We Haunt This House

II: Chapter Twenty-Six

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, recording... Now."

I look into the camera. "Hi, my name's Arnold, and you might recognize me. Maybe this will be a refresher." I point down, knowing we'll edit in the scene from the news reports later. After a few more seconds of pausing, I take a deep breath. "So, you might look at this and freak out, or think it's fake. But I promise it isn't. In fact, everyone in that video is right here."

The camera pans towards Dee so we're sharing a screen. "I'm Dee. You might know me as that girl that died. But obviously, I'm not dead."

The camera pans again. "Yeah, we got news for you. We're alive. The whole death was faked." Lilah deadpans. "Before any of you doubters say we're wearing make up or something. Or that we faked the whole thing for drama. We assure you, it's real."

Then a hand grabs the camera, and it rocks until it's gripped. Felipe pulls it up near his face. "Recognize me? Yeah, I'm that monstrous guy. Doesn't register yet does it?" He transforms his face, eyes going red and teeth growing until they poke out of his mouth. He smiles. "Does that look fake to you?"

"And what about me?" Lina grabs the camera, and for a second, she's human, then she transforms.

"As you can see," I say, turning the lens towards me. "We're not exactly human. But it isn't our fault. In fact, we're going to show you pretty soon how messed up everything is. So stay tuned in to this. We'll be livesteaming tomorrow."

I give it a few seconds for editing time, then cut it off. This is the fifth time we've taken this, and at this point, I think we must have enough footage. I look over to Hattie, who nods, and takes back her camera. I watch as she plugs it into her computer, waiting.

"It's going to take quite awhile," she says. "We have a lot on here."

I sigh, then look at the others. "Do you think it'll be done now?"

"Why are you so nervous about this take?" Felipe asks. "We can do it again."

"It's because he's distracting himself from the implications of this going horribly wrong," Carmine says.

I sigh, and don't reply. The others continue talking, but I sit in silence until Hattie announces that she thinks a few of these look good. After some light editing, we rewatch it.

"I think it looks good." Dwayne says begrudgingly.

"Are we ready to post?" I ask.

Hattie opens up YouTube. "Gotta make an account. What should our channel name be?"

"Like that matters," Lina says.

"The Haunters," Worth says.

"That's dumb," Dee replies.

"Does anyone else have any ideas?" Hattie asks.

"We could just use the companies name," I say.

"Please, don't," Lilah says.

Hattie types something in. "Looks like we're going with Worth's idea."

The others seem disappointed, but there's nothing we can do about it if we have nothing better. The sooner we get this up, the sooner it's over. Hattie continues putting in various other information until she stops abruptly, finger hovering over the button that changes everything. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah," Lilah says.

Hattie glances all around the room, and slowly, some of us agree along with her, heads bobbing, voices going on about the whole thing. I don't say anything at first, just surprised so many of them are into it. At this point, it's unanimous, whether agreed upon because of no other choice or because they actually want this.