☾THE MECHANIC☽

5. Sorrel Weed House

"Welcome to the Sorrel Weed House! This is the foyer. 'Most everything in the house is original except the furniture and the paint on the wall" The tour lady informed. She leads your group to this large portrait of a man. "This is Francis Sorrel Library and the man you see in this portrait is Robert E. Lee. Lee was a dear friend of Francis who visited the Sorrel house quite often. In the winter of sixty-one and sixty-two, just before the great war, General Lee used this room as his office" She explains. "As far as spooky activity goes, this room seems to be the most calm. Not to say that there isn't any ghostly activity in here but out of the entire house I'd say it's milder—" The lady stops talking as she reaches into her pocket for her phone. "Ah, sorry, this is my emergency phone. I have to take this. Continue looking around if you want just don't touch anything" She leaves.

"Well, that's super professional..." Tyler sighs. "I-I don't think that's professional" Logan states, not catching on to Tyler's sarcasm. "I was being sarcastic" Tyler eyes Logan. "Oh,". You can't help but chuckle at Tyler and Logan's reaction. "Eh, an emergency is an emergency" Taylor shrugs, "It'll be more fun to explore on our own!". That's exactly what the seven of you did. As you walk deeper into the house the unfortunate feeling only grows. You walk beside Ashlyn and you can tell she's feeling uneasy too. "Why is she wearing earplugs?" You hear Tyler ask. "Oh, I thought those were headphones!" Aiden chimes in. The loudness in his voice only causes Ashlyn to flinch. "They're earplugs. I wear them because of my sensitivity to...", She seems to be distracted by something so you look in that direction, "Sounds". Both yours and Ashlyn's eyes widen at the sight of a human figure standing in the corner a few feet behind Aiden. "Oops, I thought they were for music" Aiden covers his mouth. The figure turns and stares at the two of you with a big smile, it sends a shiver down your whole body. You try to convince yourself it's not real but it's not working. Ashlyn sees it too so why would it?

"Hey, are you two alright? You guys look pale" Taylor speaks up. That's when Ashlyn turns to you before glancing at Taylor, "All good". You feel Ashlyn nudge you, snapping you out of your trance. "Yup, all good" You send Taylor a smile. You and Ashlyn are tense following behind everyone. You know it's still there you can feel it's stare. You assume Ashlyn is ignoring it too. You come to realize that it became awfully quiet. You wonder if your group left you and Ashlyn behind. You look up to see Logan, Aiden, Ben, Taylor, and Tyler looking at you and Ashlyn with wide eyes. Wait. They're not looking at you. You feel your body tense again as Logan stutters your name. "Behind you..." Taylor mutters. You feel a hand wrap around your arm and you freeze.

You quickly turn around snatching your arm back, only to feel a sharp sting in your arm. You trip over your foot and you fall to the ground, Ashlyn falling beside you. You look back to see the figure gone. "Where is it?" Taylor questions. "I don't see a-anything..." Logan searches around with his camera. "One of the ghosts maybe" Aiden notes. "Are you guys dumb?" Tyler speaks up, "Ghosts aren't real. This is just some stupid prank". Tyler explains his reasoning for why it is a prank but you don't think so. Say that to your throbbing arm. "Screw you and your idiotic video! For the record, you don't have our permission to use our reactions!" Tyler shouts. He grabs Taylor's wrist, "C'mon, we're going back to the bus".

You feel a hand on your shoulder and look up to see Ben, eyeing you. You smile at him, "I'm okay". Ben helps you up and you two walk out of the Sorrel Weed House.

You're in your room with an open journal sitting on the desk in front of you. The girl you're paired with left to go play Uno with Taylor and the other girls in the class, she invited you but you declined. As you wait for her to get back, you write about the thing you saw. You end up drawing what it looked like too which didn't calm your nerves. Seeing as you don't have any information on this creature, you shut your journal with a sigh and lay down. You try to ignore the stinging in your arm as you fall asleep.