused, and seemed to rear up. “What? What IS that? He wanted to call out. It was tall, maybe the same size as Lewis, but Arthur knew that is wasn’t Lewis. Lewis would give a warning first that he was there. This thing was hunting.

A strip of light lashed across the form as it stepped across the carpet. Arthur caught something white, glittering lights like jewels, a sharp shoulder, but nothing much else. He shut his eyes and buried his face into the side of his shoulder and bit into his vest sleeve; he curled down more while pressing himself into the edge of the wall and the ruble. When the gale in the attic began to die down, Arthur began to concentrate on the low pulse of his throbbing heart. .

“Won’t find me! Can’t see me. Eyes closed, can’t see me if I don’t see it.” Arthur could hear his trembling breath, and he fought not to let out the slightest gasp. “Go away. Go away. No one’s here. No one!” He choked a bit when the steps began, this time very near him. “It won’t find mind. It don’t know where. Can’t see. It CAN’T see.” Arthur tightened his eyes shut and waited. Waited for years as the noise got very close, the steady vibrations of movement directly beside him. It was looking at him, wasn’t it? It found him and now it was waiting for him to open his eyes and see it. “No.” There was no point in hiding his strangled breathing. He brought his arms up over his head and covered his face with the crook of his elbow. “No! You can’t make me! Never!” He felt an icy draft on his arm, like a breath.

“NO!” Arthur shrieked. “Go ‘way! GO!—”

“Artie!” The voice made him wince. And all at once the oppressive cold and stale air were gone. Evaporated completely, the air was warmed and breathable, almost tolerable even for him. Arthur ripped his head out of his arms. He wasn’t aware he had been crying. A bright fuchsia light was on him, and a shape behind it. “Are you hurt?”

Arthur blinked. “Yes. I mean, No!” He rubbed his hands up his sleeveless arms and shuddered. It took a moment to get his bearings, and Lewis gave him that time. “Did you… see anything?” Arthur asked, as he raised his gaze above the ruble.

Lewis moved smoothly beside Arthur and knelt, his own flashlight aimed at the moth eaten carpet on the floor. “No. Nothing.” He glanced briefly the way Arthur was staring, but never diverted the light from his friend. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Arthur kept his gaze on the far side of the room, where the sounds had originated. “I didn’t get a good look at it,” he murmured.

“But you’re certain it didn’t hurt you?” Lewis pressed. Arthur paused, and shook his head. “Why didn’t you put down a protective circle?”

“Panicked,” Arthur admits. “I could hear it. It was walking. And… wait, where’s Mystery?” Life returned to Arthur’s eyes, and he checked past Lewis’ knee.

Lewis perked, and turned his light around the room checking the floors and furniture, checking anywhere a white dog could hide himself. “Mystery? Mystery?” He whistled, but there was no sign of the dog. No sound. Only the wind twittering through the shattered gaps in the walls of the house around them.

The door refused to budge. It hadn’t been this stubborn earlier, in the daylight, however Vivi could fix that. She pressed her shoulder to the panel and pushed. That didn’t work either, so she was forced to take a step back and charge at the door. The door flew open right before she collided with the cracked wood and Vivi stumbled past the now frozen door, into the musty room. She jerked her light across the floors and raised it to the walls, in her erratic steps she narrowly missed a cracked stool laid in her path. Around her on the walls hung picture frames, but whatever was held within the frames years ago had rotted and drooped to the floor beneath. The room was probably a gallery of sort at some point, long abandoned and forgotten. It seemed a shame.

“Art?” she called, following her light. No answer. She stepped carefully across the floor, always wary of the broken furniture or rotted planks beneath her feet. Vivi tried again to call into her communicator, but she was met with only harsh scratching. “Ugh. Very clever, whoever you are.” She revolved as she moved along the floor, her light flashing at the darkest edges of the room where subtle movement lurked. As she moved, Vivi pulled her backpack around her side and stuffed the communicator within. If the others tried to get through she would hear it, but she needed the camera.

Vivi adjusted the settings of the device, then turned the lens in the direction her flashlight beam faced. A picture, two. She checked the images, glancing up occasionally to assure herself nothing was overlooked in the shadows. In the dark everything had changed, or that was the impression she got. She had numerous theories to explain this phenomenon but none ever panned out. Oh well.

One of the images startled her. Vivi caught her breath and studied the snapshot of the gleaming pair of eyes, the bright pale shape of a nose and…. Her expression dropped. She raised her torch to the corner of the room, near a blotted window where a pale face stared back. “Hoot hoot,” she called, to the owl that was perched within a broken space of the ceilings corner. “You scared me!”

The owl did not appreciate the disturbance. With a screech and a rustle of feathers, the avian spun around to dive back into the broken opening. Further scratching and ‘chirps’ came from within, but her company departed for good.

Vivi let exhaled another tight breath. “That really did startle me,” she said, and a little louder says, “Are you going to show yourself? Or are you still bothering my friend?” A clatter comes from the shadows at her back and she pivots, nearly tripping over the leg of a chair. She aimed her light down, but caught the flash of something… odd.

It wasn’t a chair, or the leg of some furniture. Vivi had already scouted the floor carefully and was positive nothing underfoot would catch her off guard. The room was practically empty, aside from the decayed portraits hung up on the walls.

Her blue light moved across a dusty moth eaten shred of cloth. The cloth was deflated and swathed over bleached bone and moss filled sleeves. Vivi gasped when she brought the light up to the skull, eye sockets filled with fuzzy black algae, jaw snapped back in a jagged snarl.

“Cool!” She stuffed her torch handle under one arm and raised the camera. She managed one flash, when the floor… the corpse began to sink into the dark shade its clutter of remains cast under Vivi’s light. She remained motionless, only watching as the dark mass slithered through the planks of wood that comprised the floor; a superimposed dark shade stained into the wood. Its withering, animated edges seeped out and surrounded the edges of her lights bright halo, and pulsed towards the shadow that mashed behind Vivi.

“And… what are you doing now?” She took a step back, as the corpse sank completely out of sight. The moment the corpse was gone from sight, the mass of inky slithering shot out at her shadow and merged with it. Vivi halted her retreat, her foot was caught on something. She took the flashlight and directed it down, but could see nothing physical holding her foot. “Oh come on!” She aimed the light aside, hearing the flutter of wings. Was it the owl? She saw nothing, save for the hostile mark spreading outward from her shadow, and across the floor. The walls surrounding her were black, aimless absorbing black, which her light dove off for eternity. “Okay. You’re unfriendly. I got that.” Her other foot was locked in place. “Would an apology suffice?”

The floor disappeared. It didn’t exactly disappear, Vivi was still standing somewhere but her feet began to sink into the blackness that coated the room; or it was rising up around her like a surge of foul water. “Oh no you don’t!” She swung her backpack off and dug around until she had located a container of salt. “Do ove sprave čistoću!” She shoved her flashlight into the backpack and hung it by one strap over her shoulder, half shut. With the container of salt and no light, she moved by memory. Vivi poured a palm full of salt into her hand and began marking a semi-circle around her position, the same action was also done with the salt container in her other hand. “Sam štitili od tebe!” Working in limited light and losing light was tricky, but she had done this so often it was in her muscle memory. She brought her hands to meet before her, and connected the two ends of the circle.

A harsh shriek wailed out, and the shadows rising around her legs recoiled like water on a scalding skillet. With her legs now free Vivi fell to her knees, the bag lost its perch from her shoulder and dropped to the now bare wood floor. Some provision and bottles tumbled out of the partially closed bag, along with the lit flashlight; the lights somber glow sprang through the heavy shrouds surrounding her as it rolled away. For a short spell Vivi tracked the patches revealed while she recovered. A short distance from where she crouched, something black on the floor glint, like obsidian.

She didn’t get the chance to check clarify what was there, a feral snarl tore through the room and suddenly the entirety of the black void lifted and the room was again just a room. Mystery charged past Vivi and lunged in the same direction the light faced. When Vivi looked up, she saw a pair of shimmering eyes fade into the ceiling. Mystery persists with yips and huffs as he paced over the floor, his ears pulled back and his teeth bared; eventually though, his hostility began to wane.

Vivi pulled herself upright, she fixed her hair band and brushed some of the dust that clung to her skirt. “That was close.” She reached around to pat at her shoes, and checked for any mars or scratches. “These are brand new, y’know. There better be no scuffs on them.” She smiled when Mystery came back over to her, the retrieved torch carried in his mouth. “I’m glad you showed up. Not that… I couldn’t take care of myself.” She took the offered light, and Mystery yapped. The dog tiptoed closer to Vivi and lowered his head and bumped foreheads with her.

The two made haste to collect up the items that had fallen from Vivi’s bag. Once finished Vivi pulled the backpacks straps over her shoulders and stood, her light sweeping across the room toward the way she came from. “Is Lewis safe?” she asked. “What about Arthur?” Mystery whines and tilted his head. “Can you find where you separated?” Mystery barked, and turned his snout to the floor boards. He trotted out the open door with Vivi close behind.

Mystery circled around outside the room while Vivi stood nearby and waited, her blue light stretching up and down the peeling wallpaper and cracked plaster of the walls. Little grumble sounds came from Mystery as he stopped at a particular spot on the floor.

“Well,” Vivi said, “shouldn’t we try this way then? But….” She spun about, the creeping sense of being watched bore into her. “Is it just me, or did these halls change again?” Mystery growled in his throat. The dog raised his snout to face the direction Vivi was staring, her flashlight fading into the dark depths.

What caught his attention next was a faint sound. Mystery swung his head away and perked his ears, concentrating keenly. Ahha. He barked, glancing Vivi’s way before he trotted along the hall. I need that light.

“I’m coming,” Vivi grumbled. Then she heard it too, and soon they were running full speed down the corridor. A few rooms Vivi had explored earlier were left closed, but she was certain each had been left open to mark exploration. If the doors had been thrown shut by a stray draft she wouldn’t heard; though, she had been lost for several minutes, if not longer.

“We’re any of these doors open when you came through?” she called, not slowing. Mystery looked back and forth between the shut doors, but never replied. When they reached the corridors end, Mystery skid on his rear paws and came to a halt. Vivi dashed around the corner and collided with Lewis, as he rushed up from the adjacent side.

“Dangit!” Lewis snapped. He couldn’t do much but stand there, as Arthur plowed into him from behind. He pressed a palm to his face and turned his light down, between the groaning figures that lay stunned on the floor. “Any survivors?”

“Mystery, come on. I don’t wanna drown too.” Arthur pushed the dog away, as he crawled over Vivi to console poor Arthur with aggressive nuzzles. “Thank you, nonetheless.”

Lewis bit down on the torch handle he carried, and pulled Vivi up a hand and plucked Arthur up by the backpack. “You look paler than usual, Vi. Did something happen?” He let Arthur plop down onto his feet, and directed his flashlight beam back to the floor.

“Yeah,” she breathed. Vivi fixed her head band and brushed some of her blue hair out of her eyes. “I may have upset him a bit. I was— ” Her eyes cast down, and she frowned. “Hey.” She maneuvered her flashlight to the side of the floor, where a space in boards was missing. “What do you make of this?” She shifts to the side of the broken patch of floor, when Arthur shuffles closer down beside her. Vivi shines her light through the gap and Arthur stands on his hands and knees peering inside.

“Something shiny?” Arthur suggests. He squints and reaches over to push Vivi’s light a bit. Whatever is within the floor shimmered. “Hard to tell, but… I think that’s the lower floor. I’m not sticking my hand down in there.” He reached a hand over to Mystery when the dog lay beside his knee, and scratched his neck.

Lewis hovered over the two peering down, but like Arthur intoned it was difficult to gauge in the dark if it was something under the floorboards that glistened or if it was a room below. “I don’t remember a shiny room,” he added. Before Lewis went, on he leaned back and surveyed the atmosphere around them. For now the home was silent, but for a few off creaks and scuttling in the ceiling above. Animals, he decided. Sounded like mice or birds. “Misty and I were thorough in our scouting. Right?”

Mystery gurgled. He’ll get back to Lewis later, scratches were going on. Mystery pushed himself into a sitting position and leaned the side of his head on Arthur’s shoulder.

After a beat of quiet pondering Vivi snapped her fingers, the sudden motion and sound made Arthur squeak. “I have an idea,” she announced dramatically, and grabbed Arthur by his shoulder. “Do you have some twine?”

Arthur wrestles some control over his pulsing heart, and cocked his brow. “I might have some cheese, if you please.” He already had his backpack down and was going through its interior.

“How ‘bout some bad puns?” Lewis chimed. “The really punny ones.”

“I see what you did there,” Arthur sniggered. He handed Vivi the spool of twine and replaced the backpack on his shoulders. “Are we going to receive a briefing?”

“Lew, your knife?” Vivi took the offered knife, and set it aside. She unloaded her backpack and dug around for the walkie-talkie. “We’re gonna find that room. Even if it’s been hidden. Art, is your comm. shut off?”

Arthur tensed, and dug through his pockets. “They weren’t working earlier,” he griped. He flipped the switch on the back. Vivi pressed the speak button on hers and spoke into it.

“Testing-testing. Echo. Keep yours and make sure it stays on,” she said. Vivi tied the end of the twine around the short antenna of her communicator, then, lowered it down into the hole. The string remained tight for several feet before it slacked, and Vivi tested the line to make certain it didn’t snag. She tied a section of the cord to a bent panel of the smashed floor, cut the spool free and returned Lewis’ knife. “In case we can’t find the room.”

“Good thinking,” Lewis commended. “But I’m sure we’ll find it. If Arthur will lend us his lungs.”

Arthur frowned and glowered up at Lewis. “Hardy har har.”

Only a general estimation of where the mysterious room was could be made. Lewis and Mystery had gone through each room, every nook and cranny visible in their previous inspection. Judging by their location in the home, the room had to be somewhere in the center of the home. It was in the kitchen where Lewis saw his error.

An open corridor was partially hidden but still accessible, behind some fallen ruble and support beams from the ceiling. “Careful,” Lewis murmured. He held back as Vivi strafed through the clear space in the ruble, followed by Mystery at her hells, then Arthur. Lewis took a last glimpse of kitchen – the wood countertops, a rotted pump sink – before he squeezed through the opening.

The corridor was some sort of tight access, Lewis could barely turn around without knocking his elbows against the surrounding walls. Most of the musty carpet remained intact, and Mystery began an explosion of sneezing, each snuffle harder than the previous.

“Take it easy,” Lewis whispered. Arthur was speaking into his communicator, and Vivi listened avidly for the sound of his voice within the walls. “Or you’re gonna need some Benadryl before you go to bed.” Mystery meant to snarl a reply, but he had another sneeze to share.

“Next time we stop by home,” Arthur says, “I’ll see about picking up some masks from work. Might be good to have on hand.” He spoke into the walkie-talkie, but thus far had heard no reply.

“Maybe speak louder?” Vivi reasoned. “I’ll reimburse your uncle.”

A little jarred, Arthur raised his voice some as he spoke into the communicator. “Naw! He likes to give away safety equipment if he thinks it’ll keep us from doing something reckless!”

Lewis was stifling laughter. “Price check on aisle nine?” Arthur tried to reach behind him to swing through the blinding light at Lewis. “I couldn’t resist!”

“All right, Artie,” Vivi growled. Mystery squeezed by her, out of the way as Vivi dragged Arthur away by his vest. “Don’t bring the whole house down.”

“By my word, I’ll have my revenge,” Arthur cackled. “You’ll see!”

“Bring it, hermano!” Lewis stopped when Vivi pressed a single hand to his chest, her other arm shoved Arthur on ahead.

“I swear by the power of Greyskull, I’ll take you both on,” Vivi snarled. And that was the end of that, though it didn’t stop the occasional jab or the snickers. At least they were back on track, sort of.

On either side of the narrow corridor was a door spaced every few feet. Vivi would pause and set her ear to one door then the next, while Arthur walked on ahead prattling into the radio. One door Mystery stopped beside and began scratching at the wood panel. Vivi put her ear to the door and listened carefully. By now Arthur was done, he was making grumble snort noises into the radio transmitter, until Vivi popped his shoulder.

“Ow? You hear it?” Arthur asked, perking.

“Yeah.” Vivi replied. The doorknob spun in her grip, loose and worthless. “I don’t doubt this is a room it won’t want us in.” She moved back then lunged forward, smacking her shoulder into the door. Mystery and Arthur shared a glance.

Lewis held up his hands, and said, “Whoa-whoa-whoa. Maybe let me go?” Arthur tugged Vivi out of the way, and the three stood clustered together in the tight hall. Lewis stood before the door and pocketed his flashlight; this allowed the light to hit the low ceiling above them a cast a pale fuchsia glow onto the walls at their shoulders. He pressed his back into the wall behind him, then gave the door a few taps with his knuckles – up high and trailed down-down, found a preferred spot—

“Snore!” Arthur blurted. Vivi giggled. “Get on with it, man. I think Mystery’s suffocating.”

Lewis grinned their way. “Just gathering energy.” He brought his fists up and slammed them against the doors upper portion, and the entire frame burst in. The door clattered within the room, and Lewis, the group, all of them gaped, stunned. “WHAT?”

“Did you mean to KILL the door?” Arthur yelped. He gestured wildly with his arms. “That door is dead! You murdered a door! You-you… door serial killer!”

“I didn’t mean to do that!” Lewis gaged.

Vivi buried her face in her palms. “If you’ve upset that spirit, I am deducting this from your pay.”

“You’re paying us now?” Lewis cried, her way.

“It was meant to be a surprise. We were doing so well.” Vivi fumbled with the light between her hands, and angled it to the yawning black swirl of the open room where Lewis was poised. “What’s inside?

“Dust? Mold?” As Arthur pocketed his communicator and twirled his light around. Mystery barked up at him. “Maybe treasure. Or the lost bodies of a certain colony that vanished in the woods?” He jerked his head up and raised his light. Something… scuttled in the walls, or on the above floor. Fluttering and scratching, maybe animals. It sounded big. He cursed and rubbed at his eyes when silt from the cracked wood fell into his eyes. He gave a sharp screech when a hand grabbed his.

“Art! Chill,” Vivi hissed. “It’s just me.” She raised her arm and aimed the light at their clasped hands. “Stay together.”

Arthur took a shallow breath. The dust still hovered around them. “Right. Got it.”

“Psst. Hey,” Lewis whispered. He was already in the room, but poked his head out from beyond the dreary gloom. “Check this out.”

Arthur let Vivi lead him, though it was impossible to get around or away in the claustrophobic corridor. “What is it?” Arthur inquired, as Vivi tugged his hand. He coughed at the fresh cloud of haze that had lifted when the door went down. The room was stuffy, sealed off for centuries, days maybe; he can’t place the smell.

When Arthur raised his flashlight, its gold hue intermingles with the purple and blues glittering in a weaving color of spectrum; though in the absence of white it is only black. The contrast reminds him of one of those prism shirts he’d seen online. The entire room glitters and at first Arthur believes there’s so much dust kicked up, that it catches the light sweeping across the furniture of a forgotten era. His arms tremble in the cold draft of the room, and he can see it’s not dust. The room is filled with junk.

“What the crepes?” Lewis muttered. He crossed the room to a vanity table, covered in bits of jewelry, a few rotten belts. On the desk surface rests dozens of outdated cameras, among them bits of metal. “I somehow doubt all this stuff was just left here by visitors.”

Vivi found the twine tether, but the walkie-talkie was not attached. She moved her flashlight down the twisted cord, plucked up the end and let it run through her hand. The cord was ripped apart, snapped or chewed through. “Hmm.”

“Maybe rats,” Arthur offered. The scuttling and flutters grow louder, restless. Arthur moves his beam from a pile of coins on a bed, towards the ceiling. “Collecting shiny crap.” He turns his light down to the edge of the room, and paused. “Huh. Mystery.”

Mystery gives a yip and turns from examining a collection or marbles left in a corner. He pads over to Arthur and stops, ears raised high. A curious ‘urf’ is his only reply

“I know, right?” Between his fingers Arthur holds Mystery’s bright red tag. “I thought you looked different. Here.” He kneels down and sets his flashlight near his feet, and begins working at Mystery collar.

Vivi looked Arthur and Mystery’s way, as she moves over to Lewis side. “The comm.’s missing,” she said, and holds up the end of the twine. “It has to be in this room. It wouldn’t take it anywhere else.”

Lewis pulls out his walkie-talkie and tests the switch. “Hello? Where are you, walker-talker?” The color from his face drains, and Vivi has that same dawning horror in her eyes as she and Lewis share the gaze.

A low humming began to rise within the room, raising in volume. It sounded close, too close, right in the midst of their group. The walls surrounding them shimmered with bits of metal, plastic, rings and lost pieces of jewelry. Except one patch on the black wall, where Arthur’s torch was no facing.

Arthur winced as the ring on Mystery’s collar punctured his finger. Without thinking about it, he brought his finger to his mouth and nursed the wound. He nearly bit that finger off when a heavy thud lurched from the floor right next to the two. Mystery had been frowning at him at the time, but now the dogs eyes were wide and pinned to the side of his head. Arthur followed the gaze, while his hand fumbled blindly at the dusty floor. Arthur gulped as he raised the revealing beam, to a pair of dusty slacks beside his shoulder. The higher the light rose, the louder the humming became. The sound was dull, muffled, as if the room was plunged underwater. Arthur wanted to stop but he couldn’t. Some sick curiosity kept him going, he had to know, or it would haunt him perpetually in his dreams. That was, until the light was just below the blotted, wrinkled collar.

An inhuman shriek rose up from the thing, its eyes glint and something flashed through the air. Arthur felt himself yanked back by his backpack straps, Mystery was hauled back by his collar, half choked by the force. In the growing dark something crashed, and the sound of scratching and buzzing, thrumming sounds lifted from the surrounding shadows.

“Out! OUT! That’s done it, we are GONE!” Lewis snarled. He pushed Arthur and Mystery ahead, after Vivi who was already diving through the doorway. “RUN! RUN! Don’t look back!”

“I didn’t get a clear picture!” Vivi hollered. She was sprinting ahead, half bent forward as she struggled to pack away her supplies, save for the light. Yes, even the camera had to be put away, though she knew that precaution would be regretted. At her back Arthur was crying or laughing, she couldn’t tell.

“You’re a treat! Vi!” Arthur gasped. On Arthur’s heels Mystery panted, his paws drumming the carpet in rapid succession. “I would love to stay and let you get all the spooky pictures you want! But that thing DID NOT HAVE A HEAD!”

“A decapitation?” Vivi squealed. Arthur moaned. Vivi fell forward, tripping on something of the ruble at the corridors edge. She went skidding through the narrow space of the timber obstruction, and slid out onto the kitchen floor. Arthur was directly behind her and staggers over Vivi at the last second, keeps going and crashes into one of the wood countertops built against the wall, but Arthur’s body still thinks it has momentum and flops over, somersaults, onto the countertop and lays there, legs dangling above his head. The torch rolls out of his grip and drops to the floor below.

“Ow….”

Mystery snatched up the lost flashlight and twisted to Vivi, growling and snuffling at her face. Up! Up!

“You in one piece Arthur?” Vivi snapped. She made it to her feet and stumbled towards the counter that Arthur lay on.

“No,” said the downed figure. “My mind is gone.” He screeched when Vivi dragged him off the counter, and put him on his feet.

“We’ll get it back later,” she snorted. “Move!” Lewis sort of danced through the ruble wreckage and teetered after the group as they tore out of the kitchen area. Mystery dashed ahead of them, carrying Arthur’s flashlight. The yellow glow flashed through doorways left open, and in the depths of the looming gloom Arthur was sure he saw glimmering tawny orbs watching them, accusing them. He picked up the pace.

The large entrance room was not as they left it. The floorplan was similar but the walls were eroded, showing algae and bristling black spores, everything was rundown, as if the home had decayed years during the time they had wandered around. Arthur raised his arm and pressed his nose into his sleeve. “Ugh! Smells like sludge!”

An ecstatic shrieking rang out through the upper floors, vibrating through the walls and glass windows. Over and over the cry sang out growing harsher with each spill. Mystery spun in place with the flashlight, ears pinned back under the assault of the atrocious sounds. They refused to let up or pause.

“Art! Get the van opened up!” Lewis snatched the keys from his pocket and tossed them Arthur’s way. “Take my light too.” He hurried by Arthur, shoving the torch into his hand before he followed Vivi around to the side of the room. As Arthur darted towards the open front door, he snagged one of the larger bags and was gone. Vivi was doing the same. “Maybe we should leave it!”

“Our stuff’s expensive,” Vivi cries over the den of harsh squeals. “It’s upset but not dangerous.” She winced as another shriek tore out, by now all the rooms were an acoustic of wailing. “Carry what we can.”

Mystery twirled around and growled towards the corridor the group had spilled from. He bristles the fur on his shoulders and snarled around the torch he held.

Something was crashing through the walls, all around them. Vivi slid across the top of the table and lands beside Mystery, crouching. She takes the light from his jaws and turns it to the hall. In the dark something flashed, glittered. Plaster fell from the ceiling, and the low hum was approaching from the dark where the torch was aimed, but the light couldn’t penetrate the wall of black.

Lewis was in the process of slinging cargo bag straps over his shoulder, when a pair of paws wrapped around his neck. “What now?” Lewis barely gave the dog latched to him a look, before he took note of Vivi slowly backing away from the corridor. “Vi! Time to go!” He darted to Vivi and heaved her up underarm. As Lewis twists away he manages to check back into the corridor, and spies what Vivi must have seen. A dark shadow sprints at them, yellow light flashed above its shoulders. Where the head should have been.

Arthur skid to a halt when Lewis intercepted him at the front door, a brief protest squawked out of Arthur as Lewis snatched him up and tore across the porch. Lewis vaulted over the porch railing and sprinted the last few yards to the van. In the doorway emerged the shadow fiend seeking its quarry.

“What in— ” Arthur choked. “Lewis! Faster Lewis! Are you at your optimal speed?” Arthur was upside down patting at Lewis’ back, occasionally glancing up and backwards.

“God Art,” Lewis pants. “I’m a man not a jet!”

Vivi crossed her arms. “Could’ve fooled me.” She had the misfortune of facing forward, and being unable to face the danger. She tried to look behind her when Arthur gave a sharp squeal.

“Must go faster! Lew’us!” Arthur stammered. The black shroud was charging at them, it’s movements mirrored Lewis’ frantic charge. “Faster! It’s COMING!”

Lewis sprang into the open back of the van and slumped sideways, dropping his cargo. He was about to hop seats when a dry squeak popped out of Vivi.

“Lew! Art!” Mystery snarled and bit down onto Vivi’s shoulder sleeve and dug his paws into the plush carpet of the vans floor. He was skidding forward as Vivi was dragged backwards, her palms scraping at the floor. “A little help!”

What clung to Vivi was a gnarled black hand, glimmering like obsidian in the light of the fallen neglected torches rolling around. A ragged shriek tore out of the thing that had Vivi by the ankles. As if it were cackling.

“Art! Drive!” Lewis snagged Vivi around her middle, braced his heels to the sides of the doorframe and pulled back. But the dead thing had unnatural strength and heaved back with triple the drive, squealing. Lewis never took his attention from it. “ART!”

Arthur had locked up. He sat on his butt staring, mind blank, shoulders quivering so hard the whole van rattled. Lewis still calls to him but Arthur can’t hear him, he can only hear the harsh humming of the corpse.

A feral snarl splint from Mystery as he tore around and bit into Arthur’s wrist. “AGH!” That snapped him out of it. Arthur flipped over and dives into the driver side seat, his back curled upwards as he lay with his legs bent up above his head. He plucked the key from the cup holder and jammed it into the ignition. The van started up like an answered prayer, and Arthur jammed his bleeding hand down onto the gas pedal.

“Give… BACK!” The shadow spirit reached for the bumper of the van, one arm locked to Vivi’s ankle. The van launched out of its grip, as did the blue stockings of the girl. Dust and gravel kicked up into its chest as the van fishtailed out of the clearing, and flew out onto the wooded grove. The shadow stood there watching as its quarry tore off into the night and vanished around a tall bend of trees. Shortly, the air became tranquil, insects chirped in the night and it was all alone. It turned its shoulders and ‘peered’ down at its trophy.

As soon as Vivi was out of the fiends grip and Lewis could pull her safely from the open, swinging doors of the van, he coiled his arms around her and held her. Lewis pressed his face onto Vivi’s hair, but raised his eyes over the wisps of blue to stare off into the dark clearing that led to the path of the lakeside home. An ominous dome of shadow lingered in that area, but it wasn’t following. The silence of the van seemed foreign.

“L-Lewis?” Vivi pushed out of his hold a bit and stares up at him. “You… saved me.”

Lewis blinked at her, and briefly evaluated the claim. “Well… I uh— ” he cut off when Vivi flung her arms around his neck. “I kind of… did.”

“My hero!” she gushed. “That was quick thinking.”

Lewis blushed and rubbed the back of his head. “Y’know, I wasn’t about to let something steal you. No matter what….” He let his voice trail off. There wasn’t much else to say. Lewis was still shaken, and he didn’t like the back doors open; regardless if or not the shade could follow, he wouldn’t risk it. He still felt protective of Vivi, and had some irrational fear that letting her out of his embrace would invite the fiend to snatch her away and drag her all the way back to its dark seclusion.

Mystery snorted, and raised a paw to adjust his askew glasses. He flattened his earsdown when Vivi leaned out of Lewis arms and rubbed his face between her hands. “I didn’t forget you, Mystery,” Vivi said. “What would we do without you?” Mystery puffed up his chest and smirked.

“Art’s doing the getaway,” Lewis murmured. He… still didn’t want to let Vivi go, even if they were far down the road at this point and gaining distance. Dust and rocks kicked up into the undercarriage and the van occasionally swerved. That seemed bad. Lewis put himself between Vivi and the backdoor, and skillfully leaned out to take one door and haul it shut, then the other. Better, but he was still uneasy. It might take some time to get over the experience.

“Help,” called from the front. Lewis and Vivi stepped forward, or Lewis did. Vivi stopped and knelt down.

“Artie,” Lewis said, as he leaned on the middle of the bench seat. “How?” He gestured Arthur, crumpled up over himself, face to the steering wheel, one hand on the gas. “That’s kind of dangerous.”

“Would you just push me over!” Arthur retorts. “My backs not meant to bend like this!”

Another gasp came from Vivi. “He stole my shoe!”

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