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Vriska was in her bed, the faint sunlight of the twilight coming through the window. She couldn't remember when she arrived, nor how her day went… Actually, what day of the week was it? She couldn't tell. The teenager felt weak and all of her body was in pain, as if she worked out hours on end. The only thing that made her stand up was her cell phone ringing: no one called her… only if something really terrible or really amazing happened.
"Don't panic but… I'm at the hospital" Cartman's voice was strangely calm. "I'm temporarily blind and I need someone to help me back at my dorm… and I'm sure as hell won't call Dave Strider or fucking Kyle."
…Well, really terrible it is then!
"Wait, what? I'm coming!" Vriska started looking for her jacket before going out of her dorm, still talking to her best friend on the phone: "What the hell happened? Are you okay? What do you mean you're temporarily blind?"
"Don't you remember?"
"Eric, I… I actually am a bit lost. I don't remember anything that happened today." She confessed, while waving at her roommate who was going back to their bedroom.
"Well, so I need to start from the beginning…"
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Eric Cartman and Vriska Serket were both sent to a Scottish private school designated for delinquent youth at around the same time: Cartman for setting fire to a teacher (along with Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick and Stanley Marsh) and Vriska for… even more fucked up things. Both developed a friendship over the years and were the worst students… that was made for the worst kind of students.
During that particular day, they were having history class about the local story of the city where the school was located:
Long ago, there was a civil war between two rich rival families, the Derse and the Prospit. The Dersites became victorious, because they had spies Working for them that were called The Midnight Crew. To this day, all habitants of the town could walk on the streets and houses where the battles were fought. For Vriska and Cartman they could only hear: Haunted Places!
After history class, they ditched the other classes (for a school full of delinquents, their security was really lacking) and went straight to the place where their teacher told the Midnight Crew stayed on their last mission before being double crossed and almost lost their lives. Only a story about assassination plots would interest those two who were almost failing History.
The house was a bit far away from downtown, on the opposite side their school was located (which was also far away from downtown) and there were only two houses located: the house where the Midnight Crew almost lost their lives and one smaller on the right side, with an old lady on the front, chilling on a plastic chair.
"Hello!" She said to the teenagers, smiling with a few teeth missing.
"Hey…"
"Excuse me…" Vriska started talking, smiling back at the elderly lady. "How long have you been living here?"
"Been living here for my whole life!" She seemed sweet.
"Great! Do you know if there are any ghosts in there?" Vriska pointed to the old lady's neighboring house.
She immediately stopped smiling.
"What do you younglings know?"
"Only that this was a hideout for the Midnight Crew." Cartman answered.
"So you know nothing."
"What are you talking about?" The boy continued.
"Why is that house Haunted… The real reason."
"Yeah, because the Midnight Crew killed a shit ton of people… They seemed so cool!" The friends gave each other a fistbump.
"Fools… Go home. You don't know what you are dealing with and the least you know and intervene, the better."
"Sorry can't do! We're bored shitless and what better way to kill time than to go to a Haunted house?" Vriska smiled.
"Holy shit you guys are stupid."
"Maybe a bit." They laughed.
"I'm way too old for this…"
"So it really is haunted? Cool!" Vriska was shaking in excitement.
"And probably will be by your own ghosts" The woman said sarcastically before taking a cigarette for a smoke.
The teenagers ignored her and went inside the house. Outside the old lady sighed and put out a cell phone and dialed for an ambulance when she heard the screams.
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"So it was because of that old lady that we're alive?"
Vriska arrived at the hospital and was sitting on a chair, on Cartman's right. He had his head directed to his friend's face but his eyes were not focused. The doctor said that he'll probably regain gradually all of his eyesight in a week or two.
"Not necessarily… She just called an ambulance. I have no idea how we went outside the house or why I was the only one to be sent to the hospital. Because I doubt anyone entered there, only us."
"And what happened inside?" Vriska still couldn't remember clearly. Especially what happened inside the house.
"Okay, so what I can remember…"
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Immediately they could tell something was off, but couldn't point out what exactly. The house was full of vintage furniture (maybe from the 1920's? 1930's?) and if it wasn't full of cobwebs and dust, anyone would think that maybe an old nostalgic person was living there. The whole house was colored in black and dark green, with a dining table on the center and a staircase on the right.
"It looks…" Cartman started, looking at the utensils on the dinner table. Perfectly fine, as if it wasn't used ever.
"Way too pretty?" His friend suggested.
"Yes. How the fuck all this furniture is intact? Even after the shooting?"
"And where is the blood? Lame…" Vriska kicked a black-wooden chair that fell off to the ground. "Welp, that lady outside was full of shit."
That's when they heard… something. It was hard to say, but it didn't sound… human. A shrill sound that made their body shake and even feel a bit sick.
"What was that?"
"It's… upstairs, I think?"
They slowly walked to the direction the sound was probably coming from. It sounded counterintuitive going towards a dangerous sound but they were:
1) Strangely allured by it (maybe something supernatural?), like moth to a fire.
And…
2) Two stupid teenagers.
As soon as they started going upstairs, they felt lightheaded.
"Cartman, I'm going down… I'm not feeling okay" Vriska turned back to go down when she heard Eric, who was a few stairs up, screaming.
Vriska felt his friend being shoved down the stairs. He fell with his back on the wooden floor. That's when Vriska started running towards her friend, screaming too. She started dragging Eric to the front door, trying to calm him down who kept screaming and rubbing his eyes.
"IT'S SO FUCKING BRIGHT HOLY SHIT!"
Finally Vriska shoved themselves outside the house. She suddenly felt weird and started walking away, leaving Cartman behind.
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"Huh… I'm starting to remember" Vriska said.
"Anything to add up to what happened?"
"Before I say anything… What did you see?"
"Honestly, I only remember that fucking sound and a strange light. Probably if any of us was alone, we would be dead."
"Okay… What I did remember is that… The house was empty."
"What do you mean?"
"Since the beginning. The house was completely empty."
They decided to keep between themselves everything that happened on that empty house.
