The Piano || 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬

#9

"What?" Kris asked. "Ashley? Do you see something?"

"Oh, my fuck," she whispered, running a hand over her face. "It's there. Please tell me one of you placed it there."

Colby stood up, trying to see what she was looking at. Her flashlight was pointing at the piano, and suddenly they all knew what Ashley meant. Something small, and metallic was on top of the black instrument, glistening in the light of four flashlights.

Ashley started walking over to the piano, not even blinking as she picked the ring up. Colby grabbed the camera and rushed over to her. She stared at the silver ring, not being able to fathom what was happening.

"It's not possible," she stated. "It's not possible. One of you guys placed it there. I looked at the piano so often since we came in here. I looked at it all the time, and it was not fucking there!"

"Ashley, we would never do that," Sam assured her. She slipped the ring over her finger and spun around to face him.

"Oh yeah? Don't you think it would make the video a little bit better if my ring disappeared and magically reappeared, on the fucking haunted piano I played a while ago?" She was almost yelling at this point, her eyes frantically searching the room for anyone or anything she could blame.

"Ashley, please. We wouldn't do that; we are equally clueless about how the ring just appeared like that. Do you want me to stop recording?" Colby's voice was calm, and he lowered the camera a little.

"No – yes, yeah, whatever," Ashley said, burying her face in her hands. "This is insane. This is insane. This. Is. Insane."

Sam and Colby exchanged a glance, both knowing what the other was thinking. Colby turned the camera off and set it down on a table, not wanting to put Ashley under more pressure.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, reaching for the piano's stool, and sitting down on it. "Fuck. I shouldn't be that aggressive. I just... I ticked out. It's a lot. A ghost, stealing my ring... I can't, I don't want to believe it." She sighed and laid down her head to rest it on her clenched fists. It seemed like only the ring on her middle finger reflected the light, but that was only their mind playing tricks on them.

"It's okay, we understand," Kris said, sitting down next to her. "I'm feeling stressed out as well, and I'm... well, I am more used to things like this than you. We understand you blaming us. It's the easier truth to accept."

"Do you understand how crazy this sounds? A ghost stole my ring... hopefully, after I dropped it, and then she made us come down here to search for it. She was probably laughing at us the entire time... I can't believe I'm talking about a ghost," Ashley was rambling, and her hands fidgeted with her hair the entire time. "Fuck," she sighed, clenching her eyes shut. "Fuck, this is insane. I mean, she touched me, right? Insane, too. But that has happened before. Ghosts have scratched people, Kris has been scratched, and it, well, it was just... a mark. Not even aggressive. 'Just' a mark. Right? Special? Yeah. But this? This is... Have you ever had a ghost take something physical and make it reappear just like that?"

"Nope," Colby answered silently. "Never. I mean, we've had spirits touch things like faucets and stuff but not like that." Sam shook his head. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest and his brows furrowed.

Ashley took a deep breath and opened her braid to put her hair back up to a simple bun immediately again. Her face looked a lot more composed again, and she straightened her back.

"I think we should stop," Sam said.

"Yeah, probably..." Colby agreed, watching Ashley closely.

"But you wanted to try something," the redhead said. "With the... EVP? EFP? What is it called?"