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“So, where are we actually going?” An asked Mizuki and Ena. Mizuki started chuckling to themself and Ena turned her head away.
“Just a good old double date, you know?” Mizuki replied. Mizuki, Ena, An, and Kohane were all in the back of a van that they called The Niigo Cab. It was filled with interesting things, like shelves of gadgets, newspapers, a white board, and a computer monitor.
“Now that I think about it.. this is a pretty strange van,” An said looking around.
“You’ll be needing some of these for where we are going.” Mizuki handed An and Kohane each a device. An had a little stick with five dots on the end, and a range of colors from green to red. Kohane had something that looked like a radio. Mizuki picked up a notebook and gave Ena a tiny flashlight. A minute later, the van stopped, and the back creaked open slowly. It was very late, so no one was out, and it was pouring down rain.
“We’re here!” Mizuki called out. The four of them stepped outside, and immediately to their right was a small house, quite a small one. The lights were out inside and the front yard was untamed, like it hadn’t been taken care of in forever. They approached the front door, and Mizuki unlocked it.
“...Who’s house is this?” Kohane asked.
“Don’t worry about it, nobody lives here,” Ena answered. Kohane and An laughed nervously, obviously uncomfortable. After the door was unlocked, they stepped into a dark hallway. They walked through the dark until Ena hit a light switch, illuminating an orderly living room. There were many other doors, tables and furniture laid about. Mizuki opened their notebook and put it on the couch.
“Ahaha.. It’s a bit cold in here,” An mentioned. As they looked around, the lights suddenly turned off.
“Hey! Who turned off the lights!” An exclaimed.
“Oh, the power hasn’t been used much so… this living room light shut it off! That’s what happened, all we have to do is reset it, over here,” Mizuki said while handing everyone some flashlights. They turned them on and flicked their beams around the dark room.
“Did you guys hear that?” Kohane asked.
“Nope? You’re probably just hearing things, it’s the rain outside,” Mizuki answered. This house was dead quiet, the light thumping of rain on the ceiling was the only sound. Next, they guided the group to an open door near the kitchen.
“Was that door always open? I thought I remembered…” An started.
“Nope! I opened it!” Mizuki quickly interrupted. They all pointed their flashlights down a flight of old wooden stairs that led into a room made of bricks. It smelled musty and it was easily colder than the rest of the house. An and Kohane didn’t move, so Mizuki encouraged them with a light push, and they all went down the stairs together. After they moved forward, Ena turned on her smaller flightlight, which emitted a purple beam unlike the regular ones. She gulped as it shone over the door, revealing a neon green handprint plastered to it near the knob. Mizuki turned around and put their finger over their mouth as if to say ‘Shhh!’. Even though the power was out, An flipped on the basement light switch. After it failed, she went to the power box and flipped it back on. One lone lightbulb hanging from the ceiling showed them what the basement looked like. Stuff was everywhere, such as books and old food items.
“Uhh, can we.. go back up? I don’t like this..” An asked. Per her request, they left the basement, and went back to the living room.
As soon as they got up, Kohane nearly screamed, “THE NOTEBOOK!” Everyone rushed over to see the opened page had writing on it:
Am I the cure or am I the sick?
Am I the pure or the lunatic?
Two incomplete pieces that don't make a whole
This was written in the center of the page, the rest of it was “someone stop the buzzing” written several times all over the page sporadically, eventually ending with “in my head”. It occasionally switched to “someone stop the drumming..”
“NOOO, THIS HOUSE IS HAUNTED!” An yelled.
“Whaaaaat? Don’t be silly, I wrote that!” Mizuki tried to explain.
“NO YOU DIDN’T THAT PAGE WAS BLANK!!” She yelled again.
“Oh really? If there truly is a ghost here, your equipment will work, go ahead and try it!” Mizuki showed them how to turn on their devices. An’s just lit up the green dot and nothing more. Kohane’s radio, however, turned on static. She held her ear up to it and listened. After a few moments, she heard something.. It was even, heavy breathing. Her face turned pale in an instant.
“Wh-who’s there,” She whispered. The breathing stopped momentarily, and then suddenly, both the radio screen and the light in the room shattered loudly. Everyone screamed as darkness overtook them. Panicked, everyone’s flashlights flicked hurriedly around the room. Until one of them passed over the couch, which had a girl sitting on it who definitely was not there before.
She had purple hair in a ponytail, her skin was very pale, and her head was tilted up at the ceiling. The flashlight lingered over in fear, until her head unexpectedly whipped around to stare An dead in the eyes. She screamed again and dropped her flashlight. At this point, everyone was panicking, but when the other’s lights looked back at the couch, the girl was gone.
“I think now’s a good time to leave..” Ena said quietly.
“Definitely!” An and Kohane both agreed.
They started walking through the main hall, until everyone except Ena abruptly stopped. She turned to look at them and see what was happening. As she did, the lights began to flicker quickly with an unnatural red. Behind her stood another girl, this one with very long white hair, disheveled and messy, hanging down over her face.
“E-Ena..” An choked out. With each blink of the light, the girl got closer and closer, until she stood immediately behind Ena.
“Wha-”
She never got to finish, the lights stopped and a loud ominous noise took over the room. An’s device was now lighting up with random colors and made a sharp beeping noise. Everyone ran for the hall, only to realize the front door was shut and locked. Mizuki fumbled with it furiously, silently begging for it to open so they could get everyone out. After much struggle, it opened, and they burst out into the cold rainy night. Following them was An, and then…
Nobody else followed, it was only An. The house went back to being completely dark and silent. They stared down the black hall, but nothing came. Tears were streaming down An’s cheeks, and she sniffled.
“What happened to Kohane and Ena…” she asked between sobs.
“Uhhh, good question,” Mizuki tried to think of what to do. “I think we will need to rescue them.”
An looked like she was about to puke, so Mizuki took her back to the van. They drove off into the night, plotting a way to save their comrades…