Chapter Text
Beep-beep-beep!!
The first thing I hear in the early morning, is my alarm. Wow. Great start in the day.
It’s okay though, instead of throwing my alarm against the wall like in any show when this happens, I just groan in annoyance, really, why do they always ruin perfectly good alarms?
It’s not like this matters right now as I sit up in my very comfortable bed, I feel like I should lay down again for a moment but the repeating sound of the alarm forces me to move, I regret placing it on a shelf further away from my bed.
As I get up, I sigh for a moment before stretching, moving one of my arms behind my neck while stretching the other out.
This was likely to be a long day, my cousin had just a few days ago sent out an invite to stay at her new mansion which she inherited from our grandmother, honestly.. I thought until then that she had passed years ago.
I felt a bit bad for never having visited her then but oh well, if she hasn’t moved on until I get there I could always just talk to her again.
Getting ready is such a chore but oh well, at least this is a good excuse to wear my favorite outfit, searching through my closet I quickly find the plain gray shirt laying underneath my red cardigan which I also take out before carefully laying it on my bed, as I still needed to search for fitting pants, what would be appropriate clothes for this anyway? I haven’t seen or heard from Samantha in a while. . Not since her and Jay’s wedding at least, that was a catastrophe.
I’m getting distracted though, I still need to look for fitting pants! While digging through some of my clothes I find a baggier pair of washed out blue-ish jeans, these should do. Comfort over being fancy, right? At least today.
Seeing the time displayed on my clock I quickly push my head through the plain gray shirt and slide on the cardigan together with the jeans, I wasn’t exactly running late but being earlier was still better than being just ,on time.,
The drive is a full two hours after all.
Why does this house have to stand in the middle of nowhere anyway?
I bet there are some weird ghosts as well. Maybe some hiker who got lost in the woods there.. or worse! A middle aged man from the south who got forced to go on a hike!
That’d be a real horror movie. They’re usually the worst to deal with, oh how I envy the people who don’t have to deal with ghosts 24/7.
I take a few deep breaths before walking to my door, eyeing the dark wooden table which my alarm sits on before I spot my two necklaces, one with black false-leather string and an evil eye hanging from it and the other a silver chain with an amethyst pendulum, both could come in handy so I put them on, I really don’t want to deal with any more drama than necessary when I’m already dealing with the literal dead.
Oh well, as soon as I put on both necklaces and adjust them I feel a little safer, maybe it’s because I know that the evil spirits will stay further away now.. with another light exhale I move towards my door once more, this time I push the handle down and pull the door wide open, immediately being greeted by the sight of my living room which was surprisingly empty, my ,roommate, which really was just a girl, around 19 who had died in the apartment 10 years ago and the whole reason that this apartment was easy to afford in the first place, I had made sure to thank her for that when I moved in.. in hindsight, it was pretty insensitive to her death.. but she was at least nice and had laughed it off.
She knew I’d be away for a bit so I don’t think that she’d mind if I just left, so I walk through the living room, a fairly simplistic room as there only is a single couch, a wooden shelf which the TV stands on and a few plants, together with a few of my books scattered on the coffee table which are about various themes I enjoy.
While putting on my black shoes I sit down and pull them on, almost forgetting to grab my phone.. quickly remembering though as I glance at my keys, I’d probably need that to even get to that old manor..
Well, I quickly stand up, which causes me to be dizzy for a short second before grabbing my phone from besides the TV, I had made it a habit to keep it there so I’d be able to sleep better, it worked pretty okay.
But now, I actually needed it, so I pocketed it quickly into my jeans and Pat it for a second to reaffirm its actually there— a little silly, but better than thinking I put it there and just having imagined it, now I can leave!
I yell a short goodbye as I stand in front of my apartment door, of course, not too loud, my neighbors think I live alone after all and they already think somethings off with me, I don’t need to worry them.
Just a small
“Bye!”
and I’m out, looking at the staircase leading to the main door downstairs.
After about a 2 and a half hour ride, I pull up to a large Mansion, the entrance already looks a bit intimidating but oh well.. at least I haven’t seen a ghost yet, except obviously the ones on the streets, but they’re easily distinguished from livings since they have a special aura around them, I’m thankful for that, otherwise I wouldn’t even be able to drive anymore due to fearing I might run an actual human over someday . . That would suck.
As I park the car in front of the large building, I lean back in my seat for a moment before seeing something in my Peripheral vision— a shadow-? No..- OH MY LORD ITS A PERSON IN MY BACKSE- it’s probably just a ghost.
As I turn though, I cringe as I immediately see an arrow stick through his neck. Ouch.
That’s one of the more brutal ones I’ve seen lately.
He seems a bit surprised that I turned to him and tilts his head slightly until— well, the arrow stops him from tilting it a whole lot further, he quickly sits himself further upright and clears.. uh.. his throat.
“Well this is a surprise!”
I tilt my own head in response, that’s usually not the reaction I get when interacting with ghosts..- it’s usually a whole spiel about ,Wow you can see me?! That’s crazy!, and then I’m like ,yeah, it’s just something I can do, and then they’re like ,hey can you do this for me?!, and then I have to be like ,not really, and let them down slow, this is very different from that- maybe he met someone who is a medium before? Or he’s just very rarely surprised?
My thought process quickly gets interrupted by him continuing his talking..
“This is amazing! Two people I can ask to tell Jay my jokes!”
Jay? As in, Sam’s husband? Wait what? Two people? What-?
My confusion has to have been evident since now he looked confused as well
“Oh! Sam probably didn’t tell you she sees ghost! We were supposed to not be too curious but oh, you know! I couldn’t help myself and needed to know who this mysterious cousin was!”
the man seemed.. pretty cheerful for what seemed to be a brutal death by impalement.. usually they’d be pretty grim.. but maybe that’s just because of where I live? Maybe they’re a bit more cheerful here-!
“Oh, well, thanks..? I guess?”
i laugh a bit, his cheerfulness is rubbing off on me a little, he seems to be nice enough, though I start realizing how weird it must look to be looking at my backseat with no one in sight.. so I open the door and step out of the car, seeing the ghost do the same, well, not step out, but rather phase through the walls of the car to stand in front of me, he’s wearing what can only be an old fashioned Girl Scouts uniform? Poor guy probably got shot at while on the job. Even more ouch.
I look over him for a moment before remembering he mentioned two people being able to see ghosts.
“Wait, You said two? Can Jay see ghosts-? Or Sam-?”
I blinked a couple of times, this was new, I hadn’t expected either of them to be involved with anything spiritual, or occult, or really well, anything of that matter but there are always surprises I guess?
The man looked off for a moment before looking like he was internally debating something and almost- yearning-? Okay.
“Actually it’s Sam! I wish my buddy Jay could talk to me too! Don’t get me wrong, I love Sam, but Jay just gets me you know?”
Well this is.. okay, honestly this is shocking but not the most shocking news ever, still, Samantha? Being able to see ghosts? That must be chaotic. She’s always been pretty scatter brained. Wait, jay, the nerd husband? Oh god is this ghost just as much of a nerd? Not that it’s bad.. he just didn’t seem like it at first.
“Well.. thank you!”
This was suddenly a whole lot more awkward after realizing I had arrived a few minutes ago and they probably heard my car.. I should get inside. So.. I nod at the ghost before turning around and walk towards the front doors which are already open.
With a few more steps I’m now standing inside and look around for a little, the entrance is pretty big, a large entrance with a reception right besides the staircase up, basically unavoidable social interactions when leaving this place.
After taking another step I quickly notice a blonde woman walk up who seems a lot more excited than she usually already is— before I can even process another second or two she already stands in front of me and offers a hug, I reluctantly take it, she is family after all.. still sucks. But she’s always been my favorite cousin, ignoring the fact that she’s my only one as well.
The hug luckily doesn’t last too long as I pull back and smile awkwardly, crossing my arms in front of my chest as I look her over, she’s wearing a Taffy colored Sweatshirt and casual blue jeans, pretty fitting for her, at least she isn’t possessed! Still, awful fashion sense.
“Soo! How have you been?”
She seems really enthusiastic about this.. almost .. as if trying to get something out of me? And-..
Oh. Yeah, makes sense. It’d be a bit insane to directly ask someone ,Hey, so, do you also see ghosts?,
“I’ve actually been doing fairly well, I got a job at a local florist shop as a cashier so, that’s pretty good!”
I smile a bit as I remember the store, it’s a nice and pretty calm place, a nice change of pace from seeing all these dead people, and since most ghosts can’t cross the border anyway, I don’t have to worry about getting ghostly customers! Just calming flowers and me.. and the two ghosts that haven’t moved on but, well whatever. They’re nice. I’m getting distracted again.
“Oh that’s actually really nice! Oh! What if you sell some flowers here as a partnership? That would be—!”
“-Sam, I don’t even have flowers to sell here.”
I almost laugh, she’s almost as overly full of ideas as before, maybe even more? I can’t really remember that clearly but I’m sure she’s always been like this, not that it’s bad, just a little much sometimes, she’s a really nice person though.. she tries her best is all I’m saying.
“Oh- Right! Right!”
She laughs now and takes a small step back before gesturing to the further back, there’s three openings.. one seems to lead to an open room, the other to another space and the third seems to be to a kitchen
“Come on! I’d really like to show you around!”
Without another thought she moves forwards and with that, towards the space which seems to be the kitchen, I follow behind her, not wanting to be left alone in the middle of the entrance, especially not with ghosts I’m not even familiar yet.. wait- does she know I’m able to see them or not? I didn’t pay much attention to her mannerism otherwise.
it’ll work out- I think.