Iris and the List

Iris and a ghost hunt

As per Rory's instructions, my phone was on my desk and I was at his house forty five minutes early, at 7:15. It was just me, him, and his dog Rose. He made me watch ghost hunters with him, and after an episode Bradley and Colton showed up. We chatted for a bit, about inconsequential things. When Ginger and Bee came, Rory put in a video.

"What's this?" Bee asked.

"Well, this was on short notice so I didn't have time to order the full seminar, but-" Rory began.

"Seminar?" Bradley interrupted.

Rory glared at him. "But, I did get this instructional video. It has some helpful dos, and don'ts." He pressed play, and we watched.

We hid our laughter at first, but when showing what to do if you see a ghost and they showed a ghost as the classic white sheeted figure, Bradley completely lost it. The bad acting, terrible nineties style, and cheesy dialogue we could handle, but not that.

Rory frowned. "You people wouldn't know what to do. I'm helping you. And I do not appreciate you making fun of a serious profession."

Ginger sobered. "We're not Rory. I'm super excited for this, it's just that the video isn't very good."

Well thank you captain obvious. Rory's just being a drama queen.

"Whatever. I personally found it delightfully quirky, but that's beside the point. Please leave all of your cellphones here. The equipment is in the van."

"The van?" I asked. I hadn't noticed one when mom had dropped me off.

"Yeah, I rented one to carry the equipment. I met the guys in an alley. They were very polite actually. They just dropped it off now, if they told me the correct time." Rory said.

Bradley started laughing. "Kid, you are hilarious."

We walked outside and sure enough, there was a black van parked in the driveway. A very creepy, shady looking, black van. We piled in, Rory driving with Ginger in the passenger seat. Bee, Bradley, Colton and I were forced to sit with the equipment. Bradley looked around at the van and picked up various pieces of equipment.

"Rory'll kill you if you break those." Bee cautioned.

He nodded and put it down. Bee returned to reading a manual for one of the gadgets. Bradley's gaze lingered on her.

Colton interrupted the silence. "So do you think we'll find anything?"

"Course not. Ghosts don't exist. People who think they do are just kidding themselves. Or they feel guilty over someone's death or something. I mean, death is the end. There's nothing afterwards, no ghosts, nothing." Bradley answered promptly.

I winced. Was that really it? Had my father just ceased to exist? He wasn't watching over Percy and I, making sure we were okay? It was like someone turned a light switch off, and he stopped thinking, feeling, knowing? I couldn't fathom that.

"That's really insensitive Bradley. It's all a matter of opinion. Personally, I think that there is something, I don't know what, after this. I mean, maybe our bodies die, but our souls? No. They have to last longer." Bee said.

Bradley nodded and seemed to ponder this. "Maybe. I don't think so, but maybe."

"Well you've never had anybody close to you die, Bradley, so excuse me if I don't exactly trust your opinion on this." I snapped.

"Oh. Sorry Iris." He said quickly.

I nodded, but said nothing. We drove the rest of the way in silence.

Rory opened up the door. Colton, Bradley, and Ginger started moving all of the equipment while Rory and Bee looked on. I stared up at the house. It was huge, larger then even the houses my friends and I lived in and I can assure you those are very big. It didn't even look like a house, I was just assuming it was because Rory said it was a haunted house. It looked to be in decent condition, not perfect though. I could tell that it had once been a very beautiful house.