My Ghost Adventures (The Original!)

Part 5: Lake House

Zak was driving and I was in the back seat trying to rest before we had to stay up all night. Zak's Aunt had called him saying that there was something in her house. I guess he saw fit that it wasn't necessary to bring the whole crew to his relative's house for a lockdown. Besides, he wanted to really see if my "abilities" were what I said they were. I had recently told him that I was a sort of sensitive, as it were. I told him that the whole time living at La Palazza I felt extremely uncomfortable and was ecstatic to move out (and he wanted me to meet her, of course).

"Keep your eyes on the road!" I turned to the front and directed his attention back to the road. Every time I started to get comfortable (as comfortable as I could in this tiny car, I don't know why we didn't take the van) I felt his eyes drift to the rearview mirror.

"I'm sorry, I can't help it..." he grinned and looked back in the mirror.

"I want to make it to the house in one piece please. I don't want to meet your Aunt with a missing limb," I snapped back and rolled over on my back, bending my legs nearly up to my chest. His eyes went back to the road, only to turn all the way around in his seat to stick his tongue out at me.

We got to the house a little later than we expected; Zak just had to stop at the Skyline Chili...again.

"Wow, it's changed," Zak exclaimed as we turned onto the desolate street. I rolled down the passenger window and stuck my head into the grimy air. The lake was only a few yards away from the street and even closer to the houses. All of the five houses on the dirt road were at least two-story, at least four bedrooms and plenty of green grass...except the one we were going to. The last house at the end of the road had a brown yard, the dirt path we were traveling ended into a little car port next to the house. The white paint was chipping off of the old wood, three stories of windows and some falling trees...it was once beautiful I guess.

"How long has it been?" I asked as we slowly crawled down the road.

"A few years..." he trailed off, staring out at the lake that was slowly approaching the car. I unhooked my seatbelt and looked out the windshield at the lake. When Zak told me that his Aunt lived on the lake, he really meant it; I was amazed at how close it was to the house. "Come on, we gotta get moving." He opened his door and hopped to the trunk, starting to get some of the equipment out. I followed shortly and barely got my hands on the case of digital voice recorders before I heard the front door of the house swing open.

"Zachary!" A woman dressed in white came running with open arms towards us, her slowly silvering blonde hair blowing against her shoulders.

"Hey!" Zak smiled and embraced the woman like he hadn't seen her in years. Duh.

"How you been sweetie?" she asked, pulling away with a bright smile in her eyes, then turned to me. "And who is this young lady? A new crew member? I thought that was just you, Nick and-"

"It is. She's not really part of the show...she's my...uh..."He looked at me with a grin and a sigh, using his hands to try and find the right word. I guess he really didn't want people to know yet.

"Well whoever she is, she's beautiful and you're lucky to have her." She extended her arms to me and squeezed, awkwardly. "Any girl of yours is a girl of mine, except those sluty ones that you sometimes find. Those you can keep to yourself." She turned and started to walk back up to the house, leaving Zak and I in an awkward silence. I looked at him with his eyebrows raised and just when he opened his mouth to comment I walked up to the house.

Inside was amazingly beautiful. The foyer was raised, the living room was a step down a dark mahogany floor. She had small trinkets and things hanging and sitting on anything and everything stable. It smelled like dust and chicken pot pie. There was a tiny little fluffy dog running around the kitchen: like everyone else's Aunt's house. We didn't linger long before we headed upstairs to the second floor to set up our equipment.