Jennifer saw the second landing come in sight and felt Adrian's fingers entwine with her fingers. She looked at Adrian who caressed her cheek and said, "Honestly, I'm scared. I need you." Adrian was feeling scared since the moment he had started for this journey but now he couldn't hold it in anymore. He trusted Jennifer with his life so he decided he could trust her here as well. Jennifer replied to Adrian's true confession with the following words, "You can trust me. We will get through this."
After a heart touching exchange of words Adrian and Jennifer moved forward to come face to face with a door of the room they thought Abby hid her locker in. "Lets do this " Jennifer tried encouraging a sacred Adrian right before they entered the room. Adrian wouldn't be scared before a mission if it were a normal one. This mission was related to the two closest people ha had in his life. His best friend and his one and only love. The emotions behind this mission were the things that scared him. He knew he was never good at emotions and that had began to show.
Jennifer twisted the door knob and entered a room that looked like a mini library. As expected. Thousands of books lined from the top shelf to the bottom one painting the entire room in different colors. From the ceiling to the floor, everything was covered with a lot of books, covers and some random stuff. To Jennifer, this room felt like she had been here already. But she didn't know why ? "I feel like I have been inside this room once but I can't remember when." She told Adrian who had just steeped forward to look for the locker.
Adrian smiled and said, "That's another story to tell. First let's get the locker and take it to James. When he is having his moment with it, I'll tell you the whole story." Jennifer nodded and began looking for the locker. After a few minutes for searching and going through each and every shelf in the room, Jennifer heard Adrian call her name. "Jennifer, baby! I found it." He said as Jennifer gave up looking and headed straight for Adrian.
She saw Adrian holding an exactly identical locker to the one she owned. "Its Abby's." She smiled widely. Jennifer took the locker from Adrian's hands and then pecked him on the cheek. "Baby, we did it." Adrian smiled. With her, everything seemed so easy. Everything was so nice and comfortable. By her side, Adrian felt like he could conquer the world. He held Jennifer's hand and led her outside the room in the direction where James was laying down with Abby.
Adrian and Jennifer climbed down the fleet of stairs and then James came into view. Swollen eyes. Red cheeks. His face seemed like it was being drained away with his tears. His face was loosing color. Fading slowly as he looked more dead than Abby beside him. This miserable state of James stabbed Adrian right in his heart. Only if he wouldn't have made such a rash decision, his best friend would not have to go through such a pain.
A part of Adrian's heart was so grateful to him. James had gone through so much pain but he was still beside him like nothing ever happened. What did he do to receive such a great friend. A friend who loved him so much, who stood by him though thick and thin even when he was suffering internally. Adrian left Jennifer's hand and engulfed James in a hug. A big hug that was a combination of sorry as well as thank you. His version of 'I'm so grateful to you and I love you forever. Even when I'm dead.'
James felt Adrian's arms envelope him in a warm hug and that made him feel free. Free from the pain. Free from the binding of the world. Free from all sorts of trouble and all the things that were gnawing on his emotions. All the monsters and all the angels. Even the devil himself. Jennifer smiled at the moment when she saw Adrian and James hugging each other and feeling better.
Adrian and James pulled away and Jennifer moved closer to James to hand him the locker. James' eyes took another fresh turn when he saw the locker. There was some fear, some excitement, some mystery and some melancholy. "Have your moment. We'll meet you later." Adrian patted James' shoulder and then turned around to leave with Jennifer by his side.
"We'll have the funeral tomorrow." Jennifer said before she left with Adrian. Adrian and Jennifer came outside and sat in the dried up garden of the house. "Why is this house so familiar to me?" Jennifer asked him. Adrian smiled. "Do you believe in destiny?" He asked Jennifer. To Jennifer, this sounded like and abrupt question. "That was not the answer to what I asked." She said and turned to her side to see Adrian smiling at her cuteness.
"Just answer my question first." Adrian said. "Ummm… yes!" Jennifer thought for a bit and then answered the question. Adrian smiled widely now. "Do you remember when you were five. You and Abby and Winston used to come here to play hide and seek?" He asked. Jennifer nodded in response. Oh that's why it always felt so familiar. She used to play here. Hide and seek in this haunted house was always fun. She even remembers the chills she used to feel when she hid in the library upstairs waiting for Winston to come and find her while battling the ghost in her mind.
"You used to call it the Haunted house. Right?" Adrian asked again. "Yup!" Jennifer said. "Well, as you can see today, this house was never haunted. It was just me and James who used to come here and hide so that we could scare off children like you. It was because of us that this house became famous as the Haunted house." Adrian finally reveled the whole story. Jennifer's jaw was left open at the whole story Adrian said.