When Lilly returned back home from Sam's house, she saw packed suitcases in the hallway but her parents weren't down at the hall. Walking up to their room, she almost knocked until she heard them speak in hushed voices.
"You know she's not going to like it. We have to tell her at some point in time. She has the right to know!" her mother spoke distressed.
"She does, Ellen but at the right time. You know what he told. And all of us agreed have agreed to it," her father said, from the creek of the door she saw her father rub her mother's shoulders, "You don't have to worry about it."
"Why won't I Julius? She's our child and she isn't even aware of it," Ellen huffed at her husband, "Keeping her in the dark is not going to make it easy when we have to break the news."
"I know that dear but all we can do now is wait."
"Soon?" her mother asked anxiously.
"Soon-Lilly," her father turned around, who had caught her reflection from the mirror, "How long have you been standing there?"
"Ah-I just arrived a few seconds ago," both her parents had gone quiet and to divert the topic, she asked, "I will get souvenirs right?"
"Of course. Be a good child and don't trouble Mrs. Jones, alright?" her father kissed the top of her head.
"Yes, father."
"Especially others house," he added and Lilly stood in place giving him a funny smile. Something told her that her father knew about Gwen and her trespassing properties the last time she had a sleepover at her best friends house.
When Rose had gone to drop her parents, Lilly headed to Gwen's house with her backpack for the night. The first two hours they spent it by watching movies while eating chips. It was around nine in the night when Gwen decided that they should watch a horror movie.
"Can't we watch something like Wolverine instead?" Lilly asked her dryly.
"Nope. That is not fun at all. You know what let's ditch the movie and go out," she suggested. Gwen was a free-spirited girl, trying out wild things and having fun.
"I think I am okay with the horror movie now," Lilly picked the DVD from Gwen's hand.
"Oh come on. You know you want to do it," Gwen's eyes got bigger.
"You know that sentence came out all wrong."
"You're the dirty minded girl! Come on! I found this really cool place. Please, I promise you, you won't be disappointed."
"We are NOT tress passing this time," she warned Gwen strictly. She wasn't sure how her father knew about it but oh dear God, he knew!
"It's not trespassing if no one is living there, is it?" she asked, putting the DVD back to its place in the shelf.
"What do you mean?"
"There's a building that's being abandoned for ten years. I wanted to see it and now seems a good time to check it out," Gwen said happily clapping her hands together.
"You resemble a seal every time you do that," Lilly commented while getting dragged to Gwen's room.
"I look like a happy child, unlike the sober child," indicating Lilly to be the sober one.
"You know we can check it in the morning, right? We have a holiday tomorrow," but her suggestion fell on deaf ears as Gwen had locked the room after telling her grandma a goodnight. Wearing a pullover, they jumped out of the large window before walking towards the abandoned house.
"So is there any story behind the abandoned building?" Lilly asked, rubbing her hands in the cold night.
"Hmm, I heard a woman killed her entire family," Gwen explained, "It's like a movie," she added.
"If it's like a movie then we are going to be the victims," Gwen scowled at her response.
The abandoned house was surrounded by big walls around it. The main gates rusted and covered in dust as they sneaked inside. There was no garden but dried up twigs and leaves that covered the land around the big house. Getting inside they were welcomed by darkness. Every nook and cranny of the house covered and submerged in the dust as well as cobwebs. Lilly wondered why they hadn't demolished the house instead of letting it catch dust. The furniture was covered in antique, old and beautiful.
Lilly leaned her neck to look up at the stairs when she heard Gwen whisper behind her, "Look at this." Her friend held a clip which was studded with stones at the end of it, "It's beautiful, isn't it?" she awed at it, "Do you think I can take it?"
"Maybe," she shrugged her shoulders.
Seeing Gwen exploring the rooms, Lilly made her way up the stairs, letting the ragged carpet lead her the way. Paintings were hung on the walls and she assumed it was the family who lived here before the unfortunate incident took place. One of the doors on the floor was open and it seemed to have less of cobwebs covering it than the rest of the rooms. Gulping softly while she wondered if a ghost really did reside in the house she walked inside the room.
Strangely, the room looked clean from other parts of the house. Looking around, her eyes fell on the bed and she realized that maybe they weren't the only ones who were at the house right now. The cupboard in the far corner moved and curious she walked closer to it. Hearing a creaking sound of the wooden floor coming behind her made her heart hitch with fear. By the next creek of sound, Lilly opened her mouth ready to call for Gwen but a hand was replaced on her mouth, muffling her voice. Ghost! While struggling she only ended up falling on the floor. Seeing the so-called ghost, her eyes went wide seeing the pitch black eyes.
"Don't scream."
"Ace?"
"Yeah," he replied, giving his hand to help her stand, "What are you doing here?"
"Exploring with my friend," Lilly replied to him uncertainly, "What are you doing here?"
"It's a hangout place for me and my ah-friend. It's nine past-" he was cut off by a loud scream.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
That was Gwen! Both Ace and Lilly looked at each other. Hurrying down the stairs, she saw a boy of their age with dirty blonde hair on the floor with Gwen.
"Are you alright?" Lilly asked going to Gwen's side. Her friend did nothing but nod her head.
"I thought it was a ghost," she huffed before looking at Ace and then Lilly with her eyebrows raised, "Oh this is Ace and..."
"Cole. A friend of Ace," the boy introduced politely, "I didn't know we were having guests today."
"They were just exploring the building. I think it's late," Ace said looking at Lilly the whole time. Taking it as a sign to leave, Lilly pulled Gwen, "Yeah it's getting late. Night."
"Right. Goodnight," Gwen cleared her throat. The person named Cole continued to look at her intently as if he were interested in knowing more about Gwen.
"Goodnight. It was nice meeting you," Cole said to Gwen and Lilly saw Ace roll his eyes.
"Alright bye then," Ace just nodded his head like the unwanted guests they were.
When they were blocks away from the abandoned house, Gwen asked, "How do you that person?"
"Ace? I met him at Bastion school," she answered. That night Lilly slept well, with peaceful dreams not knowing what had latched on to her in the abandoned building.