spectre // joshler

1

"guys, i don't know if we should be doing this," tyler said, adjusting his necktie but being sure not to smudge his skeleton makeup. his friend chris (or, frankenstein, as he was dressed tonight), rolled his eyes.

"dude, come on. don't puss out now. we're already here. all we have to do is climb over that gate and we'll be in. besides, you're with us. we won't let anything happen to you," chris said, gesturing to the old, wrought-iron gate that kept them out of the long-abandoned, overgrown yard of dead grass and withered trees.

they were at the roschester house, which was this abandoned house in their town that had been empty for nearly a century, because no one wanted to live in it - they all thought it was haunted. which was why tyler and his friends, chris and nick, were here. 

the roschester house was an old victorian mansion that had been owned by some family named the roschesters. nobody really remembered who they were, but they were rumored to be an old victorian rich family. it was said to be haunted because the daughter was a witch or something. tyler didn't know. the house was supposed to be equipped with (rumored) 30 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms, a parlor, a library, an old, rickety elevator, a ballroom, etc. everyone thought it was basically a castle or the white house or something, but tyler knew better. besides, looking at this thing, it was not nearly big enough to have a ballroom or library in it. well, maybe library, but definitely not a ballroom. it was big, but it wasn't that huge.

it was decrepit and falling apart, the black and gray paint on it flaking away at the slightest touch. it was very cliche - the windows were broken and a few were boarded up, the once-grand front door was now creaky and the hinges were sticky, and you could tell by looking at it from the outside that it was very drafty and very, very good for "going ghosting" on halloween night. the yard was insanely overgrown and unwatered, so there was foot-high, dead, yellowed grass everywhere, almost completely covering the garden path, which had stones missing. huge bushes were everywhere, growing outside of the rusty fence and even onto the sidewalk a bit. the trees were still alive, but withered and seemingly hibernating. it looked very haunted. even as tyler and his friends watched, an owl hooted and flew from one of the trees, winging off into the night. tyler shivered. 

"well...come on," nick said hesitantly, breaking tyler out of his daze. he nodded slowly and started climbing the rusty, creaky gate. he was afraid that every noise he made would somehow summon some sort of - of demon, or something. even if there were no such things as demons, tyler still didn't want to take any chances. so he climbed up as slowly and carefully as possible, dropping safely over to the other side, where his friends were waiting for him.

and then he was in the yard, and - wow. this was, um. different. 

it seemed...quieter, somehow, in the yard. hushed. before, on the other side of the fence, there had been the distant sound of street traffic, but now there was nothing. no sound. it was as if the distant cars had vanished or something. tyler felt a shiver down his spine. he looked around. he saw a mouse (or was it a rat?) dart under a bush quickly, away from his prying eyes. a distant bird (probably the owl) called. tyler got goosebumps. it seemed his friends felt the same, as they were all frozen in place, looking around warily. 

"maybe this was a bad idea. we should probably go back," tyler tried weakly, and chris came to his senses, scoffing. 

"are you kidding me? we're not turning back now. i'm not going back out, i'm not a pussy like you are, tyler." chris said, and tyler gritted his teeth, glaring at chris. they were friends, but sometimes chris could be a real asshole. tyler watched as chris stalked towards the house, the moonlight illuminating him as he did so. nick slowly followed him and tyler followed nick.