Karen and August were best friends. They did everything together. Their parents were best friends and had known each other since they were in middle school, so Karen and August had known each other pretty much their whole lives. The girls went to the same middle school, they had the same interests, and they even went on vacations with each other, though they were a little different when it came to emotions. August was a bit shy while Karen was super outgoing, but they usually put those differences aside and focused on their friendship. Everyone knew them as the best friends.
So when Karen got a new beach house, the girls were dying to go together. So they begged their parents and they eventually said yes. The girls were ecstatic! They immediately started packing. Two days went by and the girls were driving to the new beach house. When they got there, they explored the whole house. There was a pool, a deck, and the house was huge! There was a game room, a lovely kitchen with flower wallpaper, and 5 bedrooms!
The girls swam a little bit and caught some crabs. Afterwards, they wanted to explore the neighborhood. They asked their parents, and they said, “Yes, as long as you stick together.” So they went off.
The girls were really excited when they saw an abandoned plantation. There was a “NO TRESPASSING” sign, but the girls ignored the warning and kept walking. There was a dirt path they went down, and it was an insane sight. There were fields of long grass, a pool, and a huge mansion right in front of them. The pool was murky with leaves floating on the top. The house was all beat down, and there was broken glass scattered around the house. There was a small guest house a little ways out into the fields.
When they stopped staring in awe Karen asked August, “Where do we start?”
“What do you mean?” August asked, confused. She didn’t want to go into the house. She just wanted to look.
“Let’s explore! As long as we stay together we are allowed to!” Karen exclaimed.
“But there was a-” but before she could finish, Karen was already pulling her into the small guest home. As soon as the girls went inside, they felt a cold rush of air that gave them chills.
“What was that?” August asked, looking around, aghast.
“It was just a breeze. Chill,” Karen said, annoyed.
“Umm, ok,” August said, unsure. She felt like something was watching her, but she brushed it off. The girls walked a little further and they smelled something horrid and moldy. They looked at the ground and saw a rotting mouse moving with maggots.
“No, no, I’m done! Bye! You have fun exploring a spirit filled maggot dump while I go back to the house!” August shrieked.
“What do you mean spirits? We have to stay together, remember? You can’t leave if I don’t, and there is no such thing as spirits,” Karen said, super aggravated. Why was her best friend being so annoying? Spirits aren’t even real!
“Fine. Five minutes though, deal?” August said, aggravated as well. Why was her friend being so ignorant? Can’t Karen tell I’m scared?
Karen took her left hand and put it behind her back. She crossed her fingers and said,
“Deal.” The girls kept walking while August was clueless of what just happened. The girls walked into the very back of the house and saw a kitchen all burnt up as if there was a fire. Ash scattered all over the ground. Karen thought it was cool, but August thought it was gross. The girls didn’t really want to touch anything so they decided to head upstairs. As soon as they got upstairs, they heard a strange wispy noise that sounded sort of like a whistle.
“What the heck was that?!” August cried.
“Um.. It- it was, um, probably the wind. Yeah, the wind,” Karen said, unsure. She definitely heard that noise, and it sounded like a demonic whisper to her, but she didn’t want to leave yet. She wanted to explore the big house, too. So she thought of a plan; she wanted to sound ok so August wouldn’t completely have a heart attack.
“Listen, we only have 3 minutes left. Let’s go in the mansion, and then we leave,” Karen said.
“No way am I spending another minute on this property!” August exclaimed.
“You promised, August! Please!” Karen begged.
“Ugh fine. Only 3 minutes! Wait, what if something happens to us? Like we get hurt?” August asked.
“We have phones, remember? We can call for help! Now let’s go!” Karen said, pulling August down the stairs and out of the house.
As they passed through the door frame they still felt that chill, but the girls didn’t say anything. Karen was confused. Why was her friend not flipping out? she thought. They tried opening the front door of the house, but it was locked so then they tried the back door and voila! It opened in a snap. The door creaked open, and they found themselves on an indoor patio. It had some chairs and a recliner, and it looked really dusty and smelled sort of like mold, but the girls quickly left that room and went to a big room that could have once been a living room. Chipped paint flakes covered the ground along with broken glass scattered around. But then Karen saw something that made her shudder. A small finger looking object was lying in the corner with dried blood covering it.
“O-ok. Um.. let’s leave. Ok?” Karen said.
“Why do you want to leave so soon?” August asked. “I’m finally feeling brave, and I’m starting to think it’s cool in here.”
“It’s been three minutes though! Time to go!” Karen urged.
“Karen, I saw you cross your fingers. I just acted like I didn’t know, to make you happy. We are staying. Like you said, you can’t leave if I don’t. It’s fine. I’m not scared!” August said.
“I’m leaving!” Karen shouted.
“Fine. See you soon, Karen.” Karen ran to the door and tried turning the door knob, but the door was locked. Karen ran back into the room where August had just been and she wasn’t there. Karen even tried the front of the house, but that door was locked. Karen turned around and saw a slight shadow of a girl. Karen blinked her eyes and looked again and saw nothing. She could have sworn that she just saw a shadow. Karen looked for any possible exit when she found a piece of August’s skirt lying right in front of the basement door. She took all the courage she had and decided to walk down to the basement. She flicked on a light switch and was horrified by what she saw. Right before her eyes, August was tied to a chair bleeding from everywhere on her body as if she had been slashed. Karen was terrified as she realized August was dead. Immediately, Karen pulled out her phone but there was no signal whatsoever. She tried screaming, but it was no use. When she couldn’t call for help, and there was nothing she could do, she looked closer at August’s body. Blood dripped from the chair, splattering all over the floor, and August’s mouth hung open as if she had been… screaming? How? I couldn’t hear a scr- but Karen couldn’t even finish her thought when the lights flickered. Standing in front of August was… a shadow?
“August?!” Karen screamed.
“Told you I would see you soon,” said the shadow.
The room went black.